squeefit. in vast quantities.
Once We Hit the Top
“Oh my God, it’s water!”
“What were you expecting, vanilla frosting?”
Angel stops eyeing Lake Erie like something’s going to jump out and attack her and turns to Mark, raising an eyebrow. “A toxic waste dump in all but name, more like. When I was living here, there were rumors of people catching two-headed fish out of this. Few years before I was born, the river spontaneously combusted - well, not officially, but no one believes it was anything else. That sound like water to you?”
Mark blinks. “Two-headed fish?”
“I never saw one myself, but that’s what people said.”
“Scarsdale was never that interesting. Wish I could’ve gotten one on film.”
“Probably just as well you never got the chance. If it were still that bad there’d be some kind of public outcry by now.”
“Fair enough. It’s beautiful out here.”
“Definitely better than I remember. Guess the cleanup effort helped some.”
“Think the best part’s standing next to me,” Mark says, wrapping an arm around Angel.
“And what if I think that works the other way around?”
“You’ll just have to be wrong about that.”
“Well, if it’s you insisting, I might be able to deal with it.” Angel leans over and kisses Mark. “This was an amazing idea, you know.”
“You deserve it, especially after all the shit last semester put you through. You need the chance to relax a bit. What do you want to do next?”
“...I don’t know. We hit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday, and other than that there’s not a whole lot to do here. I’d take you to meet my grandparents, except this is supposed to be a fun trip.”
“I thought you liked your grandparents. They can’t be worse than my parents, can they?”
“Oh, they’d love you... until they found out we’re a thing. Then they’d ignore you as much as they possibly could and start asking me when I’m going to get around to finding myself a nice girl.” Angel sighs. “The skirts don’t work so well on people who’ve known you since birth. Besides, they’ve probably heard from my parents about the college thing by now.”
“That’s... I don’t know if there are words for how much that sucks.”
“Kicker of it is, they’re the ones who moved to the States for greater freedom, and now they don’t want to deal with me exercising said. But if that’s the way they see it... Sorry, I shouldn’t be dumping all this on you now.”
“It’s all right. God knows I’ve ranted at you about my family often enough.”
“Relatives. If they won’t even try to get it, I can’t think of them as family, however much that stings.”
Mark pulls Angel into a proper hug. “You’re not getting rid of me any time soon, for what that’s worth. If there’s not much else to do here, where do you want to go next?”
“‘S worth a lot, honey.” A pause for thought, then: “Chicago, maybe? But let’s not leave until tomorrow.”
“You think we can come up with something to keep ourselves occupied for a night?”
Angel kisses Mark thoroughly, then grins. “We’re resourceful. I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
Mark grins. “Well, I was thinking of taking chemistry in the fall, if one of my other classes falls through. Perhaps you could help refresh my memory on the subject.” With that, he picks Angel up, surprising her into laughter, and carries her back to the car.
It’s good to hear Angel laughing again.
“Such a gentleman I’ve got.”
“Well, I do try.”
“You do well. Let’s go.”
So they do, and by the time they’re done keeping each other occupied, Angel’s temporarily lost track of the English language. Mark can’t help feeling slightly proud of himself for that one, for all he doesn’t know how well he’d do if asked to put together a coherent sentence. In English or Spanish.
“...how do you do that,” Angel finally manages, and Mark can’t help smirking a little.
“Can’t give away all my secrets.”
“Why not? ‘Fraid I’ll use ‘em on you?”
“Oh, absolutely terrified.” Mark puts an arm around Angel, and kisses him. “Love you. More than anything.”
“High praise, the way you treat your camera.”
“Well, film’s the only thing that’s ever come close to doing what you do to me. You’ve earned it. Several hundred times over.”
Angel smiles, sleepy and content. “Love you too. Always.”
That’s a big word - one they haven’t used before, and one that neither of them toss around lightly. And there was a point when Mark never would have thought anyone would use it in this context, not for him. But now he just can’t even begin to imagine life without Angel, and he doesn’t doubt for a second Angel means the full weight of what he just said.
“Yeah. Always.”
“Damn long time, that.”
“Good. I want it to be a long time.”
“So do I.” Angel curls up against Mark, and the two of them drift off to sleep.