i am a wanderer passionately in love with life

“I think you’re saying this because you’re drunk.” Gabi laughs as she places her hand on their shoulder. There wasn’t a way that she was the hottest in the room when half the girls here looked like they could be on a runway. She. looks them over and furrows her brow. “Maybe we met at a bar or the hospital? I’m a nurse there!”

.

It wasn’t something Jayesh could deny. His breathe reeked of liquor. Later, when he stumbled home, his mother would tell him he smelt ‘like the bar floor’. He was drunk, but she didn’t have to put it out. “Feisty..” He observed with a modicum of a smile. “At a bar...” Well that was certainly possible and would explain why he didn’t remember meeting her. Although.. “..the hospital?” Oh fuck. Jay felt a heat in his cheeks as he prayed to the gods she wasn’t the nurse who helped him when he fell on a candle stick, but as he rubbed his head he finally recalled. “Ohhhhh. Yeah...yeah.. you were there that time I busted my head open on when I fell off my moped. Hey...” He pulled back some of his dark curls to show a tiny, silver scar on his forehead. “..it healed up good.”

She’d been looking forward to hanging out with the man she met during the cruise again, Jay was someone she hit it off with right away. Kaia walked with him into the maze, taking advantage of the opportunity to be the leader on their journey. She couldn’t but think of how cute it was that his scare immediately pulled her closer, not minding that she was going to be his shield.

Each twist and turn led them closer to the exit, the two of them would be out of there in no time as long as she kept getting lucky with her choice of direction. Kaia took each step slowly, looking both ways in attempts to catch some spooky before it was in front of their faces. It was his scream that ultimately got a jump out of her, the brunette reached her arms out to steady him and let out a deep breath. “Are you alright?” She questioned, looking up at him with a smile. “Do you want to keep going?”

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It was a humbling experience to be steadied by a woman not a hair over five foot tall. Jay pulled himself together as quick as he could. “Ye-yeah! Yeah. I’m good. I’m good. Let’s keep going.. we’re almost out..” He hoped but didn’t actually know. Kaia seemed confident in her choice of which way to go, so Jay just followed her lead. 

After a few turns with no jump scares, Jayesh started to relax. He kept his arm around Kaia but was hopeful they were approaching the maze’s end. 

From behind them, a chainsaw roared to life. His response was immediate, almost a reflex. Jay scooped Kaia up and took off. He paid no mind to maze’s turns but went straight through the uncut corn until they broke free of the maze entirely. Leaves from the corn stalks stuck out of his dark hair, but he didn’t care. Jay was just glad to be free of that. 

“I’m not saying this because you’re the hottest girl in the room, but I know I know you... from somewhere... can’t put my finger on where.... Just that I do.” A past life? No. That wasn’t it. 

With a list of partners as long as his, it was easy to run into old flames. Which sometimes was a good time all over again, and sometimes it wasn’t. He was now desperate to escape one that wasn’t and faked an excuse to start towards the door.

“Alright baby, yeah -- yeah! Yeah, I’ll call you. I will. I will call you tomorrow, yeah...ye-” Jayesh hit a wall. Literally. A wall of man. Stars filled his vision, shaded in sunglasses regardless of them being indoors (and it being nighttime outside). 

It took Jay a minute to realize he’d run into a real person. “God damn, my man! Anyone ever tell you you’re tall! Good thing whoever owns this joint put in high ceilings.”

A shiver of the worst kind - ( in that it’s emotionally-biting ) - zips down his back at the familiar nickname. It’s been years since Daniel’s seen Jay, felt the affection of hands in places very few have been. Relationships were never really his thing, in that - he connected with far too many and the idea of monogamy was too constricting. A thought the pair equally shared during their time together, exploring and feeling and delving into their sexualities tenfold. Which ultimately cost them a future when Jay’s family sent him away. Though, Daniel just assumed Jay ghosted him.

Ironic given he literally talks to spirits on the other side.

It’s another reason Jay’s question sparks even more ire and irritation on Daniel’s end. He perceives it as a personal slight or insult, combined with their history and Daniel’s honest to god reality.

