Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

"Alex, we need to go."

Jack tried to stand up, but Alex was latched onto his from behind, preventing him from getting off of the bed.

"No," Alex said, squeezing around Jack's middle, his legs on either side of him. "I don't want to go yet. I'm tired."

"I think everybody is," Jack laughed, "But if you wanted to get some sleep, you should have came up here early on your own last night." He turned to face Alex, sitting sideways as Alex finally let go of him.

Alex sighed, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry. I guess that it's just because I've been here many times, so it's not super exciting. It feels early enough that I'd rather just stay here."

"That's probably it." Jack nods, "But you're still going to have fun, right?"

Alex hums in agreement. "Although, I don't know if anything we might do today could be better than last night."

It was quite a confident thing for Alex to say, and Jack could tell Alex knew this as he delivered it. More and more these days, there was higher sense of sureness in everything Alex said to Jack, and he was becoming more honest and upfront. Jack rather enjoyed it. "Too bad," Jack laughed, standing up and heading over to the door. "You've had enough."

Alex sighed, but he got up and followed Jack into the hallway anyway. He knew they had to go, and he wasn't serious about staying behind, but it was fun to play with Jack. Letting Jack know he was equally interested and enjoyed their time together on his own was a lot nicer for Alex than only complying whenever Jack brought it up. He never felt bad for it, although contemplating it several times throughout their relationship, but it was nice to see some progress in his own attitude. Alex took Jack's hand as they made their way to the elevator. "In all seriousness, I think last night was my favourite."

"We've only had two nights here, 'Lex." Jack says this with a goofy smile, but Alex shakes his head as they get into the elevator.

"No. I mean out of every night we've spent together. Or, sometimes, not night. Y'know." Alex is saying this the same way a middle schooler would, partly because the elevator door could open at any moment, but also partly because it's different than just talking about sex. Sex was common in teenage relationships, but Alex knew the way Jack treated him that morning was pretty rare. Although Jack often liked to joke around, whenever he went into those sort of moods, it kind of shocked Alex. Not because he didn't think it was real, but because it felt too passionate to exist in that moment in time, yet somehow it did. The way Jack admired him was something special. Alex was grateful for the soft touches and delicate words Jack had to offer at these times, the tender way he dealt with what could easily be awkward transitions making everything worth it. It made Alex scared to lose Jack. Of course, he wanted his boyfriend to grow up and have the best future for himself, whether he was included in it or not. He would be okay with not being in said future if that's how it had to be, but he couldn't comprehend someone being in his place. He was only sixteen, and Jack seventeen, but he didn't want the other boy loving anybody else the way he loved him.

"Oh," Jack said, "Oh."

"Yeah," Alex hummed. Jack didn't say anything else until the door opened into the lobby, and they walked over to their friends. Everyone looked quite sleepy, and were keeping to themselves, so Alex was left to deal with Jack's silence. Just when he was beginning to think he may have felt something that didn't even exist, Jack spoke quietly.

"I think it was mine, too." He said simply, and Alex's face broke out into a grin.

"Did you feel it too?" He asked. He felt kind of stupid at that point, like a teenage girl in a movie, but the way Jack pulls him into his side, his hand resting on the small of his back, makes it all feel less cheesy.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did." Jack mumbled. Alex leaned his head onto his shoulder, and he looked perfectly content. Jack was beginning to like the whole lovesick puppies thing they had going on. It made the trip feel like some sort of a honeymoon, for absolutely no reason. "Feels like I don't even need'a say I love you anymore."

"I know," Alex breathed in even more of a whisper, since the teacher began giving instructions. "It's just there. In the air, somewhere."

Their conversation ended there, and they walked in a comfort silence to the bus as they begin their day. On the bus, Alex took a moment out the time he spends being focused on Jack to notice that Marissa was sitting with Zack today, instead of Natasha. Natasha was sitting with Max, and Rian was chatting with them from across the aisle. This was all happening behind Alex, whereas Marissa and Zack were across from him and Jack. Alex leaned over Jack to get a better look at his friend. He was going to ask Jack something, but Jack beat him with something else, instead.

