There's A Lot That I Don't Know - Act II Part Eight
Title: There's A Lot That I Don't Know - Act II Part Eight
The Substory to: We Have A Gift Worth More Than Gold
Author: Stacey; quirky_anecdote
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Alex Gaskarth/Jack Barakat
POV: Third.
Summary: “Alex, there’s no easy way to say this, and we were hoping your parents would be here when we told you, but- you’ve been in a coma, Alex,” Damien says sincerely, looking up into wide brown eyes that display fear.
Disclaimer: This is totally fake. Promise.
Title Cred. to: The Resolution - Jack's Mannequin
Author's Notes: It's just over 2k words and I've managed to post it 28 days after that last one so I'd say that's progress!
Posted to alltimeboners
Master Post.
There's A Lot That I Don't Know - Act II Part Eight
It’s not until Alex is back in his room that he realises how long he spent with Doctor Alan, he’d gotten into the office a little after three, and it’s now coming up to half past five, he guesses the time he took to think about each photo was a lot longer than he realised, he’d been so stuck in his head that time wasn’t really much of an issue, and then with finding out about- God, he can’t even think her name without the overwhelming guilt that settles in his stomach. Despite being told it wasn’t his fault, he still feels as thought it is, believes it is, but that’s something he’s going to have to come to terms with, it happened, and there’s nothing he can do to change it.
He’s broken from his thoughts when the door open, and he glances up slowly, sees John smiling at him. “Hey, how you feeling?” he asks, moving to sit on the bed beside Alex. Alex shrugs, pressing his thumb to the back of his other hand, pressing over the barely there ridges of blue-green arteries under his skin. “Do you still want to go see Jack?”
Alex raises an eyebrow then, looks at John like the nurse is a complete idiot. “Of course I want to,” he says, pulling himself to his feet and pressing the toe of his tattered converse against the linoleum floor. “Can we go now?”
Nodding, John stands too. “Stupid question really, huh? And yeah, we can go now,” he says, nudging Alex with his shoulder and making the younger boy smile slightly. “Get that smile ready for Jack,” he adds, walking towards the door with Alex following behind him.
The walk to Jack’s room seems to take ages, and Alex really doesn’t remember it taking this long before. His teeth are practically tearing the skin away from his bottom lip, now he’s making his way to Jack’s room, he suddenly feels nervous, like he’s not sure what to expect, John has told him that the central line is out of his heart, but he’s still hooked up a few machines, an IV and a blood pressure monitor as well as a heart monitor.
Just as they reach Jack’s room, Lizzie comes out, and she smiles when she sees the two. “Hey boys,” she says, offering a soft smile. “You’re good to go in,” she adds, before leaving down the corridor. John steps forwards, pulling the door open when Alex doesn’t move from his spot.
He steps in, leaving Alex to take his own time. Alex hears him greet Jack, hears Jack’s weak ‘hello’ in reply and that’s what makes him step forwards, into the room, closing the door to behind him. He looks up at the younger boy, trying not to look so shocked when he sees the machines all around him, the rhythmic beeps and murmurs of the machinery.
Jack looks just as sick as he did before, skin pale and dark circles curling round his eyes, but he’s smiling, hair a mess on his head, swiped back off his forehead and cheeks. Alex knows it was naive to think he’d step in the room and Jack would look like he’d never even gotten ill in the first place, but he’d hoped, didn’t consider just how long something like this takes to work.
“Hey Jack,” he says, stepping closer to the bed and stopping himself from staring at Jack. He pulls the chair next to the bed closer, pulling his legs up onto the chair underneath him so he’s sat cross legged, reaching out to take Jack’s hand, which thankfully doesn’t have an IV in it. “How are you feeling?” he asks, hearing John leave the room and close the door behind him.
“A little better,” Jack answers honestly, smiling at Alex and twisting his hand to curl their fingers together, grip a little lax. “Thank you, Alex,” he whispers.
Alex shrugs, says, “for what?” Jack raises an eyebrow, pulling his hand away to then lift his hand, pushing Alex’s bangs back out of his face.
