After the Leaving (by TelephotoMarigold) - comments

[Red Ranger 1]

Woah, that was interesting.I liked all the chats about the past and their thoughts on the Bay and Aden's memories of Nicole.Good read!

[HighwayUnicorn]

I really enjoyed that. It was seriously amazing.

Loved the conversations between them & the emotions.

Well done.

Love Carina xxx

[Scotcaz22]

That was fantastic!

[tessalove]

That was the first H&A fic I've read in ages! It was good I'm usually into Slash as such but I liked it

And I really liked the conversation about Nicole and stuff

Xo

[Jen]

There was Geoff/Aden slash fic posted and I didn't know about it?! How did that happen? Bad Jen.

Regardless, I'm so excited that someone dealt with the unresolved sexual between Geoff and Aden because of the abruptness of their leavings. I've had my own crack theories in mind, but it's nice to see someone else's take.

“Hello Bible boy.” Aden said the first words that came to his mind, well maybe not the first as he looked at the other man. Geoff had filled out. The hair that used to flop over his eyes was cropped short and he seemed to have a tan that would make a model jealous.

This, so much. Old habits die hard. And your description of Geoff is so wonderful, and there is already this awkwardness on Aden's side, of not knowing exactly how to act or what to do.

“Thought you were going to come up with something that involved the world missionary in it. Much more embarrassing.” Geoff said.

Aden felt his cheeks go red as his mind immediately sank into the gutter.

Please tell me what Aden was thinking otherwise I will have to fill in the gaps, and I'm not sure the world is ready for that. I like that Geoff is so easy-going, so comfortable in his own skin. He can poke fun, and it's completely normal. It's almost like the roles they had in the Bay have been reversed. Geoff has gone out and done his own thing, and has, as a result, come into his own.

“A few months after you left.” He murmured and laughed when Aden spat his beer out.

“What?” Aden said in a high pitched voice.

Geoff gave a chuckle.

“Don’t worry it wasn’t you.” He said letting Aden down gently.

“I’d like to think she’d would have got in touch…” Aden began.

“Pretty sure you didn’t leave a forwarding address when you left Aden.” Geoff pointed out.

I like this little exchange. Aden automatically panicking and assuming the baby was his, and Geoff telling him straight out what happened. The fact that Geoff and Aden both went their separate ways and ended up back together, near Aden's place, no less, makes me wonder how Geoff managed to track him down. Like Geoff has just said, Aden went off to do his army thing with Justin. How did Geoff go about finding where Aden was? Was it a pain-staking search? Did he just wake up one day and decide he needed to know if Aden was okay? What had become of Aden's life? These are a few of the things I would have liked to have read. I realise it's a one shot and all, but my mind always wants more -- particularly when it comes to this pairing.

“No.” Aden nodded. “It was complicated. So much happened in just a few months.” He added his voice sounding guilty. “Look do you want to get out of here, maybe grab some food.”

Geoff looked at him before looking at his beer. He nodded but picked up his glass and drained it before pulling out some money and dropping it on the bar to pay for the two drinks.

Geoff needs some liquid courage before going back to Aden's place. If that isn't a come-on then I don't know what is. I like that he paid for both their drinks. Always the gentleman.

“Seen your sister?” Aden asked trying to keep the conversation neutral. He had no idea what was wrong with him. The nervousness of earlier had morphed into something else inside of him but he couldn’t work out what that was. He kept noticing things about the other man. The way he held his head as he spoke, the movement of his lips. The way his fingers were long and tapered around the bottle of beer as he held the smooth glass. The flex of his arm muscles when he lifted the bottle and took a drink. All of it left a churning inside of him that was making him uneasy. Uneasy and at the same time aware. Confusion must have shown on his face because he came back to the present to find Geoff looking at him strangely.

Aden's got it bad. I really like the little details in your descriptions. Geoff's little mannerisms that Aden finds captivating. This underlying nervousness of Aden, and general awkwardness of keeping the conversation flowing is totally natural, and so easy to read and understand. Not wanting to scare Geoff off, not knowing if the night is going to go anywhere, not even sure what he's feeling.

Aden looked at the other man and suddenly before he even knew he was going to do it he leaned over and kissed him, finding Geoff’s lips surprisingly soft and warm and then was shocked by the feel of stubble rubbing against his face.

“Oh god.” Aden cried out springing back and looking at the other man. He stood up and moved away from the sofa his hands shaking with the enormity of what had just happened.

Well, that was unexpected. I didn't think Aden would go for it so soon. I liked the freakout immediately after too. That 'oh know what have I done?' kind of feeling, wanting to immediately take it back.

“Well that was interesting.” Geoff said softly.

I don't know why this is so funny to me. Like, Aden has just kissed Geoff and Geoff is just sitting there like, 'no big deal.' I kind of adore it actually.

And then more making out, which was awesome. I'm all for that boys. And Geoff confessing that he's always wanted to do it, but they are both straight, and therefore not gay, but maybe only slightly gay for eachother, which is pretty much my complete premise for this ship. My entire plot when I write fanfics for this pairing is always around this idea that they just have this tension that fluctuates between hate and love and then they make out. It's this undeniable *thing* between them that can't really be defined. It's like you are almost inside my head.

And Geoff just missed him. I'm going to just curl up and hug my pillow to my chest because the amount of cute.

Thank you so much for writing this, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and hopefully haven't scared you off from writing more with this mammoth comment.