Just an illusion. | Jaythan AU | co-written with @chasing_TW

Chapter ten

Chapter ten.

As Max ran off from Jay's room, he again bumped into Chloe. She gave him a questioning look, trying to figure out what happened in there.

"Is he okay?" She finally asked.

"I...I don't know", Max answered. In truth, he didn't know how Jay would feel about the kiss, but he only knee that in those two seconds, something grew inside of Max. He felt a bit more complete now that he tasted Jay's plumps pink lips. He wanted to do it again, but he would never. He knew Jay was too obsessed over this "Nathan" to even try to consider him as more than a friend. This made his heart drop and shatter at the pit of his stomach. Max couldn't bear to be in that house anymore, that huge house that never failed to look so empty. Like Jay's life. Like his own.

Avoiding any further questions, Max ran past Chloe and out of the house. He put his key in the ignition and started the car. He began to drive away frantically.

He hadn't even noticed the brunette boy sitting next to him in the passenger's seat until he spoke.

"I know what you did in there", Nathan said. Max jumped so high the car spun out of control and Max swerved into another car on the side of the road. Luckily there was no one in there. Max bumped his head against the steering wheel but was still coherent, although blood was now pouring out of a deep cut by his temple.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked, completely unsurprised and unfazed at what had just occurred.

"Who the hell are you and how did you get in my car?" Max asked.

"It's okay that you have feelings for Jay. Just know that you shouldn't shock him that way. It's not good for his mental stability. He already had a shock yesterday morning."

"What happened?" Max asked, although he was positive he was hallucinating.

"There's someone else that's interested. That's all I can say. But please don't do that again. It's not good for him." Yes, Nathan was looking out for Jay's safety and his best interest, but he was also jealous and didn't want Max to try to kiss him again.

"Now, remember everything I told you, but forget about me", Nathan said as he stared into Max's eyes. As he was dazed under his compulsion, Nathan took the opportunity to disappear and come back to Jay.

He thought as he returned, Being Jay's new guardian angel was hard, but it was worth it. He had never met or loved someone quite like Jay McGuiness.

"Hi Jay", Nathan said as he walked into the now very familiar room. But instead of getting the usual warm welcome and a sweet smile, Jay roared at him.

"Stop doing that! Stop leaving me and then coming back! It's not fair! You won't even tell me why you have to go! You just do and then when you leave something bad always happens!" Jay jumped to hit Nathan but Nathan quickly held him down and sat on top of him.

"Jay please calm down! This is just another of your anger attacks! Please calm down!"

Jay started to cry. "Max kissed me and I didn't know what to do and now Max is probably going to hate me because I didn't kiss him back and he's gonna leave me alone and then I'll really be alone because you keep disappearing and then Tom will either beat me till I'm dead or take advantage of me and in truth I don't even know what happened this morning and I just don't understand and I can't take it anymore!!" Jay pulled at his own hair and buried his face in his pillow. "Nathan I can't..."

"Shhh, Jay don't you dare say that! You are stronger than this disease and you will come through. I will always be here and I will always come back. I will never leave you, Jay. I... I love you too much for that."

Just as he'd hoped, Jay stopped crying and calmed down. "You do?" he asked.

"Of course I do", he replied. It felt so amazing to finally say it out loud. "Jay McGuiness, I love you!" he said again, loving the sound of those words.

"Kiss me, then", Jay whispered.

Nathan happily obliged and crashed his lips onto Jay's. Kissing someone had never felt so right, even when Nathan was still alive. It felt so magical, so real. And Jay was the beginning of a new stage in his life. One he could actually enjoy living.

~~

As Jay walked through the doors of uni the next day, Tom couldn't help but stare and sigh. His chest tightened with every time he looked at Jay, and his heart beat a little faster. Jay was just all round adorable and sweet, and also had the same schizophrenia problem he had. The day Tom found out that Jay also had schizophrenia, he had felt so much better about himself. He thought, I'm not alone! But he decided that it was best to keep quiet and not tell Jay that he had the same problem. Tom would constantly hear voices telling him to do crazy things. They told him to beat Jay every day to hide the fact that he, too, was mentally ill.

That day when he had finally kissed Jay, he felt something inside him change. It was like something had opened up. He wanted more than just a two second peck. He wanted to crash his lips onto Jay's flawless pink ones. But after all he had done to Jay, he knew he could never love him back. He deserved Jay's hate, as well as Max's and his mum's and his brother Lewis's. Maybe if Tom was only a schizophrenic it'd be more bearable. But he was also blessed with bipolar disorder, a disease characterized by quick and sudden changes in personality. That's what had happened to him after Jay pushed him away. A flash of anger had taken him over and then Tom beat Jay senseless.

Tom knew he was a monster, a pervert and a freak of the highest kind, but those feelings didn't stop him from wanting Jay more than wanting to be accepted by his family. It wasn't ever going to happen, but he could handle that with Jay's love. Without that, his life seemed rather pointless.

Which brought Tom to his current situation. He wanted to tell Jay everything and explain, but Max wouldn't let him come within spitting distance of him. Even Siva was turning against him when Siva never gave a damn before. Tom thought that if he couldn't have Jay, then no one would.

That's when the voices in his head started whispering very convincingly, "Kill him".

Written by @chasing_TW.