Another installment in my AliciaVerse, centering on Daniel Chase-Harris and his boyfriend (as of the start of his Sophmore year of UC Berkley), Jacobo “Jack” Rosado. This takes place the evening of the day of ‘First Day’.
For reference, the Faceclaim for Daniel is Tyler Posey (thanks extende to @hotchickswithsuperpowers for the suggestion), and the faceclaim for Jack is Adam Irigoyen. Both characters are 19 as of this fic.
I have never before written anything that involves two men being in a relationship, in any capacity. Feedback of any kind, on any part of this little fic, i always welcome.
Last year, Daniel had had a roomnate named Richard. The guy was okay – he and Daniel had barely intererracted, all things said and done, and the guy hadn't anything worse than flush and excuse himself awkwardly when he'd walked into their dorm to see Daniel making out with Jack that one time. In my defense, I thought he was in class for another hour!
This year, thankfully, he and Jack had requested to be eachother's roommates, and so they shared a dorm. There being no rule against them pushing the basically single-occupancy beds together, that's also exactly what they'd done. Waking up with Jack next to him had been an experience he'd only had a few times since their first time in February, but it was one Daniel treasured quite dearly.
Carefully balancing the to-go boxes in one hand and the drink-carrier on top of them, Daniel fished his key out of his pocket and opened the door to the dorm, barely managing to grab the carrier before it fell and spilled soda all over the carpet.
Jack was sitting on their bed, tossing a rubber ball into the air an catching it deftly, the whole motion mechanical, none of the usual light in Jack's eyes. About what Daniel had expected though. I wonder if I could talk Aunt Amy into cursing Mr. and Mrs. Rosado with... boils, or something? Aunts Willow and Tara wouldn't do it, of course. Even though they'd sympathize, and Willow would probably even want to, neither of them threw around curses except at supernatural bad guys.
Amy on the other hand... Amy might be willing to.
“I brought back dinner.” He set one of the boxes on the bed next to his boyfriend and handed him one of the drinks. “Steak and White Cheddar, no onions. And Pepsi.” He sat down on the other side of Jack and set his own box, containing a chicken salad, on the bed in front of him. Jack caught the ball one last time and looked over at Daniel.
“I'm not hungry,” Jack muttered. Biting his lip, Daniel reached over and took Jack's free hand, running his thumb over the back of it lightly.
“Jack, you didn't eat breakfast and you barely ate any lunch.” Daniel wished there was something he could do for Jack, more than just... being there for him. But he couldn't magically make Jack's parents less homophobic, he couldn't undo what Jack's little sister had done. He couldn't just banish away all the crap Jack had to be dealing with. He'd finally been able to come out of the closet now that he was on the other side of the state from his family, after years of pretending to be what he wasn't, and now his parents knew. And they'd reacted as badly as Jack had ever feared they would.
Letting out a slow, deep breath, Daniel squeezed Jack's hand lightly. “Do you want to talk some more?”
Jack shook his head, “What the hell is there to say that I haven't already? I thought I could trust Raquel, that I could tell someone in my family that I'm gay, but it turns out I shouldn't have trusted the little perra.” He scooted a little closer and rested his head on Daniel's shoulder. Pretty much instinctively, Daniel put his arm around Jack, saying nothing. They'd talked last night, talked this morning... if Jack didn't want to talk about it anymore... then Jack didn't need to talk about it anymore.
“I'd rather talk about... anything else,” Jack admitted. He looked up a little at Daniel, brow furrowing. “You mentioned Alicia was coming up yesterday. Did you see her today?”
“I did, a little bit,” Daniel nodded. “She had to get to the bookstore and I was waiting for you, but we'll have plenty of time to keep in touch now that we're at the same college.” He was still idly rubbing the back of Jack's hand with his thumb as he spoke.
“What exactly is the deal with her anyway? I mean, your parents are friends, and you've known her for years. You've called her basically family. You have a lot of aunts and even a few uncles that aren't conneced by blood. More than most people do. I've always wondered about that?”
A fair point. Of course, Daniel couldn’t spill the beans about vampries and demons and magic and the way that had given them all a shared experience and bond not much, certainly not time or distance, could break.
“Well, neither of my parents have siblings, but all my 'Aunts and Uncles’... it started years ago, and they’re still close. Mom, Dad, Aunt Willow and Aunt Amy have known eachother the longest, especially Dad and Aunt Willow. But everyone else is part of it. Even Angel.” Daniel laughed. He'd even call Kate Lockley 'Aunt Kate', but he just couldn't bring himself to call Angel 'Uncle Angel'. Unlike his dad, Daniel had no real issue with the vampire with a soul, no personal dislike, but he just hadn't grown up calling him anything other than Angel or Deadboy (a bad habit he'd picked up from Dad that Dad had of course found endlessly amusing)
“Angel? I don't recognize that one.” Daniel laughed.
“Dad doesn't like him. Never has, never will. He's one of Aunt Buff's exes, but they stayed in touch. Friends.” Not really, but that was the best word to describe the two of them to those uninitiated to the tragic soap opera of a story that was Aunt Buffy and Angel. And he only knew bits and pieces of it. “But he's Kathryn's dad. I've mentioned her, I know.”
“Sounds familiar, but you talk about a lot of people. And there's a lot of interconnections between everyone.” Jack managed a small chuckle. “What was it you said that one time?”
Daniel knew exactly what Jack was referring to. Smiling a little himself, Daniel spoke: “If you tried to write down the whole story of my mom, my dad and all my Aunts and Uncles and why they're all so close, it would take at least a million words, even if you just stuck to the really important bits.” He nodded, “And I'm telling you, it's true. It's crazy stuff. Pretty soap opera worth at times.”
“You'll have to tell me some of the stories sometime.” Jack said, siting up a little as his stomach suddenly rumbled loudly.
“Not hungry?” Daniel smiled again, and Jack just rolled his eyes, lifting his head off of Daniel's shoulder.
“I guess I am hungry.” Jack confirmed. He popped open the box and took out the Panera sandwitch, taking a bite. He smiled and swallowed. “Thank you.”
“Always.” Daniel let go of Jack's hand and opened his salad. “Speaking of Alicia,” Daniel said, going back to the topic that had started all this, “she wants to meet you in person sometime soon. She approves of you, you know, from what I've told her about you.” He stuck his fork into the box and starte eating.
“What's there not to approve of, Daniel? I'm a pretty amazing guy.” Daniel could easily tell that most of Jack's suddenly upbeat and positive tone was him pretending everything was alright, but not completely. Jack did have a pretty high opinion of himself, most of the time. And as far as Daniel was concerned, it was a well earned one.
“Good point.” Daniel agreed. “Of course, if you're so amazing, why are you dating a loser like me again?” He laughed then took a sip of his soda.
Jack smirked, “Well, there's that thing you do with your teeth...” Flushing, Daniel swallowed the liquid in his mouth quickly.
“There is that,” Daniel said weakly, the soda having almost gone down the wrong tube. At Jack's sudden expression of worry, he held up a hand. “I'm good. Is that the only reason?” Of course, Jack had told him as much before, there was more than that, but...
“Stop fishing for compliment, Daniel,” Jack teased, then he leaned over and gave Daniel a quick kiss on the cheek. “I love you.”
Daniel smiled, turning his head and putting one hand on the back of Jack's neck lightly, pressing his lips to his boyfriend's, moving his hand up just a bit to toy with Jack's hair where it met the nape of his neck. After several second, Daniel pulled back, taking a small breath.
