//Day four, finally.  Jack's week is moving quite slowly.  I can't seem to keep him in character for very long.

Short chapter again, but more slashiness.  Kissing alert!//

What Shadows Hide: Accusations

Jack wasn't the sort to admit to making mistakes.  If something went wrong, it was someone else's fault.  Therefore, what had happened the other day was Ralph's fault.  And Ralph would have to bear the consequences of it.

The sunlight was warm and rich today, falling heavily through the leaves.  Everything around the two boys was quiet, golden-green, and lonely.  The air was much too thick.

A hidden spot in the trees of a park can be as much of an island as a tiny body of land in the middle of the ocean.

It had been Jack's choice to meet at the same place they had met the first day.  He had thought that he could get back into the right frame of mind if he was reminded of earlier success.

So it must be Ralph's fault again that he was wrong.

Jack darted one fire and ice glare at the boy sitting next to him.  Ralph was staring into the creek, hugging his knees to his chest and almost pouting.  Everything about him screamed tension.  Jack wasn't much better off.

"Do you ever dream?" he asked, his voice calm and easy though not entirely without hesitation.  Jack winced at that slight weakness.

Ralph didn't even look up.  "Feeling talkative today, are we?"  His voice was mocking.

"What do you dream about?" Jack asked again, controlling his anger.  His control was becoming more and more splintered.

Ralph's eyes closed.  "Stuff."

"Stuff."

"You heard what I said."

Jack sighed and stretched out, tipping his head back to the sunlight.  He could feel the warmth of Ralph's eyes moving over his body and tried not to snarl at him.

Your fault.  If you would stop looking at me, stop wanting me, then I could stop wanting you.  This is your fault.

"Tell me what you dream about and then we'll go home," he said, sitting back up and hunching over to stare down at the water.  He hoped that Ralph hadn't noticed the inevitable reaction his body had taken.

Stop wanting me and I'll stop wanting you.

"What do you want to know for?" Ralph challenged.  The tension in the air was still as thick as the too-warm sunlight and Jack thought for a moment that he could feel the little electrical signals in the space between them, could tell what messages were being sent.  Maybe he could.

This is the best offer you're going to get.  Take it.

"Why do I want to know anything?  Tell me what you dream."

I don't understand why I feel like the one in a cage.

Ralph was silent for a long moment, and Jack was about to ask him again when the boy sighed and stretched his own legs out, looking up at the sky like it held the answers.  "Most of the time, I don't dream.  I sleep like a log."

Most of the time, I don't dream.  I sleep like the dead.

"Sometimes I dream about the island.  Bad things.  That stopped a while ago, but sometimes I have still have those dreams."

Sometimes I still have those dreams.  Bad things.  But they're so good, they're so right-

"Sometimes I dream-"  Ralph stopped, his eyes dark and his breath suddenly faster.

You're destroying me.

"What do you dream about, sometimes?" Jack asked, his voice slow and his breathing too fast.  It was with an almost painful jolt of fear and excitement that he realized what control was really was.

It's not going with the emotion it's not dealing in anger it's not following the pain it's all about not doing any of these things and I'm out of control I'm out and so is he-

Ralph glanced over at Jack, his trepidation clear in his face, but the glance held and became a matching stare that was too powerful for either of them to look away.

"I dream," he said quietly before Jack moved forward and kissed him hungrily, stopping his words.

Don't tell me what you dream.  I don't want to know.  I don't want to remember these promises that aren't real and I don't want to belong to you; I want to make you let me go forever and ever I want to be free-

Ralph's arms were around his neck and his arms were around Ralph's waist and neither was going to be free for some time.

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