Six tall figures stood next to each other on the bridge, casting long shadows due to the sun that steadily sunk in the lake underneath them.
Felix and his friends, out of a walk, had decided to stop and lean on the bridge's railing to admire the view. Somewhere along their conversation, they started darting rocks in the water and then a contest ensued: who would dart a rock the farthest.
Felix did his best to not win, at the same time avoiding complete failure. He was still the new guy of the group, and didn't wish to gain any sort of attention, because it made it far easier to integrate.
Still, it was hard not to let himself loose and dart a rock hard enough for it to cross the lake, or maybe round the entire earth and end up kicking him in the back of the neck.
He felt as though the pent up frustration inside of him regarding Vancouver's enigma and Otilia's rejection was enough to allow him that sort of strength.
"Say, Felix. How long have you been growing all this?" Hale asked with an amused grin, reaching out to ruffle Felix's hair.
Whereas it wasn't unusual for men to let their hair grow around those times, Felix's was distinctive due to its volume and richness.
"I wouldn't know... I've always had it long, but I cut it to the shoulder when people start confusing me for a girl."
"Ah, so this is the shortest it gets? What was the longest?"
Felix pressed his hand perpendicular to the elbow.
"No." Gavin deadpanned. "Are you a flower-power under all that?" he tugged the collar of Felix's uniform coat. "I bet you even play the guitar. You play the guitar don't you!"
Felix laughed lazily, leaning on the bridge's rail. "No. I don't have any talent, as a matter of fact. But hey, why not pick at Edgeworth?"
The redhead's hair got as low as his jaw. He scrunched up his freckled nose and glanced away while Hale ruffled him, too. Now that they weren't focused on him, Felix let his smile drop.
But he hadn't taken into consideration Weissmann. He never seemed focused on the things going on, but that itself allowed him to observe everything at once and so Felix should've known better than to let his guard down.
A hand was planted firmly on his shoulder, and then Weissmann was between him and the rest of the group.
"What fly got in your milk?"
His two front teeth, a little distanced from each other, barely peeked from between his lips. The flaw did nothing to alter his handsomeness, with those large eyes and strong nose. Still, the plump lips had to be the most prominent feature about him.
"Just, my cousins."
Weissmann hummed. "Ah, Aurice never quits does she."
"Did she..."
"Yes, she did." he nodded slowly. "Three pints of beer in I almost considered it but 'twas just a passing moment."
Felix laughed. "Come on, she's still my cousin." he knocked their shoulders together. "But no, she's not the main problem."
"I'm listening..."
Felix looked at him. The man's gaze was following passing birds. As always, he kept focus away from his immediate surroundings.
"Vancouver..." Felix sighed. Weissmann wasn't that close of a friend, but his nonchalant attitude made it easy to talk whatever was on Felix's mind, almost as though it was mere monologue. "He got in a fight."
Felix didn't look at him, afraid to find his point of view on the matter. All Otilia did was confuse him further, if his reaction contradicted all he'd gathered so far, he might just go nuts.
Still, he let his eyes peek from between his curls. Weissmann's expression hadn't changed one bit, but he straightened up to lean his bottom on the railing and glance at the people that crossed the bridge.
"That's not something new." he murmured.
Felix stood up as well. "I don't know what to think of him anymore..."
Weissmann's thick eyebrows slightly approached each other. He peeked at Felix with a look that neared concern, and raised an arm to pinch a thick strand of Felix's hair and fumble with it.
"You should... back off from him." he nodded, still eying the hair.
Felix fixed it back in place and looked away. It was then that he noticed how much attention they were getting. He was, after all, in the better known group of his University, and so everyone met rather high standards concerning their looks: each one was taller than the other, the matching uniforms actually bringing out their differences along with unique qualities.
"I will." Felix said, voice barely above a whisper. "But it's difficult."
"I should know." the man scoffed. "We used to be best friends."
