The Truth Is Hard To Swallow [Eighteen (2/2)]
Title: The Truth Is Hard To Swallow [Eighteen (2/2)]
Author: detourtoyou
Rating: NC-17 overall
Pairing: Jack/Alex
POV: 3rd
Summary: Of course the one time he decided to act his age, Alex would end up messing even that up. But in his defense, it was hard to act his age when he was faced with things so entirely beyond his age and maturity level, like a one-night decision that decided to follow him into the rest of his life.
Warning: Mpreg
Disclaimer: This is sadly false and a complete lie created by my mind. Title taken from Toxic Valentine by All Time Low.
Dedication: For Mike (Michelle) damnedifidoyah because she is one of the greatest people I've met and one of the best friends I've ever had the amazing chance to meet and talk with. And the person I'm having babies with :3 I'm going to miss you so fucking much, and I'll think about you every time my heart beats :) I love you, bb <33
A/N: It's a short, pointless little chapter, sorry! I'm not too happy with it, but oh well. So many two-part chapters haha.
Heart shaking wildly in his chest, Alex could not stop the trembling of his body as he sat in front of Jack's dad, waiting. Jack sat to the right of him, irritation clearly scrawled across his features as he tapped his finger against the table. It only unnerved Alex even further, especially when coupled with the sight of Mr. Barakat's eyes simply resting on him. He could easily see the resemblance between father and son, specifically the way both of them managed to keep his mouth sewn shut and his nerves a jelloed mess with just a single look. He felt jittery, squirming discreetly with each passing second the gaze burned into his skin.
"Dad, is this really necessary?" asked Jack finally, breaking the heavy silence over them as he leaned forward a little to place an elbow on the tabletop. Alex envied his careless attitude as he gripped his knee to keep his hand from shaking. "Alex needed a place to stay and since his other friends were all out, I let him stay at our house. It's not a big deal. I mean, he's gonna become my stepbrother pretty soon since you're marrying his mom and all. Besides, you were the one who was all for the buddy-buddy getting to know each other."
While he appreciated Jack's attempt to downplay the situation, Alex did not think he was doing much to help the situation either. Especially since his dad was probably more wondering about why Alex was a fat, bloated penguin rather than what he was doing at their house. Alex hadn't seen the man for a while, and in that time, he had definitely expanded like a hot air balloon. A fact that couldn't go ignored considering it was pretty evident why.
As expected, Mr. Barakat ignored his son and left his attention on Alex, asking, "Alex, did something happen?"
If he were allowed to and not so damn nervous, Alex would have laughed. Something happening was one, relative way of putting it. Swallowing down the bitter words of your son happened, he merely steeled his resolve and said, voice squeaky which was better than not being able to speak at all, "I-I don't understand, sir."
"Did something happen with your mom?"
He winced at the words, nails digging into the fabric of his maternity jeans. What happened with his mother was still an open and very much sore wound for him, especially since after the blowup he had had with her over Caleb that resulted in his leaving, she hadn't even tried to contact him. Not a single phone call, text message, or even visit to see whether he had a place to stay or food to eat. For both himself and the baby. It hurt to know his mother seemed to care so little for his well-being when she knew he was at his weakest. He wasn't ready to talk about his mother. He didn't want to, but seeing the patient look in the man's eyes, face not unkind, Alex knew there was no way around it. If he was going to be staying at Jack's house, there needed to be a valid reason for his being here. And he definitely needed to stay here since Zack was still at his grandmother's (although Alex knew that Zack and his family would take him in without question, he just did not want to burden them with his problems) and things with Caleb were still up in the air and unpatched.
"I," he took a deep breath, hoping it would calm his frazzling nerve ends. It didn't, but he forced himself to say anyways, "I ran away from home."
Mr. Barakat hardly seemed fazed, simply asking gently, "Why did you run away from home, Alex?"
Eyes falling to the smooth surface of the wooden table, Alex could feel a hot sting prickling them. Lower lip pulled between his teeth, the pregnant boy swallowed the growing urge to simply cry and continued speaking with the hopes it would dispel the tears watering his eyes, "M-my mom found out that I-I'm pregnant, and she started treating me differently. She stopped talking to me, and it always felt like she couldn't stand to look at me. So, my boy-" He stopped himself.
