Marshall Nolan (vetsorders) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-12-30 16:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, aaron, aaron x marshall, marshall |
Who: Aaron & Marsh
Where: Grocery store
When: Saturday afternoon, 6/23
Marsh hadn't really known what to expect from his first weekend as the emergency contact but it had been a little busier than he thought. He would chalk at least 40% of the cases to hysteria but he couldn't fault the people who called. Something that looked normal and minuscule to him could look devastating to someone who didn't know better and he was more than happy to set their minds at ease. It had mostly been phone calls for now, no need to actually go see the patients in person, but he'd just left the clinic after doing some scans on a sick puppy from out of town, prescribing some antibiotics and comforting a very upset child. All in a day's work! Emergency contact or not, he had to eat, so he headed to the grocery store for something quick and easy to throw in the microwave.
He was about to head in when he spotted a familiar face and it was definitely someone who qualified for that 'meeting old friends for drinks maybe sometime' he'd been thinking about lately. Aaron Lucas. He was easy to recognize even if Marsh hadn't really seen him in years. Marsh had always liked him, even if he could be a bit thick sometimes, he wasn't blatantly ignorant in that frustrating way so it had never caused any problems. "Hey!" he hollered to catch Aaron's attention, strutting up to him and giving him very little choice in the handshake and half-a-hug he gave him. Then again the Aaron he remembered had always been very chill about touch so he didn't even think about it. "Long time no see!"
Having four grown adults in the house meant they went through groceries way faster now than they used to. Aaron didn’t think about it in a bad way, he didn’t begrudge feeding Adrian or Roxy for a second, but he wasn’t a fan of going to the grocery store by himself, and now he had to do it more often. He supposed it was good practice for when Mila had the baby and couldn’t do the shopping, so he might as well get used to it. His shift at the bar wasn’t until later that evening, so he was wandering the aisles with a list in hand and a look of concentration on his face.
At least until a familiar voice called out to him, anyway. Aaron looked around and spotted Marsh Nolan heading toward him. That was a face he hadn’t seen in a long time, and by the time he was being pulled into a handshake-hug, he was grinning brightly. “Nolan!” he exclaimed with a delighted laugh, thumping the other man firmly on the back. “What the fuck dude, how are ya? I didn’t know you were back in town.”
"Yeah I've been here for a while but I've barely had time to breathe," Marsh told him with a little laugh and it was refreshing meeting an old buddy, like getting a touch of that old energy he'd felt in high school playing on the baseball team. It just made him realize how much he missed hanging out with the guys so it was definitely time to try to get some of them together for drinks. "Getting my own clinic up and running, I graduated vet school, so if you got a dog, you need to bring him in for a check up. How about you? Last time I saw you, you were ..." He took a few seconds to think, squinting at Aaron. "Working for Fox, right? At the garage?"
Aaron had a Facebook, but he wasn’t big on social media, so he only hopped on there every so often to scroll for a bit while he was on the toilet. He knew he’d seen that Marsh had finished vet school, even if he didn’t quite remember when. The mention of the garage made Aaron chuckle and shake his head because it sounded like a million years ago already. “Yeah I probably was,” he said, the smile still on his face. It was damn good to see him, a sweet sort of nostalgia blooming in Aaron’s chest. “Not now though. Me and my brothers bought a bar, the Back Porch? So we all take shifts there. Your own clinic? That’s amazing man, congrats. This town needed a good vet. I don’t got dogs myself at the moment, but my brother does, like three of ‘em. So we’ll keep you in business.”
Marsh made a mental note to go get a drink at the Porch sometime, impressed that the Lucas guys had gone ahead and done that. He didn't know Aaron's brothers except by reputation but the three of them owning a bar together - one that seemed to be doing just fine - was a little surprising. "Three dogs," he echoed with a laugh. "That's a handful but yeah, send them my way when it's time for a check-up, I'll take good care of them. That's so cool though, we're both business owners, who'd have thunked it. You got any advice for me on how to hire staff?" He had hired one person now and it made him feel all sorts of grown up, even if he'd probably gone about it the wrong way. Was there a wrong way? Hell no, if it worked it worked! "Going through applications is the most boring thing ever."
Aaron gave a sheepish laugh and shook his head. “Nah, Gavin pretty much does all that stuff,” he admitted. “The hiring and shit. Just ... try not to hire anyone crazy? I think your standards of crazy probably have to be stricter than ours though.” There was a lot more safety stuff involved with doing medical things to animals than just carrying glasses of beer around like their waitresses did, so Aaron was too far out of his depth to give any advice. “But if I hear about anybody needin’ -- oh! Wait, like, I know somebody who really needs a job. What kind of position are you looking to fill?” It seemed silly that he could forget having a jobless roommate at the moment, but Roxy had popped into his head mid-sentence. Aaron would’ve suggested Adrian first, since he actually had some medical training, but he was going back to working on humans like he wanted.
