Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

"We should go ice skating," Jack suggested, having thought of the activity in the spur of the moment. "It'll be fun."

"There's a skating rink near here?" Alex asked, following Jack out of his room, down the hall, and in front of a large closet.

Jack began shuffling through racks and piles of clothes as he answered, "Yeah, but I haven't gone in years."

"Oh," Alex replied, "You're lucky. I didn't have one where I grew up."

"Does that mean you've never ice skated before?" Jack chuckled, and Alex shook his head. Upon realizing Jack could not see him, though, he spoke up.

"Nope."

"Well," Jack decided, "That's perfect, then. It'll be fun."

"If you say so," Alex shrugged, accepting the jacket and mittens Jack was handing him.

"You can just borrow these," Jack explained, "We don't need to go back to your house."

"But I have to go get my money, anyway."

"No you don't," Jack laughed, "I'm taking you out, remember?"

"Fine," Alex said with a roll of his eyes. "How are we going to get there?"

"Are you up for walking?" Jack proposed, and Alex nodded.

"Sure."

After a few more minutes of Jack running around his house to gather up a few more things, he and Alex were out the door. When Jack had met Alex in the foyer, he had an expression on his face that made Alex question what just happened.

"What's wrong?" Alex puzzled, confused as to why Jack looked so unsure all of a sudden.

"My dad asked where I was going," Jack sighed, closing the door before taking Alex's hand in his own.

"And?"

"And," Jack repeated, "I told him."

"I'm guessing he made some sort of comment?" Alex said, his thumb brushing back and forth over the back of Jack's hand in support.

"Not exactly. He basically just stated what I said in a more blunt, rude way, and then said, 'Oh,' when I nodded."

"Do I want to know how that sounded?"

"Probably not." Jack grumbled. "I don't care what he says to me, but I don't want you hearing any of it. That's not fair."

"What do you mean it's not fair?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "We're in this together. I deserve to know, Jack."

"It's not fair because he's my father. Yours is perfect," Jack huffed, "And he's wrong, anyway. You don't need to hear it."

"I'm not a baby," Alex argued quietly, "I know what people can say."

"Hey, no," Jack shook his head, stopping on the sidewalk to step in front of Alex, and taking his other hand. "I know you're not. I just don't want you to have to deal with this. You can understand that, right?"

"I can," Alex hummed, "But I want to be there for you, too."

"And you always are, but I don't need your support for this right now. If it gets bad, I'll definitely let you know, but all it's really doing right now is making me a bit pissed off. Nothing I need to pull you into." Jack punctuated his sentence with a quick kiss to Alex's lips, before resuming their walk once more. "How's school going for you?"

"Alright," Alex hummed, "I've been studying quite a bit lately, but nothing's really been that hard."

"How're your friends?"

"They're okay, I guess. We haven't been hanging out that much, since the semester is ending soon."

"Same here," Jack nodded, "We should invite them next time we do something."

Alex agreed, adding "Yours, too."

The pair reached the ice rink after only about a dozen or so more minutes of chatter, and Jack held the door open for Alex with a goofy smile on his face. Alex, in turn, mumbled a, 'thank you,' in reply, his cheeks tinted red even though Jack was acting in a silly, laid back manner. Jack paid for both of them and brought his and Alex's skates over to a bench, motioning for Alex to sit down.

"Do you know how to tie them?" Jack asked, as he began to do up his own skates.

"I can try," Alex shrugged, but after a few minutes of Jack being finished and Alex still struggling, Jack bent over to help Alex with a laugh.

"There, you're all set."

"Let's stand up together."

"Okay," Jack smiled, lifting himself off of the bench while also holding Alex's hand. They were a little wobbly at first, but they soon got a hang of it, and were able to walk over to the rink entrance. The actual ice, though, was a different story. Alex went on first, with Jack following behind. The blond moved his feet with one of his hands gripping the wall on the edge, and he was able to glide a few feet down the side. Jack, meanwhile, was only able to get one foot on the ice before he fell.

"Jack!" Alex spun around, a grin taking over his face when he took in the sight before him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jack frowned jokingly, extending a hand out to Alex. The younger boy looked at it for a moment, before deciding he could definitely make it over to Jack, and skated almost perfectly over to where Jack sat on the ice. There were a few stumbles involved, but Alex was able to help pick Jack up again, and Jack was very impressed.

