Fic: The Hunted
Title: The Hunted
Fandom: LORD OF THE FLIES?? *is a nerd*
Author: Witblogi
Pairings: Jack/Ralph
Rating: pg-13
Words: 1341
Warnings: island!creepiness
Summary: Ralph cannot sleep.
Notes: I wrote an LOTF FANFIC??!!?!?!?! *is going to hell* and I blame everyone but myself and also my terrible writers block. Don't expect it to be good *dies*
OH AND WRITTEN WHILE I'M STILL READING. I'M IN, LIKE, THE MIDDLE OF CHAPTER 3 NO SPOILERS PLZ!!
Ralph couldn’t sleep.
A warm tropical breeze wafted lazily over the beach, bringing with it the sleepy mumbles and outright cries of the littleun’s as they dreamed. Ralph listened to them restlessly, tensing every time one of their high voices mingled with that of the cry of the jungle at night.
Every time he tried to lull himself back to sleep thinking of fresh bed linens or a bread pudding the size of his head that surely awaited him back home, the jungle would purr and creep slowly back into his thoughts tangling with his dreams and constricting, constricting until he opened his eyes panting and shaking off a cold sweat.
Now he lay awake, gazing at the blanket of constellations above him, trying his best to ignore all the sounds but that of the soothing lap of the waves on the shore below. He sighed tracing patterns with his eyes, connecting the dots to form pictures and maps in the sky . He wondered if his daddy was somewhere, looking up at those same stars, swearing to find them soon. Ralph smiled lazily and nodded, of course he was doing just that.
Content on impending rescue, he reached out instinctively to where he’d put the conch to rest for the night by his head and came up empty handed. Bolting upright, Ralph looked all around himself but still could not see the shell. Squinting through the dark for a hint of the would be gleaming pale object he felt panic beginning to rise in his chest. What if he’d lost it? How would they call meetings? How would they know who to listen to?
He groped blindly in the sand, picking himself up and half stumbling his way to the platform where he thought he’d last had it. Halfway there, he spotted it. Halting in his frantic search, he watched it gleam in the moonlight as it was lifted to the lips of a familiar silhouette.
Stalking forward to the raised surface he vaulted up and slid into place beside the other boy.
“ Don’t, you’ll wake them all,” he reached out, not quite sure if he wanted to prevent the inevitable noise or just touch the powerful object once again.
“ I wouldn’t.” Jack lowered the shell and set it down between them, “ Why are you awake?” he turned to face Ralph sharply, his eyes catching the light and looking for a moment like they were glowing with the intensity of his stare.
“ Can’t sleep.” Ralph muttered, lifting one bare shoulder in mock shrug. He licked his dry lips and watched the endless expanse of rippling surface of ocean before them. Jack stared intently at him instead and Ralph felt a steady unease grow for the first time in the other boy’s presence.
“ What if we have to spend the rest of our life here? With no grownups, no school, no girls, no nothing,” he asked spontaneously, the question had been forming at the back of his mind for some time now, and since his hair had begun to descent and curl about his ears the possibility seemed to be closer than he ever imagined before.
“ I don’t care. Girls are stupid,” Jack sniffed haughtily and looked back out to sea. Ralph felt a sudden ease of tension between them now that Jack’s concentrated gaze was no longer on him. They breathed in the salty night air for a few slow beats of his heart and then Ralph frowned.
“ But we need girls,” He blinked honestly at Jack who just grinned in a way that made Ralph feel like he was missing something. Jack turned and looked at him again his eyes blazing with some kind of challenge that made Ralph’s resolve harden and return the stare just as fiercely.
“ What for?” Jack spat, “ Good for nothing girlies, boys are much better.” He added reaching out to take the conch once again. Ralph’s arm darted out, beating Jack to it. He wrapped his fingers securely about the base ignoring the scowl passed his way and instead retaliated with a question of his own.
“ Well, aren’t they supposed to be good for…later?” He asked unsurely, he didn’t really know why men grew up and got married, but he always assumed it was a vital part of life. Jack’s reaction to his thoughts was a shocking bark of mocking laughter.
“ Good for later, you don’t even know! No, we don’t need stinking girls messing up our island,” he motioned to the two of them, stirring a deep satisfaction in Ralph that Jack was with him on this whole mess, “ No girls. We’ve got each other that’s all.” He nodded as Ralph let a new frown fall onto his features.
“ Each other?” he asked watching Jack as he stretched, stroking the conch up to where his fingers were still holding it securely.
“ Each other,”
Jack traced his fingertips over the ridges of Ralph’s knuckles and down, tickling the fleshy junctures between each finger, twining their hands together. The shell dropped, forgotten, into the sand.
