Homeless AU part 6
Mar. 3rd, 2004 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turpsAgain, WIP, feel free to point out mistakes I don't bite.
Pretty happy part, enjoy it, it goes downhill after this.
And now I see if LJ will let me answer comments at last.
Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here
Part 3 is here
Part 4 is here
Part 5 is here
“I want the girl’s happy meal, I like the pink box” JC says as he leans against the counter. Justin is looking at him like he’s insane but JC is adamant about his meal choice.
“Okay, so that’s a girl’s happy meal, a Big Mac meal, a Chicken nugget meal and two cheeseburger meals.” The server repeats the order and Chris nods and hands over the coins he’s carefully counted out before they entered the restaurant. The server smiles as he takes the money, but it’s a false smile barely hiding contempt and Chris scowls as he waits, foot tapping against the shiny floor.
Lance is sitting with Joey at a table. Chris thinks they’re discussing percentage profits about the magazines, something boring anyway that doesn’t hold Chris’ interest. Instead he looks around the restaurant, taking in the curious stares and hostility. A group of teens sit at a table behind Joey and Lance and they stare without shame, whispering and giggling. Chris can only hear certain words, look at his clothes, dropouts, scum and he wants to stalk over and tell them Joey’s worth ten of them, is a finer man than any of them will ever be, despite his ragged appearance.
“Ignore them.” Says, JC, he stands next to Chris, using his body to hide the fact his hand is cupping Chris’ ass. “They’re stupid kids.”
“I hate them.” Chris says, and he scowls more, only relaxing when JC moves his hand upward, slipping it slightly under his shirt.
“No you don’t. You don’t hate unless there’s a very good reason.” JC’s fingers circle Chris’ back, warm against his skin. “It’s one of the reasons I love you.”
“Yeah?” Chris questions. He stops scowling at the teens and looks at JC. “What’s the other reasons?”
“You fishing for compliments, Christopher Kirkpatrick?” JC says, but he’s smiling and keeps on caressing Chris’ back as he pretends to think. “I guess I love you because you found me when I was lost. Because you saw the goodness in Joey when he was at rock bottom, looking past the drinking to the man inside. Because you care even though you pretend you don’t. Because you sing to me at night when I can’t sleep. Because you give me your blanket when I’m cold. Because you’ve the cutest ass I’ve ever seen and…”
“Do you want ketchup with that?” The server asks as he pushes two bags of food across the counter. There’s no smile now and he pointedly looks at JC’s hand which still rests against Chris’ back.
“No, thank you.” JC says. He doesn’t move his hand, just tightens his hold so Chris has to turn with him when he looks at the server. JC pulls himself to his full height, scorn written on his expression. “We’ve got all we need. Have a nice night.”
JC tosses his head and walks away, head held high, still holding Chris tight round the waist. Joey and Lance scramble out of their chairs and Justin hurries away from the display of happy toys he’s been examining as they follow Chris and JC outside.
“Hold up.” Joey says as he catches up, still arranging the straps of his bag over his shoulder. “What’s the hurry?”
“I didn’t like him.” JC says as he hands a bag of food to Justin. “Anyway, I want to go swing now.”
Joey shrugs and starts walking again. “Fair enough. It’s probably a good job, this bruiser wanted to go punch out those idiots behind us.” Joey points to Lance who blushes but doesn’t drop his gaze.
“They called you a rank disgusting dropout and JC a dirty retard and…”
Chris laughs bitterly. “Nothing we haven’t heard before, you get used to it. Don’t get into something you can’t handle because of name calling. If you stay here much longer you won’t even hear it anymore.”
“I could have handled it.” Lance says, and he stares back at Chris.
“Maybe you could, but it’s not worth it, believe me. Save the fights for the important stuff. Like the fact Justin’s eating your fries.”
“Hey, put those back.” Lance yells when he sees Justin stuffing fries into his mouth. Justin smiles, fry hanging from his bottom lip before sprinting down the street, Lance in hot pursuit “Just wait until I get my hands on you, Timberlake.”
