Status: Completed

Glory and Gore Go Hand in Hand

Chapter 10

"Do you have to go?" Alex whined, propping himself on an elbow and looking at Jack. His hair was disheveled and his lips slightly swollen from their earlier activities. Jack slightly smiled as he squeezed into his pants.

"Unfortunately, yes. Work calls." He hooked his pager onto one of his belt loops and attempted to flatten the back of his hair, but to no avail.

"Will I get to see you tonight?"

"I'm not sure yet, it depends how busy at work I am, but I'll try my hardest okay?" Alex smiled at his response, and made grabby hands at Jack. "You know Lex, for not wanting to be called adorable so often, you sure do act adorable a lot," He teased, joining him on the bed. Alex rolled his eyes in response and grabbed Jack by his shirt, connecting their lips once more. Jack sighed into the kiss, taking in this last bit of contact before having to leave.

This time he was off to Canada. Not that it mattered; they all began to run together and every time he did his job he ended up vomiting or dry heaving. The next two weeks continued on like this, Jack killing and getting sick, while sneaking time in to see Alex whenever he could. He was careful to volunteer for extra shifts, so he could avoid raising suspicions from his father or Ian. His father's scrutiny was the last thing he needed right now. This began to backfire though, as Jack began losing weight, and fast.

His ribs began to slightly show, as he could never keep his food down for more than twenty-four hours. None of his pants fit him anymore, and he had to begin making his own holes on his belt. To make matters worse, both Alex and Ian noticed this. The dark circles were back under his eyes, as he could rarely sleep, with the exception of when he was with Alex.

Jack began searching even more fervently for Ian's other half, for he knew that he was running out of time, and could not keep this facade up for much longer. He knew Ian had a thing for brunettes, and that was it. It didn't narrow down the search very much. This added on stress didn't help either and soon his collar bones became extremely prominent. It was getting harder and harder to come up with lies to explain what was going on with him, especially to Alex. He could tell his other half didn't believe anything he said, but he didn't question him further, either. Jack was extremely grateful for this.

So to make things up to Alex, he planned a date night for them.

"You should go on a vacation," Jack suggested to Ian suddenly.

"What?"

"Go on vacation, take a few days off, meet a girl, have some fun. You've been worrying about me for nearly a month now, you need to relax."

"I don't know..." He hesitated, gazing at Jack, as if he was trying to figure out whether there was an ulterior motive.

"Go somewhere warm, bask in the sun, get away from this freezing ass weather. I'm offering it so I mean it. Turn your pager on silent, and have a stress free time. Think of it as an early birthday present from me."

Ian pursed his lips, thinking it over, before a smile took place of it. "Okay, yeah that sounds nice. Are you sure?"

Jack returned his smile and grabbed his pager, flicking it on silent before handing it back to him. "For the love of Dad, yes I am sure. Now go, before I change my mind," He teased. Ian smirked and was gone in a second, surely to go pack. Jack breathed a sigh of relief, and also flicked his pager on silent, not worrying about the consequences for now. He was going on a vacation of his own as well.

- - - - -

"How'd you manage to get two whole days off?" Alex asked, a grin on his face.

"I have some vacation days lined up and I decided to use a few right now. I know we haven't actually had a lot of time together lately, and I've missed you a lot. So I figured now was as good a time as any."

"It's like Christmas all over again," Alex replied, wrapping his arms around Jack's neck. Jack smiled, placing his hands on his hips. Alex's golden eyes were shining with happiness and Jack placed what he meant to be a quick kiss on his soft lips, but Alex had other plans. He pulled Jack's face back to his own and deepened the kiss, tangling his hands in the younger's black hair.

"You should go get your coat," Jack whispered into his ear, managing to pull away. "We have dinner reservations in less than an hour."

"You're always full of surprises," He mumbled as he untangled himself from Jack. He couldn't help but grimace at that -- if only he knew.

"Jesus, Jack how expensive is this place?" One look at the menu and Alex could already tell this is a kind of place he typically didn't belong in.

"Don't worry about it, I got it." He assured and proceeded to order one of the most expensive wines on the menu. Hopefully he'd be able to keep this down during the next few days. As delicious as it was, he didn't want to be tasting it again on the way back up.

"You seem a lot happier compared to the last time I saw you," Alex observed, looking over the menu at Jack.

"That's because I'm with you," Jack teased, trying to make light of the situation.

