A Happy Face, A Happy Smile, A Happy Point Of View

[Deleted]

Rue knew a little bit about Jackson’s home life from their hanging out, and had gathered and guessed some things based on what he knew and learned, but he didn’t realize just how distraught Jackson was about his grandmother potentially finding out about the little bruise. Well… Okay, he did sort of realize now, because Jackson was obviously upset about it, but Rue couldn’t quite understand yet just how bad it was for him.

He glanced down and back at the tug on his sleeve, surprised to see Finn grasping the fabric. The worry in his friend’s voice made him smile softly, and he nodded, although he was still on edge about the entire ordeal. “I’m fine,” he promised. “I was just worried was all.” ‘Was’ being the key word. He was still worried for Jackson’s sake, but he wasn’t panicking about what had made the guy screech.

Rue turned his attention back to Jackson while Finn left to go do… Whatever. He was sure the older boy wasn’t going far. As Jackson rambled and wailed on, Rue winced, wishing he could just… Calm him down. “Make-up is useful for other things too,” he offered quietly. “It’s not that weird, and if you put it on right, no one will even know it’s there…” And that was the whole point, to make his skin look clean. It wasn’t like they were dousing him in eye-makeup or anything (although he’d known a couple guys that did that and he didn’t think there was a problem with that either). But what could he say?

He just caressed the boy’s face, glad that his touch seemed to calm him somewhat. With Finn in the other room, Rue felt more comfortable to brush some strands of hair from Jackson’s face. His heart squeezed at the sounds he was making; he was so young… What was he doing?

But then Finn had returned, and Rue let his hands slip down and barely touch Jackson on the waist, just for a bit of comfort. “Hey,” he protested with a twitch of a smile as Finn insulted him, and then chuckled awkwardly as Jackson agreed. “Alright, alright, I’m an idiot…” He was outnumbered, it seemed. Rue watched the two interact quietly, amused by their conversation. Jackson was addressing the older boy now, so he didn’t say anything, just huffed and rolled his eyes when they reaffirmed the idiot thing. He knew, he knew… And then he realized if Vicky saw the bruise, she might ask where it came from, and that would bring on other awkward questions, but… What could he do?

Sigh….. Idiot….

[Finn Eogeum]

If Finn came home with a hickey... well, his sister wouldn't die, per ce, just probably be very very shocked at the sight. And very confused. It was all for obvious reasons, but she'd basically just stop functioning for a couple minutes, before becoming the protective soul that she was and complaining about Finn diving into a needless relationship like that. He knew because the same thing had happened with their mum when she still lived here with them and Vicky had come home at sixteen with a hickey on her neck, bright as day. Finn just had a feeling she would do the same. But it would probably never happen, considering.

Finn nodded a little, accepting Rue's assurances, "Okay. If you're sure." He still didn't seem calm, but he was calm enough, so Finn wouldn't push it. Besides, if there was a bigger problem, he would have already told Finn. That was what friends did, right?

Finn kind of pitied Jackson, but he couldn't really relate. He sounded truly upset, and Finn had heard something about his 'Grams', which sounded like a nickname, unless he thought a hickey would make him gain weight or something, which was silly. Of course they didn't. Probably.

He noticed how Rue's hands moved upon his return. He didn't comment on it, he just noticed it. He did side eye Rue a little though, before facing Jackson. Finn giggled and nodded when the younger boy agreed with him, glad to have possibly lightened the mood with some friendly banter. He stuck his tongue out at Rue, because stuff him, they were busy. Finn became a little more gentle, "Yeah, it will." He thought for a moment, "A couple of days, I think. Vicky - my sister - she's been getting quite a few recently. They don't last forever." And that was another reason why Finn was suggesting make-up. Because it worked on Vicky. And now he was back to giggling, "Definitely. And I would know, I've known him ages. But he has good intentions. That's what matters." He could joke about Rue all he wanted, but he was a good guy. That was that.

"We know you're not," Finn replied, "But it's not to make you pretty, the stupid reason why girls use it." It wasn't necessary... it worked, but it wasn't necessary. "It's to hide the blotch." Being delicate about the situation, as always. At the search for confirmation, Finn showed that he was completely certain, nodding vigorously, "Definitely does. Vicky can help you out, she's like Rue. She likes helping people." He smiled to himself, quietly proudly of his sister, "She can show you how to put it on, and maybe you can borrow some of her bruise cream, unless you have some already...?" He vaguely asked, before shaking his head - he was off topic slightly, "She's very understanding, I promise you." Jackson seemed uncertain, so Finn was trying to help. Hopefully it was working.

