Author: rainyday101
Rating: pg for now but it will most likely pg13 later on
Disclaimer: besides my cd collection, and my cat nos, I own nothing. This includes the Tribe and evrything affiliated with it.
Summary: while working on a project together jack starts to rethink his opinion of ram (ramjack) SLASH
a/n: i feel truly horrible about how long it took to get this chapter out, i had the most major case of writers block in the world, and it took listening to 'my chemical romance' and 'HIM' for like four hours, for inspiration to strike. please dont hate me (goes and hides in a corner)
chapter 10: and we all fall down
When Jack woke up a few hours later it was still dark, and he felt horribaly sticky, in places that he was pretty sure should'nt be feeling sticky.
With that thought, came wonderful pictures, complete with color and sound, and Jack forgot about his discomfort momentarily, in the face of such nice thoughts.
Abrupbtly he realised that he was alone in his bed, which hadn't been the case when he had fallen asleep, which led to a horribaly self concious moment, that probably would have turned into a full scale beating himself up moment if the door hadn't opened.
Ram walked in with wet hair plastered to his face, and a towel in hand.
"you're awake?"
Jack thought that it was intended as a comment, but it came out more like a question, so he nodded his head. Ram shoved his hair out of his face, casting water off in the process.
"Probably a good idea." Jack said with an embaressed grin, motioning to the stain on the front of his pants. Ram gave one of his famous little smirks in response.
Jack went to the bathroom, after quickly gathering some clean clothes, and a towel.
Stepping into the stream of freezing water was always an experiance, and as Jack scrubbed himself clean, he thought back to what he and Ram had done and felt a bit warmer, despite the waters best efforts to freeze him to death.
Once the shower of doom was over with, and Jack was perched on the edge of the toilet, with his towel wrapped tightly around him, uncertainty came back. Jack was suddenly nervous about going back to his room and facing Ram.
Or even worse NOT seeing Ram.
And if that thought didnt make his stomach squirm in a most unpleasant way. Still it wasnt like he could just stay in the bathroom forever, and the longer he stayed in there, the more he was going to get himself worked up. Besides its not like it was even that big a deal.
Oh, who was he kidding, it was a huge deal. And he'd thought that it was awkward the morning after with Ellie. At least with her he had known where he stood.
On the other hand, Ram had come back to Jack's room earlier, so that was probably a good thing right? Jack quickly pulled his clothes on, not even bothering to properly dry off, then headed back to his room, before he could talk himself back out of it.
When he got there, Ram was laying in bed, already back asleep. Jack smiled softly, and gave himself a little mental kick, for once again making something a thousand times more dramatic then it really had any buisness being.
Jack put his stuff down in the corner, telling himself that he'd pick it up in the morning, since he really had to clean his room up anyway.
He quietly slipped into bed next to Ram, doing his best not to wake Ram up. The former head techno, mumbled something in his sleep thats sounded suspiciously like something to do with computers, and rolled over, pressing himself into Jacks side.
Waking up was quite the jarring experiance, as once again Ruby was there for the process. That seemed to be happening with an alarming frequency lately.
The only difference this time, was that she wasnt smiling. "Whasa matter?" Jack mumbled sleepily. Ruby's frown deepened, and when she spoke it was a suprisingly gentle tone.
"Jack wake up, I need to talk to you about something important." That woke Jack up immediatly. Not even Ruby would say something like that unless there was something seriously wrong.
He sat up quickly, and followed Ruby out into the hall so that they wouldnt wake up Ram. "I'm awake, whats wrong?" Jack asked impatiently.
"Jack, last night something happened at the mall."
Jacks stomach turned icy, and he could'nt get his mouth to move to get Ruby to tell him what happened. When she did start talking, he wished with everything he had, that she hadnt. It felt like he could'nt breathe, and he had the sudden urge to run away, and just keep going until he collapsed.
He barely heard Ruby saying that she was sorry, nothing ws registering, and he slowly slid down the wall, until he was sitting with his legs pressed against his chest, and his head on his knees.
Ruby must have gotton Ram, because a few minutes later, or possibaly years - it was somewhat hard to tell, he came out and sat down next to Jack. They stayed silent for a long time, just sitting there on the floor. When Jack lost the glassy look in his eyes, Ram finaly broke the silence.
"What happened?"
When Jack spoke, it was in a hollow voice, that was so unlike him, it shocked Ram.
"She's dead."
"Who is?"
There was a long pause, and finaly Jack looked at Ram with tears just starting to fall down his cheeks.
"Ellie."