Two weeks later and the couple were having their first real fight. Alex shouting and storming out of his bedroom. Jack following behind fuming, fighting his urge to grab Alex by the wrist and make him look at him.

"Fuck! Can you not right now? I'm just saying I don't want you going to his place okay?" Jack shouted over Alex's voice, finally getting the older boy to shut up.

"Well he can't come here so what do you want me to do?" Alex blared back, finally turning around to face his boyfriend.

"Just stay in public then? I don't care if you stay out all night just don't go to his place."

"Why not?"

"Know what, I don't care. Do what you want. Have a great fucking time with your boyfriend Alex." The younger barked now turning on his heel leaving the room, retreating back into Alex's bedroom. A few moments later and he heard the front door slam which was his que to let his tears break free. Usually he wouldn't be this upset over a fight...but the fact that Alex didn't even make an attempt to compromise well that stung.

He made his way to the bed crawling underneath the sheets of which smelled like Alex, faint vanilla bean lingering on them. Which really didn't help Jack at the moment, it just made him wish that Alex had of been a little more receptive of his request. He just didn't feel right having him go to Oli's place. It wasn't that he didn't trust Alex, he just wasn't sure how he felt about the whole situation surrounding Oli. After all the first time Alex had even lied to him was a result of Oli getting in touch with him. So how was he to be sure that he wouldn't do something like that again? Really the entire thing was just murky water to Jack.

"Jay?"

The teen sat up from where he was curled into himself on the bed to see Alex standing at the door. "What do you want?"

"I wanna say sorry for being a dick...and I didn't feel right leaving knowing you were upset with me. Forgive me?"

"Course I do...Just...I still don't feel right about all this. I need you to respect that, by not going to his place." He managed to get out, having wiped hid tears away and steadied his breathing.

Alex sighed and walked over to where Jack was so he could sit on the edge of the bed. "I do respect that and I won't, I guess I just felt like you didn't trust me."

"I do...I-I just don't trust who you could turn into around him."

"I promise I won't turn into anyone else. I like who you've helped me become a little too much for that."

Jack couldn't fight back a small smile at that, but he still didn't want to look at Alex. To be quite honest he was still a little upset with his boyfriend for not being understanding in the first place. "Well m'sorry for yelling at you...you should go though, you're gonna be late." Jack pointed out, finally looking up, his brown eyes peering into Alex's lighter ones.

"Fuck it if I'm late. You're the one I care about and I'm not leaving here until you're not upset with me anymore."

"Then you'll be here almost all night...Lex just go. I promise we're okay. We'll talk more when you get back home, okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"Course I'm sure. I know you're gonna be home safe and sound. And I'm not going to just let you not talk to me." Alex smiled and leaned forward to peck Jack on the lips but the younger turned his head making Alex catch his cheek. "Get outta here, if you kiss me now I won't let you leave."

"Honestly, I'd be completely okay with that."

"But you'd be mad at me later. Just go, okay?"

"Alright, bye kitten. I love you."

"I love you too." Jack said, cupping Alex's face in his hand, leaning forward to kiss the other boy. "Be good."

"I will." Alex murmured as he put his hand over the younger boy's before getting up from the bed to leave his - technically their - bedroom, stopping at the doorway. "And I thought you weren't gonna kiss me."

"I changed my mind. Now go, I don't want you to be late."

"I told you it doesn't matter."

"It does too. Now go, I've gotta finish some homework tonight too if we want to do anything together tomorrow night."

"Fine. Bye Jacky."

"Bye Lex."
-

Alex walked into the coffee shop, nearly fifteen minutes late despite Jack's warnings. But he didn't care, he was just happy that his boyfriend wasn't angry with him anymore, upset maybe but he'd take that over angry. Although he had to admit it was kind of hot to see Jack that mad, shouting and taking total control. He would actually like to see that side of him a lot more often. But that wasn't his focus right now, now he was looking for Oli. He was pretty sure he wouldn't recognize him the last time they'd seen each other both of them had considerably long hair and therefore probably looked a lot different. Besides that Oli had only just started getting tattoos when he left and Alex was quite sure that the older boy would have a lot more by now.

After a bit of searching Alex had lost hope and thought that Oli might have ditched him, until he saw a man sitting at a corner table looking at his phone. Same jaw line, lighter hair than he'd remembered, and heavily tattooed. If anyone in this place were his ex it was him.

"Oli?" Alex asked as he neared the man.

"Alex?" A British accent sounded out as he looked up. Hazel-green eyes, it was him.

"That's me." Alex smiled. "May I?" He said gesturing at the seat across from Oli.

