Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Evan may not know Jack Mercer personally, but after one year he has gathered some facts about the infamous student. As a skilled baseball player going into his final year – and popularity to match a celebrity – one would think that he has no reason to concern himself with the class a year behind him but the Mercers have always been special. Ever since his older brother came home with a broken nose and a black eye three years ago after pissing off a certain Angel Mercer, he has been keeping an eye out for the social rejects. Now, he never had the displeasure of meeting any of them personally as Bobby and Jerry both graduated (or were suspended) and Angel went to another school. That all changed a year ago, when he went into his second last year.

Jack Mercer. The name was whispered through the halls and spit out on the ground like venom from students and teachers alike. A new kid and a new student, and most of all, a new black sheep from the Mercer clan. The day he stepped onto the school grounds, all eyes were drawn to the opening doors of the school hall. And there he was.

Tall. Lanky. Dangerous, dark eyes that traveled from one person to another in a ferocious search for threats. Evan’s first impression of the kid can be summed into one word; Hunter. Because this word is made up of prey and hunters, and you can always tell them apart by their eyes. The second Evan made eye contact with the youngest Mercer brother from across the hall he knew that the kid fell into the latter category. The messy, blondish hair fell messily around an almost angelic face and if Evan were completely honest with himself he might have found the courage to call him beautiful. A leather jacket fell comfortably on a lean frame and the loose shirt fell down low enough to showcase collarbones carved from marble. Skin light but not like how it looked on those scary, depressed girls but rather like he was shining. Truly, Jack Mercer looked like had no right to be a hunter, but if looks could kill, the entire school would fall dead in seconds. When he walked past everyone who was staring at him in the corridors, he took long, measured steps, like he owned the place. After the initial lookout, his eyes didn’t stray to people, instead almost floating from one place to another aimlessly. His chains fell together like a symphony and honestly, when Evan saw the admiring glances the girls gave him, he couldn’t even find himself to disagree. Grace, style and an unbothered exterior, not to mention his almost holy appearance.

Yes, Evan could definitely see why the girls swooned at his intimidating glare. That didn’t change the fact that the Mercers were horrifying criminals, thieves and murderers. He would not be fooled by such an innocent face, no, this was war. Jack Mercer was his opponent, even if he didn’t know it yet.

The following year did nothing to sway his opinion. Jack might have been quiet at first but when the opportunity arose, he didn’t hesitate to make a racket. He heard and saw it with his own eyes a few times, the way the kid went eerily silent one second and the next one, his opponent was already down on the ground. He didn’t think he’d ever see someone use a branch as a weapon and actually find it scary but Jack Mercer did not disappoint. A pipe, a branch, a book, a chair, a table, a locker, there was not a limit to the weapons that the kid could make up on the spot. One time in the cafeteria he even bashed a guy’s head with a trey after his food was messed with. That particular moment he moved almost like a feral dog.

So yes, he may never have spoken to the kid personally, but he definitely knew some stuff. Namely, few dared mess with him and even fewer came out of the scuffle without regretting it. Also, that the kid had a kickass style, but even if he didn’t have it, he still somehow managed to make it work. Lastly, the kid was very protective of his name and family of social rejects. Apparently the surname was a point of pride for him despite the dirt and blood on it. Evan wouldn’t pretend to understand him, but then again the two of them couldn’t have been more different. They never had reason to interact and the closest they’ve ever gotten to a conflict was when Jack smashed one of his teammates into the ground. Some sort of misunderstanding apparently, poor old Mark came back to school the next day with a face missing a tooth and a shiner while Jack got suspended for a week. Sure, somewhere inside himself Evan may have felt that the punishment was uncalled for as Mark was the clear instigator but why would he voice that opinion? He has a reputation to maintain.

The first day of school as one of the oldest is off to a great start. He steps out of his car – expensive, bought by his father – and is immediately surrounded by teammates and girls alike. Maria, the most popular cheerleader in the school gives him a wink and he schools his face into a neutral but interested expression. Sure, he’s dated girls here and there but Maria is on another level. With her popularity and his looks, they could rule the school. He can practically see his social status elevate by the second, which is impressive because it is already sky high. Sure, she dated Mark before, but bros before hoes doesn’t apply when the hoe in question is Maria.

Still, he can’t stop his eyes from straying away from the brunette in search of a familiar dirty blonde. It’s been a few months since he saw Jack last, Evan spent his summer away in Brazil, and he wants to see if the guy’s the same as he’s always been. He wants to know if those dangerous eyes still track movement like a hawk, he wants to hear the familiar rustle of a black leather jacket and metal hitting metal. He wants to see if that defined face has gathered new features, became skinnier, darker, lighter, anything. If Evan were completely honest with himself, he might say that thoughts like those were drifting into uncomfortable territory, but he’s about to date the hottest cheerleader in town so he doesn’t concern himself with thoughts like that.

Something moves in the back of the crowd and Evan’s eyes are immediately drawn to that familiar, slow, swingy walk. He’s not that visible through the crowd but Evan instinctively knows it’s him. Jack Mercer.

His black leather jacket has been thrown aside for a red one. It looks worn but Jack wears it with the confidence of someone wearing the newest fashion. Once again, he makes it work. His hair is still the same messy style from before but it’s gotten slightly longer, he looks like a proper rockstar. His rings shine in the sun and when he looks up, his eyes glimmer in the light. It’s difficult to see through the crowd but Evan thinks that the kid has gotten taller, despite the fact that he remains as skinny as ever. Their eyes suddenly meet and Evan feels himself freezing up. He’s a hunter, just like Jack, but something is that those deep eyes draw him in like nothing else. Jack however looks away slowly and disappears into the building. Evan collects himself and shakes off the weird feeling of having those eyes on him. Even if it was just for a few seconds, just for a moment, he felt very warm.

Weeks go by and school resumes like normal. Evan finds his eyes involuntarily searching for a familiar messy head of hair and looks away the second he realizes who he’s looking for. He and Maria get together, Mark shouts at him but has to get over it because of baseball. Jack Mercer comes and goes. He starts a fight ( or ends one) gets suspended and comes back in a week or two. They don’t have a reason to talk so they don’t, even if Jack definitely has noticed Evan staring at him across the school halls.

Inevitably, the day they talk for the first time does come. It’s a dark Tuesday and it’s raining outside. Evan is still in school even though almost everyone else is gone because of his baseball training and he also forgot his umbrella. His brother is in Hollywood, filming a new blockbuster-to-be, and Maria’s having a girl’s night. Long story short, no one can pick him up and he refuses to walk home in this rain like a dog. He has already braced himself for a long hour, calling people back and forth until one of his mates picks up, when he sees that someone else is also staring out into the rain from inside of the school. His hair is as messy as ever and his guitar is thrown over his back in a black case. He’s smoking despite the fact that it’s not allowed and Evan wonders what the fuck Jack Mercer is doing in school at this hour. Then again, the instrument on his back probably answers that question. He isn’t surprised that Jack’s a guitar player, it fits him somehow.

The teen is staring into the darkness of the night with an empty expression. He doesn’t look bothered, but rather fascinated with the rain coming from the sky. His face is twisted into almost childish wonder, those beautiful eyes are wide and his lips are slightly opened as his hand caresses the frame of the open door. Something in him tells Evan that if the kid wasn’t trapped with a guitar, the kid would be out there in the rain rather than in here with him. From the corner of the hall where Evan is standing, he isn’t visible to Jack who is standing by the open door. He has no doubt that if the other boy knew he was being watched, he wouldn’t let his emotions shine through as they are now. Jack Mercer is always calm except when he’s beating someone, Jack Mercer is like a stone wall when you’re talking to him. He answers with silence or a dry retort. This somber, yearning look doesn’t suit him at all yet Evan feels strangely blessed to be the one to witness it. He is struck with the urge to approach Jack, maybe ask him a question about his playing, but they’ve never spoken a word to each other.

The choice is stolen from him when Evan accidentally steps on some trash on the floor. The rustling sound awakens Jack from his slumber and he comes back with a flinch. His eyes immediately find their way to Evan and just for a second, he mourns the boy who stared out the window without a thought. The Mercer’s guard is back up and his eyes are once again sharp and focused. The eyes of a hunter.

“Not brave enough for the rain, rockstar?” The words tumble from his mouth. They feel like him, they feel right. Not too familiar and not antagonistic, but not out of character either. Jack Mercer merely tilts his head slightly and keeps watching him carefully.
“Like you’re any better. What, too fancy for a little bit of rain?” The words are mocking but not angry. Jack, like him, seems to be assessing the situation.
“Fits a mangy dog like you better, I suppose.” Jack sneers at Evan’s words but seems to have decided that this interaction isn’t worth his time, because he goes back to staring at the rain. Evan finds himself irritated at being ignored but something in Jack has always reeled him in like a fish and this is no different. One of the school’s most popular and biggest guys is talking to him, yet Jack Mercer rolls his eyes and faces the rain. Just as Evan’s about to approach him to keep the conversation up, a loud honking from outside interrupts their moment. Jack moves and walks out into the rain. Evan helplessly follows to see what’s happening, but stops by the door. He’s hidden behind the corner where he can watch the exchange without being seen.

