Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Jack woke up early on the thirty-first of December, making breakfast and taking time to revel in the fact that that would be the last time he would do so that year, before heading over to Alex's house. He had spent his day prior with Zack and Rian, who had reminded him of their plans for New Years Eve. Rian was hosting a party at his house, and Jack, knowing Alex would be asleep and not on his phone, wanted to get to his boyfriend's as fast as he could, so he could be the first person to snag the blond's company for the evening.

Mrs. Gaskarth answered the door with a content smile, welcoming Jack in calmly and resuming her position in the living room. Jack padded up stairs quietly, opening Alex's door ever so carefully, before peeking his head in. In front of him he found Alex sleeping quite soundly, which was surprising, since he was usually an early riser. His hair was a mess, as were his sheets, and Jack smiled at Alex, pulling his phone out of his pocket to take a few pictures of his boyfriend before waking him up.

"'Lex?" Jack whispered, chuckling lightly when he got no response. Alex must have gotten to sleep quite late, because it was nearing the afternoon, and he was still out like a light. "Alex," Jack tried again, kneeling beside the bed and sitting back on his heels as he tapped Alex's arm lightly.

"Hmmph?" Alex grumbled, shuffling to pull his blankets up higher, all the while not opening his eyes yet.

"Hey," Jack breathed, leaning forward to kiss Alex softly on the tip of his nose. The knowing smile that formed on the younger boy's lips made Jack smile in return, as it was obvious Alex was aware of who had entered his room.

"Hi," Alex mumbled, opening his eyes ever so slightly as he said, "Why're you here?"

"Do you want me to leave?" Jack chuckled, not putting up much of a challenge, but still anticipating Alex's reaction.

"Nooooo," Alex whined, "Stay. I love you. Come here,"

"M'kay," Jack laughed, standing up fitting himself over Alex and into the space beside him, "Love you, too."

"Seriously, though," Alex asked, after turning around, "'S'up?"

"It's New Years," Jack started, as Alex nodded. "Rian's having a party, and I was hoping, if you didn't have plans-"

"Yeah, yeah. 'Course, I'll join you." Alex grinned.

"You had no plans?" Jack asked again, wondering how Alex's family must have felt about their son spending their first New Years in a different country away from home. "That's good, I guess. And Rian said we could come over whenever to hang out and set up, so I guess we could go soon."

"Nope," Alex shook his head. "And sure. To be honest, my mum told me to wait and accept any invitation you offer me."

"Really?" Jack smiled amusedly, "And how did that conversation go?"

"Terribly," Alex laughed, "It was fine, until I thanked her and asked why, which is where she mentioned me getting my first New Years kiss. It's always weird when she brings up stuff like that. Not weird because it's a weird subject, but weird because she's my mom."

"Oh, yeah," Jack hummed, taking their conversation back down a notch. Alex would have thought there would have been at least a little bit of mocking, possibly a couple jokes on Jack's part about his plans for Alex, but Jack surprised him by switching to a serious note. "It will be your first, won't it?" Alex simply nodded in response, wanting Jack to go on. "Man, I really am lucky."

"Oh, shhh," Alex rolled his eyes, moving to get up finally, when Jack pulled him back by the wrist. He placed a kiss on Alex's cheek, telling him to go get ready for their day, and that he would stay there, no matter how long he took. Alex disagreed, saying that it would probably be a better idea to go down stairs and join his mother, and Jack agreed.

"How's your morning been, Jack?" Isobel asked her son's boyfriend, as she prepared a cup of tea for him.

"Nice, thank you," Jack responded a moment after, taking the cup from her with a smile and she sat down at the table across from him.

"What're your plans for tonight?" Mrs. Gaskarth wondered out loud, and Jack shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not really sure. My friend Rian is having a party, so I think Alex and I will head over there," Jack explained.

"Sounds lovely," Alex's mother nodded, before placing her own cup down and folding her hands, looking intently at Jack. "Listen, Jack, I want to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Jack asked, with a raise of his eyebrows. The use of his name added a sense of importance and urgency to the woman's sentence, and Jack noted that it was something that Alex also did quite often.

"About Alex, and parties, I really want you to watch him." Isobel began, watching Jack nod at her words.

"I'd expect nothing less for you to expect of me," Jack countered, earning a smile from Alex's mother.

