By Chance
folder
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
24
Views:
4,263
Reviews:
56
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
24
Views:
4,263
Reviews:
56
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Chapter 12
Disclaimer: These characters are mine.
He’d started with just sitting on the steps, mentally kicking himself for being such a hulking asshole. God, how could he have done that? How could he have raised his fist against the one person he’d do anything to protect?
Joe Vic’s stomach rolled and rumbled. For the first time in a long while he wasn’t sure whether he was hungry or just deserving of a stomach ache. The easiest solution would be to take to the sidewalk, head over to Sullivan’s bar and drink every beer he’d missed since Rue had shown up in life. Maybe, just maybe someone would get lucky and beat him senseless for a change, knock him out cold so his mind could rest.
Joe Vic began walking. Where, he was sure. He simply stopped when he heard a familiar calling of his name. “Joe Vic, the grass hasn’t grown that quickly--” Mary Braggsford righted her watering can and walked over to her white picket fence.
“I see you’re out for a walk. A little far for you--” She began to take off her gardening gloves as she took in the sight of ‘her boy’. He looked disheveled in a way that just didn’t seem to fit him as of late.
“Yeah,” he shrugged. He couldn’t meet her eye. He just couldn’t reach his mother’s eye without it being evident that he’d almost hit another…woman.
Mary looked over him again, his stiff posture was quite telling of something bad. “Come inside.”
“No, I really need--” He began to protest, when she silenced him with a look.
“You need to come inside. I made some cookies today and you should tell me if I used too much sugar.” The door closed behind her, leaving him standing in front of the house silently. Joe Vic did as he was told and headed inside.
A plate of cookies was already waiting on the table. A streams of smoke rose into the air as a testament to their freshness. Mary emerged from the kitchen with two cups of steaming coffee and a look of determination in her eye.
He say across from her and began to dig into the cookies, allowing his mind to only engage in the task of tasting rather than deciphering anything deeper. “So, I know you didn’t plan to walk all the way over here. These must be some weighty thoughts on your mind…”
Joe Vic shrugged his shoulders like a small child that he never got to be. “ Maybe.”
“Does this involve Rue?”
The cookie in hand fit nicely between his thumb and pointer finger and it tasted sweet and warm; full of enough goodness to make his evasion of the question a little less irritating. Like the sweetness from the cookie, the chocolaty taste on his tongue, he found pleasure, but he found pleasure with Rue too and then some. Yet, if the sweetness and pleasure were on the first level of his feelings towards Rue, then what was at the heart of his feelings for Rue?
Was it…, no it couldn’t be.
“First fight.” Mary swallowed a sip of her fresh brew and began to remove her paisley headscarf. “I remember those. They seem to make the whole world seem on the verge of collapse.” She looked at him through slit eyes, sure that her next words would be true. “I’m sure whatever you did can be undone. Just apologize.”
Joe Vic wanted to laugh. Just throw his head back and laugh until he couldn’t. Instead, he found his voice to be so small, smaller and lower than he would have liked. “We argued…And I was so mad at her. God, I’ve never been that angry--” His head hung low. “She wouldn’t listen to me and she’s so fucking stubborn.”
The loud pop resounded in the empty dining room. “If you hurt her, I’ll hurt you too.”
He shook his head. “I stopped before I did anything stupid.”
Mary pushed her cup out of the way. She was angry with him and still proud that hadn’t gotten too out of hand. “Listen and listen well,” she said in a tight clipped voice. “You’ve had a tough life and you’ve grown to be what some people call a brute, but I call you my son and I know without a doubt that you have feelings for that girl and I know she’s crazy about you…It’s not about cheating, is it?”
Joe Vic shook his head. “It was about something she wants and has been looking forward to since I’ve known her.”
Mary’s eyes lit up. She knew Rue seemed like a smart girl, one with her life in order, so it made sense that Joe Vic might be a little intimidated by her goals. “Here’s a piece of advice, as long as what she wants doesn’t hurt anyone, let her do it. Otherwise, you’ll regret holding her back forever and she won’t forgive you either.”
The words sunk in, just like his thoughts from earlier and they seemed to swirl around that one thing that he was staunchly refusing to fully acknowledge. He’d swallow his pride, his selfishness and be frank. “I—I think I love her.”