The car is red and rusty and someone steps out of it and into the rain. The man is broad and his dark hair is slicked back. He’s wearing a brown leather jacket and his eyes are endlessly dark. Evan puts the pieces of the puzzle together and realizes that the man in front of the school is none other than Bobby Mercer, the oldest brother of the Mercer family. As he watches the older man, maybe twenty five years old, he can definitely see where all the crazy rumours come from. The way he walks is confident and dangerous, his face is stuck in an expression of anger. His eyes don't float from one thing to another like Jack’s do, instead they find something and then stay there. There is a dangerous glint in those eyes and Evan can’t contain the shiver running down his back. Evan doesn’t doubt that Bobby Mercer has killed before and would happily do it again. A predator.

Something changes in those eyes when the oldest Mercer sees Jack walk over to him. Evan can almost see the changes in slow motion with how noticeable they are. That condescending sneer disappears completely in favour of a small smile. The eyes of danger and bloodshed soften, and suddenly the darkness in them is not endless but warm. He opens his arms wide and Evan watches on in shock as Jack doesn’t hesitate to throw himself into those arms. Bobby embraces him wholeheartedly and swings them both around in the rain. He can’t hear a lot of what they’re saying through the rain, but Jack’s eyes of childish wonder are back and Bobby hasn’t stopped smiling since he saw him. After their reunion, they hurry into the car and speed away, leaving Evan alone. Before they disappear into the dark night, he makes the mistake of turning his eyes away from Jack who’s taken a seat in the car. Dark eyes stare right back at him and he can’t help flinching back slightly. The warmth in them is all but gone, replaced by a furious fire – for a second Evan is certain that Bobby Mercer is going to march right up to him and smash his face in. Then he simply looks away and heads into the car.

The only thing he can think of is that sweet look of wonder on Jack’s face. He has never seen him look at anything or anyone like that, but he looked at his oldest brother with such warmth that it took Evan’s breath away. And maybe, if Evan were completely honest with himself, he would admit that he would like to see those sweet eyes look at him in such a way, but he has a role to play and he will not abandon it even for some sweet, soulful eyes. No that those would ever turn his way anyway.

The next morning the school is buzzing with whispers and rumours. Bobby Mercer is back in town. Even after having been away for a year, everyone and their mothers remembers the damage Bobby Mercer is capable of. Missing people, dead people, smashed cars and shootouts – the cops may never be able to pin down the Mercers for everything, but everyone knows who did it. Him being back in town is big news and means that everyone has their eyes and ears open to hear about any new mischief the oldest Mercer is up to. He’s almost like the boogeyman, only not so distant and unreal. That being said, many girls are attracted to danger, so Evan tries to restrain the groan inside himself when he has to listen to Marie’s friends gush about how handsome the criminal is. ‘I could fix him!’ Jesus. No one could fix that son of a bitch. But then he remembers the guy’s open expression of almost-warmth when he saw his youngest brother. So, maybe someone could fix him, but Evan doesn’t think that kid is particularly keen to fix anything.

Jack doesn’t mind the whispers or the questions about his brother thrown his way. His eyes have a new kind of fire in them and he powers through the day with a determination Evan hasn’t seen in him before. When the school bells finally ring and signal a finished day, Jack is the first one out in the hall and out the front doors. Evan comes out just in time to see him throw himself into a familiar, red, rusty car that speeds away, definitely breaking some speed regulations. It seems that the person most excited about Bobby Mercer being back in town is his youngest brother.

The hype dies down a few days later, but a steady murmur stays under the surface. The Mercers mostly stay out of trouble, unless for some smaller mishaps and misdemeanors. Jack Mercer smiles more and his eyes are a little bit lighter, but Evan pretends he doesn’t notice. He isn’t supposed to know things like that.

Mark invites them over to a party at his house after a rough game, he says half the school is coming. Honestly, Evan doesn’t have the energy to go, but Marie’s eyes light up like a hawk’s and she drags them to the party despite his protests. Apparently they need to make as many social appearances as possible before prom, so she is picked as the prom queen. Evan wonders if maybe he should take a page out of Jack Mercer’s book and stay single. Marie demands that he take his biggest car and he’s too tired to disagree. Really, he’d like nothing more than a night for himself but he made an unspoken deal with Marie the day they got together. They both had to be perfect, lift each other’s status up, or else this wouldn’t work.

Mark is true to his word because by the time they get to the party, stylishly late, the house is buzzing with drunk teens and loud music. As they head inside, they’re immediately pulled to another room by Charlie, another one of his baseball teammates. Apparently, the baseball players and cheerleaders have a separate room in Mark’s family’s mansion. Evan suppresses a groan, he really doesn’t have the energy for Mark tonight.

The small room is packed full with familiar faces and Marie’s friends. He takes a seat next to Charlie and tries his best to zone out for the night, taking small sips from his beer. The small room is lit by a dim light and the uncomfortable couch is hard underneath him. It’s clearly one of those expensive designer couches, designed for looks rather than comfort. The girls are sprawled on the floor and in the laps of their boyfriends and the guys are deep in a discussion about the most bangable teachers. The girls chime in with some of their suggestions too and Evan tries not to flinch with some of those suggestions. Miss Harmen is nearly forty and so is mister Peterson, how could anyone find someone that old hot?

“If you could bang anyone, and I mean anyone at our school, who would you?” Peter throws out the question to the room with a smarmy grin on his face. He looks disgusting, with his sweaty hair and dry eyes, but somehow the girls still find him hot enough to swarm around. He really doesn’t get their logic sometimes. He ignores the way his heart twinges when a certain head of messy hair pops up in his head at the question. He ignores it.
“Marie!” Mark throws out without missing a beat. The room bursts laughing and Evan thinks that he should probably act like an angry boyfriend, defending his girl’s honour and all that shit, but he just can’t gather up the energy to do so. Instead he throws out a “In your dreams, man!” and leaves it at that. The rest of the room doesn’t seem to find anything odd in his response but he catches Marie glaring at him in the corner of his eye. Can’t win them all.
“No, I can’t say it…” Cheryl, one of Marie’s closest friends and part of the more popular inner circle, bites her lip and looks down, flustered. She’s single, not for any lack of boys trying to fix that, and has never shown much interest in anyone other than small flirtations which leave the boy heartbroken. Even Evan finds himself slightly curious at who could be charming her enough to get her to blush.
“Say it!” Marie goads her on, grabbing her hands. The rest of the room shouts encouragingly.
“Okay, fine! But you can’t judge me, okay?” Everyone leans in, waiting with baited breath.
“...Jack Mercer.” The girls all scream loudly, seemingly in agreement. Marla practically falls down from the couch she’s sitting on.
“No, you’re so wrong for that but I get it! I don’t want to but I really do!”
“Oh my god, same! It’s got to have something to do with his style or something…” Apparently wanting to bang Jack Mercer is some sort of hidden kink or something, because most of the girls are giggling like middle school girls. The boys just sit silently in shock.
“Jack Mercer? THE Jack Mercer, that’s who you wanna bang? Wannabe rockstar, criminal, thief Jack Mercer?” Mark sounds shocked and Evan wishes that he was too, but he kinda gets it. It’s got something to do with his face, the way it’s so perfect and holy, the way he walks and talks as if nothing in any room is of real importance to him.
“You don’t get it! It’s his bad boy vibes, like imagine having someone like that defending you or something-”
“Yeah, and his eyes!”
“Totally!” Evan has the feeling that the girls could probably sit here all night, talking about Jack Mercer and his apparent charm.
“Then ask him out.” Peter says and leans back, apparently done with the conversation.
“Are you crazy?! Nah, stay the hell away from that family. You know, my brother ended up in the hospital because of Bobby Mercer. Are you really going to put yourself in the line of fire by dating his baby brother?” Mark intervenes from his corner of the room.
“Surely, he wouldn’t care that much. I mean, Bobby goes around shooting and beating people and shit, why would he care about who his brother is dating? And it’s not like they’re actual brothers either.” Marla says, twirling her hair in her fingers with a dreamy look in her eyes, surely still thinking about Jack.
“Nah, he definitely cares.” Evan hates to agree with Mark, but he’s right this time. Bobby Mercer would definitely want to know if Jack was seeing someone. He thinks back to the night he first talked to Jack and remembers the dark glare thrown his way for just being in the same vicinity as Jack.
“How do you know that?” Cheryl sounds accusing but her eyes are curious. When he looks around, he notices that most of the room is staring at him in curiosity, waiting for an explanation.
“Have you seen that man with Jack? ‘Cause I saw them together once and they were hugging and all that shit man. You don’t see that kind of brotherhood with guys who don’t care about each other.” Most of the room accepts the explanation and nods to themselves.
“Now that you say it, I did see them walking down the street together once and I see what you’re saying. I think it’s the only time I’ve ever seen Jack actually engaged in a conversation. Like, interested in talking, you know.” Charlie cuts in.
“No, yeah, cause I heard them talking once, and Bobby was calling him things like fairy and shit, and Jack wasn’t even that bothered! I mean irritated, sure, but if it was anyone else, he would smash their heads in with a book or something.” Emma says.

