perpetual_motion | FICLET: Milestone [1/1] Nigel/Bug [Crossing Jordan]

Title: Milestone
Author: Perpetual Motion
Fandom: Crossing Jordan
Pairing: Nigel/Bug
Rating: G
Summary: [I've got nothin'.]

Disclaimer: It's all bullshit and innduendo. Much like the subtext of the show.

Author's Notes: For

miriam_heddy. Consider it a hope for inspiration.

Milestone
By Perpetual Motion

It is 32 degrees and drizzling with fog coming off the water. All around Nigel and Bug people are hurrying with their umbrellas open and their heads down. There is mumbled cursing from almost everyone, but they don't hear it. They're sitting on a bench at the lip of the park, and they both have their heads back. Usually, they are very good immigrants who assimilate nicely with the people of Boston, but occasionally the need to feel England gets to powerful, and they will stop in the middle of a freezing night with rain and soak themselves to the skin.

Nigel opens his mouth a little and licks his lips when water hits his tongue. He reaches a hand over and curls it around the back of Bug's neck. "I can smell-"

"You can not smell London or Liverpool or anywhere else. We're in Boston." Bug turns his head so that he can see Nigel. There's a small smile on his face. "Although, it'd be nice if you could."

Nigel shrugs. "Boston's not so bad." He lifts his head off the back of the park bench and watches a woman dart across the street and directly into a puddle. "But sometimes..." he trails off.

"Yeah." Bug fingers the buttons on his coat for a minute. "We could go over for vacation."

Nigel's eyebrows go up. "We?"

Bug doesn't look up from fiddling with his coat. "Yes, 'we'. Close your mouth."

Nigel snaps his jaw shut. "If we go, you have to meet my parents." He watches Bug for a reaction. "If we go, I'll want to introduce you to all of the people I went to school with. If we go-"

"It's not if," Bug finally looks at Nigel again, "it's when."

"You...you really want to go to England with me?" Nigel recognizes the absurdity of his question but doesn't rephrase. It's not about whether or not Bug wants to go to England with him, it's whether or not Bug wants to see the England that Nigel knows. As close as they are, as smitten as they are with each other, their backgrounds are drastically different, and this is the first time Bug has seriously brought up the idea of being introduced to Nigel's background.

Bug slides his hand across the bench and touches Nigel's leg. "It's not England I want to go to." He pauses for a breath. "It's you."

"That's cheesy."

"But no less true." Bug's tone is somewhat self-deprecating. It's his only defense mechanism against the happiness he sees in Nigel's eyes.

Nigel squeezes the back of Bug's neck. "I'd love to take you to England." He smiles goofily at Bug for a few seconds before standing up and watching Bug stand beside him. He's a little surprised when Bug reaches for his hand as they start walking away from the park. Usually, he has to fight for a public display of affection like hand-holding. He stops dead in the middle of the sidewalk. "Did we just hit a milestone?"

Bug rolls his eyes. "No, I just made reference to wanting to be introduced to your, most likely, crazy family and friends to really confuse you."

Nigel squeezes Bug's hand and starts walking again. "I didn't even see it."

"You always miss the obvious."

"I didn't miss you."

Bug doesn't respond with more than a quick glance and a rub of his fingertips against the back of Nigel's hand.

They walk in silence in the freezing drizzle until their fingertips go numb.