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Rue wasn’t doing a good job of convincing Jackson that make-up was the way to go. There had to be something better, just had to be! “Have you ever had to wear it?” he asked Rue sourly. If he hadn’t, then of course it was easy for him to suggest it, he wasn’t the one who would be wearing it!

It made Jackson want to whack him again, definitely yell at him, though…..the fingers brushing against his face and through his hair were soothing. Dangit. If he yelled at Rue again, then he might stop and then where would he be?

Jackson, where are your priorities?

When Finn returned, that hand moved away and Jackson felt….bah, a little lonely, that’s all! And a little sad that he had to stop. It reminded Jackson of when he pulled away from Rue when Finn had interrupted their tickle-fest on the couch. It was embarrassing to be seen doing it, but even more to be seen jerking away from it. It made it look like they had something to hide…which they did, but if they really wanted to hide it, then they wouldn’t need to jerk around when someone showed up, because they’d be smart enough to not do it in a place where someone might interrupt! Stupid Rue…

At least Finn wasn’t making a big deal about it. Did that mean he was okay with it? It was hard to tell, Jackson still didn’t know Finn well enough to know if he was or not. But he was being nice. “A couple of days?” He….could probably stand that. It was just a few days, then it’d be gone. Wait…. “A few!?” Jackson exclaimed, a delayed reaction to the information. She was…like that? She was….that kind of girl…? Jackson looked down, his cheeks blushing, and fiddled with his fingers. Jackson smiled meekly at his next words though, glad that he was agreeing with Jackson that Rue really was just a big dumb animal. He nodded. “I know…”

Finn was a lot better at explaining it than Rue was. Rue was good too, at getting Jackson to calm down, but his persuasive skills….well, they were okay too, it was just that Finn’s were better in this instance. “Okay…” he agreed softly, but then he realized. That meant that he’d have to meet a girl who was like that. And suddenly a million images of what she must be like exploded within Jackson’s mind. He would have seemed distracted from the outside. Just the idea made him nervous, he would get to meet Finn’s wild sister! Suddenly, Jackson seemed a little less concerned with Rue and the blotch. “Okay!” he said again, with nervous excitement.

Now that that was taken care of, Jackson looked back to Rue. “Did you make the hot chocolate?” he asked expectantly. That was the whole reason why he followed the two older boys here. Even though Jackson knew he shouldn’t….he’d just have to make sure he got home quickly after this…but no, he was going over to Finn’s place next, wasn’t he? Jackson was lost in thinking again. Shoot! And he didn’t have any of his medicine with him, and his Grams was going to be worried about him if he stayed out longer than expected….this day was turning into a real mess, wasn’t it. “I gotta get home soon,” he muttered.

[Deleted]

Had Rue ever had to wear makeup? Uh… He smiled sheepishly at Jackson’s question, but then did remember that he’d had to hide a hickey from Phoenix once when he’d volunteered at a church event a long time ago. “Yes, actually,” he replied when he remembered. “It’s not bad, I promise. And it works.” Hopefully that would reassure him, at least a little.

He felt uncomfortable that he was uncomfortable being touchy with the younger boy in front of his friend. It wasn’t like Finn didn’t know by now, so why was Rue still so uneasy about it? Jackson seemed uneasy too, which just made Rue want to touch him again to help calm him down….

Sigh. He definitely needed some tea and meditation later.

Rue mostly stayed quiet as Finn talked about Vicky, though a small, pale blush rose on his cheeks as he mentioned her getting hickeys. He wondered… How many of those were from him…? Not that many, surely, they didn’t do that sort of stuff that often… So who else was she seeing…? A bubble of unfair jealousy welled up in his chest, which made Rue realize just how out of whack he was right now. What right did he have to be jealous? That was absurd. “Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be able to help…” was all he managed to get out quietly. His mind was racing, and his gaze staring blankly into the floor.

Then he realized… Vicky would see Jackson’s bruise. And ask where it had come from. And like hell if Rue was going to lie to her, she would probably see right through him. So… That was something not to look forward to. How was she going to react to his relationship with the teenager? Ah well, Jackson was agreeing to it now, so what could he do?

