ofdespondence-blog

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isntademocracy:

“how charming.” he quipped, as to offer a throwback of his own from the moment they’d spoken after richmond’s reclaiming. paul didn’t want to ask, however, when it came to javier’s sudden admission as to how he’d wound up being a little league coach for a period of time. he figured he’d either explain further at another point in time if he wanted paul to know. instead, he replied, “wouldn’t it have been strange if you wound up a coach at the same school i was teaching at?” clearly that hadn’t been the case nor did they live in the same state. but, that didn’t stop the idea from forming in his head. “i know that i don’t know you and gabriel well enough to really say this, but i’m proud of the two of you. you’ve come a long way since i first met you both. never in a million years would i have guessed that same gabriel would happily be helping you put this game on and you’d be helping him into adulthood the way you have.” he wasn’t sure if that was a little rude to point out, but the family had been through so much that paul couldn’t help but note that things were finally on the upswing. how the moment had gone from nostalgic sentiments to amusement happened with a quick ease, which only caused paul to try his best to stifle his laughter as the other children began to laugh as they took turns pelting one another with mud while the rest rolled around in it. he could see some of the parents look on, which also allowed paul the idea that they could probably actually leave given the parents were seemingly paying attention to their children’s whereabouts. “i bet we could.” he retorted, which was also in remembrance to when javier had implied he had a space for paul to stay back in richmond. it wasn’t until javier embraced him that paul laughed again as he brought a hand up to grip the back of his neck, carefully keeping his other arm from being injured further. “well, now i definitely have to steal you away from here, we can’t really show up to the party like this.”

“Through and through, right?” he recalled with a bright, toothy grin. Javier was always surprised by how easily Paul rolled with things, it was the polar opposite of what he was accustomed to. “It would’ve been nice to know you sooner, and to get to know you before all this. I don’t think I would’ve interested you back then, though.” Javier couldn’t know for sure, of course, but it sort of piggy backed off him losing his job and... all the things that were going on at that time overall. Javier did his best, but never felt like he was good enough. Especially not good enough for someone like Paul. “Oh.” Javier said simply at first, Jesus’ compliment caught him by surprised, it was... truly appreciated. More than he could explain. “Thank you... for saying so. It means a lot.” Javier admitted, his cheeks a bit warm. “I proud of him too.” he admitted, watching him talk to the kids and help them while Javier was distracted. Javier was so grateful to have Gabe in his life, and to be able to make a difference in Gabe’s in return. He felt that the two of them truly needed one another. Gabe gave Javier something to fight for, and reminded him that he was a better man than he’d always believed himself to be. While Javier helped steer Gabe back to a healthy path in his life, rather than the one his father had driven him toward. Javier hummed happily in agreement, and kissed Paul again before he stepped back from the muddy hug, holding Paul’s mud covered hand in his briefly. “Give me a second, okay?” he requested, before letting go and going to talk to Gabe and the parents that had arrived for a few moments. He just wanted to wrap things up prior to leaving. Once he was ready, and had the assurance that Gabe would make sure all the kids got back to their parents he returned to Jesus. “Ready when you are.”

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isntademocracy:

paul kissed javier back before he’d answered the posed question. “yeah, you’re a babe.” paul added in a somewhat flirtatious tone, offering little explanation besides that. he flashed a smile as he held his tongue, the thought of javier being the one to slip and slide in the mud out of the pair of them hung in his mind. “you played professionally and you were a little league coach? i assume both at different times, otherwise i’d have to wonder where you found the time.” before he could inform javier that he had wanted to spend some alone time with him afterwards, before everyone began to retreat to their rooms, a child no older than six stood in front of them. when he’d informed them, mainly javier, that he needed help with hands behind his back with a wide-eyed look on his face, his expression only shifted to ‘puzzled’ when jesus was the one to crouch down to offer assistance. it evidently didn’t matter too much though as he glanced at a few friends that had begun to move closer to javier before he turned slightly to face paul, then held out his hands in which had clenched piles of mud and lunged towards the older male to press his fingers into his hair, pulling much of it out of the knot paul had his hair tied into. the child’s face lit up with amusement, as the other children tossed a few handfuls at their coach, javier. while globs of the mud had begun to drip from his hair  to the rest of paul’s clothing as he stood, he couldn’t help but laugh, rather than be upset. “i was going to say we could do something but i think i might have to change.” he remarked as he pressed his hand in some of the mud on his shirt to wipe a bit onto javier’s face. “we’re even now.”

