#ekamdeepthreads

Ekamdeep did not worry. At least he tried not to give it the room and attention to grow. Worry was a thing that seated itself in your thoughts and would only release a certain feeling in your body that was both uncomfortable and resulted in further spiralling.

He'd learned from his time as a hooligan that he wasn't so great with games of chance. He loved Football, to death, and he would always be rooting for Manchester United. But when they were playing a particularly hard game and the odds were not in their favour, Ekamdeep had always gone along with the violence. It was to distract himself from the feeling of being powerless to stop it.

He nodded at the person in front of him and smiled. "Have you played this game before?" he asked, kicking the ball in their direction. "Do you know the rules? Because else I'll just play goalie and you can try to kick it in." He spoke slowly, though excitedly, his accent often quicker and more intense when he got to play football.

AKS MEME: "you good? you drunk yet?"

Ekamdeep threw another beer backwards and shook his head. “I’m sound, drunk… that’s ‘nother thing entirely, no British man can get drunk on American beer, I need something stronger.” He grinned, signed at the bartender and ordered a bottle of whiskey. His head was buzzing, but in the comfortable sense, and sometimes what he wanted was beyond that line, over the very edge, pulling him into oblivion, to forget all the things that he didn’t like about himself and the world. Though, he figured Cyrek was in the den of such darkness already and threw the other a look of questioning. “‘ow about yu? Ye drunk? Need whiskey? Sumthing else?” His accent was thick, but if anyone could understand it, it would be Cyrek.

Ekamdeep didn’t get a whole lot of time when he wasn’t looking out for Miccah and Atticus. Maybe when he was sleeping, but outside of that, being their bodyguard was a 24/7 type of job, and it wasn’t that such was in his contract, he simply felt responsible for the both of them, with everything that happened. 

He was standing outside of the apartment building after having dropped Miccah off, reading his Manga and keeping an eye out on the neighbourhood, when he spotted Iris. He waited to make sure that they were heading his way, before he addressed her. “If ye’re looking for Atticus, he’s out,” Ekam said, with a light smile. “If not, apologies for assuming."

Ekamdeep pushed the Manga back in his pocket as he joined Atticus at the door, ready to head out, though with his mind was still with the story, trying to figure out what might come next, and also a little unhappy about how quickly he burned through the pages and his pockets as he ordered the next series. 

He studied Atticus for a moment and gestured for him to take a step first. “Ye’re in yer ‘ead,” he commented. “Thinkin’ about the whole…” he thought for a moment. “Cannea think of a single word to sum it up… weird shit?”

Ekam had three ex-wives. And three ex-kids. Though, perhaps he shouldn’t be referring to them as such. Most of his annual income was put into the accounts to support those three - and their mothers - until adulthood. It depended on the country for how long he’d have to support them, but the money kept them from contacting him, so he was glad to pour it into their accounts and be done with it. 

Sadly, it didn’t keep everyone away. 

He looked at Emmeline from across the table and kept up the silence, then nodded at the waitress who placed two cups of coffee and one plate of apple pie between them, followed by a glass of apple juice - for the brat. Aside from some diaper duties, Ekam had been able to destroy relationships before he could be asked to actually put the work in. He had no idea how to be around kids the age of this one… or any age really. He’d never had siblings, his parents had never entrusted him to take care of any extended family - that was for girls - so all he knew to do was: keep his distance and be the working man. 

“So…” he started, taking a sip from his coffee. “Do we put whipped cream on it?” he asked, staring at the apple pie.