Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

A few hours after Jack had fallen asleep, he woke up to Alex poking him in the side. As his eyes fluttered open, they took in the lights that weren't there before, as well as the food in front of him that wasn't, either.

"Did you put my tray down?" Jack asked, looking at Alex.

"Yeah," Alex nodded, reaching down into his bag to tuck everything away safely. He had all his food with him of course, and had just finished eating. "I didn't want them to skip you because you were asleep, but I didn't want to wake you. It's been a little while since then."

"Thanks, sweetheart," Jack smiled, looking through the meal in front of him. "Have you slept?"

"A little," Alex shrugged.

"'Morning, Jack," Marissa said from across Alex, and Jack waved sleepily to her in reply. He noticed the rest of his friends were awake too, and suddenly, a strange feeling made itself a home in the pit of his stomach. He didn't really like the idea of them socializing without him- No, that didn't sound right at all. Jack loved when Alex could interact with his friends without him. Narrowing his eyes some more as he stared down his row of friends, Jack realized where the feeling was coming from. It was stupid, though, because Max was far enough that he couldn't even speak to Alex. As Jack continued to glare into what seemed like thin air, he didn't notice Alex get up to go to the bathroom, nor did he notice Zack accompanying him. That left just he and Marissa in their section, and she took advantage of the opportunity.

"What are you staring at?" She asked Jack quietly, and he looked at her in surprise.

"Oh, nothing," he waved off the question, but Marissa wasn't having any of Jack's pretend cluelessness.

"He hasn't come over here," Marissa said softly, "And Alex hasn't left. You don't have to worry."

"How did you-" Jack asked, stopping himself and shaking his head. "No, nevermind. Everyone knows, except Alex."

"I think he might know," Marissa shrugged, "He just doesn't like it, so he pretends it's not happening."

"You think?" Jack asked, and Marissa sighed.

"Yeah. You have nothing to worry about, though." Marissa said, and Jack shook his head.

"I know Alex loves me," he smiled when he said this, and Marissa caught it. Although she liked seeing Jack happy, it made her even more glad to know that he liked one of her best friends this much, because Alex really did deserve it. "But I'm just worried about him, and what he'll do."

"Alex isn't stupid," Marissa explained, "He's not going to let Max anywhere near him if he doesn't think it's appropriate."

"I guess," Jack hummed, ending the conversation at a perfect time, because Alex and Zack appeared again seconds later. Alex took the opportunity to flip up the armrest between he and Jack before he sat down again, cuddling into Jack.

"We still have awhile," Alex sighed, "I'm bored."

"Watch a movie," Jack suggested, but Alex shook his head.

"Already did." He intertwined his fingers with Jack's over his stomach, shifting to rest his head on Jack's shoulder. When Jack didn't reply, he looked up to see what he was doing, only to see Jack looking straight back down at him. Alex raised his chin up, but once Jack caught sight of what he was doing, he backed up.

"No, 'Lex." Alex kind of snapped out of it when he said this, and then he almost looked ashamed. "Don't worry about it, babe. You know what? I'll go brush my teeth."

"You have your toothbrush?" Alex made sure, and Jack nodded.

"Believe it or not, I take it quite a few places. This just happens to be a practical situation." He said causally, and Alex snorted.

"Of course you do." Alex said, and Jack raised an eyebrow at this.

"I'm being safe," he shrugged. Alex smiled at him, kissing the underside of his jaw before Jack got up.

"I know, hon. Thank you." Alex was glad Marissa was turned the other way as Jack shuffled past her. It wasn't as if he minded sharing the details of his relationship, but he also didn't mind keeping some things private, including their banter. When Jack got back, Alex looked like an anxious child, waiting to eat candy or meet a puppy, or something of the like. Jack chuckled at his boyfriend as he sat back down, securing his arms around Alex as the blond fell back into him again. "I can't believe we're doing this together."

"Me neither," Jack sighed into Alex's hair, "It still doesn't feel real."

"I don't think it ever will," Alex comments, "Living in America is still weird for me. It doesn't feel like an entire new place, even though it's totally different. It's hard to grasp that it's actually that far away from England, because it just feels like it's next door."

"Maybe you haven't seen enough of either country for you to feel like the other isn't right there beside you." Jack suggests this quietly, closing his eyes as Alex takes a while to respond.

