Ch. 6

"You think you can make a fool out of me and I'll just let it slide again, and again and again?" A loud slam and hushed voices made Eric halt outside of the apartment door. He'd noticed a moving van outside on the street of their building. He'd assumed neighbors were moving out but in the back of his mind, he recalled Jack mentioning that his step-father had been giving him grief for staying alone in the apartment with Eric. He suspected that there was more to their relationship, and he wasn't wrong. Eric knew that there was no way Jack would ever be brave enough to tell his family the truth. Now, listening to them fight, he understood why.

"I'm sorry. I just… wanted to look out for Eric. He's not as smart as I am. He needs me to help him study." Eric frowned. Jack had tried to make it sound like he was putting Eric down but even outside, Eric could hear the waver in his voice.

"You can do that over the phone. He doesn't need you here."

"You don't need me at home!" Silence, and Eric could swear he heard a quiet cracking sound. Jack made a small whimpering noise and a muffled cry. "Sir."

"What?"

"I just think that Eric needs me more. Sir." Shuffling. "Please. Don't. Eric will be home soon."

"What am I supposed to do? You don't listen to me. You deliberately do the opposite of everything that I tell you to do." Shuffling closer to the door. Quiet, almost nervous shuffling away from the door. "That just makes me think that I'm going to have to do something to show you that I'm not kidding around."

More shuffling, faster. A loud slam and a thump as something or someone hit the wall. Then silence. "Please, I'll move out I promise." A loud thud and a peal of laughter as Jack let out a cry of pain. "I promise!"

"No. in fact, I don't think we want you back. Stay here with your little boy-toy. I'm sure you can relate to him on a personal level."

Sudden movement and another quiet crack. Silence and a sound like a whimper. "What does that mean?" Jack hissed.

"What do you think it means? You used to be smarter than this." Shuffling closer and closer to the door and Eric had to hurry down the hall as the door opened. Eric waited ten minutes after Jack's stepfather left, trying to understand what he had heard before he jammed his key in the lock. Taking five tries to finally get it in the right way. He knew what it sounded like but he wasn't so quick to jump to conclusions. Jack was old enough to take care of himself but he'd always been less sure of himself around his stepfather.

"Jack?" he called out to the empty apartment. "Jack, are you home?" He hoped his acting skills hadn't completely faded away. He noticed the photo frame of Eric and Jack at Rachel's going away party lay broken on the floor. The photo frames on the wall were skewed at odd angles and what looked like smeared blood coated a corner of the wall.

Jack appeared out of the bedroom, cradling his wrist. The bone appeared to be forming oddly behind the quickly purpling skin and he held it gently, trying not to shift it any particular way. Eric bounded up the steps, gingerly moving Jack's hands. He noticed a small cut above Jack's eye.

"What happened?"

"I fell. In the shower. I think I might've broken it. Clumsy me." He smiled humbly, looking Eric in the eye. And if Eric hadn't heard him arguing with his step-father, he might've believed it. He thought back to a time a few months ago when Jack had come back from holiday with his parents sporting a wide bruise on his ribs. He claimed to have fallen down some stairs but, later on when he really thought about it, Eric remembered that Jack's parents' house didn't have any stairs. A lot of memories started to have a new tint to them. He's been lying to me for months.

"Jack, that doesn't make sense. I would've noticed it when you took a shower this morning. I was kind of there."

Jack studied the hardwood floor. "Well I took another shower this afternoon."

"Yeah, only you had classes until four today and if you'd taken one when you got back, your hair would still be wet. Jack, you—"

Jack looked Eric straight in the eye, the emotion behind his expression unreadable. He almost seemed… determined. He suddenly launched himself into Eric's arms, forcing his lithe body flush against Eric's with surprising strength. He was thinner than Eric remembered but before he had time to dwell on that thought, Jack's uninjured hand wound itself through Eric's hair. He stared deep into Eric's eyes, barely contained fear shining through his newfound determination.

