Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

“Can we go to a grocery store or something?” Zack asked his friends, walking along on the sidewalk in the middle of their group. From behind him, Jack hummed in agreement.

“Yeah, that's a good idea. If we're staying in tonight, it'd be nice to get some stuff.” Jack voiced, and the rest of the group agreed. Their first full day in Paris was their free day, so they spent it shopping. By the time the afternoon had rolled in, everyone had found a couple things they liked. Jack mostly enjoyed the experience of it all, though, because it included holding hands with Alex. He couldn't tell if it felt so much more special because they were in Paris, or because he really, really felt like flaunting it in front of Max at the moment. Alex seemed quite delighted as well, giving Jack small smiles whenever the taker boy squeezed his hand in admiration.

Once they were able to find a store to buy some food and whatnot, Jack had an idea. He was with Rian and Zack, aimlessly walking around, while the girls, Alex, and Max were looking for actual food that would be beneficial to their night. “Hey,” Jack said to the two other boys, “We can totally buy alcohol here, right?”

Rian shrugged. “I think so. You might have to be over eighteen to buy some of this stuff, but it's worth a try.” Zack nodded along with what Rian said, and Jack stopped to think. Luckily for him, his boyfriend came wandering down the aisle by himself, and Jack decided to ask Alex his thoughts.

“Alex,” Jack greeted, and the blonde looked at his expectantly. Nodding at the shelves, Jack asked, “Should we get something?”

Alex’s eyebrows immediately scrunched together. “They told us not to, Jack. You could get suspended for this if the teachers find out. We're not allowed.” By this point, Zack and Rian had shuffled away, off put when they had heard Alex’s response to Jack.

“It's fine,” Jack waved him off, “They won't find out.”

“I don't care,” Alex argued, standing tall in front of Jack. He wanted him to actually take him seriously. “I don't want you to do it.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at that. “Well, I'm going to anyways.”

Alex’s facial expression visibly went from angry, to sad, to furious, before eventually stabilizing on a passive look. “Fine,” he said monotonously, “I don't care, but don't expect me to be involved tonight.” With that, Alex turned away, leaving Jack dumbfounded yet determined.

Jack ended up buying a bottle of something he knew was hard liquor, but not really sure which exactly. Rian had been right, he wasn't asked for identification at all. Excited to maybe actually have some sort of a party that night, Jack emerged back into the streets with his friends, but was taken aback when he noticed Alex was completely ignoring him. The younger boy was walking near the back of the group with Max and Natasha, clearly avoiding Jack. Jack looked at Marissa questioningly, and received a raise of her eyebrows in reply. He was pretty sure she knew, Alex probably already told her.

Once everyone finished up their final little bits of shopping, they decided to go back to their hotel. The group stood briefly in the lobby to decide where they would all be heading, and Rian and Zack’s room was the chosen location. Marissa and Natasha had deemed their room to already be too much of a mess, and neither Max or Jack and Alex offered their rooms. This was partly because Jack felt no authority to do so; the only time Alex put into looking at him was filled exceptionally well with quick glares. When Alex confirmed that he and Max just wanted to hang out briefly before heading to bed because they weren't really in the mood to party, Alex’s warning of uninvolvement sprang clear back into Jack’s mind. He really wasn't joking about dissociating himself from Jack. Jack didn't say anything to Alex as the blond left with Max, and he was glad to at least not have to go back to their own room without Alex.

“Jack,” Zack asked his friend about an hour later, “Is Alex still mad at you for buying the alcohol?” Zack was the first person to bring up the subject of Alex not being there. Scattered around the room, the five friends were just listening to each other chat, laughing and eating whatever snacks they had bought earlier that day. Jack’s purchase had already been opened and well-consumed for some time. Zack’s question turned all heads toward him, including Jack’s.

“Uh,” Jack grimaced from his place beside Rian on one of the beds, “I think so. There'd be no other reason.”

“Seems kind of stupid,” Marissa contributed, and everybody looked mildly confused. Marissa was usually in support of Alex, and even she noticed the inconsistency in her opinion. “He's not usually so uptight. It's unlike anything I could see him being really angry about.”

