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Downtown Stilwater was quite loud in the evening, and that didn’t change on this one. That didn't stop Jonathan from walking his two beautiful dogs, and enjoy the evening with them. The dogs were very docile and listened to Jonathan’s every command. One of them was a quite big golden retriever on one leash, who was the older one of the two, and was named Joe Cola; after Hallen and his favorite soda brand. Joe was originally adopted by Hal when Boss raided the pyramid and found a dog inside. She assumed that the dog was held in a test subject and set it free. After that, Hallen asked the Boss personally if he could adopt that dog from her, and since then the two have been inseparable. He is a bit larger than a normal golden retriever, but that didn’t bother the skater.
The other one was a bit more defensive in nature, but still a good girl that loved her belly rubs. She was a pit bull called Saints Flow, or Flo for short. She was rescued from an abusive household at 16 months old, where she was mistreated and never taught how it felt to be loved. She kept herself distant from other people, and would usually become hostile towards humans. Jonathan, who would occasionally drop by the dog shelter to play with the puppies, one day decided to adopt her and help rehabilitate her into a normal and healthy dog life, after the pit bull grew quite fond of him over his visits. Ever since she moved in with them, Flow has been doing great and shortly became one of the most lovable pups on the block.
Usually, Jonathan would spend his evening walking them alongside his boyfriend, Hal, but seeing as he's been depressed for the past week since Johnny died, Jonathan has been left on the lone walking duty.
That didn't stop the cowboy from taking care of his man, as he always would bring a small treat for him whenever he came home. As the walk was nearing its completion, Jonathan approached the entrance door to their apartment building, when a woman came out of the door. Flo growled at the woman, to which she was startled, but thankfully, the dog was both leashed and had a muzzle on her face. Saints Flow was trained to be a guard dog, so in order to keep any incidents from happening while on their walks, the two guys have decided to keep the muzzle on just in case, even though they trusted Flo not to bite anyone that doesn’t attack them first. “Easy, baby.” Jonathan said, as he was pulling her away from the dark-haired woman. “Don’t worry, she doesn’t bite.” He addressed to the woman and tipped his white cowboy hat, to which she made some snarky comment and continued walking her way. She was a bit rude, known around the building as very unfriendly and unwelcoming, so it didn’t surprise Jonathan that she would say something mean towards the dog. Especially since Jonathan himself has gotten a few very mean comments directed towards him.
Jonathan went up to the elevator with the two dogs still leached by his side, and took it to the top floor. Soon enough, he reached his apartment. The unit wasn’t in the best shape it could be. Jonathan tried keeping it clean, but that was always one of Hal’s strongest suits. While Jonathan struggled to see the difference between the laundry bleach and floor cleaning agents, Hal found great satisfaction in mopping the dirty bathroom tiles and seeing the clean and shiny trail he leaves behind.
As the three of the entered the apartment, Joe rushed to go greet his other owner, while Saints Flow, ever the guard dog, picked up her favorite toy that she left by the door, it was a squeaky plushie in a shape of a carrot, and went into her basket to keep a guard on the door. Joe Cola climbed on top of the couch Hal was laying on and snuggled between his owner and the back of the couch as Hal gave him a small scratch on the head.
It's been a week since Gat passed away and Hallen was still mourning him. The skater didn't feel sad as much as he felt empty and broken. He was on his phone, looking at the picture he had of him and Gat. It was from a party held in the old Purgatory back when the gang war was still happening. Both of them held a bottle of beer in their hands, with Gat's other arm being around Hal's shoulder. Hallen's face was however silly; his left eye was half shut, and his mouth formed a weird smile. He wasn't quite photogenic. He remembers Shaundi wanted to take a picture of Gat, but Gat wrapped his hand around him and pulled him into the picture. Johnny always had a soft spot for Hallen.
“Hey, honey. How are you doin’?” Jonathan said as he walked into the living room.
“Hey, bro.” The skater replied “I was looking at some pictures of Mr. Gat. I miss him.” Hal was extremely polite for a gangster. He would refer to almost every lieutenant by either Miss or Mister. It sort of became a running joke within the gang. “I regret not taking more pictures with him.” Hal didn’t have a lot of pictures with people. He was shy about asking people to take pictures with him and felt extremely awkward when doing so.
“I got ya some ice cream on the walk.” The cowboy handed his boyfriend a small Freckle Bitch’s bag. “Your favorite. Mint choco chip.”
The skater looked him in the eyes, and smiled slightly. Small gestures like this reminded that he was loved, despite his insecurities. “Thanks, bro.” He took the bag from Jonathan’s hand and opened to see a sealed container and a spoon. He took it out, but Jonathan soon jumped in to help him gently grasped the contained with his boyfriend’s left wrist.