Eric swallowed and tried to speak. "Jack—"

Jack pulled Eric's lips to his and held him there for a moment, breathing, just long enough for Eric to notice just how intensely his body was shaking. He'd never actually initiated a kiss before, so this was somewhat monumental. Eric started to pull away, the need to say something, anything, to stop the shaking almost overwhelmed him. Jack held him there, his body belying his hidden strength. He shyly maneuvered Eric up the steps and to his bedroom, his tongue sliding past Eric's lips and shaking his ability to speak for good. As Eric was being pulled into Jack's bedroom, Jack somehow managed to keep his surely broken wrist hidden. Every time Eric managed the strength to try and pull away, Jack became stronger and more desperate, pulling himself taller and making their kiss more severe. Finally, Eric gave up and let himself be backed into the room until the backs of his knees touched the bed. Eric tried to block out the warm tears blending into their kiss. He wasn't sure who they belonged to.

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Today was a very bad day. For Jack and Shawn. Jack was glaring and making cutting remarks about Shawn's coddling and Shawn had finally decided not to just sit there and take it. They were still throwing insults back and forth when Eric entered. Jack froze, remembering he'd asked Eric to come at ten, which had come and gone seven minutes ago. Shawn was eyeing Eric resentfully.

"What the hell are you doing here? I told you to stay away." He seethed, unaware that this comment finally sent Jack over the edge.

"Don't start that crap again, Shawn! I've been telling you to leave for days now and you haven't gone anywhere. I still have no clue why I'm here and you won't tell me anything. The doctors agree and even the fucking shrink thinks you should tell me. What's your problem?" Shawn's eyes widened. Jack's voice hadn't been that strong and biting in months. He started to respond but Jack made it clear he wasn't finished. "I've gotten sick and tired of your shit. I get it, you're trying to keep me safe but there's a big difference between safe and hidden away. A big fucking difference!"

Eric was eyeing Jack carefully, sensing where this would end up if Shawn decided not to just keep quiet. "You have no idea how much I've changed to be here everyday for you. And I'm sorry if you think I've been hard on you because at least you're alive. You should be…"

"But I'm not am I? And if it wasn't for Eric, I wouldn't have been found in time."

"And if it wasn't for your precious Eric, you wouldn't have been hurt at all." Shawn shot back, eyes matching Jack's for intensity. This was one of the few times the two men actually seemed related.

"You don't know that."

"Did he ever tell you about that time months ago, you showed up to my birthday party with bruises and you looked like you hadn't slept in months? I tried to get you to talk to me but you brushed me off and stayed close to him all night. I even went as far as to ask him and he ignored me too. So how am I supposed to trust him?"

"Shawn, Eric didn't do that to me." Jack said, eyes lowered, seemingly trying to sink further into the bed. Eric stood quietly, resisting the urge to apologize. That night he'd been trying to be loyal to Jack without really knowing what secret he was helping Jack to hide. He had his own suspicions but he hadn't gotten answers. He was set on trying to help keep Jack's stress level low. Maybe if he'd just let Shawn help, Jack would've been okay.

"Let me guess, you fell? That's bullshit, Jack."

"Shawn, can we just talk about this later?" If he hadn't of spent days and months observing Jack for any sign or stress, readying himself to care for Jack at any sign of distress, Eric wouldn't have noticed that slowly, and gradually, Jack's body was starting to shake. Eric silently willed Jack to calm down or at least for Shawn to shut up. This situation was quickly approaching panic mode.

"No, we can't. Do you expect me to trust him? After all of that? Either you get him out of here or you start giving me some answers."

Somewhere in the middle of Shawn tirade, Jack started gasping for breath, his eyes going wide. Eric saw the panic washing over Jack's paled features and hurried past Shawn.

"Jack? Look at me. Breathe. Just take a deep breath and focus on breathing with me." Eric commanded, holding Jack's shoulder's firmly to get his attention. Jack concentrated on Eric's worried eyes and tried to breathe but he could already feel the familiar pounding of his heart racing. He panted, eyes traveling to the lamp, the television, Shawn's worried, flushed face, the door, Eric's face, and the tray. Eric gave up and took Jack's face in his hands, watching Jack's gaze immediately focus on him. "Breathe. One, two, three…" Jack was slowly calming down and his heart was slowing down and the fear dissipated.

