Chapter Text
The two men were silent as they shuffled around the small house. Jerry grabbed the broom to sweep up any shards that scattered along the floors because of his outburst. Jack took to getting a wet rag and some soap to clean the blood splatters around the living room. An uncomfortable silence settled between the roommates, the atmosphere in the household so thick it could be cut with a knife. Both Jack and Jerry's head were buzzing with questions, and Jerry felt sick once more as anxiety made him nauseous. While Jack's demeanor was calm, cool, and collected, his heart-rate could be compared equally to a baby bunny's. He was confused, amazed, and terrified all at once. He didn't know what to think. Was that a hallucination? If not, what would that mean for Jack? What else was Jerry capable of?
After getting the last bit of blood off the cracked wall, Jack stretched this arms out behind him to get some sort of relief, sighing with satisfaction after hearing a few pops in his lower back. He then discarded the rag by tossing it in the kitchen's general direction. He sat down on the Living room's sofa, unsure of what to do now. Jerry walked into the living room, looking like he was about to sit on the couch until he noticed his roommate sitting there. He didn't even make eye contact before silently turning around and heading towards his room.
"Wait." Jack's voice, while uncertain and quiet, was sounded more like a gunshot due to the tense silence. Jerry froze in his stride, not turning around to look at the Insomniac. Jack cleared his throat, and took a few more seconds to figure out what the hell he was going to say.
"I'm...I'm not mad at you man, but can we talk?"
Jerry said nothing. He didn't move, didn't speak, just stood silently.
"Jerry?" Jack tried again.
"Jerry isn't available at the moment, please leave a message after the beep. Beeep." The words spilled out of Jerry before he could think.
What the fuck? What's wrong with me? Jerry mentally cursed himself out for the stupid response, but froze again when he heard Jack laughing behind him. He turned his head to look at Jack covering his mouth, but not enough to cover his smile. Jack cleared his throat again.
"Look, I get it. You don't want to talk right now, I get it completely." His smile dropped. "Can we at least talk about it tomorrow?" His eyes drifted up to Jerry's.
"What...specifically do you want to talk about?" Jerry answered, and Jack elected to ignore the slight tremor in his voice.
"Well, I was hoping to talk about the kissing thing, but now I'm really curious about how you threw Spencer around like a rag doll." Jerry, stood still for a moment and let out a sigh. Might as well get this over with.
"So...here's the thing." Jerry spoke before turning around to look Jack in the face. He paused, unsure of what Jack's reaction will be.
"I'm... pretty much an alien."
Jack blinked.
"What."
"Yeah, I'm not from Earth. I landed here a while ago and pretty much took the place of some millionaire's kid. I didn't want you to figure it out because... y'know. Everything inhuman in this ass-wad town hates people." Jerry scratched his neck, a little uneasy about the continuous silence coming from Jack.
"So... you can beat the shit out of Spencer?" A small smile managed to creep it's way onto Jack's face. Jerry huffed.
"I can do way more than that! Watch!" Jerry declared, reaching his arms out to either side, before suddenly stopping. Jack gave him a questioning look.
"...On second thought, maybe don't watch. I'm gonna turn into a mess of organs, tissue and muscle, and it's kinda gross."
"Oh come on, I've seen worse." Jack pouted, and Jerry tried not to roll his eyes. "If you say so, Bro."
A moment passed, and then suddenly, Jerry broke into two.
Or at least, that's what it looked like. In actually, his spine snapped forward and bent at an almost perfect 90 degree angle. Jerry's upper torso went back as his lower torso, along with the rest of his body lurched forward a few centimetres. His bones began to shift once more, and Jack could see 4 very large bones moving inside of Jerry. Suddenly Jerry's jaw unhinged, his mouth being pushed open to an unnatural width. The four bones pulled the lips further and further until All of Jerry erupted. A mass of eyes, muscle, tissue, and bones sprung out through his mouth. It seemed like he was turning himself inside out, before everything shot back in. His form changed, his once athletic, lean human build appearing shorter and thinner. His blonde hair stayed the same, along with his blue eyes and skin, but everything else changed. The shape of his eyes, his nose, the length of his hair, and the amount of limbs. It wasn't long before everything snapped back into place. Jack gawked at the man standing in his living room.
