Work Text:
“Prosimy o okazanie biletów! Tickets please!”
Slightly startled, she pulls out her left earbud to help her ease back into reality. It’s not an easy task, the story she’s been reading is too engrossing to really let go just yet. Her eyes flicker to the window next to her, trying to figure out where they’re at by now but the endless fields of agricultural land, divided only by scattered trees of all kinds, are not helping her to pinpoint it.
She lets her eyes wander to the inside of the train and takes in her surroundings for the first time since she switched trains in Břeclav on her way back to Poland after meeting a friend in Budapest. It’s definitely more packed than when she had let herself slouch into the plush fabric of the seats - she checks her watch - 2 hours ago. Sitting opposite her, two men in their twenties are cooing at something on a phone, a high-pitched “What a cutie you have here!” from one of them lets her guess that they’re either looking at pictures of a partner or an animal.
Something about these two catches her interest and looking for her ticket is momentarily forgotten as her gaze travels over their features. One of them has reddish hair flopped low into his face with his hunched-over position. When he looks up again to his neighbour, she sees kind amber eyes and countless freckles dancing on his face with his laughter. She can’t help but let her eyes wander over a very nicely defined chest and arms that definitely test the fabric of his forest green t-shirt to the utmost. In front of him, placed on the table that separates her row of seats from theirs is a backpack with a small, heart-shaped pin in pink and blue with a violet banner in the middle, saying “not confused” in an ornate font. She smiles to herself and unable to contain a low chuckle, she quickly tries to cover it by clearing her throat; her gaze darting to the window again to feign innocence. An adorable giggle lets her attention snap back to the other man sitting directly across from her whose slender hand is covering his mouth. His black curls are bouncing with every movement he makes as his icy blue eyes are glancing from the other man’s phone up to his face and back again; his high cheekbones coloured in a faint hue of pink. He’s lean and almost skinny compared to the other man, but seems just as tall. He’s wearing a light grey jumper with tiny little rainbows splattered all over. Sweet, she thinks to herself, and interesting, she can’t help but add in her head. Her mind’s so occupied by the intrigue of their relationship that the story she’s been reading is long forgotten; are they a couple? Friends? Strangers?
She briefly wonders why she’s interested in their lives but blames it on the monotony a seven hour train ride can bring.
Another “Prosimy o okazanie biletów! Tickets please!”, this time much closer, pulls her out of her musings and she realises she’s staring. She quickly averts her gaze to her purse, busying herself with searching for her tickets to show them to the slowly nearing train employee.
“Where are you travelling to? Also to Kraków Glówny?” She hears the man sitting next to the aisle ask, his voice tinted in the warmest timbre.
Ah, most possibly strangers then. Thank you for clarifying, she almost says out loud, feeling her cheeks grow warm, grateful for keeping an appearance of nonchalance as she’s still pretending to look for her tickets despite having them spotted almost immediately.
“Yeah,” the curly-haired man replies, and she can’t help but look up again, her curiosity taking over, “I’ve heard it’s the main station so I trusted that info when I booked it online.”
“Same,” the other man says, laughing softly, “I booked my stay nearby, I’ve heard it’s a great start to exploring the city.”
“You’re right,” she blurts out of nowhere, causing two heads to whip towards her. She feels her whole face heat up now.
“I mean,” she continues without actually knowing what to say and stops herself again. “Sorry,” she adds, clearing her throat in embarrassment, a sheepish smile on her lips.
She’s slightly taken aback by how kind they both smile at her as a response and she feels herself relax again.
“Are you from Kraków?” the dark haired man asks and when she nods, he continues, “Do you have any recommendations?”
His piercing blue eyes are fully trained on her and distract her to the point to which she’s momentarily forgotten everything about her current home town. She blinks at him for a few beats until she recovers enough and tells them about her favourite restaurant to get her beloved national dish ‘Pierogi’ and what she considers the most beautiful places in Kraków. They both listen to her very attentively, showing interest by asking specific questions and she catches herself marvelling about how they act like a couple without actually being one. Yet. She really hopes they’ll visit all the places she recommends together and has to stop herself, on more than one occasion, from pointing out how romantic something is.
