OOOOOH
This chapter *shouldn't* go too much past 1000 words but you never know haha.
So. Jack has to get the gang back together again. This oughtta be interesting.
Enjoy! :)
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Jack is still uncertain about if he should really follow through with this. The thing is, it's crazy. The whole thing is just crazy. He has a letter from a guy who isn't even alive, who is urging him to not only get a group of people who haven't really interacted in years back together, but also to do the equivalent of solving a mystery.
Who does he think I am? Sherlock Holmes?
And it's not like Kid Blink will ever find out if Jack follows through with it all.
But Jack's conscience would know. And he couldn't live with himself knowing that he refused to grant his old friend's literal dying wish.
Jack sighs.
The thing is, he misses everyone. Race, Spot, Mush. Crutchy. Blink. Not that he'll ever see the latter two again.
David.
He misses David. He can't even remember why they fell apart. He just knows that these most recent years, nothing has made sense, and that's because David hasn't been in his life.
Maybe Blink was right. Maybe we do need each other.
So maybe it will be a good thing if he finds David.
But will David truly want to see him again?
Only one way to find out.
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Jack remembers where the Jacobs' apartment is. True, it doesn't necessarily mean David--or his family--is living here now, but it's a start.
It's been a while since he's been in this neighborhood. The last time was probably when he and David were on good terms. And since David wasn't at Kid Blink's funeral, that means the last time Jack saw David was the year they fell apart: in 1906.
I haven't seen him in about 8 years.
The realization hits Jack like a train.
And then suddenly, he can't do this anymore.
He doesn't want to find out what happens when David sees him for the first time in eight years. He can see it now: the look of hatred, disgust, and ... disappointment. It was always the disappointment in David's eyes that killed Jack. And he knows for a fact that there will be disappointment in David's eyes when they see each other's face again.
I'm sorry, Blink, Jack apologizes weakly as he walks quickly out of the neighborhood. I can't do it. Not tonight.
He looks back one more time.
He can go to the Jacobs' appartment right now.
He can put on a smile and hope for the best.
He can finally tell David that he's sorry, and that he wants him in his life again.
But he doesn't do any of those things.
I just can't face you tonight, David.
And so he continues walking away, and doesn't look back.
He can practically hear Kid Blink accusing him of being a coward. And Jack knows he can't deny it.
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I should find Mush, Jack reasons once he's finished sulking over his cowardice. Mush will know what to do.
He stops.
Why didn't Blink write this all for Mush in the first place? Why Jack?
While he'll never get an answer from Kid Blink, he might get an answer from Mush. And so he'll just have to settle for that.
If I can find Mush, that is.
Mush nearly straight up disappeared after Kid Blink's funeral. Finding him in a huge city like New York with no idea where to look is going to be a big challenge.
That's even if he's in this city at all.
Let alone if he's still in this state.
Jack stops this train of thought before his brain supplies Let alone if he's still in this country.
Well, there's only way to find Mush, and that's not by staying in one place. And so he begins his mission to find Mush, wherever he may be.
It doesn't take long for Jack to realize how hopeless this is. He has absolutely no clue where Mush is, has no idea who to ask, and no real way to find him.
He's out of options.
But that doesn't mean tonight has to be hopeless.
He may not know the whereabouts on his friends from the past...
...but he does know where to start looking for one.
David.
Jack takes in a deep breath.
Now is the time to finally make the confrontation. No avoiding it.
He is so, so not ready for this.
And yet he continues on anyway.
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He's standing outside the Jacobs' appartment, taking deep breaths. He can do this. He can do this. I can do this. Tentatively, he knocks on the door.
The person who answers the door is not David, but it's someone Jack knows: Sarah Jacobs. She's aged beautifully. She stands there with a curious air, eyebrows raised in surprise. It has been eight years since he saw her.
"You look good," is all he can muster.
She smiles with amusement. "I can say the same for you too." After a beat, she asks, "So what brings you here?"
Suddenly, a small child, no more than four or five, comes running up to Sarah. "Who's this, Mama?"
Jack does a double take.
Sure enough, this kid looks a lot like her.
"An old friend," Sarah says, bending over, but with her eyes still on Jack.
"I ..." Jack is forgetting how words work. "A kid."
"Yeah," Sarah chuckles. She scoops the little girl up and kisses her on the forehead. "We're just here visiting her grandparents."
Those would be Sarah and David's parents. Jack's mind still is having trouble comprehending it all.
"Well, I guess a lot can change in a few years," Jack says finally.
"Yes, it can," Sarah agrees. "Would you like to stay with us for dinner?"
"Oh no, it's okay," Jack tells her. "I just came to..." he swallows nervously. "I just ... I would like to ask if you know where David is."
Sarah stops, considering it for a moment.
"I know you have no reason to tell me," Jack says quickly. "I mean, I know you're busy, and David's busy, and I just turned up out of the blue, and everything wasn't great the last time I saw you-"
"I think it's a good idea for you two to see each other again."
Jack stops rambling. "What?"
She repeats what she said, and then she tells him David's address. "Tell him that Rebecca and I send our greetings as well."
Rebecca must be her daughter. He's still trying to wrap his mind around it all.
Jack dips his head politefully. "Will do."
As Sarah closes the door and he walks away, his heart begins to race. He has the address in his mind. Now he has no excuse.
He is so, so not ready for this.
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It's dark and raining when Jack finally reaches the place.
His heart is racing a million miles a minute as he knocks on the door.
As he waits in anticipation, his stress heightens. Is David even here? Is this the right address? What if this is the wrong place? Should Jack not have come here? What's going to happen when the door-?
Suddenly, the door opens, interrupting Jack's anxious thoughts.
It's a man who is 32 years old and has subtle facial hair, but it still is David Jacobs. David with his curly hair and blue eyes and always inquisitive gaze that Jack fell for all those years ago.
David raises an eyebrow silently.
And Jack wonders how he must look: drenched from the rain, breathing rapidly, wet hair against his face, his face probably making the expression he tends to make when he is going to sheepishly apologize for something very, very stupid that he has done--a face David knows all too well.
"Hi, Davey."
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I shouldn't leave it there, and yet I did.
OOOOOO dramaaaaaaaa
Or it could be anticlimatic in the next chapter, we won't know until I write it haha.
So how was that?
I just really needed Jack to be soaking wet in the rain at David's doorstep, okay? Rainy backgrounds always build tension.
Hopefully I built enough anticipation.
Random research things I did for this chapter:
Sherlock Holmes was written/published between 1887 and 1893 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who knew Oscar Wilde).
Out of the blue was a phrase first used in 1837 during the French Revolution.
I just like reseraching random facts and checking to make sure if they historical accurately check out haha (and yeah, historical accurately isn't technically a term, but I'm the author, so I can pull a Shakespeare when I want haha).
I'm impressed at myself for this being under 1500 words haha.
So ... how will Jack and David interact?
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!!!!!!! :)
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Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at all times.
Best,
~Your Beloved Author (who kinda alarmingly is really getting into writing the we are exes, we don't talk about our past, or talk trope haha)