"A sweet boy, you are. I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated, though." Mrs. Gaskarth continued. "I know you've taken Alex to parties before, and about drinking-" Before Jack had a chance to respond, the woman snatched Jack's attention right back up. "I know there's alcohol at parties, hon. I don't live under a rock. I just want you to take care of Alex, because it's all so new to him. He grew up not really ever doing much, with only few, reserved friends, and I don't want this sudden change of surroundings to mess anything up for him."

"I understand," Jack nodded, "Totally."

"And his allergies, too," Isobel sighed, "My gosh, he worries me. He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself, but two pairs of eyes are always better than one. Please make sure he's making good choices about what he eats and drinks, okay?"

"No less," Jack nodded, "Not one bit."

Alex came down stairs at that point, eyes searching for Jack as Jack's were glued to him. There was something about Alex that looked different; he looked more put together, his hair was neater, his clothes fit better, and he was generally one of the most beautiful things Jack had ever seen. It took the older boy a moment to realize what he was thinking, and he chuckled softly at his own mind. It was like in the movies, where somebody walks down the stairs, causing somebody else to become completely breathless. Except, Alex was not even wearing anything super fancy. Alex was just Alex, and Jack loved him for it.

"Alex," Jack called, "Wait, I think I left something upstairs."

Alex turned around with a nod of his head, as Jack quickly took his cup to the kitchen, saying goodbye to Alex's mother as he followed his boyfriend up the stairs.

"What'd you forget?" Alex asked, turning to Jack as they were finally back in the safety of his bedroom. Without answering, Jack leaned forward, closing the gap between he and Alex as he kissed the blond's lips, waiting until Alex has a chance to join in, before he pulled back again.

"That," Jack smiled, watching as Alex rolled his eyes with a light laugh.

"Alright, Romeo. Let's go."

By the later end of the evening, Rian's house was bustling with people Alex had never seen before. Of course, he knew Jack, Rian, and Zack, as well as Marissa, Sam, and Natasha. Jack told Alex to invite the three girls once they had made their way to Rian's, suggesting that it would make the party even more of a great time. Alex concurred, and he texted all three of them, delighted when Marissa explained how they had plans to just hang out on their own, and would love to come to Rian's party. Alex was also excited about them coming, as Natasha had finally brought her boyfriend, Adam, for them to meet. He was nice, just as nice as Natasha, and Alex was happy that they had found each other.

When the clock was nearing midnight, large groups had dissipated, leaving Jack and Alex sitting on the floor in the corner of Rian's kitchen, while Marissa and Zack stayed chatting at the kitchen table, and everyone else that they knew were spread out over the various sofas in the living room connected to the kitchen. Of course, there were more people everywhere else, but Jack was just glad that his best friends were in somewhat of a close proximity to ring in the New Year with him.

"I want them to date," Alex whispered, nodding at Marissa and Zack, as he leaned his head onto Jack's shoulder.

"It would be cute, wouldn't it?" Jack grinned, leaning down to press a kiss to Alex's cheek. "It's almost midnight, babe."

"Mm," Alex nodded sleepily, "You have to kiss me."

"I will," Jack laughed, and Alex giggled in response. Jack could tell he was tired, but he just hoped he had had a good evening in total.

As midnight finally rang through the air, emphasized by the loudest of cheers, Jack saw people all around leaning into each other, even Marissa and Zack went in for a tiny peck, which made Jack smile. Deciding to focus on what was important to him at that point, he placed a finger under Alex's chin, leaning his boyfriend's face up softly to connect their lips for the first time that year.

Notes

yo! i forgot to update for FOUR days, sorry!!! i rly hope you guys are liking this, lmk what you think. something big is coming in this story, too, so stay tuned for that! lots of drama is on the way >:^)

also, this is kinda sad, but i'm making my way to chapter 50, and i don't really know where i'm going with this. i might be gone for a bit once i hit that chapter, but you guys may not even notice, since i might have already sorted it out by the time i even get to posting chapter 50. i'm also going to start working on [url=http://http://www.mibba.com/Stories/Read/589119/Ocean-Avenue/1/]Ocean Avenue[/url] again! lastly, i'm even thinking about writing things other than jalex.......... (janiel)thanks for reading and thanks to Alltimegabi and Alex_thelion99 for commenting <3 <3 <3