Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Getting It. (Desires - Book one.) ❯ 7. The Rivalries Begin ( Chapter 7 )

The next day could really only be described with one word, hell. It rained all morning, and stormed all afternoon, but that didn't stop Wayne from forcing all of the soldiers to train. Wayne sat upon the back of a horse, out in the rain himself barking orders while colonels and other men of higher standards hid under the shelter of the pavilion. Wayne loved his job more than life itself, and would do anything to keep everything in procedure. But by lunchtime, lighting scorched the sky and thunder followed it, he was forced to let the crew eat indoors, and cancel training for that afternoon. This was good news to everyone, and once they were all in dry clothes, Tony, Shane, Mark, Raj, Clark, and Jason crowded into one tent, shivering and shaking from the run through the rain. Teresa, in refusal to spend all day in a tent with six men, had taken shelter with some of her less close female friends.

 

The wind blew hard against the sides of the tent, no one spoke for a while, Clark huddled against Shane, his teeth chattering with wide eyes. Jason curled up in the corner, sitting on his butt with his hands wrapped around his knees. Tony sat on a barrel on the right side of Shane, glancing at him every once and a while, wondering what was on his mind. Raj stood bored, shifting his wait every now and then, and Mark was too busy laughing at Tony inside his head to even feel the cold.

 

“I think it's dying down a little,” Tony implied, listening to the slowing of the pace of the water droplets beating down on the side of the tent.

 

“Finally,” Jason stood up and leaned against the barrel that Tony was sitting on, becoming tired of sitting on the ground. Tony glanced at him for a moment, almost in disgust, but he said nothing.

 

“So, cards anyone?” Shane suggested, shrugging Clark off of him on purpose as he slipped the deck out of his hands. He looked around for a reply, locking eyes with Tony suddenly, and putting on a short smirk before Tony blushed and looked at his feet. Jason's eyes narrowed as he'd been watching the scene, but decided it was none of this business.

 

“I could go for that,” He chimed out to break the silence. After he did everyone else seemed to follow his lead and they gathered around in a circle, Shane dealing out the cards.

 

“All right, us four, verses you two, trust me, you guys'll win anyway,” Shane chose the teams. Raj looked confused, the way he saw it, Shane had just grabbed the sane people and left him with the weirdo, Mark.

 

“Might as well make it all verse me,” Mark said proudly. “'Course Tony can sometimes give me a run for my money,” He added.

 

“No more than four players to a team, you and Tony together would kick our asses before we even start, I want to be with Clark, so Raj is all that works,” Shane said. Raj wasn't exactly happy with this decision, but he didn't care enough to say anything.

 

“What about me? You didn't say anything about me?” Jason asked, there wasn't any reason why he couldn't be on Mark and Raj's team.

 

“Because,” Shane began, “I want you on my team,” He said.

 

“Well maybe I don't want to be on your team,” Jason replied in somewhat a joking manner.

 

“Well, you have to anyway,” Shane concluded.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you're a sexy beast,” Shane chuckled. Tony rolled his eyes, Clark scoffed, Raj thought about strange, wicked ideas, and Mark giggled. Jason, however, pushed Shane lightly in slight embarrassment. Shane nudged him back, and Jason did the same, and that just went on until finally Clark put an end to it.

 

“All right! Guys, can we just play here?” He yelled at them. Shane apologized and played the first card, telling Raj to go second, and so on.

 

To no one's surprised, Mark and Raj won easily, mostly thanks to Mark. Raj however, seemed to have his own experience, which only added to the speed of the defeat. It had been two hours since training got called up, and it was still raining, and worse, no one felt like playing cards anymore. That was basically all there was to do if not outside, so they just sat on the floor in the same positions in boredom as Shane shuffled the cards through his hands. The silence, however, was broken when a loud snore echoed through the tent, causing everyone's eyes to turn immediately to Tony. He was sleeping, his arms crossed and his eyes under his hat, looking rather peaceful despite the loud snoring. Shane chuckled, it wasn't the first time he'd heard it, he flipped a card at Tony, causing him to twitch. That led directly to an entertaining game of. `Mess with Tony while he's asleep,'

 

Mark pulled a marker out of his pack for starters, and tossed it to Jason, who would've made the least noise, sitting right next to him. Jason didn't hesitate; he knew what he was going to write. On Tony's cheek he gently, and carefully sketched out the word `loser' with the black ink. Then Shane took it from him, having an idea of his own. He traded places with Jason and pressed the marker to Tony's forehead, drawing a heart. Under the heart he put his own name and then capped the marker. Mark chuckled, remembering what Tony had told him the night before, but knowing Shane only wrote it as a joke. Before long, when they were deciding what to do to him next, Jason pulled a bottle of lotion from his bag.

