Aaron Abbot

The e-mail was unprepossessing, that is to say, there was no fancy html or anything to it. Just a subject of Happy birthday, Dale! and the contents were a short bit of text wishing him all the very wonderful best, and a link.

Which was to megavideo.

Of Aaron.

Not that they didn't talk most days on the webcam. Aaron wanted to make sure, positively and absolutely, that Dale would have something he'd like to wake up to.

The message went...

Hey, babe.

First of all, very happy birthday! Because you deserve one.

I was thinking I'd be able to be able to wish that to you personally, but it seems that taking a few days out right before midterms is harder to make up for than I hoped it'd be. He made a face at that, but shrugs. So, here I am.

I know you've probably heard them all, birthday wishes, I mean, but... well, it's special, you know? They day when you were born. Because the most amazing person that I know was born on it, and you deserve to celebrate it with all the bells and whistles. ... I may have made sure you have cake, at least, and I know you'll have people to share it.

Wish you all the good stuff. Health and luck and joy and... you know, I'll make sure about the fun times and love, because ... well, because I say so. Faint smirk, but his eyes were soft and so, so in love. Just have a good one, okay? And may there be many, many more, and you betcha we'll share some more... well, more personal in the future.

Love you. Lots and for always.

He made a kissy face at the camera, and then he smiled, and the video pickup was over.

It wasn't quite the same as giving him a hug and a kiss, but it'd have to do - for now.

The second time was easier. It was still strange, and it still hurt, but a small part of the fear about the time away from each other was gone, and that helped. Part of the fear which was laid to rest with knowing just how amazing it was to feel Dale's arms around him again after weeks of drought, with seeing his boyfriend's face light up at the sight of him.

( A few more hours, and he'd get to see that again. )

ooc: Written in honor of Spirit Day. Dale is hockey_god and used with much love.

It wasn't that often that Aaron walked around Ipswich on his own right now, but it did happen. Then again, taking a bit of time to wind down after lunch with his parents was a wise move. Much as both he and Dale wanted to be stuck at the hip. Still. All the more as summer was progressing.

Shades, hands in his pockets, and enough attitude to make people give him a bit of a space, he was walking down the street without paying too much attention to where he was going or what was happening around him.

That was, until a scruffle of some sort reached his hearing and a familiar voice (in familiar, memory-evoking cadences) made his head whip to the right, catching sight of one of the old gravel play fields. And sure enough, three guys his age - actually, at least two of them he'd spent time with... drinking, up until about last year. And another, standing in front of them, fists at his side and a look that was half-glaring, half-cowering. (Way too familiar, that look. On the receiving side of it.)

A few more words Aaron didn't catch, and one of his former friends reached forward and pushed the other kid, hard, against the low fence of the playground.

"Hey, leave him alone, Carl." The words were out of his lips before he consciously decided to get involved.

It got the whole group to look up at him, startled, and, in the younger boy's case, with something like hope.

A look he'd grown to appreciate, these last couple of months.

"Well, well, well. Look who's here... where've you been hiding, Aaron? Heard you're back after school. Got things all-- where are you going?" The redhead's long arm reached for the kid, who'd decided he could get out of the whole situation while the group's attention was elsewhere. "Didn't say you could go anywhere, did I, fag?" He pushed the younger man hard against the concrete again.

Aaron's fingers clenched against Eric's wrist a moment later; he'd leaped over the fence and reached him way faster than any of the other two could have reacted. "I said. Leave. him. alone."

The green eyes widened incredulously. "And here I thought I was going to invite you on the fun, Aaron. I mean, this has always been your thing, hasn't it? Making sure they don't get too uppity, wrong and filthy as it--" Not both of Aaron's hands grabbed his shirt and pushed him back; Eric reacted without thinking, one arm flung to strike across the shorter man's face, hard enough to shove him against the edge of the small wall. "Come on, you wouldn't choose a pansy like that over your friends! Wake up, man."

"I am awake." The sharp stab of pain didn't even slow him; Aaron was back on his feet and glaring down Eric immediately. It had been a while since the last time he'd looked up at somebody that much taller than him who wasn't Dale, not from this close or with this kind of intensity, and that was entirely different. This... this was familiar, the adrenaline coursing through his veins, barely banked after the 'talk' with his father and in its way, so sweet. Tingling, ringing in his ears. "He's a kid. I said, leave him alone."

"What's the matter, Aaron?" There was genuine confusion in the redhead's voice.

"Yeah, what the hell's the matter." The bulkier other former crony stepped forward. "Seems to me like you're defending him, and that's impossible, right?"

"Wrong." Blue eyes turned to stare at the other boy, too. "You leave him alone."

"Or what?"

The delicate hand still had a lot of strength in it, and speed as well. It shot out and reached for Ed's ear, twisting it so hard that he got a cry in pain and the buzz-cut head was suddenly lower than his eye level as the body twisted and knees buckled to try to find a position of less pain. "Or you'll regret it."

"Let me go, man..."

After a moment, he did. Then he looked slowly, steadily back to Eric, his eyes very cold and hard. "Go."

"What's with the sudden change of heart, man?"

"It's permanent."

"Go to hell."

But they did leave. Quick enough to miss the infinitesimal flinch that those last three words caused. Aaron looked over his shoulder.

"You alright?"

"Y-eah. Th--" The kid (he couldn't have even finished high school, dammit) swallowed, and straightened up. "Thank you. I could have--" He was tall, probably taller than Eric, too.

"Taken them? Probably. But it would've only made things worse, right now."

"How'd you know?"

Wry. "I was one of them." The boy didn't exactly cringe, but the attitude was there. "Don't worry." Aaron shook himself, patting the dust from where the corner of the fence had dug into his clothes, not wincing but feeling the sore under the fabric. Oh well. "Is it true?"

Wary, sullen. "Yeah. Not that it's any of your business."

"No, it's not." Deep breath, and he looked the kid in the eyes, raising his eyebrows, sardonic but not nearly as sharp as he had been moments ago. "I'm already taken."

"Oh."

"Yeah." He shrugged. "Try to not get around too much alone? They're unlikely to single you out from a group unless you challenge them. Tell... those you know, too. Prevention is easier than dealing with the aftermath."

"Whatever."

That almost made Aaron laugh. "Exactly." He leaped over the short wall again, and headed home.

Dale did ask after the bruise-scratch, that evening. He'd almost forgotten about it by then, relaxed and mellow in his boyfriend's arms. He answered, though downplaying it a bit, well, mostly his own involvement.

He'd have to do something about that kind of thing, it was just... wrong. Even if he'd done it himself, God, what had he been thinking?

The blond, his blond, caught the flickering expression on his face and placed both his hands on Aaron's cheeks, large and warm. "Hey, it's okay." Soft kiss. "Whatever it was, it's over now."

The slighter man smiled, and he tried to keep most of the sharpness out of it. "It will be." Leaned up to kiss the soft, welcoming lips, ease the worry from the blue eyes. "It'll get better, at any rate."

"Mmm-hmm... I'm thinking better..."

"I like the way you... think."

A/N: Dale is hockey_god and used with permission and love. This is writing of doom, i.e. ~ 5600 words long, so be warned. And a bit nauseous, as the focus is seasickness. Set when Dale has finished grad school.

A leisure cruise had ( seemed like a good idea... )

A/N: Based on logs with Pogue - lieutenantwitch - and Dale - hockey_god. Much love.

The whole scene with Andy left Aaron more or less pole-axed.

( He... )