Wishing For More - Lord of the Flies (Jalph)

Meeting Again

Disclaimer:
William Golding owns all rights to the characters, with the exception of Monica & Heidi.
I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear what you think!
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NORMAL TIME:

Burying his toes absentmindedly into the sand, Ralph cursed himself for his irrational fear of water. Ever since the Island (which is what he referred to it now as), his stomach had twisted at the thought of being completely surrounded. This is the first time his family had managed to drag him away from the small home in Central America and convince him to go to their holiday home in Blackpool, England. Only it had turned into more than a holiday home. On realizing how much he was progressing, his parents had given him the keys, signed him up for the nearest school, and hopped on the next plane back to sunny Californa. They had later opened up a bank account for him, but not without trying to encourage him to get a job too. Despite the dry sands and clouds that hadn't yet burst, there was a coldness to the air that chilled you to the bone and Ralph found himself wishing he could be anywhere but here. It wasn't that Blackpool wasn't a nice place, no, it was quaint and dainty and full of life, but the blue sea in front of him, so vast and dark, it reminded him of memories he had tried everything to forget. Contemplating this, Ralph shuddered, shaking his head in attempt to abandon those thoughts before they came to haunt him later, to no avail.
"Heads up!" Ralph snapped his head up just in time as the cry alerted him of the frisbee swinging towards his head. He tried his best to duck and swing his hands up to protect his face in time, but, it was too late, and the next thing he knew, he was on the floor, a red haired male pacing in concern. Seeing him blink his eyes open, the other male, who must have been about 18 years of age perked up, "I didn't know whether to call an ambulance or not," Something about the accent was strikingly familiar but equally hard to place, "So I rang and they said as long as you were showing signs of life to not panic. Then this doctor came out of that beach hut there-" he gestured towards one of the shacks, "And said not to worry, so I hung up on the services and-" biting his lip, he paused for a moment, looking at Ralph properly for the first time, "Hey. Do I know you?"
Ralph squinted, blinking away the black spots in his vision as he raised a hand to press tenderly at the sore spot on his head, drawing it away, he saw a few spots of blood on his fingers, "No. No I don't think so." Wiping the scarlet onto his white shorts, he pushed himself up. "I've never been here before."
"Here, Blackpool, or here England?" The accent was becoming more obviously posher every time the red head talked.
"Both?" Ralph shrugged half-heartedly, "I haven't been on a plane or a boat since..." He trailed off, his face becoming troubled as his gaze rose to settle on his helpers' face. "Hey. You look familiar."
"Wait. I'd know those wise eyes anywhere! Bloody hell, Ralph, is that you? You've gone brunette! You used to have such fair hair!" The red head bounced excitedly, a ball of energy, "It's me! Jack Merridew!"
"Jack." The realization and anger in that one word was enough to make the red head flinch.
"So, what are you? 17 now?" Scratching his head in an almost-comical way, Jack flashed a shining grin at Ralph. Ralph looked like he was about to answer and then thought better of it,
"I've... I've got to go." The warning in his words rung loud and clear, and Jack, living true to the stereotype of redheads, flared up instantly,
"You still blame me, don't you?" His usually bright blue eyes flashed darker, shining with regret and dismay that wasn't even slightly concealed.
"You're-"
"A murderer. I know. Ralph, don't you think I know that? Don't you think I staying up all night having nightmares that Piggy and Simon are following me? Don't you think I'm the first one to blame myself?"
"You should have gone to prison!"
"I tried to! Instead they locked me away in a unit for half a year before deeming me fit to go home to my parents. Back to Blackpool. And here I was feeling special my frisbee hit you on the head and thinking you were cute." Ralph huffed, and then realized what Jack had said.
"Wait, what?" Ralph blinked, tilting his head in puzzlement and still looking adorably innocent.
"Never mind." Running a nervous hand through his curly red hair, the older male turned away. "I just thought..." Not coming up with an excuse to aid him, Jack cleared his throat, "It was nice seeing you again Ralph. How long are you staying?"
"I'm going to school here," Ralph said in way of reply, "My parents think me being stuck on a larger island than The Island is going to help me."
"Isn't America technically a large island?" Instantly regretting the snub, Jack continued, "Sorry. That came out wrong. What school?" Giving him a wary look of disregard, the brunette responded, stammering slightly on his words when his eyes met Jack's bright blue ones,
"Montgomery. Wherever that is. I should probably Google it. School starts next week, right? I have a uniform somewhere-"
"Hey. I go there! Maybe I could pick you up? If you live round here it's a bit of a trek when you don't know the short cuts."
"You'd do that?" The surprise on Ralph's face was obvious.
"I'm a changed person." Jack replied through teeth that were almost gritted. Ralph nodded, trying to ignore the hate that still throbbed towards the other. Jack was trying. So so should he.
"17th Yalewood. See you Monday." Through blue eyes, the redhead watched his old enemy go, biting his lip as he bent to pick up the fallen frisbee. Patting it, he murmured to himself, something about being happy that the stupid frisbee had hit someone who had been burned into the back of his eyelids since that day. That day of the return boat.

