❝miles❞ - jachary [✔]

iii

daniel was giving miles a piggy back ride as they walked up to the food court at the mall. the little boy was talking about what he would do if he had a dog, daniel found this extremely cute and payed full attention to him. zach, on the other hand, was looking for something good to eat. he was really craving pizza at the moment.

"hey, what do you guys think about pizza?" he asked, smelling the air as they got closer to the pizza restaurant. miles had a toothy grin on his face as daniel set him on the floor.

"yes!" he exclaimed, letting go of daniel's hand and running over to the line. daniel and zach looked at each other with a smile. "i want cheese pizza." the little boy looked at the workers as they attended their customers.

"i don't really want anything at the moment, i'll go choose a table," suggested daniel, walking backwards as he spoke.

"sounds good," zach replied, nodding. he held miles' hand and walked a few steps as the line moved. the food court was always full, especially now with all the holiday shopping people were doing. normally, zach wouldn't want his three year old son to eat junk food but he had no time to go home.

zach felt miles let go of his hand and looked at his direction. he saw his son speaking to someone with a smile, making zach furrow his eyebrows in confusion and he walked over to his son and the blond stranger.

"i do remember you!" corbyn poked miles' belly as the small boy giggled.

"um, hi. excuse me, who are you?" zach spoke, trying not to sound rude. the stranger stood up and pulled his pants up a little. zach crossed his arms and waited for a response while miles was just looking at them.

"my name is corbyn, is this your son?" he asked with a smile. zach nodded in response and corbyn sighed. "we met at a store earlier today, he's so adorable."

"thanks," the younger male replied, not knowing what else to say. he took miles' hand again and began walking back to his place in line until he heard his name being called by an extremely familiar voice that made zach's heart race.

"zach?" they called. he stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. there he was, the man who zach thought was the love of his life, standing a few feet away from him. "is that really you?"

zach couldn't speak. it was like he was paralyzed, unable to move or speak. he had gotten so used to jack's absence, he didn't know what to say to him now.

"j-jack?" the name came out barely audible. the teen felt himself blush as jack smiled.

"oh my god, zach!" jack rushed over to him to give zach a hug. he didn't hug him back, he was still processing jack's presence, he only held his son's hand tighter.

"wait a minute, you two know each other?" corbyn asked in confusion, walking over to them.

"yeah," jack let go of zach as he spoke. "me and him go way back." jack couldn't help but smile bigger as he remember the good old days.

zach finally came to his senses when his ex put an arm around his shoulder. he was surprised miles hasn't said anything, usually, he speaks his mind.

"were you guys like besties, long lost brothers . . ?" corbyn guessed, rubbing his chin jokingly.

"don't be ridiculous, corbyn. he was my boyfriend."

was.

"aw," corbyn put his hands together, next to his cheek and tilted his head. "how cute."

"anyway, zach how have you been?" jack turned his attention to zach, who looked at him with his cheeks pinker than usual.

"um, i've been, i've been good." he scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "y-you?"

"better now that i've seen you again. damn, i missed you so much." he looked down and spotted miles. "who's this?" he kneeled on one knee so he would be face to face with the little boy, who let go of his dad's hand and hid behind his leg.

"this is miles." responded zach, grabbing him and picking him up.

"miles. nice name, is he your nephew? cousin . . ?"

"that's his son, noob," corbyn replied before zach could. jack's smile faded as he stood back up.

"your s-son?" he asked, quietly. the young dad nodded slowly. "wow. well, uh, congrats." the curly haired man stepped back.

zach wasn't sure if jack even thought about miles being his son. yes, he looked more like zach, but he still had clear features that came from jack himself. he wasn't going to tell him that miles was his child as well, they had barely seen each other.

"are you torbyn's friend?" miles asked, startling zach.

"torbyn?" jack looked at his friend with a goofy smile, earning a shove from the blond. "yeah, i'm torbyn's friend," he emphasized the word torbyn to bother him.

"really! i'm miles!" the three year old didn't feel so scared now that he knew jack was a friend of corbyn.

"i know that," he smiled at the little boy and then looked at zach. "see you around?" zach nodded in response and watched as jack walked away.

"bye, miles!" corbyn high-fived him. "he's so cute, see ya," he told zach before walking behind his friend. zach sighed and turned around, walking towards daniel.

"zach, are you okay?" he looked up from his phone and stood up from his chair.

"let's go eat at your place, we'll shop some other day."

as much as he wanted to, daniel didn't question anything and followed after zach and out the doors. he knew that as soon as they got to his house, zach would tell him everything. what he didn't know, was that zach wasn't planning on telling him anything. he wanted to forget what happened a few minutes ago; seeing jack made him want to punch a wall even though the older male did nothing wrong. zach knew that it wasn't jack's fault at all that he didn't know about miles, it was his.

***

soo, i should be studying for my permit test . . .

happy 2021!!

- karla