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The sun is setting, casting golden rays of light everywhere. Dominik and Rhea are inside Target doing a last minute run because they all have to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow for media appearances. Damian has decided to stay out in the car with Finn and Liv, which in hindsight seemed like it’d be fine.
“Mami, can we get more of those crackers?” Dominik’s been walking alongside the plastic, red coloured cart for some time now while Rhea takes things off the shelves. So far she’s grabbed soy milk for the hotel room (Dom is lactose intolerant), baby wipes, a case of water, toothpaste, and body lotion. Now she’s just trying to find the specific kind of ramen noodles Dominik likes.
“If course baby, tell you what, you go pick out the snacks you want, okay?” Dominik nods before trotting off to the snack aisle.
He picks out rainbow goldfish (to which he quietly giggles to himself from the irony), and some bear paws. But as soon as he turns out of the aisle to find Rhea again, he sees him.
Caleb.
Dominik is starting to internally panic, thankfully Caleb hasn’t noticed him yet, but he needs to find Rhea before he goes into a full blown panic attack. He steps back into the snack aisle, determined to get to Rhea.
“Well, didn’t expect to see you here. Considering you live on the other side of the country.” Caleb is leaning against his own cart, staring directly at Dominik.
“You know damn well I travel all over the States for WWE”, Caleb narrows his eyes slightly before pushing off his cart and walking over to Dominik.
“Watch your fucking mouth, you may not be mine anymore, but you know the deal. One wrong thing said, one wrong move and I can have you brought right back to me, Dominik.”
“Fuck you,” he’s expecting the slap, but as soon as it hits there’s yelling and someone’s pulling him away. He flinches, hard, and starts pushing away whoever’s got hands on him.
“Dominik, Dom look at me, it’s just me. Let me see those eyes of yours darling, what the fuck happened? Who is that?”
His breathing is uneven, his eyes are glosses over, Rhea’s talking to him but he doesn’t understand what she’s saying. All he does is mutter one word, one word and he sees the way Rhea’s face goes from worried, to angry. “Caleb.”
‘Is he okay? I’m going to kill that son of a bitch I swear to god-‘
Dominik is freaking out, and now he’s somehow just gotten to the parking lot? And Finn is walking beside him. Why is Damian here-
“ Breathe for me sweetheart, there you go, in and out just like that. You’re safe, I’ve got you baby boy, you’re okay.” Safe, safe, safe, he’s safe, the arms around him feel safe, the bad thoughts are leaving his mind-
“He hit me, ‘m sorry Damian, I don’t know why he hit me.” He’s crying now, and Damian’s grip on him tightens. He’s being lifted off the ground so he wraps his legs around his partner and lets Damian carry him to the back passenger door.
Damian sets him down on the seat, and buckles him in, giving him a quick kiss before shutting the door. “Rhea’s on her way out, she got your rainbow goldfish.”
“Gay motherfucker” Finn mutters with a smile.
“I literally watched Damian fuck your throat last week, dumbass. We’re all gay,” Dominik’s words has Damian turning around in the driver seat to give him a look and a small shake of his head.
“Keep up the attitude and I’ll be fucking yours too, baby boy.”
“What if I want you to?” Damian watches him silently before speaking again.
“The next words out of your mouth better be ‘I’m sorry Finn’ or ‘sorry for the attitude’, or you’ll be getting a small punishment when we get home.”
“No, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to get me a cold compress for my face and I’m going to cuddle into you, papi.” Damian breaks into a smile. “Christ sake, how do you manage to get your way every time?”
“I just saw my abusive ex in the store, and I’m severely traumatized, so I’d say I always get my way.” Dominik feels a lot better, although his face still stings, and the knowledge that Caleb is in the same state still lingers.