"You know that isn't what I mean," Alex sighed. He was going to leave it at that, but changed his mind. It worried him seeing Jack looking so...so frail. "Your eyes have more life to them, too. And you seem more like himself."

Jack looked up from his menu, noting his worried expression and set his menu down. "I know, I'm sorry Lex. Work has been stressing me out, but I think what I need is just this vacation and some quality time with you. I promise these next two days I'll make it up to you, alright?" Alex nodded, happiness replacing the worry.

"it's alright, I get it. Now tell me, what the hell are half these things on the menu?"

- - - - -

By the end of the night, Jack was beginning to feel much more like himself. After eating their ridiculous small portioned, expensive meal, they ended up ordering a pizza and watching movies on Alex's couch. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. Jack was lying on his back, with Alex resting against him, his head lying on his chest. He could smell his cinnamon scented shampoo which was intoxicating. Jack softly traced Alex's spine as he felt his eyes grow heavy until he could no longer keep them open.

For the first in over a month, Jack slept through the entire night. He woke up a little after eight and checked his pager, revealing seven missed pages. Seven wasn't too bad. He looked over at Alex, who was quietly snoring, with his mouth slightly open. It was rather endearing, really. He gave him a light kiss on the cheek before teleporting back to the U.S to make up for the work he missed last night. He couldn't have Ian come back from his vacation to see that Jack had done absolutely nothing. Jack sighed, and tried to get it done as quick as possible. The sooner he can get back to Alex the better.

It was a little after nine when he finished, and surprisingly he only got sick once. It could've been worse. As Jack was dumping the last body, his phone went off. It was a text from Alex, asking where he was. Oh good, another lie he needs to drown himself in.

"Jack?" Alex called out from somewhere in the loft, upon hearing the front door open. "Where'd you go?"

He followed his voice to the kitchen, where Alex was making pancakes. "I went to go pick us up breakfast and coffee, but I see that was useless." Alex turned around and noted the food and drinks in his hand and smiled his crooked smile.

"I guess we're having a big breakfast!" He exclaimed flipping a pancake. Jack smiled relieved and came up behind Alex, wrapping his arms around his waist and resting his head on his shoulder.

"Really, Alex, chocolate chips? What are you, ten?"

Alex chuckled and spun around so he was facing the taller man. "No matter how old someone is, they always enjoy chocolate chips in their pancakes," He attempted to say with a stern face, but they both just ended up laughing. "But seriously though, Jack, as sexy as I find you and your body, you could stand to gain a few pounds."

Jack playfully rolled his eyes, ready to respond with a sarcastic remark when the smell of smoke met his nose. "Good luck fattening me up if you burn all your pancakes."

Alex's eyes widened before he spun around, attempting to save the charcoaled pancake, but it was too late. "Well..it's a good thing you bought breakfast." Jack couldn't help but laugh.

"I recalled you bragging to me weeks ago about what a great cook you are. That's ironic huh?"

"Oh that's how--" Alex paused, frowning looking at Jack. "Is that blood on your shirt?" He looked down, and sure enough there was blood spatter on the collar of his shirt. He felt the color immediately leave his face. He looked up at Alex, frantically searching for an explanation.

"Um..yeah, it might be. This is an old shirt, so I'm not sure," He stammered. Alex frowned for a second before shrugging and turning back to continue cleaning up his attempt at making pancakes. Jack exhaled and shakily sat down at the kitchen table. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up.

He's currently living two completely different lives. One, where he's the murderous son of Zeus, the other where he's the smitten boyfriend of Alex. There's no way he could continue doing this, keeping them separate without their paths ever crossing. He sighed, taking a drink of his coffee. He looked over at Alex who was washing dishes while humming his own tune and he couldn't help but smile. There's no way he could give up his life with Alex. Now that he's met him, there's no moving on past him; once meeting your other half, it becomes nearly impossible to live without them, as you're naturally drawn to them.

However on the other hand, he couldn't keep risking Alex's life every time he selfishly indulged in his presence. He would never be able to be with Alex peacefully with Ian and his father breathing down his neck. Jack rested his head in his hands, he knew he would have to make a decision between the two -- before it is too late and the decision is made for him.
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Hello! Exciting news, only two chapters left until I end this! I have it all planned out, so you can expect to see it completed within the next two weeks at the latest. Please please please give me feedback and let me know what you think! If I got comments, I'll be sure to upload the next chapter within the next few days! Thanks