Chapter Text
“Well, if we do this it’ll be the single most important discovery of the century.”
“All I care about is the results.”
“As you’ve said before, but I think it pertinent to say that when we are successful, that you understand what work we are doing.”
“I do.”
Jack woke up late, head pounding a little and his body more than a little sore from last night’s festivities.
Last night Jack had finally moved his stuff in with Dark. They’d celebrated with a bit too much wine and a rough bout or two in the sheets.
A bit of a pre-game, for the wedding. They were going to get married in a month and a half.
The two of them had been dating for almost five years now and it’d been rocky at first, but this was his most successful relationship he’d been in.
Dark was more than a bit of an asshole. Too up his own ass that he knew what was best. But he cared about him, and although he’d rather die than admit it, Dark had his moments.
Jack stumbled his way through getting ready before remembering that he didn’t have anywhere to really be. He’d stopped working at his old barista job. The fancy bar and grill where Jack usually waited tables and occasionally worked the bar.
It was because of that job that he’d even met Dark, the man had come in with a business party and to Jack it’s been another Sunday evening of rich assholes. But Dark had tipped him fabulously , in cash. And that helped Jack remember Dark’s face the next time he came in.
Jack had been trapped behind the bar but over the next few weeks Dark kept visiting him.
There had been that terrifying space of time where Dark had been stalking Jack a bit, looking him up on social media and then tracking him down to his second job. A job where he worked on and fixed computers and random electronics. Most of the clientele was made up of students from the nearby college.
But one day Dark had shown up and set down a laptop in front of Jack. The thing looked like a demon had crawled its way out of it and was one hell of a red flag for Jack about Dark.
Dark had apologized for the stalking, after some time and goading. Jack had no idea what exactly happened to the laptop, there was no fixing it. Its purpose was to give Dark a reason to talk to Jack and it had done that.
After five years of dating and getting comfortable with each other, Dark had proposed. Jack had accepted and lately his life had been a little bit of a whirlwind. He’d quit his barista job, which was something Jack had never thought was going to happen.
And Jack had moved out of his tiny, cramped apartment — which Jack had firmly believed he was going to be sooner found dead in that thing than move out — and moved all his stuff into Dark’s place. It was a townhouse in some fancy, gated neighborhood.
It had been weird, officially living with someone, sharing Dark’s space and not planning on going back to his apartment. Because he lived with Dark, and slept in his ridiculously comfy bed.
Literally the only downside of the place was the armed security Dark had patrolling around the place but they thankfully tended to make themselves scarce around Jack. He mostly saw them outside of Dark’s home, and there was a strict rule about entering the bedroom unless someone was actively being murdered.
Jack rolled over in his bed, Dark wasn’t in the bed next to him. Which wasn’t surprising because Dark woke up early for work.
On Jack’s bedside table was his phone, but there was also a glass of water and some painkillers.
Suddenly thankful for Dark’s insistence for getting involved where Jack hadn’t asked him to, Jack fumbled for all three things on the bedside table. Jack downed the pills and the water before checking his phone.
Jack helped himself to Dark’s shower, or more importantly to the hot water. He took his sweet time before walking out and getting into something presentable so he felt like a human being again. Then he headed downstairs.
He got halfway there before the smell hit him, someone was making breakfast. And Jack just assumed it was Dark in the kitchen.
When he reached the kitchen, Jack saw that Dark was standing in his very fancy, state-of-the-art kitchen, talking to his head of security. They weren’t being especially quiet, just some quick check in.
Dark had some security detail around his home, a maximum of four of them at any time, it had thrown Jack off for the longest time. Seeing people around the place with actual weapons. They intimidated Jack, so typically they didn’t do more than nod or say hello. Apparently they were on orders to make themselves felt and not seen or heard. And they acted like they were paid big bucks to be so.
