Detective Henry Quinn

"A drink it is." Henry replied, and went to the fridge to get two more bottles. Another beer wouldn't hurt, but he was drawing the line after that. He knew damn well how things could often get out of hand around Josh, and he was sure that part hadn't changed. The next thing he'd know he'd be tipsy and horny, and he could only deal with one at a time tonight. As if Josh weren't intoxicating on his own. Henry was actually surprised he hadn't turned on the real charm by now.

"Join me on the couch?" Henry asked, after popping the tops of the bottles and handing one to Josh. "I'm glad you took some time for yourself, we all need to do that sometimes." Which was rich coming from Henry, who hardly ever did that. "I actually had a dream about you a few months ago..." Henry sat on the sofa and patted the seat next to him.

Henry furrowed his brow a little, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." He didn't ask why, as that was a lot of heavy conversation for two people who just met, but he had an inkling it might have had something to do with the religious bit. Being a medium, Henry had met all kinds of people with different layers of belief. Some were more hardcore than others, and the staunchly religious folks often thought of Henry's gift as "the devil's work." Henry believed in no such thing. Or, maybe, Zeke's parents were just bad, like his father had been.

"I can't imagine anyone being glad not to have your around, you're very pleasant company." He smiled, "I'm glad my car decided to break down today, actually."

"Yeah, seems like it, I reckon they're just here for Jeanie's cooking," Sam tried to act normal, like he wasn't screaming inside, Henry was leaving...he was really leaving...

He nodded at the suggestion of going to Henry's room, "yeah...probably a good idea," Sam glanced over at his girlfriend, of course he'd brought her, why did he think that was a good idea, "I actually have something to talk to you about too so...let me just let her know where I'm going," he said, tilting his head towards Charlotte before making his way over to her. In view of Henry, Samuel kissed her, still trying to keep up the appearance of being straight, trying to bury his own feelings.

Henry only nodded, he has no problem with Charlotte, she seemed like a nice girl, though he didn't really see where she and Sam made a match. No one knew him better than Henry did, and Sam rarely talked about her when they hung out. He wasn't all over his girlfriend like the other boys were, like Henry would have been if he had one.

He waved back with a polite smile before Sam rejoined him. "I've been meaning to ask you, what's up with your hand? When did that happen?" He inquired, as they made their way upstairs to Henry's room.

Intimacy Action Prompts @dethenryquinn said: [mwah.] sender kisses receiver slowly, keeping their mouths joined even while moving inside them. - For Ollie

Henry nodded, "Oh, ok." Then he came out of the bathroom in all his glory in his boxer-briefs. He didn't dwell on this fact, didn't want to seem like he was showing off on purpose, so he pulled down the covers on the bed and sat beneath them, covering as quickly as possible, which was a bit silly. They were grown men, for God's sake.

He pulled down the rest of the sheets next to him and patted the mattress. "Come on in and get comfy, we need the rest."

Rest? When his heart was pumping gallons of blood a second? He didn't think so. But the thought of Jud so close to him was nearly dizzying.

There was nothing he could say, he wanted Henry around, that was all he wanted and it was only now that he'd opened his fat mouth that he was realising it. I don't want you around, I need you around. His hand twitched, he wanted to stop Henry from leaving, but he couldn't, especially not now, not after what he'd said.

"Guess I'll be there," he mumbled, looking down at his own hands as he picked at his nailbeds, rage was building inside of him at a rapid rate but not directed towards Henry, but towards himself. "Appearances and stuff," he added, he knew their family would notice something was off regardless if he went or not, but if he didn't go it would only draw too much attention and that was the last thing Sam wanted from his parents.

He didn't stop Henry from leaving, when Henry turned his back to him he mumbled an apology, unsure if it was even audible, but knowing it wouldn't be enough, it would never be enough. But once he was alone in the hallway, the anger bubbled over and he punched the locker repeatedly, denting Henry's locker and leaving blood behind as the skin on one of his knuckles split, that felt better, felt deserved.

Over the next day or so, as the sting of what Sam had said started to wear off, Henry became less angry with him. Because that was Henry's way, he was always down to forgive when it was suitable, whether the person deserved it or not. He was still hesitant to get too close to Sam, especially since he was leaving, but he was glad when his cousin did show up to the party.

"Hey," Henry said back with a small nod, "Looks like Jeanie invited the whole neighbourhood, huh?" As to Sam's question, "Next week, my car is getting some work done first, and I have a lot of packing to do."

A guest walked past and offered Henry 'congratulations' and he smiled in return with a polite "Thank you." He'd gotten a lot of those over the course of the evening.

"You wanna go up to my room and talk for a bit? Maybe we should clear the air before I go?" Henry offered, an olive branch perhaps, and somewhere they could talk in private.

"Can't say that it was on the agenda... But I guess I should always be prepared just in case, right?" he replied, laughing slightly as he felt his cheeks turning red. Henry seemed to be very generous, and that was making a heat rise up the back of Zeke's neck when he was called young man. Why was this conversation having such an impact on him? It was so stupid. When the waitress took their order, he did not ask for the extra onion, hoping that it wasn't noticed by Henry, and he turned back to the older man when he heard the comment about his name.

