Prompt 1
Prompt 1: The weatherman said it was going to be a nice day today. Perfect time to go get some of those errands taken care of. Unfortunately, while you were shopping, heavy clouds rolled in and it began pouring outside. Do you chance it and run for your car or duck inside the nearest shop until the weather clears up?
He’d been checking the time all evening, quick little glances down to his phone peeking out of his pocket. It wasn’t incredibly late (because it was a weeknight workday and no one was out trying to get completely shitfaced just to wake up at 6AM the following morning), but a handful of his peers had wanted to wind down with a drink or two after work at a bar down the street from the office, and Gideon hadn’t seen a good reason to refuse the invitation. It was a warm, quiet evening, and most of these guys just wanted to banter, gossip, and complain about work. He could get behind that.
But the redhead did have something to go home to, and the longer he put it off, the more… problematic it could become.
Though his colleagues weren’t completely oblivious to his obvious distraction. “Gid, buddy, you good? I can drive you home, if you’re worried about walking after dark.”
Not a completely unexpected invitation. Gideon had been sparing with the details of his several-month absence some two-ish years ago, but word got around, regardless. There was a pretty standard amount of hearsay and speculation, but for the most part, his workplace proximity associates just knew it was something traumatic, something that would probably make a poor, small, crippled redhead anxious about keeping too late a night, if it meant the risk of walking home after dark (it didn’t, but Gideon couldn’t be bothered to correct anyone).
“Nah, I’m close,” he answered with a flippant wave. He’d picked his apartment specifically for how close it was to his work. “Gotta run a quick errand after I’m done here, anyway. Got a guy at my apartment, don’t wanna keep him waiting forever, y’know.”
Scott, a blue-eyed brunette perhaps a year Gideon’s senior, gave him a scrunched-up, quizzical look. “‘A guy?’” He repeated, as if it were a terribly unexpected thing for Gideon to say. “Like, what, a hooker?”
The statement earned a sputtering round of laughter from the other pair with them, probably due in no small part from how quickly Gideon’s pale face heated. “A hook- What, no. Why would I even need- Look, whatever. It’s just a guy I’ve been seeing for a couple months.” He hesitated to elaborate further than that. Not only because it wasn’t their business, but because even Gideon didn’t know if he ought to be labeling Ellian as anything more than ‘a guy he was seeing,’ and he definitely didn’t want to answer any questions about his teenaged boytoy.
For another week, anyway. Just about one more week until Ellian’s birthday, and then he wouldn’t be a teenager, and Gideon figured that would probably be more appropriate to talk about?
Yeah. It was fine. Whatever.
He slid his empty beer bottle toward the other edge of the counter, an indication that he was finished, getting up, moving on. “Anyway, since my options are to either drink with a bunch of lonely losers with nothing better to do with themselves, or get my a** home so I can enjoy the rest of my evening with a man sitting on my sofa literally waiting for me to rip his pants off- feels like a clear choice to make.”
He dropped cash on the counter to pay for his drink, and though there was some mild name calling and teasing complaints as Gideon stood, he made it to the door without issue. His buddies didn’t follow, and Gid figured they’d probably have another round or so and call it quits, anyway. It wasn’t like he would miss much. And if he handled his return home tactfully, there really could be a particularly welcome treat for him.
One last check of the time, a quick glance at the cloudless, darkened sky, and Gideon decided, yeeeeah, a few more minutes wouldn’t kill him. It certainly didn’t look like there were any additional inconveniences coming his way.
Ellian had the most intense fomo Gideon had ever experienced in a person. Even though he was still too young to get into the bars Gid went to with his peers, Elle would probably still lament that Gideon had done something without him! while he’d just been sitting at the apartment waiting for him to come back. And, sure, that was understandable… It wasn’t like the younger man had a long break from school, and it was nice he wanted to spend time with Gideon…
He headed for the convenience store on the corner. Getting around on foot was a little slower of a task for Gideon than it was for most people. Running and jogging were pretty much entirely off the table when he needed his cane to support him, and he’d already had a long day at work, probably impeding the process even more. But everything was close by. Not a big deal at all. He’d be home in like, fifteen minutes, tops. And since he already had a pretty solid idea of what he wanted, Gideon didn’t spend long browsing (it probably helped that there wasn’t a huge selection).
He grabbed a case of Blue Moon, figuring Ellie’s underage palette would appreciate that more than a watered-down Coors’, and three premixed wine coolers, just in case the beer was a total no-go, and Gideon figured that was probably good enough. He probably had some tequila at home already, so if something stronger was needed…
Well, like he’d said earlier, it was a work night, and he wasn’t trying to get drunk, just leaving the option open for someone who could rest it away the next day, if he wanted to.
Gideon paid, his items were packed away in a brown sack that he took up in one arm, and he headed for the door.
Remember that whole deal about him being in there for a couple minutes? He’d known what he was getting, it was a small store, there wasn’t much of a line… Well, it didn’t matter how short an excursion it was, because between the time he went in and the time he came out, a heavy rain was coming down in absolute sheets, dense enough he could barely see a handful of yards in front of himself. He stood there, the automatic door hanging parted for him as if just waiting for him to beat it, and just… stared.
A hobbly walk home, with his sad brown paper bag, and work clothes just getting absolutely drenched. That was what lie ahead.
Greeeeat.
[WC: 1085]
