The Reckless And The Brave

Jack couldn't help but smile when Alex smiled, it was so infectious, especially since Alex didn't smile a lot, like at all. It was a rare sight to see that smile that he knew Alex had. Jack decided that he wanted to see Alex smile more so, he was going to give Alex another surprise, something that Jack knew Alex would appreciate

The only problem was that, Jack wasn't entirely sure what sort of things Alex liked? Movies, sure, that was obvious from his huge collection of them in the living room but, what else?

Jack pondered the thought for a while before he decided to sneak around the house and have a look at the things that Alex had, maybe giving him a clue as to what he liked

He started off in the living room, looking at the books shelves, ornaments and even games that Alex had scattered around the room. Jack picked one book up and it was one of those true stories, the ones that Jack couldn't read as they were too Fictional for his liking and Jack didn't like to cry very much

Putting the book back, Jack rummaged through his games collection and sighed when he saw The sims and nothing else down there. Did this guy do anything besides watch movies all day? He must lead a very boring life

Jack deiced downstairs wasn't working so he would check upstairs in Alex's bed room. He knew he was risking it by invading Alex's privacy but, he wanted to do something nice for him because by the looks of things, Alex didn't get a lot of love shown to him and Jack was not okay with that. No one should ever fee unloved, even if the love was in a form of friendship, like Jack was trying to give Alex. If he was going to live here for a while, he wanted to feel comfortable in his own home, not awkward like it was a few weeks back

Jack heard sobbing coming from Alex's room and he stood there, frozen. He didn't know whether he should go in and see if Alex was okay or, just leave him to cry all alone in his room

"Stupid, stupid stupid!" Jack heard as something crashed against the door , making him step backwards in shock

Jack decided to barge into Alex's room to see that it was trashed. Glass was everywhere, shattered in tiny little pieces, whilst paper, and pictures were torn up everywhere. That wasn't the most worrying this though, no, that's not what got Jack's heart thumping fast.... It was the trail of blood around the room

Quickly Jack ran over to Alex who was rocking back and forth on his bed, sobbing loudly, blood staining his overly white shirt that he had on. Thinking on the spot, Jack stripped his shirt and started to wrap it around Alex's wrist, which was where the blood was flowing from

Jack gasped as he saw how slashed up Alex's arms were, they were seriously bad. White and red lines kissed every inch of his wrists and arms, no spot blank. It saddened Jack to know that Alex had to resort to this, that something, or someone hurt him enough to make him want to feel like hurting himself was the best option

"I'm sorry" whispered Alex who looked at Jack so broken

It made Jack's heart miss a beat at how lost the boy next to him actually was, how alone his eyes looked, how dull they really were. Jack had never noticed until now how lifeless Alex's eyes were, how they didn't have a real colour to them

"It's okay. Lets go get this cleaned up huh?" He said helping Alex off of the bed and into the bathroom

Jack knew he shouldn't be getting involved like this with Alex right now but, Jack felt like he had no choice, he was living here and didn't want to feel responsible for Alex's death if he didn't help the boy, plus, he wanted to see him smile, not cry

"You don't have to" he whispered in a low whisper

"I want to okay? Come, lets wash this gently. It's going to sting though, so just brace yourself for that" he said as he instructed Alex to place his bleeding wrist over the sink so the blood could go into there instead of Jack's already ruined tee

"I'm sorry, I-I just... I-It became too much" he sobbed as I washed his cuts gently with a face cloth, making sure to get the glass that was stuck in there, out

Alex just sobbed as Jack wrapped his wound with a bandage, making sure it was tight enough to stop the blood flow, but not enough to stop it

"Shh, it's okay Alex. You'e safe now" Jack whispered gently running his fingers through Alex's hair softly to calm the weeping boy down

"W-Why?"

"What what?" asked Jack confused

"W-Why help me?"