"Oh yeah?" Marsh asked and perked up a little. It was probably a bit of a gamble, hiring someone recommended by a friend. It could be awesome! Or it could make things awkward down the line if he had to fire them. "Uhm I need an assistant basically. Answer the phone, book appointments, greet and meet people, help out with the more difficult patients... Who's your friend?" He knew it was going to be a hit and miss with Aaron, he kept some very mixed company from what Marsh remembered. Chances were it was a flaky ex or a drunken fool, but it very well might be someone worth his time too. "I wonder if I already have an application from them."
All of that sounded perfect, since Marsh wasn’t looking for somebody who’d also been to vet school or whatever. His smile widened as Marsh reached the end of the list, but he shook his head a bit. “I dunno, I don’t think she’s out looking much yet. But uh, her name’s Roxy? She’s my fiance’s best friend ... and my brother’s ex. They just broke up, so she’s been living with us for a bit ...” Aaron realized that these details might not make Roxy sound like the most reliable employee, and he laughed and winced a bit. “Don’t hold that against her, she’s cool, she worked at the bar for years and she was always a great like, employee. You know how small town relationship drama is.” At least, Aaron hoped that Marsh remembered how all that stuff could go.
"Oh ouch," Marsh said with a pained look because that did sound like a particularly bad case of a small town relationship drama. Breaking up with someone she worked for? Yeah, it sounded like she needed a leg up. Marsh wasn't going to hire someone out of charity but he could definitely interview her and see what she was like. "No promises but I'll meet her if she wants. Do you still have my number?" Marsh thought he had a number for Aaron but he could have a new one for all he knew. Hardly anyone used phone numbers anymore, it was all messages and online chatter now - between friends at least. "We should go out for drinks sometime, catch up proper."
“Pfft, probably not,” Aaron said with a sheepish laugh as he moved to pull out his phone. “I been through a few phones since I talked to you last. So yeah, I’m gonna need you to give it to me again, ‘cause going out for drinks sounds awesome.” He pulled up his contacts to add a new one. “There’s a lot to tell, I guess ... getting married next month, baby on the way ...” My fiance almost killed me. Aaron realized there had been far more weird shit happening in the past year than not-weird shit, and he hoped that wouldn’t make it harder to catch up with his old buddy. He wasn’t sure of Marsh’s stance on reality, Aaron would have to feel him out a bit. “Okay ready, give it to me.”
"Whoa, hold up," Marsh said with an incredulous laugh. "Baby on the way? And marriage? Who's your girl? Do I know her? When's the baby due?" It was a lot of questions but it was all kind of a big deal and for sure took precedence over the exchange of phone numbers for now. It was weird to have people his age having kids and getting married, some people he knew had started years ago but Marsh still felt too young for that stuff so it was always a little jarring to remember he was pushing thirty. Aaron had never struck him as the settling down type but he seemed happy about it, as far as Marsh could tell.
Aaron couldn’t help but grin, it was like a reflex now to beam like a lovesick idiot whenever he got to talk about his growing family. He’d said ‘fiance’ earlier, but it had been easy to miss amidst the business talk. “Mila Moretti, you remember her? She was kind of a nerd back then, but she graduated our year. We’re gettin’ married next month, baby’s due in October. We’re having a little girl,” he said, obviously pleased with that outcome. “You should come! I woulda sent you an invite if I knew you’d be back.” Their guest list was fairly limited, but Aaron had been close to Marsh back in the day, he thought it would be cool to have him there.
Marsh remembered her and his grin said as much, only widening at the invitation. "If Mila's cool with it, I'd love to come! You guys got a wedding registry somewhere I can look at?" He loved wishlists, they meant he didn't have to put too much thought into picking a present, he could just pick something he knew people already wanted and save himself the headache. Aaron wouldn't be hard to shop for, but he didn't know Mila at all, he only remembered her vaguely from high school as one of the quiet nerdy girls who didn't really catch his eye but thankfully he hadn't been in the habit of being a dick to people back then like some of his friends.
He was pretty sure Mila wouldn’t mind adding one more person, and if she did ... well, he would eat crow and Marsh would surely understand. So far Mila hadn’t been anything close to what Aaron’s understanding of a “bridezilla,” but he was definitely inclined to give her whatever she wanted anyway. “Yeah, um, Mila set all that up,” he said with a sheepish laugh. Aaron made a gesture between them with the phone still in his hand. “Gimme your number, I can send you links or something once I get them from her.” He admittedly wasn’t good with that kind of stuff, Mila had been handling a lot of the planning, but Aaron tried to help where he could.
