Hey, can I stay?

[Jack Kaster]

Jack hugged himself as he continued down the familiar street, he had come here many times, he practically lived with his friend, Parker, he was sure the nose neighbors knew his name and everything about him. Jack laughed quietly to himself when he saw eyes poking out of all the houses, Jack didn't know how Parker did it, though he had ti admit that the neighbors were fun to mess with sometimes. Jack pulled his overnight bag up and little and fixed his jacket black jacket, he had choose a black jacket so it would absorb as much hate as possible, but it didn't seem to be working, Jack could really do with a hug.

Jack was nervous, slightly, he was going to ask Parker if he could crash at his place, Jack knew this was a big ask because Parker had his own life and stuff, but Jack needed to get away from his family, so he moved out and left the country, without a plan, it was stupid because he was always tell people to have a plan before doing anything drastic, like moving out of your house and leaving the country, only leaving a note as an explanation. But Jack had no choice, they were constantly telling him that everything was okay and that everything would be fine about the Ben subject, but Jack knew it was not fine, sure it had been ages since his disappearence, but everyone kept brining it up, telling Jack that he could live without Ben with him, that Ben is probably doing something with his life and he didn't want them involved, but Jack wasn't stupid, he knew something had happened to Ben, Ben would never leave like it, he was dead.

Jack was sure he had gotten over the fact that he would never see Ben again, because all he had to do was keep his hair blonde and his body slim, then he looked just like him, in every way, Jack even wore his necklace that said 'Benjamen' on it, just so he never forgot him. It wasn't like he was obsessed with Ben not being with him, he was 21 not 2, but that didn't mean he didn't wish to see his brother without having a mirror in front of him.

Jack smiled when he reached Parker's front door, removing his black gloves and sunglasses, he knocked on the door, he decided to put the large circular sunglasses back on because of his rather large bruise that he got from a bar fight, he smirked slightly when he saw some of the neightbours practically falling through their windows to see him, he removed the cigerette from his mouth and stuck it in what appeared to be a pot plant, though there was no plant in it."Silly people..." He muttered, rolling his good eye.

 

[Parker Smith]

Parker looked up at the roof of his bedroom. It had been a long time since he had been alone and to be quite frank, he was sort of enjoying it. He had finally gotten Rachael and the girls to leave so he was able to have some peace and quiet. Having lived alone for a long time he had become quite used to not having people around, then after a Amanda, and then Rachael, things had gotten hectic, but had since calmed down now. He was surprised how much headway, he and Rachael had been able to make regarding there relationship. They had never really gotten along well when they were kids, it was only now that his father was sick that the siblings, Rachael, Parker and Damien, were able to get along at all. Though he had refused to have Damien in his house, not with all those unhealthy habits of his. Anyway, Rachael and the two girls were enough for a guy with a small one bedroom apartment, albeit a one bedroom apartment that now contained a double bed. Though he had barely gotten to use it over the last few weeks because Rachael and her kids had taken up residence. However, now that they were gone, he was refusing to get out, it was just so damn comfortable. Why had he ever even agreed to sleep on the lounge?

Eventually he got up, chucked on the nearest pieces of clothing to him and went to make a coffee. For a former vegan he drank alot of milk, though now he was a vegetarian, but that was only because he still just couldn't bring himself to eat meat, not to mention the fact that meat was full of all types of diseases. He had even forced his sister into not bringing meat into his home. They wanted to stay with him, they ate his food. That was just how it had to be. Though he did catch Rachael's kids Lucy and Elanor eating a chicken one time, and scared them into running away screaming by telling him what they do to chickens to get them ready to be eaten. He was possitive that they would be swearing off meat for a while.

When he heard a knock on the door, he stopped. Who was that? He wasn't expecting any-one and all his friends were out of the country. He shrugged and continued making the coffee, the visitor was just going to have to wait. He was busy and had no desire to stop. Not yet. He smiled as he looked at the perfect creation before him and sighed in relief as he brought the cup to his lips and sipped the hot liquid. People said he was a caffeine addict. But he was a happy caffeine addict. He placed the coffe on his coffee table and walked to the door. "Alright, who is it?" He asked as he looked through the peephole. Seeing a necklace with a name on it he swung open his door to great one of his closest friends. Ben had been missing for years and now he was standing here on his doorstep.

