Jay stilled when he heard the bed sheets shift, he relaxed again when Aiden spoke. “I woke you,” he sighed, feeling guilty. He slid his hand away from his face to look at Aiden in the dark. He could just make out a few details from the light coming through the window. Jay slid down the pillows to be level with Aiden, getting a few more details closer like this. “The party sort of died after a water fight. I was tired anyway.. am tired.” he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply as he melted against his pillow. His everything was going to ache tomorrow. Slowly his eyes opened against, finding Aiden’s beautiful face in the shadows.
“I’m sorry…” he whispered. Jay’s brows were pulled together, his lips pursed. He was hesitant in his words. “About earlier. I.. feel guilty over that dare. I thought I needed to tell you before anyone else and… maybe I should have left it for the morning. You’ve had a rough day, I didn’t mean to make it worst… I really didn’t,” he apologized. Jay swallowed the lump in his throat. He felt pulled thin, after such a long day and busy week. He didn’t have all the answers and solutions, which only upset him more. Jay felt torn. It was clear they had issues but it was also clear they worked. Not perfectly but they had time for that later on. He wanted this, them, but could they make it to that point? Was this new guilt a sign things were developing too slow? “Please don’t hate me for one stupid dare.” You could hear the fear in Jay’s voice, even if he tried to hide it. Why was a dare that would have been laughed off a month ago worrying him so much? Was it just for the fact that it was a hard day for Aiden and he didn’t want to make it worst?
Aiden was exhausted. He didn’t want to think about anything, even less when he was already starting to feel the bothers and pain or a bad hangover that would get even worse by sunlight. Yet, judging by the worry and just the tone of voice Jayden used with just two words, Aiden knew this couldn’t wait till morning like he had told him to do so, and well.. after a few seconds of consideration he agreed. He let out a sigh as his eyes fell shut again, just listening to what Jay had to say and he had to admit he’d never considered how different this was from... say the bonfire at the lake. Not that Jay left a hickey on an almost stranger, but he was almost sure that even when he would’ve felt that pull of pain and jealousy if he saw him around someone else, because that had happened since the very first time they met again, but he would’ve laughed at it. Something had changed, and it wasn’t the fact that they were being ‘exclusive’ but probably more about the words exchanged.
“Jay...” He whispered, biting his lip and finally moving his arm across his middle, opening his eyes and urging him to open his own, meet his. He wasn’t in his best state, but no matter in which state he was in, he would’ve felt the same chills down his back when he did. “Look at me,” he said, with his best attempt of a smile. “Do you think I could hate you for... anything at all? And even if I did, I wouldn’t have the right,” he said, trying to think how Jay must’ve felt back in college, when he made out with girls right in front of his nose to keep a stupid cover. “I’m not... I’m not gonna say I’m happy about it, or... okay without it, but... I... We’re not-” Aiden shook his head. “I just... I don’t know. I just got jealous or... something like that. I don’t like sharing, I guess? N-no, that sounds bad. As if I owned you or something and–” Aiden ranted for a bit, stuttering and dragging words here and there. He was nervous for some reason. “I’m scared that, well, you’ll find someone else without baggage and... less sad stories and– you know, stuff.”
“Hmm… ‘ow on earth is this popcorn taking so long?” Lucette sighed, staring intently at the popcorn maker in the White Oak building’s cinema. “I thought that, ah, these were supposed to be fast…”
“I just got my tattoo and I already want another one. How is this even a thing?” Sam sighed, looking down at the tattoo on his arm. He knew people would give him a look for it, but he loved it. “Just looking at it makes me want to get another. Look at it!”
“Dang, jetlag can be a pain,” Bella said, drinking a cup of hot chocolate in the local cafe. She was primarily mumbling to herself and hadn’t realised that someone had been near her.
“I just had the most relaxing bath with candles and a bath bomb…oh, and music, can’t forget music.” Dakota said, taking a deep breath. “I feel so feminine I feel like I need to balance it out somehow, like by shooting a gun or wrestling a bear or something.”
“Shooting a gun would only make you badass, not less feminine, which could probably make me angry because I doubt I’d look half as badass. Now wrestling a bear... Sorry, but you look nothing like Leo, friend.”
