Whispers in the Dark

By: CrystallicSky

Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it.

Warning(s):This story entails a romantic relationship between two males in addition to extreme corniness. If either of these bother you, turn tail and run now, because frankly, I'm not going to be happy if there's a 15-page comment about how sick and wrong it is after I've quite clearly warned you what this in black and white. If you're still here, good then, I hope you at least walk away from this without having wasted any of your life if not having enjoyed it to some degree.

Notes: This idea drifted through my head randomly, and on a whim, I decided to post it up. Frankly, it's fluffy, sweet, and a bit farfetched, I think, but despite this, I've done the best that I conceive I possibly can in this drabble's situation to keep people in-character, but if someone ends up ridiculously OOC, and it offends you, I apologize. That said, on to the (nearly nonexistent) plot!

It was about 3:57 AM when Jack decided he should start thinking about going to sleep.

He had been working on a new project for days on end, and this was his third day, no, make that fourth day(It was past midnight, after all) without sleep, and you know what they say about people who go so long without sleep. It was this moment that Jack pretty much decided that if he couldn't figure out how to compensate for his new device's weight enough to balance out it's equilibrium several hours ago, he didn't have a much better chance of that now. He sighed deeply, putting away his tools of the trade. Maybe he'd fare better tomorrow, after some sleep.

His hand moved to massage the bridge of his nose as his eyes, nearly burning with exhaustion, closed reflexively.

"Spicer."

The sharp statement of his name caused Jack to screech in terror, falling off of his work-stool onto the cold, hard floor. Heart fluttering like a mouse's, he looked up from his now lower position to the speaker, noting with a small measure of relief that he knew who it was. "Chase? You scared the hell out me! You can't just show up in people's houses at-" he paused to look at the clock, "four in the morning!"

A fanged smirk at that. "Apparently, I can."

Jack winced, rephrasing, "You shouldn't show up at people's houses at four in the morning, then."

Chase answered with a dark scowl and the words, "I'll do as I please, worm."

"Right," Jack muttered, picking himself off of the floor, " Prince of Darkness, sorry, forgot."

The only response was what could only have been a noise of agitation, to which the younger of the two decided to cut to the bone. "So, what exactly did you come here for anyway?"

Chase immediately turned his face aside, scowling once again. He was silent for a brief moment before muttering, "I...need your..help."

Jack couldn't help it: His jaw dropped as he out-right gawked at the man in front of him. His help? His help? Jack shook his head lightly to regain some measure of composure before speaking. "My help? You?"

Chase nodded, practically mortified at this point while still avoiding eye-contact. Jack was quiet for a long while, to which the older man prompted, "Well?"

"...Is there a gas leak in here?"

Chase facepalmed, growling out, "Are you never serious? The one time I have a need of your assistance, and you're joking!"

"I was being serious, but really, I'll do my best to help! What...what do you need me for?" Jack questioned.

"...I...I think I'm in love." Chase still refused to look at Jack, but after his admission, the palest of pinks slithered across his cheeks.

Jack was almost speechless. "...Oh...um, congratulations, I guess."

Chase clarified, "I think I'm in love, I...I'm not sure."

It finally clicked in Jack's head. "And you want me to help you figure it out?" A confirming nod. "Well...why me?"

The foreign color fled from the warlord's face as he made eye contact, gold to red. "Who else would I go to? The monks? Wuya?"

Jack nodded acceptingly, replying, "Point made. Well, in that case, I promised I'd do my best to help, so where should we start?"

Chase thought for a moment, before answering, "How about whether or not I'm in love?"

The red-head nodded, leaning against a wall for support as he thought about how to ask his next request. "Okay...first, it'd be best if you kinda thought about whoever you're interested in."

Not even blinking at the request, Chase stated, "I already am."

"Okay, then..." He trailed off pondering just how to phrase the question before he found the words. "If something happened to them, and they died, how would you feel about it? Be completely honest."

Chase looked at him almost shell-shocked, as if he had never really thought his mystery lover would be killed or die, but then that was silly wasn't it? Chase Young was immortal, and it wasn't likely he would coincidentally meet a gorgeous and perfect mate to capture his heart who just happened to be immortal, too, meaning that this person was undeniably mortal. More than likely, Chase was simply surprised by Jack's tone, suddenly serious and professional, like the tone a therapist might use on a patient.

The warlord blinked for a moment, thinking hard on it before deciding, "I would be..upset."

Still maintaining the serious air, Jack challenged, "In what way? Would you be upset that the sex was gone, or that you'd never see them again?"

Chase seemed a bit apprehensive now, pausing a bit before pointing out,"We've...never had carnal relations."

"Regardless, if you had, which of the two would upset you more?"

The older man decided, "I...That I would never see them again."

Jack nodded once with a contemplative noise before going on to ask, "What if they told you that they didn't want to see you ever again? That they were with someone else? How would you handle it, then?"

His eyes narrowed as Chase growled, "First of all, I'd kill that bastard who stole him from me."

With a small measure of surprise, Jack noted that the man had used 'he', indicating he was interested in another male. He didn't think Chase swung that way, but he guessed that living as long as he had, the warlord would get bored with the same old thing and experiment at least a little. Nonetheless, he still had a few questions to ask, and so carried on. "Out of jealousy?"

