(no subject)

[lollipopsandwhisky]

[ It's hard to imagine that after thirty years of life, anything would or even could change. The world will keep spinning, day will turn to night, you will sleep next to a woman you married, you will blink, breathe and carry on like the world will never change. Because you know it won't.

Then it kicks you in the arse and throws a spanner in the works

Gabe had lived the same day over, and over for a good thirty years. He woke up to his wife shouting something about work, or a shirt not being ironed or some other benign bullshit. He watched her go, did his chores and headed out. Every day the same.

He went to work for a few hours, driving trains from point A to B like he always did. He said hi to his few friends, giving them a big wave as he left to go to a job he actually loved. He walked through the doors at three pm every day, helping the local shelter care for a feed some stray dogs. They were the closest thing he had to children after all.

Before he could realise it, it was half seven and he was wandering home- every day the fucking same.

But not that day. Either age was getting to him, the moon, or well a lack of variety, Gabe took it upon himself to take some time for himself. Which lead him to some stupid chain coffee shop he'd usually avoid at all costs. He wandered in, letting the smells take him over as he leant on the counter, waiting for someone to- Well, not notice him, he was the size of a house, but get the time to serve him.

Once his order was done, he was sort of excited, tapping his fingers on the side as he waited. Sure it was find of a funny sight seeing a huge man being excited about hot chocolate, but any change from the day to day rigmarole was exciting!]

Comments

[darrynmiquiztli]

[It wasn't actually that rare to find that hot chocolate was an exciting prospect to most men over six foot. Darryn had long become a literal God, but that first almost scalding hot sip of sugar, milk and chocolate was up in his top list of things like when he had been mortal.

[Besides, if he went anywhere his children wanted him to bring home treats. Which meant cakes - like he didn't make enough at home - and since he was buying those there was little point not treating himself to something.

[Then again, the fact that the minute he came near the counter the two girls behind it pretty much beamed at him and asked if he wanted to take one or two whole cakes prob-ab-ly meant he did this a little too often. Or it was hard to forget the guy who always came in dressed like it was the middle of winter, with a scar and tattoo on his face.

[Or they were really good at their job.

[They were probably really good at their job, he decided as he pushed his hair out of his face and went through his wallet, paying and then waiting for the girls to get to him. It was the end of the day, so service wasn't going to be speedy even if there was pretty much only one person before him.

[One person who pretty much dwarfed him and felt like they contained boundless puppy energy. Oddly no longer a rare thing in Darryn's life. He offered a smile - friendliest ex-assassin you'd ever meet.]

Second meeting

[lollipopsandwhisky]

[ A week went by, and Gabe was still floating around, almost counting down the seconds till he got to see Darryn again- He had no fucking idea why, but he hadn't been so excited before.

Even his wife noticed, going through the 'are you having an affair' motions with him, which left Gabe with quite a good little black eye after they were finished rowing.

He ended up about thirty minutes early, leaning against the wall beside the door. He kept kicking himself for getting so excited but he was, he couldn't help it! There was something about Darryn that he couldn't get out of his mind, and by the end of that week, he didn't want too.... ]

Third Meeting

[darrynmiquiztli]

[It was fair to say that Darryn had avoided coming back. There was no sense in chancing seeing Gabe again, no sense in putting that strained risk on his marriage and life. Avoidance wasn't generally something he liked to do in his life, but sometimes it was what was needed.

[The problem was that coffee shop was one of the ones his children really loved. Where they liked to meet. Where they liked to make Darryn talk English and giggle at him. Where Cole's girlfriend worked. He could only avoid it so many times and although those times might span weeks or months in Earth time - they weren't about to span a lifetime.

[So eventually Darryn had to tell himself that it wasn't worth avoiding. That it wouldn't happen again. That it was a chance meeting and one arranged meeting, and the chances of him ever seeing Gabe again were slim to nil. It had been a fluke, an extremely minor lapse in his otherwise good judgement. It wouldn't happen again.

[To prove it to himself, he returned to the coffee shop. Drank a mocha, smiled at the girls behind the counter and said no to his usual cake order. There was no Gabe.

[But to further prove it, to further let himself know that is was so small a chance that had passed by, he left the cafe and walked down the route he had taken with Gabe that first time. Not seeing him the entire way, proving his point. It had been a once in a lifetime meeting. He was in no danger of seeing Gabe again.

[He got to the street where he had said goodbye to Gabe that first time, made that second meeting arrangement. People moved around anyway. Who was to even say Gabe still lived on this street? No. Darryn was sure it was over and done with. A closed chapter. Badly closed, but still finished.]