Shawn watched Eric kiss Jack's forehead as the shaking stopped. When Eric was sure Jack was okay again, he stepped back and finally seemed to take notice that Shawn hadn't left. "Thank you." Jack whispered wearily.

Shawn took Eric down the hall. "Look, I don't know if you showing up was a surprise or if you guys planned it," Eric opened his mouth but Shawn continued. "I don't care. But obviously this isn't working anymore. Maybe it's best if I leave him alone for a while. Come by every two days for a couple of hours. Me staying with him all the time just isn't working out. And you… seem care about him as much as I do."

Eric nodded slowly. "If you're sure."

Shawn shook his head and stalked off towards the elevator. As the door opened, he turned back to Eric. "I'm still don't trust you. Know that. He's getting discharged as soon as Monday so it's not like I could've kept you from him for long." Shawn obviously didn't know Eric had been staying with his parents for the past four weeks. "If I notice any sign, and I mean any sign at all, that you've been hurting him, I'll finish what I started when Jack first got here."

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"Shawn! Stop it! What the- what the hell are you doing!" Cory was shouting louder and louder and the only thing he had accomplished was making Eric's headache worse. He turned his head to get Cory to stop when he felt a cold hand slam his head into the light blur plaster of the wall. He heard a crack and felt warm blood trickling down and around the outside surface of his ear. Surprisingly, except for the worsening throb of his headache, Eric barely felt pain from Shawn slamming his head into the wall. Maybe the pain in his heart was jarring enough to distract him.

"You did this! What the fuck did you say to him?" Eric barely saw Shawn's grimace and reddened face before he felt another punch to his stomach and he was slammed backwards into the wall. The blood smears that contrasted with the light blue paint almost made Eric sick to his stomach. "I could kill you."

Cory suddenly appeared, Tuxedo jacket rumpled and undershirt exposed. He was paler than the slowly reddening sheets of the stretcher Jack had been hefted onto. "Shawn! Please, man. Think about what you're saying."

But Shawn was past reason. "Cory, stay out of it." His flashing eyes returned to Eric's. "What did you do? What happened?" Eric noticed his parents rushing in, the clicking of his mother's and Morgan's heels. His thoughts kept circling around Jack's slurring voice, echoing.

"Eric… something makes me hate everything. I can't explain it. Everything's- everything's… everything's shit."

A crack as Eric's skull collided with the wall again. "Shawn! Stop it. What's the matter with you?" Jack fell. He fell over and over on a track in Eric's head.

"Shawn, what are you doing?" Alan was shouting, somehow he'd managed to be louder than Cory. Eric wished above all, even above hope for Jack that someone would just make all of the shouting stop. His head was going to explode. His eyes were burning, his head was throbbing, his lungs felt like iron weights and yet, the only pain he could truly feel was the gaping hole in his chest.

"Get off of me! This piece of shit tried to kill my brother! Look at him! He's fucking covered in blood! His blood—Jack's blood—" Shawn choked and his words broke.

Shawn's grip finally slackened to nothing and Eric slid down the wall, not noticing the deep red stains on the paint. He cradled his head in his arms and tucked his head into his knees, barely feeling the shudders as his chest quaked. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what else to say. I don't even know what happened. I'm sorry. I should've asked for help."

In the background, he heard the sounds of the doctors rushing around, sneakers squeaking and scrubs rustling. They were yelling things that Eric couldn't understand. They continued to shout and rush around the hospital until, eventually, Eric couldn't hear anything.

Jack watched Eric enter the dim lit room. "Where's Shawn?" He was still a little ticked but underneath, a little regretful.

Eric ran a hand through his hair and sat down heavily in the chair. "He decided I should stay with you… until you get discharged. That's about three days from now." He eyed Jack for any sign of disapproval.

Jack tilted his head and lay back, processing the information. "Great. I can't wait to get out of here." He set his sights on Eric. "Then everything can go back to normal, yeah?"

Eric frowned. Normal hadn't been going so well for Eric or Jack. Nonetheless, he nodded. "Yeah. Everything will go back to normal."