Ganymede | Benjamin Prince (
the_cupbearer) wrote2023-07-13 01:57 pm
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OPEN BAR POST
The bar is open!
Anyone is welcome at 4713, and the bartenders are happy to carry on a conversation for anyone that needs company to drink with. Tiqua--the lead bartender when Ganymede's not there, and the shift manager when he is--says she makes the best Black Velvet ever...blackberry imperial stout and champagne, that is. Ganymede is more than likely there too, just look for the smiling man with long hair braided back, but there's plenty of booths and tables as well, just be careful of you you sit with. They might not always be strangers.
[ this is an open post! feel free to drop off notes or things, or just hop in to talk to Ganymede if you want ]
Anyone is welcome at 4713, and the bartenders are happy to carry on a conversation for anyone that needs company to drink with. Tiqua--the lead bartender when Ganymede's not there, and the shift manager when he is--says she makes the best Black Velvet ever...blackberry imperial stout and champagne, that is. Ganymede is more than likely there too, just look for the smiling man with long hair braided back, but there's plenty of booths and tables as well, just be careful of you you sit with. They might not always be strangers.
[ this is an open post! feel free to drop off notes or things, or just hop in to talk to Ganymede if you want ]
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"You're my everything, Ashley. I wouldn't--" he didn't bother to finish the sentence, only squeezing his lover tight as they drove. He was going to say he wouldn't keep going if Ashley left him, he wouldn't find another person that made him feel alive and young and worthwhile like this, but he didn't want to tread into that subject so easily. "I love you, Ash. For as long as you'll let me."
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Ganymede didn't need to say what he was thinking. Ashley was thinking the same. This one would break him if it ended. Rip him apart in ways that could never be fixed. Instead of that scaring him it inspired him. Do better. Be better. Try harder. Be the man who deserves the love he is being given. The safety and security of a partner who not only understood him but saw his flaws and loves those too. He knows what he has is rare, he never thought he would find it, now that he has it there is no way he'll let it go.
He pulls the bike over to park at Ganymede's place. Tugging the helmet from his head his hair is a mess but he looks incredibly happy. He let's his love get off the bike before his swings his leg over. Standing in front of him he helps fiddle with the strap of the helmet and ease it off his head. Holding his face in his hands Ashley smiles at him. "I love you, Ganymede. Even when we have shitty days. Even when we fight. I'll never give up on you. Marry me. Be mine."
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He rests his forehead againsst Ashley's, giddy still and unwiling to let go. It was so much that he'd never had, never expected or thought he wanted until Ash. He wanted to stay here in this embrace forever, and know that no matter how long it took him to get his words out, his lover would stay.
"You are ridiculous, and I love you," he chuckled, looking at the ring on his finger and the stone it held. He loved the scrollwork and detail on the sides, and the color-changing stone that he recognized. "You got zultanite," he murmured, obviously touched. "From where I'm from."
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With Ganymede it had hit him so unexpectedly and felt completely different. Just a rush of thought as they had been sitting in the tub. He just thought this is it, this is my person and I never want to know another day without him in it, he's mine and I'm his, this is the one. It had felt like it should feel, a gesture of love and commitment to the man he is in love with. Ashley had never felt that way before. Nothing about how he feels being with Ganymede feels like anything he has ever experienced before. It is profound. Deep. Ash took the hand with the ring on it and laced their fingers together and held them against his chest.
"It's unique and beautiful and strong. like you, and it's from where you are from." The ring didn't need to be a reflection of Ashley sitting on his lovers hand. He wanted it to be something that fit his partner and who he is, not who Ash is. It had been important to him that it was a masculine ring but not modern or flashy yet still it needed to have style. He thought it would look good with the other rings he liked to wear and the colors would look great against his skin. Ashley had actually put a lot of thought into the purchase, something he rarely did. "Something traditional just felt wrong." A plain band of gold? That didn't feel right either. "I know this is really fast. I know. I just...I don't know why people think the amount of time you have loved someone is relevant to how deeply you love them, or how committed you are to them. I know you're my person, Ganymede. I've never been so certain about anything before in my life."
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"You make me feel secure, and...it's not like falling," he murmured. "I feel like I've always known this, like I picked you before I knew what was happening. And when he left me, you didn't let me get lost. You stayed with me," Ganymede said softly. "And I want you to stay with me forever."
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His arms went around Ganymede. "So. Does this mean were exclusive and you can delete your Grindr account? Cause I've been working over time sliding into fuckbois DMs to tell them to back off."
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"No, I cannot delete my Grindr account!" he laughed, arms still around Ash's neck. "Not unless I can send you all the pictures and messages to your cell. Have you even seen my Grindr?" he chuckled.
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"Convince you? Kinda though the ring on your finger would do that." Ashley scooped him up, supporting him in his arms as they bumped up against the front door of Ganymede's house. "You know I won't deny you what you need."
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He felt like he should hate it still, that he should still tense up when his feet left the ground, but Ganymede didn't. "Just talk to me, baby boy."
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Ash pressed his lips softly against his neck. "It's okay, baby. I was just fucking around about Grindr. I trust you."
