Chapter Text
"For the last time, Break, Three Days Grace is not a shitty band and I'd prefer it if you got that through your thick skull."
"Oh ho! Getting defensive over nothing as always? How old are you again?"
Gilbert snarled but didn't bother responding this time. It didn't matter that much to him, anyways, but Break knew how to push his buttons in the most unimportant yet irritating ways. He directed his attention instead to his cup of coffee, nearly done despite just recently ordering it. He probably shouldn't have drank it that fast, but whatever, he had too many papers to read so he might as well get in the zone.
After not receiving a response, Break fell silent as well, finishing off his cake pop in less than two bites. Gilbert didn't understand why he liked those things so much- they were too sweet, and too little of a thing for such a high price. Break then poured ungodly amounts of sugar into his tea like he was some sort of hummingbird, and took the stick of the cake pop out of his mouth to finally drink what was no longer tea and more sugar-water.
Other than the cake pop thing, Gilbert didn't understand a lot about Break. He listened to weird music that no one's ever heard of (honestly, Break had no right to judge his music taste!), dressed like the worst part of the thrift store came and attacked him, was a horrid conversation partner, acted like an atrocious child, and yet managed to have two absolutely wonderful partners. Really, what could this guy be bringing to the table for Reim and Sharon? He supposed they saw something in him...
Gilbert wondered what he saw in Break, and why he hung out with him so frequently.
It wasn't exactly a planned thing. Gilbert and Break frequented the same cafe, had mutual friends, and similar relationship situations- and as someone who had never met another couple in a polyamorous relationship before, he felt some sort of need to be closer to the community. Break was a veteran in more ways than one, and Gilbert knew he could learn a lot from him.
Gilbert would often come to this cafe to focus on lesson plans and grade papers with a change of scenery (by that, meaning, not at his apartment or at the Nightray's), and Reim used to stop by a lot with Break in tow, and the three men would sit and catch up with each other. Gilbert liked this a lot, way more than he'd openly admit- he'd always admired Reim, he wanted more interaction with other polyamorous couples, and sometimes it was nice to have a social life outside of his partners, his classes, and his family. He could call Reim a friend.
But Reim got a promotion so Break has been showing up to cafe solo. He'd sit by Gilbert and type at his computer with slender, pale fingers (so, so pale- paler than Gilbert had ever seen before), occasionally making sarcastic comments to Gilbert that were a poor representation of a conversation. And Gilbert, on his own computer, drinking his coffee and reading papers sent barely before the deadlines, would make poor, sarcastic comments right back.
Would he call Break a friend?
He didn't know. He only knew that he noticed the days that he was absent, too. In a way, he'd rather take the schoolyard level teasing and absurd remarks then nothing.
After a good long while of silence from the both of them, Gilbert finally perked up on his own accord, looking up from his computer to give his eyes a bit of a break. "How's Reim doing?"
"He's fine. Busy." Break didn't look away from his computer screen, one visible eye reading something that Gilbert didn't even know. He heard a long time ago, from Reim himself, that Break was missing the other eye- only more recently had Gilbert caught a glimpse of the socket, briefly, like it was a ghost. Sharon did a good job of keeping his hair styled so it didn't stand out; Vincent, his brother, hated attention on his odd eyes, and although it wasn't the same situation, Gilbert wouldn't be surprised if Break did, too.
"Works a lot longer hours then what he used to. Makes better money, too." Break eventually added this, but still didn't bother to look at him to make the conversation more polite. Gilbert started to feel a bit foolish.
"Ah... and Sharon?"
"She's fine. Business is doing well." Again, he said this without looking up, and then ended it there.
And that was all there was to their conversation. Gilbert came in wearing a Three Days Grace band shirt from a concert he had once attended, Break proceeded to roast him until he got some sort of response, they sat in silence, and then had a measly conversation that barely escalated past thirty seconds- most of that was just silence, anyhow. Reim and him did a lot of work while here, yes, but they would go into a bit more detail about their lives, trade stories, talk casually about shows and interests. Hold a conversation, the way friends were supposed to... or, what Gilbert was sure friends were supposed to do.
He didn't understand this relationship, though, and he didn't understand Break. Did Break want to be friends, too? Did he feel obligated to associate with him because of Reim? Did Gilbert feel obligated to associate with him because of Reim?