Felix raised his eyebrows in consideration. Weissmann was the same year Vancouver was, meaning the same age too. He could picture them clearly: smoking in the University yard, their green respectively yellow ties swinging in the wind as they spoke casually, oblivious to the people that gawked at them due to the intriguing aura each possessed.
A hand patted Felix on the shoulder.
"You said cousins. What's the double to this trouble?"
Felix chuckled. "You don't seem the caring type from afar."
Weissmann shook his shoulder bemused. "What are pals for. Now, out with it."
Felix glanced down when a wave of wind sent their green ties flapping into each other. They were that close, as to go unheard by the rest.
"It's ah... Three pints of beer in and I'll consider telling you."
Weissmann's attitude had been different throughout their intimate conversation, but now that he was turning towards the rest of the group, his eyes returned to that superior narrow and his back slumped down, as did his eyebrows.
"Heard that guys? We're going drinking!"
------
Edgeworth kept wrapping his arms around Felix's shoulders. Since the redhead was considerably shorter, it made their footing awkward. It caused Felix to spill a little from his bottle of beer every now and then, but he kept laughing nonetheless.
"Pfff, wants to have fun. This is fun, I'm fun!" Felix complained. "You can't spell fun without 'f', which stands for Felix."
Hale laughed, walking alongside with him. "That's not untrue!" he offered. "Ah, Otilia. Yes she's something else, but..."
Weissmann helped in . "But as he said, she's something else, not all that."
Felix chuckled at his play of words and then sighed, stopping in front of the stone fence to his house. The group formed a circle and started talking nonsense for the next half an hour, their loud voices echoing throughout the empty streets.
It passed like a blur, with Felix mostly listening to their blabbers and chuckling. Since he was in his own little world, he was the first to notice a person approach from the left, for their boots were of real, tough leather that made itself heard.
Somehow, the rhythmic, slow strides made it click to Felix that it was his cousin before he even glanced that way. Frankly enough, he couldn't help but think the bruises on him only did justice to his tall, dark and handsome aspect. It was ridiculous and unfair.
Gavin caught sight of Felix's distraction and looked that way before patting people closest to him, that being Hale and Darryl, and with Edgeworth and Wiessmann noticing, Vancouver found himself under the stare of six people.
He stopped walking since they were blocking his path. Felix was the closest to him, but it was a matter of time before he got to being the only one near him.
One by one, the young men stepped out of the way and lined up by the fence, stealing glimpses of each other and Vancouver. Weissmann was the only one to keep his head straight, observing Vancouver with a expression that said nothing. But then he looked at Felix, his eyebrows lowering in a daring demeanor.
Felix frowned at his friends. They weren't doing this to make space for Vancouver, they were indiscreetly avoiding him. Sticking out like a sore thumb, Felix deduced they were expecting for him to do the same, almost like a test.
He wobbled on his spot, still very much drunk. After running a hand through his hair, he looked at Vancouver.
The man had his hands in the pockets of his long coat, collar up to shield him from the wind. He was looking Felix up and down as well as the others, perhaps questioning their University attire. It struck Felix that he'd been in the same clothes the entire day.
Felix fumbled with own coat, playing with the too many buttons and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Vancouver sensed his inner conflict and took the same patient, judgmental attitude the others were manifesting.
Felix cleared his throat awkwardly, afraid to meet anyone's gaze.
He'd made up his mind last night, and since then the decision only got more and more rooted what with Otilia's words, Weissmann's, and the guys' current attitude.
He would avoid his cousin.
Felix took a step towards his group, peeking at Vancouver from under his eyebrows. The man was looking at Felix's shoes as if they were at fault, but when Felix finally got on his friends' side, his face cleared out.
But... it was a look that it made Felix's heart tremble.
What with Felix's experience in medicine, he could only compare the clarity in Vancouver's eyes to the one he had the misfortune to witness while working on a lab rat. It was supposed to be an alive dissection, but one tremble of the hand and... it was gone.