Slowly but surely the subject changes and a few hours later, Evan and Marie are heading out. He’s actually happy that he didn’t skip tonight, because the talk about Jack Mercer was actually interesting. It’s relieving to know that he’s not the only one with a little bit of a strange interest in the kid. Something about him is enthralling enough to reel even girls one year older than him in. His good mood lasts approximately until they get to the car, because the moment the car door closes, Marie is screaming at him.
“We’re supposed to be a fucking couple, Evan! When Mark says he wants to fuck me, you’ve gotta do something about him!”
“What, you wanted me to beat him up or something?”
“Well, yeah!” Marie’s screaming is high pitched, and Evan sighs and starts the car. Marie keeps ranting to him but Evan does his best to embody his inner Jack Mercer and space off into a peaceful headspace.

Chapter Text

With prom coming up, it’s no surprise that the school is buzzing with excitement and nerves. Boys and girls alike are swarming around their chosen interest, flirty glances and nervous touches. No one goes untouched. Except Jack Mercer.

Despite the numerous girls at his beck and call, braver to approach him now that they actually have reason to, the kid refuses to show interest in anyone. Girls come up to him and he walks away, he lets the letters that are stuck in his locker fall to the floor and doesn’t move to pick them up. Sometimes Evan can see Cheryl contemplating going up to him, before changing her mind and walking the opposite way with a slight blush on her face.

The second time he ever speaks to Jack Mercer is in those romantic times, two weeks before prom. Once again, it’s late and dark out. Evan is heading towards the baseball field. It’s late out and it’s not exactly safe to be outside without a gun in Detroit at this hour, but he’s just had a fight with his father and he needs to burn off some excess energy. Dear old daddy wants him to marry Marie after prom. Personally, he was thinking of breaking it off with the girl the second prom is over and she has her title of prom queen secured. Sure, their social status combined elevates his drastically, but the effort of actually having to spend time with the witch is not worth it. She’s screechy, difficult to please and high maintenance. Emma from the cheerleading team has been sending him flirtatious looks. He thinks that she might be easier to please without actually having to put in effort or losing popularity. His father however thinks that Marie’s perfect marriage material. They got into a shouting match when Evan protested.

Now he’s got his baseball bat on his back and determination in his step. He figures that his large form will keep him safe from the more basic thieves as he heads to the field. He just needs to burn off his energy, hit a few balls, and then he can go back home and have an actual conversation about his future wife. On his way to the field, something catches his eye. A distant form is sitting on the bleachers by the old ice skating rink. The rink itself is empty, but the cheap, blinking lights keep it lit in the dark. The figure sits slumped over and Evan knows who it is before he’s close enough to actually make out a face.

Jack Mercer’s eyes are red and swollen. Quite frankly, he looks miserable, yet also handsome at the same time. Almost like a tortured angel. Maybe that’s the thing that makes Evan turn away from the road to the baseball field. Misery loves company, right? Jack flinches when Evan comes over and sits down next to him on the bleachers, but doesn’t react otherwise. He doesn’t even turn to see who it is, but Evan is fairly certain that he knows who is sitting next to him anyway. Jack has always struck him as observant in that hidden sort of way.

“Why’re you here?” Evan doesn’t try to soften his tone, he knows that it wouldn’t matter anyway. Jack isn’t fooled by any false pretenses.
“I could ask you the same, quarterback.” Jack answers mockingly. Evan laughs and reaches over a cigarette to Jack, who takes it, puffs it, and breathes out. He returns the cigarette back to Evan, who’s trying not to think about the mouth-to-mouth contact. Evan doesn’t say anything about quarterback being the wrong term for his field of sports.
“I’ve seen you watching me. What’s your deal, asshole?” Despite the harsh words, Jack doesn’t lean away from him or get aggressive. He’s genuinely asking Evan about his strange interest in him, and Evan doesn’t have an answer.
“You’re interesting,” he says, because he really doesn’t want to admit there migth be something else to it. Jack just shrugs and seems to accept it. After that they sit in silence, staring off into the empty skating rink. In moments like these, he understands the strange interest he’s taken in Jack. There is no other person who he could sit in silence with, without feeling the constant pressure of his social status. With Jack Mercer it feels like he’s allowed to exist. He feels like he won’t be judged for what he does or says, he feels no pressure or expectations. Beside him, Jack sits in silence, eyes on the skating rink.
“I think my brother hates me.” The words take Evan by surprise, because there is not a world where they would ring true.
“Your oldest brother Bobby?” Jack just nods and looks down.
“You know him?”
“Everyone knows him.”
“...I guess you’re right. Damn.”

Jack takes another drag of the cigarette before passing it to Evan who takes it gratefully.
“There is no way he hates you. Have you seen the way he looks at you? Man, he loves you. You’re his brother, you should know that.” For the first time since they started talking, Jack faces Evan and looks him in the eyes. Evan looks right back and smells the alcohol in Jack’s breath. Figures that the only reason the kid’s opening up to a stranger is that he’s drunk, but Evan is grateful for the show of trust nonetheless. He won’t tell anyone about this conversation and he tries to convey it with his eyes. Jack just nods slowly, his eyes never leaving Evan. Those dark orbs stare into his own, and it almost feels like he can see the universe in them. Despite the redness in his eyes, they shine so clearly.

He could probably stare into those eyes forever if their moment wasn’t rudely interrupted. Heavy, quick steps suddenly fall from their right and before either of them has the chance to react, someone has grabbed Evan and hoisted him up in the air by the collar of his shirt. The rough hand next to his neck tightens threateningly and when Evan finally sees who’s holding him up, he freezes in horror.

Bobby Mercer in the flesh glares at him. He lifts his other arm, the one that isn’t holding Evan up, and rears it back. Evan closes his eyes and sends a quick prayer to god that he’ll survive this encounter.
“Bobby, don't!” Just as he’s about to have the living daylights punched out of him, Jack’s hand flies out to grab Bobby’s arm before he can land a hit on Evan. Bobby freezes for a second, looking at Jack. Whatever he finds in those beautiful eyes must convince him of something, because Bobby sneers at him one last time before harshly throwing him down onto the ground.
“This your boyfriend, Jackie?” Bobby says as he turns to Jack, ignoring Evan’s squirming body on the ground. His back hurts but he knows what a permanent injury feels like, and he’s fine.
“Jesus Bobby, no. He’s… an acquaintance.”
“Ah, I see. Fuckbuddy then?”
“Fuck you, Bobby!”
“Sorry, I don’t swing that way.”
Jack screams in frustration before stomping away into the dark. Bobby moves to follow him but stops and looks down at Evan.
“You stay away from him, got it? He’s my brother and if you do anything, I’ll know.” That glare could cut with how sharp it is. Evan just nods, nothing short of terrified, and watches as Bobby hurries to catch up to his youngest brother. Oh, he loves him alright. That’s the second time ever he talks to Jack Mercer.

One week before prom, Cheryl makes her move. She corners Jack in the middle of the cafeteria, locking him in place by reaching over to wrap her arms around his neck. Right in the middle of the busy cafeteria, she leans in and asks him if he wants to take her to prom. The cafeteria is silent in anticipation as all eyes turn to the pair on the middle of the floor. They really do look like a match made in heaven, Cheryl’s light, pink pencil skirt and white shirt, paired with Jack’s dark clothes. Still, Evan wonders if anyone else can see the way Jack leans back and stares to the side. He wonders if anyone else can see the way his eyes flicker nervously to the side and the way his arm rests on Cheryl’s shoulder instead of her waist. He wonders if anyone can see the way his mouth slightly pulls downward and the way his body tenses whenever Cheryl leans particularly close. In the arms of a lusty girl, he doesn’t look like a hunter, he just looks uncomfortable.

“So, what do you say, Jack? Make me yours?” She places a hand on his cheek and leans in, as if to kiss him. Apparently this move is too much for Jack as he finally breaks them apart and gently takes her hand off his cheek. With the way he does it one would think that he’s handling particularly frail porcelain. Evan wonders if he’s trying to keep her from breaking, or trying to avoid getting any of those shards on him when she shatters.
“No thanks.” That’s all he says. Without another word or gesture, he walks past her and exits the cafeteria. Eerie silence follows as everyone tries to comprehend what just happened. Cheryl is left standing alone in the middle of the floor, face red with humiliation. Her friends come up to her and hug her before basically dragging her away, no doubt searching for a place where she can cry in peace. Marie goes with them. Evan stares at the retreating back of Jack Mercer, already far away in the distance. He thinks back to the night they talked and wonders what made the boy run away. Most of all he wonders just how badly Bobby Mercer would have grilled Cheryl if Jack really did say yes. She probably wouldn’t have come out of it alive.

The rest of the school day is spent listening to gossip and drama about what happened in the cafeteria. There are all kinds of versions of what happened, ranging from Jack actually throwing Cheryl off of him to Cheryl herself practically jumping him. The youngest Mercer himself disappeared after the event and Evan has no doubt that he made his escape and skipped the rest of the day. Some girls have taken Jack’s response as a sign that he can still be swayed while others seem to have decided that no one can sway him at all. Cheryl herself made an appearance to announce that she was just asking him out as a joke but Evan isn’t sure how many people actually bought it. Apparently Cheryl is taking Peter to prom instead. It’s not like Peter’s a bad looking guy, it’s just a little bit sudden. Peter doesn’t seem to think that anything is off about the timing as he spends the entirety of their baseball practice peacocking about his prom date. He also says some other, very interesting things.