Rue shook his head and snapped himself out of his thoughts when Jackson addressed him again. “Uh….” he mumbled. “Sorry, Finn and I got to talking while you were in the shower…. I’ll go make some now.” With slightly hurried steps, he left the two of them and went to the kitchen, trying to distract himself by making the drinks. Hopefully they wouldn’t notice how strange he was acting, he thought. He took his time with the preparation, though, taking the opportunity to do some meditative breathing to try to calm his unsettled mind. Andromeda appeared around the corner and began rubbing up against his legs, and Rue smiled down at her, grateful for the company. “You always know when I’m upset, don’t you?” he murmured to her, reaching down to stroke the cat’s head while the water heated up. He wondered what the two boys were talking about now…

[Finn Eogeum]

"I think." Finn repeated. He couldn't be perfectly certain, considering he didn't have personal personal experience on the subject of hickeys, and Vicky was an artist with a make-up brush. They were both pretty creative people, and she was practically a magician when it came to hiding those bruises. His brow furrowed when Jackson exclaimed, "...yeah...?" Was it really that bad? She said herself, she could do what she wanted, it was her life after all. "It's not like she's covered in them, but she likes having... doing the thing." Which was why the younger brother had so many earplugs. Finn was uncomfortable with the subject, personally, and it didn't interest him all that much to be wanting to do it himself. That was the definition of demisexual - because he'd only felt the urge once, with a special person. Still... he felt he was being too vague, "You know... the thing with the bed. And a partner." That was specific. Yup. He didn't want to say the word because Jackson already looked like a tomato.

Vicky was probably as Jackson was expecting. If he was expecting someone with a desirable body, good looks and a cheeky attitude. She also flirted a lot. It was funny when she did it to Rue - friendly flirting, of course. She seemed to like making people nervous, but she could be appropriate... sometimes. Finn nodded a couple times as Jackson agreed, smiling softly, "Great." It felt good to know he'd be helping his new friend after his old friend mucked up.

Finn looked between the pair during their brief conversation about hot drinks, taking no responsibility whatsoever for the lack of hot chocolates. His first thought was to follow Rue to the kitchen, but he seemed... kinda jittery, so for the moment, Finn stayed where he was, with Jackson. "Just by the way, my sister might seem a bit intimidating," Especially if she was dressed as she usually was on a lazy day - baggy clothing, minimal makeup, possibly a bit catty, "But she's good. I don't think she'll try and play with you."

Speaking of which, Finn wanted to clear something up. "I want to check something." He said bluntly, "Are you and Rue a thing or are you casual?" He blinked innocently, "He said you were casual but I don't know if I should believe him." They only think that made him uncertain was the whole Phoenix situation. If Rue was feeling better about that by now, he probably would have gone to find someone else to look after, because that's what he did, and Jackson seemed to be that kind of person. There wasn't anyone otherwise obvious he would go for anyway, to Finn's knowledge.

[Deleted]

So he had worn it before? Phooey, that meant that Jackson had no more arguments against it, and thus, no more reason to make a scene at Rue. That was good, he supposed, that it was something that worked…but the idea of wearing make-up was just so…emasculating. Jackson didn’t have a whole lot of man in him yet anyway, but that just meant he had to savor and protect what little he had. As long as nobody found out about it, it should be okay….

And besides, if it gave him the chance to meet with that kind of a girl, just to see what they were like, then it would be worth it. That kind of girl….she probably kissed a lot of guys…a lot, to have even her own brother saying that she got a lot of…of….neck bruises. And even now, he was explicitly saying so, at least that’s what Jackson thought he was saying. “Making out, you mean?” he said nervously. Because what else would he be talking about? Surely not that, right? Even if she was that kind of girl….surely she wasn’t the kind of girl who did…that causally, right?

Finn didn’t need to say the word to make Jackson bloom even redder. He was going to get a nosebleed at this rate. Especially since he was already vaguely wondering if he and Rue….no! Nope nope, not happening, too fast! No matter how much he thought he might….no! It wasn’t going to…..

Jackson was trying to get his mind off of that subject by asking about the hot chocolate, and was thinking about following Rue to the kitchen as well…but his legs didn’t seem to want to move. He was just feeling so….awkward…about this. Jackson lowered his head slightly, as he was left behind with Finn. “Oh….is she?” Intimidating….just hearing about her was intimidating. He snapped his head up, confused by Finn’s wording. “Play with me? Play with me how?” S-she wasn’t going to…to….take advantage of him, was she?? The thought made him even more nervous than before!!

