Fantasie-Impromptu

XIX. Reason

"He loved you, Franz!" Hector's voice echoes in Franz' ears, ringing like tinnitus. "He loved you! He loved you so much!"

"Hector I-"

"But you didn't love him back."

"Hector please-"

"And you left him there! Fighting against the world, with no one by his side!"

"I didn't mean to just-"

"But you did, Franz!" Hector states it sharply like fact, a proclamation, if you will. "You didn't mean to, but you did it anyway. And you did it without thinking about the consequences - about the damage it could've caused, the heart break you've given Fryderyk. You didn't think about any of this at all. You just left! You inconsiderate ass, you just left! You-"

"My father died!" Now Franz was the one to cut Hector off, and he immediately fell quiet. "My father died, Hector." Franz repeated one more time, now limp and weak, head hung low.

There was a blanket of silence that dawned over the entire café for a few seconds. No one dared to utter a word. No one could. Not yet.

"He was in critical condition when I got the news." Franz slowly speaks up with a low and soft voice. "They said he didn't have much time. He could leave this world any minute, and to me, that was precious time I couldn't afford to waste."

Hector was quiet the entire time, listening to Franz' story.

"I had to leave as soon I could, but even then, at least I didn't forget to say goodbye to Fryderyk." He breathed for a second.

"So Fryderyk is just an 'at least' to you, Franz?"

"You're right, Hector." Franz admitted, "Maybe I was a bit inconsiderate. Maybe I didn't think about the consequences of my actions and about how it could've affected the people I've left behind. Maybe I hadn't taken everything into careful consideration. Maybe I did just get up and go. But haven't you ever thought that maybe I would've done it differently if I just had the chance to?"

And now Hector was quiet, his eyes refusing to meet with Franz', as Franz was now looking at him with stern eyes.

"I loved Fryderyk, Hector! I still do! And every second I spend away from him takes a tiny little piece from my heart. Did you think this was easy for me? I lost my father, Hector. And if that wasn't hard enough, I lost my boyfriend as well. I don't have a place to live in, I don't have a job, I don't have money, I don't have anything! But I really hoped that in the middle of this chaos, I still had one last friend left. Too bad, I guess I lost you too now, huh?" Franz heaved a heavy sigh. "This isn't fair." he says. "This sucks."

Franz slowly gets up from his seat, ready to leave the scene, but as he takes a step past Hector, Hector pipes in a small voice "Wait," he says, "I never said you couldn't crash at my place Franz."

But a low "Thanks." was all he got back out of Franz.

The café was quiet, Franz nowhere to be seen, and Hector left slumped on his chair. He didn't know how to feel. Was he supposed to feel pity? Angry? Sad? He didn't know. In all honesty, Hector wasn't all too affected by Franz' disappearance. In fact, he was even a little bit glad he was back in one piece.

But that sudden explosion, he thought it was the pent-up frustrations he had felt towards Franz for leaving Fryderyk. Hector just couldn't bear seeing his best friend so down. And knowing it was all because of some cheeky tall guy, Hector couldn't help himself.

But it wasn't right, he realized. Franz too had his reasons, and rightfully so. Hector should've heard him out before he was so quick to judge and accuse Franz for his intentions. Though it's true that the intention doesn't always justify the impact of one's actions, but he thought to himself, perhaps Franz deserved a chance to explain his side too.

Keeping these thoughts in mind had really started to put things into perspective for Hector. Slowly he felt a bit more sensible and thought about what he could do to help both his close friends feel better instead of pushing them both apart even more.

He knows that Fryderyk, deep down in his heart, tucked away beneath his ribcage, is a steady beating for love. Fryderyk still has feelings for Franz. And he knows for a fact that Franz definitely still has feelings for Fryderyk, there was no doubt in that. But what could he do with this information?

He keeps himself in thought as he gets back to work, acting like the whole scene that unfolded beforehand never happened at all. Lucky for him there were only very few customers at the café at that time, and by now, a new batch of clients had entered, leaving the whole scene unbeknownst to them.

The day went on.

Franz was now walking down the street with no particular destination in mind. He sees the local park come into view and thinks why not. He enters the park, weird place for a tall guy with luggage to be in, but he ought to clear his head from the day's stresses and concerns, so he walks over to a little bench and sits down as he watches a couple play fetch with their pet dog.

He looks around and admires the beautiful view of newly grown flowers around the field. Subtle sounds of children laughing in the background as the smell of the fresh springtime air and newly cut grass envelopes Franz in a wonderful trance of peace.

It brings a little smile to Franz' face and he stays like this for a while. A little into an hour passes and pretty soon, little raindrops start falling from the sky. "Ahh typical spring weather." Franz thinks to himself, as he feels the little raindrops hit his face.

He breathes deeply and decides to just take it in. He doesn't want to leave the rain. He doesn't want to get up from his seat. He's too tired to do any of that, and too sad to think that it'd matter getting up or not, so he sits there, taking in the raindrops as they fall faster, and the park starts to clear up from people taking cover from the rain.

Franz looks up at the sky and closes his eyes as the raindrops leave gentle kisses on his face, and the sound of rain gets louder. Weird though. Even as the rain starts to sound like it's pouring, his face had stopped catching raindrops all of a sudden.

This makes Franz frown so he opens his eyes, face still facing towards the sky, and suddenly he sees a beautiful man looking down at him, soft curls fall just around his face, and he holds a yellow umbrella sized so small, you could tell it was fit for only one person.

"What are you doing out here?" The man says to him innocently, "You'll get sick."

And with those words alone, Franz' heart skips a beat.