Teenage Nightmare (Jalex)

Down, But Definitely Not Out

(Song- Underdog - You Me At Six)

(TW- slight talk about his attempt)

(July 8th)

"Hey Jack, Katie, Ben and Sam are still in town and wanted to hang out today, in like two hours? Can we do that? My mom's got Elise and I'm sure won't mind watching her when they get home. I really like Katie, she's really nice." Alex smiled at Jack, who was fixing his hair in the full length mirror attached to the closet. 
Jack looked back at him via the reflection and nodded, "Yeah that sounds cool. What do they want to do?" He asked curiously, finishing up his hair. He sat down on the bed next to Alex, smiling at his broken boy who had quite a few more weeks in his casts. Not as long for his wrist, but a long time for his leg. He had three more weeks in the wrist cast, but for the leg it had only been five weeks, he needed at least five, if not more, thanks to the severity of the break. His ortho scared him too, if the bones didn't heal right, surgery was on the table. She was concerned about the fact that Alex's breaks weren't healing well, which was decently common with multiple breaks in the same bone. She tried to avoid surgery, but it was looking 50/50 right now. Physical therapy was going to be a bitch, especially if his bones didn't heal right. Alex had been complaining of some extra pain that wasn't feeling good even with the pain meds. That's what his ortho was concerned about the most. At least his wrist looked good so far. 
Alex smiled a little, looking at his texts from Katie.
"Uhmmm...She says she just wants to see downtown. They've apparently been there already, but only hung around a little bit because they also wanted to see more of Maryland. So." He shrugged a little.
"Downtown is always fun. We can take them to the aquarium." Jack winked. 
Alex laughed, "Yeah we'll just leave out the bathroom story though. God I miss that bathroom." He sighed.
Jack smirked, "We'll get there eventually love. It just hurts so much for you to even move your leg lately, so I mean if you can hardly move your leg without pain, there's no way I'm fucking you." He pouted a little.
Alex shrugged, "You can still finger me." He grinned, "Plus you can't forget my plethora of toys that have been long forgotten for a while. They probably miss me. I miss them." He laughed a little at Jack's face. He loved turning Jack on.
Jack leaned over and kissed Alex's lips, "We'll do something tonight, I promise you that. I love you, you beautiful boy. Do you need to go to the bathroom? And if we're going anywhere, it's gonna take a million years to get you dressed, so. Let's get on that." He kissed Alex again.
Alex huffed a sigh, "Yeah I do. So let's get on it." He pulled himself into a more upright position, cringing as he did so. His leg really hurt. He could feel it deep in the bone.
Jack looked a little sad whenever Alex was hurting. The boy had gone through enough for three lifetimes. At least his mental health was great lately. Dr. Cook was impressed, but he kept up with the three sessions a week. 
The bathroom was annoying. Alex crutched himself there and back, despite the growing pain. It wasn't awful yet. Just hurt worse than it was probably supposed to. 
Getting dressed sucked. Shirts were easy, Jack had just had him wearing tee shirts with a hoodie or a loose fitting long sleeve that the cast would fit through. 
Pants were the worst, because it was either sweats or shorts. Alex missed his jeans.