“For going through this procedure, taking a chance on me,” he replies, and Alex smiles, moves so he’s sat on the edge of the bed facing the younger boy.
“You don’t need to thank me, I’m just glad I could help,” he answers, lifting his hand to curl his fingers against Jack’s cheek, smoothing his thumb over his cheekbone. “You’re amazing,” he adds, moving even closer. He presses his forehead to Jack’s, noses touching, feels Jack’s breath stuttered against his lips. Jack tilts his head up slightly, the action clearly displaying what he wants, so Alex closes the remaining distance, pressing their lips together softly.
He smiles as he hears Jack’s heart rate pick up on the monitor, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get over the way he can make Jack’s heart thud that little bit harder. He goes to pull away, feels Jack’s fingers in his hair pulling him back in for another kiss, a little harder this time, a little more insistent. When he does eventually let Alex go, he’s panting, he loses his breath quicker because of his state of health, and though it worries Alex, he finds the way Jack’s cheeks swarm pink as he looks down at his lap a little shyly to be absolutely adorable. Likes to see a flush on the boys skin. He runs his thumb over the pinky patches, giving Jack a fond smile.
“When are you being discharged?” Jack asks once he’s gotten his breath back, leaning into the touch of Alex’s hand still against his face, thumb still stroking his skin.
“Tomorrow,” Alex answers softly. “I’m going to visit you though, every day I’ll be here, I’ll the get the bus.” Jack smiles at that.
“You don’t have to,” he says, to which Alex tuts, drops his hand down to entwine their fingers. “I know, but I want to, I want to come visit you, look at your smile and kiss you until your heart rate picks up,” Alex smirks as he says it. He wants to tell Jack about the accident, about Sophia, but he won’t, doesn’t want to burden Jack with his problems so instead he decides to keep the mood light.
“It doesn’t take much to make it do that,” Jack admits, cheeks still burning warm and pink. “I like it though,” he then says, before looking down. “It proves I’m not dead.” And no, Jack isn’t allowed to say that, he’s not allowed to think about death because Alex can’t take that, can’t bear the thought of losing him.
“Hey no, you’re not going to die,” he says, lifting Jack’s head with a finger under his chin. “I won’t let you, I won’t lose anyone else,” he whispers, kissing the younger boy. And though the sentence brings questions to Jack’s mind, he doesn’t say anything, just kisses back.
They’re just sharing soft kisses when a buzzing sound starts, and Alex frowns, pulling back as Jack scrunches his nose up, and Alex watches the way the blood pressure cuff tightens around the younger boys upper arm. It looks uncomfortable, and Jack squirms slightly on the spot. “I hate this thing,” he breathes, watching as Alex lifts a hand to rub his shoulder in comfort.
Alex isn’t sure how long he sits with Jack, the blood pressure machine monitoring every half hour, the sound of Jack’s shallow breathing as he drifts off to sleep and Alex just watches him, just stays sat on the edge of the bed, fingers smoothing over the skin of Jack’s hand, thumb pressing up along the bones and fingers dipping down against his palm. Occasionally, he’ll lift a hand to push Jack’s floppy hair out of his face, since it always seems to find a way to cover his eyes with the minimalist movements from the younger boy.
Eventually the evening nurse, who is nowhere near as nice as Lizzie, is herding him back to his own room with an exasperated huff, Alex doesn’t let her scatty insistence affect him though, simply squeezes Jack’s hand and pushes his hair off his forehead, pressing his lips to the smooth skin for a few seconds and murmuring a quiet, ‘see you tomorrow morning, Jay’.
--
The next morning passes by in a blur of last minute health check, his height and weight being recorded and by the afternoon, his mother is talking with Damien and John about the physio and therapy Alex is going to have to have. Luckily for him, he manages to slip out the room without Damien or his mother noticing as his mother questions Damien on every little thing possible.
