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They were using some encrypted program Ethan had somehow known about, some software he said couldn't be wiretapped like a phone apparently could be. He looked comfortable leaning back in his big chair, a glass of something dark amber making an appearance every now and again, the ice cube in it clinking over the audio as he did.
Looked far more comfortable than Jakob at least, who was sure he was going to end up with a crick in his neck from the angle he was curled up in. His chiropractor wouldn’t approve.
Ah well, it was worth the sacrifice to chat with his friend; to get to see him looking like this again, relaxed and content despite the serious subject matter.
"Surprisingly alright?" Jakob answered, stretching his legs. "He took photos of his bruises, documented the fight."
"Theabuse, you mean," Ethan snarled. "Don't care if the clock ticking over at midnight means Alex is technically an adult now. A grown man with a cop's training hitting someone who was legally a minor only yesterday? That's not a fight, that's a beat down any day of the week."
Jakob shrugged.
"Look, I agree with you. I'm only repeating Alex's words; don't shoot the messenger. But we talked to a lawyer I know about filing a police report —safely," Jakob assured him, just as Ethan opened his mouth to protest. "This isn't the first time I've had to help a kid with an abusive parent, remember? But it's a step towards trying to get a restraining order, and my lawyer’s sending that on to a judge who'll be sympathetic despite — or maybe I should say,because of— how… messy the circumstances are. Remember Greg Mewitt, our old RA in the dorms?"
Ethan nodded, setting his glass back down and licking his lower lip. "Sounds like you've been busy. Sorry about pulling you into all this. It's… It's a damn sight more than the coffee you agreed to this morning."
"Don't you dare go apologizing," Jakob warned him. "This isn't your fault.Orhis. Truth is, I'm happy to help. Alex… He seems as if he could use a friend. There’s a good kid somewhere under all that stubbornness, like you said. Even if you have to dig deep,deepto find it. But that’s just teenagers. I’ve been down this road with Cassie too, when she’s gone and gotten the bit in her teeth about something. At least it’s familiar territory, right?"
"Guess so. Still… If you feel as if you're in over your head, you promise you'll let me know?"
"Yeah Ethan, I promise," Jakob told his friend, eyes softening at the concern he picked up in Ethan’s voice; a warm curl unfurling in his belly to recognize it as concern forhim. "I know it sounds like a lot, but it's all just setup, really. It'll all settle down enough soon. Wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard from him in the next day or so yourself, actually."
"You set him up with a new phone, then?"
"Yeah, plus some clothes to last him until we can get him properly sorted out. Cassie’s already got a couple of her friends coming over tomorrow to drop some things off. They trade closets and clothes like we used to swap pogs and trading cards; says it's like getting to go on a shopping spree every month. They take over my living room, clotheseverywhere— order pizza when they're done and play video games until they pass out in one big sleepover. Send me off packing to my room as ifI'mthe teenager," Jakob said with an overly dramatic roll of his eyes.
Ethan chuckled. "God help us all — you were bad enough the first time."
"Says the pot," Jakob replied with a snort. "It was you who suggested we break into Principle Jones's office, if I recall."
"Sure, butIwasn't the one who'd brought a dozen canisters of glitter, now was I?" Ethan's face grew serious, a line appearing between those thick brows as his voice drifted lower. "You know this might just be a temporary calm, right? Situation like his…"
Jakob shifted against the pillow propped up under his shoulders. "Yeah, I know. The quiet before the storm, right? He was pushing some boundaries earlier at the mall. To be honest, I thought for a moment there he was nearly about to take off, as nervous as he looked. But — Ethan? Whatever he's running from at home? It's bad."
There was quiet from the other man, but Jakob knew from experience that mind of his was going a mile a minute.
"When he called, Alex brought up something about his Dad trying to take him somewhere," Ethan told him finally, his voice low and worried. "Mentioned a program, some kind of special… I think he said it was a camp? He was asking me a bunch of questions the other week; he'd gone checking through his Dad's search history or router logs or the like after he'd found a pamphlet for it in the house. I think — I think he was taking Alex to one of those bullshit 'pray away the gay' conversion camps."
"Fuck. Heard whispers about those places, and none of them good." Jakob scrubbed at the back of his neck. "Can you believe we're still having to fight this kind of bullshit in this day and age?"
"Honestly? I didn't expect to still be around this long," Ethan admitted. "We all thought life was gonna be short and sweet, like those swallowtail butterflies you see in May. The fact I'm still here to fight at all…"
He trailed off, old ghosts in his eyes Jakob understood all too well.
"Yeah. Well… " Jakob cleared his throat, aiming to steer the conversation back to something they could actually do something about. "If Alexisgay, and his father’s not only an abusive asshole, but a bigot besides? Certainly explains why he was lashing out earlier. He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. Probably expects me to kick him out too, soon as I find out."
"Or kick him around," Ethan grimaced. "His father’s a real piece of work. You should have seen how he used to avoid me and the other male teachers. Up until he saw me wearing a pride shirt to school one day, and I suddenly found myself with a very sullen second shadow."
Jakob grinned at the mental image of Alex following Ethan around like a very sulky duckling. "But you said he's eighteen now, right? If he’s an adult, his dad can't force him to go anywhere Alex doesn’t want."
"That's just it," Ethan replied, his jaw clenching as he leaned in. "I checked the teacher online portal after the cops left. Someone updated his file last night using one of the school computers. De-registered him from all his classes, listing him as 'homeschooled'… But his Dad's a full-time cop, and his mom has health problems and lives in a care home. I'm pretty sure there's no other family around close enough to provide him with anything in the way of lessons. Plus — and this is the really odd bit — his birthdate got turned back a year."
"He'sseventeen?" Jakob sat up, suddenly worried. "Ethan, you know I'll do everything I can to help the kid. But I gotta tell you — I don't particularly want to show up in the papers on some variant of 'local bisexual man goes to jail for harboring a runaway child' if it turns out he’s actually a minor."
"No — he's eighteen," Ethan said, sending a wave of relief rushing through Jakob and unknotting the muscles that had clenched tight in his neck. "Or at least, he is according to his mom, and the copy of the birth certificate she used to register oneAlejandro Xavier Martin y Estradafor school back when he started kindergarten. I printed out the scan of it for him, but I really hope he thought to grab the original before he left."
"If he did, he's got his head on a damn sight better than I did at his age," Jakob frowned. "But Ethan — printing off students’ personal info like that… Is that legal? Don't mind telling you, I'd be uncomfortable if I found out one of Cassie's teachers was snooping around her files."
"It's… not generally approved of, let's say," Ethan grimaced. "If Alex wasn't eighteen,andhadn't given me his express permission? I wouldn't even chance taking a peek, much less the hard copy. S'why I asked him to leave me that voice message asking me to look into stuff, just in case. Like you said, those headlines are way too easy to imagine."