"Because, Believe it or not Alex, I care. I'm not some asshole that will just let you cry alone like that, especially when you've tried to jump off the top of this building. I... I guess I don't like seeing people hurting. I don't like it when you cry either" blushes Jack

Alex smiled softly, warmth filling his body as he looks over to Jack, who was still top half naked, making Alex avert his eyes to anywhere but Jack's bare chest

"Lets take this off of you so I can wash the blood out of it" Jack said feeling awkward after his little speech

"O-Okay" mumbles Alex who was shy of Jack seeing his naked body that was full of scars and bruises

Jack turns around so Alex could remove his shirt, not wanting to leave him alone right now as he was still in a very vulnerable state of mind, meaning he could try something again

"I-It's off... I'll turn around and hand it to you" blushed Alex who turned around and just took in Jack's physique a bit before putting the shirt next to Jack's outstretched hand, which took the bloodied shirt off of him

Jack felt the material in his hands and gripped it so it wouldn't fall

"Is the bath ran yet?" he asked coughing and trying not to turn around and see Alex half naked

"Y-Yes" he says turning the water off and stripping down and dipping himself into the water, squeaking at how hot it was

"Okay. I'll be downstairs if you need anything" Jack says walking towards the door

"Wait... Jack, could you stay in here with me please? I'll pull the curtain across" asks Alex timidly as being alone right now was frightening for the boy

Jack sighed but agreed as he didn't want this indecent to happen again

Walking down the stairs, Jack had time to think over the situation and how far he wanted to be involved and know about it really. Sure, he was going to be somewhat involved because he lived with Alex and he couldn't escape everything that went on in this house, but, how far into Alex's problems did Jack really want to delve into? See, Jack was confused as to what he felt towards Alex really, on one hand he wanted to see Alex smile and never cry but, on the other, he didn't want to have to be responsible for Alex's actions because they weren't close friends and Alex was still scared of Jack even touching him

Jack sighed heavily as he put the shirt in the wash and put it on a quick spin, hands pressed against the washer as she lent forward "What am I doing? This is so complicated" Jack sighed as he forced himself back up and towards the stairs, grabbing two beers on the way, you know, just encase

The stairs squeaked as Jack walked back up them, downing one beer as he went along, thoughts filled with Alex

"I'm coming in Alex" announced Jack as the door opened from him pushing it with his foot

The room was silent and Jack suddenly panicked, not knowing if something had happened to Alex. He called his name once more before pulling to curtain back to see that Alex had in fact fallen asleep in the bath. Jack shut it quickly, a blush crossing his already flushed face

What to do? Jack couldn't leave Alex to freeze in the bath but, he also didn't think Alex would appreciate the fact of Jack seeing him naked either.... So Jack did the only thing he could and shook Alex gently through the curtain

"Mmm, go away" mumbled Alex sleepily as his eyes opened and he remembered he was in the bath

"You feel asleep" laughed Jack awing at Alex's sleepy voice

"It's so warm in here... I'm sorry. My body feels so heavy" mumbled Alex who was fighting the urge to fall back asleep

"Come on you, lets get you out of here and into bed, you look shattered" says Jack holding a towel in front of him for Alex to step into

Alex pushed himself out of the bath sleepily and stepped into the towel, not caring that he was naked in front of Jack right now, all he could think of was sleep

"My legs feel like Jelly" mumbled Alex who fell right into Jack, who fell onto the toilet seat

"Easy there buddy. Lets get you into the bedroom" he said scooping Alex up like he had done previously and took him to bed and placed it on him nicely

Jack quickly found some pyjama's and turned around so Alex could change into them before tucking himself into the duvet, asking Jack to spend another night with him

"Just one more night" pleaded Alex to Jack who was stripping down to his boxers and downing his beer before getting back into bed with Alex

"One more night" agreed Jack who let Alex cuddle into his side, loving the warmth Alex gave him

Alex fell asleep instantly, leaving Jack to his thoughts once more. He looked down to Alex and saw how peaceful he looked asleep, just like he did every time Jack would scoot into bed with him

Just one more night?" sighed Jack as he closed his eyes and let sleep take over, knowing it wouldn't be just one more night

Notes

This is for those who are still reading and commenting as I wad going to stop updating on here due to lack of comments and interest!

Enjoy, and I hope you like this update. I worked very hard on writing this ^_^