The two men exchange shy glances with every, “Oh, that sounds so great!” they exclaim at the same time and she has to bite her lip more than once to keep her expression neutral. The curly haired man even takes actual notes and with her final, “That’s all I can think of right now,” the other man leans in as if to check on them and hums approvingly.
“These places all sound so interesting, can’t wait to check them out!” He says, nervously glancing at the man sitting next to him. Smooth, she thinks, as she leans back in her seat, unable to tear her eyes away, hoping for the dark haired man to take the pretty obvious hint.
“They do,” the man agrees, “I’m already looking forward to exploring the city.” His words grow quiet as something must’ve crossed his mind. He looks up, a tentative smile on his lips.
“Do you think-” the dark haired man starts but stops himself again, his gaze averting to the pen he’s nervously fidgeting with. He clears his throat and briefly closes his eyes and she almost reaches out to squeeze his hand and comfort him. Her eyes snap to the other man and he looks so hopeful, it makes her chest ache giddily for them both. What the fuck. She doesn’t even know their names but takes an interest in their blooming feelings as if they were her favourite characters of her favourite show falling in love for the nth time on the nth rewatch. She shakes her head just the tiniest bit to regain focus, not wanting to miss what she expects could grow into something very lovely. She realises she’s staring again so she fumbles for her phone to give herself an air of meaningful occupation. She holds it high and squints in the general direction of the screen as if she’s reading something interesting but in truth she’s missing the popcorn as she keeps stealing glances at the men sitting in front of her, now looking at each other in a way she can only describe as smitten awe. She barely holds in a snort.
“Yeah?” The blondish man encourages him to continue speaking, his expression so soft she can’t hold in a low sigh, her deep exhale briefly fogging her screen; something she would notice if she were paying attention to such a kind at the moment. The smile on the curly haired man grows slightly more confident.
“I wanted to ask if you’d be up to visit those places together?” he asks before nervousness takes over again, “I mean, obviously we don’t have to do it all together and I have no idea where you’re actually staying at and if it would be even convenient and I don’t even know if you’re visiting a partner or what’s going-”
“Charlie.” The other man interrupts him, his voice firm and she briefly starts guessing what his profession is - teacher maybe, judging by his ability to shut someone up in the kindest way possible - but it’s not enough to fully take away her attention of what’s happening in front of her.
“I’d love to do that with you,” the other man continues a moment later, “I was trying to build up my courage and ask you the same. And I’m not visiting a partner, I’m single, and I’m pretty sure it would be very convenient for me.”
She feels her smile grow and has to roll in her lips to keep it from being too obvious. Smooth, she thinks again, not sure this time if she’s only referring to the reddish-blonde haired man.
Her eyes flicker to the other man - Charlie - who blushes an adorable shade of red and whose smile shows all the tell-tale signs of being giddy. He tries to school it back to a more neutral expression but is obviously failing as the corners of his lips keep twitching into a traitorous smile.
“Good,” Charlie murmurs and it’s so quiet she almost doesn’t hear it. But she sees his smile grow, mirroring the happy one from the man sitting next to him.
She feels her eyes widen when she sees them leaning in closer and almost stops breathing. Are they about to kiss? What?
Her palm - having a mind of its own - flies to where her heart is beating a tad faster in anticipation as she’s too endeared by them to hold back from clutching the fabric of her blouse in her fist tightly. A beat later, she realises what she’s doing and has to start scratching her collarbone - or whatever her fingers can reach through the silken material of her black top - to cover up her quite ridiculous and dramatic gesture.
Her starting and whatever they were about to be doing are interrupted by the train employee who’s finally arrived at their seats to check their tickets and she catches herself cursing his timing.
The moment’s obviously broken as both men have to grab their phones to show their e-tickets but she doesn’t miss their matching blushes starting to cover their pretty faces.