Was Caleb still his boyfriend? Despite what Kyle had said, the redhead hadn't even tried contacting Alex either since their disagreement. The realization hit him like a brick wall, knocking the breath out of his lungs. He didn't want to lose Caleb like he had lost his mom and dread oozed in between the spaces of his cracked confidence, drowning him.
"Yes?" urged Jack's dad for Alex to continue, clueless to his inner turmoil.
"My boyfriend," and the word felt foreign against his tongue, rolling off in awkward clumps, "went to talk with her, and she got upset with us. So, I left," he finished, keeping the edited version short and clean of any details. He was not certain that he could relay the full story to Jack's dad or Jack when he hadn't even told Zack. And the only reason Caleb knew was because he had been present. Alex wiped at his eyes, the back of his hand coming back lined with moisture.
For a few long minutes, there was nothing but silence around the table, the occasional sniffle from Alex disrupting it. It came crashing down when Mr. Barakat cleared his throat, appointing his gaze from Alex to Jack and back. Alex felt as though he were five again and on the verge of being lectured for something he had done.
"While I don't mind you staying at our house considering the circumstances, do you mind if I ask when you found out that you were pregnant?"
"Dad, can't we do this later or something?" Jack gave his father a pointed stare, hand laying flat against the table as his fingers stopped moving. "He ran away from home because his mom couldn't handle him being pregnant. I sincerely doubt that he wants to talk about being pregnant with you."
His father was calm as he regarded Jack with an equal gaze of his own, saying evenly, "Jack, I asked Alex, not you."
"Yeah, but this is just a little rude, don't you think?" countered Jack, his own tone teetering on rude and definitely not helping the situation. Alex could hear the scathing tone slipping into his words and frowned. He didn't want Jack to get into trouble because of him.
"It's okay," Alex hurriedly mumbled out, nudging Jack with his elbow. "I found out a few months ago. I'm about five and a half months pregnant now."
Nodding for a reason Alex did not understand, Mr. Barakat simply said, seemingly unaffected, "I see. Well, I'm supposed to meet your mom for dinner tomorrow. If you'd like, both you and Jack can come along or I can speak to her for you in the very least."
"I don't really want to see my mom just yet," he said weakly, the knots coming undone when Jack's dad simply smiled warmly at him.
"Okay. I'll talk to her for you. Don't worry, Alex. And while you're staying here, Jack will take care of you. Right, Jack?" The older man turned to the other boy with meaningful raise of his brows. One that had Jack rolling his eyes.
"Yeah. Not like I haven't been already. If you're done interrogating him though, we're going back up."
Alex sincerely wished that Jack would, in the very least, make an attempt to think before speaking. His cheeks pinkened as Mr. Barakat turned back to him, confusion dotting his eyes. He nodded, however, with an amused smile.
Standing up, the two of them shuffled out of the room, Alex trying not to walk too fast or hide behind Jack with each step.
"Your dad took that a lot better than I thought he would," admitted Alex once they were out of earshot and back in the safety of Jack's room. To be frank, Alex had been expecting his future stepfather to start yelling or in the very least, kick him out of the house. He was taking the news a lot better than his own mom had. It was disconcerting, in all honesty, and a little upsetting. Not that Alex wanted to be yelled at. It just stung to know that a near complete stranger who was going to become responsible over him within a few short months was more accepting of him than his own mother, the woman who had birthed and raised him for the past eighteen years. Alex ignored the pang in his chest. He seemed to be doing it rather frequently as of late.
The younger boy merely shrugged. "As long as it's not me doing something stupid like that, he won't flip. It's been like that ever since my mom left."
Alex perked up at the comment, interest piqued. Very rarely had he ever heard Jack mentioning anything about his family or personal life. Actually, Alex had never heard him mentioning anything that concerned his personal life outside of the fact that he dated Kyle and even that hadn't been told to him by Jack himself. He repeated, "Your mom?"
"Mmhmm," he sounded, distracted.
It was not quite the descriptive answer that Alex had been hoping for, granted he should have known better than to think he would have been able to get a straight answer out of the other boy. Unable to think of any other way to pursue his current line of nosy questioning, Alex settled for a simple and unnecessary, "Oh. Okay."
