"Ace."
I buried my head deeper into my pillow, my mind desperately clinging to sleep. I was tired, and I was not waking up without a damn fight.
"Ace!"
My head snapped up as someone punched me in the back of the head. I groaned and glared up at Jer. Okay, I didn't literally expect a damn fight.
"I'm sleeping," I said, gesturing to my bed.
"Not anymore. Get the fuck up," he said and left my room, the door still open.
I rubbed at my eyes and kicked my covers off, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I could smell breakfast food, which was the only thing encouraging me to get up right now. If it wasn't for the food, I would totally go right back to sleep.
Instead, I forced myself up and into clean clothes. I pulled my beanie on securely over my messy hair and left my bedroom, going to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and splashed a little cold water on my face to help myself wake up.
Jack and I had gone out last night to see a midnight movie premiere for some film he'd been excited about. We'd ended up parked on the side of a quiet road, listening to a new CD Jack had grabbed earlier in the day and occasionally kissing. It had been a relaxed night, but we'd still been out late, and I was tired.
I went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Jer, Christian, and Ike were moving around. Food was on the table, and putting a sight to that delicious smell had my mouth watering.
"Hey, quit drooling and grab plates," Ike said, noticing me.
I moved into the bustle of the morning with them, grabbing plates and maneuvering around the busy kitchen with a familiar ease. Once we had the table messily set, we took our seats and dug into the breakfast.
It wasn't exactly a feast for kings, but it was more than we usually got. The grocery store had hosted a good sale, and Christian was one of those people who hoarded coupons. So, we'd stocked our shelves and decided to spoil ourselves for a little.
Even now, I dug into waffles and tater tots and tried to remind myself that this kind of breakfast wouldn't become the norm. My stomach didn't mind, though, and enjoyed the treat.
"What time does everyone work today?" Christian asked. "I need the car to get to my grandfather's tonight. It's supposed to rain and I don't want to bike."
"I have to leave in an hour. The old man is going to have to wait until I get home. Fuck you if you think I'm biking to the other side of town," Jer said.
"Ace and I have the day off," Ike said. "You're just waiting on Jer."
"Yea, yea, you assholes enjoy your Saturday off. Someone has to make the damn money around here," Jer growled.
"You had two days off last week and we had none," Ike said, standing up with his now empty plate. "It's about time you pull your weight around here."
"Shut the fuck up!" Jer narrowed his eyes at Ike.
"Always a pleasant breakfast when you three are involved. I truly cherish our bonding time together," I said, getting up with my plate as well.
"I feel like I'm babysitting," Christian said in annoyance. "All of you shut up."
"Ace, this is your cue to go fuck your boyfriend and leave all of us alone," Jer said, dismissing me with an impatient wave.
"Don't be jealous just because you're not getting any," I said, snickering and ducking as he chucked his fork at my head. It hit the cabinet behind me and clattered to the ground. "You can pick that up yourself. Or just eat with your hands like the savage you are. Can't blame you for not having manners, though. I wouldn't have manners either if my parents were so doped up all the time that they couldn't teach me any."
"They may not have taught me manners but my dad taught me how to stab the shit out of a man," Jer snarled, picking up his knife. "Get out of my fucking sight, Ace."
"I love family time in this house," I said, smirking and slipping out of the kitchen.
I went upstairs and grabbed my phone, texting Jack before shrugging into a jacket and grabbing my wallet. I headed back downstairs, pulled my shoes on, and opened the front door.
"I'm off to go get laid by my boyfriend while Jer gets to know his hand," I called, shutting the door.
The guys and I had started a habit of making sure at least one person in the house knew where we were going when we went out. It was another of our silent ways to show that we did get worried about each other.
We still weren't hugging each other and declaring our brotherly love at every chance, but we were slowly and silently finding more ways to show it. It made it easier to call our house a home.
I grabbed my bike out of the garage and took off down the street on it, biking at a steady pace as I took in the change happening around me. Fall had crept up, sucking away the hot, bright world of summer and replacing it with a chilly air and a breathtaking color of leaves and decorations.
Halloween would be coming up soon enough, though it felt like summer had just started yesterday. It'd been raining steadily more as the days passed, making our trips to work more coordinated to try to get everyone there in a car. Teamwork wasn't our specialty, but we made it work. Jack would help me out from time to time if I really needed it.
His apartment loomed up in front of me, lazily decorated with badly carved pumpkins and cheap window stickers. I ditched my bike at the side of the apartment and went up, letting myself in.
By the time I'd reached the kitchen, the stairs creaking under my weight had given me away. Jack, Delaney, and Nico were gathered around their kitchen table with alcohol and apple cider, and none of them bothered a glance my way as I walked in, used to my presence here by now.
