Personal

Goodbye for now

I hold a large envelope full of riddles and a few more equations I found. Sadly I walk up behind Zack and place a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Zack." I say sadly.

He turns around and smiles his soft, barely a smile, smile before it drops. "What's wrong?" He asks as I move to sit next to him.

I hand him the envelope and he looks inside. "This is a lot of riddles, I won't be able to finish these anytime soon... Oh! Is this your goodbye gift? Are you leaving?" He asks.

I smile sadly. "Good, wouldn't want you to get bored quickly. I handed in my dissertation, today's my last day." I say watching a bird land on a tree nearby.

I hear him hum in thought beside me before I feel him hug me. Shocked I look down at his arms around me. It's awkward at the angle we are at. I turn slightly so he is hugging me from the front and carefully wrap my arms around him. "You know we're not meant to touch like this." I say quietly.

He pulls back, his hands in his lap. "I'm sorry, but hugging is what you do when you are not gonna see someone you care about for a while, right?" He asks.

I laugh a proper laugh and look down smiling. "Yeah, normally it is. Unfortunately, this isn't a normal situation. But thank you." I look up at him and smile. "I have to leave in half an hour. Could we just sit here?" I ask.

He nods. I smile and look out across the yard and he does the same. I take a deep breath and carefully rest my hand on his mostly healed, gloved one. He jumps slightly but doesn't move.

We sit like this in silence just pretending we were normal, had met somewhere normal, were somewhere normal until it was time for me to go.

I breathe in deeply and look at my watch. Carefully I move my hand away from his. And turn to look at him. "It's time for me to go. Honestly, I'm gonna miss you Zack but I promise we'll see each other again."

I look around before giving him a peck on the cheek. "I didn't kill him." He whispers quickly as I pull back. I look at him, his face is red. I blink a few times before sighing and brushing it off. I shake my head in response.

I stand up and ruffle his shaggy hair. "Goodbye Dr Zack Addy."

"Goodbye Dr (Y/N) (L/N)" He says before I walk off.