And Jack was almost certain they were. Jack wasn’t exactly sure what Dark did for a living. He was a large and in charge businessman by the name of Damien Doom who worked with some companies that specialized in fancy cutting edge technology. If some sparse clues that Jack had picked up on were correct, then the military was somehow involved. Dark wasn’t allowed to disclose details, and Jack wasn’t sure he even wanted to know.
But it meant that Dark needed security even when he wasn’t at the house, and that security was extended to Jack. His phone was tracked, he’d even had to have a military-grade background check done on him years ago.
Jack was almost dead certain that he was wearing some other kind of tracker somewhere on him because Dark always knew exactly where Jack was at any given moment.
That or he had one of his goons tailing him. It was unclear and when Dark was involved it was anyone’s guess.
When Dark and his security chief realized that Jack was there, the conversation ended. The head of security gave Jack a tight, stiff greeting before walking out.
“Everything alright?” Jack asked.
“Yes, darling,” Dark said, reaching over to the coffee maker to start Jack’s cup as he returned back to the stove to check inside the oven. “Just a shift change. How’d you sleep?”
“Like the dead,” Jack told him. “Smells good down here.”
“I wanted to have something nice for you to start the day with,” Dark told him, and he set Jack’s coffee in front of him. Jack took it and started mixing sugar in.
“Thanks, what’d you make?” Jack asked.
Dark smiled at him as he turned off the oven and carefully pulled out a tray. It looked flaky, with a red filling. The breading had been braided around the filling and caused some of it to spill around the sides.
“Oooh,” Jack smiled as he leaned closer.
Dark looked rather proud of himself as he cut up some slices and plated them up, sprinkling almonds and raspberries on top before handing the plate to his fiancé.
Jack ate it, he was hungry and still a bit hungover. The dough was flaky and buttery, the filling was a raspberry, cream cheese mixture. The food and coffee made his brain happier.
“How long have you been up to make this? It’s delicious.” Jack told Dark in between bites.
“Just a couple hours, had an early meeting, thought I’d make the most of it,” Dark told him. “I’m glad you like it.”
“If I knew you were gonna make me stuff like this, I would have moved in sooner,” Jack said as Dark just watched him, taking occasional bites of his own food.
“Celebrations are in order,” Dark said, holding up his own coffee cup. “To a new chapter, a new start.”
“Seems a bit much for breakfast,” Jack smiled, but lightly tapped his coffee cup to Dark’s.
“You are engaged now,” Dark smiled. “I have a gift for you.”
“Really? Just so you know I do have to work today.” Jack smiled behind his coffee cup.
Dark just smiled at him before disappearing down the hallway. He was gone for a couple minutes before Jack started hearing the sound of a bell. Then Dark appeared with a small cat carrier in his hand, which he promptly set on the ground.
With a smile at Jack, Dark opened the carrier and a mostly white cat nosed its way out of the carrier. It was hesitant at first but then it began sniffing and walking about the room.
The cat had a green ribbon with a bell on it tied around his neck, a couple light grey stripes on its body and some markings on its forehead. It looked fully grown, but its legs were still lanky from being a kitten.
Jack couldn’t stop the gasp that left his body, “You got a cat?”
“He’s a rescue, you’ve talked about wanting another cat,” Dark said. “I figured with more time and a more suitable location, I could help with that.”
Marvin was curious about him, which Jack considered a bonus. He sniffed Jack’s hand. And Jack thought he was an alright cat, it had been a while since he’d owned one. His last one had been an alley cat that had stolen from his trash and just walked into his home like he owned him.
So Jack already adored the little guy.
Did I? Jack thought to himself before the cat pressed his head against Jack’s offered hand. Yeah, sounds about right.
“Well, look at you,” Jack smiled at Dark. “Getting all soft on me?”
Dark let out an indignant huff, “He’s your cat, you’re in charge of managing his hair.”
“Dude, it’s a cat not some houseplant, shedding is what they do.” Jack smiled as he watched the cat walking around the living room. “Just get one of those lint roller things.”
