Innocence

Hurt

"Ralph, I need to talk to you," Jack whispered from the trees. He motioned for the blonde to follow him.

"What?" Ralph asked angrily.

Jack sat down against the trunk of a tree. He stayed quiet for a few minutes just thinking.

"Why don't you know?" he questioned in a tone that was barely audible.

"Why don't I know what? That you hate Simon? That you hate me? That you can't understand how two men could love each other? I know that all too well. Simon's poor bruised body knows that too well!" Ralph yelled.

"Ralph, that's really not it," claimed Jack.

"It's not? Because that's what it seems like," explained Ralph.

"I'm jealous of Simon. I understand fully how two men can love each other. I know it because...Ralph, I'm in love with you. I always have been," confessed Jack.

Ralph stared at him, slack jawed. He shook his head as he sat next to Jack on the ground. He put his arm around the redhead.

"I'm sorry. I can't. I can't love you. Something in me jus' screams Simon. I respect you as a person. I don't hate you. But please let me love him in peace," rejected Ralph.

Jack placed his hands on Ralph's cheeks. For a moment, he contemplated snapping the boy's neck.

"I can't. Damn it, I love him," he thought.

He took advantage of his opportunity. He pressed his lips to Ralph's. A twig snapped somewhere close to them.

Ralph looked up as a stick hit Jack in the arm. A second one came flying into his own lap. The two heard feet fleeing from them.

Ralph quickly followed the figure. He caught up to it in its common hiding place.

"Simon?" the blonde inquired. He heard muffled crying coming from the forest at his feet.