[ACE] Devil's duty

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek watched him with a sort of grieveance as he pulled out of the mall, before he was back to his indifferent self as he drive, flipping on the radio. After awhile, they reached the house and he shut the truck off, figuring he may as well buy the thing as he climbed out.

[aerin 'ace' colt endsley]

Ace walked slowly inside, taking a seat on the sofa. He pulled his feet up into the sofa with him, running his hands over his legs. He kept his eyes down, not really wanting anything to do with anyone.

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek glanced at him, then looked helplessly towards Parish and Chantel, feeling like he was making no progress, that Ace didn't want to be here. Especially with some guy who barely knew how to feel or show emotion anymore. Lips parted to say something, but he just sighed cluelessly, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling in defeat, debating on grabbing his motorcycle and going for a drive to vent. He didn't know what else to do.

[aerin 'ace' colt endsley]

Ace looked over at the pirate, his eyes wandering down to the small bump of her stomach. He'd always been afraid that he was a father, even if it women didn't hurt him as often as men. He'd always just hoped he was the only Ace, and tried not to think about it.

"Ace. Ace. Ace. AAAAAAAAAAAAAce." Chantel whined, and he blinked, looking over at her. "Parish told you to go with Derek. He's going to show you your room."

"Oh.." He mumbled, standing up slowly.

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek rose an eyebrow, but shrugged, and took the bag of the few clothes, leading him to the spare room quietly and setting them on the dresser. "You can stay here for now, alright?" He sat on the edge of the bed, hesitant. "Ace...I... if you need anything, anything at all, let me know. we'll get more shopping done some other time when you're more comfortable. You ah, want me to wash your clothes?"

[aerin 'ace' colt endsley]

Ace listened quietly, nodding at his question. It was normally a subtle hint at him that he needed to get out of his clothes when someone asked him that. He pulled his shirt over his head, and despite needing a hair cut and having the occasional faint mark where there was a recent cut or scrape, he actually didn't look half bad. He slowly slipped out of his jeans, leaving them beside his shirt before he climbed into bed, pulling the blanket up over his hips before he laid down. "Am I supposed to call you dad?" He asked quietly.

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek watched him quietly. The guy had good tone. But Derek had seen too many people undress, too many people want that one night stand, to care care about seeing somebody naked anymore.
He took the clothes and studied the rip in the shirt for a moment, before glancing at Ace as he crawled under the blankets.
"No.." He breathed in surprise. "I'm not going to make you call me anything you want, do anything you don't want to do. I just...want to be here for you. No names attached." He smiled faintly. "I'll leave you alone, and let you know when dinner's ready." He patted the bed absently and stood, leaving the room and closing the door behind him, throwing Ace's clothes in the wash with his own dirty ones from his own bag. He was have Parish sew up the hole in the shirt later.

[aerin 'ace' colt endsley]

Ace was tempted to tell him what had given him a little hope, that he really did have a dad, and his dad healed him when he could get to a source of open water, but his dad couldn't help him. But he decided against it. Being a god's son was a horrible thing sometimes. He curled up in the bed, closing his eyes. But for once, he wasn't really afraid he was going to be touched while he layed there.

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek sat curled up lazily with Chantel until the washer stopped, and he went to switch the clothes out. He finally left and got on his bike to go for a ride and a walk in the woods, returning a little while later close to dinner. Wandering inside, he grabbed the clothes from the dryer and stuffed his own back in his bag, bringing Ace's to Parish. "You know how to sew?"

[parish kennedy]

Parish looked up from her book, shrugging her shoulders. "Nothing fancy, no. But I can fix holes." She said. She'd never really had an interest in sewing and cooking and cleaning and all those house wife things. She held out her hand for the shirt, putting the book beside her.

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek rolled his eyes, but handed it out to her, sighing as he dropped onto the sofa. "I don't know what I was thinking.. Don't know if I'm going about any of this the right way.." He mumbled. "I just want him to be happy.."

[parish kennedy]

"Boy, don't roll your eyes. I'm not your moma, but I'll beat you with a book anyways. I'm older than you'll ever be." She told him, getting up and walking to the bookshelf. Disrespect was one of her pet peeves. She grabbed a small sewing kit from the shelf before she walked back to her chair. "I'll be the first to tell you I don't know the first thing about raising a child. And I don't know anything about him. But you're trying your best." She threaded her needle, then turned the shirt inside out. "You know how you can't uproot then replant anything but a rose? Just think of the boy as a rose bush. You uprooted him and moved him around, then planted him again. And it's going to take awhile before he gets his roots again, but until then you have to water and love him."

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek bit his lip, blood trickling down his chin. He wiped it away and sighed. "Yeah, I guess." He mumbled. "But ask Chantel, I have no patience. So it's learning on both our sides." He shrugged, leaning back against the sofa quietly with a gusty breath.

[parish kennedy]

"Life's about learning, little one. But I can promise you this- by the time you're done, you're going to have learned patience, and you're going to have a little boy that adores you. He doesn't seem dim, so you got off easy when it comes to actually raising him. Now you just have to bring him out of his shell and show him everything's okay." She handed him back the shirt with the hole sewn up carefully.

[derek chandler ralston]

Derek groaned mentally. 'I've been trying,' He thought out of frustration. But he knew a day wasn't enough. Sighing, he mumbled a halfhearted thanks and took it as he stood, folding both it and the jeans. He wandered back to the spare room and opened the door quietly in case Ace was asleep, setting the clean clothes at the foot of his bed.