TEXTING ; wdw

005

jack watched the loading circle spin, waiting nervously for the younger boy to pick up.

it had been less than twenty-four hours since he'd met zach, and already the boy was the only thing running through jack's mind. his heart pounded exceedingly heavily, he wasn't scared, just worried.

for what reason, he had no idea.

a 'connecting' sign appeared before a short beeping noise sounded, and the rosy cheeked boy became clear on his screen.

jack couldn't hide his smile- zach looked even prettier than he did in the pictures.

‘hey, z,’ jack ran his fingers through his curls, untangling a few.

zach had slight bags under his eyes, but jack couldn't focus on them, there were so many elements to zach he wanted to discover. ‘your fake noodles look even curlier from here.’ zach's voice was much deeper than jack had expected.

jack jokingly rolled his eyes. ‘shut up, your cheeks are even brighter red.’

‘yeah, well that's because i'm nervous because you're talking to m- i mean, nevermind,’ zach hid his face in his hands, moving the camera away from jack's view of his self.

jack chuckled, liking zach's less outgoing personality then when they texted. he enjoyed seeing a different side of the boy he's beginning to know.

‘zach, put the camera back on you,’ jack instructed, ‘we aren't just gonna video chat and you not let me see your pretty face.’

slowly zach's head popped back into the screen, a flustered expression accompanying his smirk.

‘did you just call me pretty?’

jack chuckled. ‘maybe i did.’

the truth was, with every word passing through his lips, jack confused himself even more.

he had grown up in a very homophobic family - we'll get back to that -, and every person within his household had always told him liking the opposite gender was the only right way to love. he'd believed them, up until a few weeks ago when he started to notice multitudes of gay couples at his school, happy as can be, happier than he'd been told they could be.

he started to realize that the girls at his school were becoming less appealing to him, it had been boys attracting his attention. but that wasn't right, right?

boys can't like boys. they can't.

but he had been beginning to.

now every time his eyes met zach's through the screen, he scared himself. zach's gorgeous- the most beautiful thing jack's ever laid eyes on. they haven't even known eachother for a full day. for fucks sake, they live on complete opposite sides of the country.

then why every time zach's face was shown on the screen, did his stomach erupt with butterflies? why did he smile every time he saw the boy's rosy red cheeks? jack was confused.

‘jack?’ jack's thoughts were interrupted by the concerned voice of the boy across the country.

‘hm?’

‘you good? you kinda zoned out for a second there.’

jack chuckled dryly. ‘yeah, yeah, i'm good. uh, you?’

zach shrugged. ‘i mean, i'm okay. still kinda feel like disappearing.’

‘yeah, same.’

the boys went silent for a minute, not knowing what to say. they didn't dare make eye contact- the situation had gotten awkward, fast.

‘JACK!’ the sudden outburst coming from jack's side of the call made both boys jump, scaring the two of them.

‘yeah?’ jack muttered, visibly uncomfortable.

‘i'm going out, don't leave this house.’ the voice was stern, affirmative. intimidating if you'd asked zach.

the slamming of a door was heard, jack flinched.

‘wh-who was that?’ zach's quavering voice flooded jack's ears.

jack sighed. ‘it's uh, my foster mom. she's really-’

jack was cut off. ‘you live in a foster home?’ zach's eyes glossed slightly, his beady brown orbs full of an unfamiliar sorrow. jack nodded shyly, zach replying.

‘she seems awful from the ten words that've come out of her mouth since i've been here.’

jack's smile elaborated, still a little shook up. ‘yeah, she's kinda a pain in the ass, but i'm used to it.’

jack had been in foster care since he could remember- he hadn't gotten to know his birth parents or anyone in his blood related family. he refused to call his foster parents and siblings family, they all treated him as if he was nothing and it aggravated him tremendously.

his foster family was the most homophobic family in the city- jack hated it, especially at this point in his life. he was so over everything, over school, his 'friends', his 'family', his life.

all jack wanted was a real family, true friends and a home. he'd hoped maybe this app could help him with it.

so far, so good.

‘so, zach,’ jack continued on, ‘what do you usually do when you skip school and are home alone?’

zach's smile brightened instantly, quite a sight on jack's part. ‘uh, fortnite?’

jack snickered. ‘now you're speaking my language.’

-

i loved writing this ugh