Borrowed (tidam)

2

Maybe he was a bit too far away from home this time, but the owners of most stores around knew him and Adam, wasn't keen on getting arrested just because he entered one of these shops again.
These people, he soon had found out, didn't like his concept of sharing and borrowing and yes, he knew how shops worked, he just couldn't help himself sometimes.

He could hear his stomach rumbling, roaring for food and he knew he should get something and leave again, but instead he stood in front of the hair products.

Adam had hair, so he figured nobody would get suspicious when he gazed at a plain hairpin that actually wasn't that pretty and he didn't even need it. But his hand reached out as if someone pulled invisible strings and moved him like a puppet as he took the hairpin and twirled it around in his hands.

He was already sure he would never use it, heck, he didn't even know why some women used these at all.

Well, describing what was going on in his head was something Adam never knew how to do but to sum it up, at that moment, he was hurting and weirdly excited. 

Of course, he was a smart man, had his college degree and knew right from wrong, but nothing was ever that simple.
Some days Adam chose to ignore most of his knowledge, but other days, bad days as Chris called them, he couldn't help himself.

His mind wasn't exactly blank, it was more like one thought dominated him and before he knew it the hairpin disappeared into one of the pockets of his coat.

Guilt build inside him and gnawed at his stomach like a fuzzy animal as his initial excitement faded, but the truth was that Adam maybe was sick too.

Not like his brother, no, Adam was well aware of the things he did and he hated himself for it. He rarely even wanted to think about why he did what he did and he was okay that way. 

(That he was a full-time professional thief in order to be able to feed himself and his brother was a different story and he liked to ignore that too. Well, Adam did a lot of ignoring things, but he always figured it wouldn't harm anybody.)

His headache slowly subsided as he moved away from the shelf and went to get the food Chris had sent him to get.

With shaking hands, Adam pulled Chris' wallet out of his pockets, careful not to touch the hairpin and counted what little budget he had for their dinner. 

He cursed to himself as he realized that once again they would have to eat instant soup or something like that and he had to suppress a groan as he saw how 'expensive' the food was here compared to the shops closer to his home.

In the same moment that Adam's hand reached out for the only edible thing, he could afford two of, someone entered the store.
Adam looked up to inspect the man and found, that whoever that was, he was kinda handsome.

Now, Chris had once specified himself as Sandrasexual and after a lot of gibberish stalker talk, he had asked Adam for his preferences. The only problem for Adam was, that he didn't know shit about these things.

At first, Adam had thought that maybe he liked girls, they looked pretty enough in their clothes, but he had never experienced something that came close to Chris' description of being attracted to someone. 

Truth to be told, Adam wasn't sure if he liked boys either, but he was sure he liked shiny things and something about that man just caught his interest in the weirdest way. 

Maybe it was the warm brown eyes the man had that shone prettier than jewelry or the smooth hair that reminded Adam of silk, but perhaps and it was the most likely option, Adam was drawn to the expensive looking ring the man toyed with.

Slowly his dinner completely forgotten, Adam crept around the man until he stood behind him, close enough to just reach out and snatch his ring away.

If Adam had been thinking clearly, he would've realized what a bad idea it was to take a ring off someone's finger, but Adam was still unfocused because of his hunger and the hairpin and therefore, did something stupid.

Hunched forward, his hand came up and gently touched the man's hand just to drag the ring down, but Adam's eyes were glued to the object and he didn't even realize that the man was watching him. 

When the man clenched his hand together to a fist, Adam's head shot up and he stared in confusion up at the other one.

His eyes widened as he noticed the man pulling his hand back, but Adam didn't let go and instead after a few struggles and curses both men were staring at each other while holding hands.

"What the -?" The man started, but didn't finish his sentence and instead frowned down at Adam.

As soon as Adam's brain caught up with what was happening, he jerked his arm away, lost his balance and stumbled into one of the shelves that gave out under him.

Adam gasped in pain and rolled on his side before he tried to get up and away from the shelf and the man and all the things scattered around. 

As he stood up a thing, he didn't even know what it was, found its way into his pocket.

He straightened up, his vision blurry and his back aching which already felt like a shitty situation, but when he looked up he saw the owner of the shop ending a call and the other man clutching his ring to his chest.

A silent curse left Adam's throat and he should've been running, but he really couldn't muster up the strength to move his body more than necessary. Besides, he still needed to get dinner for Chris and himself. 

With a sigh, he dragged himself back to the instant food, took two of the cheapest cups and went to the counter to pay for them without sparing the man or his ring another glance, but before he could get Chris' wallet out two policemen entered the shop already.

°^°

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