Jack waved to Tara as she continued down the sidewalk, walking off the rest of her buzz. He entered the antique shop, happily secure in the knowledge that he and Tara would have a shared bar to hang out at. He smiled at Kieran when their eyes met. It was a good day. A weird, but good day.

"Welcome home, my sweet. How was your morning?"

Jack's stomach dipped, and he grabbed his bag strap. There was too much permanence and love in so few words. He didn't have a home. His apartment barely counted as one. He didn't deserve a real home. He didn't deserve someone waiting for him, offering love and affection.

He swallowed and looked at the floor as his steps stuttered to a stop just in front of the counter.

Kieran's light smile faded. "Jack? Is everything alright?"

"No, I'm good," Jack insisted, nodding stiffly. He deserved nice things, he reminded himself. He deserved love. He pulled out his phone and blinked in surprise at all the new notes he'd added over the past few hours. "Um… Home. Yeah. That. I'm back."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I thought—"

"No, it's fine. Really," Jack insisted. If he was going to end up locked away in a basement, it would have happened by now. Unless he was being treated like some sort of homing pigeon, a vicious little voice whispered. He added another note to his phone with a frustrated sigh. A homing pigeon was preferable to being an amputated torso by a long shot. "I met up with Tara for lunch. It was good. Fine. She doesn't think I'm too annoying, so it's all good. Yeah, I'm home."

He looked up from his phone to meet Kieran's small and understanding smile. "Home. How home is home?"

"As much as you would like it to be," Kieran said softly as he leaned forward.

"Sorry I'm so insecure."

"You needn't—"

Jack quickly closed the distance and cut Kieran off with a kiss. He pulled back just as quickly, cheeks warm as he twisted his earring. "Yeah, so strong drinks. Tara brought up some shit, and it's kinda messing with me."

"Do you wish to talk about it?"

Jack shook his head. "Just weird shit. I'll tell you later. We both have a habit of picking winners in the dating department. Er, not that you're included in that. You're a winner-winner."

"Chicken dinner," a cold breeze whispered.

Jack covered a snort and gave Kieran a small grin. "What she said. Yeah, we had a vent session, and I have way too many notes in my phone now that I gotta write out by hand. And then back. I think it's helping? I remember the color of the box cutter without looking it up."

Kieran reached over and touched Jack's cheek. "Oh, my sweet Jack…"

"No, no! It's good," Jack said, quickly shaking his head. "Okay, not great-good, but okay-good."

Kieran lightly stroked Jack's cheek down to his chin. He dropped his hand when the bells on the door chimed. "You'll let me know if you need anything from me?" He placed his hand on Jack's shoulder and gave a light squeeze.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Jack nodded. He shuffled to the side as Kieran greeted his latest customers. He shrank into himself as the pair of women asked about lamps, one of them briefly looking in his direction. He poked around the counter as he waited for Kieran to finish up and frowned when he saw one of the notes to Thomas sitting behind the register.

Kieran returned and took his seat behind the register. He looked from the two women to Jack. "I supposed I shall see you after I close up?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jack leaned closer and dropped his voice. "Notes? Just…hanging around? You really think that's gonna work?"

Kieran had the decency to look uncertain. "I fell out of touch with Thomas some years ago. He was rather irritated with me. I… I had caught wind of Augustin's whereabouts. As—" he broke off with a sigh. "As well as his continued interest. It may have encouraged me into seeking out his sire's location. My belief that he would not be so blatant in his pursuits in front of her was proven wrong."

Jack did his best to ignore the implications of what else had been going through Kieran's head at the time. "And Tommy didn't want to be around when you fell off the wagon?"

"He was under the impression I should jump off and, well, get that bastard out of my system." Kieran looked up with a self-deprecating smile. "I felt fleeing the country was a better use of my time."

Another customer entered the store, and Kieran gave a brief greeting, his smile stiff and bordering on annoyed.

"I got this," Lindsey said, manifesting behind Kieran. "I'll grab you if anyone buys something big. I have a whole spiel on how I'm afraid to bag things since I'm clumsy."

Kieran relented and nodded as he left the counter and led Jack to the backroom. Once hidden from the view of others, Kieran pulled Jack into a tight hug and kissed him. When Jack didn't shy away, he deepened the kiss, threading his fingers through Jack's hair.

Someday, Jack would enjoy coming home to Kieran without feeling guilt or fear. He was determined to get there even if an annoying and persistent voice in the back of his mind kept shooting the thought down.

The kiss ended, and he quickly placed another, brief peck on Kieran's lips, spiteful against the lingering intrusive thoughts. He looked away, and his eyes landed on one of the notes to Thomas. He looked back at Kieran and nodded to the note. "I see where Tom's coming from with the whole get it outta your system thing," he said quietly. He tried to smile. "But I'm glad you didn't."

"As am I." Kieran caressed Jack's cheek. "Will you be sleeping on the couch tonight?"

Jack shrugged. "I… I don't keep a good sleep schedule. Or sleep good. I'm gonna be working on the database and plugging in a couple things that looked easy, so I'm gonna be up pretty late." And sorting through another small stack of photographs he'd stumbled upon.

"I don't mind."

"Even if I crawl into bed at three, and you're getting up at six?" He felt proud of himself for not bringing up the night terrors, but Kieran already knew about them. He had to admit that he was curious if cuddling up with his own personal vampire-shaped pillow would help keep them at bay. No extra help, just a warm body. He didn't deserve to wake up comfortable and warm. He was lucky to wake up at all.

Kieran's hand rested on the back of Jack's neck, pulling him forward a step. "If I sleep through you joining me, then I'll have a lovely surprise for when I wake."

"Uh…" Jack swallowed against the need to pull away. His eyes refocused on Kieran's patient smile. He breathed in shakily as he wrenched his hand free of its grip from his bag's strap.

Crispy, crunchy, headless.

He closed his eyes and slowly let out his breath. "Will you be waking me up?"

"I'll do my best to let you sleep."

There was something in Kieran's smile that Jack didn't quite trust. Not so much that he would avoid Kieran or the bedroom, but it set his heart beating quick with anticipation. "Okay…"

"Nothing too lurid." Kieran kissed Jack lightly on the cheek. "You may do the same to me when you come to bed."

Kieran seemed to think there was no question that Jack would join him. "We'll see."

A lingering touch trailed from Jack's cheek down his neck. He watched as Kieran went back to work, and all thoughts of sleeping on the couch vanished. He wanted to be half awake with fingers running through his hair, lips teasingly caressing his neck, and warm, loving arms wrapping around him.

Soft, gentle touches to help wipe away the memories of grabbing and pain.

image [https://i.imgur.com/eZY0YUq.png]