"I don't know if that's comforting or scary," Alex finally says. He thinks the conversation is over, until he hears a barely there whisper of his name fall from Jack's lips. He rested his head back on Jack's shoulder, and was met with Jack's eyes hovering over his. Before Alex had time to ask Jack what he wanted, Jack was pushing his lips to Alex's. He moved them slowly and softly, and Alex followed suite. Neither of them having enough energy to push it any further, not that they wanted to.

"D'you guys really have to do that in public?" Zack mumbled from down their row, but clearly didn't have anything else to say after Marissa pouted at him.

"Leave them alone," she said, "It's just us who can see. It's fine."

"Thank you, Marissa," Jack said, making eye contact with Zack over her head and sticking his tongue out at him. Alex and Marissa shared an amused look, not really in the mood to deal with their childish boyfriends at the moment.

When the plane landed, Alex's mood visibly shifted, he was less so excited than the others, but more delighted. Jack figured it was because he was home. It was cute to see, but it also kind of made Jack feel bad to remember that where he lived wasn't exactly home for Alex.

"You've been to London, right?" Jack asked, pretty sure of the answer. He just wanted to hear Alex talk.

"Of course," Alex chimed, "Plenty of times." As they followed their teachers throughout the airport, Alex explained where he used to live to Jack, in relativity to London. Jack learned that it wasn't that far, but that was because England was tiny in comparison to America. Once they were through security, they waited for their shuttle to their hotel. The plan was to stay there and rest for the night, as it was already quite late. Alex fell asleep on Jack's shoulder during the ride, and Jack had to try hard not to doze off himself, too.

When they got to the hotel, the rooms were given our easily. Natasha and Marissa were obviously together, as well as Jack and Alex, leaving Rian and Zack to paid up together. This left Max on his own, something Jack kind of actually felt bad about. Not too bad, though.

"'Lex," Jack mumbled, as the two boys lugged their baggage through the hallways. "We should make a group chat, or something. To let everyone know where to go if we want to hang in somebody's room, or something."

"Can we invite them here?" Alex asked, as Jack opened their room with a key card. Jack nodded, throwing his stuff down and flopping into one of the beds. Alex did the same, his phone in his hands. About ten minutes later, the rest of the group came over. Everyone looked about ready to pass out, but none of them wanted to waste a night they could use to hang out. In addition, Jack's birthday was the next day, and everyone wanted to ring it in at twelve with him. Too exhausted to think of any games to play, the group simply chatted, scattered throughout the room. When midnight finally swing around, everyone congratulated Jack with birthday wishes, before heading back to their rooms for well deserved rests.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" Alex asked, brushing his teeth in the bathroom as Jack sat on one of the beds.

"Yeah," Jack answered back. "It's going to be fun."

"Are you excited to know what your present is?" Alex posed another question, and Jack got up to meet him at the doorway of the bathroom.

"You got me a present?" He asked, and Alex laughed in response.

"Of course," he walked past Jack, "Don't be stupid, love. You'll see it tomorrow."

Jack shrugged, walking over to the two beds, where Alex was standing. "We're not going to use both beds, right?"

Alex laughed again. "No way."

Notes

hey! i did it! i wrote! from here on, i believe updates will be every other week, unless i can get my shit together even more.

in the meantime, i have some fun things to ask! i love giving feedback on stories, and i also love discussing my own stories with my friends who also read them, so i wanted to try it with you guys! here are some questions, if you want to have a lil' chat about theories and such:

1. What do you think Max's actual intentions are with Alex? Is everyone just overreacting?
2. How do you think Alex sees Max in return?
3. Do you guys want more Zack and Marissa? Does anyone have any ideas for something more focused on them on the trip?
4. Should I try to bring Rian and Cass alive once the whole trip thing is over, in your opinion?
5. How long do you guys think Max is going to be relevant in their lives? Do you see him becoming sort of a staple/significant friend?
6. If I say something 'big' is going to happen on this trip? What ideas does that give you? Who does it involve? What do you think will happen?
7. Any ideas for what should occur in the rest of the summer?

for a lot of these things, i already know what's going to happen, but i just want to see what you guys think. it's interesting! thanks for reading, and thanks to SophieGaskarth, Alltmegabi and ApathyForSympathy for commenting on the last chapter :^)