Chapter 9: Forced Smiles
The mass of men lead lives of quiet depression. That quote slipped through Bob's mind as he was escorted down the halls. He was buzzed through the heavily secured and guarded door that separated the general inmate population from the staff. Finally alone, he meandered into the open space, distracted by his own thoughts. All too soon the other inmates were around him, and Bob had to carefully choose his path through the multitude of them to make sure he wasn't trespassing on anyone's 'territory'.
But no one was paying him much attention. Everyone was on edge, each keeping one eye glued on the corner of the rec area where Raymond was lifting heavy weights. Surrounded by at least seven of his hanger-ons, Raymond was completely at ease, if not triumphantly so. Bob gave the entire corner a wide birth as he passed them, ignoring Raymond when he caught sight of Bob and sent him a cryptic smile. That tiny flash of teeth pushed something oddly uncomfortable into Bob's gut. He quickened his pace. A minute later he arrived at the mouth of his cell only to find it unfamiliarly empty. Leaving it, Bob continued down the landing to the stairs which led up to the second level, on which he swiftly past the new line-up of cells, ignoring their occupants. Arnold's cell, which he shared with some other guy Bob didn't really know, was the very last one on this level, and already Bob could see one of Raymond's burly men leaning against the railing, distractedly picking his teeth with something unidentifiable form the distance.
Alan's face, round and youthful, splashed with a dusting of freckles and his green, green eyes flashed through Bob's mind. The eyes widened in terror- pain, and Bob broke out into a run. The burly man saw him coming and straightened from the railing, staring him down with a warning in his eyes. But Bob didn't care. As soon as Bob was within reach the man gripped his upper arm with a giant hand and tried to yank him away, but Bob caught him off guard with a slippery manoeuvre and was able to free himself. He darted around the man and came to a dead stop right in front of the cell door. Inside were four men, all sitting around a little table on which were dealt cards, loose cigarettes, and little baggies of white powder. Gabriel wasn't there. Neither was Arnold.
"What the fuck do you want?" one of the men demanded right before Bob was yanked back by the burly inmate acting as guard for the gamblers. "You stupid mother fucker, Ralf, you're supposed to be fucking keeping watch. I swear you're fucking useless."
Bob was pulled aside and pinned against the bars of the next cell over. The large inmate apparently called Ralf, punched him harshly in the stomach before Bob could even attempt to escape. Doubling over automatically, Bob clutched his middle and fought the urge to expel the contents of his stomach; he was having a hard enough time breathing now as it was without something clogging his airway. In a world of pain and a lack of oxygen, Bob was 'encouraged' along by the guy's foot until he gathered himself up and left. Where the hell was Gabriel?
Moving slower now, Bob checked Jason's cell, which he found empty, before wandering back down into the rec area. There was no sight of the kid. He wasn't on good enough terms with anyone any longer to ask if they'd seen him, either. Just when he was about to give up and seek out a prison guard to report Gabriel's missing status, Bob spotted Arnold. The stout man was limping quite badly, and looking far from cheerful. As soon as the man noticed Bob he snarled at him. "Say anything to me and I'll find a way to poison you, you son of a bitch."
"Where's Gabriel?" Bob asked anyway, unperturbed.
Arnold, ever used to not being taken seriously, snorted instead of breaking out in a hulk-rage. "What's the matter? Lost your little shadow? Find him your-fucking-self." He brushed past Bob, bumping into him completely on purpose, and limped away.
Bob went in the opposite direction. He had a hunch that wherever Arnold was coming from was where he would find his green eyed ghost. And he had to protect him. He couldn't let anything happen to Alan. Not again.
He found himself walking the path to the showers, which didn't make any sense since the shower room was only open for an hour a day. It was evening, the showers would be locked.
A few more steps and Bob noticed the flash of navy-blue, the colour of the new uniforms the prison had handed out not long after Gabriel had arrived. Some of the older inmates were being stubborn and still clinging to their old orange jumpsuits- something about it separating them from the fresh crims because all the newer inmates only had the navy clothing. It was like a fad; all the 'cool' criminals were wearing orange.
Gabriel wore navy.
Bob stopped and took a single step to the left so he could see better into the alcove he'd seen the wink of navy in. It was across the room, so the figures weren't terribly easy to make out, but sure enough, there was Gabriel. Bob let out a breath of relief; the kid looked fine. Jace's taller, stronger build was there too, his orange jumpsuit only half on, the sleeves tied around his waist to reveal his white singlet and defined arms. From the looks of things, the two were arguing again.