Jack grunted, and everybody could take an easy guess as to why. It was common knowledge in the room that Jack wasn't fond of Max, and they were all thinking the same thing. The new student had probably taken the opportunity to sway Alex away from Jack for a bit, taking him for himself.

“Maybe you should go back to your room,” Natasha suggested, “Check if he's there. He said he was only staying out briefly, didn't he?”

Rian nodded in agreement. “Yeah, just go talk to him.”

Jack thought this was a decent idea, but he had been trying to keep his next confrontation with Alex off of his mind. He had no idea what to say to him. He tried to think of things to ask or state or plead when making his way through the halls, but little did he know he wouldn't need to. Since Alex had their only key, Jack knocked on the door softly. It was kind of pathetic, sounding just like how he felt. He wasn't alone, though.

“Hi,” Alex croaked, opening the door slowly. He had tried to clean himself up before letting Jack in, but it hadn't done much. It was evident that he was in the middle of crying, and Jack’s heart fell when he caught sight of his distressed boyfriend.

“Oh, ‘Lex,” Jack gasped, his voice quiet and shocked. He wrapped his arms around Alex, burying the other boy as he kicked the door closed behind him. “What happened?”

It took Alex some time to form an answer. Normally, he would have chuckled at the way Jack stumbled once he'd had him grasped in his hold, knocking them against a wall. Instead, he spent a couple minutes sniffing into Jack’s shirt, his back angled awkwardly and annoyingly against the wall behind him. “You were right.”

“About what?” Jack questioned, leaving no time after Alex’s admittance. He realized he had to give Alex space, mentally only at the moment, but he surely didn't have to give himself space to reply. Alex looked like he didn't want to say anything. Their was a sense of regret in his eyes, and Jack kissed his cheek softly, then resting his own cheek against Alex’s and closing his eyes. “You can tell me anything.”

“I know,” Alex said, and Jack smiled softly. The confidence in Alex’s latest response was enough to make up for the mystery in the rest of the conversation, because it sat where it mattered- in Alex’s trust in Jack. “About Max, I mean.”

“What?” Jack asked. He understood what Alex was talking about, since it was all he had thought about lately, but he had no idea how his suspicions could have been confirmed to Alex.

“He told me he loves me,” Alex said dully, cringing as if to prepare for whatever Jack’s reaction was. He expected yelling, he expected crying, he expected both anger and jealousy; what he did not expect, however, was laughter. Jack laughed for a solid minute at the news Alex had relayed, and by the end of those sixty seconds, Alex had forgotten why Jack was even laughing, and just began to admire the other boy. He admired the sound of his voice, the way his eyes squinted as he laughed, and the shape his mouth took on as he made the sounds.

“Of course he loves you,” was the first thing Jack could finally put into words. Alex was somewhat taken aback. Jack elaborated. “You're amazing, Alex, and I knew he saw the same thing I did. I told you, and I was fuckin’ right, wasn't I?”

Alex nodded. “I'm sorry, Jack.”

“No need to be sorry, baby,” Jack kissed the tip of Alex’s nose, grinning at him.

“Not just for now, though. For earlier, too. I don't know what got into me,” Alex explained, “It wasn't a really big deal. I just didn't want you to get in trouble, and something in the back of my mind told me Max would have a heyday if you did.”

“Whatever,” Jack shrugged, “No more talking about him. No more talking about anyone that wants to fuck anything up for us.”

Alex chuckled. “I don't get how today could have turned so sour when we're in such a perfect setting. I had such nice plans, too.”

“What kind of plans?” Jack asked, immediately noticing a change of tone in Alex’s voice. It was less apologetic, and more confident.

“Even if I had come with you guys earlier,” Alex said softly, “I don't think we would have stayed long.” They were hanging on to each other much less tightly now, and Jack looked down between them, before looking back at Alex.

“Who says your plans are ruined?” Jack says smoothly, and Alex bites his lip to stop himself from grinning madly. “I'm going to spend the time with you that you deserve, and then I'm going to go kick somebody’s ass.”

Notes

whenever my life is unstable, this story thrives. it's currently 4:30 in the morning, i haven't slept, and i most definitely have school tomorrow. i hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you thought- i promise i'm going to try super hard to make the next chapter good. thanks to Costati for commenting, and thank you all for reading!