Jay got home later, shaking from the cold water. Of course he got into another water fight. He stopped into the shower, using hot water to heat himself up and keep himself from getting sick. Just as he got out of the shower there was a knock at his door - the pizza. Jay managed to eat a slide standing in the kitchen in a towel. He put the box aside fr the morning and walked into the bedroom where he’s found Aiden. Jay put some briefs on and went to take care of the other. He carefully moved him to a more comfortable position, stripping off his shoes and pants. He tucked Aiden in, pressed a kiss to his forehead, and went in search for some pain killers. Jay put a glass of water on both side tables with pain killers for the morning. He turned the lights off and climbed into bed, the whole time thinking Aiden was asleep.
Jay was exhausted. After the run, the cemetary, the party and the drama he just wanted to catch some z’s. He was only awake due to the nap he’d had whilst Aiden went to dinner with his dad. He wonder how that had gone. he wondered if Aiden trusted him after finding out about the hickey. He wondered what this meant? They used to brush dares off as nothing and now it seemed to bother both of them. Jay sighed, rubbing his eyes.
Alcohol was never a good idea for Aiden. Not that he was a bad or even a sad drunk. He could usually take his liquor pretty well, except on August nights, but it seemed almost a habit now to drink himself to sleep every August 27th by now. It was the only way he’d found to clear his head and get some sleep during that day, so he’d never really fought it. He’d fallen asleep instantly as his head hit the pillow and he knew nothing about life but the darkness inside his eyelids until a noise shook him awake. It took him a few minutes for him to realise where he was and what was happening, still out of himself due to the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream, but he had sobered up enough to speak.
Aiden felt the weight of Jay on the bed next to him and wondered if it was a good idea to talk to him or if he should wait in the morning, but each time he closed his eyes the whole room started spinning so it wasn’t really an option. “You’re back,” Aiden spoke in a raw lazy voice as he turned around to face him. He felt odd about Jayden’s confession at the party. No, not odd. Insecure. That was the word. He had snapped at him almost instantly, and well, he had had somewhat of a reason to do so, but he wasn’t feeling like fighting over some game. However, he was doubtful about if it would be too much to reach across his middle or even touch his arm.
Aiden stood on his tip toes to peek inside her younger sister’s crib. He had no idea how it had happened, or how such a little thing could be so noisy and smelly, but so beautiful all at the same time. Neither could he imagine how had it been possible that that thing was inside his mother’s stomach and all of a sudden was out there, two years old and kicking and crying at all goddamn time of the day.
“Do you want to hold her?” Alicia Brady spoke from the doorway. It wasn’t the first time he had sneaked into Scarlett’s room since she’d come home. More than one occasion his parents had even found him fast asleep on the floor by the crib. Aiden looked up at his mother with a hopeful grin, but he didn’t dare to say anything or even nod because he wouldn’t know what to do with his baby sister in his hands.
“Are you serious?” Aiden asked with hopeful glossy eyes, the lisp he had been treated for making a come back as he lost his concentration, focusing completely in his mother’s question.
“Why would I ask you if I wasn’t?” She laughed, Aiden’s favourite sound, and it made him laugh as well. “I think you’re a big man now. Look at those arms, so strong,” she said, poking him on the ribs as Aiden flexed his little slinky arms to prove a point. Alicia laughed, crouching down at his level and fixing his arms into a safe position so he could finally, after two years, receive his baby sister in his arms.
“Hold her head,” his mother commanded as she placed Scarlett in his arms so delicately it made Aiden, seven years old, feel too harsh in comparison. The weight of Scarlett was unfamiliar, but it warmed the little boy’s blood, filled his little stomach with butterflies as the widest grin ever known from him tugged at his lips. Tears filled up his eyes when Scarlett looked back at him, darker eyes set on nothing but him and smiled a toothless smile.
Aiden looked up at his mother who also had tears in her eyes. “Mommy, why are you sad? Did I do something wrong?” He asked, a worried crease finding home on his forehead, the same one he had when daddy didn’t come home on Saturday nights.
“No, no. No, my love,” Alicia replied with the most compassionate smile, lifting a hand to place it on her son’s soft cheek. “Sometimes people cry because they are too happy, and that’s okay too,” she explained with a whisper, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “And right now, I can tell you, A... I have never been happier than I am with you two.”
Once I was... 20 years old.
“Mom?” Aiden knocked on the door for the third time. He knew she was a heavy sleeper, but it was past ten in the morning and by now, she had at least got up to make sure Scarlett hadn’t skipped class again. “Mom?!” Aiden called louder, taking the doorknob in his hand and twisting it open. And indeed it was open. He never walked into his parents room without being invited to, but in his mind this called for an emergency.
