Reverse Rivalry

Pressure

Jale's body around his tensed like a pulled violin string and he could feel the rising apprehension about to descend from his words. A trickle of anger was seated inside his stomach and his eyebrows ticked. He dug his fingers into the boy's shoulders to keep himself steady and also to keep Jale's rationality in place.

The idiot had always been high strung and a firecracker. Even though this situation called for it, he didn't want Jale to cave into whatever was hurting him on the inside.

Skylar didn't like it for very selfish reasons. Jale's anger, Jale's hate, Jale's sadness, Jale's love, everything belonged to him. Only he was allowed to cloud the boy's eyes with anything, even pain. It did not matter.

He didn't know why Jale trembled so much from hearing news of his father. It was always like this, always have been. He never cared to know why. He never deemed it necessary.

It was ridiculously pathetic to him then but now, it was unacceptable.

Skylar had chalked it up to Jale hating the man for leaving their family at such a formative age of thirteen. Jale had gotten angrier, derailed, and destructive during that time. Skylar used it as fuel to drag Jale through the mud many times until the boy's fist was down his throat in response.

But now, questions were popping up incessantly in his head.

Why was young Jale such a wreck after their family fell apart? What did he not know? What was he missing? Even though he watched every single movement Jale made. What dared to slip through his fingers?

Jale slowly moved away from Skylar to look down at him with a rigid expression. Skylar could see everything in his blue eyes behind the anger. The grip on his shoulders was stopping all the blood from reaching that area. Skylar could feel the prickling and the cry for blood up his arm but the trembling of Jale's fingers holding it was enough to tell the tale.

He could see the struggle in Jale's expression all too clearly and it irked him. This was hesitation. He could feel it. Jale was about to turn a blind eye to his suggestion and he expected no less but it still simmered violently inside him.

It was this behaviour Skylar couldn't help but hate with a passion.

Skylar's jaw tensed and he moved from the uncomfortable floor to rise. Again the positions changed and Skylar stood over Jale with his hand flexing at his side to keep calm. Jale's head automatically moved back and followed his movements to stare up at him through turbulent emotions. His hands fell to hold Skylar's thighs like he had to be in contact with some part of Skylar right now or he would lose it.

"We can't get rid of him or whatever you just said," Jale said peering up at him through his eyelashes.

"So what do we do then, run or do you have a better suggestion?" Skylar said dryly but cupped Jale's face with both his hands leaning down into the boy's breathing space again. Jale's eyebrows sunk more into his crease forming a familiar expression in reaction to his words. It slightly pissed him off but Skylar wasn't about to sugarcoat shit. Jale's nails were scrapping at Skylar's pants material as if they were about to rip through.

Skylar couldn't help noticing inappropriately that the boy smelt like him, maybe because they used his shampoo and soap in the shower. It was the wrong time to want to smother Jale in his embrace so that smell never left but it bloomed in his chest the closer he went. Jale opened his mouth.

"I don't want to see that fucking man again, not now, not ever, not even to kill him," Jale replied with an edge to his voice and his gaze clouded. He dragged his face out of Skylar's hands like he wanted to move away.