"Do you think they've fucked?"

"Jack!" Alex laughed, "I don't understand how you can be so blunt. I was going to ask if you know anything knew with them."

"Zack doesn't tell us shit. Do you know anything?" Jack shrugged.

"Nope," Alex sighed, "I haven't gotten to talk to her much on this trip. Maybe I'll ask her about it later today. I don't think I talked with anyone about anything yesterday, since everyone was sort of in awe." Alex was still looking over at Marissa, and he smiled when he noticed she was holding hands with Zack, their hands rested on the seat between them. They seemed like they were in a casual conversation, so Alex decided he wouldn't bother her yet. Instead, he snuggled into Jack, and prepared for what the teacher had described as a rather long bus tour of the same place he used to call home.

The group was given some time to go shopping before their flight to Paris later that night. They decided they would all stay together, since nobody was looking for anything specific. As they were walking down the street, Alex left Jack's side and sped up to Marissa's pace.

"Hey," she greeted him, and he smiled in return.

"How was your night last night?" Alex asked, curious about what the rest of his friends did.

"It was good," Marissa explained, "We all stayed in Zack and Rian's room for a bit. Actually, there was something I wanted to tell you." Alex looked at her in a confused way, so she kept talking. "Well, uh, when we got back, everyone was wondering if you were, like, sick or something, since you wanted to go back to your room. Natasha and I sort of started laughing, though, and then everyone kind of figured out... including Max. It was really awkward."

"Okay," Alex chuckled, shaking his head. "Ew, no. I don't want you talking about that with other people. How did you even know?"

"Because I heard you in the elevator, idiot. Your boyfriend coming to my room this morning with a hickey the size of Jupiter didn't help your case, either." Marissa said, with a raise of her eyebrow. Alex felt sort of defeated at that point, and wanted to stop talking about his sex life for the rest of the day.

"So," Alex moved on, "What's going on with you and Zack?"

"I've gotten to know him really well lately," Marissa grinned.

"How well?" Alex asked, the intonation in his voice giving away what he was really asking.

"Your such a boy, Alex. Why do you need to know?" She asked, and Alex gawked at her in reply.

"Why do I need to know? You can pester me about Jack every single time you think we do something, but I can't ask you about your boyfriend? Wait, it he even your boyfriend?" Alex's train of thought eventually stopped, and Marissa just laughed lightly.

"Yeah, he is. He officially asked me or whatever a couple weeks ago." Marissa confirmed.

"How come you didn't tell me?" Alex asked.

Marissa nodded in reply. "I don't know, I didn't really think it matters. And nothing else has really happened, besides that."

"Do you want anything to?" Alex asked, guiding her thoughts. He was acting as less of an opposing force at this point, and was actually doing a good job of helping Marissa get her feelings out. At this point, they were walking quite a bit further ahead than the rest of their friends, so Marissa felt like she could let it out.

"I'm kind of scared, to be honest."

"What? Why? Zack's a nice guy," Alex commented.

"I know. I just don't really know anything, and I'm kind of scared of people finding out. I don't really like that kind of attention." Marissa explained, and Alex hummed with understanding.

"I used to be that way," he said, "But Jack kind of helped me to realize it doesn't matter, in either sense. If Zack really does care about you, you guys will go into it and through it together. If anyone finds out, it doesn't matter. You two are dating, for pete's sake."

Marissa looked really pleased with what Alex came up with. "Thanks. I'll try to remember all of this."

"Good," Alex said happily, "Now let's go back and you can hold hands with your boyfriend!" He said it in a mocking tone, as if he was in the fifth grade and didn't have one of his own. All Marissa can do is roll her eyes fondly in reply, because Alex will always be good at reverting back to acting like a child at any time.

Notes

good evening! sorry i'm a bit late this week;m, i'm trying really hard to update weekly again so i literally just wrote this. it's kind of a filler, a little boring, i hope you don't mind? stuff will start happening soon!

thanks to SophieGaskarth, Alltimegabi, Costati, and ApathyForSympathy for commenting on the last chapter :^)