The inquiry also drives away the person he was attempting to give a reading to. They were already a skeptic and something about Jay’s interference turned them off even more. “You don’t have to go…” Daniel tries to salvage his client’s interest but comes up empty handed and more annoyed. “I always knew you were an ass but, can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?” Although now, he was in no mood to further partake. In fact, he favored a break and putting as much distance between him and Jay as possible. Tit for tat, some would say.

.

There was something to be said about anyone who could stir feeling in the heart of Jayesh Acharya. It wasn’t that he was heartless or lacking in emotions, rather that he possessed so much he couldn’t cope. No one had ever taught him how to deal with his feelings, so more often than not he deflected. He never let anyone in. It was easier to be funny than serious. No one got hurt when it was all a joke to begin with.

This, them, they’d never been a farce. Daniel was the realest thing he knew. Even with all the years between them. He felt fifteen again, and all was somehow right in the world.

“Hey now.” He wagged a lazy finger. “Don’t go blaming me for your business failures. I didn’t know what you were doing here, I just..” The way he gestured towards the woods gave his story little explanation, but Jayesh knew what he, himself, meant. 

For al that had changes, some things hadn’t. Like Daniel’s ass being god herself’s David, or the enormous stick up it (no, not Jay’s). “You’re as tight wound as ever, Big D.” Despite the hammering that had picked up in his chest, Jay kept the conversation playful. “Let’s go split a caramel apple and see if that helps. You not you when you’re hungry, you know.”

There were a lot of things Jayesh would do for his mom. Driving a bunch of half drunk old ladies to a ghost tour of Vancouver was one of them, listening to them argue about story’s accuracy was not. He jogged ahead of them after all he could take of it, closer to the guide and next to a girl he didn’t know. By looking at her, he wouldn’t mind to. 

“Hey. I’m Jay.” It was straight to the point, but he’d gotten more with less. “You real into this....?” He waived a hand around. 

After jumping off a haunted hayride, then rolling down a hill and into some bushes that were more stabby parts than bush with all the leaves fallen off, Jayesh emerged from the woods. His shirt had a rip it in, and there were leaves in his curly, dark hair. He staggered a little as he walked, mostly because he’d hurt his ankle in the jump but also because he was a little fucked up. (per usual). 

As he approached a group of people, Jay couldn’t believe what he saw. 

“Well I’ll be goddamned. Big D Fuchs.” 

Jayesh removed his signature rose colored glasses. He never took off his glasses, but looking at the only person he’d ever sorta felt anything for for the first time since Jay had been shipped away to boarding school was important. Daniel’s face made him think about a stack of unread letters, wedged between his mattress and box springs alongside his prized, vintage playboy magazine collection. 

 With how empathetic and just knowin’ Big D always was, Jay knew he had to take the heat off his own emotions quick. Now was not the time for some other worldly call out. 

How he’d been bamboozled into helping with this stupid pumpkin patch he didn’t know, but as soon as he was allowed to ‘take fifteen’ Jayesh fucked off to the furthest pit of the pumpkin patch and ripped his vape until he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there in the first place. 

His eyes closed and didn’t reopen until something, rather someone, started to block the sun. It was keeping him warm in the chilly October air. “What the fu-” He started but stopped as his eyes opened to see a woman standing over him. A hot one, at that. Another beautiful brunette. He could count himself lucky for a few of those as of late, but there was always room for more.

A hot brunette with a pretty voice and he was suddenly a man on a leash, following the beauty into a haunted maze. Jayesh hated shit like this. He didn’t like mother fuckers just jumping out at him, but he wasn’t about to admit that to her. No. Jay put on his brave face and led them into the maze. At least, until after their first scare when he latched onto Kaia and refused to let go. 

With a five foot nothing lady as his protection, Jay continued through the maze. He thought of nothing but making it out. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. He, admittedly, thought about Kaia, and how much he liked having his arms around her now. It might’ve even been a little romantic did Jayesh not scream at the top of his lungs the second something else jumped out at them.