For a while, they’re both quiet but it doesn’t seem awkward. There’s just something about them; they already seem so familiar with each other, even though they’ve obviously just met and it just warms her heart. She feels like she’s witnessing love at first sight and that thought lets her suddenly feel like an intruder and she takes her phone in her hands again, this time with the intention to actually use it.
She leans back and unlocks it to resume her reading and while the site loads - slowly, due to a tunnel they’re currently in - she briefly glances back at them as they start to talk again. They’re touchy and she doesn’t know if they changed their behaviour because of the obvious mutual interest or if they’ve been like this from the beginning. Either could be true, she thinks to herself and the thought makes her smile again whenever she sees a gentle shove against shoulders, a comforting hand placed on a forearm or both of them leaning in when they laugh. Right, she’s staring again and her hand holding her phone shoots up to pretend reading. It takes her a while to really register what she’s looking at and her screen turns black more than once when she hears them talk about where they’re staying at - very close to each other - and what places they want to go visit first - the romantic ones.
She can’t wipe her happy smile off her face for the rest of the ride and when they all exit the train, she keeps trailing behind them and almost “Eeeek”s into her fist when she sees their hands brush tenderly until they hook their pinkies together.
<3 <3 <3
A couple of days later, she’s at the Tauron Arena in Kraków and tries her best to take a photo of Dawid Podsiadło for her friend who couldn’t make it to his concert; tries to catch the singer smiling while he talks between two songs as they both find it so endearing. She’s momentarily distracted when she takes note of voices talking in a foreign language somewhere behind her that sounds a lot like British English. She’s curious as it’s not quite usual for Brits to turn up at concerts of a Polish Pop Star who’s only known in, well, Poland, and almost squeals in excitement when she realises who exactly is standing there, not even a metre away from her, heads leaning in close as they start to laugh about something, shoulders bumping conspiratorially; clearly in their own bubble. They seem so comfortable and happy with each other and she would confidently bet on her life that those men from the train have spent the past couple of days in each other’s company. It fills her with a joy she can’t quite explain; never in her life has she taken that much fond interest in two stranger's love life. There’s just something special about them; in the way they practically radiate love; in the way they both beam with happiness and in the way they just seem meant to be. The word soulmates crosses her mind and she finds it quite fitting.
She hears Charlie giggle brightly as he scolds the other man in obvious jest, his “Nick!” sounding way too affectionate and she can make out his blush despite the rapidly darkening room as the first notes of one of her favourite songs, Nieznajomy start to play.
Nick and Charlie, she thinks to herself as she smiles in their direction, something that goes completely unnoticed as they both only have eyes for each other.
<3 <3 <3
She takes a little detour from work to get home to go to one of Kraków’s most particular sights, her favourite mound, the one in the Jewish District. It had been a lot today at work; an impending visit of a CEO looming over her whole division, stressing them out with its unpredictability and she sighs when she finally lets herself sink on the grass, enjoying the quietness of the still warm evening. She lets her eyes wander over the city which has grown dear to her just over a decade of living there; she takes in the well-known shape of buildings, calming her with their familiarity. She listens as birds tell her a story in the most tender way until she hears a giggle that she recognises immediately, a fact that surprises her quite a bit. No way, she thinks as she straightens up to look around, searching for a head of dark curls, most likely to be found next to reddish-blond strands of hair and of course, not that far from where she sits on the meadow, she spies the two men from her train ride home not 4 days ago. She muffles her quiet squeal with her scarf, the soft fabric brushing her lips as she presses it close to temper her excitement upon seeing them slowly lean in for a kiss. Her eyes are glued to them, trying to find out if it’s their first kiss. She blushes and averts her gaze quickly as, within seconds, the kiss turns rather passionate. Probably not their first kiss then, she muses as she lets grass blades slip through her fingers, focusing on the soft dance of green the movement leaves behind. After a while, she dares to glance back at Nick and Charlie and sees them huddled so close, she has trouble distinguishing one from the other in the slowly dimming light. She lets her mind travel back to when Charlie had asked Nick so shyly to spend their days with each other and can’t hold back an endeared sigh as she catches herself thinking how far they’ve come in those few days.