“Kids these days, they’ve got no respect.” Joey shakes his head in mock sorrow then yells and starts to run too.
“Is it just me or do you feel old watching them?” Chris asks. JC sighs, patting Chris’ back one last time before letting his hand drop.
“I feel old all the time. At least I do when I’m not inside my head.” JC sounds defeated and Chris looks sharply at him, seeing the way JC’s shoulders are slumped as he watches the other three run through the park gates far ahead, then JC speaks again, voice soft. “I get scared sometimes, that I won’t come back. I need the colours, Chris. I need to see beautiful things, touch them and feel them. Without them I’m empty inside.”
Chris can’t speak. The words are frozen, blocked by the lump of ice that blocks his throat. Uncaring of who might be watching, Chris reaches for JC’s hand, holding it tight. It’s the one thing he’s always feared, that one day JC will leave, realising that he deserves more than a cardboard shelter and a man with too many scars.
“I wish I could cut myself open and show you what I see.” JC says, then looks at Chris. “You know why I always come back?”
Chris shakes his head, still unable to form words.
“Because of you. You’re more beautiful than anything I can ever imagine.”
Chris feels the fear drain from his body and he hugs JC quickly. “I think you need your eyes testing, C.” But he smiles as he says it and JC smiles too, a big goofy smile that lights up his face.
“You gonna push me on the swing?” JC says as he starts to walk. Chris is tight against his side, their legs brushing together with each step.
“Don’t I always?” replies Chris. Because he will, and they both know it.
~*~*~*~*~
Chris sits on the picnic bench, burger in hand. He savours each bite, knowing they might not eat like this for weeks. His fingers are covered in grease and salt and he sucks his fingers in-between bites, making the meal last as long as possible.
JC is lying on the grass, eating chicken nuggets as he watches the stars. Lance lies next to him – meal long finished – and points out constellations, waving his hand in the air as he tries to show JC each one. JC eats his nuggets and says he can see the stars Lance points out, Chris doubts he can but Lance sounds happy as he explains, and Chris knows JC will say he can see anything as long as it makes Lance smile.
Looking up when Justin shouts, Chris laughs when he sees him balanced in the air on a see-saw, Joey weighing the other end down.
“Let me down!” Justin laughs, then yells as Joey does just that, letting Justin fall to the ground with a thump as he yells “That hurt, wait until I get hold of you.” Joey laughs at Justin’s threat but still runs away, chuckling as Justin tries to catch him.
“That’s got to hurt.” Lance says, and he stands as JC jumps to his feet. Chris knows he’s going to swing, something he loves to do. Chris remembers asking JC why he loved it once, and the way JC’s face changed as he explained about the swing in his childhood home, and days spent swinging as his mom watched from the kitchen window. Chris has never asked again.
“Push me later?” JC asks, and kisses Chris on the top of his head when he indicates he will. Chris watches JC run to then jump on the swing, his whole body working to get as high as possible and soon he’s flying through the air, laughing as his hair streams behind him and his t-shirt rides up, showing his stomach.
Lance sits next to Chris and they watch JC in silence as Chris eats his burger. When he’s finished Chris carefully folds the paper bags for JC, who collects any kind of paper to draw on, then puts it into Joey’s bag that’s on the ground next to them.
“Thank you.” Chris looks up at Lance’s words.
“No problem, but what for?” Chris asks. Lance is silent, watching JC and Chris thinks he’s not going to talk, when Lance replies. “For taking us in. I know you didn’t want to.”
“I had to.” Chris says, and his fingers drum against the tabletop as Lance looks at him.
“No, you didn’t. You could have left Justin yesterday or sent us away today. I imagine the last thing you need is two more people to take care of.”