"So, what really happened? Y'know, with your mom and Caleb and shit." His body stiffened as Jack sat at his desk, watching him with curious eyes.
Eyes sinking to the ground, Alex mumbled dismissively, "Exactly what I told your dad."
Why Jack always failed to pick up the hints whenever he did not want to talk about something baffled Alex. Was the boy just really that dense to not be able to hear and see how he hunched in on himself whenever confronted with the problem?
"I'm pretty sure your mom didn't just get 'upset' with you and Caleb when you guys decided to talk to her. Either you did something or Caleb did to piss her off," reasoned the taller boy with a raised brow, refusing to relent.
"We didn't do anything! Especially not Caleb. It was my mom. She was really rude to Caleb, and I just couldn't take that. Caleb is the one person actually staying by my side and willing to go through all of this with me, and she just brushed him off. She was so fucking rude, I couldn't stand it," confessed Alex as his mouth pinched into a sharp frown.
Nodding along, Jack remarked to the uncomfortable air slowly eating the gaps between them, "Oh. That sucks." He paused. "Although, why wouldn't Caleb be there for you? He's the one who knocked you up, it's not like he can just abandon you. That'd be a total dick move, especially for him."
The fumble threw Alex back as he swelled with excuses he could not speak to correct his caught slip. It was too easy to forget that Jack didn't know, and more often than not, Alex feared simply unzipping his lips one day and letting the secret fall into his lap.
"I know. I'm just worried since I haven't really talked with him since our... disagreement," lied Alex as he fervently wished the save to work.
"Fuck, you two still haven't made up? God, how butt hurt is he?" The younger boy snorted, disgust clouding the contours of his face as he stood up. Annoyance was evident in the way he held himself, tightening the muscles in his shoulders. Alex wondered if he was thinking about Kyle. "God, he really is like Kyle," muttered Jack quietly, and had Alex not been listening for it, he would have missed the exasperated statement.
Picking up his guitar from the corner of the room, Jack joined him on the bed with a noise of frustration covered mostly by the creak of the springs in the mattress, groaning under his weight.
Almost immediately, Alex's attention was eaten by the stringed instrument sitting in his hands, eyes widening and narrowing all at once as he spoke breathily, "You play the guitar?"
"A little. I started back in middle school," he relayed with a shrug, holding it properly and thumbing a few of the strings. The discordant sound sparked a shiver down Alex's back as he looked on with eager eyes.
"Can you play something?" Jack quirked a brow at the request, mouth curving. However, the younger boy simply lowered his eyes to the guitar in pensive silence before his fingers began to move across the strings. The melody was soft as vibrations rocked through the air. Jack didn't sing along as he strummed, and the chords were raw, but to Alex, it sounded beyond beautiful. His stomach fluttered in agreement, and he smiled at the thought of the baby listening to the music. Music being played by his father. It only intensified the warmth flooding his chest and more than ever, Alex wished his baby could have the family he wanted for him.
With a small curse, Jack stilled his fingers when they fumbled on the strings, rolling his eyes with a huff of mild frustration. "Fuck, I always mess that part up," he grumbled, gaze shifting from the guitar to Alex. Jack nearly reared back with a start by the intense admiration swimming in Alex's brown eyes, unsure of what to make of it. "Um, what?"
"That was awesome," he complimented, tummy still fluttering in soft rhythm despite the lack of sound. "I think the baby really liked it too. He keeps moving."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You're really good," affirmed Alex with an upward tilt of his lips. Jack scratched the back of his head with a budding smile of his own, flattery moving its curves.
"Thanks," he pushed out awkwardly, pleased nonetheless. "You play?"
Alex shook his head, hair whipping his skin. Regret colored his eyes as he spoke, words wistful, "No. I've always wanted to learn, but... it just never worked out."
Jack hummed thoughtfully, fingers wiggling against the strings as he spoke, "Well, if you want, I could teach you some time." He avoided eye contact as he added quickly, "I mean, I don't really know all that much either, but I could teach you the basics. If you want to learn, that is."
Alex nearly tripped over his own tongue as he breathed in one exhale, "Yes, I would love you forever if you did."
Red was uncovered in his cheeks as Jack accidentally knocked his hand into the back of his guitar in a spasm of muscles, faint embarrassment glazing his skin. Alex didn't notice, too busy glowing in contentment to see Jack ducking his head to hide the flush of color painting his skin.
