----- Jace Heartly -----

"A gun? Are you kidding me? You brought a GUN TO A FAIRGROUND!" The receiver of his outburst shrugged, earning him a furious glare from the younger man.
"It's not loaded." A flash of rage flickered across the sandy-brown haired guy's face as the older man dismissed his anger with a single comment.
"Oh yes, Heartly. Because that makes it all alright. Because my wife is not going to totally freak out in the slightest if she catches even a glimpse of that. Don't you care about that? What do you need a gun for anyway?"

Heartly, as the younger man had just named him, smiled broadly. "For protection." The younger man sighed heavily, shaking his head as he did so, letting his hair flop over his eyes.
"Against what, Heartly? We're in a FAIRGROUND!" The man shouted the last word, causing Heartly to take an astonished step backwards.
"Don't worry, Alfie. It's on a need to know basis." Alfie almost shook with frustration and clenched his fists as Heartly tried to assure him.
"A need to know basis? Are you serious?" Heartly nodded solemnly - completely missing the point, his pastel blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

"Look Alfie, I have the safety on and I promise it will not come off unless absolutely necessary." He held the gun up so Alfie could inspect it. The cold, hard, black metal gleamed in the golden rays of sun.
"That not the safety! That's the safety." Heartly laughed, seeming to find the younger man's frustration increasingly humorous.
"Sorry. Anyway, I can't just throw it away." Alfie shook his head disbelievingly.
"Fine. Do whatever you want. It's not like you were going to do otherwise in the first place." Heartly's grin widened as Alfie huffed his resignation.

"What have you two boys been up to?" Heartly's grin quickly turned sheepish as he hurriedly hid the weapon behind his back, hoping to high heavens that his friend's wife had not seen the malicious weapon gripped in his hands.
"Uh...oh..." All of a sudden, a streak of pain jolted through Heartly's foot as Alfie's foot stamped down hard on his own.
"Nothing in particular." Heartly's voice was strained as pain threatened to present itself to the rest of the world.

The woman they were talking to smiled. She had azure blue eyes, canary yellow hair and her smile exposed a line of beautifully positioned gleaming teeth.
"Look, Mrs Keen. Your child is calling you." The lady's eyes widened and she rushed to tend to her crying toddler. Alfie turned back to look at Heartly and his well rehearsed innocent face melted away into one of exasperation.
"Gosh Heartly! Even though you probably have the IQ of my whole family combined, I sometimes wonder why you're so freaking stupid when it comes to personal matters!"

Heartly shook his head. "It's simple, they're not important to me." Alfie rolled his eyes.
"Come on, I think we're going home." Heartly looked across to Alfie's wife who was standing by the car, motioning wildly for them to come.