ezra clarkson 🌱 newt scamander (bowtruckles) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2019-12-02 20:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !narrative, * kit, c: ezra rhinehart |
WHO: Ezra Rhinehart & Jack Clarkson (NPC)
WHEN: Wednesday, November 27, 2019; Late Evening
WHERE: The Square
SUMMARY: Jack shows up unannounced and doesn’t receive a warm greeting
WARNINGS: None, specifically?
Ezra couldn’t remember a day where he had been even as close to as happy as he felt today. There were so many little and big things that had happened in his life to land him in that seat next to Ian on that plane on the day they had met and he couldn’t help but feel that maybe this had been his trajectory all along. Ezra Rhinehart. This was his life now. This was the life he was going to build with his--totally legitimate, absolutely real--husband and knowing that they were going to have the rest of their lives ahead of them to just be them filled him with so much joy that he had trouble knowing what even to do with it. Mostly it just looked like him spending the whole of the evening by his husband’s side, his hand somewhere on Ian’s person, a smile plastered perpetually on his face. It had been a good evening and even better than he could have imagined. He had never been one for big showy displays--that had always been his brother’s forte--so the small ceremony at the courthouse and the dinner with his closest family and friends and favorite people had been perfect. The cake, too, chosen by Ian in a display of just how well the man had come to know him over the past several months, was perfect. There was nothing about the evening that he could have possibly improved upon. That was, of course, before he left the restaurant ahead of Ian to put some of the gifts they’d been given into Ian’s car and run straight into the one person he had specifically not invited. Jack. Ezra froze, realizing the mistake of making eye contact too late, and then came back to himself and hurriedly moved toward the car where he stowed the gifts in the backseat. Footsteps approached behind him. “I hear congratulations are in order, little brother.” “You shouldn’t be here, Jack.” The contrast between Jack’s jovial arrogance and Ezra’s quiet anger was stark. “Oh, come on, Ez. I had to find out you were getting married on Instagram. Why wouldn’t I come all the way here to congratulate you?” Jack replied, stepping to Ezra’s side and peering around at him. Ezra stood up straight, nostrils flaring. “Do you honestly want to have this conversation right now? Why wouldn’t I let you find out about my marriage through social media? Isn’t that what we do in this family? Or should I have waited a few months and let Fi fill you in?” To his credit, Jack looked as though Ezra’s barb had stuck but it was infuriating how quickly he recovered from it. He shrugged, that cocky, boyish grin returning to his face. “Can’t we put that behind us now? I mean, you’re married now! Shouldn’t I get a little bit of credit? You’re obviously happy, right? I obviously did you a favor!” Barking out a sharp laugh, Ezra shook his head and looked away, wishing Ian would come out so that they could leave and pretend his brother had never been here. “You’re unbelievable, you know?” He looked back at Jack. “You didn’t do me any favors, and you don’t get to take credit for the way I’ve picked up the pieces you made of me. I told you we were done, Jack. Why are you here?” “This is my hometown, too, and--” “No, Jack, it’s nothing to you now. You fled from it and dragged the rest of us with you. Why are you here?” Jack frowned, a crease forming at his brow. “I told you. I wanted to congratulate you. I want to...make something right.” For a moment, Ezra couldn’t imagine how Jack thought showing up here uninvited with jokes about his betrayal could possibly make things right with him. And then...his thoughts caught up with him. The color began to drain from his face as he drew himself up to his full height and shook his head. “Oh, no. No. No, Jack. I told you that he gets to choose when or if he wants to see you. God, do you never listen? No, of course you don’t because you’re Jack Clarkson. You get whatever you want no matter who gets hurt in the process.” His brother’s jaw tensed and he looked like there was more that he wanted to say, but Ezra cut him off. “Go home, Jack. Go back to your wife. We’re done here. You’re done here. If he wants to see you, he knows how to reach you. You gave up the right to anything more than that twenty years ago.” Ezra closed the car door and locked it behind him and, without another glance at his brother, he headed back into the restaurant to find Ian. He just hoped Jack had enough sense to, for once, listen. |