Author: detourtoyou
Rating: NC-17 overall
Pairing: Jack/Alex
POV: 3rd
Summary: Of course the one time he decided to act his age, Alex would end up messing even that up. But in his defense, it was hard to act his age when he was faced with things so entirely beyond his age and maturity level, like a one-night decision that decided to follow him into the rest of his life.
Warning: Mpreg
Disclaimer: This is sadly false and a complete lie created by my mind. Title taken from Toxic Valentine by All Time Low.
Dedication: For Mike (Michelle) damnedifidoyah because she is one of the greatest people I've met and one of the best friends I've ever had the amazing chance to meet and talk with. And the person I'm having babies with :3 I'm going to miss you so fucking much, and I'll think about you every time my heart beats :) I love you, bb <33
A/N: It's a short, pointless little chapter, sorry! I'm not too happy with it, but oh well. So many two-part chapters haha.
Heart shaking wildly in his chest, Alex could not stop the trembling of his body as he sat in front of Jack's dad, waiting. Jack sat to the right of him, irritation clearly scrawled across his features as he tapped his finger against the table. It only unnerved Alex even further, especially when coupled with the sight of Mr. Barakat's eyes simply resting on him. He could easily see the resemblance between father and son, specifically the way both of them managed to keep his mouth sewn shut and his nerves a jelloed mess with just a single look. He felt jittery, squirming discreetly with each passing second the gaze burned into his skin.
"Dad, is this really necessary?" asked Jack finally, breaking the heavy silence over them as he leaned forward a little to place an elbow on the tabletop. Alex envied his careless attitude as he gripped his knee to keep his hand from shaking. "Alex needed a place to stay and since his other friends were all out, I let him stay at our house. It's not a big deal. I mean, he's gonna become my stepbrother pretty soon since you're marrying his mom and all. Besides, you were the one who was all for the buddy-buddy getting to know each other."
While he appreciated Jack's attempt to downplay the situation, Alex did not think he was doing much to help the situation either. Especially since his dad was probably more wondering about why Alex was a fat, bloated penguin rather than what he was doing at their house. Alex hadn't seen the man for a while, and in that time, he had definitely expanded like a hot air balloon. A fact that couldn't go ignored considering it was pretty evident why.
As expected, Mr. Barakat ignored his son and left his attention on Alex, asking, "Alex, did something happen?"
If he were allowed to and not so damn nervous, Alex would have laughed. Something happening was one, relative way of putting it. Swallowing down the bitter words of your son happened, he merely steeled his resolve and said, voice squeaky which was better than not being able to speak at all, "I-I don't understand, sir."
"Did something happen with your mom?"
He winced at the words, nails digging into the fabric of his maternity jeans. What happened with his mother was still an open and very much sore wound for him, especially since after the blowup he had had with her over Caleb that resulted in his leaving, she hadn't even tried to contact him. Not a single phone call, text message, or even visit to see whether he had a place to stay or food to eat. For both himself and the baby. It hurt to know his mother seemed to care so little for his well-being when she knew he was at his weakest. He wasn't ready to talk about his mother. He didn't want to, but seeing the patient look in the man's eyes, face not unkind, Alex knew there was no way around it. If he was going to be staying at Jack's house, there needed to be a valid reason for his being here. And he definitely needed to stay here since Zack was still at his grandmother's (although Alex knew that Zack and his family would take him in without question, he just did not want to burden them with his problems) and things with Caleb were still up in the air and unpatched.
"I," he took a deep breath, hoping it would calm his frazzling nerve ends. It didn't, but he forced himself to say anyways, "I ran away from home."
Mr. Barakat hardly seemed fazed, simply asking gently, "Why did you run away from home, Alex?"
Eyes falling to the smooth surface of the wooden table, Alex could feel a hot sting prickling them. Lower lip pulled between his teeth, the pregnant boy swallowed the growing urge to simply cry and continued speaking with the hopes it would dispel the tears watering his eyes, "M-my mom found out that I-I'm pregnant, and she started treating me differently. She stopped talking to me, and it always felt like she couldn't stand to look at me. So, my boy-" He stopped himself.