“And that guy, Jack? Well, he won’t know what hit him, y’know. No one messes with my girl like that, he’s gonna get what’s coming for him.” Peter says cockily when they’re in the changing room before practice. The others look at him curiously, asking him to elaborate.
“I can’t let that bitch get away with embarrassing my girl. I’ve got my guys, six of ‘em, and we’re gonna pay him a visit today,” Peter grins wickedly and swings his bat with a nefarious glint in his eyes.
“His shit band’s got a gig at Beers and Cheers today. On his way back, he’s gonna get a little surprise.” The rest of the guys chuckle good naturedly and go back to changing. Evan finds himself a little bit concerned. Peter’s not one of his close buddies, but the team needs him for an important game in a few days. Evan refuses to admit that there’s a small part of him that never wants to see Jack Mercer down on the ground.

“Alright man, it’s your funeral.” Evan says before he can stop himself. Peter turns to him with a sneer on his face.
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”
“Bobby Mercer’s gonna beat your ass. Don’t let that stop you though.” At this, Peter chuckles like he’s telling a joke, but his demeanor changes when he notices that Evan is completely serious.
“Bobby Mercer doesn’t care, man. He’s some sort of super criminal, he doesn’t have time to baby his little baby brother.” Peter laughs like it’s a good joke and some of the other guys join in, but they look like they’re contemplating Evan’s words.
“I get what Evan’s saying though, just be careful Peter. We need you for the game,” Charlie says while patting Peter on the back, who sneers at the warning and marches out of the changing room. The rest of the guys look a little bit unsettled but seemingly shake it off.
“You’re worrying for nothing Evan,” Ryan says even though he’s fixing his hair nervously, “Ain’t Bobby gonna care, not at all.”

In fact, Bobby cares so little that his care must find others to reside in. That’s the only explanation to the fact that the baseball team makes a collective decision to go out tonight to see the beating. It’s not so much that they think it’s going to be fun, they’re mostly curious to see if Jack will try to defend himself and how good of a job he’ll do at it. They’ve never seen the boy actually beaten before, he always manages to stay on top, so this might be their only chance to see the infamous Jack Mercer take a hit instead of dealing it. That’s the reasoning that most of the team have anyway. Evan would probably be lying if he said that he isn’t coming along to check that Jack Mercer lives through the entire ordeal. And he would also be lying if he said that he wasn’t going to call the cops if things got out of hand. No one needs to know any of those things though.

The team stops and takes residence in a nearby park to watch the show. It’s dark enough that no one will see them sit around and ask questions. From the park they have a clear view of the alley where Peter and his guys are waiting for Jack to make an appearance. There is a nervous, tight feeling in Evan's chest. It feels wrong that the wannabe rockstar has no idea about any of this and that the entire team has gathered here just to watch the show. It’s dark out and the only reason it’s even safe for them to be out at a time and place like this is because there is safety in numbers. The other guys move around nervously, seemingly not quite at peace with the spying either. The exception to that rule is Mark, who actually brought beer and is happily sitting on a bench waiting for the show to start. Peter’s buddies are visible through the low light and Evan can tell the moment they see Jack come their way. Peter says something to his guys and they hide in the alley. The team quietens when Jack becomes visible to them as well.

Jack Mercer looks as good as ever. His signature leather jacket shines in the low street lights and he’s holding a smoke in his hand. His hair is slicked back but a few messy strands have escaped the gel, framing his face beautifully. Despite the fact that they’re standing quite far away, the distance does nothing to hide that angelic face. His guitar is thrown over his shoulder – like the time they first met – and he’s nodding his head slowly, almost as if in a trance. He blissfully walks closer and closer to the alley. The park is completely silent. Jack Mercer passes the alley. Then it starts.

They pounce on him all at once and at first it really doesn’t seem like he has a chance. Peter has a bat and the rest of the guys are armed with fists and metal. Peter strikes him right in the back and Jack stumbles forward. Before he can react, another one of the guys grabs his shoulder, turns him, and punches him straight in the gut. Surprisingly, he doesn’t fall down. Jack stumbles back and falls down to one knee. At first Evan thinks that the fight is already over, he’s already on the ground, but soon he understands what’s really at play. Jack didn’t fall down because of the hit, he leaned down to grab a loose pipe from the ground. Before the other guys see the weapon, he has swung it up and around, right into the head of one of his assaulters. The guy drops like a stone.

The scuffle goes on like that for a few minutes. Peter’s guys get some good hits in, Jack’s nose is bleeding and there is a stream of blood coming from his hairline down his face. His eye is swollen, clearly a black eye in the making, and his shirt is ripped. His back and stomach have taken hits but he hasn’t slowed down yet. Only three of the six guys who attacked him are still standing and for a second, it really looks like Jack’s about to win a six-to-one fight. Nothing good lasts forever.

Just as Jack’s about to swing the pipe into the side of Peter’s face, evening the fight to two, one of the remaining guys gets a lucky hit. One second Jack lifts his arms to bring the pipe down, and next a bat comes from the back and hits him hard. The pipe falls down from his arms with a clang. Peter and the remaining two guys back away cautiously as Jack stumbles a few steps back.

Evan feels his breath get stuck in his throat. The guys around him who previously have been whooping and cheering, mostly for Jack (maybe everyone really does love an underdog?), all become quiet as they watch Jack slowly back away. He looks around almost confused and from the long distance, Evan can feel his heart stop when Jack’s eyes meet his. The beautiful darkness in them is almost mournful. His harsh glare is nowhere to be seen. He looks nothing like the hunter who pranced into their school with murder in his eyes. He looks like a scared, confused child, he looks like the same boy who stared into Evan’s eyes on the ice skating rink’s bleachers.

In that moment he understands why Bobby grabbed him by his collar and threatened to kill him for coming near Jack. In those precious seconds Jack looks like a lost kid who needs protection.

Jack blinks one last time, like a young doe with big eyes and a wonderful curiosity for the world. Then his eyes roll in the back of his head and he goes down hard. Around himself he can hear a few sympathetic twinges as the team stares at the downed kid. Surprisingly no one is celebrating or cheering, even though the reason they came here was to see Jack Mercer crash. He has the feeling that he’s not the only one feeling the unfairness of it all weighing on his back. Jack is a year younger than them and not all that much of a shitstirrer, he just defends himself when he needs to. The only thing he really did wrong was reject a girl. At the scene of the crime, Peter and his remaining two guys are celebrating, throwing high fives and clapping each other on the back. Peter gives Jack a few kicks to the stomach for good measure before they disappear down the street, dragging their unconscious friends with them.

The team mumble a bit amongst themselves before slowly but surely scattering. Evan assures them that his ride is coming and declines the offers to take him home. Once everyone has finally left, leaving him alone in the park, he walks over to the payphone by the side of the street. He remembers the number of Evelyn Mercer’s residence, had to memorise it for his mother once. He takes one look at Jack, still lying motionless on the other side of the street. A puddle of black blood is spreading next to his head. Evan puts the number in and waits for someone to answer.

It beeps once. Twice. Thrice. On the fourth ring, an unfamiliar male voice picks up the phone. It’s not Bobby, which means it’s either Angel or Jerry.
“Sofi, I can explain! Please, I know you’re mad honeybuns but-” Well, Evan’s name is certainly not Sophie. Definitely not Bobby, he would never call anyone honeybuns. Well, maybe except Jack.
“It’s not Sofi.”
“Oh, what the fuck. Sorry, man, but what are you calling at this hour for?! Who the fuck are you?”
“That’s not important. Listen, Fifth East Plainwood Street. Come pick him up.”
“What the hell are you-”
He hangs up. He contemplates walking over to Jack so he can check if he’s still breathing, but the Mercer household isn’t far from here and he doesn’t want to be caught red handed and blamed for something he didn’t do. He can’t just leave him here though, there’s always the chance that his brothers won’t show up to pick him up. Evan looks around and makes a quick decision. He walks underneath one of the trees in the park, where he’s hidden from view but can still see Jack clearly.

He’s not a second too late because just as he crouches to hide next to the bushes, a car speeds by and stops by the side of the road. Two black males rush out of the car but Bobby’s nowhere to be seen. They run over to Jack and within a minute he has been carefully lifted and the car is speeding away once again, probably to the nearest hospital. Evan takes a deep breath and stands up from behind the bushes. He should probably ask his coach to start looking for another pitcher. Peter is not going to be in top form for much longer, because if Bobby Mercer doesn’t deal with him, Evan will.

The next day at school is loud. Everyone knows that Jack Mercer was beat up and left to die on the side of the street and rumour has it that the guy who organised it, is Peter. The man himself walks around cockily, as if beating up a boy one year younger than you with five of your mates is something to be proud of. Cheryl cuddles up to him like a well fed tabby and Evan finds it sickening. Most students seem to find it shocking that someone actually had the guts to do something to a Mercer. They’re in awe of the ‘superhero’ who wasn’t scared to go against the volatile rockstar. Those people don’t know that Jack is deathly afraid of his new family not loving him. Those people didn’t see the pained look on his face, the scared kid behind the predator, before he fell.

Not everyone is in awe of the act of course. Particularly many people in the grade under them, Jack’s grade, glare angrily at Peter as he walks by. One of Jack’s tougher friends, a big guy called Pietro who plays the base in his band, tripped Peter in the cafeteria when he walked by. For a second it really looked like it was going to be a fight, at least until Peter looked Pietro straight in the eye and realized that the younger man wasn’t going to back off. Realizing that he wasn’t strong enough to take Pietro on alone, he stalked off with a few angry mumbles. Evan found it funny and didn’t hide the snort coming out of his mouth. Marie didn’t seem to find it funny as she hit him under the table when she heard the sound. He ignored it.

