Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

"Stop touching me," Alex groaned, as Jack continuously tapped away at his knee with a pen. Stopping his motions, Jack rose an eyebrow in reply. They were sitting on Alex's bed, after school on a Thursday.

"Someone's cranky," he voiced, and Alex frowned.

"I'm just sad that we've switched classes. I'm terrible at chemistry, and I don't know anybody in my class. And now I have no classes with you. It sucks." Alex sighed as he spoke, and Jack shrugged.

"It's not the end of the world. We both have a free period at the same time. That's good, isn't it?"

"I guess," Alex nodded, "But, still. Rian has one at the same time, too."

"So?" Jack asked, and Alex shook his head.

"Never mind."

"No, I don't get it," Jack pressed on, "How does that make it different? If anything, having a free period together is better than having any classes together."

"Because it was just me and you in math," Alex mumbled, and Jack smiled.

"What was that?"

"Shut up. You heard me." Alex grumbled, and Jack laughed.

"Okay. What bothers you about that, though?" Jack pressed on, and Alex blinked at him.

"Nothing."

"Is it because you don't think we'll have time alone? Because Rian won't always be hanging around us, he'll have his own shit to do, too." Jack said, trying to convince Alex to be happier about the situation.

"I know," Alex replied, "It just kind of sucks."

"Oh, be quiet," Jack laughed, throwing his books aside. "C'mere."

"No," Alex responded, "You're making fun of me."

"I am not!" Jack laughed even more, "It's just cute." Frowning at Jack and looking back down at his paper, Alex was shocked when it was tugged out from beneath him, along with everything else on his lap. Instead, the items were replaced by Jack, himself. "We'll have good times, I promise."

"Get off," Alex said, resisting as Jack tried to push him down to the side. Jack won the fight, though, and Alex was soon laying on his back, kicking his legs to get Jack off of him as his boyfriend sat on his stomach.

"No," Jack chuckled, "Stop kicking."

"No," Alex repeated, "I don't like you."

"You're right, you don't. You love me," Jack giggled, leaning down and hovering his face over Alex's.

"No, you're gross," Alex grimaced, turning his head to the side.

"Oh really?" Jack asked, before he began tickling Alex. The blond could only handle several seconds of Jack's fingers jabbing into his sides before he was pushing the older boy off of him, in favour of rolling off of the bed. When his laughter stopped, Jack froze. "Shit, are you okay?" Leaning off the bed, he was met with yet another grumpy face from Alex.

"I hate you," Alex said, and Jack laughed.

"I hate you, too." He responded, climbing off of the bed to lie next to Alex on the floor.

"Hate you more," Alex sighed, before turning on his side, and tucking his face between Jack's neck and shoulder. Small kisses to the area of Jack's neck that lay below Alex's lips proved otherwise, though, and Jack smiled in response. Running a hand up and down Alex's back from his waist, Jack looked to the side, and nosed Alex's face up toward his. Alex was expecting Jack to say something, but instead, he leaned forward to press their lips together. Alex was okay with this, and he moved himself into a better position to kiss Jack.

"Why are you so down today?" Jack asked, punctuating his sentence with yet another kiss to Alex's lips.

"I'm not," Alex responded, and Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yes, you are," Jack said, "And it's more than just Rian."

"Fine," Alex sighed, "Maybe a little bit. I've just been thinking-" Jack kissed him. "-About stuff."

"What stuff?" Jack prompted him, bumping his nose with his own, and causing Alex to smile.

"It's not very important," Alex explained, "I've just been worrying about my future and all. Since we have to choose courses that affect us after high school, it seems so real now."

"Oh, shush." Jack laughed, wrapping his arm tighter around Alex. "You'll be fine."

"I know," Alex mumbled, "Do you ever think about it?"

"Sometimes," Jack nodded, "But I try not to."

"Where do you hope you'll end up?" Alex asked another question, slightly taking Jack by surprise.

"I don't know, maybe doing something to do with business. I want to keep playing soccer, though. And I want to keep you."

"I hope we can work that out," Alex hummed, and Jack nodded.