The flush to Zeke's cheeks, and not ordering extra onions, didn't go unnoticed by Henry, but he didn't say anything and acted as though he hadn't noticed at all. Zeke was turning pinker by the second, which was a good sign, as far as Henry was concerned. Zeke was certainly picking up on his light flirtations. God, he was so fucking cute. Henry was amazed at how this boy had seemingly fallen right into his lap, how lucky.

"Ah," Henry nodded, "That makes sense, I guess that is a very old-timey name, you don't hear it much anymore. I think Zeke is a great choice." Henry had no religious experience to draw from, not really. His Aunt Jeanie would call herself a Christian, but she was always normal about it, and never pushed her beliefs onto Henry.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are your parents now, since you live with your aunt and uncle? I lived with my aunt all my life as well." Then he clarified, "You don't have to answer that if you don't wanna, I was just curious about you. No need to get too personal, of course."

"Obviously you're a good dad. He's lucky to have you, giving him all those leftovers and all." Josh laughed, smiling fondly at the thought of Henry caring for his cat. He wasn't sure how he'd imagined the other man's life to be, but being a cat-dad was a bit of a surprise. He had wanted to crack a joke about eating anything being his kind of thing too, but he held back, still trying to make something of a decent impression.

"I try to be, Max is a good guy." Henry smiled, and began to clear the table of some of the dishes. "You up for some dessert, or just another beer?"

Henry nodded as he listened to Josh's talk about his tennis career, at one point that was all they talked about. Back in those college days when they were doubles partners and won every award there was to win. Then Josh had started to play solo and Henry had began to focus more on his studies the closer they got to graduation. He always sensed that Josh mayt have been hurt by that, that Henry had decided to go a different way and no continue to play the sport.

"You never kicked my ass." Henry was quick to remind him, a smirk on his lips. "But you were built for tennis in the long run, I wasn't. That injury I sustained back then only got worse and worse until a work related mishap caused me to need the full shoulder surgery." Henry had the scars on his shoulder and arm to prove it. "My career would have been over just a couple of years in, so I guess everything happens for a reason, maybe."

Intimacy Action Prompts @dethenryquinn said: [grind.] sender ruts against receiver through their clothing. - For Josh

"It means more to me than I can say to share this with you, too. I've never been this close to anyone, never shared this, or all of these, with anyone but Jeanie. Finding you was the best thing that's ever happened to me, by a longshot."

Ollie was so invested, hanging on Henry's every word with every picture and explanation. Something like the spectres in these images might scare a person, but Ollie showed no signs of that, he was comfortable and accepting of what Henry was, with no questions asked. That too, meant a lot to Henry, "You're truly worth your weight in gold, gorgeous." Henry complimented, and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"As for the something special, give me one second." He got up from the couch momentarily to go to the closet in the hallway, and took down the photo albums he'd thought of earlier. He returned with the big blue book in his hands.

"Inside are pictures of my mother, a couple from the day I was born, and there's even a couple of my father. He was younger, of course, but you'll get some idea of what he looked like, since he's your family too, for better or worse, I thought you'd like to see them." He handed Ollie the album and sat back down, wrapping an arm around him.

"Do you have any plans to go kissing someone later? Because onions might put a damper on that." He replied with a smile, maybe thinking of Zeke kissing in any capacity was inappropriate right now, he'd just met him for God's sake. But Henry didn't need to let on what he was thinking.

"I very well can do that, young man." Henry playfully chided him, "The service to my car is just your job, this is for fun. You work hard, you deserve it, right? I'm good for it, don't worry." This boy was built to take all my money.

The waitress came and took their orders, and Henry did splurge for the vanilla milkshake. When she was gone his attention turned back to Zeke again. "You have an interesting name, I can safely say I've never met a Zeke before, I like it, it suits you."

As Henry finished up his meal, he cut some remaining small pieces of the steak into tiny bits. "For Max." He said with a smile, "He'll eat any kind of meat, actually, he'll almost eat anything at all."

Having Josh here still felt incredibly strange, like it was some kind of dream and if he woke up he'd find that his old friend (and lover) was gone, or never really there to begin with. He didn't really know how to 'catch up' since Josh had been so vague with his details of the past few years, but he'd try his best.

Again, Henry grinned. "Well, I've been a cop a good few years now, so I think the celebration is a bit too late, but thank you, it means a lot that you're proud of me." He looked up at Josh, indicating that last bit was said with a bit of cheek to it.

"How's your tennis game these days, since you're in your thirties now, too? Any young guys whipping your ass like I used to?"

Henry took a deep inhale in, his nose against the skin of Ollie's neck. "Mmm, is that so? I think it might be my favourite, too." That was a very sweet thing for Ollie to say, he had the best habit of saying the cutest shit.

Henry licked up the side of his lover's neck before pressing his lips close to Ollie's ear. "Have you given any thought to where you want a honeymoon?" Henry asked, purposely then taking Ollie's earlobe into his mouth and sucking him gently. It was entirely his intention to make Ollie answer these questions while making him flustered, Henry couldn't help himself.