The boy’s mind had once again exploded with all manner of ways that Finn’s sister could possibly “play” with him…and he was pretty sure that didn’t mean inviting him for a game of Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders. Luckily, Finn’s question was something else entirely to focus on and Jackson stiffened, looking at the other boy. Casual? That was…that made him sound like…. “I…” Jackson wanted to answer honestly, at least, because it was Finn….if he knew what that answer was, honestly. “I’m not sure,” he said quietly, looking down again and clasping his hands in front of him. “I do like him….but he’s not my boyfriend…..I don’t know what we are, really.” That was as close to the truth as he could get. Well…there was one more thing. “….I do know that….I can’t have a boyfriend. It’s just not an option…” Did that make sense? “So…whatever this is….it’ll probably just be until one of us gets sick of it, or I find a girlfriend or….that sounds horrible, doesn’t it?” Jackson seemed to shrink in on himself in shame. “Is….is that…what casual means?” If so….that didn’t make him much better than Finn’s sister, did it? “Sorry…” he said meekly.

[Finn Eogeum]

This was going to be hard difficult to talk about without being blunt, and whilst Finn was a little brute and blunt by nature, intimate speakings were not part of his language. Jackson's misunderstanding had him shaking his head, "No... not.. not just making out..." His face screwed up a little in thought, but he ended up sighing loudly in annoyance. This was haaaaaaard. "The thing with the partner in the bed." He repeated, "Involving intimate thingies." That was another step. "And holes." Okay... that had to be enough, right? "I've never done it myself. It's too... special." He just wasn't attracted to people that way, really, generally. He just liked people for being people.

"Only a bit." Finn said. This was his personal opinion, however, and Vicky was his older sister, one of the main people who had helped him out growing up. His opinion would be a little warped at least, to be true to a point, but at least a little biased. The saturator blinked at Jackson's apparent... shock?... at the idea of Vicky messing with people, "She won't do anything you don't want." He mildly assured, "She just likes flirting, she might compliment you is all." And maybe pet him a bit, but Finn wasn't sure. It had happened before, though. "If you don't like it, tell her you don't and she won't upset you." Although, he was slowly beginning to doubt she would 'play' with someone like Jackson at all, but only since he had multiple similarities to himself... well, they'd find out soon enough.

Finn nodded slowly at Jackson's uncertainty. He was confused. He obviously hadn't spoken enough about it with Rue to have a solid, firm answer. "Well, at least you like him, right?" If he didn't, and he was still here, possibly doing intimate things with Rue, that would be more of an issue than this situation. After he said the next sentence, however, Finn's mind broke a little. Can't... have a... boyfriend? He had said that, right? Well.... what did that mean?

This made no sense- oh, Jackson was still speaking, he was asking another question - one which Finn vaguely caught. The older man was just... the picture of confusion, "...what's wrong with having a boyfriend? Of course you can have a boyfriend, Rue's had boyfriends, I've gone on dates with boys who..." Nope, not important that he'd been rejected a lot in the past. He waved his hand as if rubbing the thought out of the air, "I've seen gay couples here and there, boyfriends exist, as in, boyfriend-boyfriend." This ramble wasn't going anywhere, "....why can't you have a boyfriend?!" He wasn't exactly being quiet or subtle right now.

"Oh, and I have no idea what you just said, I wasn't listening." May as well be honest, right?

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So not making out….then what was it? With the partner, in the bed, with intimate things and….holes…. “G…..getting dressed?” he guessed again, though he had a feeling he was completely off track here. “Pillow fights?” Even further. “Back massages?” Closer, but that didn’t involve holes. “Breakfast in bed?” That involved holes. The mouth. And was intimate-ish. Jackson maybe have been saying anything that came to mind except for the one thing he knew it was….just….he didn’t want to say it either!! His face was already redder than a tomato, why was Finn lingering on this subject anyway when it was just as hard for him to speak it as it was for Jackson to hear it!? “……….I’ve never had….um….breakfast in bed either, so….I can’t really….I’m the same….” It was too special to just…do it with anybody.

But his sister…did that all the time….why did he have to tell Jackson that? It was just going to make him even more nervous meeting her. And now he had to be worried about her ‘playing’ with him. “A-are you sure?” he asked, keeping his head down and hands clasped down his front. Jackson had no reason not to believe Finn, but he was suspicious nonetheless that there was more to be worried about than he let on. Well….if anything happened, then Jackson would just….cry again, probably. Or run away! Yes, that was a plan. If he got too uncomfortable, just run away!

