Ficlet: Father Figure
I keep forgetting to post fics because of procrastination and general dislike of doing anything productive these days. So here's an OLTL fic I wrote last year. It came about because I believe Jack Manning has the potential to become a replica of psycho!Todd with no hope of redemption.
Title: Father Figure
Fandom: One Life to Life
Characters: Todd Manning, Jack Manning, Spencer Truman
Rating: Teen
Father Figure
Jack Manning didn’t start to hate his father on a whim. It was a gradual thing born of confusion at his parents’ strange relationship, of anger at his mother’s seemingly constant state of depression and mania, and of shame at being the son of the Todd Manning. At school, bullies avoided him although he was ripe for the picking, and girls shied away from him, afraid they’d be their generation’s Marty Saybrooke.
As a boy, Jack was a mirror for his father in a way Starr could never be. Because Starr was female she was a victim of genetics. Jack was the fulfillment.
What Blair loved most about Spencer Truman was that he seemed so blessedly normal. Jack loved him for the same reasons. He attached himself so thoroughly to Spencer that he had visceral dreams and fantasies of him being his real father. These imaginings sometimes took on the feel of a comic book where Spencer, with his chiselled features that made him look like Superman or Batman, would confront Todd and proclaim that he would never hurt Jack or his mother again.
Like in a comic book, Spencer’s method of justice involved righteous violence. Jack was good at thinking up novel ways of Spencer torturing his father. His favourite was Spencer injecting Todd with a serum that would burn him from the inside out. His father would scramble to drink all the water he could but to no avail. It was a fantasy that never failed to elicit a smile.
Although Blair tried to shield him from his father’s ramblings about Spencer, Jack heard them. Everyone in Llanview was talking about the Manning case and most secrets were few and far between in a small town. Jack hated his father for trying to implicate Spencer; he hated him even more when he turned out to be right.
When he came to understand the truth about Spencer, Jack’s love turned to rage. He hated him for being less and more than he’d expected and for not being the hero Jack wanted him to be. He was just another Todd Manning with a better mask.
Realizing this did not make Jack turn from Spencer. It was too late for that. By then Spencer had been living under Jack’s skin for a year, showing himself in smug smirks and an all too calm demeanour. His teachers told his parents that he was such a good boy and that they felt a new peace within him. He was disarming. Everyone was at his mercy.
Todd also lived under his skin. At times Jack was temperamental and overly emotional. Unlike Spencer, the father within him was unable to channel his anger and wanted to hurt everyone he came in contact with. In Jack, Todd and Spencer conflicted and complimented each other, feeding Jack’s hatred of the world and of himself.
)(
As he grew older, Jack began to remind Todd of his father. He was cold and aloof, demanding more than Todd could give. As with Peter, Todd was constantly trying to prove himself, attempting to show that he was worthy of love. Now that Jack is a man, Todd has almost completely closed himself off from his son. He’d learned his lesson with Peter. You couldn’t make someone love you no matter how hard you tried. They would only end up hating or pitying you. Neither outcome was desirable.
The only part of Todd that responds to Jack is the monster, illustrated in the mind as a ravenous mouth attached to an infinite gut. It recognizes a fellow.
Sometimes Todd and Jack sit across from each other, smiling complacently, imitating a Norman Rockwell painting. They exchange pleasantries masking the parries and thrusts of the game they play. They seem to be on equal footing, but Todd possesses knowledge that comes with age and death. His son will win battles and skirmishes, but at the end Todd will put him down like the rabid beast they both are. And he’ll enjoy it in the moment before things fall apart.
end
Title: Father Figure
Fandom: One Life to Life
Characters: Todd Manning, Jack Manning, Spencer Truman
Rating: Teen
Father Figure
Jack Manning didn’t start to hate his father on a whim. It was a gradual thing born of confusion at his parents’ strange relationship, of anger at his mother’s seemingly constant state of depression and mania, and of shame at being the son of the Todd Manning. At school, bullies avoided him although he was ripe for the picking, and girls shied away from him, afraid they’d be their generation’s Marty Saybrooke.
As a boy, Jack was a mirror for his father in a way Starr could never be. Because Starr was female she was a victim of genetics. Jack was the fulfillment.
What Blair loved most about Spencer Truman was that he seemed so blessedly normal. Jack loved him for the same reasons. He attached himself so thoroughly to Spencer that he had visceral dreams and fantasies of him being his real father. These imaginings sometimes took on the feel of a comic book where Spencer, with his chiselled features that made him look like Superman or Batman, would confront Todd and proclaim that he would never hurt Jack or his mother again.
Like in a comic book, Spencer’s method of justice involved righteous violence. Jack was good at thinking up novel ways of Spencer torturing his father. His favourite was Spencer injecting Todd with a serum that would burn him from the inside out. His father would scramble to drink all the water he could but to no avail. It was a fantasy that never failed to elicit a smile.
Although Blair tried to shield him from his father’s ramblings about Spencer, Jack heard them. Everyone in Llanview was talking about the Manning case and most secrets were few and far between in a small town. Jack hated his father for trying to implicate Spencer; he hated him even more when he turned out to be right.
When he came to understand the truth about Spencer, Jack’s love turned to rage. He hated him for being less and more than he’d expected and for not being the hero Jack wanted him to be. He was just another Todd Manning with a better mask.
Realizing this did not make Jack turn from Spencer. It was too late for that. By then Spencer had been living under Jack’s skin for a year, showing himself in smug smirks and an all too calm demeanour. His teachers told his parents that he was such a good boy and that they felt a new peace within him. He was disarming. Everyone was at his mercy.
Todd also lived under his skin. At times Jack was temperamental and overly emotional. Unlike Spencer, the father within him was unable to channel his anger and wanted to hurt everyone he came in contact with. In Jack, Todd and Spencer conflicted and complimented each other, feeding Jack’s hatred of the world and of himself.
)(
As he grew older, Jack began to remind Todd of his father. He was cold and aloof, demanding more than Todd could give. As with Peter, Todd was constantly trying to prove himself, attempting to show that he was worthy of love. Now that Jack is a man, Todd has almost completely closed himself off from his son. He’d learned his lesson with Peter. You couldn’t make someone love you no matter how hard you tried. They would only end up hating or pitying you. Neither outcome was desirable.
The only part of Todd that responds to Jack is the monster, illustrated in the mind as a ravenous mouth attached to an infinite gut. It recognizes a fellow.
Sometimes Todd and Jack sit across from each other, smiling complacently, imitating a Norman Rockwell painting. They exchange pleasantries masking the parries and thrusts of the game they play. They seem to be on equal footing, but Todd possesses knowledge that comes with age and death. His son will win battles and skirmishes, but at the end Todd will put him down like the rabid beast they both are. And he’ll enjoy it in the moment before things fall apart.
end