Finally, after quite a bit of an argument, Alex was wearing a black and white striped tee shirt, black shorts and his favorite black beanie because he didn't feel like having Jack help him do his hair.
"God you are difficult." Jack laughed a little, sitting next to Alex on the bed again.
Alex shrugged, "I won't be eventually. At least when I have my other hand back, it won't be so bad. I'm bored and we still have an hour though. They're going to meet us at the coffee shop you and I go to. I told Katie the address." He sighed, looking around for something to do. His room was boring.
"I wanna play my guitar." He whined.
Jack smiled, "I can help you, I mean Dr. Cook said it was a good idea to have hobbies right? And you know how to play...I mean I don't really, but maybe you could teach me and have something to do at the same time." He offered, then grabbed Alex's acoustic when he agreed.
Alex got himself all prepared, the neck of the guitar on Jack's side, while his right hand held the pick. He pouted a little. He wanted to play for real.
"So...What the hell do I do?" Jack looked confused. He could play the tiniest bit from what he'd learned in high school, but Alex could play almost any song. It was unfair.
"So, okay. Put your fingers here..." He instructed Jack, "We're just gonna play some random shit. I don't know. You're not gonna be able to move your hand fast enough to do anything really big." He shrugged.
Jack smirked, "I know that, but hey it'll be fun for you to teach me anyway." He knew the basics at least, but Alex was right, moving his hand fast enough up and down the neck, to each correct fret, playing each correct chord was difficult.
Alex instructed Jack with each fret change and each chord, smirking when Jack groaned a little each time he messed it up.
"Babe don't worry. You're doing really good. It would be easier if you played the whole guitar, but I won't let you because I'm selfish." Alex smirked and stuck his tongue out a little, "Keep going. It's not like we're trying to play any songs, we're just having fun." He shrugged a little.

They did that for the entire they had before Jack helped Alex downstairs, then into his chair, into the car, then back into the chair. That alone had Alex exhausted. 
Jack pushed Alex in and smiled when Katie ran over to them, "Hi!" She said excitedly.
Alex smiled, "Hey Katie." He said happily, waving at Ben and Sam who were thankfully at a table that was wheelchair accessible. 
He was really glad he'd met them. Especially Katie. She had something special about her that he really appreciated. She was a good friend, he could tell that much. 
Jack smiled at all of them and wheeled Alex to the table, "What do you wanna drink babe?" 
Alex looked over at the menu, "Get me the iced caramel latte please." He smiled a little, then looked over at everyone, "So what are we gonna do today?" He asked curiously.
Sam shrugged, "I don't know, you tell us." He stirred the ice around in his cup, looking out the window at what was around that may look interesting.
Alex thought about it, "Hm. Well, there's the aquarium, there's all the little places by the docks, there's the mall which is alright, there's the shopping center that has a cool record shop...I mean I can think of a lot of places." He laughed a little.
Ben smiled, "You only live here." He took a drink of his coffee.
"Indeed I do." Alex took his coffee when Jack brought it back to him, "Thanks baby." He leaned over in his chair to kiss Jack. So he was still being the tiniest bit petty since Ben had hit on his man, after all. It was only natural to mark his territory. 
Jack smirked, kind of enjoying the jealous petty Alex. 
Katie giggled a little. She knew what Alex was up to. She liked it. It was sassy.
To be fair, Ben did cross unknown territory, but the territory was still crossed.
Still, she changed the subject, "So I think the aquarium sounds fun, and then walk up and down the docks? That sounds even more fun." She smiled.
Alex nodded, "Cool, we can be stupid and get you guys tourists shirts." He laughed at Sam's mortified face.
"Oh god." Sam chuckled a little as Katie's eyes lit up.
"Yes! So stupid, yet so, so fun. Come on, it's a trip. Let's be stupid and touristy." She grinned at Alex, who was grinning right back at her.
"Where's Elise?" Katie piped in again.
"Oh she's at daycare at my mom's work, and then my mom is gonna take her the rest of the day so I can be out of the house for a while. Fresh air and all." He smirked.
Jack kissed Alex's cheek. He was doing very well at all of this socializing. He hadn't really expected it. Then again, he'd never seen Alex socialize much outside of himself, Rian and Zack. He did back in freshman through junior year but he hadn't paid close attention to that, and then senior year fucked him up bad. 

