𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ᵀʰᵉⁿᵃ ²

⁰⁵. ᶠⁱⁿᵍᵉʳᵖʳⁱⁿᵗˢ ᴼⁿ ᴹʸ ᴹᵉᵐᵒʳⁱᵉˢ

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 || 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘖𝘯 𝘔𝘺 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴

THE CONSTANT CHIME OF A DOORBELL HAD PULLED JACK FROM HIS SLEEP. He sat up slightly as his eyes flickered to his TV which was still on with 21 Jump Street playing. He glanced around, unsure if his dream had awoken him from his sleep.

All that followed was silence.

And that silence had ushered him to lean back into the pillows propping his head up. A groan fell from his lips as he shifted on the stiff cushions, attempting to find the position that had lulled him to sleep.

But as his eyes closed, the doorbell rang again, its chime finally making him sit up and rub his tired eyes. "Coming," he grumbled, loud enough that whoever had woken him up at this ungodly hour of the night would wait for him.

Then it came again.

"Jesus fucking christ- Yeah, hold your fucking horses!" He exclaimed, standing to his feet and marching to the door. "You better be here telling my parents are dead or else I'm going to beat the ever living-" He swung the door open and was greeted by the sight of a bloody Duncan leant against the frame of his door, beer bottle resting idly in his grasp. "-What in the fuck happened to you?"

The man grumbled, "Fun night out is all," as he moved past Jack and sipped his beer. He collapsed on the couch where he tiredly leant back into the stiff cushions with his head lulling back. A deep sigh slipped past his lips.

Jack bit his bottom lip, shaking his head as he bounded to the kitchen, grabbing all the items that could do some good for his friend in tending to the wounds before walking back.

Sitting on the coffee table, Jack laid out all the supplies; bandages, peroxide and some ice. "Does this 'fun night out' have a name?" He muttered, exhaustedly readying the supplies.

"Hmm?"

"Come on, man. Trying to tell me you got your face kicked in just because? Gotta be something responsible," he deduced. "I mean, this is the type of shit you did with Aphrodite when she came through town for those two months."

Duncan almost hated how Jack could read a situation based on someone's past. It'd been not too long ago that Duncan had been head over heels for a girl with luscious pink dyed hair and attractiveness that might charm the most loyal men. And at first, Duncan willed himself to not indulge in desires that might not become something more. But after a few of her visits to the shop, that emotion finally had him dotting over the woman for two months.

Until she disappeared without another word. The result?

This. Him beaten up on Jack's couch with little to no care about the rest of the world. A nuclear war could be going on and Duncan was confident he wouldn't even notice. Preferring self-deprecation instead of anything reasonable.