A/N: I wrote this in the hopes that i'd get motivated to write more of my Reid/Seaver AU story so let's see..
Disclaimer: I only own my OC's.
Jack remembered the days when he loved coming to school. He remembered being excited about going to Middle School, making new friends, learning new things. But that changed halfway through his 7th year.
When Jack started at Grove Middle School he had quickly learned there was a gossip magazine of sorts run by Nicole Evans, a popular 7th grader. Not only was 'Grove Secrets' popular among the school but every issue had a main story to it, and that main story was never forgotten within the walls of the school. Jack never paid much attention to it, he was never one for gossip.
Until the middle of his 7th year at Grove.
Jack kept his head down as he hurried down the school hallway towards his locker. Why was everyone staring at him? At first he had looked right at everyone staring at him just to see things like pity, interest and confusion. He decided he hated the looks so he kept his head down the rest of the way. No one at school was ever this interested in him, he was pretty much invisible, so what happened over the weekend?
Finally reaching his locker, Jack took a glance at the person opening their locker next to him only to see them trying to sneak their own glances at him.
"What?!" Jack snapped, keeping his voice low enough so others in the hallway wouldn't hear.
"N-Nothing."
"It isn't nothing! Why are you and everyone else staring at me?" He growled, slamming his locker in frustration.
"You..don't know?" Jack stared at the other boy who was shifting nervously.
"Don't know what?"
Instead of answering, the boy reached into his locker and pulled out 'Grove Secrets'. Slowly he handed it to Jack, giving him a small smile that looked like it was supposed to make him feel better even though he didn't know what for. Once the magazine was in his hand, the boy closed his locker and took off down the hall.
Slowly, Jack opened the latest monthly issue and immediately felt his blood run cold.
To my readers, this month for our main story...we get serious.
We all have heard stories of the serial killer The Boston Reaper that roamed before we were born only to stop killing and disappear for years to return once again when we were younger. It was a relief to many when The Reaper was killed, but not many know how he died. Some say he was killed in a shootout, some say he killed himself but I found out the truth for my faithful readers.
The Reaper was killed by FBI Agent Aaron Hotchner. Father to Jack Hotchner, one of our own at Grove Middle School. It seems that The Reaper took a special interest in Agent Hotchner that resulted in not only Agent Hotchner landing in the hospital, but a young Jack and his mother Haley Hotchner being placed in Witness Protection. Already a heartbreaking story that only got worse when The Reaper eventually found them, but murdered Haley Hotchner, and would have done the same to Jack if not for his dad finding them.
Jack refused to read any further. He knew Nicole could be heartless with what she wrote, but this was taking it too far. He couldn't tell his dad about this, he had enough trouble telling Jack the story about what happened but to show him this? No way. Although he probably should since it was obvious Nicole had got the information from someone in the FBI. Everyone knew the girl had a lot of connections for just being an 8th grader. And it wasn't like Jack could just go to the Principal about it, Nicole's dad was on the school board and paid a lot of money to the school which pretty much let Nicole do what she wanted. Jack knew his dad could probably do something but he could handle this on his own.
Now Jack was in his 8th year, his last year in the school that he had come to hate. He hoped things would be different when he went to High School next year, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. Even though Nicole had graduated, he could still feel stares on him and the whispers in the hall when he walked down them. Even the new students had found out.
Jack was sitting on one of the picnic tables placed outside the school when he felt a stare that was different from the rest. Glancing up, he turned his head to see who it was. Jack immediately changed his look to a glare. He watched as the boy who was staring at him mouthed the word 'faggot' to him. Jack's gaze hardened as he lifted his hand and flipped the other boy off. He would get pushed into a locker for it later, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
Grant Ross would always be a bully.
"You really shouldn't do that…" Jack jumped at the sound of someone talking near him.
Jack blinked in shock at the boy who without invitation, jumped up onto the picnic table and sat beside him. A boy who looked familiar.
"Do I know you?"
The boy smiled a small smile, one that also looked familiar. "Our lockers were next to each other last year."
"You're...the one who gave me the magazine.." Jack said softly.
"I'm Rory." The boy..Rory, stuck out his hand. Jack almost chuckled at how 'grown up' it was but shook his hand anyway.
"I would introduce myself but you obviously know who I am.." He trailed off with a chuckle.
As Rory smiled at him, Jack studied him quickly and found himself a bit shocked at how flawless the other boy looked even with his styled yet messy brown hair.
"So...what did you mean when you came over here?"
Rory's smile fell. "You shouldn't bother with Ross. Doing things like flipping him off will only make him bother you more."
Jack snorted. "Sorry to ruin your fantasy there but ignoring him doesn't work, i've tried that. Apparently being a 'faggot' means I don't get left alone...even though he has no proof that I am."
"I'm sorry.."
"It's fine, really." Jack tried to give him a smile to show him he was fine, "As weird as it sounds, it's a nice change from the pitying looks I always get...or the people who are afraid to come near me as if i'm going to have a breakdown or something."
Rory frowned at him, "I'm sorry about Nicole doing that.."