He was about 5'8, and skinny. He had fluffy blonde hair, light skin and blue eyes, all of which were Jerry's traits. The clothes Jerry was wearing appeared torn and stretched out, but at least it covered the unmentionable part of his anatomy. Jack looked Jerry up and down before he caught onto 2 things about Jerry's new appearance.
Jerry's right leg was missing, a stump right under his knee. His baby blue eyes looked tired with eye bags big enough to have their own zip codes. The realization hit Jack like a ton of bricks.
"Holy Shit!"
What Jerry had turned into was essentially a mirror of Jack, with the only difference being his Hair, eyes, and skin. It was remarkable, how much detail he had put in. All the little scraps and scars Jack had on his face, the scruff on his chin from neglecting to shave yesterday, Jerry smiled a big goofy smile. "Pretty cool, right?" Holy shit, he even sounded like me! Jack was amazed, and it was honestly the only thing keeping him from puking all over the couch due to seeing the fucked up amalgamation of muscles and eyes. Speaking of which, Jerry snapped into two once again, reversing the transformation and turning himself inside out to appear once again as the stoner jock that Jack had come to known as his best friend.
Jerry was about to open his mouth right before his now shredded clothes dropped onto the floor, pants and underwear included. Jack sputtered for a split second at the sight of Jerry jr. out in the open before averting his eyes, and gently suggesting Jerry put some clothes on. Jerry shrugged and walked over to his room to change into some actual clothes. It wasn't until Jack heard Jerry's door shut that he breathed out a sigh. He leaned back into the sofa and tried to wrap his head around the situation he currently found himself in.
My roommate is an alien who can qualify as a shapeshifter, albeit some inconsistencies. He just beat the shit out of my psycho stalker... but I still need to talk to him.
Jerry waltzed out of his room a minute later, wearing a graphic t-shirt with a picture of a marijuana leaf captioned with the phrase "Live, Laugh, Love" in cursive writing. He plopped down onto the couch next to Jack.
"So, we're cool, right?"
"Huh?"
"About the whole, y'know, alien thing."
"Oh. Yeah? I mean, not really anything I can do about it, you're, well, you."
Jerry smiled. "I wasn't really expecting you to be so cool about this to be honest." Jack nodded, and then sighed.
"Jerry...This is cool and all, but can we talk about what happened last night?"
Jerry's smile dropped.
"Again, I'm not mad at you. I'm awful at reading people, and I honestly can't tell why that happened. But I know when there's something bothering you. I don't want things to get awkward between us man." Jack tried to make eye contact with Jerry, as a sign that he was being as sincere as possible. Jerry said nothing, turning his head away from Jack to stare straight in front of him. Jack frowned.
"I get it if it was just some drunken fuck up, but I know you're hurt over Vanessa. I can't just sit here and watch you while you're hurting, Jerry." Jack inched closer.
Jerry closed his eyes, and put his face in his hands. He wished he could just vanish. He didn't want to be seen, it was so much easier pretending nothing was wrong. But he couldn't just pretend anymore, could he? He had to face facts for once in his life. Jerry took a sigh as he prepared to rip off the metaphorical band-aid.
"It's not Vanessa specifically that I miss." Jack blinked in surprise, but he kept quiet. Jerry grimaced as he put his hands in his lap. He could feel pressure building up in his eyes all over again.
"The Mathmatists were a huge part of my life, Jack. They treated me like family. Real Family. My 'Parents'," Jerry made some air-quotes as he said "Parents", "They never approved of anything I wanted to do. Everything I did was a disappointment to them. I couldn't be my own person. I couldn't dress how I wanted. I had to devote my life to business, politics, stocks, all the boring shit. My 'Girlfriend' was basically chosen for me." Jerry let out a shaky breath. "When I did something wrong, I got locked in my room for hours. They really let me know when I fucked up too, saying shit like how my Mom 'wished she never had me' or some shit like that. I had a shitty attention span, so I was bored out of my mind. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I told them I was bisexual."
