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 Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:52 am
Quote: It seems like a normal day, considering all the odd happenings you can usually expect from Destiny City. The weather’s great, the people are tolerable, and everything’s going fine. You are out, enjoying the good fortune, when you catch a familiar face in the crowd: yours. They are wearing your clothes, your face, and you see them for only a second but a feeling of dread floods through you. They smirk, like they know they’ve won—and then you lose them in the crowd. No matter how hard you look, you can’t find any sight of them, but a feeling of dread and being watched follows you for the rest of the day.
His latest case had been an easy one and his pocket was lined with a hefty sum that had virtually been easy money. It was also the day that he went grocery shopping with his husband for the week which, and he would never ever admit it, was something that the redhead looked forward to. With the chill of fall and winter crisply nipping at their heels, farmer's markets had started closing up and Noah couldn't grow anything worth a damn with how little time he had to start but he didn't seem off put.
No, likely to his husband's surprise, he was almost jovial.
Noah Jones was even letting good old Paulie hold his hand as they walked together in along the somewhat crowded streets of the city as long legs carried him towards the nicer grocery store he preferred to shop at. Yeah, it was more expensive but the quality far surpassed the cheaper one and Noah never skimped on quality meat once they could afford it.
"I'm thinking of trying a new fried rice recipe this weekend and, if you're good, we can splurge and I'll make a desert of your choosing." He paused to look over at the stockier man. "That's not strawberries. They're going out of season and we're not paying the hiked up prices." Right now anyway, it would be a different story in a week or so when Paul's birthday rolled around.
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:52 am
Eyebrows rose as the redhead continued to chitter and chatter on beside him, thick fingers almost possessively gripping onto the skinnier ones that had laced themselves with them at the start of their walk. Paul had offered to take the car for their grocery shopping needs - to emphasize the lazy in that particularly lazy Sunday morning - but Noah had all but insisted on them walking the handful of blocks instead of driving, drinking in the beautiful day and the cool breeze that brushed through his short, dark locks.
Paul also had a suspicion that Noah enjoyed seeing his burly husband looking domesticated and watching as he looped six or seven grocery bags around his strong arms on the way back from the store, but Paul didn't mind doing a little show off, if need be.
"Strawberries are fruits too," he huffed quietly, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the younger man's dig at his favorite sweet berries. "Though I suppose something chocolate couldn't...."
His thoughts drifted off from him as something caught his eye. There, in the middle of the passing crowd, was a man about his height wearing the same dark shirt he'd donned that day. Which, ultimately, shouldn't have been that surprising - he probably picked it up at what, Target? Walmart?
But the most peculiar thing was his face. It took him a moment to register the recognition but.... ********. Was that...?
Could it even be possible?
Violet eyes stared harder, catching the light purple color of the other man's eyes as one quiet, troublesome word leaked out from between the older man's lips.
".... Dad?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:21 am
Slender fingers squeezed around a thick hand, stormy eyes flicking over to the handsome, rugged face of his spouse. "Didn't say they weren't," he chided in a tone that sounded suspiciously playful. It wasn't often that Noah's mood was so good that he was almost sweet, but it appeared that today was one of those days. Or, it would have been had Paul not said that one word that he absolutely hated.
Dad?
Immediately Noah's head jerked sharply, following his husband's line of sight just in time to see the face of a ghost grinning at them across the sea of people. He came to an abrupt halt as his heart rate picked up. Nails dug into calloused flesh and he couldn't help the snarl in his voice. "The ******** did you just say?" He could see the man with his own two eyes, the resemblance to Paul was uncanny and..it made Noah irrationally angry.
Ripping his hand away he turned around, abandoning their trek to the grocery store, and stomped back down the sidewalk. <******** this. ******** him." He was grumbling beneath his breath, along with several other things, and didn't say a goddamn word to his companion.
His mood was effectively tanked and he was heading straight back for the house. So much for a good ******** day.
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:38 am
He felt his heat plummet into his stomach.
The grin was almost sickening, twisting knot after knot into his core as his eyebrows fell back. His husband was clearly not standing for any of it, judging by his harsh words and the way he stormed off, abandoning both hand and spouse as he turned back towards the house. He didn't realize how badly his companion needed his support right then and there, fingers twitching as they curled up at his side until he was forced to shove the fidgety things into his pockets.
Paul simply stood there for a moment, frozen in time as he stared back in alarm at the man who continued walking, not bothering to linger to share anything more than a grin and a glance at the man who shared his face.
It had been easier to pretend that the man had died in a gutter somewhere, alone and in pain over the sins he'd committed towards his family. When he'd walked out that day with a young, wide-eyed Paul staring after him with nothing but love in his innocent toddler heart, he was supposed to have been gone for good. For good.
Not ******** showing up, hours away from his hometown and leaving him wondering what if.
But no. No. Noah had the right idea. The redhead's anger towards the man he'd never met was almost palpable and Paul could appreciate the pain he was going through.
Forcing his gaze away from the crowd, he turned back towards their home and began the slow return - in no hurry to do anything in particular but find a way to purge the horrible, terrible thought from his head that he'd spotted the one person on God's green Earth that he'd wished to never see again.
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 11:26 am
In hindsight, Noah could have dragged Paul off with him or done something, maybe even said something that brought the older man trailing behind, right at his heels. But he didn't, instead he was storming off angrily, hatred and disgust curling in the pit of his stomach the mere thought that Dad had the gall to show up in their city without any warning or word or---
It didn't ******** matter. The a*****e had vacated Paul's life before Noah could even talk. Even growing up he couldn't remember Old Man Jones's presence in the shitty apartment complex the pair had grown up in. He didn't need to know the b*****d to know that he hated him with every fiber of his being and, short of mentioning his dead mother, only something as ******** stupid as the mentioning of that dead beat dad could piss him off enough that he wouldn't even look at the man he married who looked startling like his father.
When they got back to the house, the door was flung open angrily and he didn't bother to peel off his shoes while he headed straight for the stairs.
"Bedroom," he barked in a voice that implied there would be no arguing, not that he thought Paul was in any state for such things. "Now."
They both needed to get that horrible image and idea out of their heads and he could only think of one way to do it that would also alleviate his mood.
Luckily, he didn't think his husband would protest.
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