Feeling.

Light Me Up

Bright goes a whole week only speaking to Win when it's necessary. And it's not that he's particularly angry with Win, because he's not. But that doesn't mean he's ready to jump back into their bizarre and confusing friendship. It clearly only leads to bad things, and if Win's focusing on himself, he should focus on himself.

Really, Bright wants to be mad at him. He wants to completely cut him off and ignore him and delete Win from his life. But the problem is he mostly just feels a mixture of concerned and proud. He wants Win to better himself. It's obvious Win needs it, and the fact that he can admit that is a huge first step. The problem is that Bright selfishly wants to speed the process along so that he can see if there's anything between them worth working on.

In the meantime, Bright tries to keep his distance for both Win sake and his own. He needs to get a grip and move on and Win needs to learn to trust people again. Still, they work together and Bright can't actually avoid him.

His shift is technically over at 6 p.m., but he stays late to talk to Krist about their day. They had a rough shift that included Krist being held at gunpoint. Bright claps Krist on the shoulder and dismisses him, watching the young rookie scurry away from Bright's desk. Bright throws on his jacket and is about to walk out when he sees Win and Gun leaving parade. The only word Bright can find to describe how Win looks in that moment is happy. Win's smiling wide, laughing at something his friend had said. He jumps, throwing his hands up as if he forgot something and shakes his head, saying something quickly before walking away from Gun.

Win walks back into parade and Bright rolls his eyes at himself. He needs to leave before he starts developing stalker-ish habits. (He's seen Twilight with Nara. He understands that it's supposed to be romantic but he's positive that Edward Cullen could get in serious trouble with the law for his unhealthy boundary issues.) But then Win is walking back out with Luke in tow.

The only word Bright can use to describe Luke is happy. He's watching happily as Win babbles on about something, using his hands to help him speak. Win stops and turns to look at him, smiling awkwardly as he continues to speak. And then he stops and stares at Luke. Finally, Luke responds and he grins, giving him a thumbs up before walking away, leaving Luke to watch him with a goofy grin on his face. Bright huffs and leaves before he can do something truly stupid.

The next time he works with Win is a week later. They somehow had been lucky enough to be working opposite shifts, but there's no avoiding him now. Win sends him a warm smile when Best announces the pairings. Naturally, Win's paired with him.

"Good morning, partner," Win says kindly when he meets Bright out by his car.

And normal Bright would respond with something like, 'there's nothing good at seven in the morning,' but he's not normal Bright. So instead he says, "Took you long enough to get some coffee."

Win frowns as he plops down in the passenger seat. He hands Bright a styrofoam cup. "I got you one, too."

"Thanks," he grunts and then glares at the road.

"So," Win drawls out after approximately thirty-eight minutes of silence. Bright's honestly surprised he lasted that long. "I started seeing a therapist a couple of weeks ago."

Bright wants to ignore him, but that seems rude considering the conversation topic. "Going well?" he asks, his eyes still focused on the road.

Without looking at Win, he knows Win's squinting, scrunching up his nose and shrugging. It's what he always does when he opens up to him. Bright thinks doing all these little things helps distract him from the fact that he's letting his guard down.