David's words about Gabriel repeated themselves in Bob's head. Curiosity got the better of him and he took a few more steps closer to get a better look. At this distance he couldn't hear a single word of their conversation, no matter how heated it might be, but thought that perhaps he could pick something up on their body language alone. Nevertheless, Bob was entirely unprepared for the next bit of body language he saw. Gabriel reached up and kissed his own brother full on the lips.
-~X~-
Bart had his forehead planted firmly on the desk, his arms wrapped tightly around his head in an attempt to keep some of the streaming natural light out of his eyes. It was only half working, but he had already fallen asleep about four times within the hour so he didn't really care.
Beside him, one of the other boys elbowed him in the side- or at least that's what it felt like. Bart grunted out a warning but refused to lift his head. Instead he shifted around to get comfortable again before sighing and tugging back the dark corners of sleep.
Without warning there was a sudden searing pain in his ear. Someone had a hold of Bart's earring, which had been recently exchanged from a piece of wire to a silver sleeper thanks to Henry. Despite that, it still killed. Especially when they pulled on it, forcing Bart to lift his head so the thing wasn't ripped from his earlobe.
"Wake-y wake-y, sunshine."
Cringing, Bart blinked his eyes a few times to clear them before he could see who it was standing over him. Colin smirked down at him, still with a painful grip on Bart's earring. Straight away, Bart shot his hand out and caught Colin's wrist.
"Let it go, dickhead," he growled.
Colin's smirk disappeared when Bart squeezed his wrist as tightly as he could. "Fuck you. The teacher told me to wake your slow ass up."
Keeping his head as still as possible, Bart glared at Colin. "Not by ripping my ear in two, I'm sure. Now let go."
"You let go."
"So you can pull it out? No thanks. You first."
"Age before beauty," Colin said frankly.
"Just let it go you son of a bitch, or I'll kick you in the nuts again."
Colin stiffened. "That was a low blow, you know. Only girls do that."
"I'm sure you'd know all about that."
A different, older voice chimed in: "How about you both let go of each other before everyone starts to get the wrong idea about you two." Henry smiled down at the both of them.
Colin immediately let go, and Bart followed suite, removing his hand to probe gently at his burning ear.
"Get what wrong idea?" Colin snapped, looking confused and hesitant.
"The idea that you're vying for Bart here's attention," Henry clarified.
Frowning, Colin looked from Henry to Bart, then back again. "That's stupid. You're stupid."
Bart smothered a grin and watched as Colin scowled and stormed off to his table, where the teacher was working one-on-one with another boy. She didn't look overly ecstatic by his return. Resting his cheek on his arm, Bart looked up at Henry.
"What do you want?"
"It's nice to see you, too. I'm not actually here for you, though. I've come to talk to Colin."
"Well I think you kinda scared him off."
Henry smiled again. "It's amazing what can scare a teenager." He chuckled and straightened, about to move over to Colin's table, when he seemed to remember something. "But hey, now that I'm seeing you, there is something I'd like to talk to you about."
Bart yawned widely, stretching his arms out along the table so far he shuffled the papers across from him, earning a growl and a, "Watch it," from the boy sitting there.
Henry arched an eyebrow. "I love your enthusiasm. Anyway, it's about your behaviour-"
"Oh god," Bart groaned. "What did I do now?"
"That's the thing. You haven't done anything."
Scrunching his nose up, Bart paused for a moment. "And...that's a bad thing?"
Henry's eyes crinkled merrily behind his glasses."Quite the opposite. It's fantastic. Everyone is really quite impressed. Keep it up."
Henry pulled away from the table, ruffled Bart's hair, and strolled over to talk to the teacher in charge of the tiny classroom. She nodded her consent and Henry led Colin from the room. Bart hoped it was about Colin being let out, if only because then he'd be rid of the idiot.
Awake now, like it or not, Bart looked across to the only other occupied table and the teacher, who was still trying hard to get one of the boys to understand the lesson. Bart's vision unfocused into a blur though when his mind quickly wandered to other places, namely, why the juvie staff might think his behaviour was changing.
Because it wasn't. Was it?
