Chapter Text
Adam wasn't quite sure why he agreed to let his best friend, and mortal enemy, Scott Tibbs drag him to a beach to go swimming of all things. Maybe it was the potential to get some good shots for his freelance gig, or maybe it was the chance to imagine that he isn't in debt and unable to pay rent and can just relax in the sand a little. It was probably the second one, though he tried to convince himself it was the first one.
Now, he was in a pair of thrifted plain back swim shorts as he walked with Scott who was in a near identical pair of swim shorts. The only difference between the two friends attire was that Scott was wearing black Converse and Adam was wearing boots... in summer. He didn't care that wearing boots in this weather wasn't practical. It wasn't like he had the money to get 'summer shoes'.
Soon enough, they arrived at the crowded beach. It didn't take long for the two men to kick off their shoes and for Adam to set his camera down on the sand before rushing into the refreshing water. Adam supposed he could excuse Scott holding his head under the water as mindless fun for now.
"Dude! you're gonna drown me!" Adam giggled and splashed water at his companion.
"Maybe if you weren't such a puss you wouldn't get drowned, princess." The other man responded teasingly. Splashing water back at Adam in retort.
They continued the cycle of childlike activity for a while. Splashing water at each other and tossing wet sand at the other like snowballs. Laughing all the while. Adam was surprised he actually felt so gleeful for once. Normally the only happiness he got were from drowning himself in cheap beer and smashing the glass to hurt himself, but right now all he could think about was how silly Scott looked in the water in front of him with wet sand falling off his chest. He only laughed more picturing what he looked like in the moment.
For Lawrence Gordon, the beach day with his wife and daughter was a bit more of a bittersweet gesture than anything. He and Alison had an argument the night before that poor Diana had been listening to, so this was his weak apology. He decided to sit on the beach in his plain light blue swim shorts and people watch rather than actually get in the water. He was starting to get a little too old for this, he thought. He sighed to himself as the hot sand hurt his palms as he tried to rest them down besides himself.
Adam and Scott ran up onto the beach with the genius idea to make a sandcastle. As they briskly continued forward, Lawrence noticed them from where he was sitting but didn't pay much mind to the two younger men. If Alison saw him staring at guys she might get a bad idea. She might get another bad idea. It was bad enough that he occasionally snuck around with other men without a soul knowing, he couldn't be seen looking a guy like that in public while on a family outing.
After a few minutes of sandcastle building, Adam had suggested running to the small store a block or so away from the beach to get beer. Scott had accepted the offer while blissfully unaware that Adam had pickpocketed him on the way to the beach for the money.
While walking in the general direction of where the store was after slipping his boots back on, Adam's eyes caught Lawrence's. The eyes staring back at his were similar to his own, but not in color, in the pain hidden behind them. Sure Adam didn't try to hide his intense emotions when the bubbled out, but he could tell the man whose stare he had caught wasn't the same. It was held back and carefully hidden in a very dark corner. He quickly shook himself out of the small trance and kept walking.
Lawrence had been entranced by the younger man. It was someone who he'd normally call a bottom feeder or a waste of time, but something was just different about him. Good different. He watched Adam as he walked away before going back to watching his wife and daughter. He was filled with guilt as he looked at his family. He had thought some random man was more attractive than the woman he had a child with. He swallowed hard and ran a hand over his face with a sigh. He really was a deadbeat.
Adam hummed to himself as he walked to the convenience store, thinking about the blonde he'd seen a couple minutes prior. He was attractive, he couldn't lie... but he was near a woman and her daughter than he could safely assume were the mans family. It's not like he'd have a huge chance at actually being with the man anyway. He was a man, and so was he. It's not the most socially accepted thing on earth.
For the majority of the rest of his time spent there, Adam tried not to pay too much attention to the older man and his family. He got caught staring by Scott and was relentlessly made fun of by said friend and called a homewrecker so he tried to drink as much beer as he could as to not focus on the blonde anymore than he already had. It was bad enough the guy was clearly older than him and had a family on top of that, but he also now had the picture of the man on top of him engraved into his corneas. Despite this he insisted that he and Scott stay to see the sunset so he could take pictures of it and maybe make a buck off it. Magazines like sunset pictures because it draws in tourists, it isn't an unrealistic idea.
The sun had begun to set and Scott was laid back on the warm sand that would soon start to become cold while Adam captured the sunset from the shore line. Adam had also snuck a couple pictures of the blonde man he'd seen before in doing so. What could he say, The man was photogenic.
Lawrence could've sworn he'd seen that black haired man taking a picture of him, but he'd rather not risk humiliating himself at a beach full of people by confronting him about it. Even though he did really want an excuse to at least know the guys name, he couldn't do it. He couldn't risk it.