"Right! Yeah, number," Marsh said with a little laugh, snapping himself out of being distracted by all the big news for long enough to give Aaron his number and get his in turn. "Damn," he drawled as he put his phone away again. "October. That's right around the corner. What a head trip. Can't wait to meet her. And Mila too of course." What a crazy grownup thing to do, having a kid. Marsh wasn't sure he wanted to have kids of his own but he generally liked kids and babies were cute. He certainly hoped they'd stay in touch enough for him to see Aaron's kid and he couldn't really think of any reason why they wouldn't.
Aaron slipped his phone back into his pocket once the exchange was done and chuckled faintly. “Crazy right? I mean, I figured I would have kids someday, it’s just always been like, in that hazy future, you know? But now I’ve built a crib and painted a nursery and everything man.” It was such a strange-feeling combination of perfectly natural and totally surreal, while also being exciting as fuck. And if the miscarriage hadn’t happened, Mila would’ve been so much further along with their first child ... but Aaron tried not to think about it too much. Especially not at the moment. “You should come to the house for dinner sometime,” Aaron declared. “Meet Mila and her brother -- which, hey, do you remember the name Adrian Moretti? He was a little older than us, him and a few other guys went missing years ago ...”
"Oh shit, yeah I remember that," Marsh replied, his eyes going wide as he made the connection. Of course he'd heard about this, his mother liked to gossip and he'd probably know a lot more about everything that was going on in town if he always paid attention to what she was telling him. "Everyone assumed this one guy killed the others or something, but they never found the bodies." It was grim, but so many things in Point Pleasant's history were, it was hard to keep track of everything and tell fiction from fact. "Shit, I didn't put two and two together, that's her brother?" That sounded like a lot of good news all at once, a baby, a wedding and the return of a long lost brother. It was one of those times where it felt like their town was trying to balance out the bad with some good. "They must have exonerated the guy who got put away for it."
“Yeah, that’s her brother,” Aaron said. Belatedly, he realized he didn’t have many answers if Marsh started asking detailed questions about where Adrian had been all this time. They really all ought to sit down and work out a cover story for him, probably. Now that he was out in the town more, people were bound to be curious. Luckily, Aaron could just play stupid and forgetful about it all and still be believable. “I think he got out and disappeared, I dunno,” he said with a shrug. “It’s been pretty crazy, but the family’s so happy of course. And he’s a cool dude, he’s like my brother already. But anyway, dinner. I’ll talk to Mila, we’ll find a night, yeah?” Aaron gave him a hopeful little grin. As much as he loved his brothers, they weren’t the most fun people to hang out with, and he’d been missing having real dude buddies as of late.
Considering what Aaron's brothers were like, Marsh wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Maybe he was like the brother he deserved and not a sullen alcoholic. He very well might be on par with the Lucas boys though, if he too had disappeared and seen some shit. It was hard not to think of Sage and his story and Marsh knew better than to ask for details here. No doubt it was something batshit insane. Dinner felt like a safer topic and so he let the weirdness slide and nodded eagerly. "Most evenings are good for me, I'll sometimes be the on-call vet but it's for a large area so there are vets in other towns doing the same thing. It rotates so it's a matter of a couple of days every few weeks. I'm actually on call right now." He genuinely hoped this wasn't just one of those 'hey lets' meet up' things that never amounted to anything, but it was clear that Aaron wasn't going to be as available to go out for drinks when the baby was born.
Aaron fully intended to fold Marsh back into his life as a friend. They’d been good buddies on the team when they were teenagers, and that kind of loyalty stuck around in his psyche. Plus everybody needed some adult fun with friends now and then, right? It sounded like Marsh had been working hard. “Okay, I’ll check with you when I’ve got an idea of when,” Aaron answered with a smile. Then he chuckled. “Mila kinda runs the household schedule now, you know? Between work and doctor appointments and wedding stuff, I dunno half of what’s going on day to day.” He was bad at keeping track of those things, but he still tried to be there for every doctor visit. Aaron moved in to give Marsh another bro hug. “Really good to see you again, man. I’ll let you get back to it.”
"So good to see you too," Marsh said as he gave him a tight squeeze back and patted him on the arm in parting. "So much good news, it's amazing." He idly wondered if Aaron would give a shit that he was bi, the whole coming out thing was a bit new and he had no idea when the right time for it was. It was likely that nobody did, but right now didn't seem like the time. It was best to just treat it like it either didn't matter or he just assumed everyone knew. "Take care of your little family, man. I'll talk to you soon." He backed up with a grin before turning around to finish shopping, sure they'd probably run into each other somewhat awkwardly at the register or something but that was okay, he could handle that kind of awkwardness pretty well.