-~X~-
Everything slowed right down. Bob's whole body froze in utter bewilderment. There, right across the room, mostly hidden in an alcove, Gabriel- timid, speech-impaired, spirited Gabriel- was crushing his lips against his big brother, Jace's.
Bob didn't know what to think. Not even when Jace suddenly propelled the heels of his hands into Gabriel's chest, shoving him away and into the other side of the niche in the wall. He looked (understandably) livid. There was obvious yelling on the part of Jace, but Bob couldn't see Gabriel's face to be able to tell if he was joining in or not. The yelling didn't last long before the punching began. Jace laid into his brother, his fists flying, and Gabriel did nothing to retaliate or even stop the attack.
Feeling paralysed, it didn't even compute straight away to Bob that Gabriel needed help. He was still stuck on 'error' with the image of the kiss. But when Gabriel fell to the floor and Jace started flogging him with kicks, the ice that encased Bob's body melted and he was free to dash over to the alcove. When he got there, the blood specks on the wall immediately told him just how serious Jace was in injuring Gabriel.
Bob grabbed Jace's arm and said in an even voice, "Stop," and surprisingly, Jace did.
Heaving for breath and red in the face, Jace stopped still and stared at Gabriel for a good minute. Then he turned and pushed past Bob, the second person to do so that day. Bob watched him go before turning back to Gabriel. The brunette was facing the wall, his body shuddering.
"Gabriel?" Bob asked, slowly crouching down beside him.
Another, stronger shudder rolled through Gabriel's body and he moaned, the sound reminiscent of the noises Bob's childhood dog had made after she was run over by a car and her hindquarters were squashed like pancakes. Bob quickly jumped up.
"Gabriel, I'll be right back. I'm going to go get some help," he said hastily before jogging back the way he'd come. He spotted a guard and ran up to him and explained that he'd found Gabriel injured, leaving out the part about Jace entirely. He would deal with him when he got an explanation from Gabriel.
The guard pulled out his walkie-talkie to call in as he followed Bob back to the alcove, where Gabriel was trying to sit up. Bob could see his face now and it wasn't pretty. Another guard appeared and together the two officers talked to Gabriel briefly before they put one of Gabriel's arms around each of their shoulders and hefted him up off the floor. Without a word from any of them, they half-carried Gabriel out of general population, leaving Bob behind with naught but his painfully confusing questions.
At dinner, Gabriel was absent, which wasn't much of a surprise. Bob sought out a guard he was on reasonable terms with and asked for information, but she had no idea. It seemed no one did. When the inmates were all sent back to their cells that night and the bars slid shut behind them, Bob found himself alone. The prison had never sounded so quiet as it did that night.
-~X~-
In line with the rest of the criminals involved with the program, Bob was led into the usual spacious room and their restraints were unlocked. Bart was already there, sitting in the usual spot in the usual chair. His feet were propped up on the chair opposite him, which had been dragged closer so he could do so, his ankles crossed. As Bob approached he watched Bart scratch his scalp with his thumbnail.
"Mind if I sit down?" Bob asked, and without waiting for a response he pulled the chair back until Bart's feet slid off, and then sat down on the chair. It still left him closer than usual, but he wasn't about to shuffle it back to create distance.
"What's the point in asking if it wasn't a question?" Bart grumbled as he straightened in his seat to accommodate for the lack of elevation of his feet.
"Technically is was a question, even if you didn't answer."
Bart narrowed his eyes at him in a thoughtful manner and crossed his arms over his chest. "Gee, what's up with you?"
Sighing, Bob rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and tried to work the crick he'd woken up with out. "Some...strange things have been happening. Prison life isn't what it used to be."
"What's changed?" Bart asked, sounding genuinely curious.
"Gabriel. He has changed so much more than I can even express." He paused to smile thinly and sigh again. "It's all been unravelling ever since his arrival, so much so that I'm starting to trip over the threads."
"I really don't know what you're talking about, you know," Bart said flatly. "Just tell me what's happened."
Even though he knew he shouldn't be discussing something that not only he hadn't been privy to in the first place, but also something he hardly believed himself, Bob found the words spilling out before he could stop himself. "Most recently? I witnessed something I'm having a hard time understanding and coming to terms with. I saw Gabriel kissing his...well, his brother."
Bart's eyes bulged and he quickly lurched forwards so his elbows were on his knees. "What- for real? Sick!"