Was Caleb still his boyfriend? Despite what Kyle had said, the redhead hadn't even tried contacting Alex either since their disagreement. The realization hit him like a brick wall, knocking the breath out of his lungs. He didn't want to lose Caleb like he had lost his mom and dread oozed in between the spaces of his cracked confidence, drowning him.
"Yes?" urged Jack's dad for Alex to continue, clueless to his inner turmoil.
"My boyfriend," and the word felt foreign against his tongue, rolling off in awkward clumps, "went to talk with her, and she got upset with us. So, I left," he finished, keeping the edited version short and clean of any details. He was not certain that he could relay the full story to Jack's dad or Jack when he hadn't even told Zack. And the only reason Caleb knew was because he had been present. Alex wiped at his eyes, the back of his hand coming back lined with moisture.
For a few long minutes, there was nothing but silence around the table, the occasional sniffle from Alex disrupting it. It came crashing down when Mr. Barakat cleared his throat, appointing his gaze from Alex to Jack and back. Alex felt as though he were five again and on the verge of being lectured for something he had done.
"While I don't mind you staying at our house considering the circumstances, do you mind if I ask when you found out that you were pregnant?"
"Dad, can't we do this later or something?" Jack gave his father a pointed stare, hand laying flat against the table as his fingers stopped moving. "He ran away from home because his mom couldn't handle him being pregnant. I sincerely doubt that he wants to talk about being pregnant with you."
His father was calm as he regarded Jack with an equal gaze of his own, saying evenly, "Jack, I asked Alex, not you."
"Yeah, but this is just a little rude, don't you think?" countered Jack, his own tone teetering on rude and definitely not helping the situation. Alex could hear the scathing tone slipping into his words and frowned. He didn't want Jack to get into trouble because of him.
"It's okay," Alex hurriedly mumbled out, nudging Jack with his elbow. "I found out a few months ago. I'm about five and a half months pregnant now."
Nodding for a reason Alex did not understand, Mr. Barakat simply said, seemingly unaffected, "I see. Well, I'm supposed to meet your mom for dinner tomorrow. If you'd like, both you and Jack can come along or I can speak to her for you in the very least."
"I don't really want to see my mom just yet," he said weakly, the knots coming undone when Jack's dad simply smiled warmly at him.
"Okay. I'll talk to her for you. Don't worry, Alex. And while you're staying here, Jack will take care of you. Right, Jack?" The older man turned to the other boy with meaningful raise of his brows. One that had Jack rolling his eyes.
"Yeah. Not like I haven't been already. If you're done interrogating him though, we're going back up."
Alex sincerely wished that Jack would, in the very least, make an attempt to think before speaking. His cheeks pinkened as Mr. Barakat turned back to him, confusion dotting his eyes. He nodded, however, with an amused smile.
Standing up, the two of them shuffled out of the room, Alex trying not to walk too fast or hide behind Jack with each step.
"Your dad took that a lot better than I thought he would," admitted Alex once they were out of earshot and back in the safety of Jack's room. To be frank, Alex had been expecting his future stepfather to start yelling or in the very least, kick him out of the house. He was taking the news a lot better than his own mom had. It was disconcerting, in all honesty, and a little upsetting. Not that Alex wanted to be yelled at. It just stung to know that a near complete stranger who was going to become responsible over him within a few short months was more accepting of him than his own mother, the woman who had birthed and raised him for the past eighteen years. Alex ignored the pang in his chest. He seemed to be doing it rather frequently as of late.
The younger boy merely shrugged. "As long as it's not me doing something stupid like that, he won't flip. It's been like that ever since my mom left."
Alex perked up at the comment, interest piqued. Very rarely had he ever heard Jack mentioning anything about his family or personal life. Actually, Alex had never heard him mentioning anything that concerned his personal life outside of the fact that he dated Kyle and even that hadn't been told to him by Jack himself. He repeated, "Your mom?"
"Mmhmm," he sounded, distracted.
It was not quite the descriptive answer that Alex had been hoping for, granted he should have known better than to think he would have been able to get a straight answer out of the other boy. Unable to think of any other way to pursue his current line of nosy questioning, Alex settled for a simple and unnecessary, "Oh. Okay."
"So, what really happened? Y'know, with your mom and Caleb and shit." His body stiffened as Jack sat at his desk, watching him with curious eyes.
