After Lover for Pay: ONESHOTS

The Gig Pt3

London had just finished getting dressed for his afternoon out. In just jeans and a plain, black cotton t-shirt, he slipped into a black Burberry coat as well after pulling on shoes, and while he stood adjusting his wedding ring a moment, the man looked up when his little three-year-old came hurrying into the bedroom with his purple polaroid camera. "Papa," Ozzy neared his father, "Take a picture for me, please? I want a picture of me in my new pretty dress."

Receiving the camera when he handed it over, London waited a moment as Ozzy straightened out the skirt of his dress. It was one he'd gotten his son back home, and the small child had nearly lost his mind the moment he'd seen it in the clothing store. It had a short-sleeved maroon top attached to a puffy white skirt that had maroon dots and flowers around it, and around the midsection was a bow. Ozzy had begged with his puppy dog eyes to have it, and since it was already a difficult task to say no to his babies, especially when not one of them were troublesome, London had made sure Ozzy got what he wanted.

After the little boy was ready, London tucked a blond curl behind Ozzy's ears and then took the picture as he smiled brightly for it. When the small film ejected from the polaroid, London looked it over, "Nice," he said, handing it to his son, "Very beautiful."

Taking his camera back, Ozzy blushed, "Thank you, Papa! You going now?"

"Yeah, you'll be good for me while I'm gone, right?" London asked, starting for the stairs now and his son held his hand. "I don't want you giving your other Papa a hard time, okay?"

"I be good!" Ozzy hopped off the last step, and hurried along into the living room.

It'd gotten increasingly colder outside as the day went on, and now that it was one in the afternoon, the heater was now on to make sure the house wasn't chilly. Even with the added heat, however, it seemed Benjamin still sough further warmth, and he was laying on the sofa beside Marbell, tucked under a soft blanket while watching a movie on TV. When his husband glanced his way, London could see there was a shade of resentment in his light eyes, but he said nothing to change the situation at hand.

Stepping over Layla and Naomi who were putting a princess puzzle together, London kissed the tops of their curly hair quickly and then went towards Marbell. "The cab is here," he said, "I'm going and I'll try to be back as soon as possible." Leaning down a bit, he tipped his husband's chin up and kissed him sweetly. "I love you," he swore in an endearing tone. "Is there anything you want me to bring home when I come back?"

Running his fingers through the auburn silkiness of Benjamin's hair, Marbell looked down at his sick child as he lay weary. "Would you mind shopping for some food? I'd go, but I don't want to walk to the market in the cold with the kids. It's only a couple blocks away, but I'd rather keep Ben away from anything that could make him worse."

"Yeah, of course," London brushed his fingers through Ben's unruffled hair, wishing he could just stay here and look after his son until he felt better. "I'll pick up somethings. Just text me if you want anything in particular."

"Okay," Marbell answered, his voice sounding a little smaller than it was a moment ago.

London just went ahead and kissed his beloved husband once more and then it was goodbye for the day. There was a taxi waiting for him just outside, and when he dropped into the back seat, he gave the driver his destination. Today was just a sort of – trial – when it came to being introduced to Symone Rendal. The only thing London really knew about her right now was that, 1) she was a daddy's girl, 2) looked forward to getting what she wanted, 3) and was the daughter of an esteemed company in which Rolland held a lot of respect for, or at least he wanted to stay on their good side when it came to future endeavors.