"It certainly looked for real," Bob murmured, suddenly wishing for some good wine to take the edge off. "I was looking for Gabriel and I found them hiding away, arguing. Then Gabriel kissed Jace. It only lasted for three seconds maximum before Jace shoved him away and began bashing the stuffing out of him."
"Ooh, so he didn't share his brother's enthusiasm, then?" Bart said, trying to keep a grin down.
"I suppose not. The worst part is that I haven't been able to talk to Gabriel about it because he was immediately taken to the medical bay, and perhaps even the hospital, I don't know."
Bart shrugged and slowly drifted back into his seat. "I'm not sure what else he's gonna say except 'I get a hard on for my brother,' so I wouldn't let worrying about it get to you."
The ease with which Bart accepted what Bob had told him shocked the redhead. Shouldn't he be scandalised? Repulsed? Bob wasn't exactly thinking on the memory with fondness, yet Bart had already moved on and was telling him not to be concerned with it.
"Well that was my biggest piece of news. What of you? Anything interesting happen to you lately?"
Happy to change the subject, it seemed, Bart nodded. "Yeah, my room-mate, Colin, the one who pierced my ear and who I kicked in the nuts, isn't bothering me any more."
"He was released?" Bob guessed.
"Nope. He was taken out of class and talked to by one of the staff members, and he never came back. Later when I went back to my room he was there. He looked terrible, like he'd been crying or something." Bart shrugged carelessly. "Whatever it was, I'm glad. That guy is annoying as fuck, and any peace I get is a miracle."
"He could have been given some bad news from home," Bob suggested, watching as Bart pulled a 'what do I care?' face.
"Not my problem. Maybe if the guy wasn't a dick bad things wouldn't happen to him."
"Maybe he's a dick because bad things happen to him."
Bart snorted and frowned at Bob. "What, are you trying to defend him? What's up with that? The guy's horrible to me."
"I guess I like to think that you are capable of more than just hatred and vengeance," Bob said softly. "Those things certainly didn't work out so well for me, and now I'm paying the price."
The blond's expression dropped into one of pensive surprise, and for a moment he stared at Bob so intently that it felt as if his gaze was burning right through flesh and bone to the mysterious part of a person that held their soul. Then he looked away, just as it became uncomfortable for Bob.
"I think I might finally have a topic that you'll shy away from," Bart said, changing the topic himself this time.
"Hit me."
"Your family, and by family I don't mean your relatives, I mean your wife and your son. Are they waiting for you?"
Of all the things Bart could have drudged up, Bob hadn't been expecting this one. But he wasn't going to shy away from it, regardless. "No, they're not. And even if they were, I'm not waiting for them. Alan changed a lot of things, including Francesca's entire perspective- though it was on its way all by itself. The amount of time I'm serving didn't help, either. I tainted them both so supremely. I don't see myself ever contacting them again. It wouldn't be good for anyone involved. Perhaps one day, if Gino chooses to contact me when he's older and understands better, things could change."
Biting on the tip of his thumb, Bart nodded. "Makes sense."
"Are your family visiting you here?" Bob asked.
"Yeah. Once a week. This isn't my first time in Juvie, so I guess they're getting used to the place."
Bob tilted his head and watched Bart as he shuffled around on his seat. "I don't suppose they know about me, do they?"
Bart snorted and grinned at Bob like he'd just said something funny. "You say that like you're my secret boyfriend or something and you want me to introduce you. Of course they know; I complained to them when we were first paired off. Oh yeah, and Lisa says hi." He rolled his eyes. "From a few weeks ago. I forgot."
Bob felt quite like rolling his own eyes. Boyfriend, indeed. "Well then if you wouldn't mind, please offer her a greeting in return."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll add it to my to-do-list." Bart mimed pulling out a notepad and flicking through the pages before licking an invisible pen. As he wrote mid-air he muttered, "Tell annoying sister hi from murderer, who likes her more than you even though you were the one he'd been trying to kill for years." He snorted an exhale of laughter, though it sounded almost defensive, and hesitated a second before crossing his arms and looking across the room instead of at Bob.
Initially, Bob felt an urge to contend what Bart had said, but he did like Lisa, and he didn't like Bart. That was how it was. Plain and simple. Done and dusted. And he didn't want to lie to the boy. So he kept his mouth shut, even as something inside him- something old- stirred, forced to life by the one sitting so close Bob could reach out and touch him.
The anger.
