Trigger warning: Short mention of unwanted sexual advances.

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Jack

When he came home, Matt was very aggressive and somewhat drunk. He tried to force Jack to have sex. Jack managed to wriggle away because Matt’s reactions were impaired by the alcohol though. Still, he spent most of the night crying. He started packing a bag, determined to leave, but then he realized he had nowhere to go and not enough money to rent a hotel for long enough until he’d find a new home. So he spent the rest of the night with crying too, too scared of Matt coming back to fall asleep. This night was worse than any ever before because firstly, Matt had gone farther than ever before and secondly, Jack feared for his life now that he knew Matt would do anything if he was drunk.

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In the morning, he already left 20 minutes early after setting everything up for Matt’s breakfast. He drank 2 cups of coffee in hopes of not falling asleep at work. He looked like he felt (shit); deep rings under his eyes, skin pale like a ghost’s, hair not tameable and still a tiny bit of beard stubble on his chin. His arms were marked by bruises as always but covered up by his button down and vest. The black eye he had was fading but still quite visible. A new bruise had been added to his neck by Matt choking him in an attempt to hold him down and keep him quiet.

Work dragged on but he managed to stay awake and get some work done. As usual, people lowered their heads when they saw him and he had lunch alone. When work was over, he took his time to get home. It was 5 pm and he knew Matt wasn’t home yet but he wanted to have some time for himself outside of the confines of the house. Service would be at 7 pm and even if Jack felt absolutely horrid, it made him feel a little better to know he’d see Alex this evening.

He forced himself to make some salad and a gratin. He burnt himself on the oven twice because he was too tired to properly pay attention. He didn’t eat anything himself, he felt sick. He only chugged down another 2 cups of coffee to keep himself upright. Then, he went up to his room trying to read a book. It didn’t work; he kept starting up when he thought that Matt came home. When Matt finally came, he went downstairs to greet him. Luckily, he was able to get away without any more abuse.

When it was 6.40, he almost fell down the stairs trying to get out of the house as quickly as possible. He was more awake now, the coffee had started doing its work and also he’d see Alex now.

He got into church when Alex was lighting up all the candles. He sat down quietly in his usual pew. Alex noticed him when he coughed just the tiniest bit. He smiled at him and came over but his facial expression changed to worry soon when he saw what state Jack was in. Now that the collar of his button down didn’t hide it anymore, he could clearly see the bruises around his neck and the rest of Jack’s appearance was also not in a way people should look.

“Hey Jack,” he said softly.

“Hi,” Jack replied.

“How are you feeling today?”

“Fine,” Jack lied tonelessly.

“Are you sure? You don’t look too fine if I’m may be honest.”

“I… It’s alright,” Jack said. His eyes stung and he tried to blink away the tears but it seemed Alex noticed.

“You want a hug?” he offered gently. Jack just nodded.

The hug lasted for a long time. Only Jack’s occasional sniffling was audible as he buried his nose in Alex’s shoulder, trying to avoid making it too wet with his tears while Alex rubbed his back. None of them thought about it being weird, it felt so natural. Jack broke it after quite a bit.

“Thank you so much,” he said with a tiny smile. The hug had made him feel tremendously better and warm inside.

“It’s my pleasure. Actually, I wanted to ask you for something but it’s already 6.55 so I’m gonna ask you after this, alright?” Alex said with a smile.

“Oh. O-okay?”

“Nothing to be afraid of,” Alex laughed, “See you later!”

“Bye,” Jack said. He was nervous and curious about this mysterious thing Alex wanted to ask him. But he’d have to wait until after service.

Notes

Jack, stay tuned! c:

Yesterday, it got kinda late and then I was too tired to write. So that's why there was no chapter. But I'm thinking of not updating every single day in the future as it gets really hard sometimes to stay up for ages writing. You tell me, I'm up for all options. It's not like I'd only update every week anyways, I'm thinking of every two days or so, whenever I make it, really! :)

-Laura