Hazal knew the last thing she wanted was to go home alone tonight, a welcome distraction to prevent her drunk self from contacting her dead best friend’s twin brother who is lurking around the same town as her. She’s not even sure how she’s been able to contain herself the last few months since his arrival especially after the realization that maybe it wasn’t as black and white as she always imagined it was. She turns her head to look over at the man sitting next to her, pressing her lips together. “Fruity drinks are the best, there’s barely any bitter taste and you can get drunk just as fast.” She chuckles. “Alright… Have you ever had an Adios Mother Fucker?”

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There wasn’t much left on Jayesh’s list of things he hadn’t done. Only thiry-one, the young man had already lived quite the life. He was curious and couldn’t help himself. Experience had always been his greatest teacher. So, to come across something he hadn’t done or had.. He was instantly curious. “No, but you’re already making me want to.” Eyes of dark chestnut scanned the well stocked bar in front of them. The bartender could probably make it, unless it was something that wild. He had no idea what to expect from the beautiful stranger.  “You askin’ for a round or am I?”

jayesh-acharya​:

“Oh, no. We’re never alone in how we feel about something. Humans..” He nodded with the conviction of his words. “..we’re all so much more alike than we are different..” The way his head continued to bob throughout their conversation made Jay look a little animated, like one of the bobble heads. “Absolutely. Curiosity is so important. I always wonder and ask when I can. You never know who you might learn something from. You know the wisest mother fucker I have ever met was a yak farmer. All the wisdom in the universe in that one, little man. Swear it..” Often, his mouth and train of thought went different directions. By the time he finished with his yak story he forgot what they were originally talking about.  “Kaia.” He echoed the first word he heard, finally recalling where they were going. “Music? Oh yeah. I like music. Can’t play it for shit really but we all got our talents. You though… you give me the vibe..” Jay started nodding again and waived his hand in Kaia’s direction. “..all… musically..”

“It’s comforting when you put it like that.” Kaia responded with a smile, nodding her head along as she agreed with his words. “I can honestly say that I tend to ask all questions that are on my mind, most of the time I can’t help it, but I like learning about new things. A yak farmer? There’s got to be a story behind that, though I can only imagine all the things he’s gone through in his life. Amazing stories too I’m sure, how did you meet him?” She questioned before offering him a smile at the sound of her name. “You don’t have to play to be able to appreciate a good song…you think?” She let out a laugh, nodding her head again. “I guess you can say I’m pretty musically…I’m in a band actually, a drummer.”

HEADCANON ENDING.

Jas had gone directly home after work to speedrun a shower (so he didn’t smell like fried food, and also to try and get rid of some of the paint on his arms and legs from earlier in the day, although that hadn’t been totally successful) and change into a new t-shirt and pair of jeans, and had been bullied by his roommate into sharing a blunt while he’d waited for Jay to get there.

(“You don’t show up to a date sober,” Jesse had said, and it was one of those things that made Jasper desperately want to meet the Wilson clan. Cult. Whatever they were.

“This guy is actually cool,” Jasper told him. “He’s weird. I kinda like him.”

“That’s why you can’t fuckin show up sober, partner.”)

And so he hadn’t; when Jas climbs into Jay’s giant car, glowing ghostly white in the darkness, he’s blazed out of his mind and lifts an eyebrow at the lunacy of the reception he gets — it’s the sunglasses that make it especially surreal.

“I’m actually programmed to self-destruct in the event that I run into cops,” he says. “So no worries. Do I get to know where we’re going finally?”

.

A booming laugh shook Jay’s broad frame. Which caused his glasses to slide down the bridge of his nose a little, revealing the blood shot whites beneath. “I knew I liked you.” A Cheshire grin of pearly whites beamed in the darkness.” Bucke up first, Booty.”

On the car ride from Jasper’s place to a location he refused to disclose by name, Jayesh played Kid Cudi. A song in particular compelled him to fish a blunt from the center console. He drove with his knees while he lit and hit it, ashing out the sun roof before passing it to Jasper. 

It wasn’t a long drive, but when Jayesh veered off the main road and down a path that looked more for a golf cart than a car things got a little bumpy. He didn’t think about how sketchy it was to take someone into the woods on a first date because he knew they weren’t stopping there. Well, the car was but they weren’t.