Chris’ first reaction is to lie, to say it’s no trouble but Lance is still looking at him and Chris knows any lie will be seen through. So he makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. “We’ll get by. You’ll soon learn street smarts and until you do Joey, JC and I have your backs.”
Lance falls quiet again, and Chris starts to feel jumpy, he wants to stand and run, to try and fit down the slide and laugh when his ass gets stuck half way down like it always does, but Lance is nibbling at his fingernails, obviously trying to work up the nerve to speak.
“You and JC…” Lance says, and he looks at Chris as if he’s afraid to go on.
“Me and JC, what?” Chris prompts, and Lance bites at his nail again, looking at Chris then away again.
“You look like you’ve been together a long time.”
“That’s because we have.” Chris says, and he counts time in his head. He can’t remember exactly, months tend to run together and Chris remembers in terms of events, not dates. The time he slept on a park bench when he first left home, the time in the shelter with the guy and his wandering hands, the time he could do nothing but lie on the cold sidewalk, shivering and feverish after one too many cold nights without shelter.
“I think it’s about three years now, maybe more, it’s been three winters at least.” Chris says, smiling when he remembers meeting JC. “He saw me singing one day and started talking about how beautiful my eyes were. I was cold and hungry and here was this idiot babbling about my eyes. I told him to go away but he wouldn’t, and still hasn’t.”
“You love him.”
It’s not really a question, but Chris answers anyway. “Yeah, I do. He’s everything to me.”
“I love Justin.” Lance says, his expression is serious as he looks at Justin who’s hanging upside down at the top of the climbing frame, then back to Chris. “You probably think I’m too young for love, but I’m not.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think, you have to do what makes you happy, and if that’s Justin, that’s great.” Chris looks at Justin too, who’s laughing hard as Joey tries to pull him down.
“I didn’t want him to come.” Lance says as he folds his arms around himself, looking into the distance. “I was going alone, I’d planned it all while I was stuck in bed. It hurt to move and everything was so wrong. Momma would bring me soup and pills and we’d talk but never about anything important. I never told her about the calls. She loves me, Chris. She really does, dad too. That’s why I had to go, they were going to hurt them, because of me. But I never planned to bring Justin, but he was there when they called again, and I threw some thing in my case and ran. He followed me and wouldn’t go. You have to believe me.”
“I believe you.” Chris says, he touches Lance on the shoulder, feeling how tense he is. “You did what you thought was right.”
“It was right.” Lance almost shouts, and Justin and Joey look over before going back to digging in the sandpit when Lance waves at them. “It’s the only thing I could do.”
“Did you leave a note at least?” Chris asks, he’s imagining Lance’s mom, standing by the phone waiting for news of her son.
“I sent a postcard at a bus station we stopped at on the way here. I told her I was okay and not to look for me. Justin sent one to his mom too. He cried when he sent it, he misses her.” Lance rubs his eyes with his fists, and Chris knows Justin isn’t the only person who’s missing his mom. “I should have made him stay.”
“You could go back.” Chris knows Lance will say no before he even opens his mouth, but he has to try.
“No. No, I can’t. I won’t. The stakes are too high. I’m not putting my family at risk.” Lance jumps to his feet. “I’ll go somewhere else if you don’t want us, but I’m not going back.”
“Okay, you’re not going back, I get it.” Chris sighs, looking up at Lance. “I’ve also said you can stay about a thousand times now, so get it through your head. You can stay. Justin can stay. My box is your box. Now I’m gonna go swing with JC. You’d better go and dig Justin out of the sandbox. It looks like he’s a bit stuck.”
Lance looks at Justin who’s under a mound of sand, Joey laughing next to him. Lance nods at Chris before running to Justin, pulling him up and dusting him down as he laughs. Chris watches them then goes to a swing, holding the chains when JC moves behind him, holding him in a tight hug. Resting his head against JC’s chest, Chris closes his eyes. “Were we ever that young?”
“I don’t think we were.” JC replies and Chris believes him. Youth is something he’s never had, and something Justin and Lance will lose soon, it’s inevitable.