The aquarium was fun as usual. Alex pouted when they passed the bathroom and Jack rolled his eyes. He stopped pushing Alex and leaned down to whisper in his ear.
Katie, Ben and Sam who were walking a little bit ahead stopped and looked curiously.
"We'll fuck later Alex. We'll figure something out okay? I promised you tonight didn't I?" Jack kissed Alex's cheek.
Katie was sure she'd made out the mouth movement of 'fuck' and was wondering how they'd even manage that with Alex in a full leg cast.
Would his entire leg just be sticking up in the air?
She shook it off and kept going.
Alex grumbled, "Look. I'm finally not like. Off the walls psychotic breaking down when I so much as breathe. I wanna fuck." He pouted.
Sam definitely heard the word fuck. Alex hadn't whispered.
He turned around and laughed, "Damn Jack, just fuck the poor guy already." 
Alex gestured to Sam as he stared at Jack, "THANK YOU SAM!" 
Katie slapped his arm, "Sam!" She reprimanded him.
Ben just laughed, secretly bummed that he wasn't fucking anyone thus far on this trip.
Alex grinned, "Thank you Sam! See Jack." He looked behind him up at Jack who was just laughing and shaking his head.

The aquarium wound up being really fun, Katie pretty much obsessed over all of the fish, particularly the octopus. Alex and Jack spent a lot of time near the stingray area where you could reach in and touch them. Alex was grateful that he could still reach even in his chair.
After that, they walked around the little shops on the docks, where Katie and Alex inevitably won the battle of doing that boat thing that Jack and Alex had done ten thousand years ago. Jack and Alex took new pictures of themselves to update the old ones.
Katie, Ben and Sam had Jack take ones of them together as a group, then Katie took selfies, then selfies with Ben and Sam each. 
While selfie city was going on and the boat was stopped so everyone could get a view, Jack was sat down on the little bench so he was level with Alex.
No one had noticed when he cupped Alex's face gently and started kissing him, Alex's arms around Jack's neck, pulling his body away from the chair to get closer to him.
Jack wrapped his arms around Alex's back to hold him there as their kiss deepened. 
They lost everything around them as they made out, a sweet and gentle dance between their tongues. Time didn't matter. It was just them for right now.

A child began to yell at their parent for something which snapped them back into reality a bit.
Their kiss broke apart, but they stayed together, noses brushing the sides of each other, foreheads touching.
"I love you so much." Jack whispered to Alex, looking him in the eyes.
Alex blushed, "I love you more." 
"How about we just be in love with each other equally?" Jack smirked as he pressed a soft kiss to Alex's smiling lips.
"Deal." Alex whispered, living in this exact moment with Jack, and Jack alone.
"Don't you ever leave me alone." Jack leaned in and pressed another kiss to Alex's lips.
Alex kissed back, parting his lips just a little bit.
Their tongues danced together again, a slow dance, gentle. Deliberate. 
Alex pulled back the tiniest bit again, "Never." He whispered.
They both closed their eyes for a moment, noses still brushed together, foreheads still touching, lips hardly a centimeter apart.
"I am so in love with you Alex." Jack said softly, eyes still closed. Truth be told, it was this boat, this boat ride, when they had their 'real' date that Jack was permanently sold. This boat held a lot of memory and love.
Alex kept his eyes closed as well, "You're the love of my life Jack. I am so in love with you too. Nothing, no one, not even myself, will ever take me away from you again. I promise you." That was a big promise, a loaded one even. He meant every word though. He wasn't going to let that part of him, the one that told him how unworthy he was of life, to ever get out of control again, no matter the cost. 
"I won't let that happen ever. We go together, or we don't go down at all, okay?" Jack smiled a tiny bit, opening his eyes to find Alex's beautiful ones staring back at him.
Alex kissed his lips again before sitting up in his seat again.
The two didn't even realize their new friends were still watching.

"Sorry." Alex blushed, looking at them shyly.
Jack just laid his head on Alex's shoulder.
"Literally, please don't be. We didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything, but do you know how much I'd kill for someone to be like that with me? You two are incredible." Katie gushed, her eyes held a sense of desire as well as admiration for the couple in front of her, "And I hope you'll forgive that I got a lot of pictures of you two kissing and just like, looking at each other. The photoshoot was too good to pass up. I feel like you guys will want these pictures at your wedding." She smiled as she started sending them all to Alex. She'd taken like fifty. There were far too many cute moments to not get on camera.
Sam smiled at Katie. He took her hand and squeezed it.
Jack and Alex figured that maybe they weren't quite there yet, but Sam's body language and the way he looked at Katie told them that he was interested in getting there. 