 

“Zit cream?” Shane asked as it was handed to him, reading the label.

 

“What do you think I wear make up? Squeeze it across his upper lip,” Jason said. For quite sometime they were able to mess around with Tony in his deep sleep without waking him up, before Mark had an even funnier idea of his own. While Shane was painting pictures of lip marks on his cheek, Mark scooted closer to Tony. Shane was confused by it, giving him an odd look before continuing to paint them on. All of the sudden, right next to Tony's ear, Mark screamed as loud as he could. Tony practically jumped out of his pants! And the paintbrush smeared across his face almost going into his mouth if Shane hadn't caught himself. Tony was confused at first, but when he touched his face and felt the paint and the lotion, he knew exactly who he could take it out on.

 

He cursed in an extremely angry voice and tackled Shane to the ground; his hands wrapped tight around his victim's throat, shaking him back and forth in attempt to near kill him. Shane just burst into laughter, until he realized he couldn't breath and threw Tony off of him. Knowing he'd strike again Shane scrambled to his feet and bolted outside into the rain, Tony not far behind. Shane thought he was getting away, but the fact that this was a football player chasing him discouraged him a little too late and he was tackled to the ground. However, it didn't take him long to roll Tony onto his back and pin him against the wet ground, holding his wrists together with one hand above his head, he sat on Tony's waist with a smirk.

 

“Mornin' sunshine,” He chuckled. Tony struggled beneath him, trying to wriggle out of his hold, but he came nowhere near.

 

“Damn it Shane! Get the fuck off!” He yelled finally. Shane thought about his request for a few moments.

“Hm, if I get off, are you planning on killing me?” He asked.

 

“Yes!” Tony growled, still extremely pissed from the first incident, and now double pissed that a gay boy had pinned him to the ground, yet again. Despite the answer, Shane let him up just as he heard footsteps from behind them approaching.

 

“What did you do to me?” He asked, rubbing his cheek and looking at his hand. There he saw the pink paint that he'd rubbed off.

 

“Wrote stuff,” Mark smiled from behind, seeing that the permanent marker they'd used was in fact living up to its label. Tony pushed himself up off of the muddy floor and wrapped his arms around himself to keep warm.

 

“Well obviously,” He mumbled to himself, heading back toward the tent. “I'm going to find a mirror,” He grumbled. Shane and Mark shrugged and followed him.

 

Tony was the attention of all three of the guys that were still in the tent. The paint was smeared down his cheek, the lotion was everywhere, and the words still showed up clearly. Tony ignored their giggling and pointing and headed straight over to his bag to dig up his mirror. As soon as he found it, and realized what it said, his fists clenched at his sides, trying to hold back the rage.

 

“Who wrote that!” He pointed to the word `loser' written across his cheek. His nostrils flared as he confronted the three useless beings before him, waiting for answer so he could destroy whoever did. It wasn't long before two fingers were pointed at Jason.

 

“Oh, thanks, you guys are great friends you know?” Jason said sarcastically, words directed at Clark and Raj who seemed to have given him away without thought. Tony was almost glad it had been the stupid nerdy twerp, in his mind; it finally gave him a license to kill the useless idiot. Tony didn't even think, didn't even open his mouth, in seconds he had Jason by the collar and down on the ground under him.

 

“Hey, hold on,” Jason put his hands above his head as if he had a gun pointed at him. “It was just a joke, lemme go!” Jason struggled; terrified by the fist that Tony's right hand was turning into at his side. If there was any time that he wanted to see Shane more than anyone else, it was now.

 

“What you think you can do that and get away with it?” Tony grabbed Jason's hair and bashed his head into the soft ground as hard as he could. Jason let out a cry of pain, causing Raj and Clark to back off more than they already were. “I've been looking for reasons to—,” he punched Jason across the face. “…Kick your ass,” He finished and gave another punch. Jason felt blood trickle down top lip from his nose; his eyes sealed shut waiting for another blow. Tony stood up off him and kicked him in the side of the stomach, causing Jason to roll around in pain.

 

“Get up! Get the fuck up asshole!” He ordered. Jason didn't get up; he lay on the ground not far from tears, holding his side. He was kicked again, this time in the back, right on his spine. Immediately he knew it was going to leave a bruise. Tony picked up a rifle and mercilessly hit him again in the same spot he'd planted the first kick, right on his ribs. Now Jason was crying, he couldn't hold back.