Jackson nodded. “I-I guess,” he replied, still keeping his eyes down. Though if he thought about it, Rue was the one who pulled him into this non-relationship-thing in the first place. If he hadn’t been pushed/pulled so forcefully, Jackson probably would never have found the guts to explore this part of himself, which he still wasn’t sure he was fine with.

Just as Finn had a hard time understanding why Jackson couldn’t have a boyfriend, Jackson had a hard time understanding why he thought it was so strange. He knew that there were people out there who showed off their….’gay’ness all the time, without shame, and they did just fine for the most part. That was the world. But families were different from the world and a lot of them didn’t approve of such things. That was ‘reality’. Not just families either, but communities too, specifically the ones where he grew up. Just because Jackson was able to acknowledge it, didn’t mean that his family would. And just because Jackson acknowledged it, didn’t mean that he was okay with it.

Ah, so he wasn’t listening…oh, well. Jackson didn’t feel like repeating it, not with his brain swirling now with the subject of ‘why?’ “Because…” he started, “my family would never approve, for one. If they found out…” Jackson shuddered. “I can only imagine the horror of what they’d do if they ever found out….particularly if they knew that I….” Jackson stiffened, thinking of all the things they’d say. “And I’m not a girl! T-that makes it just not okay! It may be okay for other people, but it’s not okay for me!” He may be feeling a little bit defensive by now, and raising his voice slightly as a result. Jackson didn’t want to answer these questions with the honest answers he didn’t want to hear either. The reminder was just too…distressing. Depressing. Discouraging. Sigh….

[Finn Eogeum]

For someone who was usually pretty blunt and straightforward with his words, Finn was being extremely vague and dodgy about the subject at hand. Jackson kept blushing about all these silly things. Getting dressed? Breakfast in bed? What was he talking about? It was all just pretty frustrating, but Finn couldn't bring himself to say the actual word, the actual thing. He just kept making confused facial expressions, "I'm not talking about breakfast in bed!" He said loudly, "...you know what I'm trying to say!!" He assumed, hoping he was right. If he was wrong, and Jackson was still clueless... he'd have to remain clueless. Why were they talking about this again?

....oh, right. Vicky. "I'm sure." He assured. "....fairly sure." Maybe it wasn't such a certain statement, but he couldn't speak for his sister - they were two different people. And she contrasted him so much. But he knew she was mature and respectful with the right people. If Jackson was one of those... good. Otherwise... what could he do?

Finn remembered in the past feeling iffy about the subject of being 'partially gay', another way of describing his pan-romanticism. He still was a bit - his parents still weren't all too impressed or accepting of it, and when you grew up... sometimes, that was all you would see. Just straight couples and no one else. Being gay was odd, different... not the norm. And maybe it wasn't - the world wasn't fifty-fifty on being gay or not, but that didn't make it... wrong. It didn't make it a bad thing. It had taken Finn a while to realise that sexuality had nothing to do with anything. It was just... love. Love was the important factor. Who cares what the gender was of the person it was with? That wasn't important.

At least, it didn't seem that way anymore, not to Finn. Which was why he was so confused. "My family doesn't approve." Finn retorted; then again, they weren't as conservative or as strict on the subject as others, "They still love me." That was true as anything. At least, he hoped so.

Finn was just gawping. How could you drill it into someone's head? Jackson didn't need to be a girl to like a guy in that way. He wanted to fight back but he couldn't think of the words. So he thought of the person who could - and like an eight-year-old, called for Rue loudly as he quickly swooped into kitchen, "You don't need to be a girl to love a boy, right?" He needed backup. Finn's frustration showed in the way the colours of his body blazed too bright as he kept his eyes locked on his best friend, "Jackson won't listen to me." And those colours died down a little from seeing Rue, as did his confused annoyance. The younger man's presence had a way of doing that to him. Now he just sounded upset and mildly desperate.

[Deleted]

Rue was too involved in his own thoughts to pay attention to the (initially) quiet conversation in the other room. He did that a lot, getting lost in his own thoughts; it was a strange place, filled with ideas and imagery that he wouldn’t let see the surface of day… Not anymore. That was why he meditated – to control the thoughts racing around in his head and put some order to them before they drove him crazy.