“I believe it’s just called a lint roller, my dear,” Dark told him with a huge smile.
“Fuck off,” Jack smiled at him before trying to approach the cat slowly, holding out his hand as a gentle offering.
Dark’s smile didn’t waiver, he just clasped his hands behind his back and just watched Jack.
So he turned his attention to the new cat.
“I’m gonna name you Marvin,” Jack decided. He glanced back at Dark. “How’s that name?”
“If that’s what you want to call it, then that’s what his name will be, it’s certainly better than the name the shelter had for it,” Dark said.
“What was the old name?” Jack said, kneeling on the ground and petting the cat with two hands at this point.
“Ham Sandwich,” Dark frowned.
“Funny,” Jack smiled. “Hilarious, I’d love it if I could actually get you to call him that.”
“Marvin is a fine enough name,” Dark told him.
“Yeah, I like Marvin better,” Jack said, pulling his hand away when the cat started to play-bite his hand. “Unfortunately.”
The cat got up, shook himself, and began wandering around again.
Jack let the cat be for a little while, going back to finish his breakfast. He was still in early work mode and he supposed that he might be for a little while longer.
While he ate, Dark was watching him.
“Something on your mind?” Jack asked, sipping on his coffee.
“I would like you to come and work for my company,” Dark said.
Jack almost choked on his coffee. He hadn’t been expecting that. “Are you allowed to do that, don’t you work for the military?”
“I work for myself, Jack,” Dark corrected sharply. He sounded more heated than Jack had expected. “We are occasionally contracted for projects, but that’s it.”
“So what would I be doing, then?” Jack asked.
“Simple, you would answer emails, draft up a couple documents, be my assistant, and,” Dark’s smile came back, “you would naturally be paid very handsomely for your work.”
“How much are we talking?” Jack asked.
Dark reached over and grabbed his Ipad, and started pulling something up on it. When he slid it over the Ipad had some document on it. It looked very official.
As Jack read through it, Dark was quiet, watching him intently. It honestly distracted Jack a little bit as he was trying to read. It was all standard hiring information, but his eyes popped open when he saw a starting amount.
“Is this serious?” Jack asked him.
“You would make less if you were in a starting level position, but you are not,” Dark told him. “You will work as my private assistant. You are already skilled with computers. I see no reason why we should start you at entry level.”
“Fuck this is a lot,” Jack admitted, not sure exactly what he was referring to.
“I believe in paying people what they are worth, and you, my dear, are worth every cent,” Dark told him.
“Bit excessive for just your glorified eye candy,” Jack tried to joke, mostly because he didn’t know what else to do about this information.
“You are not just anything my dear, you are everything and this makes it so our schedules will be more aligned,” Dark said. “I want you to be safe and cared for. To have your own money to spend on things you want. I wish for you to be happy, and it certainly will not hurt to have you always close to me.”
“Kinky fucker,” Jack jabbed.
“Are you willing to accept my offer?” Dark smiled.
“I—” Jack halted. “Yeah, I guess. When do I start?”
“Ideally today,” Dark said. “However you have prior commitments, I believe you should let your manager know that you will no longer be working for them and leave it at that.”
“Alright, yeah,” Jack couldn’t help but smile. “Just promise not to be a slave driver, okay?”
Dark stood up to walk around and give Jack a kiss. “I promise to take care of you.”
Jack kissed him. “Thanks. Just didn’t expect this when I started dating you. Kinda expected you to get tired of me.”
“Darling,” Dark set a gentle hand under his chin, leaning over him a little bit. “I would never tire of you. Everything about you is exquisite.”
Jack couldn’t help but roll his eyes a bit. It was his natural response to getting compliments from anyone, despite Dark’s frustration.
“Have I failed to tell you that, darling?” Dark told him, his face so close to Jack’s. “Have I neglected you?”
“Well, no,” Jack said, trailing off a little bit.