 

Raj had had just about had enough, and shot up with a knife in his hand ready to stab Tony's or more or less slit his throat. It hadn't been the first time Tony had hit Jason, but before it wasn't quite as brutal. But luckily for Tony, Raj didn't make it to him before Tony was yanked out of the tent. The hand was wet, and strong, definitely not very happy with him, it had him by the back of his collar dragging him until he was slammed against one of the square posts used for training.

 

“What are you doing! What the fuck are you doing!” Shane screamed into his face, wanting to give Tony a punch himself. “It was a joke, a joke you idiot! Get your fucking bipolar ass over it!” Shane could feel his spit leaving his mouth as he yelled, and sure as hell he didn't give a damn that it was getting all over Tony's face.

 

“I…” Tony was horrified.

 

“Yeah you what?” Shane slammed him harder against the post.

 

“I'm sorry!” Tony yelled back. “Get your fucking hands off me!” He yelled. Shane let him go, but before he left he gave Tony a much-needed punch, straight in the jaw.

 

“Don't talk to me, just don't fuckin' come near me anymore,” Shane yelled. “Fucking jerk asshole,” He mumbled to himself, kicking the wet mud in Tony's face before heading back to the tent to see how his love was doing. Tony didn't fell to the ground in devastation, knowing Shane's insult was exactly accurate.

 

Upon entering the tent, Shane found Jason in Clark's arms, and Raj leaning over him. Neither of which seemed to have any idea of what to do.

 

“Move!” Shane ordered Clark, still aggravated by Tony. He took Jason into his own arms, but didn't embrace him, there wasn't time, and he wasn't in the mood. Jason's eyes were flowing with tears, he didn't want to cry, but he couldn't stop.

 

“Where does it hurt?” Shane asked as sympathetically as possible, but with a shake in his voice. Jason put a hand on his side and managed to murmur out the word `here' as best he could. Shane put a hand against Jason's side and pressed, trying mostly to find out if one or more of his ribs were broken. Eventually he found that at least two, with the little he knew about bones, were broken.

 

“S-someone go get Teresa, and a medic,” Shane said, assuming Teresa would like to know about it, and possibly help in getting him to the hospital tent. Both Raj and Clark shot up, Mark in the corner of the tent with his hand on his mouth.

 

“You'll be okay,” Shane hugged Jason against his chest. Jason wasn't really thinking, and the arms felt good around him, so he put his hands on Shane's shoulders, clenching his shirt tightly in his fists. The tears slowed, and he buried his head in Shane's chest to wipe clean his wet cheeks. Shane's breath hitched and he lay his head on Jason's rubbing his back, making sure he didn't cross the line between sympathy and love, not certain if he had or not already.

 

“What did you do to Tony?” Mark stuttered the words, seeming rather frightened of the answer.

 

“He's fine, I don't know if I'll ever…” Shane paused, perhaps he had been a little too hard on his friend, then again, perhaps he hadn't been hard enough. “…Forgive him…” Shane paused. “…for this.” He finished. Jason listened closely to what he was saying, almost in too much thought to feel as much pain as he had before.

 

“Aright little man, hang in there,” Mark patted Jason's back. Shane looked at him with a slight thankful smile, just glad that Mark could actually be serious at a time like this. Mark got the hint and smiled back a bit, followed by a shrug.

 

Tony felt terrible; he was lying in his own tent again, curled up on the floor with his head buried in the pillow. He wanted to scream, wondering why he'd taken everything out on Jason, when the only person who deserved it was himself. It wasn't that Jason had written on his face, that wasn't the half of it. He knew it was out of pure jealousy, Jason was taking his Shane from him, not purposely, but he could tell by the way Shane's eyes lit up whenever he was around.

 

Damn it, I'm not the jealous type, but the way Shane looks at that kid, the way he'd used to look at me…

 

His thoughts went back to the night before, the kiss, and the dream, maybe he just didn't deserve to be wanted. There was no passion in that kiss, no heart, no love, nothing. It wasn't like the one before, the night in sixth grade, he'd felt the love, but hadn't given it back. Now it seemed he was giving the love, but wasn't feeling it. He'd taken too long, just taken too damn long to say anything, and still hadn't opened his mouth. Now it was too late, Shane was onto someone else, and it was hurting ten times more than Tony had expected it to. It was quite clear that he didn't know what he had, and now it was gone.

