Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

The next week flew by faster than the snow fell, and soon, it was Christmas Eve. Jack's family had a tradition of eating Christmas dinner with their entire family on Christmas Eve, and since Alex had no other family in America, his family decided they would make a nice dinner on Christmas Day. These arrangements served as obstacles between them seeing each other on either night, as they were both expected to be home at separate times. Of course, they could see each other in the mornings, but Jack would not accept that. He wanted to spend at least one of the evenings with Alex, and obviously not wanting to barge into Alex's home, he begged his mother to let him invite Alex to their dinner.

"Mom?" Jack asked, coming up behind his mother as she was preparing dinner.

"What?" Joyce replied, too busy bustling around the kitchen to stop and give her son her full attention. "Move, Jack. I don't want to spill anything on you,"

Stepping backward and turning on his heel, Jack walked to the other side of the kitchen, hoping his mother was still listening to him. "Can Alex have dinner with us tonight?"

Jack was expecting his mother to carry on with what she was doing, maybe mumble a simple, 'sure,' but instead, Jack's mother stopped what she was doing and looked her son straight in the eye. "Are you sure about that?"

"Sure about what?" Jack asked, slightly annoyed. Whenever it came to Alex, his mother was always asking him if he was sure of his decisions, and he was only realizing the pattern now.

"If you want our whole family to know," Jack's mother elaborated, leaning against the counter.

"Mom," Jack sighed, walking over to his mother, "We've talked about this,"

"I know, I know," she cut in, "I just don't want you to make a decision you'll regret. What if you're over this in a couple months, but everyone doesn't believe so?"

Trying to keep calm, Jack looked his mother in the eyes this time, trying to speak in a way that she would not just dismiss as teenage attitude. "This isn't something that's ever going to go away, mom. I will like whoever I like for the rest of my life. And regardless, does it really matter what the rest our family thinks? Don't you care about me being happy?"

"Of course I care about you being happy," Joyce frowned, pulling her son, who was quite a bit taller than her, into a quick hug. "You know that."

"Then why are you so bothered by this? I'm pretty sure it's affecting you more than it would any of you or dad's siblings, or their children." Jack questioned, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, Jack. I really don't know. I'm trying, okay? Alex is welcome here, always, so he can come tonight if you would like. I do like him, but it's just taking your father and I a while to get used to it." Jack's mother spoke quietly, and for the first time ever, Jack could sense guilt in her voice. From this, he believed she was trying to let go of her opinions learned in the past, and for that, Jack was grateful. He also noticed her frown at the mention of his father, and from that, Jack could guess he was not trying as hard as his mother was. He knew his father was always welcoming to Alex, too, but if his father saw anything he did not want to see, Jack was pretty sure he would never hear the end of it.

"Okay," Jack nodded, "Thanks, mom." Jack decided he would invite Alex over in person, so with that in mind, he ran upstairs to get his coat, before making the walk to Alex's house.

Alex was still in his pyjamas when there was a knock on the door. He had been eating breakfast with his family, and around Christmas, they all usually wore themed pyjamas all morning. His pants were decorated with snowflakes, candy canes, and the like, and he really hoped it was Jack at the door, because he really did not want anyone else seeing them. When he opened the door and was met with Jack's smiling face, jacket zipped up all the way past his chin, Alex was surprised he even considered it could have been anyone else.

"Hey," Alex chimed, "Come in,"

Simply nodding, Jack followed Alex inside, before taking off his coat and taking in the warm air. "It's very cold."

"I bet," Alex laughed, "What's up?"

"You look cute," Jack nodded at Alex's pants, and Alex rolled his eyes.

"Okay, sure, but why'd you come?" Alex rephrased his question, "Let's go upstairs."

"Because you look cute," Jack answered again, giving Alex a cheeky smile when the shorter boy turned around, an eyebrow raised.

"How would you have known?" Alex played along, "You didn't see me until you got here. What if you had been wrong?"

"Impossible," Jack shrugged, and Alex accepted that for an answer, giggling in reply. "Along with that, I also wanted to know if you'd come eat Christmas dinner with my family tonight."

"Really?" Alex asked, taking a seat on his bed and motioning for Jack to join him. "I'm allowed?"

"Yep," Jack nodded, "You get to meet my cousins and stuff, too. That is, if you want to, I mean."

"Sure," Alex shrugged, "But-"

"My mom knows you're coming," Jack chuckled, "She'll have food for you, don't worry."

"Thanks," Alex mumbled, a blush rising on his cheeks. The way Jack, and now his family in extension, took care of him always made his heart flutter.

"No problem, 'Lex." Jack smiled, leaning over and kissing his boyfriend on the cheek.