He’s halfway up the corridor when he hears John’s voice, he stops turning on the spot and looking down to the floor a little guiltily at being caught sneaking out. “I uh,” he starts only for John to cut him off. “Just don’t take too long, Damien’s only going to answer the same questions from your worried mother for so long.”
Alex nods, gives John a grateful smile before practically running the rest of the way. He makes it to Jack’s room quickly, looking around for any nurses, because it’s not actually visiting hours yet, and slipping into Jack’s room quietly. The younger boy is reading a good, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, he doesn’t even look up when the door open and closes, so used to people coming and going from his room. It’s only the soft whisper of, “Jack.” That actually makes him lift his eyes and drop his book to his lap.
He smiles, pale lips dragging across as he sees Alex grin at him, step up towards his bed. “Hey,” Alex says softly, voice quiet through fear someone will hear him and kick him out. “I just wanted to say bye.” He smiles again, stepping closer and taking his usual spot on the edge of the bed. “I probably won’t see you for a few days, I’ve got a lot to sort out at home, but I’m definitely going to come visit you, okay?” Alex says and Jack nods, smiling even more as Alex gives him a fond grin, lifting a hand to brush his thumb against the arm of Jack’s glasses. “I didn’t know you wore glasses,” he says softly.
“I only really wear them when I read, I’m not allowed to wear my contact lenses so usually everything is a little blurry,” Jack replies, leaning into the touch as Alex’s hand drops to cradle his cheek. “You don’t have to visit me, you know.”
Alex sighs and rolls his eyes playfully at that, says, “I already told you I was going to, and I am, I want to watch you get better.” But Jack’s smile drops at that, and his eyes cast away, voice seeming strained as he answers, “I might not get better.” But Alex just shakes his head in disagreement, because he’s so sure Jack will get better, he has to.
“Hey, listen to me,” Alex says, turning Jack’s chin to face him and moving close enough that he can feel the boys breath on his skin. “You’re going to get better, and I’m going to visit you and bring you silly stuffed teddy bears and pretty flowers and then I’m going to kiss the smile onto your lips because.” He pauses, watching the way Jack’s eyes seem a little glossier, leaning forwards, he kisses him, lips pressing soft and then he mumbles the words against Jack’s lips, “Because I love you.”
His thumb swipes over Jack’s cheek as he rests their foreheads together, the declaration hanging in the air between them. On a swipe up towards his cheekbone, Alex feels a cool wet against the pad of his thumb, and he pulls back, sees the slopes of wet slipping down the younger boys cheeks slowly and it makes Alex frown, thumb now on the mission to wipe away his tears. Jack lifts a hand to wipe his other cheek, sucking in a breath that makes his lungs ache.
“You can’t love me,” he whispers, eyes wide as he pushes Alex’s hand from his cheek, tries to distance himself from the older boy only to lean into the contact when Alex presses their lips together. The creak of the door interrupts them then, and Alex hears the cough of someone clearing their throat to get their attention. Alex sighs, leaning back from Jack and looking behind himself to see the nurse from the night before looking very, very unimpressed, and even more stressed since it appears she’s took on the day shift as well, which means she must be exhausted.
Before she even gets the chance to say anything, Alex swoops forwards for another kiss, mutters, “I can, I will, and I do.” Before he stands up, pushes his fingers through Jack’s hair to push it back off his face and gives him a soft smile. “I’ll see you soon,” he says, voice louder so the nurse knows he intends on leaving. He presses his lips to Jack’s forehead, lingering a few seconds before stepping back, hearing Jack reply with a quiet, “bye Alex.” Before he turns on his heel and leaves the room, completely ignoring the nurse as he passes by her.
---------
A/N Alex is going home, he told Jack he loves him, dun dun duuuun
Anyway, this feels kind of like it's a filler, but I wanted to put Alex actually at home in a whole different chapter.
I wanna say there's only going to be like, 5 more parts or something, I haven't even got them planned out, I don't even know what's going to happen, but I can't imagine more than that. I hate to do this, but if anyone actually has any idea for how they want the end to go, like, something interesting, then feel free to tell me and if I use your idea, or your idea helps me figure out what to do, then I will of course give you credit for being my muse.