"Wait, Jack... I thought you were Ben?" he said shaking his head. "What're you..." It had taken him a second, but as his eyes adjusted to the scene around him, he realised that Jack was carrying what looked suspiciously like an overnight bag and looked as if he was having a really rough week. The man quickly stepped aside and allowed room for Jack to enter. "I'll get you a coffee, sit down." All Parker had wanted was peace and quiet, but his friend was hurting, the least he could do was offer the man a drink.​

 

[Jack Kaster]

Jack took a deep breath as he nodded and walked into his friends house, he felt horrible for doing this to one of his greatest friends, but that was why he came to him, Parker and Jack had known each other for s long time, Jack considered him a brother, and a very close and dear friend, he hoped Parker felt the same about him. "Yeah, sorry about that." He said softly, sitting down on the couch in his friends lounge room, the last time Jack came here, he was blind drunk and he and Parker were doing what two blind drunks did, had a fantastic party by themselves that involved food fights and jumping on furniture, it was a good night, until they woke up and suffered from huge hangovers, but that was a while ago, and right sst this moment Jack was rather serious and grim, though he still knew how to have fun and be like he used to, he was just about to burden his best friend, he was not going to sugarcoat the situation.

"Parker, i'm really sorry that i'm doing this to you, I know it's not right aand I know that it's not fair, but i was wondering if I could crash here for a few days," Jack explained carefully, making sure that Parker understood that it was not because he had done ssomething stupid, like robbed a bank or something and that when he said a few days, he meant a few days and not a year or month, he would neverburden someone by doing that, even this was slightly out of character for him. "But things back in New Zealand have not being going very well and i just need some relief from the family, I swear that I will not trash the place or anything like that and if you want me gone, i'll leave right now." He added, not wanting to get comfortable and then learn that Parker did not want him there. "If this is a bad time..."

 

[Parker Smith]

Parker looked at Jack. He looked so serious, it was a look he was used to seeing on the other twin, Ben, but not Jack. It was so long ago that he had seen his bestfriend, that he had thought that when they did see eachother, that it would be a really happy, go get drunk occassion, but apparently not. Parker stalked into the kitchen and began to make Jack's coffee, he had known the guy for a long time, and he had some very weird tastes. For example, his coffee. Parker hated when he had to make Jack a coffee because in his opinion the way he had it was sacrilige. The man like to have like one tiny scoop of coffee in strawberry milk, which was then topped off with like twenty scoops of sugar. And you had to make it exactly right, because if you missed even half a scoop of sugar, the guy knew it. Somehow. It was ridiculus to say the least.

As Parker finished making the coffee, he brought it back out and sat it in front of him. "I ran out fo sugar, so there is only nineteen scoops. Im sorry. I haven't been shopping since Thursday and I didn't buy any sugar last time." He said as he sat on the lounge next to his friend. he wondered what was going on in his friends mind right now. After hearing him apologise for making him think he was his brother, Parker shrugged. "Nah, no harm done, just means i don't call your family and tell him Ben's not missing anymore."

"Look man, don't worry, you can stay here as long as you need. It's the least I can do." He said as he punched his mate in the arm slightly. Besides, Jack had once jumped into a freezing cold lake for him, with no protective clothing. Didn't even have shoes, of course it had been him to dare Parker to jump in naked in the first place, but that was in the past.