He liked Reim. He wanted to be friends with him. He would consider Reim a friend, honestly, but they've never explicitly established that they were in such a familiarity with each other, and the idea of suddenly saying it made Gilbert feel a little shy. Sharon, Reim's girlfriend, was lovely- Alice and her worked together, and she got along quite well with Oz. Gilbert had never spent a huge amount of time with her on his own, but he liked her for the most part. She seemed... mature, and had an aura of grace about her that transcended her age. Plus, she gave Alice a job when she needed something to make money while she figured herself out... and that was really cool of her. He would like to be friends with her, too, one day.
But Break?
The two men eventually fell into total silence again for a stretch of time. Gilbert went back to reading papers, Break went back to whatever he was doing (work? Social media stalking? Tweeting? One of each- several tabs open?), until the hours on his computer screen in the corner of the task bar added up. His eyes felt tired after a while and he debating ordering another coffee, going outside for a smoke, or just going home and finishing this up there.
Gilbert checked his phone to see what activity was going on. He had to swipe through several notifications about group chat activity- he belonged to two: one for him, Oz, and Alice, and one for his family. The family one was meant mainly for get together scheduling and family meeting times. Sometimes Vincent posted his selfies in the chat, but no one knew how to respond to them. The other one was used for many things, from Oz's memes, to Alice asking what dinner was going to be, to where people were going to be after they were done with all their adult responsibilities.
Looked like Oz and Alice were at home. Might as well go back- there was no reason to stay here. Even if Gilbert might get a bit distracted, both of his partners usually went to sleep before he did, so he could drink some coffee later on at night and get some more work done. It wasn't like anything would be missed here with this riveting experience with Break, and honestly, the older man might not even notice he would be gone.
Closing his laptop and beginning to pack up, Gilbert did take notice that Break had moved at some point to order a cheesecake. When and how was a complete mystery- Gilbert had been sitting across from him the entire time like they were on a date going horribly wrong, how had he not noticed that Break had moved? Did he move silently, like some form of ninja? The man was wearing the loudest shirt in existence, that was impossible.
Break did eventually look up at him, fork in mouth. Gilbert did an awkward half smile and he slid out of his chair, shouldering his laptop bag. Neither men spoke to each other, and Gilbert did debate trying to take a peek at what Break was doing on his computer, but had no idea how to do it without seeming obvious, so he decided against it.
"Leaving?" Break eventually asked, removing the fork from his mouth to gather up more cheesecake. Honestly, Gilbert had never seen this man consume anything that wasn't packed full of sugar. That couldn't be healthy.
"Yeah. Figured I'd get started on dinner soon, and... probably do some work later..." he attempted explaining pathetically, not even sure why he bothered with giving some sort of excuse. He gave a half-wave with his right hand before pocketing it, starting to head out of this awkward, poor excuse of companionship.
"Alright," Break said, eye flickering back to his screen. "I'll let Reim know you asked about him. See you next time?"
Gilbert was sufficiently caught off guard, stopping dead in his tracks. He didn't know what to say to that, he actively did not expect it at all. He looked at Break, but the older man didn't meet his gaze, still looking at his computer screen. He opened his mouth and then closed it, knowing he looked like a fool in a public place, gaping like a fish, but... was this a thing now?
Two men, sitting in near silence with each other while they worked, barely communicating, barely looking at each other, except for the occasional sarcastic and shitty remark? Was this what they were going to do now?
That's not what he and Reim did. He and Reim were friends who didn't sit in silence and had nice, normal conversations. He didn't understand this. He didn't understand a lot about Break.
But... that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Gilbert realized. It was different, but not awful- not even bad, really. Gilbert preferred the company over being alone, he noticed the absence when no one was here. It wasn't a picture-perfect friendship of two men bonding over coffee, but...
"Yeah," Gilbert eventually said, nodding his head and letting his face relax into a soft smile. "See you next time. Have a good one."
Break looked up and snorted at him as if he had said something absurd, waving dismissive hand at him. His fingers were long and pale, paler than Gilbert had ever seen before. "Yeah, yeah," he sighed, but he didn't sound particularly exasperated. Not in the slightest. "You too. Go listen to a band that's not shit for once."
Gilbert snorted, debated slamming the laptop screen closed, but decided to treat the other man to silence and take his leave properly and with dignity, not giving Break this one. This one. There'd be others.
Would he call Break a friend?
Maybe.