 

 

Only an hour after Jason was sent to the medical building for his second time that week, the nurse allowed visitors. Jason waited, knowing, hoping someone would show up and talk to him soon, he was bored out of his mind, and needed something to keep his mind off the pain. Staring at the ceiling couldn't very well do that though, not like a nice conversation could. He didn't want Tony to come though, even to apologize, and he was half paranoid that he might come along to do just that, either that or finish him off. He wasn't really mad at Tony so much as he was afraid of him, afraid any word that left his mouth around that man would get him an ass kicking. He'd barely done anything, maybe he'd begun to think they were becoming okay with each other too soon, but he didn't believe he deserved three broken ribs and a bloody nose for such a small joke.

 

“Jason?” He heard the soft, friendly female voice come from the door, which he could now see was open a crack. A smile came over him and he did his best to sit up.

 

“Come in,” He stated cheerfully. Teresa didn't hesitate, the door slung open and she rushed right in and hugged him around the shoulders, she'd been so worried. Jason was glad it was only Teresa, he didn't want to see Clark, or Raj, and surely not Mark, the ones who had just let Tony kick the sense out of him. Maybe Shane, but it was nice for once to not have an entire group of people asking if he was okay.

 

“Oh Jason,” She said, her eyes watering a bit. “You just can't keep from hurting yourself out here can you?” She twiddled her thumbs. “I was talking to Clark, and Raj, and they said that one year would get them a decent college degree anyway, so we thought since you're… well, not doing do well out here, we'd head home on the next plain!” She suggested. It had originally been Jason and Clark's idea to join the army, but he was getting sick of hurting himself, and nothing else in the world sounded like a better idea.

 

“That would be okay, hell, that would be great, yeah, let's get out of here!” Jason replied happily. Teresa jumped to her feet with joy and hugged him again, this time around the neck, her face buried in his shaggy hair.

 

“I was so worried about you, you know, when you got lost, I don't ever want to lose you!” She squeezed him tighter and nuzzled her face against his neck. Jason put an arm on her waist, simply to acknowledge what she'd said, and let her know he felt the same way. There was a pause, Jason could here her breathing, and feel her breath against his ear. He was a little confused and somewhat startled by the way she didn't reply, didn't say a word. But that hardly compared to how he felt when she placed a kiss on his cheek.

 

“I care about you so much,” Her lips moved from his cheek, to a point right above his own. Jason shuddered when he felt her warm breath flow across his face, so she did like him. Her lips brushed lightly against his, just after she brushed her long hair on one side behind her ear. Jason was slow to comprehend the situation; after all, he'd never kissed anyone before. Not before long, Teresa locked her lips against his in a deep passionate kiss, placing a soft hand on his face, which caressed his cheek. Jason shook, a chill running down his spine, but this was a sensation he'd never before experienced, he may have been uneasy, but he enjoyed it. Teresa pulled away and looked down at Jason lovingly, he was so beautiful, half her pleasure was just watching him. Watching him as his closed eyelids slowly opened staring back into hers, thankful but confused. Teresa smiled down at him with a bit of shrug, hoping that was it, that Jason could be hers.

 

Jason cupped the right side of her face with his hand as he examined her, he did like her, after all, why wouldn't he, she was strong, beautiful and smart, perfection. He brushed his thumb across her cheek, eyes traveling the length of her face, stopping at a lustful gaze when they focused on her lips. He lifted his head, ignoring the pain in his stiff torso and crushed his lips against hers. Their teeth clanked together, and all though it was quite sudden, Teresa willingly kissed back, letting her tongue slip into the inviting mouth. Unlike Jason, she had a bit of experience, though he and her alike hadn't gone any more physical than that. Jason was certainly having a good time, and he wouldn't have stopped anytime soon if Teresa hadn't pulled away once more.

 

“I guess this means…” She started, but decided to rephrase her statement all together turning it into a question. “Will you…” she swallowed “Be my boyfriend?” She turned red when the words came out. She didn't know how else to say it, how do you ask someone out that you spend all your time with anyway? Jason smiled and nodded slowly, he didn't love her yet, but he was almost positive he'd be able to grow into doing so. She hugged him closely for a third time, this time below his arms, bumping his ribcage with her elbow.

 

“I love you!” She screeched. Jason hugged her back as best he could; feeling a jolt of pain in his side as she accidentally nudged his casting.

 

“All right, easy, easy,” He said moving her away from the tender spot just as she pulled away.