The day rolls by without any other particular event. Baseball practice starts like normal and Marie glares at him before walking off to spend the evening with her friends. It’s at the end of practice when things really kick off. They’re all in the changing room, everyone a little bit quieter and tenser than normal, when someone comes rushing through the doors without knocking. The guy who bursts in looks distantly familiar and it doesn’t take long for Evan to realise that the guy was one of Peter’s mates from yesterday. This one in particular was one of the first ones who Jack knocked out. He’s sweating buckets and his body language is terrified. Looking into his eyes, Evan has never seen someone look more like prey. The guy closes the door behind him quickly and turns to face Peter.
“He got Jonathan, man! He’s coming for us, you gotta do something!” Peter looks confused.
“What the hell are you on? Who’s coming for who?” Peter tries to laugh it off with a grin but his eyes betray him.
“Max, Rex, Kyle and Jonathan are in the hospital, man! Bobby Mercer’s probably already on his way right now – do something, this was your idea!”
“What the fuck, what do you mean?!”
The changing room buzzes with mumbles and Peter’s eyes widen in shock.

“Bobby Mercer, man! You said he wouldn’t care but he’s coming for us and I don’t want to die!”
“Shut up! Let me think. How the hell did he know it was us anyway?” Evan hides the snort behind his collar. It definitely wasn’t like Peter had been advertising the beatdown pridefully, definitely not. Peter looks around in the changing room, almost as if searching for answers. No one meets his eyes except Evan.
“Sorry man, I did tell you this was gonna happen.” Evan tries not to make it sound like a typical I-told-you-so, but he’s not so sure he’s successful.
“What the fuck! Whose side are you on?!” Evan doesn’t have to answer, as the other guy grabs Peter’s shoulder and starts dragging him away. They leave in a hurry and the rest of the team stares after them as they jump in the car and drive away. No one says a word except a nonverbal nod of agreement. They’ll have to tell the coach to find a new pitcher.

Peter doesn’t show up the next day and no one is surprised when he ends up in the hospital with the rest of his buddies. None of them dead but all of them more than a little bruised. Bobby sure left a mark. The day that Jack Mercer returns to school grounds, Bobby gives him a ride. He parks the car and gets out of it, leaning against it calmly as he watches Jack wobble into the building. The oldest brother stares at him until he disappears into the building and a little bit after that too. It’s a power move. It’s a threat. Then he gets into the car and drives away.

Chapter Text

Evan does not break it off with Marie. He doesn’t propose to her either, although he knows she’s been hoping for him to ask, especially with prom coming up. Entering as an established couple would double her chances of prom queen and they both know it, but Evan will be damned if he does something about it. Nothing sounds worse than a future spent with the wicked cheerleader of the West.

He sees Jack Mercer stalk the halls as usual, but these days he sometimes looks back at Evan and gives him a little nod of acknowledgement. It’s little but every time it happens, Evan’s day gets marginally better. It’s concerning that some random half-stranger badass kid nodding to him wordlessly makes him happier than seeing his girlfriend. He can’t help it though. Jack’s eyes are just as endlessly vast and deep every time Evan has the pleasure of seeing them – sometimes he thinks back to that night in the bleachers and he wonders if he would have done something untoward had Bobby not arrived. Surely it’s just teenage hormones going wild, right? It’s not like he’s like… that. Mostly he just thinks that it’s good he didn’t do anything. Even if Jack’s first reaction wouldn’t have been to deck him, Bobby would probably have killed him. Not that Evan wants to do anything like that to him, of course. Those are just strange, unwelcome thoughts he sometimes can’t quite compress in time. But god, those eyes. Evan should probably stop hanging around Marie so much, her feminine thoughts must be rubbing off on him. His father would probably disown him if he even suspected his son was a fairy. Which Evan isn’t.

“I can’t wait for prom! Why is the day going so slow, can’t it just be eight already?” Marie whines as she hangs off of his arm annoyingly. Being her boyfriend, he should probably agree but the thought of the incoming prom today sends shivers down his spine.
“Yeah, we’re gonna get so wasted!” Mark shouts as he claps Evan on the back.
“Someone said they’re gonna have a band and everything, it’ll be rad!” Charlie gushes as he sits down with his girlfriend Elaine.
“Marla said that they’ve rented some big, fancy building.” Elaine continues excitingly. As the rest of the cheerleaders and his teammates keep talking about how awesome prom is going to be, Evan carefully extracts his arms from Marie’s stone hard grip and excuses himself. Marie looks at him angrily and Evan has a feeling that he’ll be getting a talk from her sooner rather than later. Maybe she’ll do them both a favour and break up, then he can finally get around to charming Emma instead. She’s probably a lot less high maintenance.

As he leaves the busy cafeteria, he finds his way to the more quiet parts of the school. Without any conscious effort he drifts to the cellar. No one has any classes here, only detention. It’s completely empty this time of day – except a small, barely there sound drifting from further down the abandoned hall. Long, rhythmic sounds, almost like a string. Evan’s no music genius but it’s hard to get the sound of a guitar wrong. Long, knobbly hands and dark eyes pop up in his head unconsciously. The guitar strung on Jack Mercer’s back the first time they ever talked to each other. The thought of seeing Jack Mercer again in an environment like this is dangerous. A classroom where anyone can walk in at any time is risky but the need to see those hypnotizing fingers work their magic wins over. Evan quietly makes his way towards the sound.

The sound is coming from behind the door at the very end of the corridor. The door is slightly ajar and Evan gulps heavily before carefully leaning towards the crack and taking a look inside. He feels like a creep, staring into the room hidden like this, but he needs to know what Jack looks like when he’s unguarded. He needs to see the same, vulnerable eyes from the ice rink bleachers. And exactly as Evan had hoped, there he sits, Jack Mercer in all of his glory. He’s turned away from the door and Evan can only see his side profile and the shadows of his quick fingers moving back and forth. The sight is still enough to take his breath away; the blondish hair lightly lays down over his face, almost hiding away his soft eyes. His lips move softly to unknown words that Evan would do anything to hear aloud. In the lightly lit room, the damn near holy symmetry of his face and the curve of his nose look perfect. And as much as Evan would love to stand here like a creep and stare all day, there is something he wants even more. Jack Mercer’s silky, melodic voice. So he takes a step back from the door, clears his throat and then confidently walks in through the open door.

Jack stops playing, unfortunately, but he doesn’t look too alarmed once he’s turned around and seen Evan. Mostly he just looks indifferent, before his eyes glide back to the guitar and he faces away from his unwelcome guest.
“Not your usual scene, quarterback. Why are you here?” His voice slips up and down like a song. God, how could anyone sound so holy, like a relic or a choir.
“Quarterback isn’t for baseball, you know that right?” Evan says instead and walks further into the room, taking a chair from the side of the room and placing it next to Jack. Then he takes a seat. Jack doesn’t answer at all, just smiles mysteriously to himself, and Evan has a feeling that yes, he probably knows exactly what quarterback means.
“Very funny.” Evan says dryly.
“You didn’t correct me the first time.” Jack says instead and his fingers find the strings on his guitar again. Evan doesn’t have an answer for that either and he should probably feel annoyed for always being left speechless but such a feeling is impossible in the presence of Jack.
“Why are you here?” Evan asks when it’s clear that Jack’s just going to keep playing.
“I asked you first, dickwad.” Jack says, which is fair but also unfortunate because Evan doesn’t know what he should say to that.
“Dunno, got lost. Then I heard you and needed to know what kind of loser has nothing better to do on lunch break than play guitar.” Evan lies and hopes it’s vague enough to not sound queer.
“Ha ha, maybe you should abandon sports and be a comedian. Jerry says they take in just about anyone these days.” Jack says and rolls his eyes before leaning back down and quickly spinning his fingers up and down the strings, playing a quick, snappy tune. Evan only catches himself staring when Jack looks back at him and lifts his eyebrows in question. He coughs awkwardly and hopes that the warmth on his face is not a blush.

“I answered, your turn. Do you seriously not have anything better to do than sit here alone?” Evan says. He hopes that Jack doesn’t note the slight tremble in his voice or the redness on his face.
“Practice.” The younger boy says, not looking away from his guitar. He sounds uninterested but he’s still answering, so Evan takes it as a clue to continue.
“For what? Your shower curtains at home?” It’s a lame comeback and they both know it, so it doesn’t come as a surprise when Evan finds himself ignored. He glances at the clock, noting that lessons started five minutes ago. Time passed so quickly that Evan didn’t even notice he was late to class. He finds himself groaning at the thought of sitting in math with Mark and Marie. He would much rather sit here and listen to Jack, maybe tease him a little bit more just to see how much he can get away with, but his father keeps him on a tight leash. Evan’s screwed if his father hears about any absences.

“Fuck, man, I really don’t wanna go to class. Miss Everson hates me, I swear to god.” Evan whines and in the corner of his eye he sees a slight smile on Jack’s face. He almost falls off his chair when he swings around to catch sight of the look of amusement on the younger boy’s face before he turns away. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Jack smile, not at him at least. It’s a small thing, careful and almost childish, like he forgot himself for a second, but dear god – it is beautiful. And it’s certainly worth missing class, Evan thinks to himself. That small, slight turn of lips might just be worth the whole world.

