//I officially LOATHE essays.  Especially the ones with INTENTIONALLY vague parameters.  Stupid midterms…

Time to get back to the much more exciting medium of fanfiction.  The first part of this may seem slightly cliché (well, hasn't the whole damn series so far?) and a little OOC, but it does fit!  Really.  Jack has good reasons for what he does, and they're all steeped in cold calculation and total disregard for what Ralph wants.  Heheh.//

What Shadows Hide: Deal with the Devil

"What are you up to?" Ralph asked bluntly, turning finally to face Jack again.  Jack blinked back at him, feigning mild indignation.

"What kind of question is that?" he asked, coming to a standstill just slightly ahead of Ralph, following newly surfaced instincts that he didn't quite understand yet.  When Ralph squinted against the sun to look up at him, Jack knew he was reading this situation right- even if he didn't understand why.

"Why are you playing this-" Ralph stopped, snapping his jaws shut as what he was saying made it into his brain.  "I see."

"What, you don't like this game anymore?"  Jack smirked.  "You were the one who chose it."

"I did not."

Jack narrowed his eyes, leaning close to him.  "Take responsibility for your actions, Ralph.  This is what you wanted, after all."

"What I wanted- what I want is for you to leave me alone!" Ralph snarled.  Jack laughed out loud.

"You don't even know what you're talking about!" he said, wrapping an arm quickly and securely around Ralph's shoulders.  Ralph's whole body went rigid.

"Would you mind letting me go?"

Jack pretended to think this over.  "Mm… yes."

"Jack-"  Ralph tried to wriggle away, but Jack turned to face him and grabbed both of his shoulders.

"How about this, then," he said calmly.  "A deal, if you will."

Ralph looked at him suspiciously.  "Yeah?"

"A simple thing, really," Jack continued, looking up at the sky while trying to hide his grin.

"Are you going to talk, or what?"

"I'll leave you alone, if that's what you really want," Jack began.

"That is what I want!" Ralph shouted, stepping back and knocking Jack's hands off his shoulders.  A few people walking by looked over at them, but said nothing.

"But you give me a week to prove you wrong on that."  Jack crossed his arms over his chest, staring at Ralph in a manner he knew the other boy found disconcerting.

"I'm bargaining for personal space?" Ralph asked sarcastically.  Jack smiled mildly.

"Whatever you want to call it," he said agreeably.  He knew that Ralph was off-balance, anxious, even desperate-

He knew that Ralph would fall for this.

"Done, then," Ralph said flatly, holding out his hand.  Jack shook it and smiled.

He had known that Ralph wouldn't realize just how much was bargaining.

"One week, starting tomorrow.  Done."

It was the simple plans that succeeded.  Everyone knew that.

Jack rolled over onto his back and growled at the window.  The moon was almost full, there were no clouds at all, and he didn't have any curtains.  It was much too bright for sleep, much too dark for anything but thinking.

In one week, with Ralph's full permission and willing participation, Jack knew he could figure out just what was so special about the other boy.  And then it would be over.  He wouldn't need Ralph anymore.

That was, debatably, the most amusing part.  Ralph obviously thought that Jack wanted nothing more than sex and to humiliate him, and that this would have to be curbed after the week limit.  Not that those things weren't nice, but they weren't necessary.  Not for what Jack needed.

The wind had picked up during his musings and the shadow from a tall, naked tree was skipping erratically over the opposite wall.  Jack watched this rather than the moonlight, thinking about his plan of attack.

When you want to know the color, the texture, the very taste of a person's soul, how do you capture those elusive strains?

Sex was one way, but that had to be an entirely mutual and enthusiastic.  Fear and hatred was another, but that was tricky at best, especially in such a short amount of time.  So...

What to do?

What's the least confrontational, most confusing and intimate way of revealing someone's soul?

The answer wasn't that difficult, really, just a bit unexpected.

Jack had to laugh.  It would be worth all the trouble, just to see Ralph's face.

Hopefully, that confusion and anger and still-fertile fear would keep Ralph from discovering anything Jack might accidentally reveal at the same time.

//Review if you like, flame if you have to, blink in confusion if you just don't get it.//