"No, no, no. I hate haunted houses, haunted mazes, and haunted rides. I hate haunted anything!" Nico was saying.
"Your girlfriend can comfort you through the whole thing," Jack said, patting Nico's back sympathetically. "You tough man, you."
"Hey, Jack, why don't you go fuck yourself?" Nico said, pushing Jack's hand off. "Do we really have to do something haunted? Can't we just...I don't know...get drunk and watch a bad horror movie?"
"That would scare you, too. You're a pussy," Delaney said.
"Oh, rich coming from you. I bet you have nightmares of Sharknado," Nico shot back.
"Hey, princess, help us figure out what we're doing Halloween weekend," Jack said, motioning me over.
I dropped into the chair next to him and looked at their list of ideas, most of which did indeed involve the word "haunted". They had a separate list of horror movies to watch, and a list of people throwing parties.
"Haunted sounds fun," I said, smiling pleasantly at Nico as he flipped me off.
"Then it's settled. We'll do the haunted mazes, houses, and rides," Jack said, picking up a pen and circling those options on the paper.
"I hate Halloween," Nico said miserably.
"Toughen up or you'll be our target," Jack said, standing up and abandoning the papers to his housemates. "I'll grab your arm in the dark and scare the shit out of you in the haunted house."
"Jack, if you do that, you won't have a hand anymore," Nico warned.
Jack grinned and shrugged, grabbing the back of my jacket and hauling me to my feet. We left the kitchen and went upstairs to Jack's bedroom. I kicked the door shut as he dropped onto his bed and sat next to him.
"Do you guys ever do anything for Halloween?" he asked.
I shrugged, rubbing my cold hands together and stuffing them in the pockets of my jacket. "We just watch horror movies and pretend we're not home when kids come for candy. Alexis will bring Micah by."
Jack sat up, pulling open one of his drawers and digging around. He tossed a faded pair of gloves at my face.
"I don't use those anymore," he said. "I also don't bike everywhere."
I tucked them into my back pocket. Jack moved closer to me and reached out, unzipping my jacket and helping me out of it. He tossed it to his floor and pulled me closer, lips hovering over mine for a moment as he felt my cold hands. He pressed them together between his and kissed me.
His warm hands and his mouth familiar against my own settled me into a relaxed state, and I closed my eyes and kissed him back. His window was open and I could smell the crisp scent of fall leaking in from outside.
We shifted until I was in Jack's lap and he was pressed against the wall. Time always seemed to crawl by when I was with Jack, but then I'd blink and the moments would be over. It was disorienting and exciting.
Even now, we'd been dating for nearly three months. That was nothing to most people, an insignificant amount of time, barely worth the mention.
But for someone like me, who'd never had a relationship before and who came loaded with problems and issues, that was a lot. That was an accomplishment, and one that I was trying not to take for granted.
Some days we took things too fast and some days we took them at a slow pace. More and more, I was coming to terms with what I'd endured as a child.
Victim.
I'd been a victim. But that didn't mean I had to keep wallowing in the burden of that word for the rest of my life. I was moving past what had happened to me. I was leaving my father to his desperate search for me and building a new life for myself that didn't involve the abusive family I'd fled from. I'd built a new family for myself, a real home where I didn't have to cringe when someone raised their hand or their voice. It would take years to break free of the restraints still shackling me to the past, but, slowly, I was working at it.
Jack was patient with me on it. He'd give me a good kick in the ass when I needed it, but overall, he was understanding about what I'd been through, especially once I'd started opening up about it more to him.
"Ace," Jack mumbled against my mouth. "Let's slow down here. Dex and Nico are right downstairs. Nico will never let me live it down if he hears us."
"Why does he care? He's not a virgin," I said, kissing at Jack's neck.
Jack nudged my head away from his neck. "No, but one time I was home while he and his girlfriend were having sex, and I've never let him live it down. Do you know how many times I heard him yelling 'oh god' that night? It was a lot. Way too much. Not to mention I call Dex the banshee. I'm not earning myself a nickname just because you're horny."
"I'm not horny," I said, rolling off of him. "Besides, you kissed me."
"You're Ace Foley; you're always horny," he said, rubbing his neck and standing up. "Let's go for a walk. I need fresh air. These two have been driving me crazy since I woke up."
We went downstairs, where Delaney and Nico were arguing over what horror movie to watch in the living room. Jack ignored them and made the two of us coffee. He handed me the travel mug of it once it was ready and we got our shoes on, leaving the apartment.
Leaves crunched under our feet as we walked together in comfortable silence. Our feet knew exactly where to carry us as we walked.
