This way for completely crap Lewis/Hathaway fic
The first time he saw them he assumed they were father and son, meeting up for lunch and to catch up on each others lives.
Over the intervening years, he had come to realise that their relationship, whatever that relationship might be, went so much deeper than that.
They came to sit on his bench at least twice a week, the younger (and taller of the two) always carrying cups and usually with a paper bag either stuffed under his arm or between his teeth, depending on what the bag contained.
He was never close enough to make out what they were saying, but the affection they held for each other was evident in their tone of voice and body language. Not to mention that they seemed to have absolutely no concept of personal space; always sitting with shoulders and thighs touching, hands brushing when coffee cups and pieces of paper were exchanged and once, just once, a smack on the back of the younger man’s head when he said something the older thought was particularly outrageous.
Sometimes they were serious, studiously going over and discussing the paperwork and files that they spread across the bench. Other times they were relaxed, laughing, joking, teasing each other and just generally making the most of the break from their daily routine.
But always there was trust, affection, amusement and, in the case of the younger of the two, love.
He always sighed as he watched them and wondered when the older man would realise that he was loved with an intensity that could only make the watcher wish it was directed at him.
Something seemed to be different with them today, however. He wanted to figure out what it was but he was wary of getting too close to them. They had always treated him kindly but he had had too many things thrown at him and too much abuse shouted at him in the past to want to risk it.
He risked moving a few feet closer, desperate to know what had changed and then he realised. There was a new softness in the older mans eyes when he looked at his young partner, a new tenderness that hadn’t been there before and he knew. He knew that finally the young man’s love was returned and he couldn’t help but do a little hop in his happiness for the new couple.
As they got up and strolled away, hands and fingers brushing together just a little more often than usual, Fred the pigeon settle down to his afternoon snack of leftover bits of sausage roll and cooed happily to himself.
The End.