#I'm going to visit a museum and point at oil paintings and laugh

[lu-undy]

100th Sniper/Spy short - The honeymoon 2

Here it is, the final request! Made by my dear friend, Vana, bless him.

Here we go!

"Ready for your first day in my country?" 

"Yeah, show me your home, darl', let's go!"

"Wait, before we go. You know why I took you here?" Lucien asked. 

"Yeah." Mundy smiled, his cheeks turning pink. "For… I mean because…" He looked at the ring on his hand. "Our honeymoon." 

"Then I need to say it before we proceed."

"Say what?" Mundy asked. 

"I love you." Lucien looked up with those ice-drop like eyes at his husband. 

"So do I, darl'..." 

Their lips met, they needed it like a period to their sentence. Lucien and Mundy exited their hotel and on they went under the bright sun of… Bordeaux!

"Some would argue she is the capital of the South West of France." 

"Are you part of those 'some'?"

"Oui, I am. Bordeaux is what Paris would die to be, but never will." 

They strolled along the streets.

"Paris and Bordeaux have very similar architecture styles. The difference is the mentality of the people, the rhythm of life and look above your head…"

"The sky?" 

"Oui. Blue sky here, while Paris has pollution, rude people and almost more tourists than rats!"

"Sounds like you don't really like yer capital city, eh?" Mundy said with a smile. 

"It is cultural. Paris thinks they have the elite and the rest of us are peasants. We know that they are played like fiddles, working like sheep, while we get the good weather and the smile on our faces." 

"I see…" 

The visit lasted the entire day. Churches, places, squares, parks and of course, vineyards! They did it all. Come the evening, they finished their dinner in a restaurant by the quays of the river, La Garonne, and decided to stroll along the riverbanks. 

The buildings along La Garonne were brightly lit with their yellow lights, slicing through the blue of the night. The street lamps were made of intricate wrought iron laces and some shed multicolored lights. 

They dragged their feet lazily on the quays, their gaits waving left and right, exchanging their usual banter, the one that made them more than friends. 

"Gosh that was one hell of a long day…" Mundy said. 

"Are you tired?" 

"A bit yeah."

"Let us sit down somewhere. Is this bench over there alright?" Lucien asked. 

"Sure." 

They stopped and took a seat. In front of them, the river reflected the city lights, deforming them slightly under the current of the stream like an oil painting. It was fairly calm now and the quays had their success in the evening. Passer-bys of all ages, families and couples were enjoying the same warm evening than Lucien and Mundy.

"That's quite a lot of bridges you have over the river." Mundy noticed. 

"Indeed and the traffic is always dense on them. The right banks used to be full of factories while the left ones were where the selling of the products would happen. But nowadays it has all changed. The factories became ultra modern apartments and the buildings you see behind us, those made of those beige stones, part of them are a museum and the rest is fancy offices." 

"Ah, I see…" 

Silence fell and they could now hear someone playing the guitar somewhere behind them. The quays had been converted to a space for all. There were playgrounds, gardens, benches, spaces for picnics…

"Lu'?"

"Oui?"

"D'you think… things happen for a reason?"

"To some extent, oui, I do. Why?" 

Mundy took a deep breath. The air smelled of the river passing in front of them mixed with the flowers that laid along the quays. 

"I don't know, it's just… I think that's it."

Lucien raised an eyebrow. 

"That's it, what?" 

"That's it, I'm happy." Mundy answered. "I spent my adult life alone, hunting because that's the only thing I know, and look at me now…? I'm here in France with you and I'm… I'm bloody married now!"

Lucien chuckled. 

"Indeed you are, and so am I. But I understand your point. Oui, it seems that the life of running and killing is over, or for you, driving and killing. What I find comical is that it all took me back where it all started, in Bordeaux."

Lucien's eyes went on the river, the lapping sounds of the current, on the surface. 

"I love you, Lu'."

"So do I, with all my heart." 

"You know, my mind's been a bit stuck on the vows we took." Mundy said.

"Ah, the wedding vows? Strong words, hm?"

"Yeah… Strong words. I thought it was just a movies' thing, y'know, all made up and exaggerated and all… But no. When I said I'd stay with you and only you till the end, I meant it. I meant it in a very serious way, it wasn't jokes or made up."

Lucien smiled and leaned his head on Mundy's shoulder. 

"I meant my words too, Mundy. For better and for worse, in health and in sickness." The Frenchman repeated. "Because I know all too well that 'home' isn't a place. It isn't a flat, nor is it a house. Home is when I'm with you, regardless of what is around us. Today we are in Bordeaux watching La Garonne flow, but who knows where we will be tomorrow…?" 

"Still in Bordeaux cause the return ticket is for next week?" Mundy answered with a chuckle. 

"I guess, oui, but you understood what I meant."

"Yeah, I do." Mundy took Lucien's hand and sandwiched it in both of his. "Gosh I can't think about anything else but you. It's like I've met you and I know I'm in love with you but we didn't meet properly yet and you don't know what I feel for you. You know, those days before you tell someone you love'em, when you're just obsessed, and it's all only in your head, cookin' and boilin' on its own…!"

Lucien smiled. 

"Oh I know what you feel and I feel it too. Although in my case, this is quite a first."

"First marriage?" Mundy teased. "You plan on havin' others?" 

"Non…!" Lucien laughed on Mundy's shoulder. "That is not what I meant. It is the first time that I sit in front of the river and show her the face of a happy man. I doubt she even recognises me with the grey hair and the tired eyes with lines at the corner." 

"I'm sure she does." Mundy answered. "Hard to forget them."

"Forget what?" Lucien asked. 

"Your eyes." 

The Frenchman felt it in its core, the warmth. He slid his fingers between Mundy's and he felt the ring there. It brought some pink to his cheeks. 

"Merci."

[Thank you.]

"Thank you too. You're a good guide, y'know." 

"You sound surprised." Lucien said. 

"Yeah, nah, I don't know. The more I know you, the more I find things that I like in you."

"Have you found something that you didn't like so far?" Lucien asked. 

"Your music taste." Mundy answered. 

"What?"

"You have a problem with your music, I swear you must be the only one likin' French stuff from the fifties!" 

"Non I am not! It used to be hugely popular and it still is!" 

"Popular? Stuff from the fifties? In French? Nah… Only an old frog like you could like that."

"Ah…" Lucien sighed. "The younger generation has no taste whatsoever." 

"Oi, I like some good stuff!"

"American pop songs that are broadcast on loop on the radio and dull your senses? The same that have no lyrics, or barely any meaning, no poetry? This is no taste, Mundy, I am sorry." 

Mundy chuckled and tilted his head to lean it on Lucien's.

"Funny old man." 

"Acceptable young one." Lucien teased. 

"Acceptable? Really?"

"Look here." Lucien said and Mundy looked down at him. "Oui, acceptable and only by me."

In the dark of the night, their lips met between their smiling lips and their closed eyes. When they parted, they added to the lapping sounds of the river. 

"You will be the end of me." Lucien said. 

"Can I be everythin' before that too? I feel like we're skipping quite a lot of things before we got to that point."

"Of course you can, and you are. I love you." 

Mundy softened and tightened his grasp on Lucien's hands.

"Love you too, darl'. You're everything."