"Redvine?" He asked as he pulled his bestfriend's favourite candy out of his pocket. he wondered why Jack was here, but he wasn't going to ask, he would just wait and see what Jack would tell him.​

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[Jack Kaster]

Jack frowned slightly at the mentioning of Ben, it was stila touchy subject for him, for the ffirst few months, Jack had told himself that Ben was just being Ben and was probably off shaving his head to join monks in a temple far far away, but reality had smacked Jack in the face and left him for dead, now he knew with all his heart that Ben had died in some horrible way, he had no wand and Ben didn't know how to protect himself, he was gentle and stubborn at the best of times, Jack knew he had to be dead, even if no one else believed him when he said that Ben was gone, he knew.
Jack removed his sunglasses to make it easier to see, though his bruise was throbbing, he sipped the coffee slowly, it wasn't very good, he was hoping for a massive suger rush, but no such luck, since there were only nineteen scoops, he shook his head slightly as a smile grew on his face, he was not in the mood, he was in denile over his twins death, after three years, still, he had ran away from his family with nothing but a note and he was burdening his best friend in the whole world, yet he was smiling? Had he fallen off the deep end? What the help was he doing? Jack decided to put the coffee down, perhaps Parker had slipped him somethiing, it wouldn't be the first time.

Jack leaned to the otherside of ththe couch when Parker punched him, he couldn't be bothered in resisting the force, so he just went with it, but then nodded, his smile turning but to a line on his pale face. "Thank you," he muttered quietly, he felt like crying, but dudes didn't cry, it wasn't a dude thing to do and it most certainly wansn't a Jack thing to do, Jack never cried, ever, he was usually too happy to cry, but right now? Happiness seemed like a distent dream that would never be lived again.

Jack looked up when Parker pulled out a redvine, it turned his stomach, redvines were Ben's favourite thing on the planet, so Jack couldn't stand to be near them anymore, they made him feel sick and made him cry, just making him remember how Ben would jump off the walls after having one of those buggers made hisgreen eeyes go glossy. How he remembered when he would tease Ben for being dumb after just smelling one, all the times he was mean to Ben, pushing him over, making him blush in front of people, ignoring all the great advice he gave Jack, it made Jack miss him more, the fact that Parker rememinded him of the oold days, the days when ben was around to critise him on what hhe did, like jumping into a freezing lake naked, climbing a giant tree and seeing if he would survive the fall, planting a flower near a Whooping Willow and breaking into a teachers office aand trashing it with toilet paper and glue, Ben had been there and so had Parker, though him and Parker actually did all the stuff, while Ben would stand there and yell at them, calling them idiots and saying how Jack should know better... Ben didn't deserve to be dead, he was always the smart one... it was Jack that deserved to be gone...

Jack snapped back into reality when he realized that he had grabbed a redvine and was holding it, he also realized that he was... crying? This could not be, Jack did not cry, he was sure he didn't even have tearducts, Jack couldn't think of the last time he had cried, he didn't even cry when he first divided that Ben was dead. "I'm sorry..." He muttered quickly, it was the first thing that came to his head as he qquickly started wiping his eyes, hoping that Parker didn't notice that he had just sat there crying, Jack was sure he looked like an idiot, he sure did feel like one.

Out of Character:

Sorry for the length...

 

[Parker Smith]

</COLOR>

<COLOR color="#20B2AA"> Parker just watched as the many emotions of the world went through his bestfriends face. He wasn't sure what had caused it. One minute, Jack was just sitting there staring at his coffee, and the next he was balling his eyes out and then apologising. Parker was confused. Jack had never shed a tear before. Atleast not as long as he had known him, so this little outburst was more than a little shocking. Jack was always cool, calm and collected, though not quite as much as Ben. When he was angry though, all the boys used to get out of the way. It was a dangerous business, dealing with an angry Jack, and more than alittle scary. Still though, Parker did not know what to do. he had known this man for many years, but had never had to deal with this, not even from girls, no one ever cried around him because he usually had no clue how to handle it. The only thing he could think of to do was maybe just get the man a tissue. So that was what he did.

Standing up, Parker walked over into the kitchen and riffled through his draws. He hadn't realised that he had put his tissue packet away, sowhere obviously for safe keeping, because he was having slight trouble finding it. Which was a problem, especially considering he was suddenly feeling alittle off colour. He sighed in frustration and pulled open the last draw. And of course, there was the packet of tissues. As always, they are in the last place you look. Parker looked down at the packet in his hands and rubbed his neck. He wasn't sure if this was going to be enough, but it was all he had to offer, so Jack was just going to have to live with it. There wasn't much else he could do for comfort. Maybe ice-cream? Or some helpful words and a hug?