Alicia was still in bed, cuddled under the covers. Her long dark hair displayed on his father’s empty pillow. He hadn’t been home for four nights now, but it wasn’t weird anymore. “Hey,” he whispered, moving closer to move her just slightly. “I’m leaving now, mom,” he said, shaking her a bit harder to wake her up, but there was no response. “Mother,” his tone changed as he grew worried and jumped to the other side of the bed, only finding a pool of saliva, maybe vomit around his mother’s pillow. “Mom?! Mother, wake up! Mom- moth- mommy, please... please wake up!” Aiden shook her violently before checking her breathing. Gone. Her vitals. Gone. Her skin was only warm because of all the blankets covering her in the middle of the summer. “Mom, mom... please!” He cried out. “Help!” He yelled, hoping one of the maids was home by now. “Help! Scarlett, pleas–” His voice broke as he kneeled next to his mother’s bed. “Mommy, don’t- please... just... wake up. Wake up, please. Look at me. I want to see the sky, please... please look at me,” he whispered now as he held her hand.
“HELP!” He yelled again threatening to rip his throat.
Soon I’ll be... 30 years old.
“N-no, I don’t understand- no, I don’t care about that. Look, can you just send it all to Nancy?” Aiden said on the phone, squeezing the stress ball he found on the top drawer of his desk. If that didn’t work, he always had the amazing view from his office to distract himself with or a phone to text his fiancé when bored. “I know, I know I’m the president, but... like, do I really have to do the whole thing by myself? Come on, I’ll pay you double this month,” he charmed his secretary over the phone before hanging up the phone with a victorious smile.
His eyes fell on the portraits set on his desk. The one in the very back was an old picture of when he was probably fifteen years old, the last vacation with his whole family. To the right a picture of his mother smiling at him. He’d had that in every single place he’d ever been to as a reminder of the person he could and wanted to be. A little bit forward there was one of his father. Despite it all, he had more than a few things to thank him. He had decided to retire about a year ago, he told him in a phone call that Aiden never thought he would get after he had come out to him. Lucas Brady apologised that same night. Yes, it had been over the phone, but Aiden wouldn’t have expected anything more than that. He’d never been an emotional person, the fact that his words had come out of his mouth were more than enough, and even congratulate him when Aiden informed him he was engaged now. Which was the next picture, the one in the very front that always brought a smile to his face. Aiden had managed to look at the camera as someone took their picture, but got Jay looking at him in a way that still sent chills down his spine. There he was, his motor in life and the reason why he woke up every morning.
Aiden sighed with the usual foolish grin he had whenever he thought of him and the wedding coming in two weeks. He had nothing left to do for the rest of the evening. He stood up and walked towards the window as he dialled a phone by memory, without even looking at the screen. One tone, two tones, three tones and his cheeks turned bright red at the sound of his voice. “Hey, love. I, uhm... Have you ever thought of like... eloping?”
Aiden made his way down to Jayden’s apartment. It didn’t require much thought, besides, the route was already memorised in his head no matter where he was coming from. The whole world around him was spinning and that’s how he knew how much of a bad idea had been mixing the dinner’s wine with the scotch at the party without nothing really in his stomach since the day before. He wasn’t hungry, however. He was... nothing. He was upset at Jay’s confession, but he couldn’t ignore what he’d said, neither what had happened that morning, what he realised as Jay spoke to his mother. Aiden didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think at all. Dragging his feet step by step to the bedroom, Aiden managed to get to Jay’s bed and let himself fall onto the mattress, eyes falling shut almost immediately.
“You… you are making me cry Aiden,” he blurted out, blinking back tears as he was introduced to Aiden’s mother properly. He nosed the male’s cheek, laughing softly as Aiden noticed his nails. “Well yes it is, I wore all pink in the race. Must have missed that nail in the rush to get here to you.” Jay wanted to pull Aiden closer, so much closer. He wanted to hold him tight and help him through today so that tomorrow he was a little stronger, and could face the world with his head help high. Aiden took so much on by himself because of the distance he had with his family. Jay wondered what Aiden was like as a child, so innocent to the horrors of the world. He wished he could have sat down with Aiden’s mother one day to find out, and it saddened him that he never would.