Eyes sinking to the ground, Alex mumbled dismissively, "Exactly what I told your dad."
Why Jack always failed to pick up the hints whenever he did not want to talk about something baffled Alex. Was the boy just really that dense to not be able to hear and see how he hunched in on himself whenever confronted with the problem?
"I'm pretty sure your mom didn't just get 'upset' with you and Caleb when you guys decided to talk to her. Either you did something or Caleb did to piss her off," reasoned the taller boy with a raised brow, refusing to relent.
"We didn't do anything! Especially not Caleb. It was my mom. She was really rude to Caleb, and I just couldn't take that. Caleb is the one person actually staying by my side and willing to go through all of this with me, and she just brushed him off. She was so fucking rude, I couldn't stand it," confessed Alex as his mouth pinched into a sharp frown.
Nodding along, Jack remarked to the uncomfortable air slowly eating the gaps between them, "Oh. That sucks." He paused. "Although, why wouldn't Caleb be there for you? He's the one who knocked you up, it's not like he can just abandon you. That'd be a total dick move, especially for him."
The fumble threw Alex back as he swelled with excuses he could not speak to correct his caught slip. It was too easy to forget that Jack didn't know, and more often than not, Alex feared simply unzipping his lips one day and letting the secret fall into his lap.
"I know. I'm just worried since I haven't really talked with him since our... disagreement," lied Alex as he fervently wished the save to work.
"Fuck, you two still haven't made up? God, how butt hurt is he?" The younger boy snorted, disgust clouding the contours of his face as he stood up. Annoyance was evident in the way he held himself, tightening the muscles in his shoulders. Alex wondered if he was thinking about Kyle. "God, he really is like Kyle," muttered Jack quietly, and had Alex not been listening for it, he would have missed the exasperated statement.
Picking up his guitar from the corner of the room, Jack joined him on the bed with a noise of frustration covered mostly by the creak of the springs in the mattress, groaning under his weight.
Almost immediately, Alex's attention was eaten by the stringed instrument sitting in his hands, eyes widening and narrowing all at once as he spoke breathily, "You play the guitar?"
"A little. I started back in middle school," he relayed with a shrug, holding it properly and thumbing a few of the strings. The discordant sound sparked a shiver down Alex's back as he looked on with eager eyes.
"Can you play something?" Jack quirked a brow at the request, mouth curving. However, the younger boy simply lowered his eyes to the guitar in pensive silence before his fingers began to move across the strings. The melody was soft as vibrations rocked through the air. Jack didn't sing along as he strummed, and the chords were raw, but to Alex, it sounded beyond beautiful. His stomach fluttered in agreement, and he smiled at the thought of the baby listening to the music. Music being played by his father. It only intensified the warmth flooding his chest and more than ever, Alex wished his baby could have the family he wanted for him.
With a small curse, Jack stilled his fingers when they fumbled on the strings, rolling his eyes with a huff of mild frustration. "Fuck, I always mess that part up," he grumbled, gaze shifting from the guitar to Alex. Jack nearly reared back with a start by the intense admiration swimming in Alex's brown eyes, unsure of what to make of it. "Um, what?"
"That was awesome," he complimented, tummy still fluttering in soft rhythm despite the lack of sound. "I think the baby really liked it too. He keeps moving."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You're really good," affirmed Alex with an upward tilt of his lips. Jack scratched the back of his head with a budding smile of his own, flattery moving its curves.
"Thanks," he pushed out awkwardly, pleased nonetheless. "You play?"
Alex shook his head, hair whipping his skin. Regret colored his eyes as he spoke, words wistful, "No. I've always wanted to learn, but... it just never worked out."
Jack hummed thoughtfully, fingers wiggling against the strings as he spoke, "Well, if you want, I could teach you some time." He avoided eye contact as he added quickly, "I mean, I don't really know all that much either, but I could teach you the basics. If you want to learn, that is."
Alex nearly tripped over his own tongue as he breathed in one exhale, "Yes, I would love you forever if you did."
Red was uncovered in his cheeks as Jack accidentally knocked his hand into the back of his guitar in a spasm of muscles, faint embarrassment glazing his skin. Alex didn't notice, too busy glowing in contentment to see Jack ducking his head to hide the flush of color painting his skin.