“Hmm,” Dark hummed. “Maybe I should remind you. You have all this—”
Dark pushed the plates and dishes away to make a bit of room on the counter before picking Jack up and moved him onto the counter. “—free time after all. We might as well make the most of it.”
Jack moved first as their lips met. Dark set one hand on his face, and the other on his hip.
As Dark’s hand began massaging circles into his hip, his phone began to go off, the vibrating audible from his suit pocket.
At first he didn’t react to it but after a second or two, Dark pulled away to check it. As he did so, it looked like he was halfway through the motion of throwing it to the side. But he froze and looked at the phone.
Jack saw the screen for a second before Dark instinctively angled it away.
ANGUS M.L
XXX-XXXX
There was no picture, none of Dark’s contacts had pictures, except for Jack’s. And only a handful of his scant contacts even had names.
Jack figured from the named contact and Dark’s face that it was a rather important contact.
“Pardon me, darling,” Dark sighed before putting the phone to his ear and moving away from Jack. “I’ll be a moment.”
Jack let out a frustrated huff as he jumped down from the counter.
“What is it?” Dark said into the phone, he spared Jack a rather apologetic look. “You don’t need to be at that meeting, it has nothing to do with you.”
Dark didn’t seem to like the next response he got. He glanced over at Jack and pulled the phone away. “Darling, I have to take this.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I’ll be out here with the cat,” Jack told him.
Dark gave him a kiss before taking himself and his phone over to his office. Jack watched him go before cleaning up a little bit and then getting used to the new cat.
Marvin mostly liked to poke his nose around and investigate the place. Getting his little white hairs all over the place.
And Jack thought it was hilarious that Dark thought that was at all going to be manageable. Cat hair was probably already all over the place.
It took an hour for Dark to come out of his office again. He found Jack almost immediately, sitting next to him. Dark was mostly quiet, offering to make dinner instead of going out for the night.
Which meant that Dark was already in a mood that may or may continue to sour as the day went on. Dark tended not to be all too vocal with how he felt unless he was horny. Which Jack thought was fair, he didn’t talk about a lot of stuff either. Jack was trying to be better about that, but he knew that Dark just wouldn’t tell him things sometimes.
Dark had to go in for a meeting and eventually Jack went to work at the computer repair shop. It was now only place he worked at. There was only a handful of people employed at the place full time. Jack was one of those full-timers, along with a guy named Bing. And their manager was nicknamed Google.
Which Jack thought was funny, even on a bad day.
Bing was fun, one of the smartest guys Jack had ever met. He could just look at a computer and immediately know what was wrong with it, always offering for Jack to come to the gym with him. Which Jack usually declined.
Jack’s manager was usually referred to as Google, mostly because he always had an answer for everything or could quickly find out the answer. He tended to work with almost an unblinking, robotic-like precision. The nickname was used so often that Jack sometimes forgot what his actual name was. Which was Grant.
Google was a lot of things, but private was definitely one of them. Jack didn’t know that much about his personal life. He didn’t even know if he’d ever even heard his last name and connected it to Google. The man wasn’t especially talkative, at least to Jack, unless he had some question he had to directly ask him. He wasn’t mean, he wasn’t prone to outbursts, he was just quiet.
Although there was that one day when Google was just having a shit day, and Jack cracked a smart ass joke at the wrong time, and Google turned his head very slowly. He’d fixed Jack with the most murderous stare that Jack had ever seen. He didn’t say or do anything, but Jack realized that he was working with someone that he was pretty sure was fully capable of murdering someone in a dark alley and then getting away with it.
Work was normal for Jack. College kids and random people occasionally came in and out. Jack stayed by the register for most of it, only leaving to check the cases and clean stuff while Bing came in and out of the back room.
It wasn’t until about halfway into his shift that things started to get weird. Jack went to lunch, hitting some soba cart five blocks down and enjoying the fresh air. He came back a little late because he’d lost track of time but the only one who was going to snitch on him was Bing.