The path opened up some and a gate emerged. There was a hole in it just big enough for them to fit through that led to Vancouver’s nicest country club. His family had a membership there. Although, Jayesh was no longer welcome on the property after he’d been caught filling the club’s prized fountain with soap and rubber ducks a few years ago. Which he explained to Jasper before adding, “...so that’s why we have to sneak in to do it this year...” 

“... this we should kiss first for good luck?”

There’s a shudder that runs down her spine. Both at Jay’s words and at the breath that tickles the back of her neck. “What if I do deserve it?” The fallout with Max hurt, but Kira can’t help but feel like she doesn’t deserve to feel heartbroken about it. When it was her who cheated. She never meant to betray Max but, that didn’t mean she was any less guilty or awful person. “What if I deserve to be alone?” Jay would disagree, and Kira loved him for that. For seeing the best in her when she couldn’t see it in herself. For making her feel things even if it’s mostly in a physical sense. Even still, Jay’s friendship and his support tugged at her heart strings. Just as his wandering hands, tugged at something else. Something low and primal and warm, that vibrated in her belly before traveling down south. At the first teasing swipe of his thumb over the seam of her boy shorts, Kira responds by shifting above the couch, until her ass brushes his groin in silent beckon for him to keep going. “Mm. But then, I’d know it’s you and match with you out of comfortable convenience to avoid a Shake or a Shane.”

.

Had his eyes not been shut, they would’ve rolled. “You don’t.” He sounded distracted, because he was, but his words were earnest. “No one deserves that.” 

Jay’s hands said more than his mouth did, grabbing with greed at the curves of a body he’d touched too many times to count. He wasn’t one for relationships. As far as he could tell, he’d never been in love. Though, he had a few of these long standing partners that he cared about. Their feelings mattered to him. Jay liked them. He just didn’t want to date them. He didn’t want to date any one person. Something no one just seemed to get. 

“...comfortable convenience...”  It made Jay laugh. His voice had dropped a few octaves and rumbled against the back of Kira’s neck. “..is that what you’re calling your orgasms now?”

“Whatever I want, as long as it’s not Gordon Ramsey food?” Sawyer raised an eyebrow, unable to keep the grin off of her lips while she thought this stipulation over. “I guess that’s fair…” And, thinking back to how she’d swindled Silas into repaying back her Chipotle at a restaurant with a dress code, maybe it was an important stipulation to have made. She had expensive taste (champagne taste on a beer on a beer budget, if you would).

Another question had been on her tongue, but before it could be asked, Sawyer was splashed with water from Jay’s abrupt stance. She barely had time to look up at him in all of his sopping wet glory before his arms were suddenly around her, braced under her legs and giving Sawyer no choice but to wrap her arms around his neck, unless she wished to be dropped. “Jay!?” Her voice was panicked, immediate thoughts not towards the large expanse of beautiful skin she was pressed against, but just what he intended to do with her like this. Her eyes immediately cut to the pool, and her stomach just about bottomed out. He was absolutely going to throw her in, wasn’t he? And the whole cool angel girl thing she had going on would be absolutely shattered when he discovers that she can, in fact, not swim, and she would simply sink to the bottom of the pool and drown. “Jay, I really can’t–” But before she could bring herself to admit it, they were moving away from the pool, and though her heart continued to pound, she felt as if she could breathe again. “Where are we going?” The boat wouldn’t dock for another few hours.

.

Where he was going, a beautiful blonde bombshell in his arms, not even Jayesh himself knew. He cleared the throng of people surrounding the hot tub and pool then continued on to a more secluded spot. Deck chairs, with towels folded in the shape of animals on the bottom, lined a section of railing. Jay dropped Sawyer in one before flopping into his own. 

In privacy of their new space, Jay did energy plucking on Sawyer then got so high he didn’t realize they were docking until his mom called to tell him he needed to drive her and the Bridge Club Bitches home. He invited Sawyer to join him on his late night adventure. After, Jay took Sawyer for pancakes at his favorite truck stop diner, then they watched the sunrise. 

“Oh for sure the one with all the hotties in handcuffs and the drugs... which.... now that i think about it that .....might’ve been an episode of cops.”