Ralph watched their hands, unsure what he was feeling or why, wondering if Jack could hear the noisy hammering of his heat against his ribs like he could. Surely, surely Jack knew, surely he heard. The island was suddenly a dull hum in the background, a fuzzy grounding at the edges of his vision that now only consisted of Jack’s eyes and Jack’s face.
His eyes were probing, hard and daring. They dared Ralph to say something, do something, but then there was his hand, so softly stroking his palm; Ralph didn’t want that to stop.
“ Each other,” Ralph’s voice rasped and he swallowed to moisten his tongue which was now stubbornly trying to stick to the roof of his mouth swollen and slow. Then there was Jack, leaning forward now never breaking eye contact with Ralph. He held perfectly still, waiting to see what Jack was doing, what the unpredictable boy had planned.
Ralph had never kissed anyone before, and he certainly hadn’t expected that he would ever be kissing Jack. His eyes were still open, staring into the one giant unblinking blue eye that made up Jack’s face so close to his own. It was warm, it was dry and it was nothing Ralph thought he ever needed to do again.
There was a shifting of angles, a slide of lips and Ralph’s eyes fluttered closed. This was different, this was Jack, and suddenly he felt lost in the comfort, the excitement and that strange crackling intensity that seemed to follow the choir leader wherever he went.
When they finally parted Ralph realized their twined fingers were white with the strength of the grip he was using on them, he released the digits immediately hissing when he saw the crescent shape his nails had made in Jack’s skin. How come he hadn’t said anything?
Having all intentions of apologizing, Ralph looked up at his companion once more and forgot what he was thinking. Jack had the look he wore after he’d come back from stalking the jungle painted on his face now, he looked like a hunter, and Ralph had the sickening feeling that he was the prey.
Pulling away and slowly picking up the conch, Ralph hesitantly got to his feet and dropped from the platform. He walked back to the place he’d made for himself to sleep in the sand, ignoring the hot gaze on his neck as he went. He settled back into his place, the conch still in his arms, but now instead of placing his back to the jungle, he curled into it and away from the sea.
At least in the jungle he could run, he could hide and he could protect himself. At sea he was an open target a fragile thing ready to be drowned and done away with. Ralph wasn’t ready to stop fighting yet, he wasn’t ready to be caught.
Ralph couldn’t sleep.
fin.
Fandom: LORD OF THE FLIES?? *is a nerd*
Author: Witblogi
Pairings: Jack/Ralph
Rating: pg-13
Words: 1341
Warnings: island!creepiness
Summary: Ralph cannot sleep.
Notes: I wrote an LOTF FANFIC??!!?!?!?! *is going to hell* and I blame everyone but myself and also my terrible writers block. Don't expect it to be good *dies*
OH AND WRITTEN WHILE I'M STILL READING. I'M IN, LIKE, THE MIDDLE OF CHAPTER 3 NO SPOILERS PLZ!!
Ralph couldn’t sleep.
A warm tropical breeze wafted lazily over the beach, bringing with it the sleepy mumbles and outright cries of the littleun’s as they dreamed. Ralph listened to them restlessly, tensing every time one of their high voices mingled with that of the cry of the jungle at night.
Every time he tried to lull himself back to sleep thinking of fresh bed linens or a bread pudding the size of his head that surely awaited him back home, the jungle would purr and creep slowly back into his thoughts tangling with his dreams and constricting, constricting until he opened his eyes panting and shaking off a cold sweat.
Now he lay awake, gazing at the blanket of constellations above him, trying his best to ignore all the sounds but that of the soothing lap of the waves on the shore below. He sighed tracing patterns with his eyes, connecting the dots to form pictures and maps in the sky . He wondered if his daddy was somewhere, looking up at those same stars, swearing to find them soon. Ralph smiled lazily and nodded, of course he was doing just that.
Content on impending rescue, he reached out instinctively to where he’d put the conch to rest for the night by his head and came up empty handed. Bolting upright, Ralph looked all around himself but still could not see the shell. Squinting through the dark for a hint of the would be gleaming pale object he felt panic beginning to rise in his chest. What if he’d lost it? How would they call meetings? How would they know who to listen to?
He groped blindly in the sand, picking himself up and half stumbling his way to the platform where he thought he’d last had it. Halfway there, he spotted it. Halting in his frantic search, he watched it gleam in the moonlight as it was lifted to the lips of a familiar silhouette.
Stalking forward to the raised surface he vaulted up and slid into place beside the other boy.
“ Don’t, you’ll wake them all,” he reached out, not quite sure if he wanted to prevent the inevitable noise or just touch the powerful object once again.
