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

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

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

It had been about three minutes since the sobbing stopped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He poked his head outside of the door.

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

Jack exhaled slowly. He figured he was probably asleep.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The younger boy stirred in his arms, causing Jack to freeze.

Thankfully, Race didn't wake up.

Jack set Race down on the bed, pulling the covers over him. He watched him for a moment.

Race's face contorted in pain as he slept.

Jack knew what this meant.

A nightmare.

Jack frowned. That's so soon after he fell asleep, he thought to himself.

Race began muttering stuff in Italian under his breath.

And it's bad... Jack's frown deepened. He quickly tried to think of a song to calm him down. "I'll wait for you 'till you turn seventeen," he sang softly as he played with Race's hair, "turn seventeen. The same age as me."

Jack had no clue why "Seventeen" from Tuck Everlasting was the first song to pop into his mind, but he figured it was fitting, since Race had been having an obsession with Tuck Everlasting recently.

It worked and after a few minutes, Race was calmly snoozing again.

Jack smiled. He pressed a soft kiss to Race's forehead and got up.

Jack quietly left the room and closed the door, but not fully. He left a slight gap, knowing Race preferred to have a bit of light in the room so it didn't feel like he was back in the closet at his father's house.

(A/N, I can already picture the comments on that last sentence 😑.)

I'll talk to him in the morning, Jack decided as he stood outside of the room.

Deciding that was a good idea, Jack nodded to himself and started walking to his room. He looked back at Race's door and breathed out.

He's okay.

In the morning

Jack walked downstairs as he rubbed his left eye. He walked into the kitchen. He was slightly shocked to find Race sitting at the table.

After his late night last night, Jack figured Race wouldn't be up for a while.

It was only 8am, and it was a weekend.

Race was flipping through his notebook, sitting on one of the stools at the island.

Jack walked over to him and sat down next to him.

Race looked up at him, saying nothing.

Jack turned to look at him. "How'd you sleep?" he asked softly. He knew Race hated small talk, but he needed to make sure it was okay before jumping into the topic.

Race shrugged, looking back down at his notebook to avoid eye contact. "Decently, thanks," he mumbled.

Jack nodded. "I brought you to your room."

"I noticed... thanks...." Race mumbled again, still not looking at him. "I'm... I'm sorry that you had to do that. I should've gotten to my room," he whispered.

Jack shook his head. "I couldn't have let you stay there. You could've gotten hurt," he responded.

Race swallowed hard. "It was a rough night," he admitted quietly.

Good, Jack thought to himself. It's good that he's bringing it up on his own. "It seemed like it. Wanna talk about it or do you just want pancakes to make it all better?" he asked him.

Race smiled slightly, still playing with the page in his notebook. "Talk and then pancakes, maybe?"

Jack nodded.

Race sighed softly. "I overheard someone say something about their father being abusive and someone else made fun of them, and so I... I uh... stepped in because it wasn't right, you know?" he started, his voice quiet.

Jack frowned. This was not going to end well.

"And they..." tears filled Race's eyes as he cleared his throat, "they made fun of me... and they shoved me and asked if I couldn't handle a little shove... and they said some stuff about ADHD that hurt too..." he whispered.

Jack frowned. "I'm so sorry, Toni," he whispered. "Want a hug?"

Race looked up, tears shining in his eyes. He swallowed and nodded.

Jack gently wrapped his arms around Race. "I know it's not easy, especially when someone says something that hits really hard," he whispered to him, "but even if that boy that you helped said nothing, you standing up for him meant a lot."

"He helped me up after they left..." Race admitted quietly, "and then ran off..."

Jack smiled slightly. "See?"

Race nodded.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, before the silence was inevitably broken.

"The first pancake was believed to be made in the Stone Age," Race informed Jack, his voice quiet.

Jack chuckled. "I'm aware," he responded as he pulled out of the hug. "You tell me that every time I make pancakes."

Race's cheeks reddened as he watched Jack get up to grab the stuff to make pancakes. "Really? I don't usually forget stuff that easily," he stated.

Jack chuckled. "It's okay. I like it," he assured him as he grabbed a bowl. "It's tradition now. I can't make pancakes without you reminding me of that."

Race laughed lightly, closing his notebook and setting it down on the table as he watched him. "Okay. I'll do it every time then," he decided.

Jack chuckled as he opened the fridge. "Alrighty."

Race drummed his fingers on the island as he looked around the room, his eyes eventually landing on Jack again. "When do you think Mamma and Charlie will be up?" he asked him.

Jack chuckled as he cracked an egg. "You also ask me that every time I make pancakes," he informed him, not turning to look at him.

Race blushed again. "Really?"

"Yep."

Race pouted. "Well, you plan blame me for liking routine!" he responded.

"No," Jack turned around to hand the bowl and spoon to Race to stir it, "but I can make fun of you for accidentally doing the same thing every time." He smirked.

Race rolled his eyes, taking the bowl away from him and starting to stir it.

Jack chuckled as he leaned back against the fridge. He watched Race.

They stayed like that for a few minutes as Race stirred.

"Should be within thirty minutes or so."

"Alrighty, thank you."

1550 Words
I'm just gonna post multiple chapters for the 30k thing. Maybe I'll do three! For thirty reads! 30 divided by 10 is 3.
(Look. This is what Stage learned in Math honors lol.)
That's my decision. Two more, so go cast your vote! (Please)