"Of course...wow I can barely believe it's you...how've you been mate?"

The younger of the two nearly blushed at the pet name though he knew it held little to no meaning. It'd just been so long since he'd heard the term at all. "I've been good, I love my new job. I just wish I were closer to Kyle and my dad." Oli smiled back, clearly having known Alex's response before he'd even said it. "What about you? Interning for an online program?"

"Well it's Google to be exact. I'm pretty happy with it. I could've stayed home to work for them but they had a spot here...and I missed it and some of the people. Thought I'd come back for a couple months to see where things go."

Alex smiled weakly at that, wary of Oli's wording. Though he probably meant nothing of it Alex was on edge. He couldn't help it when Oli's return had sent him and Jack into a tissy for most of the day, the younger boy being snappy with him since they'd woken up that morning. Which he didn't like and was not planning on getting used to.

"Well I bet the job'll be great. You'll get to meet new people and it probably looks great on your resume."

"I'm not really worried about any of that. I really just wanted to re-connected with people from high school. Is Travis still here?" Alex nodded and clenched his jaw, his demeanor changing drastically. "Oh, is something wrong? Did I li-"
"No, no...he and Kyle had their worst and last break up over thanks giving. He's just sort of a sore subject for all of us."

"You know I have to ask though...so can I?"

"I'm not sure Kyle would want me talking about it...I got involved enough when they did break up, I don't want to get too wrapped up now either."

Oli nodded, being just as understanding as Alex remembered him to be. "But it was the last straw, there's no chance they'll get back together?"

"Absolutely none."

"Well that sucks, they were one of those forever couples, y'know? They always pulled through the worst of times." Oli paused and chuckled. "I've been looking for that since I left. What about you mate?"

"I'm, uh, actually in a relationship...we just started seeing each other but I want to ask him to be my boyfriend soon." He bluffed, still not sure where he should stand with Oli. But he knew enough to keep the topic of Jack vague with him. Oli was always one to pry and if he said he was in a serious relationship he knew that the older man would want to meet him.

"Good for you. He's a lucky guy...you were a great boyfriend."

"Really? Cause I remember me being a party boy the first few months we dated and after that I was a way too emotional idiot who barely left my house on the weekends."

"Yeah, but you made me happy. And you also happened to be going though a lot, I understood that. So considering you were a great boyfriend."

"Well you weren't that great from what I remember." Alex teased making Oli laugh at him.

"I was an amazing boyfriend. Who else bought you ice cream and coffee when you were pulling all nighters to study?"

"Kyle."

"Okay, he doesn't count. I was a good boyfriend, alright?"

"Yeah you were." The younger looked down avoiding Oli's gaze which felt a little more than friendly yet not romantic either ; and that only left him more confused, did he press on with a friendship with Oli or leave him be? Either way he'd probably be making a mistake either with who he'd given his heart or his former love. And right now Alex didn't feel right hurting or losing either of them ; especially not Jack.
-

"It was great seeing you. Maybe we can do this again sometime?" Oli said. The pair were now standing outside of the coffee shop saying their goodbyes.

"Of course, just text me."

"I definitely will." Oli smiled, before Alex really registered it the taller man was wrapping him in a hug. "Bye Lexy-lamb." He whispered, still hugging onto the younger man.

"You still remember that name?"

"Course I do. You used to call me Oli-bear." Oli said as he pulled away. "Don't you remember it too?"

Alex nodded, feeling strange admitting it. "I also used to call you cuddle bug...which was a pretty dumb name."

"I didn't think so, I rather liked it." Oli paused, downcasting his gaze before making eye contact with Alex again. "Anyways I've gotta get going see you."

"Yeah, see you."

A couple moments later and they were walking away from each other, Alex fighting his urge to look back. Maybe this was a bad idea, but he knew who Oli was and he wouldn't make any moves knowing that Alex was with someone else. So maybe having him around wasn't a bad thing. And even if it wasn't the smartest decision he was quite sure he'd be able to fix any damage before it was too late.

At the moment Alex simply saw it as a win win situation for everyone...well maybe only himself but he was sure he'd be able to find a bright side for Jack. So, yeah maybe it already was a win for everyone, they were just still making it to the finish line.

Notes

So here's the deal. I'm starting school on Monday and I want to get as much school stuff out of the way and that being said I also need writing out of the way. So instead of writing and saving it to post every Sunday, or writing just to have it posted by Sunday, you guys will be getting more random updates although I will try to stick to Sundays.

Anyways can you sense how shitty things are going to get?? (I'm really not happy about this but I'm sticking to my master plan.)