Google wasn’t in the store yet, and Bing came late occasionally too, so he wouldn’t come down hard on Jack on that. Google might if he was in an especially bad mood, but he wasn’t there. So he said hi to Bing as he walked in, and Bing sent him to go and check emails.
Which wasn’t uncommon around this point in the day. He was checking through the emails again and saw that there was a new email, it had been sent to the inbox while Jack was on his lunch break.
It was from some random sender. It was unread and looked like some random customer query.
When he opened it, the email had one line of text: “What’s a dollhouse to a doll?”
Jack was a little unnerved, but figuring it was just some kind of spam mail, he closed out the email, trashed it, and checked any of his other ones.
For the next few hours, work continued as normal. A couple customers came in, one or two work emails had to be answered, but as Jack was nearing the end of his shift he got another email.
If he’d been paying attention to the email that it had come from, he might have realized it had come from the first one.
It only had one line: “You didn’t answer my question, Jack: What’s a dollhouse to a doll?”
And Jack’s blood chilled a little bit.
This was a work email, all three of them had access to this computer and this email. There was no telling who between any of them would be answering any of the emails at any point of day.
Jack’s rational brain caught up with him. This was Bing, it had Bing’s weird sense of humor all over it.
So he got up and opened the door to the rest of the shop. Bing was at the counter, on his phone.
“Real funny, fucker,” Jack called out.
“What, dude?” Bing said, looking over.
“Not sure Googs is gonna like it when you use the computer to send me cryptic emails,” Jack said.
“I didn’t send shit,” Bing told him.
“Yeah you did,” Jack said. “Who else would—”
He’d looked away to talk to Bing, and when he looked back the computer was different. The screen looked completely fucked and two words were visible: “Hello Jack.”
“Shit! Shit!” Jack swore as the computer was destroyed with all kinds of spam and images burning their way into the screen.
“Bing!” Jack called out as the audio from some random ass porn film started blaring from the speakers.
Bing just stared at him, almost running to the computer.
“Dude, what did you open?” Bing demanded.
“It was just some email, it didn’t even have any links.”
Bing was pulling out his phone to call Google as he froze, staring at the screen.
Bing made a face, “Oh, that’s funny. That’s real funny.”
“How is this funny?!” Jack demanded.
His co-worker didn’t immediately answer him, talking into his phone instead. “Hey Googs, we got hacked at the work computer . . . well it’s uh . . . you know the guy who worked here before Jack came in? It’s him . . . yeah, got it.”
Bing started forcibly shutting down the computer. “So we had a temp a little bit ago. He used to man the computer. Google’s gonna take a look at this thing.”
“Do we need to make any calls?” Jack asked.
“I don’t think there was any personal info in our invoices, I think Googs has that and he should be in soon.”
Jack had a moment where he felt his whole body just lock up in fear. “Uh, how soon is soon?”
“He’s on his way right now,” Bing said, having the same nervous look as Bing did.
Jack was not afraid of Google killing him, but he certainly didn’t want his boss mad at him. Fortunately, and unfortunately, Jack didn’t have long to stew in his nervousness.
Google came in at around three in the afternoon. It was much earlier than usual, but it was a good half-hour after the incident.
He barely offered a hello, he just blazed in.
Jack was behind the counter when he came in.
“Where is it?”
“Uh, in the back,” Jack told him.
“Is Bing back there? Come with me, I want to hear exactly what happened?” Google ordered.
“Something got into it, not sure how,” Bing said the instant Google was in the back room. “I think Angus snuck something in before he quit.”
Google gave Bim a look. “Excuse you?”
“Yeah it was, uh, Angus’s old computer,” Bing told Google, glancing at Jack briefly.
“Hmm,” Google said before looking at the unplugged computer again. “You can use mine, if you need to.”
“Alright, thanks,” Jack told him.
“Jack,” Google said. “After we’re done talking you can go home, we’re going to close early and figure out what happened. I don’t want anyone else in here until we know what was touched and what wasn’t.”