~
FLASHBACK:

Jack watched as Ralph twisted in his feverish, nightmarish sleep, prodding the other with the flat side of his spear, watching for a reaction. The brunette's forehead was plastered with a grimy sweat, and mud stains covered him from head to feet. Here, in the fake protection of the creepers and the swaying trees, Jack could finally let his guard down. He stabbed the spear onto the floor and tore off a strip from his shorts, dabbing at Ralph's swamped forehead. Ralph, detecting the touch, but still asleep, twisted towards him, almost like a child does when ill and stuck in the state of unconsciousness, despite being aware of the protective arms of a parent carrying them up the stairs. The movement drove a crack into Jack's guarded heart, so tender, so quiet. So vulnerable. Ralph, letting his guard down for the first time since they had crashed. Ralph, who had been running for his life, terrified, who now turned to Jack in tenderness. Ralph, who had always made his stomach twist and pulse rise in what, at first, he thought, was anger. But as the realization sank towards him, so did the regret. Regret of not caring for the younger male. Regret of turning everyone against him. Regret of stabbing him earlier and telling him to run. Regret. Regret. Regret. One might think that a savage with humanity would regret the deaths they have caused, but, looking down at the brunette now, the only thing he could feel was the utter sadness that he had driven Ralph away. Broken their friendship and stomped on it. Ralph stirred, mumbling something as he twisted his back towards Jack. That particular movement broke his heart more, as a trickle of fresh blood dribbled down Ralph's mud streak, sweat stained, back. Blood from the hip wound that he, Jack Merridew, firm believer of rules and society, had caused. Pushing himself up, Jack resigned himself to the fact that Ralph would always hate him, but, not wanting to waste the oppurtunity, pressed a brief, flutter of a kiss against Ralph's partly open mouth. Ralph stirred and his eyes blinked open, hazy with sleep and hallucinations.
"J-Jack?" The brunette tilted his head, trying to push himself up but crying out as the pain swamped back to him.
"Ralph." Jack's voice was gentle, nothing more than a whisper.
"D-did y-you? Did you kiss me?" Although Ralph's words were stammered, it was enough for Jack to hear his voice one more time.
"Do you think I did?" Jack tilted his head, feigning surprise.
"I h-hoped. I hoped." The words hitched the breath in Jack's throat. "I hoped you did." The small smile on Ralph's face was enough invitation for Jack to stroke a thumb against the other's jutted jawline.
"Go back to sleep," He whispered. Ralph had hoped. For him. "It's just a silly dream."
"I wouldn't need to go b-back to sleep if this was j-just a dream." Jack chuckled at Ralph's reply, but pushed himself away from the brunette all the same. Ralph whimpered and stretched a hand up, tangling in Jack's too-long red hair, and pulling him back towards him. "I-if this is a d-dream. Then I wa-want to make the most of it." Ralph's wicked grin sent Jack's heart skip skip skipping and then:
The heat. The fire. The electricity of Ralph's lips gently touching his, tenderly, so sweetly it ached and left him yearning for more.
"JACK?" A hunter's cry leapt out of the falling darkness.
"G-go. It's j-just a dream." Ralph smiled so sadly he might as well have just crushed the redhead's heart there and then. "You-you'd never li-like me back." Jack flinched back, and, slamming his fist against Ralph's head, a sob broke in his throat as he laid the unconscious male back down in the creepers. He wouldn't remember a thing when he woke up. The way it should be. The way it had to be. The way it must be if Ralph ever wanted to be happy again.
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HEY GUYS!
Thanks for making it this far!
If you're doing what I did and using reading smutty fanfics as an excuse for revision of Lord of he Flies, then good luck :D
FIND THE FANFICS WITH THE PROPER QUOTES, IT REALLY WORKS!
(But keep reading mine because.... Yeah c;)
I SHIP IT FAR TOO MUCH *-*
OKAY BYYYYYYEEEEEEE!