Day 5 of @erejeanweek2k19 - Single Parents/Formal Wear
It was a beautiful day at the end of a beautiful week. Flowers had started sprouting everywhere, the trees started getting greener again and the sun was finally strong enough to feel warm on bare skin. So Jean opted to take Luke for ice cream after picking him up from soccer practise.
Usually his son was tired after a good hour of running around the court but the mention of his favourite treat was enough to have him jumping in joy, bouncing around Jean like an excited fawn as they made their way through the park to the closest ice cream stand.
"And then we did sprints and guess what, dad!", his son chattered, voice high with breathless excitement as he jumped up and down in front of Jean, looking up at him with the proudest grin. "Guess what!"
"What?", Jean smirked, amused by the way his son was obviously out of breath but wouldn't stop running and leaping in circles.
"No, you gotta guess!"
"Oh, alright uhm ... you just started when aliens came down from the sky and..."
"No!", Luke laughed loudly, shoving at him before grabbing his arm and hanging off it, bounding along with Jean's measured steps. "You're so silly, dad! I won! I was fastest!"
"What?", Jean called out feigning surprise at the news even though he knew Luke was one of the fastest boys in his team and often beat the others when it came to sprints. He was quick and agile even though his stamina wasn't too great yet. At least that was what coach Jodie told him after a game last week. But Jean didn't much care about these things as long as Luke enjoyed himself and got along well with the other boys in his team.
"Again? Noooo, you're joking!"
"I swear I'm not! I won, I ... puppy!"
Before Jean could stop him the eager boy was already running off with excited laughter, right towards a man and a young girl heading their way, the girl holding a leash with a young German shepherd who seemed just as excited as Luke to see them.
Jean was about to call Luke back and remind him of his manners when his son came to a skidding halt a few steps in front of the small group, waving at them but making no move to touch the happy puppy pulling at its leash to get to him.
"Hello, I'm Luke", he introduced himself to both the man and the girl. "Can I pet your dog?"
The girl paused, then looked up at the man holding her hand, probably her dad. After he nodded at her encouragingly she smiled at Luke, showing off a prominent gap where one of her teeth was missing.
"I'm Carla and this is Rosie ... you can pet her!"
Luke squealed happily, dancing from one foot to the other before carefully approaching the dog who was still pulling on the leash and starting to yip by now.
Part of Jean wanted to call out for Luke to not get himself too dirty when his son just dropped to his knees in front of the puppy and gave the happy dog jumping into his arms a big hug, but then he reigned himself back in.
Those were his soccer practise pants anyway, he got them dirty every week sliding and slipping and falling on the grass and besides he had talked about this to his mother. Kids had to be able to make themselves dirty and play in the mud and his own penchant for cleanliness shouldn't limit his son's fun when not absolutely necessary. He still wouldn't let Luke play like this in his good pants, though.
The picture of his son smiling and laughing as Rosie the puppy licked his face, tail wiggling violently from one side to the other, made it easy to tolerate dirty pants. He stepped closer to the small group, smiling widely at the way Carla and Luke pet the little dog. Then his eyes flicked over to the man standing off to the side watching the scene as well and he swallowed.
He was hot, to say the least. A little on the short side but stacked as all hell, arms bulging in the tight shirt he was wearing. His dark hair was wildly tousled, giving him some kind of rough look and his face was nothing but sharp angles, cutting cheekbones and a strong jaw and bright eyes that sparked with joy as he watched the kids.
Jean took a breath that trembled just a bit before taking another step forward and offering his hand for the man to shake.
"Hey, I'm Jean", he smiled politely, hoping his sudden gay crisis wasn't too obvious. "I'm Luke's dad."
His hand was accepted with a quick nod and a wide smile, warm fingers squeezing his in a firm grip that almost made his knees buckle. Wow, he really had to get his thirst under control. But it wasn't really his fault, he hadn't dated since...
"Eren", the man said and his voice was pleasant, deep and rich like dark chocolate. "Carla's mine. Rosie's hers."
Jean laughed, looking over at the kids who had moved over to a patch of grass and were trying to make the puppy retrieve a stick for them. She was far too young for these kinds of tricks, though, only looked at them and yipped, tail wagging and tongue hanging out.
"I'm sorry about that, Luke loves dogs. He's been begging me to get one ever since he could talk..."
Eren laughed and oh god that sound ... Jean licked his lips, tried not to blush and fumble as he adjusted the bag of Luke's soccer equipment over his shoulder.
"Sounds familiar. They're insistent little shits, aren't they?"
Jean's eyes flicked over to the other man, scandalized, then back to the kids who were thankfully too engrossed in playing with the puppy to have overheard them. The grin Eren directed at him when Jean looked back over was a little sheepish.
"Sorry, bad habit. Still trying to break it so Carla doesn't swear more than me one day. Last week she called a girl stupid poopface. Her teacher was not happy about that. But at least I know she didn't pick it up from me, I'd have called the rude idiot a whiny little shit for brains."
Jean snorted despite himself at the colourful cursing even though he was still nervously checking that the kids had not overheard their conversation.
"What ... what did she do?", Jean asked, scandalized yet wanting to know more about this unfairly hot, terribly foul mouthed man and his family.
"I don't even know but she made Carla cry. Never thought before getting a kid that one day I'd want to throw hands with a literal six year old."
For some reason the thought made Jean laugh even harder.
"Don't do that, I bet her parents are just as vicious." That he had learned the hard way as soon as Luke had joined kindergarten. People were not up for joking when it was about their spawns but he couldn't even judge them. He was just as bad, after all.
"Parents suck, man", Eren grumbled, but there was an amused smirk playing around his lips, almost like he were sharing a fun secret with Jean who couldn't keep himself from swooning just a little at the sight. Damn, it was unfair how good looking Eren was.
"Hey, not all of us do...", he mumbled with a lame little shrug, helplessly reeling and unable to catch himself and then Eren's amused smirk shifted, turned into something sharper that took absolutely no survivors.
"I guess there's a few fine specimen..."
Was that … some kind of innuendo? It had to be, right? Jean was pretty sure his head was a glowing red signal beacon for his inner horny turmoil but the way Eren still met him in the middle and joked with him was as good a sign as any. Five years since his last real date was a long time but Jean could still remember how this worked.
"Hey, we're heading over to the ice cream stand. Do you three wanna tag along?"
Eren paused, a strange glint in his eyes that made Jean's breath quicken. Then he looked over at the kids rolling in the grass, cuddling Rosie.
"Hey sweet pea, you up for some ice cream?", he shouted and as soon as the words left him the girl sat up straight, her long hair in a tousled disarray with blades of grass sticking out of it.
"Yes!", she screeched before jumping up to her feet, her quick hands reaching down to grab Luke and help him up. While the kids were getting ready to move on Eren turned back to Jean, eyes still glinting warmly.
"Looks like we are", he grinned and if Jean wasn't completely hallucinating those big, green eyes flicked up and down his body within a millisecond to check him out. After five long years of abstinence this man would kill him with his sheer intensity. But that was a risk Jean was willing to take.
