The Leather Jacket

By the next morning the picture of them kissing was splashed across the papers and the internet. Jack had tried to avoid it, refusing to look at his picture printed on every magazine as he passed through hospital corridors. Alex had officially been discharged, he was free to go home and as much as Alex disliked being in Baltimore the idea of his own bed sounded like heaven. Expect before Jack drove them back they’d stopped by Jack’s mum’s room. He’d felt bad about not being in as much over the past week and wanted to see her before they left again.
Jack sat in the chair by her bed why Alex perched on the arm. He felt slightly awkward being there, like he invading something personal between Jack and his mum. Plus it was his fault Jack had been absent recently and he felt guilty.
Mrs Barakat was lying in her bed, her chest raising and falling in sleep as the machines beeped quietly beside her. Alex couldn’t help but notice the lack of change since he’d last been in the room.
“Is she going to...? Wake up?” he asked.
“When she’s better, they’re keeping her under until her body can reaper it’s self enough”
Alex didn’t reply, he didn’t know much about illness and treatment. He just hoped she’d wake soon, he wanted Jack to be happy and it was hard to be truly happy when your mum’s lying on a hospital bed.
They sat there for some time, Jack talked to his mum about Alex and why he hadn’t been to visit it her as much. Alex didn’t say a word, just sat quietly and listened to Jack talk. Somehow for Jack just sitting next to his mum made him feel better, as long as she kept fighting Jack could continue fighting his battles too.
“Jack...”
Alex was staring out the window and that’s when he saw them, the people lining the ground below with cameras. The reporters were back in force.
“Fuck” Jack muttered, joining Alex to stare at the sea of people beneath them.
“What are we going to be?” Alex asked.
“Well there’s got to be a back door to this place, we’ll just go outta that”
Alex nodded and took Jack’s hand, he knew Jack felt uncomfortable with the paparazzi thing but it wouldn’t last for long. Alex had been through things before and they always blew over.
“I guess we should go” Jack said.
“You sure? I don’t want to drag you away from your mum...”
“No, it’s okay”
Jack went over and kissed his mum’s forehead, promising to be back again soon. Alex bid his goodbye to the still sleeping Mrs Barakat before they both left.

The hospital was like a fucking maze, the corridors never ending as they tried to find an alternative way out. After getting lost and somehow ending up in the maternity ward they finally found a door that lead out past the bins and through the parking lot. Luckily no one else was around, Alex figured no one wanted to hang around by bins filled with dirty dippers.
“Come on”
They both walked out the door, Alex pushing his sunglasses further up his nose in an attempt to hide. He knew with Jack beside him they didn’t have much of a chance of hiding if anyone saw them but it couldn’t hurt. Jack fingers dug into Alex’s hand as they walked out into the open, trying to not draw attention to themselves.
“It’ll be okay” Alex whispered.
Jack just squeezed his hand tighter and pulled him along to the car. The boys made it to Jack’s car without being seen, by the time the car was out of the hospital Jack’s breathing was shallow and his heart was pounding.
“How do you do this?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“How do you live with this? All these people, always stalking you like this”
“It’s not always like this and I don’t know I guess I’ve just got used to it”
Jack didn’t reply, his knuckles having gone white on the steering wheel.

“Man it’s good to be back” Alex exclaimed, collapsing on his couch.
“I thought you didn’t like it here” Jack said.
“I think there’s something that could change my mind...” Alex smirked, wrapping his arms around Jack’s waist and pulling him down so Jack was on top of him.
“You just broke your ribs, you should not be....” Jack’s words were cut off when Alex began to tickle him.
“No Alex! I’m really ticklish”
“Oh you are?”
“Noooo!” Jack squealed as Alex continued to tickle him.
Jack tried to escape Alex’s grip but his arms were tightly wrapped around his waist as he continued to tickle his sides.
Alex finally stopped a stupid smile on his face as Jack tried to catch his breath.
“I hate you” he mumbled.
“Aw well I love you” Alex said, placing a kiss on Jack’s cheek.
“Eww, I’m going for a shower” Jack said, pushing himself up and off Alex.
“Who said you could use my bathroom?” Alex joked.
Jack just flipped him off and Alex laughed.
Alex pulled out his laptop and the first thing sitting at the top of every bloody news feed was the picture, the picture of him and Jack kissing on top of a hill at 2 in the morning. Alex just stared at it, the caption beneath was ‘Alex’s mystery man, is this Jack?’ Alex closed his eyes and clicked on it. The story was full of shit about how Alex had been hiding Jack all along because he was ashamed of his lover and how the accident had been because of argument between them. (Well Alex couldn’t defend that part) But the whole thing was crazy! The stories and assumptions they were making, some stated they’d met at a gig of Alex’s and others said Jack was a stripper! As Alex read more and more of the stories he began to wonder what exactly he paid Matt for...
“Alex, that shampoo you’ve got is... Wait, what are you reading?”
Alex hadn’t heard Jack come up behind him, the stories about them open all over his screen.
“I was....”
“You’re reading them?” Jack asked in disbelieve.
“I just wanted to know what they said”
“Why? You like reading lies about yourself?”
“No! I care I guess... This is my life splashed all over the front cover!”
“Expect it’s not just your life anymore! It’s mine too and I don’t... I don’t know if I can do it”
“What are you saying?” Alex asked, panic in his voice.
“Your life... I’m never going to be a hot girl on your arm to take to parties or someone you can have adorable little kids with. I’m just a normal guy Alex, I’m not what you need”
“Jack...”
“No Alex, you care. You’re always going to care what they think of you and with me... No, go get yourself some hot model girlfriend and forget about us”
“No”
“Huh?”
“I said no, don’t you get it? I love you. I’ve loved you for three fucking years and now you’re here I’m not going to let you go. Fuck what the world thinks, I’d give it all up if it meant keeping you”
Jack stared at Alex, had those words really just left his mouth? He waited for Alex to pull them back, to stumble and say that’s not what he meant but the room fell into silence. He was right, he was never going to the hot girl hanging off Alex’s arm but that didn’t mean he didn’t love him. Fuck what the world thought, this was about them and no one else.
“That’s not going to happen”
“So... Does that mean you’re staying?”
“Well... Someone’s got to keep your feet on the ground. You fucking rockstar”
Alex leaped up and attacked Jack, wrapping him in a hug and kissing him.
“Oh Alex...”
“Yeah?”
“I love you too”
They were only part way through the second Batman when Jack fell asleep, curled up in Alex’s side with a blanket wrapped around both of them. So what if they were never going to be the ‘perfect couple’ in the eyes of the media. They were perfect to each other.