She goes unnoticed - as expected - when both men stand up as their focus is solely on each other. Her gaze follows them as they make their way down the mound, Nick’s arm wrapped tightly around Charlie’s shoulder, Charlie’s arm curled around Nick’s waist, halfway disappearing under his jacket. They’re holding each other as close as humanly possible while walking down a hill and she feels way more happy than could be reasonably explained. Not expecting to ever see the couple again, she unseeingly waves at them, a soft smile taking over her features as she inwardly wishes them the best.
<3 <3 <3
“Oh, I’d say sitting next to each other on the train to Kraków was already quite the matchmaker!”
She feels her eyes widen as she registers the words spoken in British English and she slowly lowers her hand holding a tin of sweetcorn. No way. What are the fucking odds?
An adorably low giggled “Nick!” is the response that causes her grip on the shopping item to loosen to the point of almost letting it fall to the floor; she catches it only barely in time and puts it absentmindedly into her basket, No way-no way-no way! now running on a loop in her mind.
She leans closer to the shelf in an attempt to hear better what they're talking about, throwing all rules of etiquette into the wind.
“Okay, we have snacks we both like, some fruit and water. What else do we need?” She hears one of them ask.
“What about bread? I know we said we’d go and buy sandwiches at the train station before boarding the train to Vienna, but maybe we could use some more?”
Shut up, they’re travelling home together? She almost squeals in her excitement. On a second thought she discovers that she’s honestly not really that surprised and just shrugs to herself, her smile bright.
“Nick,” she hears Charlie - by rule of elimination - sigh fondly, “You and your newly discovered love for Polish bread. But yes, let’s do that”
“What are your preferences, Char?”
Char? She feels her face contort into a ridiculously awed expression and almost coos at them, realising a tad too late that the voices she just listened to are growing quieter. She straightens and looks around to check if anyone has seen her eavesdrop so brazenly.
She clears her throat as she hurries to get around the shelf as quickly as possible to find Nick and Charlie again; grocery shopping and her basket long forgotten.
“But Legolas doesn’t look like me at all!” She hears one of them say and stops in her steps because what? How did they change topic to that?
“Not true! What about his blue, piercing eyes? And his lean, elegant figure. And his angular face and cheekbones…” Nick - she’s never been more sure in her life - says in an almost dreamy voice, trailing off. She can’t really blame him here on his obvious smittenness because honestly? Same.
It elicits another giggle and then they’re so quiet, she thinks she’s lost them again. She spies around the corner in what she hopes is an inconspicuous manner but pulls back instantly as she sees them kissing next to the bread. For fuck’s sake, these two! Their love is almost a bit unbearing to watch, she thinks, as she leans against rows of packed tea, a smile on her face that completely betrays the meaning of her words.
With her gaze resting on an old couple carrying their basket together, she remembers her own and rushes back to the canned goods aisle to retrieve it; thankful for having only non-refrigerated food to buy today.
When she makes it to the checkout zone, she finds the two in the row next to her, lining up for another cash desk. This time, she has no choice but to listen to them as they stand so close to her. They’re gesticulating towards the old couple she’d also seen earlier.
“Have you seen them? I mean, I didn’t catch a word but they acted so sweet with each other, it warmed my heart,” Nick says quietly, a soft smile on his lips.
Charlie hums in agreement. “I think showing how much you love someone with small gestures in your everyday life is just as beautiful as saying these three words out loud.”
“I bet she used to help him with his tie in the mornings because he hated doing it.”
“Do you know the feeling of hating to tie a tie, Mister teacher?” Charlie teases, earning him a confirming “Duh!”
“I bet she wrote him little love notes and stuffed them into his jacket before they both left for work.”
“Is that something you’d do, Nick?” Charlie’s voice is unbearably soft when he asks this and she can’t help but look up from where she's putting her items on the conveyor belt.