"What?" Chase honestly hadn't been expecting this particular query.

"You said you'd kill his new lover. You'd kill him out of jealousy?"

"I wouldn't be jealous, I'd kill him for taking what belongs to me." Chase insisted.

"So," Jack started, almost condescendingly, "you wouldn't care if the one you're interested in had sexually been with the new lover, as long as he claimed he belonged to you the whole time?"

Bared teeth and hands clenched almost tight enough to draw blood from the palms was enough of an answer for Jack, and he quickly moved on to his last request, not wanting to upset Chase any further. "Okay, then, last thing. How would you describe this person?"

Chase sighed, roughly running a hand through his dark hair in an attempt to calm himself. "He...he's infuriating! He's annoying, and oblivious, and, and...It's as if he was put on this very Earth solely to be a thorn in my side!"

Sensing a bit more that the man wasn't telling him, Jack pressed, "But...?"

"But...whenever he's around, my chest feels...lighter," he laid a hand just over his heart, then, "as if he can ease the burden of everything I've done in my life." Jack had no idea why Chase was confessing all this to him, of all people, but figured it was best for him to get all this out in the open. The older man was silent for a long moment, before finally forcing out his next words, which Jack guessed he had repressed for quite a while. "When he's around, it feels like...like nothing else matters."

Jack smiled almost bitterly at that. "Well, there you have it. You're in love." He decided was happy for Chase, despite the envy that crashed through him like lightning at the conclusion. After all, if you really love something, you set it free, right? The red-head supposed that would have to suffice for him, because with the way the warlord was speaking, he wouldn't even consider an offer from lowly, pathetic Jack Spicer if this other guy loved Chase back. Pushing through the depressing line of thoughts, Jack managed to resurface to reality.

Chase seemed deep in thought, arms crossed, golden eyes staring intensely at the floor. He then spoke, slowly and carefully, "So...what should I do about it?"

This snapped Jack out of his seriousness in his mild shock at the question. "I..wh...tell him how you feel, I guess."

Chase met Jack's eyes once again, the taunting smirk of his mouth noting, "And you were so serious before. What happened?"

"Y...you kinda surprised me there. I wasn't expecting you to ask that." he defended.

Chase shrugged. "Fair enough...How did you know just what to ask me?"

"Oh, well, my mom's a therapist, and she taught me a thing or two..." Jack trailed off sheepishly, not quite sure what to say at this point.

"Hm...well, then, Jack," Chase emphasized the use of the boy's first name, "since you've been such a surprising bit of help to me, how exactly should I go about telling him how I feel?"

A skirl of happiness swept through Jack at hearing his name in the other's voice, but managed to suppress it as he stuttered out, "W-well, I-I, I'm no good at actual romance. Heh, no experience." He flushed a bit, but went on, "I guess just go with your instincts, do whatever you feel you should."

The man in front of him considered his words carefully for a bit. "Perhaps I misjudged you. You're smarter than you let on."

"...Um...thanks?" What else was he supposed to say to that? Nevertheless, he confessed, "I'm glad I could help you, though."

"Oh, you did help me, Jack..." his tone had changed completely, and Jack couldn't help but be uneasy at both that and the wicked smirk the man was wearing. "In fact, I think I'll 'go with my instincts' like you said..."

Chase was across the room in a heartbeat, and trying to, at the least, scream, Jack realized he was unable to do so. That might have been because his lips were now roughly pressed to the warlord's, and, before he could even think to struggle, a serpentine tongue in his mouth.

Eventually pulling away, because be it ever so troublesome, breathing was a necessity, Chase regarded Jack with lust-clouded golden eyes. Voice a husky, seductive whisper, he spoke, "My instincts are telling me that you should be in my bed right now. What about you, Jack?"

Completely speechless, Jack could only just barely nod, wrapping his arms around the taller man's neck out of a need to confirm that he was actually there and that this was actually happening.

As Chase chuckled and pulled him against his strong chest, Jack realized he'd have to wait a little longer before he could get some sleep, but he had a feeling it would be worth it.

A/N: Well, there you go, pointless little drabble-thingy that I thought up off the top of my head. I got the title from the song as sung by Skillet because I was listening to it, and I couldn't think of what else to call this story, so I just gave up and called it "Whispers in the Dark". Now usually, I'll come up with a million of these kinds of things but then I won't write them down, and I forget them, but this one, I just felt it was too special to lose like that. It came out better than I expected it to, and now I'm really glad I took the time to write it. :) Oh, and if anyone's wondering about the sleep thing at the beginning, I don't even know if it's true, but I heard from somewhere that if you go 24 hours without sleep, you're considered legally insane. Like I said, I don't know if it's true, so don't call me out on it too harshly if it's wrong...I really like this story, I don't know why, I just really like it. It came out so well, when I expected it to be total carp(yes, carp)! I can only hope you liked it as much as I did, and that said, I have a quick message about my other story. I'm not quitting it, I just ran into a bit of a roadblock with it, but I assure you, there's a lot written of the next chapter(12) right now, and when I finally get through writing all the stuff that will be in it, it will not only be worth the wait(I hope o.0), but will probably be even longer than Chapter 10! Hooray! Etc, etc. By the way; 2:00AM. Great time to post a story, right(sarcasm, sarcasm)?