Nightmares

III.

"His name is Jack" Alex confessed, biting his lip in nerve wracking enticipation.

"I see" Rian grinned, smiling at Alex then back down to the notepad he was scribbling on. "What's he like Alex? How long have you talked?"

"He's lovely" Alex said, holding tightly onto a cool stone in his palm.

"He gave me this" he continued, turning his hand over and dropping the tiny gem onto the desk gently.

"An amethyst" Rian awed, "does it have any significance?"

Scooping it up protectively, and putting it in his pocket; Alex sighed contently.

"He said it was for the nightmares"

-
Jack leaned pressed up against Alex on the couch, palm overturned in his friends lap.

"I used to do this when I was younger" Alex chuckled, tracing his lifelines with delicate fingers.

"Why?" Jack asked simply, cuddling into Alex's side.

"It was a fast way to make money when you kind of know what you're talking about" He answered. "I didn't like it much because I didn't care about sny of the lives I was supposed to be seeing into. I can read tarrots too, all that shit. I won't do that though."

Jack hummed, watching Alex's hands touch his.

"I see trauma." He said bluntly. "But that doesn't stifle your longing for adventure, right?"

Jack says nothing as Alex runs a thumb over another line on his palm.

"You're cautious but enthusiastic. You have so much energy, that won't change. Even when we're old as hell" Alex laughs.

Jack laughs too, not missing that "we".

"Nothing's gonna bring you down." He assured, more of a personal promise than anything he saw. "Back to that trauma, though" he pried, placing a firm hand over the ever slightly shaking palm.

"What happened, Jack?" He asked, voice small.

Jack laced their fingers together, resting his head over Alex's heartbeat.

-

Alex didn't dream.

-

School was different. To Alex, having a friend was strange. He walked Jack to his first three classes, Jack walked him to his last.

They shared the two lockers now, one being for their school necessities and the other their horde of various snacks.

No one bothered them, which was bizarre to Jack; having spent his whole life being bothered.

In every period they had the same, they pushed their desks together; Jack claiming it was a cautionary for his partial blind and deafness. This having the potential to make classwork exceeding difficult.

In class Alex sometimes sketched out his nightmares, all angry lines and smudged graphite. Jack took notes while he did. Alex didn't really have anything to draw today so he doodled Jack as Batman- he liked to be productive.

Ironically enough, Jack jotted down both their sets of notes; glancing at Alex's notebook with a smirk.

"Honour student material" he remarked, blushing.

Alex scoffed, tightly clutching the rock in his pocket.

-

Having Jack was...nice. It changed a lot, the nightmares were less frequent. Less severe. When they were bad, it was nice to have a shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold and if Alex was just maybe a little bit falling ocean deep in love with Jack then that was to be expected.

Alex still hated being social, talking Jack out of any outing he had planned in order to lure him back to his empty home. Today was such a day, the sunlight hitting the two boys curled up under Alex's abnormally fluffy blankets.

Alex's hands grasped desperately at nothing, body sinking further into the sea. Air becoming farther and farther from his sight.

Jack watched Alex stir in his sleep, troubled, which was normal for him but no less upsetting for his friend.

He could see the air bubble to the surface, desperate gasps of air threatening to be ripped from his mouth. His hands swung violently as he sunk deeper still.

He wrapped his hands around Alex, bringing him closer to where he could press his head against his chest and hold it there; lightly stroking his hair.

Then he felt a hand pull him up.

"Morning, sleeping beauty" Jack chirped, still holding him close.

Alex blinked twice, then kissed him.