Work Text:
A Wrinkle in Time
"So, Eric, about what happened yesterday . . . " Vaughn trails off.
Weiss glances up at him. So many wrinkles have creased his forehead, they're spreading down his nose. It's adorable, but Weiss wouldn't mention that under normal circumstances, let alone while Vaughn is in Full Sydney Mode. Which makes this exactly like any other moment, even before her disappearance.
Weiss just says, "We shouldn't have done it."
Vaughn's eyes widen; he looks grateful and much less adorable. "You think so, too?"
"No." Weiss wants to kick something. "I knew what you were going to say."
"Look, it just seems like a mistake, with --"
"Sydney having been found."
"Yeah."
"Congratulations, by the way." He realizes some of the bitterness spilled through, but he can only swallow so much bile without puking.
Vaughn is either ignoring it, unable to think of a helpful response, or just as oblivious as usual. "I'm sorry it has to be like this, but --"
"I know. Forget it." He really means that, except not how Vaughn will think. He means Forget her.
Forget she ever existed. Forget you want to forget that nineteen months ago you started kissing and touching me like I'd wanted you to do the day we met, and that yesterday, when you pushed inside me for the first time, I forgot what almost dying felt like.
Weiss won't be able to escape the memory anymore. "Nothing happened, nothing's going to happen. It'll be like before." Vaughn starts to say something else, so Weiss amends, "Before before. She'll never know."
"Oh. I . . . thanks, Eric." Vaughn turns, then glances over his shoulder. "Are you sure you're --"
Weiss focuses on the pile of utterly meaningless paperwork on his desk. "It's fine."
It's great. It's the best thing ever; or, it could have been, you idiot.
One little wrinkle indicates Vaughn is still concerned about this, about him. Weiss isn't going to make it any easier than he already has, though. He has no interest in easing away the last bit of proof in his favor when all other evidence points to Sydney. "I'll see you around, okay?"
"Sure," Vaughn says.
Maybe that wrinkle deepens as he walks away, but Weiss doesn't watch him go.
'Yesterday' lasted for over a year and just became nothing.
He isn't in the mood to count his blessings. He totally wants to kick something.
- end -