“ I wouldn’t.” Jack lowered the shell and set it down between them, “ Why are you awake?” he turned to face Ralph sharply, his eyes catching the light and looking for a moment like they were glowing with the intensity of his stare.
“ Can’t sleep.” Ralph muttered, lifting one bare shoulder in mock shrug. He licked his dry lips and watched the endless expanse of rippling surface of ocean before them. Jack stared intently at him instead and Ralph felt a steady unease grow for the first time in the other boy’s presence.
“ What if we have to spend the rest of our life here? With no grownups, no school, no girls, no nothing,” he asked spontaneously, the question had been forming at the back of his mind for some time now, and since his hair had begun to descent and curl about his ears the possibility seemed to be closer than he ever imagined before.
“ I don’t care. Girls are stupid,” Jack sniffed haughtily and looked back out to sea. Ralph felt a sudden ease of tension between them now that Jack’s concentrated gaze was no longer on him. They breathed in the salty night air for a few slow beats of his heart and then Ralph frowned.
“ But we need girls,” He blinked honestly at Jack who just grinned in a way that made Ralph feel like he was missing something. Jack turned and looked at him again his eyes blazing with some kind of challenge that made Ralph’s resolve harden and return the stare just as fiercely.
“ What for?” Jack spat, “ Good for nothing girlies, boys are much better.” He added reaching out to take the conch once again. Ralph’s arm darted out, beating Jack to it. He wrapped his fingers securely about the base ignoring the scowl passed his way and instead retaliated with a question of his own.
“ Well, aren’t they supposed to be good for…later?” He asked unsurely, he didn’t really know why men grew up and got married, but he always assumed it was a vital part of life. Jack’s reaction to his thoughts was a shocking bark of mocking laughter.
“ Good for later, you don’t even know! No, we don’t need stinking girls messing up our island,” he motioned to the two of them, stirring a deep satisfaction in Ralph that Jack was with him on this whole mess, “ No girls. We’ve got each other that’s all.” He nodded as Ralph let a new frown fall onto his features.
“ Each other?” he asked watching Jack as he stretched, stroking the conch up to where his fingers were still holding it securely.
“ Each other,”
Jack traced his fingertips over the ridges of Ralph’s knuckles and down, tickling the fleshy junctures between each finger, twining their hands together. The shell dropped, forgotten, into the sand.
Ralph watched their hands, unsure what he was feeling or why, wondering if Jack could hear the noisy hammering of his heat against his ribs like he could. Surely, surely Jack knew, surely he heard. The island was suddenly a dull hum in the background, a fuzzy grounding at the edges of his vision that now only consisted of Jack’s eyes and Jack’s face.
His eyes were probing, hard and daring. They dared Ralph to say something, do something, but then there was his hand, so softly stroking his palm; Ralph didn’t want that to stop.
“ Each other,” Ralph’s voice rasped and he swallowed to moisten his tongue which was now stubbornly trying to stick to the roof of his mouth swollen and slow. Then there was Jack, leaning forward now never breaking eye contact with Ralph. He held perfectly still, waiting to see what Jack was doing, what the unpredictable boy had planned.
Ralph had never kissed anyone before, and he certainly hadn’t expected that he would ever be kissing Jack. His eyes were still open, staring into the one giant unblinking blue eye that made up Jack’s face so close to his own. It was warm, it was dry and it was nothing Ralph thought he ever needed to do again.
There was a shifting of angles, a slide of lips and Ralph’s eyes fluttered closed. This was different, this was Jack, and suddenly he felt lost in the comfort, the excitement and that strange crackling intensity that seemed to follow the choir leader wherever he went.
When they finally parted Ralph realized their twined fingers were white with the strength of the grip he was using on them, he released the digits immediately hissing when he saw the crescent shape his nails had made in Jack’s skin. How come he hadn’t said anything?
Having all intentions of apologizing, Ralph looked up at his companion once more and forgot what he was thinking. Jack had the look he wore after he’d come back from stalking the jungle painted on his face now, he looked like a hunter, and Ralph had the sickening feeling that he was the prey.
Pulling away and slowly picking up the conch, Ralph hesitantly got to his feet and dropped from the platform. He walked back to the place he’d made for himself to sleep in the sand, ignoring the hot gaze on his neck as he went. He settled back into his place, the conch still in his arms, but now instead of placing his back to the jungle, he curled into it and away from the sea.
At least in the jungle he could run, he could hide and he could protect himself. At sea he was an open target a fragile thing ready to be drowned and done away with. Ralph wasn’t ready to stop fighting yet, he wasn’t ready to be caught.
Ralph couldn’t sleep.
fin.