Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

A couple weeks later, and Jack and Alex were further exploring their much-loved forest. They walked hand in hand, bright orange leaves crunching underneath their shoes as they strolled along an unfamiliar pathway. The trees made somewhat of a canopy above their heads, and Alex smiled to himself as he watched Jack take in the scenery. The older boy had his eyes attached to the sky, black hair flopping in front of them every once and a while, when he moved his head in a different direction. Eventually, Jack's eyes made their way back to Alex's direction once again, and he broke out into a grin as he made eye contact with his boyfriend.

"Why do you like to look at me so much?" Jack rose an eyebrow, laughing at how Alex visibly winced, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"You've noticed?" Alex asked, receiving a nod from Jack in response. "Well, to be honest, I don't really know. I feel like I'll learn more, the more I look. I don't know why I want to know so much, though."

"That's so sweet."

"Shut up."

"No, no. I'm not done with this yet." Jack laughed, pulling Alex into him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, as Alex pouted. "Does this happen to have anything to do with you staring at me during the first few days of school?"

"You noticed that?" Alex whined, chuckling in a defeated tone as he slumped against Jack.

"Of course I did. I saw you looking, I saw Sam talking about me, and when she introduced us, I knew you were into me. It wasn't that hard."

"Seriously?"

Nodding, Jack picked one of the few almost-neon shaded leaves left on a tree, and tucked it into Alex's front pocket. It looked somewhat like a handkerchief, except it was a leaf. Alex grinned, shaking his head.

"I just thought you looked interesting, alright?"

"I'm not complaining," Jack hummed, "I'm pretty lucky it turned out to be me who you were drawn to."

"I guess so."

"Y'know, these past couple months have been some of the best ever. I've always had great friends, but it feels like you were the missing piece. We do everything together that my friends would usually pass up on."

Instead of responding with words, Alex turned around quickly and wide stepped in front of Jack. He threw his arms up around the elder's neck, pulling him down slightly and into a hug. Stunned at first, Jack then let his arms wind around Alex's waist, a warm smile taking over his own features.

"You mean a lot to me."

"You do, too."

Later on, at Alex's house, Isobel was just finishing up serving the boys dinner when she remembered something quite important.

"Alex!" The woman chirped, catching her son's attention as he moved his gaze from Jack to her.

"Yes, mum?" Alex responded, curious as to why she seemed so excited.

"Have you told Jack the exciting news yet?" Alex's mother prompted her son, sparking the grin which soon appeared on his face.

"No, not yet." Alex answered his mother, before turning back to Jack. "My father's coming back next week, just a few days before Halloween, I believe."

"Oh," Jack nodded, "That's great."

"Yeah," Alex hummed, looking up as his mother was speaking to him again.

"I'm going out to shop for groceries now, make sure Jack gets home safely."

"Will do," Alex agreed, before turning his attention back to Jack once again, as his mother grabbed her purse and was out the door. "You look kind of bummed."

"I'm not," Jack shook his head, "Maybe just a bit tired?"

"I don't know," Alex shrugged, his eyebrows then creasing in thought. "You're not scared of meeting my dad, are you?"

"Uh, no," Jack tried, and just from that, Alex could tell he was lying. The next part of his speech was not really even necessary, but Alex let him have that one. "Not really."

"Jay, you don't have to be worried about him. Seriously, he's one of the kindest people I know. What's bothering you?"

"I don't know. It's just that, I'm already scared enough about my own dad coming back and finding out-"

"He's not homophobic, if that's what you're wondering. My father is one of the most accepting people I know. I don't think he knows of my sexuality yet, because I've not expressed it in any way, but he would never penalize me because of it."

Sighing to himself, Jack looked up at Alex from where his head rested on his arms, which were folding across each other on top of the table.

"I think hearing about your dad coming home is just reminding me about how mine will soon, too. And how I'm going to have to tell him about you."

"You don't have to tell him anything," Alex said, but Jack shook his head.

"No, I do. That's not fair to you."

"But, I understand-"

"No, Alex." Jack spoke firmly, taking Alex's hand in his own, and resting them on the table. "What kind of person does that make me? What does that show about how I'll be able to fight for you in the future?"

"We're just kids, Jay." Alex chuckled slightly, squeezing his boyfriend's hand. "You're allowed to be scared. Besides, you aren't even positive on how he'll react, right?"

"I guess not. But still, he tends to be a coward about these types of things. I'll be the coward, though, if I hide our relationship."

"Whatever you say."

Since he had no homework to do, which was a rare occurrence, Alex decided he would actually do something on Saturday night. He usually parted way with his friends quite early in the evening, either to get started on his homework, or to get to bed to be rested to do it the next day. Jack had asked if he was busy that night, because he was planning on hanging out with Zack and Rian. Sam had beaten Jack to the punch, though, asking Alex if he wanted to come over to her place with, of course, Marissa and Natasha. Since both groups had plans, Jack and Alex decided to part ways at Alex's house after helping Isobel put away the groceries. Jack had kissed Alex for just a tad too long on his way out for their exchange to go unnoticed by Alex's mother, but she was more worried about Alex's safety once again than anything else. Whilst Alex blushed once he noticed his mother walk past the front entrance, Jack simply laughed, letting Mrs. Gaskarth know he knew it was safe before he did that. Once Isobel's nerves were calmed, Jack bid his farewells to the both of them, and Alex's mother got ready to drive her son to Sam's house.

"This is so boring," Sam whined, flopping onto the couch next to Marissa. Alex and Natasha were sat on the floor below them, just playing around on their phones as Sam complained. "There's nothing to do!"

"Well," Marissa suggested, "We could play a game."

"What game?" Natasha piped up, looki. Back over her shoulder at her friends.

"I don't know, truth or dare?" Marissa answered, but when she saw Natasha roll her eyes, she added, "But not the lame kind. We'll do fun dares, and stuff."

"Better than nothing," Sam commented, sliding down onto the floor between the two.

"Sounds good to me." Alex confirmed, positioning himself perfectly between Sam and Marissa, as Marissa sat down opposite Sam.

The dares started off pretty simple, with Natasha daring Marissa to eat mustard, and Alex daring Sam to wash her hair with honey. Natasha thanked the heavens she had not received that dare, or else it would take forever to wash the sticky mess out of her long hair. Prank calls were also fairly popular, the purpose of them to see who could keep a conversation going with a stranger the longest. The group also prank called a few people they knew, too, which led them into picking 'truth' more and more. As dares became less interesting, learning each other's secrets became more fun. Eventually, the game made its way right over to where no one had wanted it to go, and the friends were asking each other embarrassing questions and laughing about them at the same time.

"Truth."

"Okay, Natasha, how far have you and Adam gone?"

Glaring at Sam, Natasha shook her head, before letting out a laugh. "I knew you'd ask that eventually. Fine, but we've only made out. It's not that interesting, anyway."

"Hmm," Sam thought, "And you've been together for how long?"

"Shut up!"

"Never!"

"Guys, guys, stop." Marissa laughed, turning to look at Alex. "How about you and Jack, huh?"

"Um,"

"Come on, Alex!" Sam chuckled, nudging her friend, "You have to tell us. It's part of the game."

"Aright," Alex sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. In no means did he mind telling his friends, especially because he knew Jack would not mind, but in no means did he want to be around for their response. "Hand jobs?"

"Oh my god, when?"
"Who first?"
"How did it happen?"

"That's not how the game works," Alex laughed, shaking his head. "I don't have to answer those."

"Okay," Sam shrugged, "We'll just get you when it's your turn again."

"I don't have to pick truth."

"That's so lame!"

Notes

hey guys!! it's been a while, so there will be another chapter up within the next couple of days. i want to thank Alltimegabi and ApathyForSympathy for commenting on this, and all of you for reading this <3

also!!!! i've made a tumblr specifically for writing, and it's likefireflies.tumblr.com. follow me, and i'll follow back all time low blogs. if you're blog isn't atl, just leave your username in the comments so i know you're from here, and i'll still follow you!

don't forget to comment, see you very soon :^)