Glory and Gore Go Hand in Hand (JALEX)

Chapter 7

"So are you going to tell me where this mysterious address leads to?" Jack laughed at Alex's whiny voice and switched the phone to his other ear so he could properly stir his spaghetti sauce.

"Hmm..nope." 

"You are the most stubborn man I have ever met. For all I know, this address you text me could just lead me to some psycho serial killer." Alex teased, but Jack didn't find it very funny -- because yeah, that's kind of exactly what he was leading him to, but Alex just didn't know he was a 'psycho serial killer.'

"Oh just man up and keep walking." Alex grumbled under his breath and hung up the phone. Jack couldn't help but smile and begin setting the table. He had decided to plan a romantic night for the two of them. Granted, Jack was not a romantic person whatsoever, but he has seen movies. So, he set the table with some candles, two glasses of the nicest wine he could find, and homemade dinner: spaghetti and bread sticks. Hell, he even wore a nice shirt that wasn't black. That's all romantic right? 

Right as there was a knock on the door, Jack's pager in his pocket went off. He was sure to be the one on call tonight so Ian wouldn't show up as an unexpected guest. Jack glanced at his pager before turning it on silent. Some things were more important.

Jack took a deep breath before opening the door, revealing a surprised and very handsome Alex. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, his brown eyes wider than Jack has ever seen them. But he momentarily ignored his question and kissed him, pulling him into his new loft, shutting the door behind him. Alex wrapped his arms around him, missing the younger's presence. 

"I just bought this place..what do you think?"

"Wait what? You bought a loft in London?"

"Yeah, I mean it's more like a vacation home, I guess."

"You're absolutely insane.." Alex mumbled as he wandered through the loft, exploring each room. He stopped moving when he found the kitchen and spun around to face Jack, with an excited grin on his face. "Did you do this for me?"

"No, I did it for my other  other-half," Jack teased, smirking when Alex just rolled his eyes in response. His smirk was quickly replaced by Alex's lips though, and he soon became lost in the older boy. 

- - - -

"Seriously though, Jack..how did you learn to cook so well? That was amazing." Jack just smiled in return, and filled up Alex's glass with more wine and joined him on the couch. "So, you never told me what you do for work? I'm especially curious, since you have a pager and this is not the 1980's anymore." Alex giggled.

"Well.." Jack cleared his throat, thinking furiously trying to come up with a lie that would explain how he can afford a vacation home in London and how he is able to 'travel' so often. "Well, I'm a real estate broker for a pretty big company in New York. It's not very interesting." He lied, silently thanking God he could think fast on his feet. 

"No, that is interesting. You know, I'd love to come to New York with you sometime. You could show me around the city and where you live.."

"Yeah, I would love that. When you're on Spring Break for school you can come stay with me okay?" Jack was getting to be a really good liar, it came natural to him -- and he hated it. He hated how easy it was to lie to Alex. He knew he could never bring Alex back to New York with him, Ian would find out immediately, not to mention Zeus.  Protecting Alex is the only thing he wanted to do, but when he's with him he's only doing harm. Yet, Jack is too damn weak and selfish to care. He hasnever felt this way about anything or anyone, yet he knows it will only end in disaster. But he just couldn't bring himself to do anything about it. 

Alex just smiled big in return and went in for another kiss. Maybe it was the three and a half glasses of wine he's had so far, or maybe it was just the fact he was sitting next to the hottest guy he's ever seen, but he was suddenly feeling very needy for Jack. You could say Jack was pretty happy about that.

On a typical day, Jack is very aware of his surroundings, the time and his job. But days with Alex are not typical days. The sun was shining through the windows of Jack's loft when he woke up. He looked to his left and saw Alex fast asleep with a slight smile on his face, his hair still  messy from last night. A smile quickly made its way onto Jack's face, until he saw the time on the clock: a little after 11:30. Jack never sleeps this late. Granted, he was up pretty late with Alex, and was pretty worn out when he did fall asleep. If it was 11:30 here..that meant it was 6:30 back in New York-- Ian always gets up around six. 

Shit.

By the time Jack found his pager among his and Alex's clothes strewn across the room, he had over thirty missed messages. Fifteen were from Ian. This wasn't good. Jack lightly kissed Alex's cheek before teleporting back to his shitty New York apartment, which was when he called Ian.

"Jack what the fu--"

"I know, I know. I fucked up I'm sorry."

"Where were you last night? I woke up this morning to seventeenpages that were left unanswered last night. Which means there were seventeen couples left unattended. Do you know how much work we have to do today to make up for that?"

"I know, Ian. I lied down for  a little bit, and this was the first night I actually got more than four hours of sleep. I must have slept so hard that I didn't even hear my pager go off." Oh look, another lie.

He heard Ian sigh on the phone. "No, I understand, Jack. I'm glad you finally got some sleep..but do you know how pissed dad would be if he found out about this?"

"Oh I think I can imagine.."

"Look, I'm going to be on call for the next few nights so you can catch up on some sleep you clearly need. But you're taking care of this mess that you created and I'm not going to help you."

"Okay, that's fair..thanks for understanding."

"I'm your brother, Jack. I have to understand. Now go take care of this mess before dad finds out. One thing is for certain -- I am not taking the blame on this if it gets out to him you were slacking." Then the line went dead.

Jack sat on his old leather couch that was falling apart and put his head in his hands. What has he gotten himself into? He couldn't keep living life like this, trying to sneak some time in with Alex here and there. But he sure as hell wasn't going to stop seeing him -- that was out of the question. Maybe he could try talking to Ian, maybe make him see things the way Jack was beginning to. No, he knew that conversation wouldn't go very far. Then he realized the solution: he just needs to find Ian's other half and make them meet. Then Ian had to understand how Jack is feeling right?

There was only one way to find out.