"What time is dinner?" Alex asked, watching as Jack pulled out his phone to check the time.

"It's ten right now, and you'd probably want to be there at five. Wow, that's seven hours. My mom told me to be home by three." Jack answered, glad he had some time before he had to go back home and help his mother with dinner.

"Stay and watch movies with me," Alex suggested, bouncing off of his bed and reaching a hand out for Jack. "Please?"

After spending the entire afternoon with Alex, Jack returned home just in time to help his mother set the table. He listened intently to her instructions, trying to remember where she wanted everything, and he did a pretty good job of actually executing it. Not long after, the food was done, and his family was slowly trickling in through the door. Three other families would be coming, each with a couple kids, mostly around Jack's age. It was his mother's side of the family, so it was her two sisters and one brother who showed up, specifically. Each of them had two kids, which differentiated Jack's own family with three children from the rest. Alex showed up last, not late, but not early like mostly everybody else. Jack was hoping this would not happen, but it did, and he had to deal with it.

"Who's this?" One of Jack's aunts asked, as her nephew returned back from the door with the shorter, blond boy behind him.

"Alex," Jack shrugged, his eyes darting across the room, trying to look anywhere besides at another person, "My boyfriend."

"Oh," she replied, "That's nice, honey. It's nice to meet you, Alex."

The same type of greeting went for each member of Jack's family, and he let out a breath of air each time, wondering why he was so uptight about coming out when everyone else seemed to let it slide. The dinner went by without any problems, and Jack again wondered why he thought there would be any in the first place. Alex was an absolute sweetheart, his family was by all means willing to get to know him, and nobody shamed Jack in any way he had been hoping they would not. Alex had a grand time, too. He got along with Jack's cousins, and talking to them was a lot less nerve wracking than he thought it would be. He was glad he was comfortable, because he could tell how uptight Jack was at the beginning of the evening, and he wanted to be calming for the older boy.

Alex's mother dropped Alex off at home at the end of the night. As they drove the short distance, Alex whispered into Jack's ear. "Come over tomorrow morning, okay? I have something for you,"

"You too," Jack murmured in response, "I'll be there."

"Great," Alex grinned, and Jack leant down to kiss him. It was the first kiss of the evening they did not have to be wary of, even though Joyce was in the front seat. It was dark, though, not that she would have made a comment anyway.

"Goodnight, Alex." Jack waved him off as the pulled into the Gaskarth's driveway, watching as Alex hurried to his front door to escape the cold.

The next morning, Jack made his way over to Alex's as quickly as he could, once he was finished opening presents with his own family. A tiny box clutched in his hand, he knocked on Alex's front door, sighing with relief as Alex opened it quickly.

"Hurry," Alex laughed, already in the living room as Jack was shutting the door behind him, "I'm excited to show you what I got you,"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Jack said, hiding the box behind his back as he followed Alex.

"Here," Alex said in a hurry, thrusting a medium sized box at Jack. "Open!"

Doing as he was told, Jack smiled warmly, leaning over to kiss Alex's lips as he unwrapped the scarf Alex had got him.

"I tried knitting you one," Alex explained, "But I didn't get very far, so I got you this one instead. It reminded me of your favourite soccer team, because of the colours. Do you like it?"

"I love it," Jack nodded, "And I love you."

"Love you, too," Alex smiled, eyes lighting up as Jack presented him with his own gift.

"For you," Jack nodded, handing him the small present.

As Alex unwrapped what Jack had given him, he became more and more curious, until he was finally able to open up a tiny box, which revealed a delicate, silver necklace. The charm was a small, simple stone, and Alex was already ecstatic about it, before Jack said, "Turn it over."

Upon looking at the back side, Alex noticed a tiny 'J.' "'J' for Jack?" He asked, bright eyes flashing up to his boyfriend. When he received a nod in response, he chuckled lightly. "Of course you wouldn't get me an 'A,' you had to get me your own name."

"Because you're always going to know your own name," Jack explained, "But I don't want you to forget mine."

"Thank you, love," Alex grinned wildly again, "It's beautiful."

"Are you sure it's not too-" Jack tried, stopping when Alex interrupted him. When he was looking around for Alex's gift, he was not sure if what he was buying was too 'girly' or feminine. He knew Alex would have found that to be a load of bullshit, confirmed by what Alex said next, so he bought it anyway.

"Oh, shut up. It's perfect."

Notes

hello! hopefully i'll be able to find a direction for this story soon, because i'm on like chapter 47 and idek what i'm doing. let me know what you think so far!

thank you to Alltimegabi, RestInPiece, ApathyForSympathy, and Alex_thelion99 for commenting, and thank you allllllllll for reading :^)