"Why are you sorry?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow, "It's not like you can control what she does."
"Um..she's..my sister."
Jack felt his eyes widen. "Sister?! How come I didn't know she even had a brother let alone one in my grade.."
"She was Nicole. She didn't want anyone to know she had a lame younger brother even though it isn't much of an age difference. Even when people hear that my last name is Evans, they don't put it together."
"Well maybe that's 'cause you seem nice and she's well..not." Rory laughed softly. Jack felt a shiver go down his spine.
"That could be it, and we look nothing alike. But that's 'cause we arent technically related...my mom married Nicole's dad when I was really young so I tend to think of her as my sister, not step sister."
"Even though she's nasty?" Jack joked.
Rory laughed. "Even though she's nasty."
"Hey...do you wanna come to the movies with me after school? My dad is on a case..so I would rather not go right home."
"I'd love to." Rory said with a grin.
Jack had a weird feeling in his stomach looking at Rory grin at him like that. Maybe it was 'cause he seemed to finally have a friend again?
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
Time passed quickly for Jack. He had become quick friends with Rory which resulted in them almost being attached at the hip. Jack had met Rory's mom who was nice enough, he had even met his dad who was really his step dad and while he wasn't as nice as Rory's mom, he wasn't exactly mean or cold to Jack so he wasn't going to complain. But Jack avoided his best friends house anytime he knew Nicole would be home. Rory had also met his dad, and his honorary aunts and uncles that worked with his dad and they had all loved Rory.
In no time it was Jack's 14th birthday. His Aunt Penny of course got everyone together for a party, but after 3 hours, Jack found himself in his room sitting on his bed while the party still went on in the backyard.
"What are you doing in here?" Rory asked Jack as he walked into the room and sat across from Jack on his bed.
"Got tired of being around all the chaos outside."
Rory chuckled. "Well I don't blame you for that one, although now poor Henry is the oldest kid out there."
"Oh he'll be fine, he mostly sticks by Uncle Spencer's side anyway. Has ever since he was younger." Jack said with a scoff. He didn't blame Henry for that though, he was 14 now and still enjoyed Spencer's magic tricks.
"Least you got presents." Rory said, glancing over at the pile of opened presents on the desk in his room.
"Yeah...speaking of presents, I never got one from you." Jack cleared his throat, "Not that I need one.."
Rory blushed and Jack had to this odd urge to touch Rory's cheek. He always found himself wanting to touch Rory lately, it was driving him crazy.
"I actually made your present so it's pretty lame.."
Jack shook his head and laughed softly. "I don't care if it's lame like you say Rory, it'll still be an awesome present since it's coming from you."
"Okay.." Rory trailed off and reached into his pocket, pulling out what looked to Jack like handmade bracelets. Rory grabbed Jack's left wrist and tied the bracelet to it, Jack doing the same for him.
Looking down at his wrist, Jack couldn't help but smile when he noticed what was actually on the bracelet.
J & R
Jack grabbed Rory's wrist to look at his, and his smile only grew.
R & J
"This is the best present i've gotten today."
"I'm glad you like it!" Jack looked at Rory grinning at him.
Jack knew the things he felt around his best friend weren't exactly normal feelings, what person finds themselves always wanting to touch their best friend in at least some way? He couldn't count all the times he almost grabbed Rory's hand without noticing. He remembered all the time his Uncle Derek teased him about getting a girlfriend, but Jack never looked at girls like that. But he found himself looking at Rory. Jack figured the only way he could know if he actually had certain feelings for this boy was to kiss him.
"Rory..can I try something?"
Rory looked at him with a curious look. "Sure?"
"Okay..um..don't move."
Slowly Jack started leaning forward until his lips were pressed against Rory's. Jack felt almost a shock go through his body before he quickly pulled away.
Rory stared at him blinking in shock, both of their cheeks red.
"I..uh..sorry." Jack stuttered, going to turn away from Rory until he felt a hand on his cheek.
Jack almost gasped at the feeling of Rory's lips back against his own. Jack slowly closed his own eyes as his hand slipped to Rory's neck, his own hand still against Jack's cheek.
They quickly pulled apart when they heard a gasp come from the doorway.
"H-Henry!" Jack shouted in shock.
"Ooooooh…" Henry smirked at them.
"Henry don't you dare-"
Before Jack could finish, Henry was running out of the room and down the steps.
Jack's eyes widened in horror as he looked at Rory who had the same look on his face.
Both of them jumped off the bed and took after the younger boy.
"AUNT PENNY I JUST SAW JACK AND RORY KISSING!"
"Crap, we're too late!" Jack groaned.
"WHAT?!" They heard Penny squeal.
Jack and Rory reached the backdoor to find everyone staring at them.
"Um..i..-" Jack got cut off as he was suddenly pulled into a hug. "Aunt Penny!"
"I knew it! I knew it! Derek Morgan you owe me 20 bucks!"
"What..you know what, I don't wanna know." Jack grumbled.
Rory chuckled beside him before he let out a groan of his own. "Your dad is going to shoot me with his gun.."
