My Toxic Valentine

Alex hung up the phone, a confused look on his face and turned to face his boyfriend, who was sitting at the kitchen counter attempting to cut up an orange that kept rolling away from him. His tongue was stuck out of the corner of his mouth in a display of deep concentration and, had Alex not had more pressing things on his mind, he probably would've stopped to consider how downright adorable that was.

“Who was that?” Jack asked, steadying the orange and placing the knife over it.

“Detective Bailey.”

At that, Jack's knife-bearing hand slipped and rather than slicing the orange, he nicked his hand with the blade instead.

“Fuck,” he muttered, frowning “What did he say?”

“Jack, you're bleeding,” Alex said alarmed, pointing to the younger boy's hand.

“Doesn't matter. What did he say?”

“He said the charges were being dropped. Jack, I don't think you realise that you have blood gushing from your hand right now.”

Jack glanced down at his hand. Gushing was probably an exaggeration, but it was bleeding quite a lot.

“That's good news,” he said beaming at Alex.

“That you're bleeding out in my kitchen? No, not really,” Alex exclaimed, grabbing his boyfriend's arm and dragging him to the bathroom.

“Ow, Alex. Do you mind? And I meant about the charges.”

“Oh, yeah. That is good news.” Alex began to clean and bandage Jack's hand; an act which gave both boys quite a strong sense of deja vu.

When Alex was satisfied with the state of Jack's clumsy injury, he allowed the younger boy to leave the bathroom.

“Good, I want to eat my orange,” Jack said as though nothing had happened.

“You are NOT cutting it yourself. I'll do it.”

“You could have offered before I sliced my hand open.”

“Oh, shut up or I'LL eat the orange.”

“No! They're my favourite,” Jack said with a childish pout.

Alex shook his head but couldn't help but smile. “Dork.”

“Brat.”

True to his word, Alex sliced his boyfriend's orange up into quarters for him, earning a wide grin and a kiss for his troubles.

“How can one person be so untrustworthy with a knife?” Alex said contemplatively as he watched Jack eat the citrus fruit, juice dribbling messily down his chin.

Jack shrugged. “I dunno, but it's probably not a good thing considering I work in a diner.”

“How have they not fired you yet?”

“It's probably because of my looks.”

Alex laughed. “Probably. I would definitely hire you as eye candy.”

Jack blushed slightly and busied himself with gnawing on a piece of orange.

Alex was constantly amazed by his boyfriend. He seemed to be coming out of his shell more and more every day and he was finally starting to settle in. He smiled, giving Jack a fond look which was met by a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart,” said an amused voice which surprised both Alex and Jack; Alex jumping in his seat and Jack inhaling a piece of orange and coughing violently.

Rian and Zack laughed as they walked into the kitchen, making themselves at home instantly. Zack opened the fridge and grabbed a can of coke, while Rian hoisted himself up and sat on one of the bench tops.

“I hope we weren't interrupting anything,” Zack said, giving Jack a curious look “You have juice on your chin.”

“Thanks,” Jack mumbled, embarrassed, wiping it off with his sleeve “Sean dropped the charges.”

Alex gave Jack a look.

“What? It's good news!” Jack said happily.

“I guess...”

“What do you mean you guess? It's awesome news, Alex,” Rian exclaimed.

“But... why would he have done it? There has to be a catch.”

“Maybe he just had a change of heart?” suggested Zack.

“He doesn't have a heart,” Alex said dryly.

“Just go with it, 'Lex. This is a good thing,” Jack said earnestly.

Alex narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. “What do you know?”

“W-what?” Jack stammered “Nothing.”

“You're lying.”

“He's not,” Rian cut in “I had a word to Sean. It's done. No catch, I swear.”

Jack shot Rian a grateful smile.

“What the fuck, Rian. You had a word? What the fuck did you say to him?”

“Just that if he went through with it, I'd tell them what he did to Jack.”
Alex sighed. “I don't need you to fight my battles.”

“Just shut up and be happy,” Zack said, throwing a roll of paper towel at Alex and hitting him square in the head.

“Hey! Okay, okay. I am happy that I'm not going to jail for this.”

“And just why would you be going to jail, Alexander William?” came a stern voice from the doorway.

“Oh, shit.”

“Language!” Alex's mother scolded him before turning to Rian “Robert, please refrain from sitting your buttocks on my counter.”

Rian blushed and jumped down. It would have been amusing except that Alex's father was still giving him a searching look.

The four boys stood in silence for a moment before Alex spoke, wisely deciding to pretend he didn't notice his father's look.

“What are you doing back so soon?” Alex asked, allowing his mother to kiss him on the cheek.

“Alexander, we've been gone nearly two months,” she said, brushing his hair out of his face “You really do need a haircut.”

“Oh,” he said sheepishly “That went quick.”

“Boys, it's good to see you again but if you don't mind, we'd like to spend some time with our son,” Peter said, giving them a forced smile.

Zack and Rian both nodded quickly and with a wave to Alex and a polite goodbye to his mother, they were out the door.

Jack continued sitting awkwardly on the stool, his half-eaten orange in front of him, unsure as to what he was meant to do.

Alex cleared his throat and tugged Jack up into a standing position.

“Mum, dad... this is Jack. He's a friend of mine from out of town. He's... he's been staying here a little while.”

“Well, I think it's probably time he went home, don't you?” Alex's father said.

“No!” Alex said loudly “I mean, no? Can't he stay?”

Alex's mother smiled and gave Jack a little pat on the shoulder. “Of course he can. Heaven knows we've got the room.”

Alex's father sighed and muttered something about the house being taken over by shaggy haired teenagers before shuffling out of the room.

“Don't mind your father, dear. He had a difficult flight.”

“What, did they run out of scotch?” Alex muttered darkly, gaining a stern look in response.

“Jack, is it? Goodness, look at you. You're tiny. Would you like something to eat? Is the guest room suiting you okay? Which are you in?”

“Uh, I, um...”

“He's eaten already, he's in the room nearest to mine and he's very comfortable,” Alex cut in, much to Jack's relief “Come on Jack, let's go upstairs.”

He practically dragged Jack up the stairs and into his bedroom. “Okay, all of your stuff has to go in to the guest room and make it look like you've slept there. Now.”

Jack gathered an armful of his clothes and followed Alex to the guest room that was on the other side of Alex's bathroom. He nearly crashed in to Alex's dad on the way.

“Watch it, lad.”

“Oh, sorry. Just doing some laundry,” Jack mumbled, moving out of the way.

A couple of minutes later the boys had moved all of Jack's clothing and possessions in to his new bedroom.

“I'm sorry,” Alex said, “I just don't want my parents to...”

“It's okay,” Jack said “I get it.”

Alex smiled. “Thanks.”