She sees Nick nod as he leans in for a quick kiss. “I would,” he says quietly; most certainly only for Charlie to hear. She averts her gaze again, trying to mind her own business.
“I bet he’d send her cute memes and gifs to cheer her up on rough days,” Charlie muses. He chuckles after a beat, “If they had cell phones back then, I mean.”
“Maybe he does it now?”
She hears Charlie hum lowly in response. When it’s her turn at the check out, she loses sight of these two men who are so obviously in love.
<3 <3 <3
“And?” she giddily asks her friend sitting across from her at the wooden restaurant table, “What do you think of them?”
The only response she gets are eyebrows raised high and a very approving hum as her friend closes her eyes to exaggeratedly enjoy eating Pierogi, one of the favourite dishes in the world for both of them, nodding slowly in delight when she swallows down the last bit.
“You definitely did not exaggerate, they’re delicious!” Her friend says when she opens her eyes again to look at her in obvious enthusiasm and she can’t help but smile. She loves how they both can get excited over small things like eating food. “Honestly, they’re the best I’ve ever had,” her friend continues, “No idea how you keep finding places that make them even better every time I visit you here in Kraków.”
She laughs when her friend's words grow muffled and interspersed with low groans as she stuffs her mouth with another one of those delicious savoury filled dumplings.
She’s about to tease her about her lack of proper etiquette when she hears her gasp and sees an excited smile take over her features. Her friend’s repeated gesturing with her chin to something she must see slightly above her right shoulder makes her expectantly turn around to learn what her friend’s obvious joy’s about. She sees two men sitting at a table, one of them holding out a small dark-red velvety box with its lid open. She can’t hear a word but feels her eyes widen as realisation hits her and she recognises who exactly is sitting there. She turns back to her friend with a force that nearly gives her whiplash.
“They’re them! It’s- look! It’s!” She says, her hands waving in excitement before she groans in frustration, “Fuck, my brain has melted my vocabulary. It’s Nick and Charlie!” She pretty much whisper-shouts, her friend’s eyes now so wide it’s almost comical, mouth open as she stares at her in disbelief.
“No way,” she whispers with obvious glee after regaining her ability to speak, her gaze already back to watching the other table, her smile growing soft and her eyes suspiciously misty. She holds back a chuckle but can’t really be mocking her friend as she herself is growing emotional when she turns back to the two men and what’s most likely a wedding-proposal. She quickly does the maths and realises that it’s been two years since she’s seen them for the first time on a train to Kraków. She sees the curly haired man wipe away tears before he reaches into the pocket of his black jeans, fumbling for something with shaky fingers, laughing as he pulls out a small dark-green box.
She hears her friend squeak and excitedly clap her hands and she can’t hold back in her laugh anymore as she turns around briefly, trying to scold her into silence with her glare but fails spectacularly as she sees the happy smile on her friend’s face.
“They’re so fucking cute, I can’t!” Her friend exclaims as quietly as possible. “Have you seen that? They’re both proposing! Oh my heart, this is gold.” She sighs giddily, “I can see now why you kept talking about them so much I almost wrote fanfiction for you about them.”
She kicks her friend’s shin in mock-offence but doesn't say a word. She might have been obsessed with their love after all, if only a little, of course.
They both turn their attention back to the two men, to Nick and Charlie, and see them slide silver bands over each other’s ring fingers, cheeks glistening from happy tears as they lean close over the narrow table and kiss each other so tenderly, it makes her heart ache in the best of ways. They practically ooze happiness, hands buried into dark curls and cradling a stubbly light-haired cheek as they keep kissing. When they pull back, both their eyes are shining in the golden light of the fairy lights hanging on the wall above them.
“You were part of their meet-cute, saw them fall in love over that week two years ago and now you're seeing them getting engaged?” Her friend muses, her voice low as she exhales a shaky breath. She’s quiet for a moment before a low chuckle escapes her lips, "I already wonder how you’ll manage to actually attend their wedding or the welcoming of their firstborn, but I have no doubt in your abilities. Let’s make this happen, and please, take me with you!"