Author's webpage: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/8298/titles.html

Author's disclaimer: Just fan fiction, created out of love, not avarice, and remember: The fans keep a show alive.

Author's notes: This is kind of a companion piece to "Happily Ever After"--the other side of the coin, as it were. Although he doesn't have any lines, it was Blair's idea. He bugged me all the way to work.... "Other pairing" because a m/f couple appear.

Cute Old Men
by Merri-Todd Webster
(20 January 1999)

My girlfriend collects cute old couples, so of course she spotted these two right away.

We were just sitting in the coffee shop, both had the day off, nothing to do, sipping the caffeine, when these two old guys came in. Karen nudged me. "Check them out."

The older guy was maybe in his late seventies, taller, and carried himself like a soldier even though he was walking with a cane. He had on a nice silver-grey suit that was maybe 20 years out of date, but very nice, good for the blue eyes and the fringe of silver hair that was all he had left. Real pale blue eyes, very clear, kinda startling in that old face.

The other guy was shorter, and younger, but I couldn't guess how much younger. If anything, he was more wrinkled than his friend. He had on a tie-dyed shirt that must have been some kind of antique and jeans so old and worn, I thought they were just going to fade right off his legs. With his bushy curly grey hair and mustache, he looked kind of like Albert Einstein. He had one hand wrapped around the bigger guy's arm, and the other hand was waving in the air like he was conducting, keeping time with his words.

Karen and I grinned at each other. Yeah, these two were really cute. We watched them as they ordered their coffee and pastries and sat down by the window.

"You think they're a couple?" I said.

"You bet." Karen sipped her coffee, watching them over the rim of the cup. "Look at how they look at one another."

I did the eyeball-over-the-cup maneuver myself. The little guy was still talking, coffee in one hand and that other hand waving, and the bigger guy was looking at him with this look that was just plain amused and loving. Watching and listening as if he couldn't get tired of his buddy's babblings.

"Yeah, they're a couple. Wonder how long they've been together."

Karen pushed some leftover powdered sugar around her plate, dabbed some up and licked it off her finger. "I bet they've been together since before same-sex marriage was legal."

"You think so? Are they married?"

We both squinted. Yeah, it looked like they had wedding bands on their right ring fingers. The older guy reached over with his napkin and wiped at his partner's mouth.

"They're married," we said at the same time, and laughed. Then I got up and got us a couple biscotti to cover the laugh. Didn't want them to think we were making fun of them.

The two old guys talked, had coffee and pastries, held hands over the table, and looked out the window--pretty much the same thing we were doing. They sort of looked like an odd couple, but they seemed really comfortable together. I caught Karen looking wistful.

"You think we'll be like that when we're old?"

I took a long look at her. We hadn't really talked about where we were going with this relationship. I glanced at the old guys. The taller man leaned over and gave his partner a little kiss on the temple. Boy, that couldn't have happened when my mom was my age. Maybe it was time Karen and I did talk about the future.

"It'd be nice, wouldn't it?" I sipped my third coffee and smiled at her. "I wonder how the sex is at that age...."

She smacked me. "Frank!"

"Don't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing."

She lowered her eyes. "Well, yeah, but I didn't say it out loud." I grinned at her and she giggled.

We drifted on to talking about other things, and I wasn't watching the old men any more. But when they got up and left, they walked by our table. The guy with the cane bent over--which wasn't real easy for him--and whispered to me, "The sex is still great, as long as you love one another."

Grinning, he straightened up and caught up with his partner. I just stared. How had he heard me all the way across the room? I was almost whispering, and I hadn't been able to make out what they were saying.

"Frank? Why are you blushing?"

"Men don't blush...."

End