"Jay, I'm sure you look fine. Come out." Alex coaxed as he leaned against the wall next to the bathroom door.

"My hair looks bad."

"C'mon, I bet your hair looks great."

"You like my bed head so your opinion is invalid."

Alex rolled his eyes but laughed nonetheless. "Just hurry up, it's six thirty."

"Shit, I'm gonna be late."

"That's what I've been telling you since like five. You're too slow."

"Shut up Alex."

"Whatever, I'll be I'm the car, alright?"

"Yeah, okay."

Twenty minutes later and Jack was finally meeting Alex in the parking garage. Sliding into the passenger seat.

"I told you you'd look fine. Actually you look pretty darn adorable." Alex said once the team was buckled into his seat.

"Shut up, my hair is still a mess."

"And that will barely matter by the end of the night." Alex smiled over at the younger boy. "Come on isn't tonight about having fun?"

"Honestly...no. I thought you could used a night off from babysitting me. That and my friends miss me, Zack told everyone what happened so I don't have to...so I think tonight will be okay. But I'm doubting fun."

"Babe...you know it's not babysitting. You're the one who needs a night off, try and have some fun, for me okay?"

"Yeah, I guess I can try."
-
Fifteen minutes later and Jack was leaving Alex's car. Barely even able to fake a smile at his boyfriend. He quite honestly did not want to be at the party. If it were up to him he'd be with Alex making dinner and genuinely enjoying himself. Of course he loved his friends and generally he did have fun with them. But right now...not at all, he almost always was unhappy to be separated from his boyfriend and tonight was no exception. Though he knew despite what Alex said he did need a break from looking after him nearly every waking second.

"Hey kid, why the long face?" Zack asked sitting down next to the younger on the sand.

"I wanna go back home."

"Really? You haven't even been here long. Don't you miss us?"

"Yeah...I just don't like being around a lot of people. And I like being with Alex around dinner time."

"Well you can go back to him after the party or at least after you've spent a little time with Rian and Cassadee. They miss you."

"I know...I've just been through a lot...I haven't really had time to hang out with you guys and when I did I was either asleep or too much of a wreck to do anything."

"I get it, you have been through a lot. I'm just proud of you for making it here...maybe you'll even still come with us on the road trip next month."

"Yeah, maybe...that sounds nice actually. We'll see."

"Good- Hey! Jaime, c'mere." Zack said, now focusing on his boyfriend who had neared them. The other boy smiled and walked over to the pair standing in front of Zack. "Sit down will ya?"

"Yeah, okay. But when Vic and Tony get here I've gotta get to them." He said, sitting down next to Zack- more or less on his lap.

"Why do I feel like you guys are going to get into trouble tonight?"

"We won't, I prom- okay I can't promise anything but I'll try to not get into any trouble."

Jack found himself chuckling at that. He and Zack had always talked about the wild things they'd do on the senior party night. Yet here they were simply sitting down and talking and probably wouldn't do much more than that the rest of the night.


"Oh, hey Jack. Haven't seen you around in awhile." Jaime said his signature smile resting on his face.

"Yeah, this is my first time actually going out in a month."

"Well it's good to see you back. - Hey! Vic, Tony!" He shouted over to his own friends who had just made it there. "I'll see you later Zee, maybe I'll come over tonight?"

"If you want. Be good."

"I won't."

Zack rolled his eyes but leaned in to gently kiss his boyfriend before he left.

A few moments of silence past before either of them said anything else. "I like him, I think having someone so crazy is good for you." Jack stated, looking at Jamie who was now jumping on his friend's back, holding a solo cup in one hand.

"I get enough crazy dealing with you guys...but yeah he keeps me busy." Zack smiled. "So, what about you and Alex?"

"We're good, I'm scared he's gonna get sick of me though. I just haven't been the same after what happened, I know he sees it too. I'm just scared that I'm going to stop being the person he fell in love with."

"Jay, he's not going to get sick of you. Yeah you've gone through the ringer, but he knows that and just like the rest of us he knows the person he loves is very much alive. He's just waiting on you to be happy again...I am too."

The younger boy smiled, feeling his lower lip begin to quiver. "Shit...I can't cry, not here anyway."

"Hey, it'll be alright. Just let it out, I bet you need to anyway." Zack wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders. "Don't keep everything bottled up Jay...I'm worried about you."

"I-I...just...thank you Zee."

"Don't thank me, you don't have to thank me for caring."

"But I do...Sometimes I feel like everyone has stopped caring, it's nice to know that you still do."
Zack didn't say much after that, just sitting and comforting Jack as much as he could.

-

"Jack! I missed you!" Cass exclaimed. She and Rian had gotten to the party exceptionally late, a full hour after it had started.

"I know, I missed you too." He said, smiling weakly at her, silently willing her not to hug him though he knew she wanted to. He just still wasn't completely okay with physical contact, at least physical contact with anyone that wasn't Alex. And he'd had enough of being touched just from Zack wrapping his arm around him.

Cassadee smiled at him, avoiding the oncoming awkwardness as much as he could. "Hey...maybe you wanna get out of here? We could all go get some frozen yogurt, yeah?"

"That sounds great."
"Awesome, I'll get the guys."

-
Jack sat at the table he'd picked in the small frozen yogurt shop. His friends were all in line, Zack ordering for him.

He rather liked the way tonight was turning out. But he still wanted to call Alex and be picked up. Not necessarily because he didn't want to spend time with his friends, no he'd love to stay with them for a few more hours, but because being out was taking it's toll. At this point he felt like there were too many people around and he didn't like it at all. It didn't feel safe here and that was pretty unsettling for him.

"Hey guys...I'm gonna go soon..." Jack said, mustering up the most convincing smile he could. They'd all come back to the table with frozen yogurts in hand, all just getting settled into their seats. "I just don't really wanna be out right now...M'sorry."

"Its okay Jacky Boy, we understand." Cass spoke up after an awkward silence, everyone else in the group still trying to calculate words to say. And Jack knew it well from the expressions on their faces. Starting with a 'come on it's not even late yet' to, 'oh yeah, he's been through that' and then the confused expression that told him they didn't know what to say, whether to convince him to stay or simply let him go. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Wait, can't you just stay and finish eating with us?" Rian asked, not giving Jack a chance to respond to Cassadee.

"I guess, it'll take time for Alex to get here anyway." He shrugged as he pulled out his phone, beginning to dial his boyfriend.

Tonight was actually pretty okay all in all. His friends were a lot more understanding than he thought they'd be and he was grateful for it. Otherwise he didn't think he would have made it very far into the party. Or even leaving with them to the yogurt shop. Really he was just glad to have his friends, especially now. Maybe they didn't fully understand but they tried their damnedest to and that's why he loved them.

Notes

I am not proud of this chapter. But the next one may quite possible involve smut then two more after it. And then I'm done...unless I decide to write an epilogue. But that is still not a hundred percent.