"Do you know where you want to go to college?" Jack asked. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Obviously not, I've only been here for six months, so I don't really know my options. Besides, I don't even know what I want to do. No more of this, okay?" Alex whispered, and Jack nodded, before Alex was pressing his lips to his once again.

Jack was once again met with a fairly common sight at lunch the next day. Alex was racing down the hall toward him, dodging other students as the paper in his hand flapped and creased from how fast he was running. This time, he almost actually stopped himself, but still eventually bumped into Jack when he slumped over tiredly.

"Jack," Alex breathed, "Look!" Taking the piece of paper from his boyfriend, Jack read the title, before looking back at Alex.

"Summer trip to Paris? What about it?" He asked, wondering why Alex would be showing him this.

"We should go," Alex said simply, looking up at Jack excitedly.

"Well, I mean, I guess it'd be nice," Jaxk reasoned, "We could probably get some of our friends to come, too, and we could work for the rest of the summer to pay back out parents."

"That's what I was thinking." Alex smiled.

"Wait," Jack began again, his grin falling, "But do you really think your parents would let you go alone?"

"Oh," Alex's face mimicked Jack's. "You're right. Maybe this was kind of stupid."

"No, sweetheart, not at all. You can still ask, yeah?" Jack tried, and Alex gave a small nod in reply.

"I guess so." Alex mumbled, and Jack sighed.

"Don't get all sad on me now," he pouted, "Do you want to come over?"

"Sure," Alex nodded, and Jack closed up his locker, before taking the blond's hand and leaving the school with him.

When they got to Jack's house, they tossed their bags upstairs into Jack's room, before Jack was dragging Alex around to find his mom. Jack found her in the laundry room, and he pulled Alex in as he began to talk to her.

"Hey mom," he greeted, "Alex found out about a school trip to Paris at the beginning of the summer, and I was wondering what you thought about it." Jack could feel Alex glaring at him at his side, but he ignored it as he waited for his mom to respond.

"And who would be paying for this?" She asked immediately, and Jack was ready to answer.

"We'll get jobs when we get back. We can talk more about that later, but what do you say?" Jack continued, giving his mother a hopeful look.

"I'll talk to your father tonight," she concluded, "It does seem like a good opportunity. It depends on who else is going, though."

"Alright," Jack grinned, "Thanks, mom." Leading Alex back upstairs, Jack was surprised when the younger boy was still frowning as he threw himself onto Jack's bed. "What's wrong now, grumpy?"

"She's going to ask my mom about it, you doof, and I have no idea how I'm going to ask about it yet." Alex raised an eyebrow at Jack, but Jack simply waved him off.

"So? Who cares. I'll tell her not to. You should ask soon, though," Jack said, "And I'm going to text Zack and Rian about it. You should ask Natasha and Marissa."

"Good idea," Alex nodded, pulling out his phone.

"Think about how cool it'd be if we actually got to go," Jack went on, and Alex smiled, moving closer to Jack when he sat behind him, the taller boy's back against the wall.

"Think about all the cute pictures we could take," Alex added, resting his head on Jack's shoulder.

"Now I'm just thinking about how cute you're going to look in general," Jack thought out loud, and Alex was glad Jack could not see his face, because his reactions were always so embarrassing whenever Jack said things of the same nature. "Really, though, you're right. It'd definitely be one big giant date."

"And we'd get to share a room," Alex added, "It wouldn't be against the rules. If anyone tries to argue, you're the one who knows the most about my allergies. I need you there."

"This just keeps getting better," Jack pressed a kiss to Alex's temple, "I really hope it works out, especially with your parents. They're going to have to let you be on your own eventually."

Notes

ahhh i'm so sorry this took me so long to post!!!! i've finished school with a crazy week, and somehow this got pushed all the way to the end of the week :^( i hope you all were excited for it!

also, a little update as per usual: i posted an update of my old chaptered fic Lady and the Tramp last week!

thanks for reading, and thanks to Costati and SophieGaskarth for commenting. love you guys!!!