Title: Tastes of Home

Writer: Azure K Mello

Part: 14

Rest found here:

Feedback: Please! I wait for it like a trained dog, plus I like to know what people are thinking, it's reassuring. Thank you to everyone who has already sent me lovely note! I know this chapter took forever but the show is sucking right now. Sucking so hard in fact that my muse fell into a black hole, poor baby. Ephram is way OOC in the show itself. He's not an idiot, he's always been the insightful one.

Other notes in prior parts.

Thanks for beta-ing Jenn!

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Jackson took everything in as he walked. There was an Italian- Chinese restaurant. He walked by a diner that seemed to be the Mecca for teenage life. No one was on the street. He saw curtains flicker as he walked by first story windows. The town was so pathetic, if he could cause a stir this easily he would have loved to see how they reacted to the old Ephram, the one who did every thing to excess and at the top of his lungs. And though he was loath to admit it, he missed that other boy just a little. It wasn't that he didn't like to see Ephram happy and stable, he did. He was just sad that he hadn't witnessed the transformation. For so long he had acted as the boy's rock. Then he screwed it all up and missed the thing he had always wanted to watch, he had missed seeing Ephram finally settle into his own skin.

He blew out his breath hard and its cloud blocked his vision for a moment, his own personal plume of mist. New York's winters would never again seem quite so bad. He thought of Thanksgiving, it was only November, why was the place so cold? He wondered idly if he could get Ephram to come back with him for Thanksgiving. Well if he couldn't bring the boy to New York perhaps he could bring New York to the boy. Slowly, he silently made a list of things that had to be done. There were at least seven people he needed to talk to, and there was food to be bought. A satisfied smile played on his face as he thought of the event. He got all the way to the Duct Tape Chariot without realizing he was being followed.

It was only as he climbed into the back seat of his old Buick that he saw the shock of blond hair. He leaned out of the door, holding onto the frame, and said, "Light, right?"

"Bright," corrected the local. "Car fixed?" he asked trying to cover his glee.

"Bright, that's right, sorry. Um, no the car is not fixed. It doesn't matter though, I'm staying with Ephram for a week. So what can I do for you, Bright?" asked Jackson, using the boy's name again, as he dove back into his car.

"I can't think of any way to say this that isn't just corny."

Before Bright could continue Jackson burst out laughing. "Christ on a crucifix!" He lost his words to a current of laughter.

Bright was confused for a minute, "What?"

"There are two dozen people who could tell me not to hurt Ephram. You aren't one of them." Jackson didn't leave the confines of the car as he spoke. Under a pile of sweatshirts, that were sandy from the group's last trip to the beach, he found what he was looking for. "Ah-ha!" He stood up triumphantly and shut the car door, locking it. "You're still here."

"I wasn't going to tell you not to hurt him. I was going to tell you to leave. Leave as soon as possible. He doesn't need you coming back here and fucking him over again."

"Why don't you go and pick on someone who will actually care?" Asked Jackson as he stepped closer to the boy. "Tell me. What upsets you more? The realization that he and I are back together or the fact that he will never fuck you?"

A fist came speeding towards Jack's face but laughing, he caught Bright's wrist and twisted the hand backwards. The yelp escaped before Bright could contain it. Jackson stepped forward and closed the gap between them, he lorded his two extra inches of height over the blond. "You should be careful. Don't pick fights you can't win." He walked away without saying another word to Bright but he muttered soft to himself, "Ephram's gonna be pissed as a polecat."