Jay brought their joint hands to Aiden’s cheek and guided him into a kiss. “Thank you.. for doing the test,” he said softly. “I know it’s not a thing to talk about right now but I just wanted you to know I got it. I know.. what the results say and we’ll work this out okay?” he brushed his thumb under Aiden’s lips. Jay had an idea now what the high levels were - he’d read up on his phone earlier. His eyes met Aiden’s and he understood what Aiden’s mother had said so long ago. In those eyes was the world; his world. There was so much history and so much future right there. “I don’t want ordinary Aiden. Our lives… they’re nothing ordinary. We will fight… we will say things that hurt each other but… I want extraordinary. I want stories to share for generations. I want people to look at us and say ‘I want that’. I want to.. catch secret stares and steal kisses. So know, even when we fight, you can always lean on me. You never have to face the world alone. Not when you have me. So whatever trouble you’re in.. I’m your lifeline. Okay?” It didn’t mean they were fixed, but they would get through it if they worked together.
“Do you want me to leave you for a little? So you can have some time with your mum?” he asked, his chin resting on Aiden’s shoulder. He’d turned them so Jay’s chest was pressed against Aiden’s back. Both of his arms were wrapped around Aiden’s middle. “I could go get us some food… bring it back for a little picnic. Maybe you’ll feel a little better with some grub in you.”
Aiden could feel his heartbeat on his throat as Jay mentioned the test. Part of him was glad he’d taken it the right way, as an offer for peace and not just as a display of his pride and whims, or wanting to show him something other than his commitment to him. It helped that Jay knew about the August curse he went through every year, but still he wanted to do more. He wanted to say sorry and explain himself, his bad behaviour, but then it got him thinking about how much he knew... Had he seen the little letters in the very bottom? Aiden opened his mouth to say something, but Jay beat him to give him an answer. Of course he knew. The little bottle felt heavy in his pocket, but even then, Aiden made an effort to ignore it, ignore everything that wasn’t Jay and his sweetness, his words, his touch, his heat, his arms around him doing what no one else had done before, treat his wounds instead of just trying to patch him up. “I think... I think we have a lot of stories to tell our kids years from now, I mean.. painting my face red?” He said, chuckling through his tears, as usual trying to get out of serious conversations. “You are not just the life line, Jay. You are my whole life,” he managed to say, toying with the male’s fingers in his own, blushing, too bashful to look at him, saying words that seemed odd in his vocabulary.
Aiden responded with a nod. He only needed a few more minutes alone with his mother, empty the few tears he had in him and although he was not embarrassed about crying in front of Jay, this whole thing had always been his own. He barely talked about his mother for a reason, and it was because he wanted to keep it somewhat private. “Just a few minutes, alright?” He asked, turning at him with a hint of a smile as tears started drowning his eyes once again. “I’ll, uh... I’ll catch up with you in the car and we can go for lunch.”
The story was so innocent, and so full of love, it brought tears to Jay’s eyes. He blinked them back. Aiden had been blessed with a mother who had never ending love for her little boy. He had gone through years with her, but not a lifetime. Jay had been born to negligent alcoholics who abused the fact they had kids yet never took responsibility for them. Jay didn’t know what state his parents were in, didn’t know if they were sober, but he seethed to think they lived whilst Aiden’s mother laid under his feet. “I love that… I wow. That is so beautiful,” he said, running his fingers through Aiden’s hair. He looked at the tomb stone, his eyes, though glistening with tears yet to spill, looked on in awe. “One day you can tell our kids that… or maybe they’ll have blue eyes and you can tell them they have the ocean, so much yet to be discovered… or green .. so full of life like the trees. Or all three, for each of our children,” he said. Jay was hoping to give Aiden a good image to focus on. Maybe it wont come true, maybe they’d do something different in their future than their silly fantasizes they mumble in the middle of the night. But still, there was hope there. Jay let a little time pass, holding Aiden close to him and listening to the sounds around him. The wind was tunneling around different crypts and graves, making a little whistling noise. There were birds not far away, and he could smell the newly mowed lawn. His eyes focused on the stone with Aiden’s mother’s name carved into it. The stone was beautiful, the craftsman ship was of high quality.
