[February 6] [Silent Hill 3] Old Man

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Title: Old Man
Day/Theme: February 6/the mathematics of forgetting
Series: Silent Hill 3
Character/Pairing: Heather/Douglas
Rating: G
Word Count: 310
Warning: May/December pairing
Summary: Douglas does the math; Heather doesn't listen.



Douglas had drunk a few beers and was smoking a cigarette on the couch when Heather came to sit beside him. She cuddled up against his side and he put an arm around her before he really had time to think about what he was doing.

"You know," he said after a moment's consideration, "when you're thirty, I'll be almost seventy."

"I'm taking trig this semester; I can handle simple addition," she replied.

"You're still in school, which is my point. And when you're forty, I'll be--"

"Dead, if you don't knock it off with the smoking," she said, with a teasing grin.

"That isn't funny." But he was still holding her, and he stubbed the cigarette out with his other hand.

"I know, OK? I've done the math too. But I could go meet a guy my own age and then he could get run over by a car, or we could have a fight and never see each other again, or... or anything. Everything doesn't need to last forever."

Douglas wasn't sure how to argue with that. "Look, one of these days you're going to realize what an old man I am, and then--"

She interrupted him again. "I promise, Douglas, that when you show the first signs of being old and decrepit I'll dump you and forget about you completely."

"Then you'd better start forgetting me now."

Heather only laughed and kissed him gently on the mouth. "By the time I'm over sixty and you're over one-hundred, and we both have wrinkles and sit around in rocking chairs, maybe you'll stop telling me you're too old," she said gently.

Heather has a lot to learn if she thinks sixty compares with one-hundred, he thought to himself.

"You'd never stay with me that long. I wouldn't let you," he muttered. But he didn't push her away.