Pretty happy part, enjoy it, it goes downhill after this.
And now I see if LJ will let me answer comments at last.
Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here
Part 3 is here
Part 4 is here
Part 5 is here
“I want the girl’s happy meal, I like the pink box” JC says as he leans against the counter. Justin is looking at him like he’s insane but JC is adamant about his meal choice.
“Okay, so that’s a girl’s happy meal, a Big Mac meal, a Chicken nugget meal and two cheeseburger meals.” The server repeats the order and Chris nods and hands over the coins he’s carefully counted out before they entered the restaurant. The server smiles as he takes the money, but it’s a false smile barely hiding contempt and Chris scowls as he waits, foot tapping against the shiny floor.
Lance is sitting with Joey at a table. Chris thinks they’re discussing percentage profits about the magazines, something boring anyway that doesn’t hold Chris’ interest. Instead he looks around the restaurant, taking in the curious stares and hostility. A group of teens sit at a table behind Joey and Lance and they stare without shame, whispering and giggling. Chris can only hear certain words, look at his clothes, dropouts, scum and he wants to stalk over and tell them Joey’s worth ten of them, is a finer man than any of them will ever be, despite his ragged appearance.
“Ignore them.” Says, JC, he stands next to Chris, using his body to hide the fact his hand is cupping Chris’ ass. “They’re stupid kids.”
“I hate them.” Chris says, and he scowls more, only relaxing when JC moves his hand upward, slipping it slightly under his shirt.
“No you don’t. You don’t hate unless there’s a very good reason.” JC’s fingers circle Chris’ back, warm against his skin. “It’s one of the reasons I love you.”
“Yeah?” Chris questions. He stops scowling at the teens and looks at JC. “What’s the other reasons?”
“You fishing for compliments, Christopher Kirkpatrick?” JC says, but he’s smiling and keeps on caressing Chris’ back as he pretends to think. “I guess I love you because you found me when I was lost. Because you saw the goodness in Joey when he was at rock bottom, looking past the drinking to the man inside. Because you care even though you pretend you don’t. Because you sing to me at night when I can’t sleep. Because you give me your blanket when I’m cold. Because you’ve the cutest ass I’ve ever seen and…”
“Do you want ketchup with that?” The server asks as he pushes two bags of food across the counter. There’s no smile now and he pointedly looks at JC’s hand which still rests against Chris’ back.
“No, thank you.” JC says. He doesn’t move his hand, just tightens his hold so Chris has to turn with him when he looks at the server. JC pulls himself to his full height, scorn written on his expression. “We’ve got all we need. Have a nice night.”
JC tosses his head and walks away, head held high, still holding Chris tight round the waist. Joey and Lance scramble out of their chairs and Justin hurries away from the display of happy toys he’s been examining as they follow Chris and JC outside.
“Hold up.” Joey says as he catches up, still arranging the straps of his bag over his shoulder. “What’s the hurry?”
“I didn’t like him.” JC says as he hands a bag of food to Justin. “Anyway, I want to go swing now.”
Joey shrugs and starts walking again. “Fair enough. It’s probably a good job, this bruiser wanted to go punch out those idiots behind us.” Joey points to Lance who blushes but doesn’t drop his gaze.
“They called you a rank disgusting dropout and JC a dirty retard and…”
Chris laughs bitterly. “Nothing we haven’t heard before, you get used to it. Don’t get into something you can’t handle because of name calling. If you stay here much longer you won’t even hear it anymore.”
“I could have handled it.” Lance says, and he stares back at Chris.
“Maybe you could, but it’s not worth it, believe me. Save the fights for the important stuff. Like the fact Justin’s eating your fries.”
“Hey, put those back.” Lance yells when he sees Justin stuffing fries into his mouth. Justin smiles, fry hanging from his bottom lip before sprinting down the street, Lance in hot pursuit “Just wait until I get my hands on you, Timberlake.”
