Jack exhaled, his huge chest heaving against Loki. “When Keith died, I sort of thought I’d just die with him. In six months I had two bike accidents and got stabbed. I didn’t die in the end, but I don’t care all that much anymore. You just gotta take it one day at a time and enjoy it. If that fucking bullet had killed me two weeks ago, I think I’d be fine with it. Don’t be scared to die. Be scared of living a shitty life.”
Loki chewed on his lip, but this time, his eyes filled all too quickly. Tears spilled down his cheeks, and he brushed them off before they could fall on Jack’s chest. “B-but my life just stopped being shitty...”
“Let’s just not talk about no fucking future then, huh? You’re in a Jacuzzi full of Armani bath jizz, you live in a beach house, and you have three gaming consoles to choose from. If all goes well, you’ll be drinking bourbon and snorting coke through a hundred dollar bill tonight. Who cares about tomorrow?” Jack kissed the top of Loki’s head in the most tender way.
“And you’re with me,” whispered Loki, hugging Jack even harder. Out of all the things he’d enjoyed about the last few weeks, Jack was the most important. He could live in a cardboard box if he could be with Jack all the time.
Jack took a deep breath and hugged Loki tighter. “And I’m with you.”
“Will you be sad? When I’m gone?”
“Drop it, babe. Don’t be needy. No talk about the death bullshit.” Jack hadn’t called him ‘babe’ before.
Loki nodded, relaxing into Jack’s arms. “Okay.”
“Fuck! Not again,” he groaned and pulled Loki away. Only then did Loki realize he was bleeding again. “Fucking nose-period. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Loki smiled at him and closed his eyes, letting Jack deal with the problem. He could relax and enjoy the caring touch, knowing there was no better place in the world for him.
*
Jack’s friends went all out with the party. The whole courtyard was illuminated, a chocolate and rum cake stood three tiers high, and Jack was soaking himself with what looked like buckets of booze. There was a total of three professional strippers taking turns on the stage, many female hangarounds wore close to nothing and didn’t protest much as the bikers groped them. It did look like the embodiment of Jack’s perfect party.
Now that Loki was more familiar with the outlaw lifestyle, he recognized that many of the unattached women were constantly on the lookout for a property vest. The status of an old lady came with respect and privileges, and whenever he saw some of the girls gravitating around Jack, he couldn’t help but be jealous. Jack would want to settle down one day, and when that time came, he’d probably do so with one of the hangarounds while Loki was meant to forever remain a gay cousin.
Sadly, after taking such good care of him at home, Jack didn’t dedicate much attention to Loki at the party, but he had his reasons. They did live together, spent loads of time without anyone interrupting that idyllic setup. After the morning bath meltdown, Jack had even ordered them pizza and ice cream, and let Loki choose a movie.
So Loki watched from afar as Jack won three rounds of arm wrestling with Sam, leaving the guy completely pissed off. Jack watched the strippers, but didn’t touch any of them, and even shied away when a hot curvy blonde tried to catch his eye. That left Loki satisfied.
As Jack talked to Monster with a serious expression despite swaying from side to side like a sailor, a skinny girl with long black hair and filler-inflated lips walked up to Loki, standing between him and the one person he wanted to watch.
“You’re Red Jack’s cousin, right?” she asked with a bit of a slur to her speech.
Loki bit into the big slice of cake he had on a paper plate and shrugged, leaning against the wall where he spent most of the evening straight-people-watching. “Yeah.”
The girl squeezed closer, so she could whisper. “Does he really have AIDS?”
The cake suddenly became hard as stale bread in Loki’s mouth. So Lucy had passed on the gossip. Jack had mentioned that the girls had been weird in recent weeks. Loki did feel a little bit guilty, but if that could keep Jack from straying, Loki could live with that. “It’s private,” he muttered in the end.
She sighed and leaned against the wall. “Fuck me! It’s always the best ones. Either fags or all messed up. No offense.” She pouted, and it made her lips cartoonishly big.
Loki tried his hardest not to stare too much. “Look, don’t tell anyone.”
She wasn’t looking Loki’s way though, too focused on Jack. “I mean, don’t you just wanna eat him up? If that wasn’t incest for you. Though they had that on Game of Thrones, and it was hot.”