When they parted from the kiss, Javier stayed close to Jesus with an arm around him.“Takes one to know one.” he commented with a smile. It was kind of his default response to compliments, now that he thought about it. “Yeah, different times. I started coaching Gabe’s team after I was kicked out of the league.” Javier didn’t really think about whether or not he had ever told Paul about that or not. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but he trusted Paul with knowing about it regardless, so much so that he said it without even thinking about it. “I would’ve made time though, if I was still playing when he asked.” Javier stated, though really he wasn’t sure how possible it would’ve been when he was traveling, training and practicing so much. But family was always more important to him than anything else anyway, which was exactly why he had started betting on his own games to begin with. Javier was enjoying getting back to something from his past, and having Gabe involved as well was icing on the cake. It was just like old times. At first, Javier was deeply concerned by the child’s approach. He started to think about the myriad of things that could be wrong that the boy needed help with. “Is something wrong?” Javier had asked him,his eyebrows furrowed in concern as he moved his arm away from Jesus so he could lean over to address the boy. He got his answer when his boyfriend’s hair was immediately covered in fistfuls of mud. Javier worried, immediately, that the child had pulled his hair and possibly hurt or upset Paul. His concerns were replaced with a smile when Paul started laughing instead. His smile turned into loud laughter as the kids threw mud onto him as well, and then started an entire mud fight with one another. “We can clean up together.” Javier suggested, choosing his words carefully as to reveal his intent to Paul while also being appropriate in front of the kids. Javier scrunched his nose, then fully wrapped his arms around Jesus to spread the mud from his clothing onto the other’s through a brief, but very messy hug. “Mhm, definitely even now.”

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isntademocracy:

“hi babe,” paul returned the greeting with a small smile of his own. which only grew as he realized in a moment of embarrassment that he really didn’t know much about baseball at all. “i guess it speaks volumes about me thinking that this was included in baseball. that’s very cute though, i’m surprised they haven’t made it your way, yet.” despite his accidental obliviousness, he was a little too relaxed to actually mind. while he did still remain a little on edge in case something did happen, he was mostly comfortable where he was. "it’s going well. but, i think they’re clearly missing out.” he commented as he gestured over at some of the kids. “what were you thinking of doing after this?”

The pet name made Javier smile. “Babe, huh?” he commented on it, this time properly kissing Jesus as if to show that he liked the sound of it. “You look handsome, be careful of all the mud... it’s pretty messy over here.” he warned, simply meaning that the field would likely ruin his shoes, or even his clothes if he slipped. Of course, Javier knew that Jesus was way more coordinated than that. “Well... baseball can be pretty messy in general sometimes. Diving, and sliding and all. But they’ve kind of made it their own. I taught little league when Gabe was a kid, back then I had to be actually serious about it but now the whole point is just for them to have some fun for once, so even if they did come for me,” Javier shrugged. “It’ll wash out, you know?” Javier was proud of what he’d put together for all the kids, and even more proud to see Gabe helping out and getting his mind off things as well. “Well, the kids will probably want dinner after they’re finished, I imagine. I could always go clean up and head over for a while, unless you had something else in mind. Have you eaten yet?”

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isntademocracy:

after a small stint at the party, paul found his way over to the baseball game, a little later than he’d intended to. paul made his way towards where javier stood to watch the rest of the game play out. in an effort not to frighten the coach by his sudden presence, he gently touched the small of javier’s back to indicate he was about to stand next to him. “so what is this, the second inning?” he queried, as though he knew a single thing about baseball.

@ofdespondence

At first Javier just assumed that the touch to his back was one of the kids, as some of them couldn’t reach to tap his shoulder when they needed something, but was pleasantly surprised when he diverted his attention away from the game and found that Paul was standing beside him. “Hey there, handsome.” Javier greeted him warmly, with a kiss on the cheek. “Honestly... I think we stopped keeping track when all the kids started switching teams and throwing mud at each other instead of playing.” he admitted with a smile. Most of the kids were playing now, but they weren’t keeping track of anything anymore. They were more having fun and teaching the general rules. “How’s the party going?”

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pyrvantics:

“– Look, it’s no offense or anything but I work alone.” The redhead said, as she gave the person a shrug. She wasn’t being mean at all but for a while now, she had adapted to being alone. While it did get boring, she was only looking out for herself. Losing her family a few short months ago in a walker attack late at night had taught her many things. Don’t get too close to anyone and to find some place high to rest her eyes. There had been several nights where she hadn’t slept because there wasn’t any place unless you count a broken down van or firetruck. Neither or those were safe. 

Blue glanced at the woman over his shoulder as he looted through the old store. It was pretty empty now, there was hardly anything useful left on the shelves. However, he thought to abandon the store front and search the back instead, where he’d had a bit more luck. “So do I.” he stated, though it wasn’t necessarily because he preferred it. He didn’t dislike having other people around, it just hadn’t worked out for him yet.

