Thursday's Child

Stumbling through the front door, Alex and Jack returned from their adventures through Baltimore, unaware of the car that had slowly trailed behind them.

“We’re back!” Jack called out to the gloomy apartment.
“And we brought food!” Alex added as they made their way towards the living room. Oli was sat on the sofa, head resting in his hands. Josh’s arm lovingly wrapped around him couldn’t possibly provide enough comfort to compensate for what he’d so recently witnessed. The boys entered the room, Alex placing his keys on coffee table while Jack took his place on the sofa.

“We got tacos, spicy or mild?” Alex offered,
“Spicy all the way!” Jack called, catching his taco successfully as Alex threw it towards him.
“Oli?” Alex offered, waving the remaining tacos in front of him.
“m’not hungry.” Oli muttered still facing the floor.
“Josh?”
“I’m alright mate,” Josh answered. Alex placed the reaming tacos on the coffee table, throwing his towards his boyfriend.
“Hey Oli?” Alex shifted the magazines that littered the table, taking a seat so he was level with Oli.
“mhm?” Oli grumbled, looking up at Alex. His puffy red eyes more prominent than ever.
“I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through right now,” he placed a hand on Oli’s shoulder, “But I promise it’s going to be ok. You’ve got Josh, me, Jack, Zack and Rian will be over soon, we’ll watch shitty movies all night long-“
“Home alone isn’t shitty!” Jack shouted, having to jump to the defence of his favourite movie as usual.
“Shut up Barakitty we’re having a heart to heart,” Alex shot a glare in Jacks direction, receiving a laugh from both Jack and Josh.
“Anyway,” he continued, returning his attention to Oli, “We’ll put good music on and you can stay with us as long as you need,” Oli smiled slightly at this, wiping away the tears forming in his eyes.
“Cheers mate I-I really appreciate it,” he said, pulling Alex into a awkward hug.
“Right so,” Alex stood up and proceeded to the DVD shelf, “Fast and Furious or Ho-“
“Home Alone.” Jack cut across bluntly.
“Home Alone it is,” Alex said, pulling the film of the shelf and placing it into the player before grabbing the remote and making his way to join the others on the sofa, jumping onto his boyfriend.
“Comfy there Fagskarth?” Jack chuckled, passing Alex his taco.
“Very,” Alex replied with content, leaning up to plant a kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek as Jack shifted into a more comfortable cuddling position.
“Are you going to press play or what?” Josh asked,
“Oh yeah,” Alex said reaching for the remote, pressing play and then returning to cuddling his boyfriend.

Half way through the film, Josh and Oli found themselves curled up cuddling with each other, which was certainly an improvement to Oli’s previous position of despair. Jack and Alex had eaten all the remaining tacos between them, far too impatient to wait for the arrival of Zack and Rian and they somehow managed to end up on the floor. They were content for the first time since the incident. But the peace was short lived, for they were interrupted by a loud banging on the front door.

“Oh for fucks sake,” Alex reached for the remote and paused the film. “That’d had better be Rian and he’d better have brought beer,” The banging continued.
“You gunna answer that?” Oli asked,
“Jackkkyyy get the door,” Alex nudged the skunk haired boy sprawled out next to him. Jack pulled himself to his feet.
“I hope you brought beer!” he called as he opened the door but to his surprise, he was not met with his friends. Instead his gaze met with that of two suited up men, who just so happened to have followed them home.

“Um no we did not bring beer.” Dean said, searching for something in his pocket.
“I’m Agent Crawford and this is my partner Agent Sullivan, FBI,” Sam said, pulling his badge from his pocket in time with Dean. Jack investigated the badges for a moment,
“We talked to the police,” He began, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
“Babe who is it?” Alex called to him, Jack turning to face him.
“Just the police, don’t worry I’ll sort it,” Jack replied, returning his attention back to the men.
“We understand this is probably a bad time,” Sam continued, “But could we speak with you, Mr Gaskarth and Mr Sykes?”
“Just a couple of routine questions.” Dean added.
“I dunno guys, not a good time doesn’t quite sum it up...”
“S’alright I’ll talk to them,” Oli said from across the room.
“Well then come in I guess,” Jack beckoning them to follow him to the living room.
“Do you need to talk to me too?” Josh asked.
“You are?” Dean questioned while taking a seat.
“Josh Franceschi."
“No you’re good, we just need to talk to Oliver, Jack and Alex,” Sam said, perching himself upon the coffee table.
“I’ll be in the kitchen then,” Josh said, placing a kiss to Oli’s temple before getting up and making his way to the kitchen.
“So, Oliver,” Sam began, “where were you when the attack took place?”
“Backstage.” Oli mumbled “Matt asked if I was coming to the bus, I said I’d be there in a minute.”
Sam nodded before continuing, “And Alex, where were you?”
“With Jack, Oli, and Josh backstage,” Alex said, reaching for Jacks hand and entwining their fingers.
“Did you notice anything odd about the venue, cold spots, funny smells?” Dean asked, scribbling furiously on a notepad.
“Yeah, there was like this really odd smell, like rotten eggs or something, Oli says it might have been sulphur but,” Jack said before being silenced by Oli.
“It was sulphur.” Oli cut across, leaning forward and staring straight into Sam’s eyes. “I think that,” but before he could continue, a familiar voice echoed through the corridor.

“Guys common now you can’t leave your front door open you’re just begging to be robbed-“
All eyes turned to face the front door where Zack and Rian had bounded in, a crate of beer under each of their arms.
“Oh um... this is awkward,” Zack coughed, staring at Sam and Dean. Josh appeared next to them,
“Guys, kitchen.” He ordered, leading the confused boys away from the scene.
“As I was saying,” Oli returned his gaze to Sam’s, “I think you know exactly what did this.”
“Excuse me?” Sam said confused at Oli’s outburst.
“You know what did this mate, put the pieces together.” Oli kept his gaze locked onto Sam’s. The older man could have sworn he saw the younger boy’s eyes flash bright white for a moment.
“Well I think we’d best be going,” Dean said, putting his notebook away and standing up.
“We’ll be in touch.” Sam added, quickly getting to his feet and leading his brother away from the apartment.
“Dude,” Jack turned to Oli, “Give them a break they don’t know what did it anymore than we do,”
“But they do know, just gotta use their brains,” Oli said shuffling back in to the sofa, bringing his knees to his chest. “Alex mate you alright?”
The colour had completely drained from Alex’s face. He stared at the wall, not blinking, not moving. He’d figured it out.
“Yeah I,” He began, choking out his words “I think I need some time alone.”