You Could Be My Compass

To say that Alex was happy would be an understatement. To say that he was ecstatic would also be an understatement. There wasn’t an adjective in existence that actually captured how he felt. He and Jack…well, were they together? They hadn’t discussed it yet, but to be fair, they’d only initially kissed each other a few days ago.

Alex’s first kiss. Silly as it seemed, he got butterflies every time he thought about it. How perfect was it that his first kiss was with Jack? (And he could only assume it was Jack’s first as well.) Now they were sharing sweet, innocent kisses whenever they felt like it. Which was often.

Not that they would ever tell him this, but Alex’s parents found them, for lack of a better word, adorable. They’d always known there was something more than friendship between the two, and seeing them acting so cute and couple-y and happy reminded them of when they first started dating.

Today was the day of the interview. Alex’s parents were in the kitchen, out of the way but close enough in case they were needed (and also so they could eavesdrop), while Jack and Alex were on the living room couch, just a few inches apart. There was an expensive-looking camera in the middle of the room, with the man behind it swiveling it occasionally, and the woman interviewing them was perched in a chair she’d brought herself. Alex didn’t look at her much, though, just listened to her questions and watched Jack’s reactions.

“Where are your parents?”

“Mom left and Dad’s too busy,” he said flatly.

“Is it hard coming home and your family not being here?”

“The Gaskarths are all the family I need.” As he said it, Jack smiled at the three of them, his eyes lingering on Alex’s for an extra second. But Alex knew that Jack didn’t mean what he’d just said. Sure, they were a pretty damn awesome family—and he meant this in a totally non-biased way—but it was hard to just replace your own family, no matter what they did.

“Think back to the day you were kidnapped—how did it feel?”

Okay, honestly, what kind of question was that? “Uh…it felt scary, I guess. I mean, how am I supposed to answer this? What do you want me to say?” Jack’s voice took a sarcastic note and Alex bit back a laugh.

She directed the next question to Alex. “How did you feel, watching someone take your best friend and knowing you were powerless to stop them?”

Wow, way to make him feel bad. “Well, like Jack said, it was scary. But I didn’t really feel much until after, and that’s when I started freaking out and wondering why not me? I was right there, too. Why didn’t they take me? So I guess I just felt guilty about the whole thing.”

Jack looked surprised, and of course he would be; he’d never heard that confession before.

Back to Jack. “Did you learn much about the people that kidnapped you?”

He shook his head. “No…after the first few weeks, I didn’t see them anymore.”

“Did they ever hurt you?”

“Not really.”

Not really? What was that supposed to mean? Alex made a mental note to ask about that later.

“How did it feel when you got back?” Another how did you feel question…Was that all she could think of?

Jack looked at Alex as he spoke. “It was the best feeling in the world. I can’t even begin to describe to you how it felt.”

“Try,” she urged.

“It felt like everything was right again. I was at the park and I could hear Alex talking to his dog—yes, I’m calling you out on that, Lex—but I didn’t want to get my hopes up, ‘cause that would’ve just sucked. I didn’t even know if he still lived there at all. A lot can change in five years, you know. He could’ve been anywhere in the world by then. But then he looked up and I knew it was him. Just…just getting to see my best friend again, and the hug he gave me about three seconds later…that’s when I felt like I was home.” His face was red as he finally broke eye contact with Alex.

“Back to you again. How did it feel when you found him?”

“I think Jack summed it up pretty nicely. It felt like everything was right again. But,” he admitted. “Jack Skellington’s the one that noticed him first.”

“That’s his dog,” Jack added, nudging Alex’s ribs with his elbow. “He’s got a bunch of pets and they’re all named Jack-something.”

It was Alex’s turn to blush. He shoved Jack’s shoulder lightly. “Shh. We all have weird habits.”

“Naming pets is a habit? Right, because you’re an animal hoarder, I guess that would count as a habit.”

“Shut it, Barakat,” he laughed, not even realizing that, much like their parents, he’d just called his best friend by his last name. “Like you don’t have your own oddities.”

“Name one!” Jack challenged.

“Hmm.” He looked thoughtful for a minute before deciding on, “You fall asleep when people play with your hair.”

Jack snorted. “That’s the best you can come up with? Pretty sure that’s normal.” Then a devilish grin crossed his face. “Not like routinely breaking into a middle school library. Or never throwing anything out ever and keeping every paper ever.”

“I won, by the way,” Alex informed him, paying no attention to the main point of what he’d just said.

“Huh?”

“I found that essay thing. I haven’t decided on my prize,” he explained.

“You’re also very indecisive, but I dunno if that’s a weird habit or just a personality flaw.”

“Well…you think you have to impress your dad and then get disappointed when you never do,” Alex replied before thinking it through.

Jack’s face fell just enough for him to notice. “Wow, that crossed a line. I’m sorry,” Alex mumbled.

“I guess I can forgive you.”

“Kiss and make up?” he teased, kissing Jack’s cheek, lips resting by his ear just long enough to whisper, “I really am sorry for that.”

Jack shivered. In a good way. “Also, you don’t think things through before you say them.”

“That is not…well, okay, yeah, that’s true, but whatever.”

“And don’t get me started on your other friends.”

“Hey! Uncalled for!”

The interviewer cleared her throat, her expression unreadable. The two jumped; they’d completely forgotten they were being interviewed/filmed. “Uh, sorry,” Jack said. “Where were we?”

“Actually,” she said slowly. “I think I can work that into this.”

Yeah, that scared the shit out of them.

Just a little.

She called Alex’s parents into the room and explained her idea.

Rather than centering the focus on Jack’s disappearance, after seeing the dynamics between them, she wanted to make the segment more about two friends being reunited after a tragedy. She requested some footage from when they were younger—because she could just tell that the Gaskarths were the kind of family that had tons of home videos—and after a few more quotes from everyone, she left and said she’d be in touch soon with a preview of it for their approval.

They went up to Alex’s room, and he immediately asked, “What did you mean by ‘not really’ when she asked if they hurt you?”

It was easy to lie to his dad, because he hadn’t really done anything to deserve the truth. It was a little more difficult, but still manageable, to lie to Alex’s parents, because even though they were incredibly nice and basically the only real parent figures in Jack’s life, he didn’t feel overwhelming guilt if he didn’t tell them the one hundred percent truth. But Alex…Jack couldn’t lie to him. They had a long history of not lying to each other, of not keeping secrets this huge. Although if he was splitting hairs, Alex had kept the secret of his suicide attempt, so Jack could justify not telling him this…except he wouldn’t. No, letting out this secret would wipe both their slates clean, right?

So without a word, Jack took his shirt off and turned so his back was to Alex.

He gasped. “Jack…what happened?” he asked, reaching a hand forward and trailing his fingers down the long scars on his back. “What did they do to you?” His voice was so soft, Jack barely heard him.

Jack spoke to the wall. “Remember how I said they only hurt me at first…well, that was kind of a lie. I guess it lasted a couple years, I don’t know, but they whipped me whenever I misbehaved. Sometimes I didn’t even know what I did wrong, they’d just come and do it. You…you’d be surprised what damage you can do with a whip.”

Jack wasn’t sad or angry. He sounded scared. Alex leaned forward and pressed tiny kisses along the scars that ran diagonally down his back starting at his left shoulder, just brushing his lips on the skin. When he got back up, he kissed his neck and said, “I’m not gonna let them hurt you ever again, Jacky. I promise.”