My Toxic Valentine

It had been two days since the visit from Detective Bailey, and Alex was still trying to find the courage to call his parents and tell them what had happened. Really, Jack should've been encouraging the older boy to do so, but he was actually quite pleased that he was taking his time about it. He knew that if the charges stuck, Alex would face serious consequences.

His parents would be furious, it would affect his chances of getting into a good college if he decided to continue studying, it would be permanently on his record which meant that any future offence would carry harsher penalties; these were all concerns that Alex had voiced to Jack over the past couple of days.

Jack still felt guilty about what had happened. Alex had told him – several times now – that it wasn't his fault and that he'd do it again in a heartbeat, but it didn't really lessen Jack's guilt. In fact, Alex's dedication to him made him even more determined to put things right and he'd put a lot of thought in how to go about doing that.

His ideas ranged from the law-abiding to the downright legal, from the sensible to the reckless but eventually he decided on a nice middle ground that was almost always successful.

Blackmail.

He should feel some kind of moral dilemma about this, but given that the person he would be blackmailing and kicked his ass to the point of almost requiring hospitalisation, he figured that this was kind of a grey area. He was slightly concerned, however, that if this went wrong, he'd be requiring a lot more than just some TLC from Alex to recover. In fact, if this went wrong, hospitalisation might not even help him. But hey, he thought, at least if there was a murder charge against Sean, the charges against Alex would be less likely to stick.

Okay, so that wasn't really a comforting thought, but it was the one Jack decided to roll with as he walked towards the public park that he knew Sean and his friends sometimes lurked. He kept an eye out for the short, stocky boy as he wandered through the park, hoping he looked a lot more fierce than he felt. He spotted them; Sean and four friends, sprawled on the grass and talking and laughing loudly.

If he could forget how much of a collective asshole the group was, it was almost a nice scene. With a deep breath and a mantra of “they probably won't kill you, they probably won't kill you” on repeat in his head, Jack walked over to them. Sean saw him first and the look on his face transitioned from surprise to malice almost seamlessly.

“Oi, faggot. Come to get your arse kicked again?” he said with a smirk.

“No. I've come to talk to you,” Jack said, his voice surprisingly steady and cold.

Sean snickered. “Sorry, but I'm not a queer.”

“Wouldn't touch you even if you were.”

That comment unnerved Sean slightly; he wasn't expecting Jack to have any kind of backbone.

“Whatever. Piss off and go home to your boyfriend.”

“No. I told you, I came to speak to you.”

Sean rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Say what you've got to say and then you can fuck off.”

“I want you to drop the assault charge against Alex.”

Sean and his friends all laughed loudly, almost causing Jack to lose his nerve.

“I'm serious,” he said, hands gripping the insides of his hoodie's pockets as if it were a security blanket.

“Why should I?” Sean sneered.

“Because if you don't, I'll go to the cops and tell them what you did to me.”

The smirk on Sean's face faltered at that, but he still laughed. “Like they'd believe a homeless, dirty cunt like you.”

Jack shrugged. “Still not going to look good against you.”

Sean stood up then, and walked over to Jack, standing close to him.

“I suggest you piss off and never speak to me again. If you know what's good for you, you'll forget you ever said that,” he said, his voice dangerously low and threatening.

While Sean was stockier, Jack was taller, and he straightened his posture making sure the other boy realised that.

“I'm not scared of you. I've dealt with worse assholes than you in my life and I'm still alive to tell the tale.”

“Are you forgetting that night when I kicked your ass?”

Jack shook his head. “You still don't scare me.”

Sean shoved him violently then, pushing Jack back several paces, but not making him lose his balance. Jack had really hoped it didn't come to a fight, especially with four other guys there who would gladly throw a punch as well. But he still wasn't willing to back down.

“I swear to you, if you don't drop these charges against Alex, I will go to the cops and I will tell them that you assaulted me. I've still got the bruises to show for it.”

“You've got nothing on me, fag. Nobody saw it, so it never happened.”

Sean's other friends were standing behind him now, and Jack was beginning to have some serious flashbacks to the night in question. He was preparing for the first hit when he heard someone speak behind him.

“I didn't see it, but I heard you bragging about it. I heard you planning it as well.”

Jack didn't dare take his eyes off Sean; he'd been hit from behind before, but he could've sworn he recognised the voice behind him.

“Dawson, I'm already pissed at you. Don't give me another reason,” Sean spat at Rian, who'd walked up to stand beside Jack.

“Not giving you a reason, Graham. Giving you the facts. I will gladly tell that to the police. To my father, as well.”

Sean was beginning to look a little concerned and with good reason. Rian's father was a high-profile lawyer, working as a police prosecutor. That gave Rian's word pretty good weight with things like this.

“We could take you, Dawson. Both of you. I suggest you leave now,” Sean said, but it was obvious he was losing faith in that fact.

“You think?” another voice joined the argument, steady and amused. Zack had appeared from nowhere, apparently, and stood beside Jack. “I suggest you leave, Sean.”

“And head straight to the police station,” Jack added, a faint smile on his face. Alex had some pretty great friends who seemed to have impeccable timing.

Sean scoffed and gestured to his group of friends. “Come on. Let's go back to my place.”

The group of boys sauntered off; though Sean definitely had less bounce to his step, all throwing dirty looks in the trio's direction.

“Where did you guys even come from?” Jack asked.

Rian grinned and Jack could've sworn the sun was directly reflecting off his teeth.

“Just good timing, I guess. We were walking back from the gym and saw you talking to Sean. Thought there must've been something shady going on.”

Jack smiled shyly at the pair of them. “Thanks.”

“No worries,” Zack said with a casual shrug.

“Does Alex know about this?” Rian asked curiously.

“What do you think?” Jack said sheepishly.

“No?” Rian and Zack answered in unison.

“Exactly,” Jack said with a sigh. He just hoped it would do some good.