Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Untitled ❯ Day 17 Auckland, New Zealand ( Chapter 6 )

Author's notes: As promised, here's the next chapter on time. This was also a fun chapter to write.

Day 17 Auckland, New Zealand

“You want to what?!” Willow stares at Will like he's insane. Which he probably is.

“I want to go bungee jumping off the Auckland Harbor Bridge,” Will says.

“You're joking, right?” Willow says. “Please tell me you're joking.”

“Nope,” Will says. “I'm totally serious.”

“Oh my God,” Willow mutters. He stares at Will some more. “Why?”

Will shrugs. “It seems fun.”

Willow knows his twin well enough to know that it's not only about having fun. It's also about the adrenaline. It's been like this for as far back as Willow can remember. Will has always been the adventurous one, trying anything and everything, especially if it seems dangerous. Willow has been the cautious one, never trying anything too dangerous, though he does like to try things from time to time. He'd much rather watch and try to keep Will from killing himself.

“So. You in?” Will asks.

Willow snorts. “As if. I'd rather not break my neck, thank you.”

“Oh come on,” Will protests. “It's perfectly safe.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Willow says. “I'll keep both feet firmly placed on the ground.”

“Are you at least gonna watch?” Will asks, pouting.

“Of course I'm going to watch,” Willow says. “Someone has to make sure you don't kill yourself.”

“I'm not going to kill myself,” Will protests.

“Yeah, because I've been looking after you,” Willow says.

“Yeah, whatever,” Will says, rolling his eyes.

It's a short walk to the Auckland Harbor Bridge. There's a young man a few years older than them waiting for them at the base.

“Hey Well. What's up?” he says, grinning at Will.

“Hey Blake,” Will says, grinning back.

Blake turns and his eyes widen when he sees Willow. He looks between Will and Willow several times. Willow, who is used to this, merely waits.

At last, Will says, “Blake, I don't think I ever introduced you to my twin?”

“N…no,” Blake stammers.

“My bad,” Will says. “Blake this is my twin brother, Willow. Willow, this is Blake, one of my former lovers.”

Will can't help wincing a bit at Will's introduction of Blake, but Blake doesn't seem to mind.

“Don't worry,” Willow says, shaking Blake's outstretched hand. “Will rarely remembers to mention that he has a twin brother.”

“So, will you be joining us today on the bungee jump?” Blake asks.

“Oh no,” Willow says, laughing. “I'm just watching.”

“Not a fan of heights?” Blake asks with a smile.

“Oh no, I'm fine with heights,” Willow says. “I just don't do the adventurous stuff like this. I leave that to my brother.”

“All right. Suit yourself.” Blake shrugs. He turns to Will. “Come on. Let's go get suited up.”

Will nods. “See you later,” he says to Willow.

“Have fun!” Willow says.

Willow knows from the glint in Will's eyes as he follows Blake away that he's going to have a lot of fun. This is the sort of thing Will lives for. Willow, on the other hand, is content to sit on a bench by the river with a copy of his favorite Shakespeare play, The Tempest.

He doesn't know how long he's been sitting there when he sees a pair of figures soaring through the air. As they get a little closer, Willow is able to recognize Will (it's the hair) and can't help smiling; Will looks like he's having a blast. When it's all over and Will is bounding over to him, he looks happier than Willow has seen him in the past couple days. His eyes are shining and his cheeks are flushed with color.

“Where's Blake?” Willow asks, looking around.

“Oh he had stuff to do,” Will says vaguely.

Willow decides that he'd rather not know the intimate details.

“Shall we go to lunch?” he suggests instead.

“Yeah!” Will says enthusiastically. “I'm starving.”

“What are you in the mood for?” Willow asks.

“I dunno.” Will shrugs.

Willow rolls his eyes and consults his Auckland guide book. “Let's see. It looks like there's a nice Mexican restaurant close by. That okay?”

“Yeah, that's fine,” Will says.

They walk to the restaurant in silence. A pretty waitress seats them and leaves them with menus and a basket of homemade tortilla chips and salsa. Will barely even acknowledges that the waitress is there. Willow waits until after she's filled their glasses with ice water before rounding on his brother.

“What's wrong?” he asks anxiously. “Are you feeling all right?”

“I'm fine,” Will says crossly. “Why did you think there's something wrong with me?”

“You barely even looked at the waitress,” Willow says. “I have never seen you pass up the opportunity to flirt with anyone, especially if they're cute.”

“She's not my type.” Will shrugs.

Willow snorts. “Bullshit. She's exactly your type. Young, beautiful probably seeing someone…”

“I just wasn't interested, okay?” Will snaps.

“Is it because of David?” Willow asks.

“Willow, shut up. Now,” Will says severely.

“It is, isn't it?” Willow leans back in his seat and surveys his twin with great amusement.

