Dormant Senses

Alex looked down at his plate the entire time during dinner. His father and brother came back from God-knows-where completely pissed off. Right off the bat, Alex's father punched Alex in the stomach. 'That's for being such a burden!' he shouted into his ear. It upset Alex to the extent where he started to cry. On other days, he would brush it off and let it all boil inside like a nasty stew but not today. He honestly wanted his father to grab him by the neck and choke him until he was unconscious enough to forget about it for awhile.
'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' Alex rolled his eyes at whoever said that. It was stupid and a complete big fat lie. Alex watched his father get up from his seat and walked out without even saying a thank you to his mother. Asshole. Alex thought to himself. He looked up to find his brother picking at his food.
'Daniel, is your food okay?' As much as Daniel treats their mom like shit, she always worried, like any mother would, when her kids didn't eat.
'Yeah, it's fine. Thanks.' Both Alex and his mom were taken aback by the way Daniel sincerely responded.
'Okay sweetheart.' Alex looked back down at his food and took another bite.

___

Alex paced around his room. He really wish he could go make up with Jack but shit, he's at Rian's and Alex was kind of nervous at how he was going to react to seeing him after what happened. Alex frowned and walked over to his closet, grabbing his beat up converses and a jacket to throw on if it gets cold. He grabbed his phone and climbed out his window, knowing his father would hear his footsteps if he went through the front.
With a soft thud to the ground, Alex sprinted around to the front the house and down the block. His only way of transportation would be the commute and it was going to take thirty minutes until the next bus arrived and Alex did not want to wait thirty minutes. He sped walk past the shady alleyway and down a few more blocks until he found a nearby payphone. He pulled out the waded twenty he stole from his brother's room awhile back and two quarters to insert into the machine. The twenty bucks would suffice to and back from Rian's place. He dialed in the cab's number and waited for the telephone girl to tell him it would take ten minutes to arrive. Ten minutes wasn't as bad as thirty so Alex agreed.
Ten minutes passed and he was on his way to Rian's place in the back of a very smelly cab.
'So, why a taxi at this time of night?'
'Something occurred to me.' Was the final thing Alex said to the taxi man. A full ten minutes passed before they reached Rian's place.
'Can you wait here, I need to see if the person is home.'
'Make it quick, I'm leaving the meter on.'
'Well cut it off!' Alex snapped and walked to the front doors. He peeped in through the windows and found Jack sitting on the couch, absentmindedly playing a video game. It brought a warm feeling in the pit of Alex's stomach as he watched his boyfriend play the game with such concentration. Just as Alex was about to leave and knock on the door, he saw the silhouette of another figure enter the room. Alex saw as the other figure took a seat next to his boyfriend and kiss him on the head. It was like Alex's heart dropped and landed with a hard thud at the bottom of his stomach. He watched as his boyfriend turned to face the intruder and lightly pulled his arm down. They wrestled each other for the control and the bastard was practically on top of Jack, making him laugh and stretch his arm far out which allowed that dick to climb a little further higher on top of Jack. Alex left before he watched the other guy make a move on Jack. He solemnly walked back to the cab and sat in the dingy, fucked up, backseat.
'Where to now?' Alex told the guy a house address that was two blocks down his own house. He rested his head back into the seat and tried to erase all the horrors he just saw.

___

'Beau! I swear sometimes I think you're gay!' Joe said from behind the scene that was occurring in front of him. Beau and Jack laughed and Jack shoved the older boy off of him.
'You're just jealous that you're his best friend and he still prefers me over you any day!'
'This is true!' Beau and Jack erupted in giggles and Joe rolled his eyes.
'Whatever. Hey Jack, you sure your friend is okay with having people over?'
'Don't know.'
'What do you mean, 'don't know.'' Joe asked, taking a seat next to his brother.
'It means, I didn't ask him Joe.' Jack said, snatching the remote out of Beau's hand.
'Plus, I need to get my mind off of Lex for a bit.' Jack bit his bottom lip and tried to not look at anything other than the screen in front of him.
'Yeah, man, we're here for you.' Beau's phone rang and he looked at it, a huge grin spreading on his face. 'Except for now. Val's calling.' Beau got up and walked over to the kitchen.
'Fun fact; I slept with Valerie before Beau.' Jack snorted at his brother's so-called 'fact'. He's glad he's got his brother and his friends to help him get his head straight.

___

Alex climbed back through his window and closed it shut quietly. His shoulders were slumped and he felt and looked defeated. He turned around found someone sitting on his bed. His dad was there waiting for him. Alex gulped and didn't move from his position.
'Wh-what are you doing here?' Alex asked nervously.
'I'm just going to say this once, and once only. You leave this house one more time without my permission, I will make you regret every bad decision you have ever done in your entire life, you got it boy?'
'Y-y-yes si-sir.' Alex hated the way he stuttered whenever his father threatened him that bad. Luckily for him, his father just left and walked out of his room without laying a single hand on him. Alex let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding and looked over at his black notebook that was lying on top of his coffee table next to his bed. He walked over and sat down on his bed, legs tucked underneath him and the notebook and pen right in front of him. This notebook was given to him after Jack before Jack and he even had a thing. Another guy had been hitting on him at school and Jack was so furious at Alex for letting it go on so long that he punched the guy in the middle of the cafeteria. Jack came over Alex's a few days after and handed him the notebook, sort of like a peace offering for embarrassing him in front of half the school. Alex had never really used it since he still had space in his other journal for writing but since he ran out of space a few days ago, he felt the need to open it and write down how he's feeling right now.

