Jared Abitol is ugly, past his prime, and desperate for love.
Years of being hyper-aware of his own looks have made Jared develop social anxiety. When you look like Jared, love isn't easy to find. Jared might not have the looks or confidence, but h...
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When Jared had agreed to meet up with Darnell's father, he hadn't known what to expect. All he knew was that he wanted to meet him and maybe talk for a bit. Darnell had accompanied him to the small Ethiopian coffee on the other side of town. It was around ten in the morning on a Saturday. They both waited for his dad as they ate pastries and drank coffee, and when Darnell's father got to the cafe Darnell got up on autopilot, offering his father his sea before wandering off to another free table.
Darnell had left them.
Alone.
Jared couldn't hide how nervous he was. He greeted the older man under his breath as he stared down at the wooden table. He had two of his fingers laced within the handle of the coffee cup in his hand. He kept nibbling his bottom lip, trying to stay calm. He couldn't look up, a little afraid of the gaze Darnell's father might be throwing at him.
"Jared?" The sound of the older man calling him made Jared look up from the table. The older man had a smile on his face. It was so wide that his eyes were almost closed shut because of it. Jared spotted a gold tooth, and he also noticed that the older man shared Darnell's gummy smile. He also had Darnell's dark hair with its distinctive shine. The only difference was that his hair was straight as straight could be and Darnell's was a curly tangling mess. It was okay, spending time loosening the knots Darnell's hair formed was a sort of bonding moment Jared wouldn't trade for anything.
"Nervous?" the man asked, and Jared let out a relieved laugh, nodding his head as Darnell's father kept smiling. If Jared had to guess the man wasn't up to ten years older than him, and he hoped they shared some things in common that could ease the awkwardness of their first meeting together.
"Coffee," Darnell's father started, making Jared's eyes fall to the brown ceramic cup the man had in his hand. "Tastes good," the older man said, finishing his sentence. Jared hummed, nodding in agreement. Darnell did tell him that his father's English would be missing her and there since articles weren't something that Thai had. Jared didn't mind though. Being a university professor, he was used to knowing many people that spoke English as a second language. There was even a Finnish colleague of his that called everyone he since Finnish had only one gender pronoun and remembering more than one was complicated for her.
"So, about Darnell—" Jared paused what he was saying, not knowing where to go with it. He wanted to move the conversation to the man's son, but on the other hand, he was afraid of saying anything that might be inappropriate or might piss his father off. "I..." Jared trailed off, still not knowing where to go with his words.
"I really like Darnell," he ended up saying, before forcing himself to bring his gaze to the older man. "He's a wonderful person," Jared muttered, feeling his face get hot. Darnell's father just stared at him, before raising one of his fingers.
"Age difference," he said. "Okay, but school first," he added, relieving one of Jared's worries. Oh. He thought, staring at the man with wide eyes. It seemed that he didn't mind the age difference and was just worried about Darnell staying in school. Jared smiled, nodding his head.