“Get going then, quarterback.” Jack says, face now back to facing Evan, but the beautiful smile long gone. The neutral, stone facade is back but Evan will not be fooled. It was only there a second but Evan saw it; the rare, precious smile of Jack Mercer.
“Yo, Jack, where did you say the speakers-” Evan flinches in his chair, quickly standing up and turning around at the unknown voice. A big, dark haired boy stares back at him in confusion. It takes Evan a second before he recognises Pietro, the bassist of Jack’s band. A girl stands next to Pietro with a similarly confused expression. They’re standing by the door with their instruments. The rest of the band, then. Definitely explains why Jack’s sitting by himself in the basement.
“What are you doing here?” Pietro sounds a little bit guarded but he has seemingly decided that Jack’s silent approval is enough to warrant at least a little bit of trust.
“Leaving.” Evan simply says coldly, easily letting the asshole exterior of being a jock wash over him. He starts walking towards the door but takes one last look back at Jack, who isn’t looking back at him. Then he shoves his way past Pietro and the other girl, leaving the basement and heading towards math class. As he walks through the empty halls, he wonders for himself just how long he would have sat there had not Jack’s band disturbed them. Too long a time, he decides. He needs to get it together.

“Just once, Evan. Just this once I asked you to be on time and you fail! Time and time again, you fail! I don’t even know why I bother with you!” Marie screeches into his ear as he parks the car in her driveway and gets out. He was supposed to pick her up ten minutes ago but got distracted on the way and now she’s in his face, her own turning an unpleasant shade of red. Her mother chuckles in the background like this is nothing but an everyday occurrence and Evan really, really would like to just go back in the car and drive away. He could go to the coast, play in the big leagues, leave Marie and his father behind. Screw being prom king, he just wants – he just wants. He just wants to sit in the school’s basement silently, listening to a lonely instrument in the silence.
“Whatever! Just take me, we can still make it on time.” Marie finally says and walks to the car, the huge dress dragging behind her. Evan sighs to himself and goes after her. Let the show begin. And when prom is over and done with, Evan can break up with Marie and stay single for the rest of the year. Screw what his father thinks, if he has to deal with another screaming lady he’ll shoot his own head off.

It turns out Marla was right; the school really did blow their budget on this prom. The decorations are impressive and the dim light is just like those movies. The building is absolutely huge and the ball room itself is large enough to fit the whole school – which is good, because it really does look like the whole school showed up. The room is absolutely packed with garnished suits, fluffy dresses and gelled hair. The music blasts through the hot air and the dance floor in the middle stands empty. For now. Evan has a feeling he’ll be dragged onto it sooner or later. There’s a small stage at the back of the room, clearly designed for the previously mentioned band. Evan really hopes that the school spared some of the budget to hire decent musicians, he refuses to dance to some shitty wannabe rockstars.
“Isn’t it beautiful! It’s perfect, exactly like I always told you, isn’t it!” Marie screams into his ear as she grips onto his arm. Evan just nods absently and finds his eyes trailing past the faces of the crowd in a familiar way. Hundreds of faces, but not the strangely symmetrical one he’s looking for. He silently curses himself for forgetting to ask Jack whether he was coming to prom or not. Evan would have killed to see him in a suit. Those skinny shoulders stuffed into some neat suit, with some slight gel to tame that wild hair…

“Evan, hey!” Mark says and throws himself at Evan who tries not to startle. Marie is off somewhere, probably with her girlfriends, and when Evan greets Mark he notices the rest of the team are in the near vicinity as well. It seems everyone has arrived and when Evan glances at the clock, a loud hoot shoots through the air. Everything goes quiet as the student representative, some random girl Evan never learned the name of, stands nervously up on the stage with a microphone.
“Hello everyone! Such a joy to see that everyone showed up! Now, let us talk a little bit about how we got here.” The girl prattles on and Evan sighs, staring off into the distance. He should probably be happier, he muses, but the lights are too low and giving him a headache. The music is too loud and none of the faces around him are the one he wants to see. If Jack was here, he’d probably make his way to a window and stare silently into the cold, evening street. His fingers would lightly trail the frame, like that first time they met, and maybe he’d take a smoke out of his pocket and put it lightly to his mouth. And maybe, just maybe, Evan could convince him to ditch this party and head somewhere else, anywhere else. And maybe, they wouldn’t have to do something special. Maybe they could just go to the empty ice rink and sit in silence, staring at the black, night sky, until the morning sun peeked out from the horizon.

“But what do I know! Now, enough talking, more partying!” The girl on the stage shouts as she throws her notes into the air. The crowd around him cheers loudly and Evan notices that Marie made her way to him at some point. Everyone who came here with a girlfriend or boyfriend is standing next to them, waiting for the music to start. And just then, when the crowd mumbles excitedly to themselves and grapples to hold their chosen partner’s hand, a tall boy makes his way up to the stage. Evan feels his breath catch when he recognises the figure. His friends, three other students with varying instruments, trail behind him to the stage. And it makes sense that Jack was strumming his instrument earlier today because apparently he’s going to be strumming it all night as well.

Evan’s breath catches in his throat when he sees Jack – the wild hair of a mane has been slicked back, revealing the sharp curves of his face. His eyes are hidden in the shadows of his face, yet something glimmers in that darkness; his eyes, as beautiful and endless as they’ve always been. He’s wearing a suit but not properly, no, not Jack Mercer, he wears it like one might wear a jacket in hot weather. The suit jacket is loosely strung around his shoulders, revealing a white, loose shirt underneath. He looks dangerous – he looks beautiful. And when the music starts playing at full volume, filling the vast hall with both sound and the movement of the crowd around him, it’s like the night becomes alive. The sweaty and young bodies in the crowd move in sync, coming together on the dance floor as the beautiful strumming moves their feet forward in tact with the music. And when Marie grabs his arms to dance, instantly moving them to the center of the dance floor, it really is like she said, it’s perfect. She looks like a dream with her fixed hair and fluffy dress. And yet, he’d like nothing more than to rip down that beautiful boy from the stage and swing him around instead. In that moment he knows there is no salvation for him. No matter where life takes him, no matter what his father says or who he proposes to, he’ll always be stuck in the crowd, staring at Jack Mercer.

They keep dancing but Evan’s not really paying attention anymore. At some point, Marie leans closer and tries to get him to kiss her but apparently she can tell his mind is elsewhere, because she simply gives him a withering look and dances a little sharper. Time passes as one song changes to another and the world on the other side of the window grows darker. Finally, after what must have been at least an hour of dancing, Marie breaks free and drags him to the table of snacks. Some of the team are there, Mark and Charlie chatting seriously by the drinks. Evan walks over to them and grabs one of the red plastic cups, filling it to the brim and throwing it down. He realizes halfway that someone definitely snuck alcohol in it but drinks it all anyway. The drunker he’ll be by the end of this evening, the better.

“Hey, Evan, I’m right, aren’t I?” Charlie asks and leans over Evan’s shoulder. Mark looks annoyed as he casts glances over the room and Evan has absolutely no idea what’s going on, but Mark is usually the one in the wrong, so he nods along.
“See, I told you! So why don’t you break it off? I mean, Emma’s been looking at you for a while, why not explore some options?” Evan grows increasingly concerned as he realizes that he’s the subject of the conversation between them.
“What?” He says and tries to sound unbothered, only mildly certain he’s succeeding.
“You aren’t feeling Marie right? I told Mark that you two are probably breaking it off soon so he shouldn’t give up going after her, I’m right aren’t I?” Shit. Well, as out of the blue as it is, Evan can see why people have started noticing something is off about them. That definitely explains Emma’s increasingly intensive looks. While it doesn’t bother him, he genuinely hopes that it won’t come in the way of Marie’s title of prom queen – it’s the only reason he’s been tolerating her for so long. He’ll never hear the end of it if she doesn’t get it.
“Yeah, sure. Go for it.” Evan says to Mark easily before taking another sip of the spiced drink. God it’s gotta be the worst mix ever, who the hell made it?

All of a sudden Mark jumps forward from where he’s been standing and grabs Evan by the collar before nailing a right hook straight into his face. Evan, not having anticipated the hit, staggers back a few steps before regaining his balance and turning to look at Mark, bewildered.
“What the hell, man?” He says, wiping the blood off of his now bleeding nose. It keeps streaming, undeterred, and Evan feels something hot start to boil underneath his skin. This evening is shitty enough as it is and now Mark, asshole extraordinaire, wants to start a fight? He wants a fight, he’ll get one.
“You really don’t get it, huh? You think you can just walk all over everyone and get away with it?! Why the fuck did you get together with her, you don’t even give a fuck!” Mark says and takes another step towards him. It makes sense, Evan thinks to himself. Mark has always had a thing for Marie, so it must have been difficult for him to watch from a distance. The small ounce of sympathy completely disperses as he takes another look at his bloody hand. Fuck Mark, fuck Marie and fuck this entire stupid party.
“You wouldn’t get it, would you? Why should I care? If Marie wants to trail after me instead of you, then that’s her decision, isn’t it?” Evan takes a step forward, getting right into Mark’s face before going for the killing blow.
“And why should I care about how it makes you feel? I’m better than you and she knows it.” Evan says it almost gently, although his fist is anything but when it clashes into Mark’s face. Mark stumbles back, tripping over a wire taped on the floor and dislodging it. He falls flat on the floor before quickly getting up and throwing himself at Evan again.