Jack's gaze softened at that, nodding slightly. Jerry continued. "I thought about killing them, y'know. Several times. Thought if I was careful, I could turn them into food. Or I could make it look like an accident. Sell all my stocks and run off with the millions of dollars. But... I couldn't do it. Even if I'm not human, I can't help but connect with people. When I ran away and joined the Mathmatists, I felt free." Jerry took in another shaking breath.
"I did everything they told me to do. When they needed money, I alone pitched in. When they needed ideas, I was at the front, proposing the dumbest fucking things." Jerry's eyes glazed over with tears. "I wanted to fit in so badly. I wanted to feel wanted. When the syrup ran out, when we stopped talking about philosophical theories, when everyone got real close and..." His voice broke at the end of that sentence. Jerry clutched at the couch cushions as he tried to steady his breathing. "I was happy to go along with everything everyone wanted to do, because for once I felt wanted." Jack was confused before the realization struck him. The Mathmatists believed in promoting happiness over suffering, which meant they ate nice food like pancakes, talked about important and smart men to feel educated, and of course, orgies. Jack was filled with horror as the implications set in. Nonetheless, Jerry continued.
"Those nights where I was the only one left awake, I felt dirty and violated. The high was gone, man. I hated the inside of the compound. It's why I set up my camp inside the Bus. When everyone disappeared, and I was the only one left, the silence was horrible. I couldn't stand being there alone. Video games and comics didn't help at all. It's why I spent so much time at that shitty, god-damn Gas Station." Jack nodded once again, left speechless. He felt awful for Jerry.
"And then there was Vanessa. I felt so happy to have her in my life. We didn't even do anything weird, it was just nice to have someone else to talk to while living in that shitty school bus." Jerry paused, taking a few deep breaths again.
"I don't blame her for what she thinks of me now. She has every right not to be interested in me. Especially cause of the gross-ass age gap. At least when we were hanging out, I didn't feel so lonely. Now at least I'm not in the Mathmatist program anymore, but I still feel like I'm being left behind. I feel like I'm stranded in the middle of the ocean, and there's no one for miles."
Jack opened his mouth slightly, but couldn't think of anything to say. He couldn't just sit there and stay quiet, he had to say something to Jerry.
Well, actions speak louder than words.
Jerry jolted a bit when he felt Jack wrap his arms around him. He stared down at the Insomniac with confusion prevalent in his eyes. Jack leaned his head into Jerry's chest, and decided to speak.
"I get it. I know how hard it can be to talk to people. But I hope you know, that I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you alone, Jerry."
Tears finally began to roll down Jerry's face as he wrapped his arms around Jack, accepting the embrace from his usually cold and stoic roommate. They stayed like that for a while as the Sun finally rose into the sky. The light filtering through old curtains into the living room as the two men embraced each other. The physical affection was long overdue. The two were frozen in that position, the human need for physical touch overpowering Jack, while it was just the basic want to be in someone else's company that drove Jerry. It was a while before Jack spoke once more.
"So uh...not to make things more awkward. What was that kiss supposed to mean?" Jack raised his head slightly off Jerry's body. Jerry's face flushed. "Well... y'know. Stuff."
Jack sat up fully so he could be see Jerry's face properly. Their eyes made contact once more, and Jack smiled. "I have no idea what that means." Jerry smiled back.
Jack was expecting the kiss that met his lips this time around. This time was different, as the kiss was soft and gentle, yet electrifying all the same. It made Jack's heart beat funny, this time in a romantic way. He leaned into the kiss while his eyelids fluttered shut, reaching his hands town to intertwine his fingers with Jerry's own. It lasted for a while, before Jack decided to pull away. His eyes opened to see Jerry staring back at him, his eyes damn near sparkling with the small ray of sunshine beaming across his face. Jack's face turned beet red, as he suddenly backed away much more.
"Uh." Jack was flustered.
Jerry sat up straight, worried that he set him off. Did I do something wrong?
"Are you OK?" The concern was palpable in his voice. Jack nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine it's just... I don't know what happens now?" Jerry was surprised at that. "Oh...What?"
Jack took a steadying breath. "I mean, I don't know. I...like you? I like you, but what do we do now? Are we, y'know, a thing?"
Jerry shrugged, "I 'unno man."
"You don't know? Haven't you been in relationships before?"