“Okay,” Jack said.
“Are you okay?” Google asked him. “Bing was briefing me on his side of things.”
“Yeah,” Jack said.
“What happened?”
“Didn’t Bing tell you?” Jack said.
“I want to hear it from you,” Google said.
“I was going through emails, most of ‘em were normal. But there was this one email from some random fucker, I don’t remember what it was. It was just a text email, it didn’t have any links or anything.”
“Do you remember what it said?”
Jack squinted a bit, trying to dredge up the memory, completely forgetting about the first weird email for the second more jarring experience. “They used my name.”
“Really?” Google said, suddenly twice as interested in whatever Jack was saying.
“Yeah, at first I thought it was Bing but he didn’t know what I was talking about, and I figured he wouldn’t do it,” Jack said.
“Did you do anything to the computer?” Google demanded, looking at Bing.
“No, why would I do that to the work computer? If it wanted to get fired I’d blast pictures of you and your dog everywhere.” Bing looked absolutely insulted.
“You have a dog?” Jack asked.
Google gave Bing an incredulous look.
Bing had a huge smile on his face. “Yeah, she’s great, she’s a little burnt toast corgi, I saw him walking her.”
“Oh, that’s cute,” Jack smiled.
“We’re talking about something else,” Google said and began to drill Jack and Bing for as much information as he could.
Only once Google seemed at all satisfied, Bing and Jack were both sent to lock the store up and flip the closed sign before they left.
Jack left first, sending a quick text to Dark, telling him he was coming home early after running some errands. Then he took the bus.
In his rush to get on the next bus to get to Dark’s neighborhood, he missed the man watching him intently from across the street. He blended into town perfectly, shades and a hat and a low hood pulled over his head to help hide his identity.
The man watched Jack wait at the bus stop and before the bus pulled up, he took some discreet pictures but he never approached Jack or even did more than stare at him.
Jack got on the bus and took it around town for a bit before heading back to Dark’s little gated community. These days the gateman didn’t look twice at Jack. He recognized him and even smiled and waved at him before letting Jack in through the gate.
He made it to Dark’s place, waving at one of the security guards around the house. And then he was home, and a smell wafted to him the instant he was in the house.
Dark making dinner when he walked in. His suit was carefully draped over a chair, and the sleeves of his button-up were rolled up. Jack gave him his usual greeting kiss.
“How was your day?” Dark asked.
“Better now that I only have the one job,” Jack smiled. “But, I think I got hacked at work.”
Dark’s hands stopped. “Did you now?”
“Yeah, some work computer, Bing said it was probably one of the other guys who worked for them, absolutely destroyed the thing too.”
Dark’s hands resumed cutting the vegetables. “Interesting, I trust nothing sensitive was lost?”
“I don’t think so, my manager took the computer,” Jack said, walking into the living room and dropping his bag on the couch. He smiled when he saw the cat curled up on it. “Glad it wasn’t mine.”
“Yes,” Dark commented dryly.
“How was work?” Jack asked, scratching Marvin behind the ears. “You kill anyone today?”
“Nothing so eventful, just errant paperwork,” Dark said, his tone was careful and controlled. “I am sorry to hear about what happened.”
“It’s over now,” Jack said with a heavy sigh as he wandered back into the kitchen to start something warm to drink to help him relax.
Dark seemed to be making some kind of dish, some of his homemade spicy chicken stock was on the counter and he seemed to be cooking the vegetables in that, a plate of cooked and seared chicken.
“Well, dinner is nearly done, if you’ll be patient with me for a moment or two,” Dark told him.
“For your cooking, absolutely,” Jack smiled.
“Garlic bread?” Dark asked.
“Fuck yeah,” Jack smiled.
Dark smiled at him, turning back to the food and just let Jack watch him.
“You know, if you keep cooking for me, my expectations are only going to go up,” Jack told him.
“Good,” Dark told him. “You are my fiancé and you deserve only the best.”