The rest of the day went incredibly. They were currently ending it at a seafood restaurant downtown, one of the best, most expensive ones. Alex didn't even mean to suggest it when he'd talked about it, telling Jack how much he'd kill for the steak and lobster with the blue crab that Maryland is well known for. He almost had a heart attack when Jack agreed to take him there, and nearly had a stroke when Sam and Ben both so casually said 'sure' when they'd seen the extremely overpriced menu.
"You guys sure? I mean. It's gonna take half of Jack's paycheck just to get the two of us dinner." Alex said hesitantly as Jack rolled him up to the place that they weren't at all dressed for, but that added more fun to it.
Ben shrugged, wondering what the big deal was, "Sure. It sounds good." He looked at Sam who nodded in agreement.
Katie rolled her eyes, "You'll have to forgive them. They're privileged children." She smirked.
Alex nodded, "Oh, okay then. Good, then you guys will have a field day in here." He smiled as Jack pushed him into the restaurant and got them a table. 
Alex had been right, Ben and Sam just had a great time, while Katie ordered a little more sparingly despite Sam nagging her to get whatever she wanted. Eventually, she gave in and did just that, while Alex picked his steak and lobster, Jack getting the same and the two of them sharing some crab together, Jack slipped Alex his two pills when it was time, and the night went on. 

It wasn't until the decently long walk back to their cars that they ran into some trouble.
Ben and Katie wanted to go into this store they passed, so Jack went with them while Sam and Alex stayed outside. Sam didn't want to go into any more stores, and Alex just needed a break so they waited out there talking. Sam on the bench next to Alex so he wasn't looking down at him.
Alex recognized a brunette guy walking over to them.
Oh god.
"Hey Gayskarth. Nice casts. Try to throw yourself off a building or something? You're crazy enough to." This was the same one who mocked him the most during his breakdown in the cafeteria. He eyed the deep scar on Alex's wrist, "Aw you finally slit your wrists too? Shame you didn't succeed." He smirked.
Alex bit his lip and stared down, "N-no....I...I j-just..." He stuttered out, tears already flowing down his cheeks before he had even a prayer of stopping them. 
Sam stood up, "You wanna back the fuck off dude. What the fuck is wrong with you?" He asked, his body tense, his hands balled into fists. 
The bully that Alex never bothered to learn his name laughed at Sam, "What? He's not fucking that faggot Jack anymore? You're an upgrade at least." He shrugged.
Alex's crying just got harder. Why couldn't he ever escape this shit? "D-don't say th-that!" He yelled, angry that Jack had just been insulted.
Sam got closer, "Leave." He practically snarled out.
The asshole smacked Alex's leg cast as hard as he could, making Alex literally scream bloody murder. His leg had been hurting him more than enough lately. 
That's when Sam had enough, right as the asshole turned his back, Sam grabbed him by the shoulder, swung him around and decked him in the face, causing him to fall backwards. Sam grabbed him before he could hit the ground and punched him again.
"OH MY GOD!" Katie screamed as she ran out, staring between Alex who was literally choking on tears, holding his leg, entire body shaking because of how much pain he was in and then Sam. She didn't know who to run with until Ben sort of pushed past her, "Go help Jack and Alex" He told her as he got to Sam and separated him from the prick who'd done this to Alex.
"Sammy! Sam stop!" He stared at Sam, who was trembling from how angry he was.
The asshole was stuck there against the wall that Sam had pushed him against. As soon as he'd seen Ben push Sam away, he ran for it. He hadn't expected to get his ass beat. 
Sam pushed himself away from Ben and went over to Alex, who was just endlessly wailing in tears while Jack panicked, trying to figure out what to do, and Katie who was comforting Alex the best that she could.
"Come on, let's go. Someone needs to take him to the hospital." Sam said through gritted teeth.
"I'll take you, you need to cool down." Ben said cautiously to Sam. He looked back at Katie, "Go with them. Tell me where the hospital is when you get there. I need to bring Sam back down to reality." He followed after Sam who'd just taken off without another word. 