Somewhere in the scuttle the music stops and the crowd becomes silent, staring as Evan and Mark throw punches at each other. Evan himself doesn’t pay much mind to it. All he can think about is how Jack’s fingers trail over his guitar in a way Evan himself will never feel on his own skin – he’ll never sit on that bleacher again, staring at the most beautiful yet distant boy in the world. And it doesn’t matter who he fights or what he does, nothing will ever change that.

Mark, who fell down after the last punch and is taking his time getting up, seems to finally be giving up the fight but Evan is not done. Rage, and maybe a little bit of grief, still lives underneath his skin. There is still violence waiting to be let out, still a hunter who wants a kill. He grabs Mark by the collar and hauls him up into the air, lifting a fist to deal a punch, but something shifts in his periphery. A familiar face in the crowd of nobodies catches Evan’s attention just as he’s about to hit Mark. His eyes trail the movement and he finds himself face to face with Jack Mercer. He’s standing a bit further away, right in the middle of the crowd. He’s distant yet Evan feels as though he’s never seen anything more clearly. Jack looks… no, not scared. Not scared nor really daring either. He’s not challenging Evan to keep hitting, rather he almost looks a bit hesitant. It’s almost like he’s trying to remain cold, trying to remain as stubborn and distant as he’s always been but something peeks through. It’s not really concern but it’s not far off. ‘Is this what you are?’ his slightly uncertain eyes seem to say, ‘This is not what I thought you were’. And Evan realizes that Jack Mercer, in some silent and unspoken way, has learned to trust him and that trust is being tested every second Evan throws an unnecessary punch. Because Jack Mercer is not cruel, Evan remembers, Jack does what needs to be done – and now he wants to know whether Evan is the same, or whether Evan is a man who causes pain for power. Evan doesn’t have an answer for him, not really, but it’s easy to choose between Jack’s trust and Mark’s bloody face.

Evan drops Mark on the floor and marches towards the bathroom, the crowd moving quickly to open up a bath. Mark is left groaning on the ground. That final punch is left undealt and when Evan looks at Jack as he passes him in the crowd, the younger boy stares back. The uncertainty in his eyes is gone in favour of an almost amused expression. Jack nods to him slightly in that dim lightning before turning away and disappearing into the crowd.

The men's bathroom is dirty and quiet when he enters. The stalls are either broken or left by themselves and the few stragglers who are there to piss disperse the second they catch a look of his bloodied face and fists. Mark walks over to the sink and watches the blood fade from his hands. The sticky feeling is still there and in the mirror he can tell that he definitely has a black eye in the making. Other than that he can tell that he definitely suffered less battle scares compared to Mark. The drinks he had earlier must have been stronger than he thought because he can tell that he’s at least a little bit drunk. Still, the warmth of alcohol makes it easier to ignore the pain from his hands and face. His knuckles are red and broken, slowly seeping more blood into the sink. It’ll take forever to stop bleeding.

“What was that?!” Marie screams when she bursts into the bathroom, dress trailing behind her. Evan groans loudly, unable to contain his frustration. This is the last thing he needs right now. He stays silent as she berates him, staring into the mirror and wondering how cold it would be to just walk all the way home.
“Leslie said it was about me, is that true?” Her tone shifts as she asks it, going from furious to almost curious. Figures that she doesn’t mind him getting into a fight as long as it’s about her. He doesn’t say anything, letting her draw her own conclusion. If the general consensus is that he was defending his girl’s honour then he’s happy to let it be. It’ll certainly get him in less trouble than the truth; that he really just wanted to beat someone up.
“You didn’t have to, Evan, not for me.” Marie says almost coilily and dear god, if god were to strike him down now he’d be eternally grateful.
“The girls are right outside, I’ll tell them what happened and I’ll be back. Love you sweetie!” She says and practically runs away happily, clearly enlightened by the prospect of sharing his chivalrous intentions. The bathroom door closes behind her, leaving him alone once again. What he wouldn’t give to hear a certain, silky voice tease him right now. If he would have asked Jack to come with him to the bathroom, would he have? Probably not but it would have amused Jack at least. The big bad quarterback asking Jack to come with him, like a little dog with anxiety rather than the wolf he’s supposed to be. Jesus.

Suddenly there’s a loud crash right outside of the bathroom. It’s followed by terrified screams and above him the lights start flickering. Evan is almost thrown on the floor when the building shakes, causing dust to drop from the ceiling. What the fuck? He runs over to the door to see what’s happening but the handle won’t turn, almost like it’s stuck. In the same second, the fire alarm blares on, loud and drowning out the screams. Evan staggers away when he sees something dark leak out from underneath the door – smoke. There’s smoke trickling into the bathroom. Evan tries once again to desperately open the door but it’s not budging – he’s stuck.
“Evan, Evan are you there?!” A loud voice comes from the other side of the door. It’s difficult to hear over the blaring fire alarm but still distinguishable. Charlie, with some other guys from the team yelling through the door.
“Yeah, yeah it’s me! What the hell is happening, man?!” Evan shouts back, throwing his whole weight onto the door, willing it to open. The smoke is gathering scarily in the ceiling and he needs to get out before it kills him.
“Some wires got fucked and started a fire! The whole foundation’s fucked, there’s like, a huge pillar or something blocking the door. It’s blocked, man.” Charlie sounds panicked and Evan can hear him and the other guys trying to lodge whatever structure is blocking his way out. He knows it won’t work. He’s going to die here.
“I’m sorry, man. I’m so fucking sorry, but the firefighters will get you, they’re already on their way!” That’s the last thing Evan hears before the yells get further away. They’re exiting the building. Evan gets it, he would do the same in their position but goddamn, he’s not ready to die. He doesn’t want to die from fucking smoke in some shitty bathroom at a prom he didn’t even want to go to. He slowly slides his back down to the floor, leaning against the blocked door as he stares at the increasingly dark smoke. He’s already woozy. Someone once told him it only takes minutes to die in a fire – and the thing that kills you is always the smoke. The minutes bleed into each other and the dark cloud above his head gets darker – his minutes will surely have passed soon.

Something crashes over his head and Evan doesn’t even have time to flinch before something from above him flies into the bathroom. Shocked, he scrambles back along the dirty floor and turns to look at the door. There’s an axe buried into the wood, and whoever is wielding it on the other side of the door rips it out, just to hit the door again. Wood splinters as the hole gets wider and wider, slowly becoming large enough that Evan can see who’s on the other side. When he sees that familiar messy hair and those endless eyes, he can do nothing else but laugh, because of course. He’s near death and his guardian angel is no one else but Evan’s personal angel himself.

Jack Mercer wields the axe like he wields a pipe, or a book, or a trey when he’s beating someone; with a strong, tight grip and a determined, cold look in his eyes. There is a small trail of blood coming down from his hairline and he has to stop slightly to cough between the hits. The sound awakens Evan, who looks around to see if he can help somehow. He finds a loose metal frame from one of the stalls and grabs it, lodging it between the split wood. WIth both of them hacking away, it’s not long until the hole is large enough for Evan to fit himself.

It’s not an easy task, trying to squeeze a huge teen through a hacked and splintered door. He can tell that he gets more than a few scrapes from the loose pieces of wood but the pain doesn’t even register. All Evan can focus on is the comforting warmth from his hands which are being pulled forward by Jack. They haven’t said a word to each other and above them, the fire alarm keeps blaring. Evan falls through the door with one last aggressive pull and falls on Jack, throwing them both on the ground. As much as he would love this position in any other situation, the smoke is just as bad outside the bathroom and Jack won’t stop coughing ominously – they have to get out of here quick. A quick glance around the room reveals nothing that Evan didn’t already suspect, the room is completely empty of people and some of the walls have already started catching fire. Evan pulls himself up to his feet, easily pulling Jack up with him. Then they run, hand still in hand, past burning halls and staircases.
“Where are you going?!” Evan shouts when Jack turns away from the main hall, leading them into a smaller hall up.
“The main exit is blocked,” he shouts back, “The only way out is through the back!” Evan doesn’t protest, trusting Jack to get them out of here in one piece.

They run up creaky stairs and finally arrive on the second floor.
“There’s no exit here.” Evan says but Jack just smiles mysteriously to himself, childishly smug even in a life threatening situation like this, and walks over to the window. He pushes it open and gestures for EVan to look down. Look and behold, there is a small, narrow, rusty ladder leading down and into the cold evening. The grass below looks inviting.
“Ladies first,” Evan can’t resist saying as he gestures for Jack to go ahead of him. Jack just throws him a dirty look before hurrying to get out through the window.

The ladder is shaky and for a second Evan considers that it might not hold him. Still, there’s no other option, and Jack is already on the ground waiting for him. There is nowhere to go but down. Finally, he reaches the ground and moves shakily further away from the house. He turns to look at the building. It’s black from soot and the roof is already long gone. Some of the walls have caved in, leaving burnt, crispy holes in the structure. Evan has no doubt that if he would have been left there for even a second longer he would have been left to die in the flames. He turns to look at his saviour and finds Jack laying on his back in the green grass, eyes trained on the dark sky above.
“What are you doing, man?” Evan asks helplessly, trying not to sound hopelessly gone for the boy in front of him, but Jack just shakes a hand in his direction.
“Come lay with me man, you’ve gotta see this.” He just says, eyes still trained on the sky. Evan follows directions and falls down on the grass next to Jack. Then he lets his eyes move to the night sky and he sees it.