The Substory to: We Have A Gift Worth More Than Gold
Author: Stacey; quirky_anecdote
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Alex Gaskarth/Jack Barakat
POV: Third.
Summary: “Alex, there’s no easy way to say this, and we were hoping your parents would be here when we told you, but- you’ve been in a coma, Alex,” Damien says sincerely, looking up into wide brown eyes that display fear.
Disclaimer: This is totally fake. Promise.
Title Cred. to: The Resolution - Jack's Mannequin
Author's Notes: It's just over 2k words and I've managed to post it 28 days after that last one so I'd say that's progress!
Posted to alltimeboners
Master Post.
There's A Lot That I Don't Know - Act II Part Eight
It’s not until Alex is back in his room that he realises how long he spent with Doctor Alan, he’d gotten into the office a little after three, and it’s now coming up to half past five, he guesses the time he took to think about each photo was a lot longer than he realised, he’d been so stuck in his head that time wasn’t really much of an issue, and then with finding out about- God, he can’t even think her name without the overwhelming guilt that settles in his stomach. Despite being told it wasn’t his fault, he still feels as thought it is, believes it is, but that’s something he’s going to have to come to terms with, it happened, and there’s nothing he can do to change it.
He’s broken from his thoughts when the door open, and he glances up slowly, sees John smiling at him. “Hey, how you feeling?” he asks, moving to sit on the bed beside Alex. Alex shrugs, pressing his thumb to the back of his other hand, pressing over the barely there ridges of blue-green arteries under his skin. “Do you still want to go see Jack?”
Alex raises an eyebrow then, looks at John like the nurse is a complete idiot. “Of course I want to,” he says, pulling himself to his feet and pressing the toe of his tattered converse against the linoleum floor. “Can we go now?”
Nodding, John stands too. “Stupid question really, huh? And yeah, we can go now,” he says, nudging Alex with his shoulder and making the younger boy smile slightly. “Get that smile ready for Jack,” he adds, walking towards the door with Alex following behind him.
The walk to Jack’s room seems to take ages, and Alex really doesn’t remember it taking this long before. His teeth are practically tearing the skin away from his bottom lip, now he’s making his way to Jack’s room, he suddenly feels nervous, like he’s not sure what to expect, John has told him that the central line is out of his heart, but he’s still hooked up a few machines, an IV and a blood pressure monitor as well as a heart monitor.
Just as they reach Jack’s room, Lizzie comes out, and she smiles when she sees the two. “Hey boys,” she says, offering a soft smile. “You’re good to go in,” she adds, before leaving down the corridor. John steps forwards, pulling the door open when Alex doesn’t move from his spot.
He steps in, leaving Alex to take his own time. Alex hears him greet Jack, hears Jack’s weak ‘hello’ in reply and that’s what makes him step forwards, into the room, closing the door to behind him. He looks up at the younger boy, trying not to look so shocked when he sees the machines all around him, the rhythmic beeps and murmurs of the machinery.
Jack looks just as sick as he did before, skin pale and dark circles curling round his eyes, but he’s smiling, hair a mess on his head, swiped back off his forehead and cheeks. Alex knows it was naive to think he’d step in the room and Jack would look like he’d never even gotten ill in the first place, but he’d hoped, didn’t consider just how long something like this takes to work.
“Hey Jack,” he says, stepping closer to the bed and stopping himself from staring at Jack. He pulls the chair next to the bed closer, pulling his legs up onto the chair underneath him so he’s sat cross legged, reaching out to take Jack’s hand, which thankfully doesn’t have an IV in it. “How are you feeling?” he asks, hearing John leave the room and close the door behind him.
“A little better,” Jack answers honestly, smiling at Alex and twisting his hand to curl their fingers together, grip a little lax. “Thank you, Alex,” he whispers.
Alex shrugs, says, “for what?” Jack raises an eyebrow, pulling his hand away to then lift his hand, pushing Alex’s bangs back out of his face.