Jonathan and Hallen met around the time Boss had officially formed the Saints. Jonathan was shortly after joining given a task of helping to establish a Saints drug market in Stilwater due to his high interest in drugs back then. This started first with him doing some small side tasks for the Boss and Shaundi to help take out and weaken the Samedi’s hold in the drug monopoly in the city. He helped Luz, the former member of the Carnales, push her drugs, which she obtained from the Colombian cartel. This eventually made Luz one of the Saints’ own dealer, and got the cartel to supply the Saints with drugs. On first sight, it gave Luz less power over her products, but she gladly accepted the offer from the Saints, since she could always use extra security. After all, dealing with other thugs and cops trying to take her down was difficult for her.
Around this time was when he met Hal. He was fairly new to the gang and joined alongside his college friends. All of them ended up being assigned to the drug runners’ team, so they got a chance to work a lot with Jonathan. Hal and Jonathan however, made a special connection. Jonathan was always good at making friends and communicating with people, and considering how introverted the Boss used to be before joining the Saints, he had a very easy time forming bonds with more shy people. They would smoke weed, and talk about life. Mostly Jonathan would do the talking, while Hal listened and made a comment on two in relation to what Jonathan said.
This all changed one faithful night at a party. Jonathan got high on Amphetamine, and being heartbroken from a breakup of a night before, decided to make out with the skater. He suspected Hallen was into him at the time, but it is unsure if the skater was really into him, or if the narcissism got the better of him. Regardless, hookup, turned into another hookup, to another, until a week later when they decided to give dating a shot.
Jonathan wasn’t at first set on the idea of dating a man. He had sex with plenty of them, but he only found them attractive in that sense. Romantically, he was a lot more interested in women, which he dated plenty of beforehand. However, Hal loved an idea of being in a relationship and having someone care for him, regardless of the person’s gender, though, he did have a slight preference towards men.
“What are you watching?” The cowboy asked as he noticed the TV screen in front of the couch playing the commercials, and sat down to the right of his boyfriend on the couch. Joe Cola at this moment moved from being behind the two men, to being to the left of Hal, resting his beautiful head on his lap.
"I was watching re-runs of this show I used to watch on Channel 12."
"The kids network?"
"Yeah." Hal had a thing where whenever he felt down, he'd spend his afternoon watching cartoons on TV. It made him go back to a time when he was a kid, and the things were so much simpler. This is how Jonathan could tell how bad he was feeling today.
"Mind if I join ya? Had a hard day." Jonathan said has he snuggled against Hal, and rubbed his fingers across Hal's freshly shaved scalp. Jonathan used to love playing with Hal's hair because it was always so clean and soft. This was all until few weeks ago, when the skater decided to completely shave his head to see how he would look bald. He ended up regretting it, especially after being met with a lot of teasing comments regarding his new appearance. The cowboy tried to be as much supportive about his man's decision, but he couldn't lie and say he didn't miss that beautiful mane. “I ran into Wynne again.”
“Ms. Baudelaire? Our neighbor?” Hal asked.
“Yeah… she was bein’ rude to Saints Flow for no reason again.”
“I don’t know why she’s so mean to everyone, she yelled at me last week when I was holding the door open for Mrs. Baxter.” Mrs. Baxter was an older lady, in her 80s, that lived on the second floor. Hal liked helping her because she would give him the sweet hard candy when he does. “She said I was letting all the cold into the building.”
“She’s insane. I’m sick of her and her lazy eye.” Jonathan stated as he was referencing his past struggles with self-confidence.
“Bro, that’s not nice to say.” Hallen interrupted “She might be mean to us, but we should be better.”
The cowboy sighed, before apologizing to his boyfriend for his potty mouth.
As the commercials ended shortly after, the show was back on TV. It was a cartoon that aired on national TV when both of them were at a really young age. It was about a dog that goes on an adventure. The show was pretty cheesy, but it was really colorful and the characters in it were funny, and most importantly, innocent. Whenever Hal would feel down, or depressed, he would always spend some time watching cartoons on TV. It reminded him of a time, back when he was just some kid growing up in Manchester, and how life was a lot easier back then. He didn’t have a severe social anxiety disorder. Eventually, this disorder led to Hal becoming addicted to weed, which was actually how Jonathan and him first bonded.
As the anxious man ate his ice cream and watched the show, he thought about his current state of life and decided to speak “I’m sorry I am not here for you right now, bro.”
“What?” The cowboy was rolling a joint before getting confused by his boyfriend’s question. He needed a few hits of it for later “You’re right here.”
“I’m not fair towards you, bro.” The skater said, “You’ve been so nice to me by bringing me snacks and cuddling with me, and I am too sad to even ask you how you feel.”
"Oh darling," Jonathan said as he moved his hand onto Hallen's cheek, and looked deeply into his sad, puppy like eyes "I know you're more emotional and take this stuff on deeper. I knew I'd be takin' care of you when we moved in together."
“Still.” Hal replied “You are sad, too. You deserve someone to bring you ice cream and keep you warm at night as well.”