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"It's okay though, I don't care if they look. I know you're mine." He wasn't a jealous man, he was a territorial man, there is a difference. They belonged to each other and Ashley would protect that. He knew Ganymede would do the same. His lips quirked up at the corners in a devious smile as he walked Ganymede backward, and up against a wall. Was he looking at the other man as if he might be something to eat? Absolutely. "Maybe you should just change your profile picture to one of us. Together. Can we talk about that one picture...in those fucking jeans? I've never wanted to be a pair of jeans so bad in my life."
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"...I...I didn't mean that," he breathed.
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Looking down at him Ash's brow pinched together with concern. Did something happen that he's not aware of? "Ganymede...baby, I don't care if you meant it or not, we were just fucking around, right?" He did not like the change he was seeing in the other. "Did I say something wrong? I really don't give a shit about Grindr. I swear."
He tilted Ganymede's chin up. "What's going on? Talk to me."
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The words had come out like nothing, and abruptly it had all come crashing back down that this was exactly what he'd said with his ex and Armarus had gotten angry at him for devaluing what they'd been doing. And he was scare that it woud go the exact same way with Ashley, and he couldn't lose that. Not again, not like this, not with Ashley.
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Ashley looked as concerned as he sounded. "Baby, please, talk to me." He said softly his hands curling gently around his lovers upper arms.
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"I--someething I said before. With...Armarus." There was no point in calling him George now and perepetuating that level of stupidity. Ashley knew what he was, what they all were, and if he didn't he'd be finding out now. Ganymede sucked in a breath and burted it out, without stopping or pausing.
"We ordered pizza and we'd been having sex and I said I wanted him to stay, I said we were screwing like--like rabbits. He was mad, he said if he'd wanted me to be a fucking rabbit he'd have just paid like a hooker when we first met," he finished, all in one breath and letting his head fall back against the door. "I'm sorry, baby, I don't mean we're rabbits, I don't."
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Ashley gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "We kind of are rabbits. Fuck frequently. See each other and want to go at it. Pretty accurate description if you ask me." He wasn't bothered by it at all. Kind of thought it was funny and he would have laughed if it weren't for the obvious distress Ganymede was in.
"You thought I was going to get mad at you." He sighed and rubbed his fingers against the rough hair along his jaw. "You were right. A picture of the two of us? Of course it would have looked like an invitation for a threesome. That's not what is going on here though, right? It's not about me. This is about you and whatever bullshit he got stuck in your head. Some shitty notion that joking about your sex life was disrespectful? That had to be it for the prick to talk to you like that." When he said that last bit, his voice sounded hard and agitated. "I'm not him, Ganymede. Look, I know you think he loved you...but that's not love, treating someone like that over a fucking joke. You know that. I know you know that."
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"Ash, please," he murmured, "Please tell me you're not leaving. That you're not mad."
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Instead of letting himself get lost in the anger this made him feel for a man he couldn't take it out on because he had run to Vegas like a bitch, he picked Ganymede back up. Just as he had when they came into the house. He curled a hand around the back of his neck and an arm was under his ass to hold him up. Ashley just wrapped himself around him and buried his face into his neck. "Even if I were pissed off, I wouldn't leave. We would talk and figure it out. I know it's going to take time for you to believe that. I'm not going to give up while you're getting through this. But, I need just a little trust, that's all. You know me. I would never talk to you like that."
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"Like that's all it was, that....he was just entertaining me. He was such a bastard," he sighed, trying to relax but not having much luck in unfurling the tight black bloom of anger. "He thought I was a prostitute when we first met. I wasn't, but I know that's what he assumed. I guess he thought the bar was just to cover it."
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"First, there isn't any shame in sex work." Ashley had slept with plenty of strippers, even paid a couple to take care of him in the back room during a dry spell. They had been good, sweet girls just trying to make money like everyone else. Even dated a porn model and learned that when it came to women, he was an ass man and did not love the fake boob look. Still, just a job. Not a stain on a persons character. In general he didn't care for people who treated others like shit for how they made money. If you aren't hurting anyone and it's consensual? More power to you. "Second, coming from an asshole who has to have people paid to keep his bed warm, like they all did, his opinion of you shouldn't carry so much weight. They use people. I am so fucking sorry he used you. That he treated you like you weren't good enough for him. He knows your insecurities and he used that to control you and get what he wanted. That's all."
The last time he had talked to Jasper, to try to be a decent person and keep him from being punished for talking to Ashley about his world, he learned exactly what he had meant to him all along. Jasper had needed a warm body to make him feel again, that's all Ashley had been to him. Must run in the 'family', treating people like whores and disposing of them once they asked for what they were owed. Like respect or love. If he ever saw any of them again it would be impossible to stop him from ripping them apart. Just to stop them from doing this to anyone else.
"I don't know what to do to help you through this. But, I'm not going anywhere."
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"I've done pornography before. And hell I've been a prostitute before. But nobody's ever called me that and wanted to make it as dirty as he did. And...I believed him. I'm such an idiot."
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