“For going through this procedure, taking a chance on me,” he replies, and Alex smiles, moves so he’s sat on the edge of the bed facing the younger boy.
“You don’t need to thank me, I’m just glad I could help,” he answers, lifting his hand to curl his fingers against Jack’s cheek, smoothing his thumb over his cheekbone. “You’re amazing,” he adds, moving even closer. He presses his forehead to Jack’s, noses touching, feels Jack’s breath stuttered against his lips. Jack tilts his head up slightly, the action clearly displaying what he wants, so Alex closes the remaining distance, pressing their lips together softly.
He smiles as he hears Jack’s heart rate pick up on the monitor, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get over the way he can make Jack’s heart thud that little bit harder. He goes to pull away, feels Jack’s fingers in his hair pulling him back in for another kiss, a little harder this time, a little more insistent. When he does eventually let Alex go, he’s panting, he loses his breath quicker because of his state of health, and though it worries Alex, he finds the way Jack’s cheeks swarm pink as he looks down at his lap a little shyly to be absolutely adorable. Likes to see a flush on the boys skin. He runs his thumb over the pinky patches, giving Jack a fond smile.
“When are you being discharged?” Jack asks once he’s gotten his breath back, leaning into the touch of Alex’s hand still against his face, thumb still stroking his skin.
“Tomorrow,” Alex answers softly. “I’m going to visit you though, every day I’ll be here, I’ll the get the bus.” Jack smiles at that.
“You don’t have to,” he says, to which Alex tuts, drops his hand down to entwine their fingers. “I know, but I want to, I want to come visit you, look at your smile and kiss you until your heart rate picks up,” Alex smirks as he says it. He wants to tell Jack about the accident, about Sophia, but he won’t, doesn’t want to burden Jack with his problems so instead he decides to keep the mood light.
“It doesn’t take much to make it do that,” Jack admits, cheeks still burning warm and pink. “I like it though,” he then says, before looking down. “It proves I’m not dead.” And no, Jack isn’t allowed to say that, he’s not allowed to think about death because Alex can’t take that, can’t bear the thought of losing him.
“Hey no, you’re not going to die,” he says, lifting Jack’s head with a finger under his chin. “I won’t let you, I won’t lose anyone else,” he whispers, kissing the younger boy. And though the sentence brings questions to Jack’s mind, he doesn’t say anything, just kisses back.
They’re just sharing soft kisses when a buzzing sound starts, and Alex frowns, pulling back as Jack scrunches his nose up, and Alex watches the way the blood pressure cuff tightens around the younger boys upper arm. It looks uncomfortable, and Jack squirms slightly on the spot. “I hate this thing,” he breathes, watching as Alex lifts a hand to rub his shoulder in comfort.
Alex isn’t sure how long he sits with Jack, the blood pressure machine monitoring every half hour, the sound of Jack’s shallow breathing as he drifts off to sleep and Alex just watches him, just stays sat on the edge of the bed, fingers smoothing over the skin of Jack’s hand, thumb pressing up along the bones and fingers dipping down against his palm. Occasionally, he’ll lift a hand to push Jack’s floppy hair out of his face, since it always seems to find a way to cover his eyes with the minimalist movements from the younger boy.
Eventually the evening nurse, who is nowhere near as nice as Lizzie, is herding him back to his own room with an exasperated huff, Alex doesn’t let her scatty insistence affect him though, simply squeezes Jack’s hand and pushes his hair off his forehead, pressing his lips to the smooth skin for a few seconds and murmuring a quiet, ‘see you tomorrow morning, Jay’.
--
The next morning passes by in a blur of last minute health check, his height and weight being recorded and by the afternoon, his mother is talking with Damien and John about the physio and therapy Alex is going to have to have. Luckily for him, he manages to slip out the room without Damien or his mother noticing as his mother questions Damien on every little thing possible.
He’s halfway up the corridor when he hears John’s voice, he stops turning on the spot and looking down to the floor a little guiltily at being caught sneaking out. “I uh,” he starts only for John to cut him off. “Just don’t take too long, Damien’s only going to answer the same questions from your worried mother for so long.”
