The night before they'd spent the night in an old, abandoned building. Jack had mentally thrown himself off of a bridge for not thinking to grab blankets, but they'd covered themselves with coats as much as possible and curled together to keep warm. God, how he hated winter. If it were summer or possibly somewhere more tropical like THE ISLAND they wouldn't have to worry about anything, but as was, he had to make sure that Percival didn't get sick and die.
He was really regretting taking Percival along with him. He'd formed an attachment to the boy while he'd stayed with him – the kid was like a little brother he'd never had – and he didn't want Percival to die. Whether it be by Roger's hand or pneumonia, Jack had a bad idea that Percival was going to be dead by the time this whole goddam thing was over.
"I think I know where we need to go," Percival said over their breakfast of a piece of bread each and warmed-up snow. "Do you- do you have money? 'Cause we might need to get someone to drive us there."
Jack nodded. He'd grabbed money when he'd first left his house about a week ago, but had never thought of using it to help out Percival and his family. Now he was glad of that – they could maybe even buy some hot food for lunch or something. That would be fun, and it would warm them up.
About fifteen minutes later, they were in a car and Percival was telling the driver an address that Jack had never heard before in his life. Probably someone that could help them or something; who knew? Hopefully they would let the two stay for the night, whoever it was. Nobody could be so heartless as to turn out two hungry, cold
Shut the fuck up Jacky you know you would've you would've locked the door and kept doing whatever you'd been doing; READING or WRITING or PLAYING YOUR STUPID PIANO because you can't sing anymore but you sure as hell can PLAY THAT PIANO because you PRACTICE FOR HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS because ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS MUSIC AND YOU SUCK AT IT YOU DON'T REALLY CARE you want to do music TO SAY YOU DO MUSIC not because you have any TALENT or PASSION
But that's not true. Jack had used to have talent and passion, for singing, at least. It wasn't his fault he had to practice hard at the piano. Even if you don't have any talent, you can make up for it in lots and lots of practice, right? He thought so. At least, he hadn't been too bad at piano by the end of it.
The end of it. He was talking like he was about to die or some shit like that. He laughed softly, shaking his head.
"Are you alright?" Percival asked him, concerned. Jack nodded, grinning, and just watched out the window the rest of the way to this mysterious address. He paid the man and grabbed both his and Percival's bags – Percival was likely to forget it and Jack didn't want to have to track down that man.
The house they were standing in front of was an average-sized house, an off-white, and was probably home to an average family.
There was a screech from inside, then a shouted curse.
Okay.
Not the average family.
"They're in here," Percival said, walking quickly up to the door. Jack had to run to catch up.
"What? Who?" he asked. Percival looked up at him and smiled.
"Bill and Ralph!"
Fuck fuck fuck if Bill has done ANYTHING with Ralph kill him Jacky KILL THAT MOTHERFUCKER RALPH IS YOURS JACK RALPH IS YOURS
Percival took his hand and tugged him closer to the door. "I know it's hard," he said. "But try to suppress it. We're here for a reason. You can't kill Bill. Besides, Bill and Ralph are in a sort of fight right now. I don't think they'll be even remotely couply."
Percival rang the doorbell, and someone ran down the stairs and threw the door open.
Standing before them was Bill Boudreau. He'd grown a lot since the island, and he'd gotten muscular as well. He stood barechested in front of them, with jeans slung low on his hips. There was a bit of bandage peeking out over top of them. For some inconceivable reason, he was wearing sunglasses.
Sunglasses and no shirt inside in December.
Really, Jack shouldn't be surprised by this. Bill had always been a little weird.
Bill looked closely at them, then took off his sunglasses and looked again. "Who…" he trailed off. Jack could tell he knew who they were. Or he at least had a guess.
"Jack Merridew," Jack said. Bill's gaze switched down to Percival. "That's Percival."
Bill nodded, but he still looked like he didn't trust them. Why would he trust you Jacky you nearly ROASTED HIM ALIVE he was one of the last ones out of the fire don't you remember he nearly DIED because of YOU.
"Why are you here? No offense, but this really isn't the best time," he said. When they didn't turn around and leave, he sighed. "Fine. Come on, Merridew."
The inside of the house was much warmer than outside – of course it was Jacky, why the hell would Bill be shirtless if it wasn't – and Jack welcomed this sudden warmth. It looked like Percival enjoyed this, too, because he smiled and stopped shaking so much.
"Who's here?" someone called, and then Ralph, skinny and pale and with bags under his eyes that rivaled what Roger had always had, appeared. He looked at Jack and obviously recognized him, because he turned even paler. "Oh great. You brought your savage friends to kill me."
