~Jack's POV~

"Hello, Alexander." A woman with a thick British accent spoke. She was tall, with brown hair, and stood next to a man slightly shorter than her. Alex dropped my hand immediately, and I missed the loss of touch.

"Hi mum, hi dad." Alex let out a smile that looked forced. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking up on you, son. How have you been?" The man spoke. He had a British accent, too.

"Um, I'm okay." Alex replied blankly.

"Shall we take a seat?" Alex's mum asked, gesturing to the sofas.

"Sure."

I followed Alex to the couch, and he took a seat on the armchair. He usually sat by me, and that made me quite upset. All I wanted was to feel loved tonight, after what had happened with my mom.

"Who's this?" The tall woman looked at me from the other end of the sofa, a look of horror on her face. Not like she was scared, more like, she didn't like the look of me.

"This is Jack, my friend." Alex spoke up, his voice portraying no emotion.

"Just a friend?" The man spoke again, his face holding the same expression as his wife's.

"Yes, why?" The whole atmosphere felt very tense.

"Ooh, I would love a nice cup of tea." The woman said, changing the subject. "Jack, would you be ever so kind to make us all a brew? We need to have a little chat with our Alexander." Alex shuffled in his seat as those words were spoken, obviously feeling uncomfortable.

"Um, yeah, of course." This was the first time I had spoken since we stepped into the house, and my words came out strangled. I smiled at everyone and made my way to the kitchen, leaving the door slightly ajar so I could hear the conversation. I wasn't being rude, I was just looking out for Lex. You could tell by his body language that he didn't want to be there.

Once the kettle had finished boiling, I managed to catch some of the Gaskarth's words:

"Who knew my son would be a fag? It's disgusting." You could hear the venom in the mans voice.

"Dad, I'm n-" Alex sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

"Nonsense, we saw you both holding hands. I don't want you to see him anymore, I will not tolerate homosexuals in this family!"

"You can't do that mum! I love Jack!"

"So you are a fag! I always had my suspicions. That's why I got this job, so I didn't have to be around you. You disgust me, Alexander. I am ashamed to call you my son."

I could now hear Alex's sobs echoing through the house. I didn't know his parents were so against homosexuality. And now they had turned their backs on their only son. I instantly felt terrible; if I wasn't here, Alex would be fine. It was all my fault.

Suddenly, I heard a loud noise, followed by a whimper from Alex.

"I fucking hate you!" I heard him scream, followed by the sound of feet running up the stairs.

I cautiously carried the tea back into the living room, trying to act as if nothing had happened. Alex was no where to be seen, and his parents were standing up, looking like they were about to leave.

Alex's mom walked up to me, a stern look on her face. "You stay away from my son, you fag." She spat at me, and they left the house, leaving me alone in the room. I put the tea down on the table, and rushed upstairs.

"Lex? Are you okay? What was all that about?" I called through the house, but there was no reply. I checked the all the bedrooms, and he wasn't in any of them, which left the main bathroom. I pushed open the door slightly, to find a quivering Alex, hunched up against the cold tiles in the corner of the room. "Oh, Lex, what's happened?" I rushed over to him, pulling him into arms. I caught a swift look at his face and as I did so, and realised he was bleeding. "Did they hit you?" I asked, reaching over for a tissue and dabbing his bleeding nose and cut lip. Alex just nodded his head, tears pouring down his face.

"J-Jack, they found out that I'm g-gay. They said t-they never want to s-see me again." He whispered, holding onto my shirt.

"Shh, it's okay. Who hit you?" I rocked him back and forth, trying to comfort him.

"My d-dad." Alex's sobs had grown more violent, and all I felt like my attempts to calm him down were hopeless.

"Come on, let's get you to the bedroom." I picked him up and carried him to his bed, our bed, and placed him under the covers.

"I was trying to keep it secret from them. They think it's a s-sin. J-Jack, my parents h-hate me." He pushed his face into my chest, wetting my shirt with his tears, but I didn't mind. I wrapped my arms around him and we sat like that until Alex had calmed down. "I'm s-sorry, Jack. I'm meant to be comforting you. I'm so pathetic." He let out a forced laugh and wiped his eyes.

"You're not pathetic! And it's okay, I guess I need you just as much as you need me. We'll both comfort each other. How does that sound?"

"Perfect."

Notes

Hey, yeah I was emotional writing this chapter aw :(

did anyone go to the Concert For Casey? If you did I'm extremely jealous, but I hope you had a fab time! I stayed up till 5am to see how the concert went and it looked amazing. I practically spent the whole night crying because they played Lullabies and Running From Lions, it was so emotional :')

Ellie x