Alex nods, gives John a grateful smile before practically running the rest of the way. He makes it to Jack’s room quickly, looking around for any nurses, because it’s not actually visiting hours yet, and slipping into Jack’s room quietly. The younger boy is reading a good, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, he doesn’t even look up when the door open and closes, so used to people coming and going from his room. It’s only the soft whisper of, “Jack.” That actually makes him lift his eyes and drop his book to his lap.
He smiles, pale lips dragging across as he sees Alex grin at him, step up towards his bed. “Hey,” Alex says softly, voice quiet through fear someone will hear him and kick him out. “I just wanted to say bye.” He smiles again, stepping closer and taking his usual spot on the edge of the bed. “I probably won’t see you for a few days, I’ve got a lot to sort out at home, but I’m definitely going to come visit you, okay?” Alex says and Jack nods, smiling even more as Alex gives him a fond grin, lifting a hand to brush his thumb against the arm of Jack’s glasses. “I didn’t know you wore glasses,” he says softly.
“I only really wear them when I read, I’m not allowed to wear my contact lenses so usually everything is a little blurry,” Jack replies, leaning into the touch as Alex’s hand drops to cradle his cheek. “You don’t have to visit me, you know.”
Alex sighs and rolls his eyes playfully at that, says, “I already told you I was going to, and I am, I want to watch you get better.” But Jack’s smile drops at that, and his eyes cast away, voice seeming strained as he answers, “I might not get better.” But Alex just shakes his head in disagreement, because he’s so sure Jack will get better, he has to.
“Hey, listen to me,” Alex says, turning Jack’s chin to face him and moving close enough that he can feel the boys breath on his skin. “You’re going to get better, and I’m going to visit you and bring you silly stuffed teddy bears and pretty flowers and then I’m going to kiss the smile onto your lips because.” He pauses, watching the way Jack’s eyes seem a little glossier, leaning forwards, he kisses him, lips pressing soft and then he mumbles the words against Jack’s lips, “Because I love you.”
His thumb swipes over Jack’s cheek as he rests their foreheads together, the declaration hanging in the air between them. On a swipe up towards his cheekbone, Alex feels a cool wet against the pad of his thumb, and he pulls back, sees the slopes of wet slipping down the younger boys cheeks slowly and it makes Alex frown, thumb now on the mission to wipe away his tears. Jack lifts a hand to wipe his other cheek, sucking in a breath that makes his lungs ache.
“You can’t love me,” he whispers, eyes wide as he pushes Alex’s hand from his cheek, tries to distance himself from the older boy only to lean into the contact when Alex presses their lips together. The creak of the door interrupts them then, and Alex hears the cough of someone clearing their throat to get their attention. Alex sighs, leaning back from Jack and looking behind himself to see the nurse from the night before looking very, very unimpressed, and even more stressed since it appears she’s took on the day shift as well, which means she must be exhausted.
Before she even gets the chance to say anything, Alex swoops forwards for another kiss, mutters, “I can, I will, and I do.” Before he stands up, pushes his fingers through Jack’s hair to push it back off his face and gives him a soft smile. “I’ll see you soon,” he says, voice louder so the nurse knows he intends on leaving. He presses his lips to Jack’s forehead, lingering a few seconds before stepping back, hearing Jack reply with a quiet, “bye Alex.” Before he turns on his heel and leaves the room, completely ignoring the nurse as he passes by her.
---------
A/N Alex is going home, he told Jack he loves him, dun dun duuuun
Anyway, this feels kind of like it's a filler, but I wanted to put Alex actually at home in a whole different chapter.
I wanna say there's only going to be like, 5 more parts or something, I haven't even got them planned out, I don't even know what's going to happen, but I can't imagine more than that. I hate to do this, but if anyone actually has any idea for how they want the end to go, like, something interesting, then feel free to tell me and if I use your idea, or your idea helps me figure out what to do, then I will of course give you credit for being my muse.