A Love Like War (Larry Stylinson) AU

Chapter 4

A Love Like War. 

Chapter Four.

.......................................................................................................................................................................

Spending time with Jack was nice. He was fun to be around, even though he was devastated due to Alex's disappearance. He told me about when they used to give concerts and how he loved to play guitar and making people happy with their music. He told me that he remembered being on stage and stopping playing, just to see the faces in the crowd. He liked collecting those feelings remember them later. He would have given anything to feel what he felt back then. Jack was such a sweetheart. 

It had been minutes or even hours since it got dark. The streets around there weren't any nicer by the streetlights' glow. It all seemed darker than it should. I didn't feel safe at all. Just some few people were there, but they didn't look very friendly. I guessed that they wouldn't hurt us because we were all in the same situation there; but I couldn't help but feel unprotected. Jack felt my restlessness and put an arm around my shoulders. He was carrying a shotgun on his back; not because someone was willing to hurt us, but for if we were the ones who had to attack. I couldn't understand how he could be around someone like me, him being older and more mature than me. 

He took out a key and walked me to a metalic gate. After that there was a building, kind of like where I had slept the night before, but it was much smaller. 

"Where are we?" I asked following after him. Surrounding the building was a bit of grass, which was really dry. You could appreciate how nobody cared about nature around there. I thought about the farms they had told me about before. Surely people would have taken care of that garden there. 

"This is where Alex and I live." he explained opening the front door. I glanced around the room we entered. It seemed like it had been a shop before, and now was decorated with some furniture. There was an old sofa and a tv from which static waves came. 

"It this like a house just for you two?" I stood there awkwardly until he motioned for me to follow him to another room. He laughed a bit and turned on the light from that room. When I got in it I realized it was a kitchen. It was dirty, with not much light and it looked really old, just like everything there. He stood in front of the fridge and started looking for something to cook. 

"Yes, we preferred a bit of privacy and as we have been here from the start, we had the priviledge to choose." Jack explained taking some eggs from the refrigerator. I looked around the kitchen and there was a wooden table and two cahirs in both sides of it. I took a seat and looked at him while he prepared what seemed an omelette.

 "From the start?" I hadn't thought of how long people must had been there. Maybe he had been here for months. But how can that be if I came two days ago? "Jack, how long have you been here?"

 "Well" he started finishing the omelette and placing it on a plate. "Here you go." he put in in front of me and started cooking again. "Alex and I have been here for almost five months." 

"And how can that be possible?" I put my knees against my chest, making myself a ball. "We didn't know anything about what was happening for months?" The black haired boy handed me a fork and a knife. 

"They banned it. No one could ever talk about this and it couldn't appear in the news." he finished his omelette and sat in front of me, after turning off the cooker. 

"Who are 'they'?" I asked taking a bite of what he had prepared me. Jack bit his lip and turned his face away.

 "I can't tell you about this, Harry. I'm sorry." He looked at me directly in the eye. "Don't ask about this anymore, please." I nodded and ate in silence. 

Jack smiled due to the food. His eyes were really expressive and big, they were dark, kind of a mixture between black and dark brown. His lips were thin and his nose was chiselled. His hair was thick and fell on his forehead. 

 "What is your favorite book?" he suddenly asked. I wouldn't have imagined him as someone who reads, but it was a nice surprise to hear that. 

"Peter Pan." I answered blushing a bit. It might seem childlish, but it really wasn't. I had many memories of my mother reading the book to me, and as I grew older, memories of me reading the original version. Jack smiled wide. 

"My favorite book is Alice in Wonderland." he stated. "I thought you were gonna make fun of me. But as you like Peter, he can be Alice's friend." It was kind of like that. He lived in Wonderland and I just arrived from Neverland. I laughed and looked at him. He kept talking about his favorite book, telling me how nothing in Wonderland made sense, but that was why it all really made sense. Why it all makes sense. 

......................................................................... 

"Where am I going to sleep?" I asked the older lad after helping him clean the dishes. 

"In our bedroom." He answered like it was the most obvious thing ever. He started walking towards what I supposed would be the bedroom. "I'll sleep on the sofa." 

"You don't have to, I'll sleep on the sofa. I'm the guest." I said rejecting his offer. I didn't want to be a bother. We entered the bedroom and it was grey and small. There was a queen size bed, a wardrove and a desk with a chair in front of it. It wasn't messy because it couldn't be, there was no space for a mess. 

"Don't be silly, my little sweety." I rolled my eyes at that. "Get comfy." He took out a t-shirt and some piyama trousers and gave them to me. "Good night." He kissed my forehead and walked out of the room. I sighed. Jack was really nice to me, when he shouldn't be. He surely felt terrible because Alex wasn't by his side.

 I changed into the clothes he had handed me and got in the bed. It was a nice bed, way more comfortable than the one I had slept in the night before. I turned the lights off and started thinking about Luke and Ash. I felt sick. What if I never saw them again? What if they were dead? What if I was alone in this world? Yeah, I had Jack, but I barely knew him. I didn't even know why he cared about me. Jack had this strong love for Alex and I didn't know if anyone could love someone so much. I surely never had loved someone so much. How could a person put so much passion in caring about another person? You couldn't know what they really were thinking. What if they didn't care for you as much as you did for them? How could you take that risk? 

 I turned and tossed until I started crying. I wasn't mature enough to survive this. I never had to go through anything truly painful and I never got a person in which I could totally rely on.

 Soaking the pillow I felt someone entering the room.

"Are you okay?" I heard a voice asking in the dark.

"Can you sleep here tonight, please?" I managed to say with my voice craking. I didn't get an answer, but soon I felt a weight on the other side of the bed and someone got in the bed. Jack pressed me against his form, which made me lose it and cry even harder. I just remember him singing softly to me. 

"Hold on tight, 

This ride is a wild one, 

Make no mistake, 

The day will come when you can't cover up what you've done, 

Now don't lose your fight, kid, 

It only takes a little push to pull on through, 

With so much left to do; 

You'll be missing out, 

and we'll be missing you."