Jack

Alex was a bit off today. First, he had opened the door looking like he had gotten dressed very hastily and his hair had looked like he had ruffled it a lot, a bit like Jack’s own hair looked when he had sex. Then, Alex stuttered a lot and Jack heard various clonking sounds from upstairs and the shower had been running for like 3 seconds.

He wondered whether Alex had been jacking off. Imagine Alex sitting on this chair which he currently sat on, hand on his… No! He was doing it again! Jack tried to shake off the thoughts but it wouldn’t properly work. Even though he had only just been in this problematic situation with Matt, he got a bit turned on. He didn’t quite get the way his brain worked with this but whatever.

When Alex finally returned, he kept behaving weirdly. Jack was now pretty sure it was arousal from the way Alex looked at him. Like a hungry wolf. To be honest, this was absolutely not like Matt doing this and Jack enjoyed it a bit.

They finally went to the church and Alex showed him around. He would have to light all the candles (sometimes with another candle on a huge stick because they were high up), make sure that everything was clean, put the numbers of the songs that would be sung into the number-board (Alex would tell him which ones to put there) and during service he was assigned to watch out for any problems and occasionally he was also going to do the reading.
Jack was proud of himself to be given all these tasks, each being important in its own way. Alex seemed to trust him and they had quite a lot of fun. Alex had kind of changed since they had entered church, he was more open and less tense.

“Jack, please toss me that thing there,” he asked.

“What thing?” Jack asked back.

“The thing over there,” Alex replied impatiently, pointing somewhere. Jack tried to make out which one but he simply couldn’t.

“The thing. The thing. That thing?” Jack asked with a smirk while holding up a crumb from the floor.

“No, the other one. Like to your left. Goddammit, what’s the name?” Alex said.

“Really want God to damn it?” Jack inquired, now a huge grin plastered on his face. He winked at Alex, who looked at him and cocked an eyebrow, looking slightly unnerved. But then he had to laugh involuntarily and Jack burst into laughter as well.

“Oh Jack,” he said, still breathless after their laughing fit. He walked over to Jack and bent down to pick up a pen that was next to Jack. He lightly brushed Jack’s shoulder with his hand when he walked back. Jack felt really strange all of a sudden, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

It was more like ecstasy and he looked up when Alex turned around towards him and looked him deeply in the eyes. For a moment, they were lost in time, nothing mattering besides the both of them. But then Jack broke the gaze.

He remembered that he was not supposed to do a thing like this and his euphoria was gone. Tears shot in his eyes when he remembered what was waiting for him back home. He quickly got up and mumbled something about the bathroom. He left, tears blinding him already. He stumbled on his way out and then he realized he didn’t even know where the bathroom here was.

“Hey Jack. Bathroom is in this direction,” he heard a soft voice. He turned around; it was Alex’s. Alex pointed to the left and Jack quickly went there. Alex didn’t follow him.

After crying for a tiny bit, he looked into the mirror and splashed cold water on his face. “Jack, get yourself together you dumb fuck,” he angrily said to his reflection. He dried himself and went back to Alex. Alex looked at him worriedly.

“Jack, to be honest, we are done with all the work we have and we still have like ten minutes left. You wanna talk?” he offered softly.

“I… I don’t know?”

“It might help,” Alex insisted.

“I guess we could try?” Jack said. Alex led him to the sacristy and they sat down on the hard chairs there. The neon lights were too bright but neither of them really cared.

“Jack, can I do anything to help?” Alex asked quietly, looking the younger boy in the eyes.

“I don’t really know? It’s just that things at home have been… a bit rougher recently and I’m scared,” Jack mumbled, looking away.

“How do you mean rougher?” Alex asked.

“In terms of Matt being more aggressive,” Jack whispered, almost as if he was scared Matt would be listening.

“How?” Alex asked.

“I… he…” Jack stuttered, uncomfortable.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” Alex said after a bit. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to get away from him for a bit?” he suggested.

“Where would I go?” Jack said quietly, tears shimmering in his eyes. “I got nowhere to go,” he whispered.

“You have me,” Alex said, voice equally hushed. He looked sincere, one of his hands touching Jack’s knee.

“I… I can’t do that,” Jack said.

“Why not?” Alex asked softly.

“Matt… he’d kill me.”

“Jack, he’s killing you slowly at the moment. It’s only a matter of time until you get hurt really badly. I… I know the statistics and I don’t want you to end up being just another case that falls into “homicide in relationships”. You are a human being. A very precious human being. I care so much about you. Please get away from him,” Alex said. Tears were forming in his eyes too now. Jack felt his heart melt.

“I… I’ll see what I can do?” he offered quietly.

“You can always stay at mine, keep that in mind,” Alex promised.

“Thank you so much,” Jack whispered. “Can I have a hug?”

They hugged, tears seeping through clothing. It was a hug that was more intimate than any of the hugs before.

“Time to go, I think,” Alex said after a bit. It was 6.58 pm.

“Sure,” Jack said, sniffling a tiny bit.

Notes

Aww Alex and Jack!

Things were stressful yesterday, so no chapter. Hope this one makes up for it ;)

-Laura