It was when the water was hot and he started pouring it into some mugs for the hot chocolate that Rue’s ears caught onto the raising voices in the other room. They didn’t sound… Angry, necessarily, just passionate… And frustrated. He’d just finished making the drinks and started heading towards the two boys when a very saturated Finn appeared around the corner. Rue blinked, a little startled; it took him a moment to grasp what he’d said.

“… No. Of course not,” he said slowly, walking the rest of the way to where Jackson was standing and offering him one of the mugs. He’d made sure to put marshmallows in the teen’s; his own was left plain. “I had a boyfriend that I… Loved very much.” Too much, he reminded himself. “It wasn’t just a quick, lustful moment of… I don’t know, rebelliousness. We were together for a year and a half.” Rue took a sip of his drink; his voice was low, monotonous, hiding the emotions threatening to well up as he spoke of Phoenix. “... I’m not entirely gay, but I find I have a preference for them. Not because I choose to; that’s just the way that I am.”

He made an uncomfortable expression. “However… Just because you feel a certain way, doesn’t mean everyone around you is going to accept that,” Rue went on, guessing where Jackson’s argument was coming from. “And that’s what makes something that should be simple and beautiful – loving someone – far more complicated and difficult than it should be.” He sighed as he sat back on his couch; Andromeda hopped up beside him, which was unusual, given she didn’t know Jackson all that well yet. Finn she was fine with, though. “… I understand if you were raised in a conservative family, that you’re not comfortable with… With this. With me.” Rue smiled sadly. “I don’t like it, but there’s nothing I can do about it until you find yourself in a place where you’re comfortable to… Come out.” Because there was no doubt that Jackson was queer, given how their interactions had been so far. Rue glanced at Finn, and an affectionate smile crossed his face. That weird feeling he’d been having around Finn before came back out of nowhere, and he struggled to quench it. “… Anyway, those are my two cents,” he finished, and took another sip of hot chocolate as he stroked the purring cat in his lap.

[Deleted]

“I don’t know I don’t know!!” he shouted back, cringing back at Finn’s raised voice. “I don’t wanna say it and you can’t make me!!” Jackson was a good Christian boy, he wasn’t supposed to know words like that! Besides that, Jackson was sure his tongue would fall off if he said it out loud! His Grams said so so it must be true!

Grams also said he wasn’t supposed to hang out with girls like Vicky….but he apparently was anyway. She definitely wouldn’t approve of Rue of being anything but a ‘tutor’. Ughhh….so many things, so many contradictions, what he said wasn’t matching up with what he was doing or even with what he wanted to do, how was he supposed to manage all this??

It was no wonder he refused to think of Rue as a boyfriend. No, they were not boyfriends, they were…casual, like Rue said. That meant it wasn’t serious, that there was no intention to take it somewhere…serious. Because serious would mean serious and that would mean Jackson was seriously like that, and while he knew he was like that, that didn’t make it okay! It was bad enough that Jackson was doing things with Rue at all, so boyfriends were just out of the question!

Why was it so hard for Finn to understand that? His family didn’t approve either? That… “You’re family isn’t my family!” he countered. Sound logic, definitely. And Jackson’s family could get scary. This argument was going nowhere because….because….Jackson knew what Finn was saying was right, but that wasn’t the point and it didn’t get rid of those pre-conceptions. Jackson was not a girl! And being treated like one was….it was bothering because he liked it and that’s why he was….ahhhh! There were just too many things contradicting each other! Jackson didn’t know how to handle it and being confronted about it just stressed him out. Jackson grabbed the sides of his head turned his face to the floor, closing his eyes. He didn’t open them until he heard Rue’s voice in the room.

His eyes were slightly damp again, so he wiped them as Rue approached with the hot chocolate. Jackson took it and immediately took a sip, the sweet, hot liquid seeming to calm him somewhat. He was listening to Rue silently, steadily drinking the hot chocolate. Mmm…yea, Rue seemed to understand his situation better than Finn did. He slowly followed the man back to the sitting area, still holding his mug up close to his mouth, and sat on the chair beside the couch. Jackson nodded at Rue’s words. “They’re….my family….I love them and all, because they’re important to me and they’re my family, but…they’re not the best sort of people….” He wouldn’t be disowned, he knew, because that was just not okay, but….between the two, it might be better if he were disowned, however much the idea hurt. “I’m sorry….” He felt so guilty, for not being able to be as open as Rue no doubt wanted him to be. So he just drank some more hot chocolate.