It was just how Vancouver looked right then. Gone.
And then he sort of smiled, as though everything was finally good in the world. A twitch, causing faint lines to frame his stretched lips.
"Remember that conversation I said would be hilarious in the 'near future', which so happens to be... now..." his voice held no grudge, held nothing in fact. "Well, ha ha."
Vancouver nodded, looking away. He looked at his own home but his eyes went beyond that. With another nod that was no longer aimed at Felix but at himself, he walked away, determined.
Felix didn't watch him go. Instead, he leaned on the stone fence and let out a shaky breath.
"Perhaps your sight is erroneous."
"Or maybe only mine is rightful."
Weissmann gripped his shoulder, but Felix only brushed it off. He rubbed his forehead, trying to sober up enough to get on his feet. He gripped Weissmann's tie and used it to pull himself up before starting to head for the sorry excuse of a gate.
His friends let him be, wishing him good night and patting him on the back, but he didn't stop walking until the very point he fell onto his mattress and passed out.
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Autumn was breath-taking. All alternations of weather were simply gorgeous. Were it to be sunny, it'd only cast gold on the amalgam of rusty colors. Were it to be cloudy, it'd give off that feeling you could only get under a blanket. That comfortable, compassionate atmosphere.
That day, Felix benefited of the latter. He was in the garden, observing his surroundings with wide open eyes since there was no inch of sun ray to discomfort his vision. One of his father's books barely hanged between his fingers.
As soon as he'd stepped out of the kitchen back door, he just let himself look around and breathe deeply.
With a swing of the right leg, he went down the three long, thin steps and walked through the fallen leafs, kicking them left and right. The clear, slightly chill air tasted just perfect, letting him clear his mind. Quite literally, he was thinking of nothing, simply set on what was before his eyes.
He felt as though he was in sepia. Everything around him, was it blue or green or red or else, had let its color lose all ambition under the thick clouds that strained the light.
Felix glanced one last time at the kitchen, from which the smell of tea could still be traced. Otilia and Mary always had the 5 o'clock tea, and that day they'd convinced him into joining as he was passing by.
As expected, Otilia acted as if nothing had occurred between them two. Felix went along with it.
He glanced away from there, not wishing to quit the comfortable thoughtlessness, and went for the gazebo.
-----
Felix was so engrossed by the book that he only noticed the passing of time once he could no longer read without squinting. The pages had turned from yellow to orange due to the sunset, and he was starting to shiver under the argyle sweater.
All he did about the situation was turn on the porch light. A duty old lantern placed on a baluster of the gazebo's railing. But once he turned towards it, he noticed thin slits of light sneak through the fence separating Eustace's yard and Aglee's.
He didn't give it much thought before closing his book with a soft thud and placing it aside. He stood up and stretched his sore limbs before turning around and stepping up on the bench, then the railing, to take a peek.
It was coming from their shed. Nearly glued to the house, white, the paint mostly scraped off. The door was nearly the size of the wall facing Felix, and above it was a large window through which the light went noticed.
The door suddenly went from ajar to open.
Felix hunched down and peeked between two planks to see Vancouver lean on the door frame. He only looked left and right, that exact same haunting expression as yesterday, before going back in.
"Or maybe only mine is rightful."
...Felix was a smart man. What he'd done last night was out of mere entourage, because of his friends, and the alcohol did have play in it all. It was unlike himself to just let everyone else's opinion change his own.
...What would his father think of him? If the man would've let anyone else get to him, all of those books wouldn't have found their spots in the corners of the littlest known libraries of Felix's hometown.
It might sound like not much to the average person, but the average person wasn't there to see Dr. Sima's reaction upon having someone buy his work.
And so, Felix decided to apologize.
With a last glance at the shed he hopped off the railing, then the bench, then the gazebo, and off he went.
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Contest!
What do you think is going on in that shed? Winner gets dedication!