Mary smiled simply. “Good, go tell her the same.” He paused to hug her before he was sprinting out the door to do just that.
TBC/?
Please read and review
He’d started with just sitting on the steps, mentally kicking himself for being such a hulking asshole. God, how could he have done that? How could he have raised his fist against the one person he’d do anything to protect?
Joe Vic’s stomach rolled and rumbled. For the first time in a long while he wasn’t sure whether he was hungry or just deserving of a stomach ache. The easiest solution would be to take to the sidewalk, head over to Sullivan’s bar and drink every beer he’d missed since Rue had shown up in life. Maybe, just maybe someone would get lucky and beat him senseless for a change, knock him out cold so his mind could rest.
Joe Vic began walking. Where, he was sure. He simply stopped when he heard a familiar calling of his name. “Joe Vic, the grass hasn’t grown that quickly--” Mary Braggsford righted her watering can and walked over to her white picket fence.
“I see you’re out for a walk. A little far for you--” She began to take off her gardening gloves as she took in the sight of ‘her boy’. He looked disheveled in a way that just didn’t seem to fit him as of late.
“Yeah,” he shrugged. He couldn’t meet her eye. He just couldn’t reach his mother’s eye without it being evident that he’d almost hit another…woman.
Mary looked over him again, his stiff posture was quite telling of something bad. “Come inside.”
“No, I really need--” He began to protest, when she silenced him with a look.
“You need to come inside. I made some cookies today and you should tell me if I used too much sugar.” The door closed behind her, leaving him standing in front of the house silently. Joe Vic did as he was told and headed inside.
A plate of cookies was already waiting on the table. A streams of smoke rose into the air as a testament to their freshness. Mary emerged from the kitchen with two cups of steaming coffee and a look of determination in her eye.
He say across from her and began to dig into the cookies, allowing his mind to only engage in the task of tasting rather than deciphering anything deeper. “So, I know you didn’t plan to walk all the way over here. These must be some weighty thoughts on your mind…”
Joe Vic shrugged his shoulders like a small child that he never got to be. “ Maybe.”
“Does this involve Rue?”
The cookie in hand fit nicely between his thumb and pointer finger and it tasted sweet and warm; full of enough goodness to make his evasion of the question a little less irritating. Like the sweetness from the cookie, the chocolaty taste on his tongue, he found pleasure, but he found pleasure with Rue too and then some. Yet, if the sweetness and pleasure were on the first level of his feelings towards Rue, then what was at the heart of his feelings for Rue?
Was it…, no it couldn’t be.
“First fight.” Mary swallowed a sip of her fresh brew and began to remove her paisley headscarf. “I remember those. They seem to make the whole world seem on the verge of collapse.” She looked at him through slit eyes, sure that her next words would be true. “I’m sure whatever you did can be undone. Just apologize.”
Joe Vic wanted to laugh. Just throw his head back and laugh until he couldn’t. Instead, he found his voice to be so small, smaller and lower than he would have liked. “We argued…And I was so mad at her. God, I’ve never been that angry--” His head hung low. “She wouldn’t listen to me and she’s so fucking stubborn.”
The loud pop resounded in the empty dining room. “If you hurt her, I’ll hurt you too.”
He shook his head. “I stopped before I did anything stupid.”
Mary pushed her cup out of the way. She was angry with him and still proud that hadn’t gotten too out of hand. “Listen and listen well,” she said in a tight clipped voice. “You’ve had a tough life and you’ve grown to be what some people call a brute, but I call you my son and I know without a doubt that you have feelings for that girl and I know she’s crazy about you…It’s not about cheating, is it?”
Joe Vic shook his head. “It was about something she wants and has been looking forward to since I’ve known her.”
Mary’s eyes lit up. She knew Rue seemed like a smart girl, one with her life in order, so it made sense that Joe Vic might be a little intimidated by her goals. “Here’s a piece of advice, as long as what she wants doesn’t hurt anyone, let her do it. Otherwise, you’ll regret holding her back forever and she won’t forgive you either.”
The words sunk in, just like his thoughts from earlier and they seemed to swirl around that one thing that he was staunchly refusing to fully acknowledge. He’d swallow his pride, his selfishness and be frank. “I—I think I love her.”
Mary smiled simply. “Good, go tell her the same.” He paused to hug her before he was sprinting out the door to do just that.
TBC/?
Please read and review