"No- Ralph-"
Well. Something had happened between them. Jack couldn't help but feel a bit happy at this – if they weren't together together anymore, he maybe wouldn't have to kill Bill Jack get a hold on yourself you don't have to kill BILL he was one of your BEST FRIENDS and one of your MOST LOYAL SUBJECTS he did WHATEVER YOU ASKED with no QUESTION or ALTERCATIONS TO THE PLAN.
"Sorry," Bill said, sighing. "Something… we ran into someone a few days ago. I just got out of the hospital."
"Roger?" Jack asked. It was a complete guess, but who else would (or could, from the looks of those muscles) put Bill in the hospital?
Bill looked a bit suspicious. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Just a guess," Jack said. He was doing well, conversing like a normal person, almost.
"He fucked everything up," Bill sighed. "Put me in the hospital for a few days, Ralph had to stay with my family, and not only that but he screwed things up between me and Ralph."
"How'd he manage to do that?" Jack asked. "I mean, if unless you pretended to be some other guy, wouldn't he know-"
"He forgot about me," Bill said. "He forgot that I'd been a… a choirboy. All he remembered was that I was on the island. And Roger… told him everything."
"So you lied to him," Jack said, nodding. Bill darkened a little. "Well, I guess you're just that forgettable you can tell people whatever you want and they'll never know the difference."
"Shut up," Bill said. "And get out. Why the hell are you here anyway?"
"We came to warn you," Percival said, speaking for the first time since they'd gotten here. "About Roger and Maurice."
"Maurice?" Bill looked confused for a moment, then shrugged. "They've already come after us. And neither of us died. I mean, Roger stabbed me, but it didn't hit anything vital."
"Take this seriously," Jack snapped. Bill made a face. "Roger managed to coerce Maurice into killing his father."
"Maurice's dad was a shitty dad anyway," Bill said. "Wouldn't take much to make Maurice want to kill that one."
"You're missing the point! They're going to come after you guys again and you're both going to die! I don't even know why I care if you guys die, but here I am and you're just brushing it off like it's nothing!" Jack said, taking a step toward Bill, who raised an eyebrow. "Damn it, Bill, you can't just do this! You're going to end up killing him!"
"Why do you care?" Bill asked. "Last time I saw you, you were trying to hunt him down and put his head on a stick."
But that's not true is it that was all Roger's idea right not your idea at all who are you kidding you were INSANE not like you aren't now of course but you didn't know what you were doing you were young and impressionable and hanging around people like Roger couldn't have done much for your mental stability it wasn't your fault nothing that happened there was your fault not Simon dying not Piggy dying none of it was your fault none of it was your fault not your fault not your fault it wasn't your fault
"Jack," Percival tugged on his sleeve. It really was good to have him around. He could keep Jack sane when nobody else could.
He reminded Jack of Simon, in a way.
Hopefully he wouldn't die.
"I-" Jack cut himself off. "I didn't mean to. I… he…"
"You were a fucked up kid. You wanted him dead because you couldn't have him," Bill said. "And now you probably want me dead, because I've gotten closer to him than you ever could-"
"You're not closer to him now, are you?" Jack interrupted, and Bill just looked at him, slightly pinkish. "Face it, Bill, the only way you were able to get him to like you was by lying to him. At least I never did that."
"Get out of here," Bill said. He fumbled for his sunglasses and put them back on, and Jack understood why he had them. They helped keep him calm; if he thought nobody could see what he was feeling he wouldn't show how he felt.
Also, they did make him look cool.
"Get out before-"
"Let them stay," Ralph said. He was back. "What's a few more savages? No offense, Percival, you were just a littleun. You didn't know better."
With that, he turned on his heel and left the room again.
…
Dinner was… awkward, to say the least. Bill had cooked. He wasn't very good, and Jack could barely recognize the food as food. Ralph was silent for the most part, picking at his food, sitting beside Percival. Jack had been stuck beside Bill.
"So," Bill said finally. "We could stick Jack and Percival in the living room-"
"I can share with Percival," Ralph said. "You can share with Jack."
"I don't want to share with him. I'll take the couch," Jack said. Ralph rolled his eyes. Bill looked relieved.
"Look, Ralph, I'm sorry-" Bill was trying to apologize again. Ralph, it seemed, was having none of it. It really was a miracle Bill was still living with Ralph, however those arrangements had happened in the first place.
"I'm going to bed," Ralph said, pushing away from the table and leaving the room. "If you two need to know where anything is, Bill will tell you."
and here we go
i don't know how long they'll be around bill and ralph but
also to the guest reviewer who said they were worried about the bad guys winning, it only looks like that now. they'll have a major loss by the end of maurice's next chapter.
and also to emma i know percival's last name is spelled wrong, i screwed up earlier and just decided to keep it that way for continuity's sake
