Another Life

Chapter Three

After Eddie died in 1986 he was reborn in 1987 to a mother and father in New York. His mother had been toxic, a drug addict and an alcoholic, her way of dealing with mental illness. In the end, she'd left, leaving her infant son with his father. Little Jayden.

Jayden did not remember his previous life as Eddie Munson. As he grew, his father exposed him to many things, but most noteably the 80's metal music and fashion style, which Jayden immediately fell in love with. He would dance around the house with his father, singing to Metallica or Black Sabbath, and other metal bands.

By the age of thirteen Jayden had discovered he was gay. His father was loving and supportive. Of his sexuality, of everything that Jayden was. A wild and energetic spirit. His father always encouraged him to express himself, allowing him to wear the kind of fashion he liked, or follow his passions and dreams.

If he couldn't find the clothes he wanted at stores, his father would hand down his own, just to see Jayden's little face light up with joy. They weren't poor, but they weren't rich either. They managed to get by. Jayden went through many hobbies as he grew.

His love for music had put him on the path of trying to learn guitar. He loved all things fantasy and when the Lord Of The Rings movies came out, he was one of the first people at the theater to watch them. Most of all, Jayden loved art. He started taking art classes, learning everything that he could.

He was always drawing and doodling, whether it was in a notebook or on himself or his clothes. Thankfully those could be washed out. When Jayden was sixteen he took a special interest in tattoo designing and from there his biggest dream was to open his own tattoo and piercing shop.

At 18 he took an apprenticeship at a local tattoo shop, where he learned how to be a tattoo artist and a body piercer. By then he already had a few tattoos himself and was intent on getting more. He'd had a few relationships, but they'd all failed.

Something had seemed like it was missing and those relationships seemed to be lacking whatever he was missing. At twenty, Jayden had saved up enough to buy his own little shop. He decorated it the way he liked, goth aesthetic with the dark colors and skulls, metal band posters everywhere, a guitar in the corner.

It took a few months for him to open up his shop and when he did, he called it Aces and Spades, a homage to one of his favorite songs called Ace of Spades by Motörhead. At twenty one, Jayden's father unfortunately passed away from heart failure.

It had been devastating for Jayden because he and his father had always been close. He organized a small funeral and had his father cremated, his ashes put into an urn. He got a small headstone for his father in the closest cemetery to Jayden's apartment and buried him there.

At twenty three it was a particularly sunny Thursday when the bell above the door of his shop jingled. Looking up, Jayden saw the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen. He was tall, but a little bit shorter than Jayden. Muscular, but not too much. Little moles dotted his neck, not a lot, but just enough to draw a bit of attention.

His eyes were a beautiful amber gold and his hair was soft and fluffy and definitely styled with some sort of hairspray and it was a beautiful blondish brown color. Jayden threw one of his charming smiles and offered his hand to shake.

"Hi, I'm Jayden. What can I do for you?"

The man shook his hand, offering his own awkward, yet adorable smile.

"I'm Alex. Um. I was wanting to get a tattoo."

(Gonna leave it off here, I know this is a bit of a shorter chapter and it might seem like a filler. But since Jayden doesn't have his previous life's memories just yet, I wanted to give him a bit of a backstory)