Full title: there's a mountain before us but we're taking it one step at a time
Well, another new installment of my Life, interrupted series. Happy reading!
Warning: As with all fics in this series so far, this fic does make allusions to past abuse of a child, but nothing graphic.
Jack stepped back from the pantry with some reluctance. It was time for his least favorite chore of the week.
Grocery shopping.
He groaned softly to himself, bemoaning the chore, then turned reluctantly to find some paper to make a list. He had heard that there were some fancy new apps on the smartphones that were all the rage these days that allowed one to make a list on the phone itself, but he had been raised writing on a piece of paper and he would continue that tradition.
Jack heard a noise in the doorway and looked up from his paper to see Angus rubbing his forehead and regarding the doorway with a betrayed look. Jack laughed quietly, drawing the younger man's attention. The kid glanced up at him, yawning, and Jack had to stifle another laugh as he took in the blond's appearance.
His hair was rumpled and sticking up in the back, and he was wearing his favorite shirt, the one he normally wore after nightmares. It was one of Jack's old sweatshirts that he had been saving to use for paint or some other such dirty chore, but the kid had taken a liking to it after Jack had given it to him to wear after an incident with the rain and some mud had ruined the one shirt that the teen had owned, as it had happened before Jack and the blond had been able to go shopping for more clothes for the kid.
Angus just glanced at Jack, used to his behavior by now, and walked over to the fridge. Jack was happy to see that, although he was still reluctant and wary most of the time, the younger man had begun to feel more comfortable around Jack.
Well, comfortable enough to eat the older man's food, but Jack suspected that much of that had come from Jack simply telling the teen that he either had to take food from the kitchen whenever he was hungry or Jack would force him to eat meals at pre-appointed times each day.
Jack went back to his list making, the sound of Angus rummaging in the fridge behind him providing a comforting background noise.
After a moment, the kid leaned against the counter opposite him, trying to crane his head as he ate an apple to see what Jack was doing. He didn't ask, though, which frustrated Jack. He had been doing his best to break the teen of the habit of feeling as if he had to be spoken to in order to speak.
It still made Jack see red whenever he thought of it.
The older man simply turned the list a bit to allow Angus to see the word 'GROCERIES' written in large block letters at the top. "Anything in particular you want?"
The kid shrugged without speaking. Jack realized that he wasn't going to say anything, and felt a tug of frustration. Was he doing something that made the kid feel threatened? Pushing aside his frustration, he continued speaking while he scribbled down items on the list. "Do you want to come with me?"
The man waited, trying to to give no indication to the other of his feelings of anticipation towards the younger man's answer. Angus had barely been outside the house since he had first come to stay, and hadn't interacted with anyone other than Jack.
There was a few moments of silence, broken only by the scratching of Jack's pen, and then Angus turned to throw his apple core in the trash. The kid spoke calmly, but Jack didn't miss the slightly stiff and up-drawn shoulders. "Okay."
Jack puffed out a tiny sigh. "Sounds good. We'll leave in thirty minutes, okay? I just have to finish making my list."
Angus just nodded quietly and moved off to do who knows what. Probably read, given the way he had been reading everything he could get his hands on with a frantic intensity, as if he was afraid Jack would take away the books soon, even though the man had given no sign that he would.
Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose. It had been a long, hard road to get where they were now, and it would be an even longer and harder road until Angus was recovered.
The brunet returned to his list, pushing the matter of Angus' recovery to the side for now. He poked around the kitchen, trying to decide whether or not he really needed more broccoli.
Probably not.
The kid was waiting by the door exactly thirty minutes after he had left the kitchen. Jack noticed he had changed out of the sweatshirt- which was taken care of as if it was the Hope Diamond- and into a t-shirt and hoodie.
The two males stepped out of the house and into the brisk fall air. Jack took a large breath, savoring the sting of the cold air in his lungs. He loved fall.
The kid watched Jack curiously, but didn't comment. The two of them hopped in the car and were off.
When they finally reached the store, Jack was about to exit the car when he glanced over at his companion and saw the way his hand was gripping the door handle. His knuckles were white, his muscles tensed. Jack leaned his arms on the steering wheel and looked at the grocery store. It wasn't too crowded, and honestly, he thought that this would be a great chance for Angus to start acclimating to talking to people who were doing something other than giving him missions.
Well. Perhaps talking was too much to expect at this point. Just interacting would be a step up, if Jack was honest.
Jack kept his face turned towards the store but kept an eye on the kid with his peripheral vision as he spoke. "You still wanna do this?"
Angus took a deep breath through his nose, then spoke quietly. "Yeah. I mean. We're here, right? No point in going back."
Jack wisely kept the comment that the kid sounded like he was trying to convince himself to himself, instead choosing to nod silently and then exit the car. After a second, Angus did the same.
They made their way inside and Jack grabbed a shopping cart. Angus' eyes were drawn to the wheels immediately, a calculating gleam in his eye that Jack had learned meant that he was thinking of everything he could do with the parts of the cart.
