#dsaf fics

The smoke burned his throat. Dave paused his breathing for a brief moment before finally exhaling, letting the smoke curl out of his mouth and wisp into the air. He gently tapped the cigarette against the edge of the ashtray, letting the bits of ash fall from the cancer stick between his index and middle fingers.

Dave’s eyes drifted over to the man next to him, sleeping soundly. Jackson Kennedy.

Dave put out his cig. Softly, he ruffled Jack’s already-messy hair. He took his sweet time taking in his partner’s sleeping form, how even his breathing was, the way the blanket was draped over his half-naked body.

Dave inhaled softly. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he forced himself to hold them back. He wanted to save those for when Jack is awake.

Dave sighed.

His fingers began to gently scratch Jack’s scalp until he flinched at the sudden sounds of knocking at the front door.

Dave’s eyes immediately darted to the bedroom door. Reluctantly, he pushed himself off the bed. He made his way outside of the room, muttering curses to himself as he zipped up his pants and readjusted his undershirt.

There shouldn’t be anyone out and about this early, Dave thought to himself. A part of him hoped he would see nobody when he opened the front door.

Tiredly rubbing his face, Dave reached for the doorknob with his other hand. “Who—”

He stilled instantly, his breathing hitched. He swore he heard his heart start to pump loudly in his ears.

Dave swallowed, but his throat felt dry. “Henry…” He murmured.

“William.” The man before him replied. He sounded as displeased as Dave was.

Henry stared at Dave, taking in the younger man’s appearance as if he were picking him apart. Dave did his damn hardest to ignore the way his stomach churned and twisted. He felt like curling into himself and hanging his head low, but he forced himself to hold up.

“I see you have been doing well.” Henry finally said, his voice breaking the silence, yet doing very little to ease the tension.

“I could say the same ‘bout you,” Dave muttered, his eyes narrowing ever-so slightly.

Henry didn’t respond to that. Not right away, anyway. He let that hang in the air, and it was enough to make Dave’s confidence start ebbing away.

“How…” Dave’s voice came out shaky, and he mentally cursed himself for it. “How’d you… Find me?”

“I’m not as stupid as you think.” Henry was about to step inside, but Dave immediately moved, putting his hand on the doorframe and his foot in front of Henry’s.

He glared daggers right into Dave’s very soul. “Word gets around.” He added, reluctantly. “…When are you coming home?”

“Wherever you live ain’t my home.” Dave said. “I may’ve considered it home before, but things change. Don’t act like I meant somethin’ to you.”

Henry’s hands curled into fists, his jaw clenching. “Who do you think you are talking to me like that?”

Before Dave could respond, he felt Henry grab him by his undershirt, pulling him close.

“You don’t know what you are talking about,” Henry said. “Whatever you’re doing right now, it’s not gonna last, and you’re gonna come crawling back to me whether you like it or not, so you might as well get it over with already.”

Dave’s hands clasped tightly over Henry’s wrist, digging his nails into the older man’s sleeve. “Get off of me.” He muttered. “I ain’t goin’ anywhere with you.”

As Henry let go of Dave’s undershirt, he shoved him, sending Dave stumbling back a little.

“You’ll regret this.”

Dave rubbed his chest, feeling the now loose fabric of his undershirt as he looked up at Henry. “I doubt I will.”

Henry took a step back, the very action making Dave almost spring forward, his hand already on the doorknob, ready to slam the door in the older man’s face.

“We will see about that,” Henry replied.

Dave wanted to say something, but he was at a loss for words. He didn’t know what to say. He always hated that.

It wasn’t until the faint sound of a doorknob twisting from behind did Dave finally made a move, and shut the front door, locking it.

“Dave…” Jack’s rough, sleepy voice was all Dave needed to hear to turn around, his uneasiness starting to dissipate. “What’re you doing?”

Dave shifted around a little. “Nothin’.” He scratched the back of his head. “Nothin’ you should worry ‘bout.”

“I worry all the time when it’s you.” Jack smiled faintly. He walked over and stood before him for a few seconds, as if he were hesitating.

Finally, he moved, wrapping his arms around Dave. “Last night was fun.”

“Sure hope it was.” Dave put his arms around Jack’s waist, holding him tight, almost suffocating. “God, I…”

Jack couldn't help but raise his voice at his purple coworker, who just pushed him against the dumpster behind the shitty diner they work at.

"H-Hey! The fuck, man?" He shouted a little too loudly for comfort. "What's your problem?!"

"My problem? I'll tell ya my fuckin' problem, Jack." William said, walking up to his confused and, rightfully so, pissed coworker. "Your lil sister, I don't want her anywhere near here."

All of Jack's anger dissipated, replaced with a sort of unfamiliar, dread-like feeling in his stomach. "...What?"

"Her birthday's in a few days, right?" William asked. "I don't want her anywhere near here. I don't want her birthday bein' hosted here. It can be celebrated anywhere but in this goddamned shit-hole we call a diner."

"...And I'd prefer it if you don't come here on that day, too." The man added.

"What?" Jack repeated. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you gonna do something? Dude, tell me what the fuck is going on—"

"Jack, please..." William's tone of voice went from firm to something a little softer, and dare I say, vulnerable? "It ain't safe for her here. Never has been and never will be. Somethin' bad's gonna happen to her if you don't listen."

"Fuckin' trust me on this, Jack." He put his hands on Jack's shoulders, shaking him a little. "I know I can't control every single thing that ya do in your life, but I'm bein' completely serious... You'll hate yourself after what'll happen."