“Kids these days, they’ve got no respect.” Joey shakes his head in mock sorrow then yells and starts to run too.
“Is it just me or do you feel old watching them?” Chris asks. JC sighs, patting Chris’ back one last time before letting his hand drop.
“I feel old all the time. At least I do when I’m not inside my head.” JC sounds defeated and Chris looks sharply at him, seeing the way JC’s shoulders are slumped as he watches the other three run through the park gates far ahead, then JC speaks again, voice soft. “I get scared sometimes, that I won’t come back. I need the colours, Chris. I need to see beautiful things, touch them and feel them. Without them I’m empty inside.”
Chris can’t speak. The words are frozen, blocked by the lump of ice that blocks his throat. Uncaring of who might be watching, Chris reaches for JC’s hand, holding it tight. It’s the one thing he’s always feared, that one day JC will leave, realising that he deserves more than a cardboard shelter and a man with too many scars.
“I wish I could cut myself open and show you what I see.” JC says, then looks at Chris. “You know why I always come back?”
Chris shakes his head, still unable to form words.
“Because of you. You’re more beautiful than anything I can ever imagine.”
Chris feels the fear drain from his body and he hugs JC quickly. “I think you need your eyes testing, C.” But he smiles as he says it and JC smiles too, a big goofy smile that lights up his face.
“You gonna push me on the swing?” JC says as he starts to walk. Chris is tight against his side, their legs brushing together with each step.
“Don’t I always?” replies Chris. Because he will, and they both know it.
~*~*~*~*~
Chris sits on the picnic bench, burger in hand. He savours each bite, knowing they might not eat like this for weeks. His fingers are covered in grease and salt and he sucks his fingers in-between bites, making the meal last as long as possible.
JC is lying on the grass, eating chicken nuggets as he watches the stars. Lance lies next to him – meal long finished – and points out constellations, waving his hand in the air as he tries to show JC each one. JC eats his nuggets and says he can see the stars Lance points out, Chris doubts he can but Lance sounds happy as he explains, and Chris knows JC will say he can see anything as long as it makes Lance smile.
Looking up when Justin shouts, Chris laughs when he sees him balanced in the air on a see-saw, Joey weighing the other end down.
“Let me down!” Justin laughs, then yells as Joey does just that, letting Justin fall to the ground with a thump as he yells “That hurt, wait until I get hold of you.” Joey laughs at Justin’s threat but still runs away, chuckling as Justin tries to catch him.
“That’s got to hurt.” Lance says, and he stands as JC jumps to his feet. Chris knows he’s going to swing, something he loves to do. Chris remembers asking JC why he loved it once, and the way JC’s face changed as he explained about the swing in his childhood home, and days spent swinging as his mom watched from the kitchen window. Chris has never asked again.
“Push me later?” JC asks, and kisses Chris on the top of his head when he indicates he will. Chris watches JC run to then jump on the swing, his whole body working to get as high as possible and soon he’s flying through the air, laughing as his hair streams behind him and his t-shirt rides up, showing his stomach.
Lance sits next to Chris and they watch JC in silence as Chris eats his burger. When he’s finished Chris carefully folds the paper bags for JC, who collects any kind of paper to draw on, then puts it into Joey’s bag that’s on the ground next to them.
“Thank you.” Chris looks up at Lance’s words.
“No problem, but what for?” Chris asks. Lance is silent, watching JC and Chris thinks he’s not going to talk, when Lance replies. “For taking us in. I know you didn’t want to.”
“I had to.” Chris says, and his fingers drum against the tabletop as Lance looks at him.
“No, you didn’t. You could have left Justin yesterday or sent us away today. I imagine the last thing you need is two more people to take care of.”
Chris’ first reaction is to lie, to say it’s no trouble but Lance is still looking at him and Chris knows any lie will be seen through. So he makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. “We’ll get by. You’ll soon learn street smarts and until you do Joey, JC and I have your backs.”