“I don’t know if Aiden told you but we met not long after you.. after you passed. He kissed my first… but I totally flirted with him months before that. Just.. not very well. That first kiss… boy did it set the bar high. He does that… finds ways to push the bar higher and higher. Recently we went to one of my favorite movies and.. he kissed me in front of all these people. You would have been so proud of him. I know I’ve been so proud to watch him grow. You know what, I bet you’ve been watching too. When I get up there, and not for a while sorry, I’ll have to fill you in on the bits you missed when you’re watching Scarlet. Like… maybe you missed this time we went away to a snow resort and we built a mini army of snowmen… and Aiden got sick for a week because he didn’t pack his snow jacket and refuses to layer up. Oh- oh and,” Jay laughed, “One April fools I put red dye in this face product he was using at the time and he had red all over his face. It took like six showers to come out.” he is body was shaking from laughter. It was nice to revisit good memories in a hard time.
“I don’t know how you did it… but you raised a beautiful son. He.. he treats me right - and I know, not all the time, but we are all learning in this world. He’s getting so much better and.. I think losing you took part of his heart. He’s only just starting to get it back, covered in angel kisses from you I’m sure. So don’t be angry at him, when things get hard, that’s my job now. Just give him more angel kisses, he’ll work his way through it all. I’ll give him real kisses too, and we’ll keep him safe together. Okay?” he looked up at the sky. “He’ll be okay. I promise.”
Aiden felt a little bit more comfortable now that Jay was mentioning conversations they’d had in the middle of the night. Their future together, that no matter how impossible it might seem at the moment, Aiden would defend till his very last breath. He smiled through his tears and pressed himself closer against him, needing him even more. He thanked the silence, however. He remembered six years ago, on his mother’s funeral, everyone trying to say kind words to him and Scarlett, and he vividly remembered making even more harm than taking the pain away as they intended. They didn’t know her, they didn’t know what had happened, that the man who’d sent personalised invitations to a goddamned funeral was the one behind it. Who knows, maybe he’d even started organising the whole thing with months in advance, Aiden recalled thinking. His father was the one and only person he had left in his family, so he’d eventually decided to ignore his grudges, but had never gotten over it. Aiden felt his own rage arise once again, but all he had to do was remind himself of who he was leaning against and it was a matter of seconds before he felt like could breathe again.
Jay, however, decided to break the silence but he wasn’t talking to him. Aiden was confused for a few seconds until he realised what he was doing, sending his heart rate to its maximum, the lump on his throat becoming painful, but his eyes filled up with tears of a different kind. He smiled, releasing his tears all at once and wiping them before they got halfway down to his face with the hand he still had free. He refused to let go of his hand squeezing it tighter as his smile widened with memories. Seeing him there, talking to the air, meant more than the world to him. Aiden stopped thinking about his sadness for a while and just focused on what he’d had been missing in his life in the past couple of years, what he had taken for granted. If this, talking to his deceased mother as if she were standing right before them wasn’t real love, then he would have to live his whole life mistaken, but it couldn’t get better than this. Aiden found himself laughing, not sure if it was because of the memories Jay brought back or because his laughter was enough to make him laugh, but he didn’t question it. Jay talked about angels, about his mother watching over him as one, but right now he was fully convinced that he was looking at one as he put his eyes back on Jay. Aiden wasn’t a person of faith, but he was sure that the fact they met each other wasn’t a coincidence now.
Aiden looked at Jay in silence for a few more seconds, trying to find in his head the right words that could express what he was feeling right now. “Thank you,” he whispered, taking his hand between the two of his and bringing it to his lips to kiss his fingers. “She would really like you, you know?” He exhaled shakily. “I never... I never told her about–, but... I think she knew,” Aiden recalled, his gaze getting lost in the distance. “When I left for my freshman year she told me that being away meant being myself, that I didn’t have to worry about my father- It never really made sense until now,” Aiden chuckled.
“I know she would look at you and... pinch your cheeks and tell you to keep me in the line. Then she would probably kiss your cheek and offer you food, and she’d be so offended if you said no, but come on, it’s you, you would’ve eaten it all,” Aiden laughed before turning at the stone once again. “Mom, this is Jay. Remember I talked to you about him?” He said softly, still choking on broken words and tears, but more calm right now. “Well, here he is. I- I think you sent him to me when you left.. so, thank you,” he breathed out. “The other time I told you that I thought I was in love, but... here I am to tell you that I love him and... I know you’ll be fine with that because come on, look at him,” he chuckled, looking at Jay for a few seconds as he continued speaking. “Look at his smile, and... the puppy eyes, and... you just listened to him, how he speaks about me, he’s mad about me,” he teased. “And I’m mad about him,” he said, bringing his hand to his lips once again. “I love you,” he whispered, this time at him before his eyes noticed something out of place. A giggle exploded from his chest. “Is that pink nail polish?”