Jack would've taken a step back if he wasn't already backed up against the dumpster. "What the fuck, man?!" He replied, his voice noticeably shaky. "The fuck is wrong with you? Is this some sick joke?"

There was a brief moment of silence between the two, the only sounds being each other's breathing and the cars passing by.

"I wish it fuckin' was." William muttered, his grip tightening on Jack's shoulders. "Jack. I swear to god, if you bring Dee anywhere near here from now on, I'll murder the shit outta you.”

"...William?" Jack mumbled, feeling the pressure around his shoulders ease and pull away from him. "What...?"

"It's not just for your sister... Sportsy..." William said, putting his hands into his pockets in a particularly seemingly rough way as he turned to head back into the diner.

"It's for your own good, too."

Hehe extra (it’s only Dave’s dialogue 💀)

The smell of whiskey and sounds of laughing filled the warm air of the juke joint. Dave was resting against the wooden wall, his resonator guitar leaning next to him.

His gaze went to his pseudo-niece, a Chinese girl, around thirteen. Lovisa Jiang.

Really, she shouldn’t be here, in a place like this, sitting awkwardly next to the bar her mom was working at. But the girl insisted, saying that she wouldn’t be much of a bother, and that she’s been staying at home all by herself for a while.

Dave glanced around, then his gaze wandered up to the indoor balcony. That must be where Jackson is… He thought to himself.

“Hey,” Dave started, grabbing his guitar by the neck and approaching the girl, briefly glancing at her mom before looking back, “y’know how to play, right?”

“Huh?” Lovisa stopped picking at her nails and looked up at Dave. “是的，点解?”

“你一個人坐喺度, 睇嚟好無聊.” Dave said, handing her his guitar. “所以呢度有啲要做.”

Lovisa nodded, hesitantly grabbing the guitar from Dave’s hands, gently running her fingers across the steel strings, a thrumming sound filling her ears and the vibrations of it echoing through her skin.

“Be careful with that, okay?” Dave said, briefly gesturing to the guitar. “I won’t be gone for too long.”

Lovisa nodded, watching Dave walk up the stairs that led into the balcony before beginning to strum the guitar, the rhythmic sound filling the wooden building, mixing with the rest of the noises in the joint.

“I knew you’d be here.” Dave muttered when he saw Jack, who was looking down, watching from the indoor balcony, the thinning smoke of Jack’s cigarette highlighted in the warm light of the establishment.

“I knew you’d come up here.” Jack replied, looking over his shoulder to face his friend. His “friend.”

He took a long puff of his cigarette, breathing out and watching it drift into the air before unscrewing the cap of the bottled water beside him, sitting on the wooden railings, before pouring a little bit of the water on the cigarette.

“You’re never usually this careful when puttin’ out a cig.” Dave said, walking over to the other man and standing next to him.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded before throwing the now put-out cigarette in a nearby trash bin, “but this place is yours, ain’t it? I don’t wanna risk a fire.”

“Ours.” Dave corrected with a slight grin.

“Yeah, whatever.” Jack said, rolling his eyes a little. He stared down at Lovisa.

She was gently strumming the guitar, the music drawing in a small crowd, watching her, listening to whatever tune she made up at the moment.

“She’s good. I didn’t know you were good with kids.”

Dave scoffed lightly, tearing his eyes away from Jack. “Alls I did was give her somethin’ to do. I ain’t good with kids at all.” He muttered. “She ain’t even a kid no more.”

There was silence between the two men for a brief moment before Jack spoke. “Where'd you learn Chinese anyway?”

“Learned it from a few kids I was livin’ with back then, in the orphanage.” Dave said, whipping out a pack of cigarettes and taking one out. “Then when I got kicked out, I always snuck into this school every day, listening to one of the teachers there giving language lessons.”

“How ‘bout you?”

Jack stayed quiet for a few seconds, blush dusting across his face before reluctantly speaking. “... Had a crush on this Chinese girl that was new in town. I was like, what? Fifteen? Sixteen?” Those words earned a small chuckle from Dave, making Jack blush even more. And it wasn’t just from embarrassment.

“I asked her out, we dated for a while, then broke up, like, three months later.” Jack continued. “I’m not too sure why, maybe ‘cause I’m… y’know…”

Dave nodded. “I tried to get with this white girl, and I was kicked in the ass by her brother or somethin’.”

“Wow.” Jack said, letting out a small breathy laugh. “Thanks, Dave. How comforting.”

“I’m glad I didn’t, though.” Dave said, moving closer to Jack, putting an arm around him. “I think I like bein’ with you instead.”

Jack looked away from Dave with a slight scoff, yet making no attempt to pull away from the man. “Not right now… we have a- D-Dave!”

Jack found his lover’s friend’s slightly yellowed, sharp canines softly sinking into the skin of his neck. He let out an embarrassing yelp when he felt Dave’s teeth sink in deeper. “H-Hey, you can’t just do that s-so suddenly!”

Dave pulled away from his lover’s shoulder, before pushing Jack up against the wall. He leaned into Jack’s ear, the volume of his voice low. “I need you, Jackson…” He murmured. “I’ve been thinking of you since this morning…”

“R-Really? Have you now?” Jack breathed out, one of his hands wandering up to Dave’s head, burying his fingers into his partner’s hair and gently scratching his scalp. “Then what’re you waiting for?”

The two finally stumbled down the stairs after what seemed like a long damn time, both breathing heavily and sweating a little. Dave was buttoning back up his shirt, and Jack was fixing the position of his hat.

“You should take that off. We’re inside, ain’t we?” Dave said, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder.