Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

"Y'know," Jack mentioned to Alex, on the next Saturday afternoon, "This would be so much easier if we could drive."

"Wouldn't everything?" Alex sighed in agreement, huffing as the chair he was dragging got stuck on a pump in the sidewalk. The two boys were carrying furniture they purchased at a nearby thrift shop into the forest, figuring using new furniture would be a waste. They were leaving the items out in the woods, after all. Even though their mediocrely-build fort now had a piece of wood for a door with a lock attached to it, each of the boys having a key, they were still unsure about spending too much money on it. They were only in high school, too, so that was another reason why money was an issue. Besides, the mismatched chairs and table they had picked out had character.

"We still need to pick up snacks, too. Ones that won't go bad." Jack remembered, and Alex nodded.

"Why don't I do that? It'll probably be easier. You can go get the keys we forgot at home."

"Yeah, good idea." Jack hummed. It was pouring rain, and neither of the boy's hoods were providing them with much protection. They figured it would be best to get everything into their spot as fast as they could, so they could hang out there for the rest of the day. "I'll meet you there, then."

Alex beamed after Jack pressed a kiss to his cheek, and he watched as the other boy dragged his own chair in the direction of their houses. The table they had bought was already placed inside their fort, and the chair was not too heavy, so Alex could make do while he bought snacks. The pair sure did look funny, though, lugging furniture throughout the town on such a miserable looking day.

Jack met up with Alex back in the woods about half an hour later. Alex already inside, lounging on a bean bag and munching on some potato chips. They had added the bean bags a couple days prior when they had added the door, and the space was feeling a million more times cramped than it did before. There was no room to move around at all, but it was nice to not have to constantly sit on the floor. Jack flopped down on to the bean bag next to Alex's taking some chips from the bag and saying,

"Now what?"

"I don't know," Alex hummed, "There isn't much to really do right now."

"Let's talk instead, then."

"I thought you didn't like talking? You seem to want to do a lot more of it, lately."

"I never said that," Jack smiled warmly as Alex rested his head against his shoulder, "I just said, sometimes, it doesn't work."

"Well, let's try it out again, then."

"Sure. How're you? Your friends? Family?"

"Everyone's good," Alex sighed happily, "Everything sucks a lot less than it normally would at this time of year."

"Tell me more about that."

"Well, um, I never really had this many friends at once. Marissa, Sam, and Natasha are really nice people. So are Zack and Rian, even though I don't know them that well, yet. And I'm obviously glad to have met you, too, of course." Alex explained, the smile on Jack's lips causing one of his own.

"I'm glad your move has been pretty easy with you, because I'm glad you came here, too. For so many reasons." When Alex looked up at Jack expectantly, he continued. "Because of you, I've seen Sam and her friends a lot more, which is nice. Zack and Rian are also really happy to have someone else in our group, too. And so am I, it's great. You're great."

"This is getting a little too sappy," Alex admitted, and Jack laughed along with him.

"Yeah, I guess so. Sometimes sappy is good, though."

"Sometimes," Alex agreed, putting down the bag of chips he was holding and looking up at Jack once again. The older boy leaned down in response, his palms going to Alex's cheeks as he slotted his lips between Alex's. It had become sort of a routine that, whenever Alex wanted a kiss from Jack, he would just look at him. He trusted Jack to know whether or not it was safe or not, so Alex never made the first move. Jack expressed similar amounts of fear about Alex's wellbeing to Isobel and Peter's, so Alex knew he could definitely put all of his faith in Jack.

A few moments later, Jack mumbled something against Alex's lips that he could not quite figure out.

"Mm?" Alex asked, backing up a tiny bit.

"Uh, I- uh," Jack muttered, for speaking up, "I wanted to know if you'd be my boyfriend. Like, for real. Since you look like you're having a good time." Okay, maybe that was not the best thing to say.

Alex burst into laughter in response, but tried to quiet himself down before Jack got the wrong idea. Jack simply stared on as Alex composed himself, before the blond was finally able to chuckle, "Of course, Jack."

"Why did you laugh at me?" Jack pouted, and Alex giggled again.

"I think it's funny when you can't talk around me. You get all stuttery and you say stupid things, and it's really cute."

"That's mean!"

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is." Jack disagreed jokingly, "Besides, you're cuter."

"Whatever you say," Alex hummed, wrapping his arms around Jack's waist, and snuggling his head against his now-boyfriend's chest.

"Are you free tomorrow?" Jack piped up, after a few minutes.

"Of course. What would I be doing?" Alex joked, and Jack grinned.

"Let me take you out on a date, then. A real, nice one."

"Alright, but what can we do?"

"I don't know, we can go to a movie?"

"Alright."

The next day was not nearly as rainy as the day before had been, but it was much, much colder. It was the type of cold that made your mouth burn when you were chewing minty gum, or when you had just brushed your teeth.

Jack walked over to Alex's house at around seven o'clock in the evening, just after Alex had texted him he had just finished eating dinner. he and Alex had both agreed on seeing one of the new superhero movies, since it was something they were both interested in. They walked hand in hand to the movie theatre, and they were both bundled up well. Jack had on two hoodies, while Alex only had one, but mittens, as well.

Jack had offered to pay for Alex's ticket, so Alex thought it was only fair he bought their snacks. Jack had refused, but Alex had refused his refusal. Alex ended up buying two drinks and some candy, since neither of them were really hungry. During the movie, Alex and Jack held hands between their seats, the armrest pushed up so they could lean against each other. They did not do anything else though, since they both actually wanted to see the movie. Jack pressed a couple kisses to Alex's forehead, but their eyes were glued to the screen for most of the movie's duration, as they could always make out later.

After the movie, Jack offered they go to his house. Alex gave him a funny look, but he just squeezed the younger boy's hand in response as he said, "My mom's not going to hate you, don't worry."

Once Jack delivered a few more reassurances to Alex, the blond finally called his mother to let her know he would be walking over to Jack's house with said boy, and she could pick him up there later on. Alex still had his cup in his hands as they strolled back to Jack's house, and after only a few minutes outside, he was shivering.

"Why don't you let me carry that for you until we get back?" Jack asked, shrugging off his jacket, "And take this, too."

Alex nodded in response, murmuring, "Thank you," as Jack kissed him on the cheek.

"No problem, baby."

When the pair finally arrived at Jack's house, Alex was glad the older boy had a key, so there would not be an awkward door introduction. Jack led Alex into his house by the hand, taking him into the kitchen.

"Mom, this is Alex."

"Hi, sweetie," A woman around his own mom's age said to Alex, and Alex smiled and waved at her. The similarities between her and Jack were quite interesting, and she seemed very inviting, but Alex was still grateful when Jack then pulled him upstairs to his room.

"So, when do you want to tell our parents?" Jack asked, flopping down onto his bed. "I feel like they probably have suspicions, but it's up to you."

"Doesn't matter," Alex shrugged, taking a seat next to him. "Maybe you should meet my mom, first, though. Then we can decide what we'll do."

"Sounds great," Jack grinned, tugging Alex down to lay next to him. "This is so great."

Notes

thank you guys for reading, please please please don't forget to comment, vote, and check out my new story Tiny Dancer :-)!!!