Lurking - Station 19 Fic

Disappear

Travis walked into the bar with a huff, glancing around, hardly noticing any of the other people, going up to the bar, ordering a beer.

The bartender raised a brow at him with a sort of suspicious look and Travis chose to ignore him, keeping quiet to himself as he sipped his drink, running a tired hand over his face, feeling how sore and numb his badly bruised cheek was.

He frowned, thinking angrily about Zack, telling himself that if Zack showed his ugly face around his place again, he was definitely going to call the cops.

He wondered if maybe talking to Ryan could help, definitely trusting him, knowing he could help him.

He was in the middle of his thoughts when someone sat down next to him, another guy.

"Hi there," The man smiled, setting his drink down.

Travis looked up, offering a nod in greeting, glancing at him faintly. "Hi."

"Oh geez, hey, what happened to your face?" The man frowned at him with concern. "Did somebody hit you?" He reached out to gently grab Travis's chin, gingerly turning his face to have a better look.

Travis flinched a little, frowning softly at him, their eyes locking, Travis immediately feeling a sense of comfort and kindness from him, warmed by his display of concern for him.

"Um, um, yeah, someone did." He frowned, shrugging a little.

The guy looked sympathetic, eyes warm with kindness. "Damn. Who was it?"

"J-Jus' some guy who's been bugging me lately. He won't leave me alone." Travis looked away with a frown, surprised that he wasn't feeling weird about telling this stranger.

"Man." The guy shook his head. "That ain't right. I could never hit someone like that. 'Specially a nice looking guy like you. Hey, if I ever run into the guy, I can get back at him for you if you'd like."

Travis took a sip of his drink, shrugging with a small smile. "Nah, I-it's alright."

The man continued to smile at him. "My name's Jace by the way."

Travis looked at him, admiring how handsome he was. He had brown hair, with beautiful light brown eyes, reminding him of Hershey's chocolate. And his smile....! His teeth almost seemed to sparkle, a dimple formed on his cheek.

Travis instantly thought to how attracted he was to Michael when they met. Something about Jace's looks made him feel like he could already trust him, especially with how he already demonstrated such concern towards him.

Travis found himself smiling back. "I'm Travis."

Jace was still smiling and Travis almost had to look away. "Nice to meet you, Travis. So," He cleared his throat. "Sorry to ask but, the ring...I guess that means you're married..."

"Oh! Oh, no, uh, no, my husband died. Couple years ago." Travis looked to his ring, gently rubbing it in remembrance, something he did often.

"Oh I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Jace frowned softly. "I just wanted to know if such a cute guy like you was already taken 'cause otherwise I guess I'd be wasting my time." He talked slowly, eventually smiling at Travis with a twinkle in his eye, Travis almost blushing.

"Heh. Well, I was, but not anymore. So, you're not wasting your time...." He replied, smiling faintly at Jace himself, admittedly feeling a little flirtatious with him, but maybe that was the beer talking.

Jace quickly smiled, seeming to light up. "Oh, I definitely agree...!" He chuckled, nodding knowingly to him, admiring him.

"But you should know," Travis found himself explaining, remembering reality. "I am a firefighter, so I work a lot which kinda dampers things, so if that turns you away-"