Lance falls quiet again, and Chris starts to feel jumpy, he wants to stand and run, to try and fit down the slide and laugh when his ass gets stuck half way down like it always does, but Lance is nibbling at his fingernails, obviously trying to work up the nerve to speak.
“You and JC…” Lance says, and he looks at Chris as if he’s afraid to go on.
“Me and JC, what?” Chris prompts, and Lance bites at his nail again, looking at Chris then away again.
“You look like you’ve been together a long time.”
“That’s because we have.” Chris says, and he counts time in his head. He can’t remember exactly, months tend to run together and Chris remembers in terms of events, not dates. The time he slept on a park bench when he first left home, the time in the shelter with the guy and his wandering hands, the time he could do nothing but lie on the cold sidewalk, shivering and feverish after one too many cold nights without shelter.
“I think it’s about three years now, maybe more, it’s been three winters at least.” Chris says, smiling when he remembers meeting JC. “He saw me singing one day and started talking about how beautiful my eyes were. I was cold and hungry and here was this idiot babbling about my eyes. I told him to go away but he wouldn’t, and still hasn’t.”
“You love him.”
It’s not really a question, but Chris answers anyway. “Yeah, I do. He’s everything to me.”
“I love Justin.” Lance says, his expression is serious as he looks at Justin who’s hanging upside down at the top of the climbing frame, then back to Chris. “You probably think I’m too young for love, but I’m not.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think, you have to do what makes you happy, and if that’s Justin, that’s great.” Chris looks at Justin too, who’s laughing hard as Joey tries to pull him down.
“I didn’t want him to come.” Lance says as he folds his arms around himself, looking into the distance. “I was going alone, I’d planned it all while I was stuck in bed. It hurt to move and everything was so wrong. Momma would bring me soup and pills and we’d talk but never about anything important. I never told her about the calls. She loves me, Chris. She really does, dad too. That’s why I had to go, they were going to hurt them, because of me. But I never planned to bring Justin, but he was there when they called again, and I threw some thing in my case and ran. He followed me and wouldn’t go. You have to believe me.”
“I believe you.” Chris says, he touches Lance on the shoulder, feeling how tense he is. “You did what you thought was right.”
“It was right.” Lance almost shouts, and Justin and Joey look over before going back to digging in the sandpit when Lance waves at them. “It’s the only thing I could do.”
“Did you leave a note at least?” Chris asks, he’s imagining Lance’s mom, standing by the phone waiting for news of her son.
“I sent a postcard at a bus station we stopped at on the way here. I told her I was okay and not to look for me. Justin sent one to his mom too. He cried when he sent it, he misses her.” Lance rubs his eyes with his fists, and Chris knows Justin isn’t the only person who’s missing his mom. “I should have made him stay.”
“You could go back.” Chris knows Lance will say no before he even opens his mouth, but he has to try.
“No. No, I can’t. I won’t. The stakes are too high. I’m not putting my family at risk.” Lance jumps to his feet. “I’ll go somewhere else if you don’t want us, but I’m not going back.”
“Okay, you’re not going back, I get it.” Chris sighs, looking up at Lance. “I’ve also said you can stay about a thousand times now, so get it through your head. You can stay. Justin can stay. My box is your box. Now I’m gonna go swing with JC. You’d better go and dig Justin out of the sandbox. It looks like he’s a bit stuck.”
Lance looks at Justin who’s under a mound of sand, Joey laughing next to him. Lance nods at Chris before running to Justin, pulling him up and dusting him down as he laughs. Chris watches them then goes to a swing, holding the chains when JC moves behind him, holding him in a tight hug. Resting his head against JC’s chest, Chris closes his eyes. “Were we ever that young?”
“I don’t think we were.” JC replies and Chris believes him. Youth is something he’s never had, and something Justin and Lance will lose soon, it’s inevitable.
