Just Eat The Ice Cream – Chapter Nineteen: Caramel Swirl (Basically Vanilla with swirls of caramel)
Jack had tried to keep that black eye hidden for as long as possible. But somehow, somebody told Tina about how they went to the club the other night and talked to Jack about the bruise over his eye.
As she rubbed ointment into his face, Jack swore to kick Nick the next time he saw him. She had taken him to her house after his night shift at the club and was forcibly helping him. Jack had been afraid that her boyfriend would see the wounds and think he was weak and then beat him up worse.
"This'll help the swelling," she said as she rubbed the cream back and forth over his purple skin. "It should also help fight infection."
Jack hardly heard what she said. He was too busy staring in terror as Robin glared from the wall. Apparently he didn't even like when Tina was forcing him into her house. He just plain didn't like him.
"Tina, you don't have to keep babying me," he said, "It'll be fine as long as I keep icing it…" She scoffed at him, muttering sarcastically 'fine' and continued rubbing his eye.
It took a whole thirty minutes for her to finish making his eye sore. And once she was done, she left Jack alone in the room with her terrifying boyfriend to put the supplies away.
"Enjoying this?" Robin hissed.
"Not really," Jack said, rubbing his cheek unhappily, "It hurts worse now…"
"You're all she ever talks about, you know," the man growled. Jack blinked and looked up at him. "Jack's got an apartment now. Jack's got really great teeth. Jack's a sweetheart. Why did he ever move out?" he said angrily. "Can't you just get out of here and stay out?"
Swallowing, Jack said, "L-look… That… That's not my-"
"She's told me where your apartment is," Robin said, "She says she wants to visit you."
And once Tina came back and put a padded eye patch over his eye, Jack hurried out of the house. He didn't go home that night. He was too terrified that he was going to be having a terrifying visitor. He went straight to Pitch's house, pulling the patch off and sticking it into his pocket.
He knocked several times. It took about twelve rapid hits of his knuckles for the tall man to answer. He didn't look too thrilled- he mostly looked drained.
"Hey," he said to him quickly, "Listen, I'm really really sorry about this, but I'm a little scared to go home right now."
Pitch blinked and quickly stepped aside for Jack to hop inside. "Why are you afraid to go to your apartment?" he asked.
"Oh, no reason, really," he said, skittering over to the couch and sitting down, "Just… Scared…"
The black haired man slowly slid his feet over to where Jack was. He had the black robe around him again. Looking down at the wide eyed teenager, he asked, "What's scaring you?"
"Uh… People," Jack replied, "People who don't like me."
Pitch sat next to him. "People like who, Jack?" he asked calmly. Jack was shivering. The tall man carefully rested a hand on his shoulder.
Jack looked at Pitch when he touched him. Stilling his jitters, Jack replied, although weakly, "T-Tina's boyfriend knows where I live…"
Blinking again, Pitch asked, "Is he the one who threatened you?" Jack nodded, "Then I can see why you're frightened." Sighing, the tall man said, "Well, it's no problem. You can stay here for the night if you want." He stood up. "The couch is always open and-"
"You're leaving?" Jack asked, fear jumping back to a high level.
"Well, I was going to head back up to bed," Pitch said in reply, looking back at him. Jack's big blue eyes were wet with fear. Sighing, Pitch said, "Jack, look. I don't even know this Robin guy. He doesn't know me. There's no way he could know you're here. You're going to be fine, alright?"
Jack swallowed and looked at him. "I'll close the curtains for you, if that will help," he said, motioning to them. Jack nodded and said it would. Pitch shut them and walked back over to Jack. "I'll go get you a blanket."
The teen waited down on the couch, holding the bottom of his shirt in nervousness. Pitch came back and sighed when he saw that he still hadn't calmed down.
"Okay…" he said softly, "There's physically no way for us to share a bed tonight- I sleep on a twin. How 'bout I stay here with you until you fall asleep…?"
Jack gave him a small smile at the idea. Pitch pushed him to lie down and laid the blanket over him. He sat on the arm of the couch, next to Jack's feet. He smiled a little bit.
All at once Pitch started talking again. He started to tell a story. A beautiful tale about a lonely little snowflake that was sad because none of the other snowflakes looked like him. Jack fell asleep as Pitch said that the snowflake found a tree to sleep on.
He woke when he felt someone ruffling his hair. "Wake up, Jack…" It was Pitch.
Blinking open his eyes and smiling, Jack asked sleepily, "Did it have a happy ending?"
Chuckling, Pitch replied, "The snowflake learned he didn't need to look like the others to be happy. He found a home where the snow never melted and lived happily ever after."
"Hooray," Jack said softly before yawning. Pitch chuckled some more.
"Sleep well?" his tall friend asked, sitting down next to him on the couch, handing him a mug of coffee, pre-made the way Jack liked it.
Nodding and taking a big sip, Jack said, "Yeah. Thanks for dealing with me… Sorry I was so worked up."
Pitch only gave him an understanding smile. "It's okay," he said, "I didn't need to get a good night's sleep anyway." Jack pouted at him. "How's the eye?" Pitch asked.
Jack gently touched it. "It's alright," he said, "Tina was putting tons of ointment on it last night." Pitch smiled. "Didn't work nearly as well as the kisses, though." Now Pitch's smile fell to a scowl and he rolled his eyes.
Nudging his arm, Jack asked, "Could I get another one?"
"No," Pitch replied, nudging right back, making Jack yelp and grab his arm. "Sorry."
"Meanie," Jack whimpered, rubbing his bruised arm. Pitch groaned at him and told him that he was hopeless. Then Jack felt him lift his hand away from his arm and those soft, cool lips press against the bruise. And next Pitch lifted his head and placed a soft kiss to Jack's eye. Jack smiled as he counted out the seconds that it lasted. Twelve… Pitch had pressed his lips to Jack's face for twelve seconds.
The lips left his face. Jack turned toward the older man with a smile. "Thanks," he whispered.
"If you ever tell anyone I'll kill you," Pitch said. Jack laughed openly at that.
Squeezing Pitch's arm, Jack said, "I'm gonna blackmail you into telling me all your secrets!" Pitch rolled his eyes at that and gave Jack a playful push on the chest.
Jack had to leave at that point, though he was nervous about it. His apartment seemed unchanged, though. Maybe he was just being silly.
He went to the shop and dodged a flying container of waffle cones. Bella had tripped and they had gone flying. He caught the tray, but a lot fell out and onto the floor anyway. He looked at the girl and stared in horror. She was a walking death trap!
He tried to avoid her whenever she had anything heavy or metal or sharp in her hands. He was not going to risk getting a limb cut off.
Managing to escape the shop without any serious injury, Jack hurried to the club. About ten minutes after the night started, Nick showed up. Apparently he had another date. This time with a man that Jack honestly found really attractive. He had that George Clooney kind of aged handsome to him. And though Jack was happy Nick seemed excited to meet him, this left Jack even more confused. Was Nick into women or men?!
It killed him all night long. He desperately wanted to know. If he looked over and saw them kissing he was determining that Nick swung for the same team as Jack. Actually, Jack would've been kind of horrified to see his old friend kissing anyone. Especially if it included tongue. It would be as scarring as hearing Tina fucking her boyfriend had been!
Thinking of which, Jack actually couldn't remember the last time he'd been laid. He didn't really feel like he needed it, but it might've been nice. 'Course, he didn't really have time for any of that, did he…? Not with these jobs…
That was okay. Jack could handle being perceived as a lonely, constantly horny teenager. It wasn't true, so it didn't bother him.