Chapter 118 - Jack and Race Brotherly

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- Chapter 118 - Pancakes and Fluff -
Warnings: stress, mentions of abuse, shoving, crying, sadness, insults, bullies
Modern AU
Third Person POV

A/N, this was chosen by Teakwondogirl247 for the 30k reads chapter. I hope you enjoy!

Jack sat on the floor of the bathroom, just listening.

It had been about three minutes since the sobbing stopped.

That means Race either tired himself out and fell asleep or he stopped crying, but Jack doubted it was the second one.

Race had wanted space. It was why he went upstairs in the first place.

Jack was assuming that whatever had shaken him up caused him to burst into tears in the middle of the hallway before he got to his room, which was why he had been sobbing for the past hour.

Jack really wanted to go and hug him and just comfort him, and he almost did multiple times, but he knew Race wanted to be alone and he had to accept that.

He just knew that it was never fun to deal with your problems alone and sob alone.

After a few more minutes of hearing nothing coming from outside of the bathroom, Jack decided to check to see if he was still awake.

Jack slowly and carefully opened the bathroom door, cringing when it creaked and stopping every time it did creak.

He poked his head outside of the door.

Race was leaning against the wall. His eyes were red and puffy and his notebook was against his knees. His cheeks were up and against his chest and his head was back against the wall, his eyes closed.

Jack exhaled slowly. He figured he was probably asleep.

Jack quickly got up, deciding to bring him to his bed before Race fell over and woke himself up. He quickly left the bathroom, trying to be as quietly as possible.

Jack walked over to him. He picked up the notebook and closed it, not bothering to read anything from it as that wasn't his place.

Jack held the notebook as he slid an arm under Race's legs and another arm behind his back, grunting softly as he picked him up.

"You don't get any lighter, do you?" Was how Jack would usually tease Race when he picked him up.

Race would usually roll his eyes and lean back in Jack's arms, giving up as he knew his protests would do nothing.

He had learned that fairly quickly after getting fostered by Medda.

In reality, Jack's teases were just jokes. He swore Race had been the same weight for a few months, which was slightly concerning.

Jack carefully carried Race to his room, gently pushing the door open with his foot.

He didn't turn on the light, knowing that could wake Race up and then he'd probably be overstimulated and it would make everything a lot worse.

Jack moved a bit to let more of the hall light into the room. He used that to help him get to Race's bed without tripping or walking into something and pulled Race's covers back.

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