Parker walked back out into the living room and presented the tissues to Jack. Maybe he would feel better after the tissues and coffee. He sighed, he could almost sense what his friend wanted, a hug, but he was not in the habit of hugging crying, sniffeling people. It was weird aswell. Sighing again, Parker just knew that if he didn't do it, he woud be in trouble from Jack, and then he would probably never speak to him again. He rolled his eyes, "You want a bloody hug don't you?" He asked alittle annoyed. Why couldn't Jack be like normal people and just you know, maybe be angrya nd frustrated and have a beer or something. Not cry. Nevertheless, Parker did what any good friend would and hugged him. "But your not getting any comforting words or crap from me... just letting you know."
​

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[Jack Kaster]

Jack felt like an idiot. No, a moron. He had just bursted into his mates place, asked to stay and was now randomly crying on his mates couch. This was more than a little odd, this was crazy. Jack couldn't believe he was doing this and when Parker left him, he had no idea what Parker was doing. To be honest, Jack could barely see to begin with, he felt like his eye-balls had fallen out of his head. He could see five of everything, making him feel worse. One reason why Jack didn't cry was because he was usually too happy to cry, ever. But Ben had usually been the cryer of the two, so Jack could guess how he would act when crying. Snivelling, blotching, whining.... Jack was doing the works and to make matters worse, he couldn't stop.

Though he had a pretty good reason. Jack had never fully accepted the fact that Ben was not going to come home and yell at him for trashing their room, he was never going to smack Jack for sleeping in when Jack should be doing something productive and most importantly, Jack was never going to be able to use Ben as a mirror or a personal leaning post anymore. When Jack thought about it, he was a horriblye brother to Ben, he ignored Ben, yelled at Ben and teased him relentlessly. When Jack got in trouble, he would put it all on Ben, but if Ben got in trouble, he would never incriminate Jack, because he was a good brother. Unlike Jack, who failed when it came to being a 'top bro', as Sam would say. Jack shook his head, thinking about Ben made him feel ten times worse. He should be over his death, other people were, his family members appeared to be over it, so why wasn't Jack? It had been three long years, surely that was enough time to get over the death of ones twin? But it wasn't, Jack would never get over it, unless he was willing to move on. That was what brought him to Parker, if anyone could manage to get Jack to move on, it would be him, because Parker knew Jack too well to not be able to help him, in some way.

Jack coughed slightly at how awkward his mate was acting, he was standing in the middle of the kitchen with a smallish box of tissues, as if he didn't know what to do with them. Jack held out his shaky hand and took the tissues and wiped his face, but it didn't stop the tears from reforming and sliding down his face again. Jack knew that this was a life-time worth of tears. All the times he felt like crying, but didn't, they were all coming out now and this was all happening in front of his best friend, a little awkward. But atleast he wasn't pouring his soul out to some stranger. When Parker finally spoke, he nodded slightly. A hug would be good, especially from Parker. For a dude, Parker gave surprisingly great hugs, Jack didn't know why, but they always made him feel better. Like marshmallow roasting around a fire, or a hot water bottle under your feet on a cold winters night. Before he spoke, Jack made sure that he would be able to create an audible sentence, so his friend would understand him. "You're crap at this..." He muttered, letting Parker hug him. He had to admit, he felt better. Jack had always liked hugs and this time was no different, he needed all the hugs he could get. "And you're an English illiterate..." He joked slightly. "I wouldn't expect many helpful words..." He admitted. In all honesty, Jack didn't really come to Parker so he could hear kind words, he got all that from his other friends and his family members, what Jack needed was someone to listen to him and maybe slap him in the face if he got too upset or angry. "Can I have a beer?" He asked, pulling away from the hug slightly to he could look at Parker, deciding that he would be able to speak better if he was blind drunk, and maybe that would stop him from crying also.