The Hunt
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John had a black eye and a split lip as he sat in the back of his own cruiser, his hands cuffed behind his back.
Dorian gave him a dark look as he slammed the door, locking the man inside. John's knuckles oozed blood against the seatback. He had a big smile on his face, which caused his busted lip to drool blood into his teeth. A group of children looking in the window looked more than a little terrified as their mother pulled them away.
The other guy looked much worse, he convinced himself. John got a lot of blows in before Dorian dragged him away, slapping him in cuffs.
The whole scene had escalated from a simple egg hunt. All the children were searching the shaggy grass for eggs, their little baskets skimming the ground as they hunted with wild eyes. John had wanted to propose to Dorian at the gazebo in the park. It seemed romantic in the cheesy way Dorian liked. Also, proposing on a holiday was a secret way for John to always remember the date without having to try.
He hadn't expected the sea of children looking for eggs. "Why are we here?" Dorian had asked, beaming at the tiny humans everywhere.
John abandoned his proposal immediately. He'd try again on the next holiday—uhh, Cinco de Mayo, he guessed.
"Just here to watch the egg hunt," John lied, brushing his palm over the ring box in his pocket and folding his arms in a huff.
Dorian seemed content. John sat in the gazebo and watched the children scramble. There was one kid acting like a bully and when John saw him knock a little girl over, he marched over to lay down some law.
"Hey kid," he barked, "that wasn't very nice."
"Hey, buddy," a meaty hand landed on John's shoulder as he turned and stood face to face with the kid's dad, "leave my fucking son alone." The booming curse sliced through the cheery morning air, puckering the faces of the nearby mothers and causing many children to freeze uncomfortably before resuming their mad dash for treasures.
"Your son is a bully," John announced.
"Where are your damn kids?" the man sneered, looking around, "Why don't you and your synthetic get the hell away from here." He gestured a thumb in Dorian's direction.
The fistfight wasn't John's fault. Well, it wasn't entirely John's fault. Well—John did start it, but it was completely necessary. No one calls his Dorian a synthetic.
Easter was ruined by the heavy fists of the men beating on each other ruthlessly. At one point, John was pinned in the grass, the man's jerk son kicking him in the head.
Dorian separated them but John had been on the warpath. The cuffs surprised John and now he sat in the car getting some important cool off time while the pissed off android smoothed things out. John watched with a happy smile as his boyfriend heroically saved Easter.
The smile didn't last long however, as the cute little girl he had defended passed by the car window, she was holding a little black egg. Wait, it wasn't an egg…
John shouted at the child to stop, as her mother dragged her by, giving John a look of contempt as he screamed. Clearly he was a mad man.
John hollered and kicked and screamed, attempting to escape the cruiser but finding it impossible.
He fogged the glass of the window shouting for Dorian to release him. If the DRN could hear him, he showed no indication.
John watched the child get loaded into a minivan then he watched the minivan drive away with his engagement bands inside. He must have dropped them during the fight.
John bit out a long, sour stream of curse words.
An hour later, Dorian finally returned and dropped in behind the wheel. He drove them home, leaving John cuffed for the duration of the ride, chewing him out for the appalling scene all the way home. John didn't hear a word of it, he was too busy mourning his rings.
When he pulled the car into the garage and yanked John out, the man's almost wet, shiny eyes and miserable face broke his android heart. He quickly stripped the cuffs off and pulled John into a warm hug.
"It's okay," he said, "You were trying to defend that little girl. Come on, let's go in and take care of your face and knuckles" Dorian kicked himself for being too upset with the man earlier.
"I was defending you," John corrected, blinking the sadness out of his eyes. They were just rings, it was only money.
Dorian examined John's face so sweetly that the tough detective felt tears prick at the corner of his eyes again. Goddammit, he wanted to marry Dorian more than ever and it was tugging at his pathetic soul.
John sat while Dorian held a disinfector light over his cuts, especially over his split knuckles. This sure wasn't how he thought the day would go. Next time, once he got some new rings, he'd make sure they were alone.