The brunet made his way through the aisles, grabbing things off of the shelves and throwing them haphazardly in the cart. Angus' hands twitched as he looked at the mess in the cart, and when Jack walked off for a moment to look at something at the end of an aisle he came back to a neatly organized cart and an Angus that looked a little wary of the man but had a stubborn glint in his eye.
Jack just reached up and ruffled the kid's hair, though, saying, "Well, you're a lot more organized than me."
Angus relaxed a bit at his causal words, and Jack began to push the cart towards the next aisle as he scanned his list for the next item. Angus tagged along right beside him, his eyes flickering around the store, taking in sights and sounds that seemed unfamiliar to him.
Jack gripped the paper a little tighter than he needed to at that thought.
Jack looked over at the kid and debated sending him off to get something. The blond looked relaxed- relaxed for him, anyway- and so Jack decided to go for it. "Hey, you wanna grab some apples? Get a pound of Gala."
Angus nodded. He moved off in the direction of the apples.
When ten minutes had passed and Jack had collected everything else on the list, he began to become concerned. The man made his way to the fruit section of the store, keeping his ear out for any sounds of violence or chaos. When he saw Angus, he was surprised to find him talking with a young man a few years older than him, but definitely younger than Jack.
When Jack got closer to the pair he realized that perhaps the young man was more talking at Angus than talking with him. The guy was going on and on about the different types and flavors of apples, and how each type was better for different dishes.
When Jack reached the pair, MacGyver glanced up at him, looking relieved. Jack felt a bit bad for the kid. After all, he hadn't expected to find what might be the most talkative person on the planet inside the local Wal-Mart.
The man finally tore his gaze from the apples and looked up at Jack. His gaze lit up in recognition. "Hey, I know you. You live two houses down from me!"
"Oh yeah, you're that guy that always has like eighty Halloween decorations and blow ups and everything!" Jack blurted out his reply, then felt embarrassed.
The guy didn't seem offended, though, instead swelling up with pride. "Yup, that's me." He extended his hand. "Wilt Bozer, at your service. Just call me Bozer, everyone does."
Jack shook the proffered hand. "Jack Dalton. Nice to meet you."
Bozer turned his gaze to MacGyver, who looked a little unsure of himself. He glanced at Jack as if looking for reassurance, then also shook Bozer's hand while saying, "MacGyver."
Bozer grinned. "I'll have to have you over for dinner sometime."
Jack nodded. "Yeah, we should do that."
After a few more minutes of exchanging pleasantries and making small talk- well, Jack and Bozer made small talk while MacGyver did his best impression of a statue while standing very close to Jack- the older man glanced at his watch and reluctantly told Bozer that they had to finish getting their groceries and head out if they wanted to be home before traffic got too bad.
Bozer said goodbye, mentioning again saying that they needed to have dinner sometime. Jack agreed, and then they were on their way to the checkout.
Jack watched as the cashier stole another glance at his companion, who was watching the groceries move on the tread. Her face had a slight flush to it, and he mentally grinned. Angus barely looked at her, seeming more interested in the way the tread moved, and Jack was pretty sure that he was oblivious to the attention he was they were leaving, though, the cashier scribbled something on the back of their receipt before handing it to Jack. "Can you give this to your brother?"
Jack, taken by surprise, replied mechanically. "Sure."
If the way that Angus had tensed slightly was any indication, the kid had heard the girl as well.
The kid was already loading the bags into the cart, though, and could pretend that he hadn't heard the girl. After a moment's hesitation, Jack joined him in loading the bags into the cart.
They were halfway home before Jack spoke, digging in his pockets to find the receipt. "Want this?" He held out the scrap of paper towards Angus.
Angus shook his head and slouched down in his seat a bit. Jack smiled at the sight. The first week or so the kid hadn't relaxed his perfect posture for a minute unless he was asleep. Jack hummed as he kept his eyes on the road. "I think we're avoiding the real issue here."
Angus shrugged, turning his head to the side to stare out the window. He didn't speak. Jack sighed again, saying, "Look, it was an honest mistake."
Angus turned and sat up suddenly. "No, I know. Don't worry. I'm not mad that she said it, but I don't know how to stop it from happening again if we go somewhere. I mean-"
Jack held up a hand, stemming the flow of sound as the meaning behind the blond's words sank in. "Wait a minute. You thought I was mad she called you my brother?"
The kid looked a bit confused now. "Well, yeah. Isn't that what you were saying?"
Jack scoffed out a harsh laugh. "Yeah, no, not really, kid. I don't care."
Angus' gaze snapped up to his face, then returned to looking out of the car. "Oh. Um, it's not a big deal to me either."
Jack shrugged easily, not about to call the kid on the way a tiny smile was inching onto his face. "Okay."
The two rode home in silence, but Jack couldn't deny that a thrill of happiness went through him every time he glanced at the quiet teen and saw the small silence that remained on his face for the rest of the night.