oh, honey mine

muse: edmund bassett, late twenties/early thirties

muse: ramona cook, mid twenties, pizza delivery driver

muse: vincent wainwright, late twenties

muse: daria armstrong, late twenties/early thirties

jesse sputtered a quiet laugh, grateful he hadn't taken the gulp of drink he'd thought about just moments before and turned slightly to face tommy. his expression was replaced with something vaguely perplexed. "glad you noticed," offered lightly, though he studied tommy's own face as the conversation lapsed again, the ghost of a smile playing at his lips as he did so. if what he thought was happening was actually happening, the smile was called for. if not, well. tommy was stupidly handsome and looking at him for too long made jesse smile anyway. he let a hand drop lazily to the other's nearest knee and leant in a tad further. "you're not crazy," he said. "tipsy... sure. but not crazy. are you sure you wanna have this conversation, right now?" as much as jesse himself wanted to, it had to be right for tommy after all he'd been through. he'd waited this long, he could wait another night, or day.

when his fiance had left him a few days before the wedding, tommy had lost himself. he'd dwelled in that feeling for too long. it was like being in some sort of haze and now that he was coming out of that, he saw this man in front of him. this man who had stood by him, who had been his best friend, shoulder to cry on, confidant ... his everything while he got through the hardest time in his life. he should've noticed it before now. " as opposed to when? " tommy countered, " tomorrow? when we're both hungover and trying to pretend like this never happened? " it wasn't the first time that something had happened between he and jesse and the last time something had ... well, things had been awkward between them for a while later. he didn't want to risk that now. " why wait? "

there'd been a marked difference in dawn over the past couple of days. dan hadn't been the only one to notice it, but he had had the sense not to comment publicly upon it, unlike some people in the staff room. he was worried, of course, but would save the possibility of sharing or acting on that concern for when they were alone.

there was a part of her that was desperate to confide in someone. not even someone but dan specifically. but every time she thought about it, she stopped short. she had thought that she'd outgrown the embarrassment of that nineteen year old girl. she didn't want him to look at her any differently. she couldn't stand that.

though he'd never admitted it out loud, declan had sort of given up on the idea of finding 'true love' or 'the one' or whatever other soppy name folk wanted to give it. partly because he'd had to reckon with his own mortality a little earlier than he'd expected to, and assumed it would throw a significant spanner in the works, but also because... well, how many examples were there of people finding the loves of their life in their forties, or later? very few.

when freddie had divorced his wife, the book store had become his escape. it had become the place where he could hide away from the world and not have to worry so much. he'd worked long hours in those days - anything to keep him from the quiet of the small flat that he'd found himself after he had left his family home. he had never imagined that it would be the store to bring the man that would teach him that being loved in the way that he had always wanted to be loved was not only possible but could feel better than he could have ever anticipated.

✧ REGÉ-JEAN PAGE 𝐆𝐈𝐅 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊 .

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