Alex had screamed the worst he ever had before when they were getting him in and out of the car, and couldn't stop in the ER.
Jack and Katie sat in the ER. Katie comforting Jack while he'd called Isobel. He told her not to panic yet, since she had Elise. Peter was home though, so he'd be coming as soon as they knew what was even happening with Alex.
After about an hour and a half, Sam and Ben came. Sam apologized to Jack who honestly seemed offended that Sam was apologizing. Jack, if anything, was grateful to Sam for protecting Alex the best that he could.
"Jack?" The same nurse who'd helped Alex when he was in for his attempt and had recognized the black and blonde haired boy approached the group. 
Jack looked over at her, "Yeah? Is he okay?"
"His X rays aren't great. I need you to call one of his parents or both. He's gonna need a surgery to repair everything, the orthopedic surgeon will explain everything. We have him pretty loaded up on pain killers right now so he's not in as much pain, but the doctor is removing his cast right now." She said with a sympathetic expression. She wasn't liking how often Alex was starting to show up in here.

"Keep me posted on how he is, okay Jack?" Katie said as she hugged Jack tightly. Peter had come by now, so Katie and the rest were going to leave. 
Jack nodded, "I will, thank you for staying." He smiled a little.
Katie nodded, "Of course. I hope he's okay." She kissed Jack's cheek and headed out with Sam and Ben. 

It turned out that Alex's increased leg pain to start with was because his bones weren't healing. A nonunion is what the surgeon called it. The plan was to go in and do an open reduction and internal fixation surgery, so everything would be held in place by plates, and wires and screws. 
They'd keep him overnight and do the surgery tonight. 
Peter signed everything he needed to and called Isobel. 
They took Alex in without them being able to see him first, because it truly did need to be fixed quickly, considering everything. 
 It was a pretty long surgery, 5 hours from start to finish. Jack and Peter stayed the entire time. Jack had let Rian and Zack know what happened, and naturally, the same as everyone else, they wondered why the hell Alex couldn't get a fucking break.
Once Alex was in recovery, it was another hour before Peter and Jack could go up there.
Peter sat on one side of Alex, his left side. Jack sat on his right side.
Both of them fell asleep bent over, heads on Alex's mattress. Jack was holding Alex's hand though, so he felt it when Alex's hand twitched.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Hey babe" He said quietly.
Alex looked so groggy and out of it, he looked down at his leg that was just completely bandaged and mangled looking, "Ow" He muttered, it hurt so bad. The pain killers he was on weren't enough. 
Jack frowned a little, "I know baby...I know." He whispered.
Alex looked over at his dad who was still asleep, then back at Jack, "What happened?" He didn't remember much of his traumatic experience. He remembered screaming a lot, then he remembered getting told he had to have surgery and that was pretty much all he remembered. He was too focused on the pain. 
"They went in and put plates and screws in to stabilize your bones since they weren't healing right. I don't really know the rest but your doctor will probably come in soon." Jack looked at the clock. It was just over 1 AM.
Sure enough, Alex's team came in and explained what they'd done, and what was going to happen. Alex was going to be in a decent amount of pain, especially the first couple of days after this surgery. He was to bear no weight on his leg, at all. He'd be completely bandaged up in a soft cast like the one he was in before he got his hard cast, once the incision site wasn't draining anymore, he'd get another hard cast. At least this one wasn't above the knee. The x rays earlier showed that his knee was looking a lot better and could go without the cast over it, so long as he wasn't putting weight on his leg, which he wasn't anyway. So his knee could continue healing by itself. After the hard cast, about 10 weeks post op, he'd get the cast removed and he'd get a long boot that goes up to his knee, and he'd start working on light physical therapy because his muscle reduction was going to be pretty intense because of how long he'd already been in a cast. The physical therapy would get more intense as he continued, getting to walking without the boot. So he had a long road ahead of him. 

He went back to sleep after that, he didn't want to handle it anymore. He hurt. He was miserable. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open, so he went with it and passed out again.