Jack could only smile at Dark. The man could be an absolute asshole sometimes. Jack had seen that even from the start. But he was nice to Jack. He was good to him. He had always been good to him.
Dinner was good, Jack and Dark went for a light stroll. Jack hadn’t taken a lot of runs in this neighborhood and wanted to get a half-decent mental map of the area before he started doing his evening runs. As they walked they talked about the wedding and planning out some more of the last details.
It made Jack’s head spin a little bit. They’d been engaged for about five or so months and it was happening a little too quickly and not fast enough at the same time.
Then Jack showered, he joked around with Dark a little bit and played some more with the kitten before finally going to bed. He was out relatively quickly.
Dark was laying next to him, watching Jack fall asleep. His breathing evening out and Dark just watched him in the shadowy quiet of their bedroom.
Jack was tucked up against him and Dark spent a little bit of time just watching him sleep. He was so peaceful whenever he slept.
In Dark’s not-so-humble opinion, Jack was absolutely perfect. The one bright and shining spot in a cruel and indifferent world.
And watching Jack sleeping, pulled at Dark’s heart. He wanted nothing more than to shut the rest of the world out and stay in bed with Jack for the rest of eternity.
But Dark had matters to attend to, he maneuvered himself out of bed. Jack became a little restless in his sleep when Dark moved but he didn’t seem to wake up.
Dark took a moment to look back at Jack before crossing the house to his office.
Sitting inside the office was Dark’s desk and a huge file. The file had been left by one of Dark’s head technicians, along with a quickly drafted letter stapled inside the folder, while Dark and Jack were out on their walk. The first paper read:
“Mr. Doom, enclosed here is a read out of as many files as we could find after searching the hard drive of the computer in question. Currently it is unclear why Angus contacted him in this way. Investigations are being carried out at this time.”
The paper was signed: Dr. Grant Pagebrin, and Dr. Bing Fischer.
Dark re-read the header before sitting at his desk and starting to read through the massive folder. It was practically a binder by the way papers were held into it. Detailed inside of it was a readout of every program the computer had held that could be salvaged and if it had been compromised and what had gone wrong.
Most of the details were less than a page long, but some were full pages front to back.
A good 90% of the folder was rather unconcerning. At least until he got to the emails.
Then, Dark was seething.
After taking a couple minutes to compose himself, he sent a quick text to the newest number in his contacts: ANGUS M.L. “Why?”
It took a minute or two for Dark to get a response.
“Well fucking hello to you too did someone piss in your coffee?”
“Answer the question.”
“You told me I could say hi,” the next text said, a frowning face being sent next. “I was just saying hi”
“That was not a hello,” Dark texted.
“I can come over,” another text chimed in. “Give him a real hello ;)”
“No.” Dark’s answer was immediate.
“That’s not what you promised.”
“If you’re going to act like this, then you can’t see him,” Dark texted.
Three ellipses appeared as the other person began to respond. Then they went away. For about a minute or two there was no response.
Then:
“Scared that I’ll break your new toy? You know they teach kids it’s rude not to share. You’re being rude.”
“I will not let you hurt Jack,” Dark texted.
There was another long pause as Dark waited for an answer.
Dark had cleaned up evidence of what he was looking at and had stood up by the time he received the answer. His phone buzzed as he was leaving his office, making his way to the bedroom where Jack was hopefully sleeping.
The texts all came at once, from the same contact:
“So that’s how it is?!”
“I just wanted to play with your new doll.”
“If you think I scared him earlier.”
“You don’t know how scary I can REALLY be.”
Dark quick to text, “Then you won’t ever see him.”
He got to the bedroom, found that Jack was still sleeping peacefully, and relaxed a bit. Even after he received one final text that night.
“We’ll see about that.”
Dark didn’t respond to the challenge. He simply got changed and into bed, taking Jack into his arms. The other man stirred a little bit but settled back into sleep.
Jack was here, and that was all that mattered.