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isntademocracy:

“awesome. i had four. you’re nearly caught up.” kieran watched as hannah clutched two cookies close to her. in fact, he deeply connected with that feeling at the moment. “do you think we’d get kicked out if we just took the entire container and sat in the corner with them?” he queried. which was a tempting thought. he was comfortable with sharing, though perhaps only with her.

Hannah quickly shoved a cookie in her mouth. “I’m caught up now.” she mumbled around the treat, then smiled as she continued to chew it.  “You know, I really don’t think we will. I just have a hunch.” To show just how confident she was in this opinion, she set the cookie left in her hand back on the tray and took the entire tray in her hands instead. Then, she walked over to the side of the old school where they could sit against the wall with the desserts. “Of course, I think nepotism is the only thing saving our asses.”

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@justxkeepxfighting

Nick didn’t really have to avoid drinking, yet he still did. He was entirely sober, and still having fun. He ran around with some of the kids for a while when they weren’t playing baseball, then returned to the area around the tables where everyone else mingled. He waved to Thea before approaching her. “Not quite a deserted island, still a lot of fun though isn’t it?”

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@justxkeepxfighting

Tara sat beside Rosita at the table, her hand held onto her girlfriend’s while she watched everyone around them talked and had fun. “Will you dance with me?” she asked, just as the musician started a slow song that she recognized from the radio about a decade ago now.

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@justxkeepxfighting​

Emily hadn’t dressed for the sake of appearance in years. Even before the apocalypse, she focused primarily on her career and only wore dresses when required to. Now, she sort of just wanted to. She had traded for a white dress that fit her surprisingly well, and paired it with a cardigan to keep warm. The color of the cardigan almost matched the glass of wine she held in her hand. It wasn’t her first, but likely wouldn’t be her last either. It was nice to be able to enjoy such luxuries again, and forget about what was happening around them for a while.

It was at the point of the night that Emily had already discarded her shoes somewhere and started to walk around barefoot that she noticed Mitch. She ran up behind him, almost soundlessly due to her lack of shoes, and hopped onto his back with her hands over his eyes. “Guess who.”

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@isntademocracy

“Gabe,” Javier addressed his nephew as they worked on getting everything ready for their baseball game. The game was due to start in about thirty minutes, and he wanted to be ready for all the chaos the kids would bring. “could you help me with this?” Javier gestured to the bag filled with supplies they’d need, which he knew he shouldn’t life at his own just yet. “I figured it’d be best to balance the teams based on age. We don’t want one team with all the eight year olds while the other has all the preteens. I found some old pinnys, they still have that... gym smell, but one team can wear them so we don’t lose track of who’s who in all the chaos.”

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@isntademocracy

There were a few familiar faces around the party, Cressida among them. Zach walked over to stand beside her, and sighed. “Having fun yet?”Zach was truly trying to relax and have some fun, but it was sometimes difficult for him. “Cal seems to be.”

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@empathylcst

“Turns out I still fucking suck at parties.” Zach mumbled to Cal, who had come to sit beside him about halfway through the celebration. He was one of the only two people he felt comfortable being completely himself around.“I feel bad, you know? For not really... being as into it as everyone else.”

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@justsvrvivesomehow

“Hey, Ginny.” Zach called out to her as she walked past, she seemed to be enjoying the party and he felt sort of guilty for pulling it away from it. But he knew she was aware of how hesitant he was in joining social situations, and figured she wouldn’t be mad at him for interrupting her fun. “I, uh...” he realized that he didn’t actually want her for anything specific, other than just to say hi. “Sorry. I just wanted to say hi.”

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@ihavetoclear

Zach sat across from them for dinner. He hadn’t met them before and hesitated in addressing them as a result. Everyone else was talking except for them, however, so he decided to push himself out of his comfort zone. “Do you mind passing me the potatoes?” he asked first, as a simple starting place. Plus, he really did want some. “Are you close with the family?”

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@justxkeepxfighting

Zachariah had been at the party pretty much all day, but had started to get overwhelmed by all the mayhem. It was good mayhem, but still mayhem. Zach wandered away entirely, into the old school, and found that he wasn’t the only one that needed a break sometimes. He and Jimmy seemed to have a few things in common, so he wasn’t all that surprised. “Is it alright if I hang out in here for a while too?”

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@cxvrtmisfit

Zach had never really been much of a party goer. He had been asocial for a majority of his life, specifically since he was about twelve. But, he felt that not attending might be seen as disrespectful to his new group. So he was there, but roaming around the outskirts of the party on his own instead of socializing. He noticed he wasn’t alone in this, however, and approached the other male. “Hey. Not really your scene either?”