'Should I write myself out of the history books
And mark a place in time for every chance you took?
Don't get me wrong,
I know you've got your life in place
I've yet to take the hint, someday
I'm sure I'll get the picture
And stop waiting up' Alex scrawled out on the first page of the journal. He nodded and continued to write down some more lyrics.

'When it all comes down
To a sunrise on the East Side,
Will you be there to carry home
The remains of my wasted youth?
This wasted time on you
Has left me shaking in waiting,
Shaking in waiting for something more' Alex smiled at the verse. He quickly scribbled 'chorus' beside it.

'Tonight is alive with the promise of a street-fight,
And there's money on the table
That says your cheap shots won't be able
To break bones
I've yet to break a sweat
I'll make your past regret its future
Here's to you

When it all comes down
To a sunrise on the East Side,
Will you be there to carry home
The remains of my wasted youth?
This wasted time on you
Has left me shaking in waiting
For something more' He wrote 'verse two' and 'chorus' next to the lines he just scribbled. He was impressed at the way his mind let these things flow out so quickly that he didn't want to stop because he might just lose his inspiration.

'Make all of my decisions for me
I've never taken the fall for deceit
I'll keep a secret if you keep me guessing
The taste of your lips says we shouldn't have met like...' He wrote a two with an 'x' next to it and after that, he wrote 'say 'this' during the repeat'.

'I can keep a secret if you can keep me guessing
The flavor of your lips is enough to keep me pressing
For more than just a moment of truth between the lies told
To pull ourselves away from the lives we leave back
(I can keep a secret if you can keep me guessing)
The flavor of your lips is enough to keep me here, keep me here

When it all comes down
To a sunrise on the East Side,
Will you be there to carry me home?
The remains of my wasted youth,
This wasted time on you,
Has left me shaking in waiting
For something more' He liked the last verse he just wrote down a whole lot. This whole song reflected on how he was feeling about Jack yet, he was never going to be able to perform it to his... Boyfriend? No. Lover? No. Friend? Hell! Alex didn't even know what they were anymore. He sighed and lied back on his bed, drawing his knees and the journal close to his chest.

___

Jack was currently inhabiting Rian's bedroom whereas his brother and Beau were taking up space in the guest rooms. Jack was staring at the ceiling, phone on his stomach and thinking of Alex. He knows he shouldn't be thinking about someone who he was losing trust in but hell, Alex was his boyfriend after all. He picked up his phone and opened the contacts, eyes falling instantly on Alex's name. He smiled and punched dial, hearing the phone ringing.
'Hello?' He heard a sniffle from the other end and he sat up immediately.
'Hey, are you okay? Is something wrong?'
'You did wake me up at three in the morning... I'm allowed to sound like crap. Jack laughed and propped himself against the sturdy headboard.
'I need to see you.' Jack said, fiddling with his plaid pajama pants. He heard what seemed like Alex shifting into a sitting position.
'Why...? You seemed pretty busy earlier...'
'What are you talking about Lex...? Oh...' Realization hitting Jack, 'Beau is just a friend. Honest to God. He has a girlfriend named Valerie. Did you come over earlier?'
'Y-yes... I wanted to see you...' Alex admitted.
'Jack, I want to see you but I can't. Not now at least. Not at this hour.'
'Well... We are on the phone now aren't we? Can we have some fun on the phone?'
'Go on.' Jack could practically see the smirk that Alex was probably wearing.

___

Jack woke up with a smile on his face. Phone sex with Alex was his second favorite thing in the world. His first being the real thing. He got up and walked over to the bathroom that was connected to the room. He splashed some water on his face and got a look at himself in the mirror. Oh God, he was in need of haircut and ASAP. He walked out of the bathroom, down the hall, and into the kitchen where he found Beau making what seemed like pancakes.
''Sup?' Beaus said as he flipped a pancake into the air.
'Yo, where's my big bro at?' Jack said, grabbing a seat and plopping down on it. He looked at the clock and realized it was two in the afternoon. He chuckled to himself because his and Beau's sleeping schedule were always in sync, kind of like girls being on their periods.
'He left early because he had to go to the docs or something?' Jack watched as Beau placed the pancake he was flipping down on the plate. There was already a stack of them done and he placed the plate in front of Jack.
'Grab some.' Beau instructed. Jack didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed three and poured a heavy dose of strawberry syrup on them. God bless Rian and his taste in syrup. He devoured into his first pancake, letting out a moan.
'This. Is. Sex.' Jack said through a mouthful. Beau laughed and watched Jack with extreme interest.
'Why are you watching me eat and moan to your pancakes Beau?'
'I never realized how interesting you are Jack.' Jack swallowed his pancakes hard and looked at Beau briefly. Beau turned around and grabbed two coffee cups.
'I wasn't trying to flirt with you or anything. I know you have a boyfriend and all, but your brother doesn't give you enough credit for being who you are.' Beau poured them both a cup of orange juice. He handed one over to Jack while taking a sip of his own.
'And what's that?' Jack asked, suddenly curious. He grabbed his own cup and took a long drink from it.
'Mature. I heard you talking to yourself after the um... After the phone sex with Alex..' Jack blushed but continued to look at Beau. 'You were talking about something that almost sounded like lyrics but I can't be sure.'
'Uh yeah... Yeah. I was thinking of some lyrics. I wrote a song called 'Prove It'.' Jack blushed and ran his hand through his hair.
'It was nice.' Beau nodded and grabbed the empty plate and placed it in the sink.
'You should get on that.' Beau started to walk towards the living room. Jack called out his name and Beau turned around and faced him.
'If you wanted to get off, you could've just asked instead of eaves dropping.' Jack winked at Beau who turned red and walked away, his middle finger in the air. Jack laughed and started on the dishes.