Competition (Threefold Element)
Title: Competition
Author: beloved_voices
Fandom: Threefold Element
Claim Focus: General Cast - Ethan
Theme: Drink
Disclaimer: Threefold Element is my own creation, and is copyright me.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings and Notes: m/m relationships
It hurt. The pain was back, throbbing inside his chest sharper than it ever had been, as he walked away from the bar. Away from the sight. Away from them.
He'd gone out drinking that night, a quiet evening of revelry with a few close, personal strangers surrounding him so that he might forget the breakup, and forget the fact that Karen was moving on with her life while he was stuck every day in that park, staring at the art gallery and watching for a sage-haired man to step out of the building. He couldn't understand what it was about the man that soothed the ache in his chest, but he knew that he wanted to find out, if it would stop him from feeling like a stalker.
So he'd gone out, getting away from the Glass Dreams and away from Karen, and settling into a nice little yuppie bar across town. And once there, he ordered himself a gin and tonic, settling into a bar seat and focusing his attention on the television he couldn't hear, and watching a game he didn't care about. And for a time, all was good... until he happened to glance toward the door just as that man with the sage-green hair walked in.
He was grinning, and stumbling slightly, with that cheerfully open look that could only mean he was drunk. And this close, Ethan was surprised to find his heart giving a tiny jump at the fine-boned features there. His heart sank a moment later as he registered the man supporting the focus of his attention, watched the way his arm lay around his waist, and they half-hugged in a slow, awkward dance toward the bar. COMPETITION, Ethan's mind screamed, and he froze, swallowing in sudden shock at the very idea. Competition?
Even as he thought it, they settled into the two seats right next to him, with the man he'd tagged competition closest. He had long, dark hair (a deep red-brown with some nice copper highlights now that Ethan could see it up close) and ice blue eyes that seemed to weigh everything around him. When his arm jostled Ethan and he turned, Ethan froze in that gaze, feeling like a deer in headlights. For a moment, there was a warm, bubbling joy in his chest.
He gasped, breaking the eye-contact and setting down money on the bar with abrupt, almost jerky movements. Too much money, he was sure, but it was done and he was leaving. If that single look had undone him - a single look from a man he'd already decided was someone to fight rather than befriend - what would it do if the sage-haired man looked his way? Ethan paused at the door, turning back just a little as the panic faded away... and saw their lips meet in a sweet, surprisingly-chaste kiss. And he left.
Author: beloved_voices
Fandom: Threefold Element
Claim Focus: General Cast - Ethan
Theme: Drink
Disclaimer: Threefold Element is my own creation, and is copyright me.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings and Notes: m/m relationships
It hurt. The pain was back, throbbing inside his chest sharper than it ever had been, as he walked away from the bar. Away from the sight. Away from them.
He'd gone out drinking that night, a quiet evening of revelry with a few close, personal strangers surrounding him so that he might forget the breakup, and forget the fact that Karen was moving on with her life while he was stuck every day in that park, staring at the art gallery and watching for a sage-haired man to step out of the building. He couldn't understand what it was about the man that soothed the ache in his chest, but he knew that he wanted to find out, if it would stop him from feeling like a stalker.
So he'd gone out, getting away from the Glass Dreams and away from Karen, and settling into a nice little yuppie bar across town. And once there, he ordered himself a gin and tonic, settling into a bar seat and focusing his attention on the television he couldn't hear, and watching a game he didn't care about. And for a time, all was good... until he happened to glance toward the door just as that man with the sage-green hair walked in.
He was grinning, and stumbling slightly, with that cheerfully open look that could only mean he was drunk. And this close, Ethan was surprised to find his heart giving a tiny jump at the fine-boned features there. His heart sank a moment later as he registered the man supporting the focus of his attention, watched the way his arm lay around his waist, and they half-hugged in a slow, awkward dance toward the bar. COMPETITION, Ethan's mind screamed, and he froze, swallowing in sudden shock at the very idea. Competition?
Even as he thought it, they settled into the two seats right next to him, with the man he'd tagged competition closest. He had long, dark hair (a deep red-brown with some nice copper highlights now that Ethan could see it up close) and ice blue eyes that seemed to weigh everything around him. When his arm jostled Ethan and he turned, Ethan froze in that gaze, feeling like a deer in headlights. For a moment, there was a warm, bubbling joy in his chest.
He gasped, breaking the eye-contact and setting down money on the bar with abrupt, almost jerky movements. Too much money, he was sure, but it was done and he was leaving. If that single look had undone him - a single look from a man he'd already decided was someone to fight rather than befriend - what would it do if the sage-haired man looked his way? Ethan paused at the door, turning back just a little as the panic faded away... and saw their lips meet in a sweet, surprisingly-chaste kiss. And he left.