We'd started walking at night any time either of us needed to talk. It felt like the darkness was a safe place to drop any fronts we put up during the day. We could be honest about anything and not worry about it by the morning. A lot of the times it was me panicking over how close I was to Jack and how much I wanted to pull away. But sometimes it was Jack telling me how hesitant he was to trust me with certain things and how he was working on that.
Night time was a place for an open honesty between the two of us, which was probably the only reason we had lasted this long so far. It was easy to pretend nothing was wrong during the day, and then spill it all at night so that it was out in the open between us.
"Hey, Ace," Jack said, breaking the silence and my chain of thoughts.
"Hm?" I sipped my coffee and watched the trees as I waited for him to talk.
"I checked online again," he said, and I knew he meant about my dad's never ending search for me. "He posted something online. Offered a cash reward again. Are you ever going to face him?"
"Not anytime soon," I said. "If I did, I'd just crumble right back into the mess I was. Someday I'll brag right to his face that I'm not his property anymore. But only when I'm really not."
"You're not," Jack said, voice fierce. He turned away from me a little, roping himself in to the usually carefree Jack. "But, hey, that's your business. When you're ready, you're ready."
I reached out and he sighed before holding my hand. We continued along in silence.
"Alexis texted me this morning," I said. "He and Micah are stopping for dinner tomorrow."
"I'm shit at cooking, but I know how to make truffles," Jack said, knowing an invitation from me when he heard one.
"Micah is still fascinated by your hair," I said, gesturing to the red mane peeking out from under his hat.
"Great, just what I want, I love when little kids are fascinated by my hair. That's the whole reason I dyed it. Mission accomplished," he said dryly.
I dropped his hand and smirked at him. "You're just mad that you try to be so scary but that kid thinks you're great."
"It hurts my fragile masculinity," he agreed. "I am a tough man and tough men are not meant to have small children excited to see them. I'm supposed to be scary."
"Yea, right," I said, tuning him out before he could keep talking.
"Hey, don't ignore me." He punched my shoulder roughly.
"Tough man or clingy boyfriend: you be the judge," I said, rubbing my shoulder.
We continued our familiar walk, twisting through the streets and taking in the sights of the leaves sprinkling off the trees when breezes would blow by. It was chilly, but I pulled Jack's gloves out of my pocket and slipped them onto my hands.
Jack and I didn't hold hands again, but we walked close enough to each other that our shoulders kept bumping together. Neither of us stepped away from it.
We made it back to the apartment and sat down in the grass. Jack laid back in the leaves, closing his eyes and folding his hands under his head to cushion it.
I sat next to him, picking up a leaf and lightly tearing at it with my hands. So much had changed since I'd met Jack. Being able to let everything out during our nightly walks left me feeling a lot less angry on the inside. I didn't feel hopelessly lost and broken anymore. My friends had stopped joking about me dying young and desperate. Things were looking up and I was tentatively embracing this new and unfamiliar ease.
I gathered up leaves, lightly lying them on Jack to see how many I could cover him in before he noticed. He was still awake, but he hadn't opened his eyes in a few minutes.
When his eyes finally did open again, it took him a moment to notice the impressive amount of leaves I'd stacked on him. He squinted at them before glaring at me.
He shot up, the leaves flying off of him, grabbing me and pulling me down. I laughed and struggled against him as he rolled me on the leaves and picked up fistfuls of them, throwing them at me. My fingers scrambled against the ground in search of leaves to throw back at him, and the space between us became a blur of colored leaves, laughter bouncing around.
"You're such a child," Jack said as we finally settled down, but there was a smile on his face.
"Takes one to know one," I said, blowing a few leaves off of my shoulder and grinning up at him.
Jack grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me closer, kissing me. I could feel his hand picking leaves out of my hair as we kissed, and wrapped my arms around his neck, working my hands out of the gloves so I could feel his skin against my hands, pulling him down against the ground with me. Leaves crunched under our bodies as we kissed, Jack's hands leaving my hair so he could prop himself up over me.
"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" he said against my mouth.
"Shut up, Jackass," I said, pulling him back against my mouth.
We'd been dealt a shitty hand at the beginning, but together, we'd turned that awful hand into a set that won in the end. Smiling against Jack's lips, I tightened my hold on him. The future was unsure, but promising. And for once in my life, I felt okay enough to take on whatever came my way.
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A.N.- Thanks for following Ace down his emotionally traumatic journey, guys! Since this was finished up on Radish a while ago, I've gotten questions about it. And no, I don't have a sequel or anything planned. But if you want more, you can check out my prompt account "promptingskenekidz" and send in suggestions.
Hopefully this story was enjoyable, and thanks again for reading it! Let me know what you thought about it!