Stars. The vast night sky is filled with countless of bright, twinkling stars.

“Why did you save me?” Evan asks Jack, eyes on the stars, afraid that if they would not admire the sky, they would move to admire the angel next to him.
“... You’re not that bad. Also, I don’t want to owe you shit.” Jack answers. His voice is raspy from the couching and his face has black spots from soot. His gelled look is all but gone, hair wild and messed up.
“What do you mean?”
“I know it was you, that night. Who called my brothers. And I don’t want to owe you shit,” Jack says and turns to him, reddish yet gorgeous eyes finally moving to look at Evan. They twinkle in the light of the stars and as beautiful as the night sky is, Evan would much prefer to stare into Jack’s eyes instead.
“Now we’re even.” Jack says.

They stay there only for a while until they get up and start walking around the building to the front. The sound of sirens can finally be heard arriving at the scene and Evan didn’t want to be the reason the firefighters' went looking for someone who was no longer there. Jack walks next to him, limping slightly but in good spirits despite his concerning cough. Evan made him promise that he would go get it looked at by the medics no doubt at the scene.

As they walk out from around the corner of the building they can immediately see the absolute circus that is the aftermath of the fire. There are students all over the place, all covered in blankets that the firefighters and medics are handing out. Parents are arriving at the scene, desperately looking for their own kids in the hullabaloo. Some firefighters are inspecting the door but no one is moving to get inside the building, which confuses Evan until he remembers Jack mentioning the front door being blocked. The firefighters can’t go rescue anyone inside if they can’t get there. The front side also lacks windows; Jack was right, the only way in or out is through the ladder on the second floor. Kids are crying and sobbing into their phones, some of them are talking to nearby police and someone is shouting over by the front of the building.

“Evan, oh my god!” Someone yells from somewhere and suddenly, he’s surrounded by people. His teammates and friends crowd around him with shocked expressions, hugging him and touching him, almost like they can’t believe he’s alive. Marie is throwing herself at him with a fervour and sobbing directly into his ear, making his headache remarkably worse. Charlie in particular looks elated yet shocked, like he can’t believe Evan is alive.
“How? The door was completely blocked!” Evan is planning to turn to Jack and introduce him, not that he needs introductions, but he finds that the kid is long gone from his side. Evan looks around and just barely manages to catch a glimpse of Jack, who’s hurrying forward towards a more packed crowd. Evan takes another look and sees that there is some kind of conflict where Jack is headed, someone is shouting. In fact, the strong and unrepentant voice sounds rather familiar. Without even really thinking twice, Evan runs after the youngest Mercer, ignoring the confused shouts of the people behind him. Jack is nimble but Evan is fast and soon, he has caught up to him.

“Bobby,” Jack says lightly as he exhales. It’s difficult to tell what’s going on – Bobby is shouting loudly while being held back by some police officers. He appears to be trying to free himself and is almost successful, but apparently four officers is a little bit too much even for the infamous Bobby Mercer. Jack speeds up and starts running towards the scene and Evan follows.
“-I don’t care what the fuck you do, I need to get to my brother! Are you too thick to understand that?! My baby brother is in there, possibly burning alive and you’re telling me to, what? Sit and wait? Well guess what bitch, if you don’t let me go I will kill you, how’s that for motivation?!” Bobby’s voice is loud and unrepenting. He’s making quite the scene and Evan can see more officers approaching the situation. The nearby bystanders are silent, watching in horror as Bobby Mercer tries to free himself so he can go save his baby brother. They look scared and Evan can’t blame him, they’ve all seen what Bobby Mercer is capable of. His words aren’t empty and he barks just as loudly as he bites. Some of the police officers themselves seem to be contemplating saving themselves and letting Bobby do what he wants.

And yet Evan thinks he can see something else in there too. Everyone sees the violent beast that is Bobby Mercer but Evan knows that’s not all there is to it. He’s not an unraveling beast looking to release his anger upon anyone and anything; Bobby Mercer is a brother. Bobby is the same man who hugs Jack wholeheartedly with soft eyes. Bobby is the same man who threatened to kill him just for being in the same vicinity as Jack. And if Evan looks close enough, really looks, he can see that Bobby’s eyes aren’t just stone cold, they’re a little bit red as well. A slight wetness is reflected in the light of the fire and between the angry words and threats there is something more – a fear. There is an ever growing horror that he might be too late; that his baby brother might already be dead.

“Bobby!” Jack shouts. The man freezes completely, all movement ceasing. His head slowly turns towards the sound. Jack is quickly making his way past the other people, twisting and turning through the crowd easily. The officers step back when they realize the oldest Mercer has stopped fighting, quickly letting go of him and backing away into a safe distance. Jack finally arrives at the scene, slowly walking towards his brother with a slight smirk on his face.
“Did you think you were getting rid of me that easily?” He says teasingly, like he’d just come home from school and not, well, out of a burning building. The words seem to kickstart Bobby, because the next second he has sprung forward and eloped Jack in a tight hug, twining his arms around his body and one hand in Jack’s dirty, smoky hair.
“You fucking fairy! Don’t you dare do that again or I’ll kill you, you hear me? What the fuck Jackie, what the fuck.” He keeps shouting, but his grip on Jack doesn’t loosen.
“I’m not leaving, Bobby. You three would send mom into an early grave if I wasn’t keeping the peace, man.” Jack tries to joke but his voice is quiet and wavering slightly, like he might start crying. Bobby just holds him tighter. And then suddenly, like this gentle Bobby is a switch that can be turned on and off, the older Mercer’s head flies up and his eyes of steel find Evan, staring him up and down. He can clearly see that Evan and Jack are a lot sootier than the other students and Evan worries about what conclusion he might make – he’d prefer not to make an enemy out of Bobby.

“I’m Evan,” He says quickly before Bobby can accuse him of something, “And if it weren’t for Jack I’d be dead. Probably. So.” Evan tries to clear his throat which just turns into a series of very bad sounding coughs. Quite frankly he’s unsure of what he’s even really trying to say here, he just needs Bobby to know that Evan’s not a threat; not to Jack.
“So, you know. Thanks.” He just ends up saying awkwardly. Bobby doesn’t reply, hard eyes trained unrelentingly on Evan, who’s trying his hardest not to fidget under that threatening glare. It would really suck, he thinks to himself, to run out of a burning house after being rescued by that beautiful boy, only to end up dying afterwards because his brother doesn’t like you. ‘Still worth it though,’ he can’t help thinking when he finds his eyes going back to Jack. Jack, who is honest to god smiling at him – no, not just smiling: Grinning. Eyes squinted and teeth on display, mouth turned by genuine happiness. And maybe Jack laughs but Evan wouldn’t know, he’s too busy staring at the rare, unrelentingly blind smile.

“You’re welcome, quarterback. Try not to make it a habit though, I’m not always there to save a damsel in distress.” Jack says and walks over to clap Evan on the shoulder. The contact burns but not like the fire on the building, like comforting warmth. Like something that Evan would perhaps like to feel for the rest of his life. Evan, like the idiot he apparently is and never knew he was, just nods dumbly, unable to form a response with Jack’s fingers resting on his skin. And when Jack eventually moves his hand and heads back to his brother, Evan is barely able to stop himself from taking a hold of that hand with his own to keep him from leaving. Jack says something to Bobby, who nods and starts steering his brother away, presumably towards his car. Before they leave, Jack and Bobby throw him a quick look each. Bobby’s is cold and tense, not quite trustful of him yet. It’s not murderous, thank god, but Evan is not a fool enough to ignore that it could be. It’s good that Jack has someone like that watching out for him, he deserves it. It’s just a shame that he himself can’t see just how much he means to his people.

Jack’s quick glance however was what really stole Evan’s breath away. Lit only by the stars and the fire, soot in his hair and cheeks, Jack looked like one of those paintings his mother insisted on going to the museum to look at. And when he grinned, one of those new sharp things with teeth, all Evan could do was stare and pray that he would have the honour of seeing it again. Then both Mercer’s disappeared into the crowd, Bobby’s arm protectively flung around his brother’s neck.

Evan is left alone on the scene, soot in hair and arms helplessly grasping for something far out of his reach. And strangely he finds himself thinking back to what Marie said about this being the perfect night. She was right, he realizes, but not in the way she thought. This was the most perfect night Evan had ever lived through and yet his heart ached, because he knew he would never experience anything like it again.
“Jack saved you? Jack Mercer, youngest in a long line of bastards and rejects, saved you?!” Charlie exclaims in shock. Evan turns around and sees the team and Marie standing behind him. He didn’t even notice they were there.
“What the fuck happened? Tell us everything!” Evan sighs and prepares himself for a long rest of the night – he’s already missing the warmth and adventure of the house burning next to him. Then he remembers something, a faint thought in the back of his head when he sat on the floor of the burning bathroom. ‘If I survive this,’ he had thought, ‘then I’ll stop wasting time’. Evan quickly turns to Marie and walks over to her, staring into her tearful, wet eyes. Time to pay the piper.
“Marie?”
“Yes?”
“I’m breaking up with you.”