Anonymous asked:

Not a prompt from the list. Duke confronts Jake about the affair. Set post Duke and Rose's divorce.

Doesn't have to be from the list! That being said, I don't have any prompts "pending" so if you want to flood me with ideas (any!) I'm down. I like to write in my downtime at work

Warnings: mentions of infidelity, author has had some drinks, swears

Jake shouldn't have been surprised when he was punched in the nose. Matter of fact, he saw it coming, and he let it happen, because it was Duke Eloi and if there was anyone who deserved a cheap shot, it was him.

Jake recovered quickly, tilting his head forward and cupping a tea towel to his nose. He was "covering" for Fu at Gramps' electronic shop, although they still hadn't a customer nor a sale, and it didn't matter what happened here.

"I would hit you again," Duke admitted, "but I'm not that man. I don't even want to be the man who hits you once."

Duke was taller than Jake, and Jake had to tilt his head back ever so slightly to look him in the eye. He knew so much about Duke - he grew up in the swamps of Louisiana, he loved 60's music, he bled red. For everything, Jake had never looked him in the eye and exchanged a word. Duke didn't know of the supernatural, of past lives, of soulmates. Duke couldn't possibly understand that, although Rose had a billion choices, once she and Jake had come face to face in a bar, there was no other option.

"You did hit me," Jake said, because, at the end of the day, his mouth ran faster than his brain.

"She wants you. She picked you. While we were even married, she picked you. What is so special about you?"

On the surface, Jake had nothing in common with Duke. Jake heavily favoured his Chinese heritage, was slim and short because of it, with dyed hair and three visible piercings. Duke was tall and dark-skinned, his drawl of growing up around Creole French a part of his personality, his muscles in the face of everyone who looked. Rose had said that Duke had never punched anyone, that he worked out to look good and to be able to carry whatever piece of furniture she fell in love with without help.

"Do you even know who I am?" Duke asked, and Jake realized he'd been in one place for too long.

"Yeah," Jake said, "I know you."

He wondered how well Duke knew him. Probably not at all. Rose had only filed for divorce a shot time ago. He had been a secret until she packed her bags.

"And, there's nothing special about me."

Jake wondered if it would be easier, or harder, on the man, to understand why he'd lost his love. Jake had understood every step of the way and he'd been able to contain his agony to one day a year. But, if he never understood, would the pain ever stop?

"You were together when Rose and I were married."

Jake was very aware of how big Duke's hands were.

"It wasn't the intention." Jake would never be so flowery in every day life but Rose had kept Duke in the dark for a reason and he didn't want to explain to Duke what everything meant. "Our souls knew each other, man. This might hurt more, but it wasn't about you. You never factored into it. She saw me, okay? She saw me across a bar and we couldn't stop. She thought about you, after, but … Fuck …"

"But what?" Duke demanded, his cheeks going even dark with anger. "You didn't care that she was someone's wife?"

"She didn't!" Jake yelled. "And, if you want the full and honest truth, you're a better man. You're the stereotype every woman in this city dreams of and I don't know why you're on the other side of this. If it makes you feel better, I love her. I want her to be happy."

Duke growled and got into Jake's face. "She made me good. She made me happy. You don't deserve love - neither of you. I want to be the better man but if the shoe was on your foot, I would have walked away the second I knew she was married. You're scum and I hope that haunts you for your entire relationship. You don't deserve to be happy."

And Jake didn't stop it when Duke punched him again.