Will's gaze is furious, but his cheeks are tinged with pink. Willow cannot remember the last time he's seen Will blush.

“You poor bastard,” he drawls. “After all this time, after all the hearts you've broken, you finally fall in love, and it's the one person who will never be able to return your love. Karma is a nasty bitch, isn't it?”

“Shut up,” Will mutters.

“What are you going…” Willow cuts himself off mid-sentence as the waitress comes back to take their orders. When she's gone, he says softly, “What are you going to do?”

“I don't know!” Will almost shouts, rubbing his forehead in anger.

“You're not going to tell him are you?” Willow asks.

Will glares at him through his fingers. “What the fuck do you think?”

“I'm going with no,” Willow says.

“Wow, you're really smart,” Will says sarcastically.

Willow, who is used to Will's attitude just ignores him.

“This changes nothing. Got it?” Will says.

“Yeah,” Willow says a little sadly.

He knows that Will is lying not only to him, but to himself as well. He says that it changes nothing only because he wants it to change nothing. But really it changes everything. Willow knows that nothing is going to be the same even if Will doesn't know it yet.

***

After lunch, Will looks a little depressed, so Willow consults his guidebook to find something to cheer Will up.

“Oh, you've gotta be kidding me,” he mutters. He looks up. “Hey Will?”

“What?” Will asks somewhat irritably.

“How about we get some ice cream and then wander around Albert Park near the university?” Willow says. “They have an ice cream here we have to try. It's called hokey pokey ice cream. No, I'm not making this up.”

He waits a few seconds. At last, Will's cracks a small smile. Willow puts his arm around his brother.

“Come on,” he says softly.

They walk down the street.

“Hokey pokey ice cream? Really?” Will says.

“Yes, really,” Willow says, smiling. “Look.” He shows Will a page in his guidebook.

“Hokey pokey ice cream. Plain vanilla ice cream and small lumps of honeycomb toffee,” Will says. “Well I'll be damned.” He shoves the guidebook back at Willow. “Let's find some.”

“All right,” Willow says.

They find a small ice cream shop and buy two large ice creams. They decide to sit on a bench instead of trying to walk and eat at the same time.

“Mmmm,” Will says, licking his ice cream. “This is so good.”

“I thought you'd like it,” Will says with a smile.

Will smiles at him. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Willow says.

After they eat their ice cream, they wander around Albert Park, which is right by the university until it's time for their museum tour at 2 PM. Will is silent and sulky the entire time. Willow knows he doesn't like museums so he really appreciates him coming and putting up with it.

“How about we go see the St. Mary's Church in Holy Trinity before dinner?” he suggests after the tour is over.

Will, who loves churches for some unexplainable reason, perks up. Willow hails a taxi and they ride in silence. Willow glances at Will from time to time. His twin stares out the taxi window moodily. Willow is used to Will's mood swings so he just lets him be.

When they arrive at the church, Will's eyes light up. Willow can't understand Will's attraction to churches, but he's more than happy to indulge his brother. After all, he put up with the museum tour without complaining once (which has to be some sort of record for Will, seriously) even though he absolutely hates museums.

Willow doesn't hate churches, but he doesn't really understand why Will wants to visit church after church. This one is rather pretty, Willow has to admit. Okay, it's rather stunning. And Will seems happy and that's what's important. Willow will do anything to make his brother happy.

***

David takes a deep breath and checks his reflection for what seems like the thousandth time that night. He doesn't know why he wants to look absolutely perfect tonight; he's only meeting Will on the Observation Deck for something. He has no idea what Will is planning; all Will said was to meet him on the Observation Deck because he had a surprise for him. David's parents have no idea he's doing this; they think he went to bed. He feels kind of bad about lying to them, but he really wants to spend time with Will.

He checks his reflection one more time and then sneaks out of his stateroom. Will is waiting for him on the Observation Deck at their usual meeting place. It's late so there are no other people out other than Will. Tonight, he's dressed in a white tank top that shows off his navel even though it's rather chilly out and a long floral patterned skirt. His hair is loose and he looks absolutely stunning.

“You look…amazing,” David says, joining Will at the rail.

Will blushes. “You think so?”

“Yes,” David says earnestly. “So what's this surprise?”

“Look over there,” Will says, pointing to the harbor.

David turns just in time to see the sky light up with fireworks. The ship has just started pulling away so they have a clear view. David's breath catches in his throat as balls of every sort of color imaginable explodes above them in a dazzling display. He turns to Will in wonder. Will grins at him.

“I thought you'd like it,” he says.

David responds by kissing him. Will looks a little surprised, but says nothing. His breathing is slightly erratic when David finally pulls away. The fireworks display is over and the harbor is nearly out of sight, but David doesn't care anymore.

“Thank you Will,” he says softly. “Goodnight.”

He gently kisses Will on the cheek before heading off to bed.