 

“Sorry,” She said carefully. “I just, I've wanted this for so long,”

 

“Ahem,” Shane cleared his throat and put his fist to his mouth, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

 

“Are you two gonna make out again? `Cause I can wait a little longer if you like,” He chuckled. He was a little disappointed to see Jason with a girl, but he was more happy for them than that, besides, it didn't mean there wasn't any hope. Jason blushed and turned away, embarrassed that apparently Shane had been standing near the doorway for a while.

 

“Hey Shane,” Jason stuttered, clearing his throat as well. Teresa wasn't exactly happy to see Shane, but oh well, she didn't want to seem desperate for Jason, she'd gotten all she needed for the time being.

 

“Hey Jase,” Shane teased, using the named Jason had clearly asked him not to use. “You look like a pretty damn good kisser, you sure you're straight?” He ambled up on the opposite side of the bed as Teresa with a wicked smirk.

 

“Looks can be deceiving,” Jason replied, also obviously kidding around. Shane chuckled and moved Jason's hair further from his eyes.

 

“How you feelin' buddy?” He asked, his wicked smile turning into a caring one as he tilted his head. Jason shrugged, trying to hold back a blush as the hair was moved from his face. He felt awkward with Shane doing these types of things around his girlfriend, he knew Shane would surely not cross the line, but they made him feel odd just the same. Teresa however, was immediately jealous and had an urge to just put that hair right back where it was. After all, if Jason wanted it out of his face he would've moved it himself; then again, Jason wasn't really the one who wanted it out of the way so his beautiful eyes were in better view.

 

“I'm okay, I guess, what about Tony? Is he okay?” Jason asked, almost reluctant to do so as the words bounced out of his mouth almost in a stutter.

 

“I don't know, and I don't care, if he's going to be that much of a jerk I don't want to bother with him anyway. I gave him a good punch across the face though, don't worry,” Shane chuckled, not really remembering anything he'd said, his dull eyes scanning the lovely features of his friend's face. Jason blushed deeper, trying now not to notice that Shane was staring at him. In an attempt to hide the blush from Shane at any cost, he turned toward Teresa, who wasn't at all happy about the situation. It happened quickly, she'd never minded Shane before, but he was now proving to be a better flirt than she was, and Jason was straight! She began to loath him deeply, her eyes narrow and her arms crossed.

 

“Shane, maybe you'd better go,” Jason swallowed, noticing her discomfort, as a mild way to describe it. “Teresa and I just got together and…” he stopped, uncertain of how to put what he wanted to say.

 

“You don't want me messing with you,” Shane crossed his arms and bit his lips, okay, now he was a little jealous. “All right, I get it, I was just screwing around… but I can be a flirt, I know… I'll leave,” He stood up quickly, raising his hands, pretending not to be offended. He shouldn't have been offended, Jason just wanted some time alone with his girlfriend, what right did he have to be offended? What right did he have to be jealous, still he was, he was very jealous.

 

“Thanks, Shane, I really appreciate it,” Jason said to him seriously, noticing the disappointed and rather irritated tone he was using.

 

“Whatever, see you later,” Shane grunted as he left the room. He sighed after shutting the door, and fell against the wall, feeling kind of bad because of how pissy he was, but mostly, for some reason, his heart hurt.

 

So Shane had just officially run out of best friends, Tony was probably pissed at him, Jason was busy with his ugly girlfriend, and Mark just wasn't the type of person. In the midst of trying to get his mind off Jason and his relationship, he remembered his own and decided without much thought that he was going to break up with Clark.

 

“Shane?” He heard a vaguely familiar voice from beside him. He turned his head slowly, it was Raj.

 

“Hey,” Shane scowled at the door in front of him and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes. Raj titled his head in askance, noticing the glare Shane had directed at the inanimate object in front of him.

 

“What's eating you?” He asked, about to go inside to see Jason, and ask how he was doing.

 

“Why don't you ask Canton's new girlfriend, you know the brunette,” Shane huffed. Raj's jaw dropped open as soon as the words left Shane's mouth, brunette, but the love of his life was brunette.

 

“Teresa!” He exclaimed, but luckily it came out as a rather quiet squeak, so it went unheard by those inside the room.

 

“That's the one,” Shane replied, still in a grumpy voice. What kind of name is Teresa anyway, how stupid would a guy look screaming out that mouthful of a three-syllable name in her bedroom? Shane thought to himself, just for the sake of insulting her in some way. Shane was angry, but Raj was heartbroken.

 

Even though he expected this to be coming, he was still devastated now that it had. After all, Jason was an attractive boy with a friendly personality, fun to be around, great with people. Hell, that's why Raj was good friends with him, but most of those things were things that Raj wasn't very good with, and he knew it.