Jerry let out a laugh at that. "They've all either been one-night stands or just shit relationships in general." Jerry's smile dropped, "I've...never been good at the lovey-dovey stuff, Jack."
Jack sighed. "Me neither." An awkward moment passed between the two before Jack asked something else.
"So... do you want this to happen?"
"What?"
"Like...us. Becoming a thing." Jerry blinked, unsure of how to answer that. Jack leaned back and groaned loudly. Then Jerry felt guilty.
"I-I'm sorry! I don't know this stuff!"
Jack was frustrated, but not at Jerry. "I know, and I don't know this stuff either! T.V. makes it look so easy." He frowned and looked down at the cushions. "Rosa and I were dating in this universe, did you know that? I have no idea how it happened. I guess it's better that she broke up with me, else things would have gotten bad."
Jerry nodded. "I get it dude. I don't want to pressure you into doing anything. If you want to, I can forget this day ever happened." Jerry tried to sound happy at the idea of that playing out. Jack looked up at Jerry. "Do you really want to forget this?"
Jerry avoided eye contact. "Well, it's not about me-" Jack got annoyed at that. "It's totally about you! I don't want you to feel neglected, Jerry. I-" The words got caught in his throat. Jerry looked directly at Jack. He sighed and spoke.
"I...I like you, Jerry. You might not remember the night at the carnival with Rosa and O'Brien, but I do. I remember hearing you guys talk about me in front of the little bonfire you made. I remember you saying that you didn't think I liked you. I felt like a dick, and I deserved to." Tears welled up in Jack's eyes. He had never been the emotional type, and this situation was overwhelming enough, but he knew he needed to get this out once and for all. "I'm sorry, Jerry." Jerry scooted over to Jack, cupping his face with his hands gently. "Jack, I'm not mad at you." Jack couldn't look him in the eyes. Jerry continued.
"I was scared for a while. I thought for sure you wouldn't talk to me anymore if I told you how I felt about you." Jack couldn't help but lean into Jerry's touch, smiling a bit at the extra physical attention. "You don't have to know what you're doing, most of the time, I don't even know what the hell I'm doing bro." Jack looked up at Jerry. He continued. "We don't have to do anything extra, we can just, y'know, be with each other." Jack smiled. "I'd like that." Jerry leaned down to kiss Jack on the forehead, and Jack's face flushed. Jerry wrapped his arms around Jack, pulling his close to kiss him on the cheek. Jack hugged Jerry back feeling content and calm. It was only a few moments that passed before Jack spoke.
"So, we're boyfriends now, right?"
Jerry's head jerked up. "Yeah Man."
It must have been the lack of time where Jack heard that word before. "Boyfriends".
"Sounds kinda weird to me, for some reason."
Jerry gripped Jack by the shoulders and leaned back to look at him. "Fair enough. Jack Townsend, I hereby deem you my mortal enemy."
"Huh?"
"HYAAAH!"
Jerry lunged forward, tackling Jack and bringing him down onto the sofa. He moved to sit on his thighs and placed his palms on either side of Jack's head. Jack looked up at Jerry, stunned at the sudden action. "You suck at this, man." Jerry teased.
And then, Jack began to laugh. A real, happy laugh. One that Jerry genuinely thinks he never heard before. Jerry laughs, leaning his head against Jack's forehead. He felt Jack plant a kiss on his cheek.
"You're a dumbass."
Jerry smiled down at him. "I love you."
Jack couldn't help but smile back. That stupid dopey smile on Jerry's face was just so damn contagious.
"I love you too."
Spencer sat on the rooftop of the town hall. From this height, if he concentrated hard enough, he could hear everyone in this shitty little town. His bones and muscles still ached from the ass-beating he received from the alien entity. It hurt like all hell. But it was worth it when he heard the two Gas Station dumbasses confess their love to each other. Despite the pain in his face, Spencer couldn't help but smile.
The Plan worked, and it was time to set things in motion. From now on, the two would be so distracted by each other, they wouldn't notice what was going on behind the scenes. Spencer stretched, and stood up. A big, smug, self-satisfied grin plastered on his face, even as he warped to the edge of town to meet an old friend.
Things were about to change in this town.