"I think you lied about never having done this before," Jack commented later on, when the two boys had already spent about an hour at the skating rink. "You're so good!"

Alex giggled in response, his lighthearted laugh putting a smile on Jack's face, but causing the darker haired boy to trip for the millionth time. Whenever he got distracted, he lost his balance. Jack was not amazing at ice skating, which made sense, since it had been a while. He could veer away from the board on the side by that point, but still shook quite a bit, and had a tendency to grab onto his boyfriend. Alex, on the other hand, became a pro in only minutes, becoming familiar enough with the ice to be the one teaching, instead of being taught. He was nowhere near a professional, but he trusted himself enough on his own two feet. "I'm not lying."

"Sure," Jack winked, before asking, "Do you want to stop now? We can go get a drink now, or something. Hot chocolate, mayb- Wait, shit, no, I'm so sorry. Fuck."

"I don't think I'm the one who wants to stop," Alex said smugly, "But sure, that sounds great, and don't worry about it."

"You're such a brat. C'mon, babe."

"I am not!"

Jack and Alex found themselves in a small café across the street not a long while later. Although it was only November, Christmas decorations were everywhere, and everyone was in the mood to be in the mood for the holiday. It made the atmosphere around the couple quite nice as they drank their tea, until something occurred that Alex was not expecting. As he and Jack were talking, he spotted Sam out of the corner of his eye. She was with another girl, who he presumed to be from her soccer team, as they were both wearing their gear. Alex caught her eye contact easily, and sent her a small wave, before she spun her head in the other direction. Moments later, her and her friend were leaving, with not an acknowledgement to the boy.

"Hmmph," Alex mumbled, his face dropping into his arms, which were crossed on the table.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Jack. I saw Sam a moment ago, but she didn't wave back, is all."

"Maybe she didn't see you," Jack shrugged, seemingly unbothered by the gesture, or lackthereof.

"I doubt that," Alex said with a roll of his eyes, "This isn't the first time. What's funny is that I'm sure she'll act perfectly fine at lunch the next time we see each other."

"That doesn't seem like her," Jack puzzled, "Talk to her about it, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

"I will."

Jack walked Alex home after they finished their drinks, with Alex making only a small bit of fun at Jack over their skating experience. It was quite a surprise to both of them, Alex's unsuspected talent, but they were both just glad they had a good time. Jack kissed Alex goodbye in front of the door, his hands on Alex's cheeks to keep him warm for the last few seconds he was outside, before the bid their goodbyes. Jack was just heading down the stairs when Alex flung the door open again, pulling him back up to the porch by his hand and giving him one final kiss.

"I needed one more."

Eventually, the days got shorter, and much, much colder. November soon turned to December, as as the stress from school heightened, winter vacation became clearer up ahead. The prospect of two weeks of fun left not only Jack and Alex, but all of their friends, in cheery moods throughout the entire first two weeks of the festive month. Everybody was so excited for the break, that Alex's birthday was somehow able to sneak up on them.

Notes

HEY GUYS OH MY GOD I AM RLY EXCITED B/C I ACTUALLY REACHED MY GOAL FOR WRITING OVER THE BREAK!!! I'M WORKING ON CHAPTER 41 NOW??? WHAT???

TO CELEBRATE THIS ACHIEVEMENT I WILL UPLOAD NEXT WEEK'S CHAPTER A LIL EARLY LIKE MAYBE ON SUNDAY OR MAYBE I WILL EVEN DO TWO THIS WEEK BUT THAT'S ONLY IF YOU GUYS LEAVE ME A LOT OF COMMENTS BECAUSE I'M THIRSTY AF

TO RAISE THE STAKES EVEN HIGHER THE NEXT CHAPTER HAS SMUT IN IT IF THAT'S SOMETHING YOU FANCY EVEN THOUGH I DON'T KNOW WHY IT WOULD BE B/C I'M ACTUALLY TERRIBLE AT WRITING IT!!!!

ALRIGHT THAT'S IT THANK YOU FOR READING AND THANKS AGAIN TO Alltimegabi AND Alex_thelion99 FOR COMMENTING I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL BYE :^)

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