“It ain’t all about that, honey. You have no idea how much joy I get from taking care of you.” The cowboy leaned in and gave his boyfriend a small kiss on the lips. “I’ll be at your side no matter how long it takes you to recover.”
Hallen at this point, started tearing up a bit. “Thank you, bro.” He wiped the tear “I know it’s hard for you too, I really want to help you stay clean.”
“You kiddin’? I haven’t thought about drugs once.” Jonathan lied. He was a recovering drug addict. Ever since his mother died in his early teen years, Jonathan has been coping with his depression by doing every drug known to man. Weed, speed, meth, cocaine, crack, LSD, PCP… You name it, and he most likely tried it. However, his addiction eventually lead to him becoming more mentally unstable, and eventually made him this extremely chaotic person who would smash someone’s head with a cinderblock for calling him a mean name. He only got clean thanks to the support of other Saints, and that especially includes Hal, who has been taking care of Jonathan ever since he decided to go clean. The cowboy had plenty of moments since then where he wanted to go back to his old habits; to relapse. Every time he felt said or depressed, and simply wanted his pain to go away, he thought about that good old feeling of high, but somehow, he managed to resist it. He gave up alcohol and almost all the drugs in this new lifestyle. All but weed. The two boys still occasionally smoke weed together since it helps a lot with their anxieties.
“Bro, I’m so proud of you.” Hal tried to give a small smile but ended up looking a bit awkward.
Jonathan felt seen for a moment. He struggled a lot with his own insecurities and anxieties that he constantly forgot that there were people out there caring for him. It meant a lot to him that Hal would say something like that.
In fact, maybe it was the right time to make Hal happy after a few months of planning, looks like he won’t be needing the weed after all.
“Hey darling, could you pass me the lighter behind you?”
“Sure, bro.” The skater turned around to reach for the lighter on the coffee table next to him. He reached out with his left hand, the real one, and turned around to hand it to Jonathan.
That’s when he saw Jonathan on his knee in front of him, holding a small black box “Honey, will you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?”
“Bro…” Hal said as he dropped the lighter and put down his ice cream as he was slowly tearing up. He placed both of his hands against his face as he was starting to slowly sob, and out of happiness, nonetheless. The cowboy placed down his ring box as he got down on both knees and took Hallen’s left hand.
“I’m serious, darling.” He placed his other hand onto Hal’s face, and wiped away his tear. “We’ve been together for three years and saw many losses. You almost died when you that guy jumped,” A few years ago, a very important deal went wrong, an angered man swung his machete at Hal’s friend, and Hal almost lost his hand pushing her out of the way. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt, and the guy isn’t around anymore to do something like that. “I almost died in a drug trip, and Johnny died when we least expected.” He saw the emotion in Hal’s face get slightly sadder as he mentioned Gat’s name. “Point being, neither of us knows when our time will be up, I don’t want to leave behind any regrets. Let’s bind our souls.” Jonathan pulled out the ring and held it between his fingers. “So, whaddya say? Pardners for life?”
Hal's eyes started pouring tears like an overflowing well, as he tried to process what was going on. The emptiness that was in his heart a moment ago was now filled with joy. He couldn’t get his emotions under control “Yes.” He said, wiping his tears away. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Jonathan took his lover’s left hand and gently put the ring on his ring finger. The ring was made from pure silver, with an amethyst gemstone on top of it. It was engraved with a flame like shapes on the base. Jonathan got that with intention; it looked like the pattern one of the shirts Hal had in the closet. A great chunk of Hal’s clothing consisted of different looking patterned and Hawaiian shirts.
“But how are we going to get married if it’s illegal, bro?” Hal asked
Jonathan got up his knees and sat on his fiancé’s lap. He looked at him straight into the eyes and kissed his lips once more. “Let’s not think of the details.” He said, trying to enjoy this happy moment with his boyfriend. “I guess we’ll get hitched as soon as it’s legal?”
“Okay, bro.”
“Should we drink wine to celebrate?” Jonathan asked wrapping his arms around Hallen’s shoulders.
“Bro, you know you can’t drink alcohol.” Hallen replied, he understood that Jonathan wanted to celebrate, but he couldn't risk his sobriety for it. “Want to finish this ice cream with me instead?”
“Okay, honey.” Jonathan got up from his lap, and walked towards the kitchen to grab another spoon. He came back and sat next to Hal and the two men started sharing their ice cream and enjoying the evening: now as two fiancés.
“Do you maybe want to go out to the park with me tomorrow and work out, bro?” Hal offered to Jonathan. The cowboy had a hard time working by himself, he struggled without motivation and required Hal’s support to do anything. Hal offering Jonathan to come didn’t only mean assistance and hanging out, it meant that Hal might actually be ready to start rehabilitating back into life after mourning Gat for seven straight days.
“Sure thing, darling.” He smiled. “I love you, ya know that?”
To which, Hal glanced at his new ring and replied “I love you too, bro.”