Jay tensed up as Aiden reacted to his arrival. He hadn’t meant to scare the other. For a moment he worried if he’d done the wrong thing. He didn’t ask Aiden if this was okay, because they weren’t talking. He’d never crossed this invisible line that separated Jay and his mother. Slow his hand rubbed at Aiden’s shoulder, hoping to ease the other. He gasped as the other looked up at him. It always shook him up when Aiden broke, no one would ever welcome such hurt on the male’s face. Jay wanted to take Aiden home and wrap him up in a roll of bubble wrap so nothing could hurt him.
As he laid the flowers and moved to his knees Jay was latched onto. This was exactly why had had come. He was here to be Aiden’s support, not to continue their fight or anything that would hurt Aiden right now. He was tipped back onto his ass as Aiden pressed against him more. “I know… I know..” Jay closed his eyes, his nose buried against Aiden’s temple. He would lie if asked, but it hurt hearing that. It wasn’t because it was untrue, but because his wounds were still sore from their argument. “I love you too,” he whispered, stroking the male’s back. “Hey-hey now, you can’y get rid of me even if you tried. You know that. I’ve got you- we’ve got each other. Don’t you worry about that right now, okay? We’re together, and I’m here for you. I hope it’s okay I’m here.” He pulled Aiden closer, basically onto his lap. He had his arms wrapped around him, his fingers laced together to lock Aiden against him. He rest his chin against the male’s shoulder, kissing the other’s cheek. It tasted salty from Aiden’s tears.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he whispered. “About her? Some things you don’t usually talk about… I know you - you keep it to yourself so no one can use it to hurt you. But… I’d never use her to hurt you.” He moved to pepper kisses around Aiden’s face. Jay wanted to help heal the pain Aiden was dealing with, to make it easier to deal with. “Did she have your eyes?” he whispered. “Or your smile? I bet you she had such a pure heart like yours.. I don’t know her, I never will, but I bet you she’s proud of you. So proud. Look at you - you haven’t closed yourself off. You haven’t shut down - you’re more than your father will ever be. You have loved, and yes you have hurt. But you are such a strong person, with such love inside of you. I just… I’m proud of you - I can only imagine she’s beaming with joy over her little boy.” He kissed the male’s forehead. “Talk to me.”
Aiden could barely make sense of what Jay was saying, but some part of his brain could and it was even more terrifying. Yes, he was there with him like he had always been. Yes, he’d just said he’d loved him back but after that nasty fight they’d just had days ago, it was obvious that it wasn’t hard to push him away from his side, right where he needed him to be and Aiden wasn’t that far from doing it. He wanted to blame it on August, on this day precisely, his behaviour, why he’d denied to talk to his father about Jay, but he was terrified. In the past few days, though, Aiden had been confused about what was more terrifying, losing his father, who’d barely been there for him through his life or losing Jayden, who kissed his cheeks covered in tears, who held him against his chest even after being so... well, him.
Aiden wasn’t unresponsive precisely, just unable to even move without forgetting how to breathe. He thought of popping a pill, a different one, the calming one, but Jay didn’t know of those so he let his voice soothe him. Aiden found a hold of his arm and didn’t let go, keeping him this close just for him and his own selfish reasons. It was okay to do it, he was sure Jay would understand. He managed to calm down just enough to stop worrying about it a few minutes later. Aiden pulled away a few inches from Jay, but found his hand and laced fingers with him still keeping him close. He was asking him to talk about her. God, he hadn’t talked about her since the funeral, and even then, his eulogy had to go through several hands before getting approved for him to say. Listening to what Jay had to say about him, however, was what hurt the most in the most beautiful way. Aiden looked at him, finding his eyes for a second and knew he wasn’t lying, he did mean what he was saying, and no matter how much he wanted to call him out on lies, he needed to believe it today.
Aiden smiled through the quiver of his lip before looking down at the tombstone. “I did look like her,” he whispered. “Except... She had blue eyes. I remember- when i was like eight, I asked her why I didn’t have sky eyes like her,” he chuckled, wiping his face with the back of his arm. “She told me that I didn’t- that she’d given me the whole planet,” Aiden laughed at the childish explanation he’d been given, but boy had it made him feel better about it. It was just an example but it talked lots about Alicia Brady and the love for her family. His laugh was cut by another sob and Aiden was unable to keep talking. Burying his head on Jay’s neck, he shook his head and tightened the hold on his hand. “I can’t.”
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