Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

"I'm going to kill him."

"No," Alex whispered, his voice still quivering slightly. He didn't like the way Jack spoke; anger was at the core of Jack's sentence and he sounded so sure of himself, yet he was calm and determined. It was almost frightening. "Not now, Jack."

"Why the hell not?" Jack asks, looking above Alex's head. Once he was finished fussing over Alex, his words became empty. He was focused on somebody else. Alex noticed his arms go from soft to rigid, and he tried to get Jack's attention again.

"You're going to make a scene," Alex tried, "A couple people were already staring at us. You can't get into a fight on the Eiffel Tower, Jack."

"I don't care," Jack said, tone icy as he continued to scan the area for Max. It took all of his strength to not let go of Alex and check the other side of the tower.

"Can you look at me, please?" Alex asked softly, his hand going up to Jack's cheek and guiding his face toward his own. He had to make a connection somehow.

Jack's mind was so far elsewhere that he almost snapped at Alex, until he saw his boyfriend's face again. Jack's features softened when he saw the hurt look on Alex's face. He remembered Alex was the reason he was so pissed off in the first place. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Alex sighed, "I understand. I think you deserve it." When Jack gave Alex a questioning look, he explained himself. "You're allowed to be angry. I'm not going to stop you later on. Just not here, love. You need to calm down, okay? Please."

Slowly, the corners of Jack's mouth lifted, until he was giving Alex a full blown grin. He was ecstatic, Alex was on his side now. Being able to confront Max again with Alex's support was worth the wait, Jack decided. "Alright, 'Lex."

"Good," Alex smiled in returned, leaning in to give Jack a hug. Into his shoulder, he asked, "Can we stop wasting our time here, now?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded, putting his arm around Alex and taking him back to the group. Zack was the first one to notice them.

"Everything okay?" He asked, and Jack chuckled. Meanwhile, Alex wrapped his arms around Jack's middle, leaning his head on Jack's shoulder and trying to not think about what had just happened. Everybody was focused on them by now, but Alex just wanted to be alone with Jack.

"We'll talk about it later," Jack said, "So, have you and Marissa taken any pictures in the kissing spots?"

Zack grinned, while Marissa answered for him. "Actually, we have. I believe it's time for you and Alex's turn."

Jack looked down at Alex, raising his eyebrows. When Alex nodded in response, Jack looked back up at Marissa. "Sure, take the picture for us?"

Marissa directed them over to where pink words were painted on the glass walls, indicating this was, in fact, a place to kiss. She held the camera up while Jack leaned down and kissed Alex softly, taking the picture with a roll of her eyes. They weren't even touching each other. "Come on, you guys can do better than that."

"You don't want to remember being sad when you look at these pictures," Jack reminded Alex, speaking quietly. "Please try to forget about it."

Alex nodded, standing on his toes and wrapping his arms around Jack's neck. Jack's arms wound around Alex's waist, pulling him in. They tried again, their heads tilted more the second time, a hint of a smile on either of their faces. Rian wolf whistled in the background, and Jack would want to kill him if he wasn't about ready to murder somebody else.

"Much better," Marissa said, satisfied with the picture. "Come look at the city with us, now."

They spent the next little while taking cute and funny pictures of each other, talking about how cool it was that they were on the Eiffel Tower, looking down at Paris. It felt unbelievable, yet completely freeing and also a bit romantic. Alex had completely forgotten about the incident earlier, until it was time to go and Max showed up to their group as they were about to walk back down the tower.

"Don't look at him." Alex instructed Jack, "Don't even think about talking to him."

"Relax," Jack said casually, "I have a plan."

Alex raised his eyebrows, but accepted the hand Alex held out to him nonetheless. They stayed connected for the rest of the day, Alex feeling great comfort from Jack's protective stance. He usually thought it was pretty funny, but right then he needed it.

Deciding it was best to have a little chat with Jack before they went upstairs, Alex pulled Jack aside in the lobby. Everybody else was still down there with them, besides Max. They had gotten back to the hotel at around nine o'clock, so they still had some time to hang out in each other's rooms. Alex knew where Jack was going, but he wanted to make sure it didn't get out of hand.

"Promise me you won't actually kill him, okay?" Alex asked, "Be as angry as you want, but don't go overboard. Keep your hands to yourself."

"What the fuck?" Jack asked, his eyebrows scrunched together. "No fucking way."

"Can you at least try?" Alex pleaded, and Jack sighed.

"You're lucky I love you. Although, I suppose, we wouldn't be in this situation if I didn't."

Alex smiled softly. "I'll be in Marissa and Natasha's room, okay?" When Jack nodded, Alex spoke up again. "One last thing, take Rian and Zack with you?"

Jack rolled his eyes, but nodded in reply. "Yeah, sure." He leaned down to kiss Alex's cheek, pulling him into a hug and squeezing him tightly before letting go and heading over to his friends. Alex watched them go, before going and sitting with Natasha and Marissa.

"Are you going to tell us why you were crying now? And why you have a bloody knee?" Marissa asked right away, and Natasha looked at her disappointedly.

"Give him some time, Marissa." She sighed, before looking at Alex. "Just sucks seeing you like this all day and not knowing, you know?"

"Yeah," Alex nodded, taking a deep breath. "Max kissed me when I was alone with him."

"Holy shit," Marissa gasped. Natasha started at him blankly.

"How did he do it?" Natasha asked, sounding rather confused. "Have you spoken to him?"

"He caught me off guard," Alex said, "And no, I didn't even speak to him when it happened. I ran. I also fell, which explains my knee."

Both of the girls nodded. "Are you ever going to talk to him about it?"

"Maybe one day," Alex persed his lips, "But not now. That's Jack's job, apparently."

"They're going up there now?" Natasha asked, and Alex nodded.

"That explains why you and Jack were so clingy today," Marissa said, giving Alex a look of sympathy. "You looked like you needed it."

"I did," Alex said, his face falling. He didn't want to cry. "I still do."

When the girls spotted hints of tears in Alex's eyes, they immediately took him upstairs, making him change in his room before coming over to theirs. In comfortable clothes, they settled down on Marissa's bed, watching videos on her phone with Alex between them. They did a good job distracting him, until there was a knock on the door. Marissa stood up to answer it, and the three other boys walked in casually, sitting in the chairs in the corner of the room. Alex made sad eyes at Jack from the bed, pouting until Jack motioned for him to come over. Alex did, and Zack got up when he noticed. He knew when his friends needed to be together. Besides, he had no problem going and curling up with Marissa. With them beside Natasha, and Alex sitting with his legs stretched out over Jack's beside Rian, they made Natasha and Rian out to be extreme third wheels. Of course, nobody was thinking about that.

"So, what happened?" Marissa broke the silence.

"I hit him," Jack said simply, and a couple people laughed. Alex looked at Jack questionably.

Rian, one of the people chuckling, explained. "He didn't even give him a second to explain. Once Max opened the door, Jack's fist flew."

"Got him right in the eye and nose, too. Bruised eye and bloody nose. It was kind of cool." Zack added. Marissa raised her eyebrows at him, and he shrugged, pulling his arm tighter around her. Although it was a selfish thought, he was glad he wasn't in Jack's position.

"Then what?" Alex asked.

"I sort of freaked out. Like I ran to the bathroom and got him a wet cloth while screaming at him." Jack said, grinning.

"But what did you say?" Alex asked.

"He called him every name in the book," Zack laughed, "And there were a lot of 'fuck you''s."

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "And then I told him it'd be worse if he ever touched you again."

"You don't think he's going to go to the teachers?" Natasha asked.

"No," Alex answered. "He's a bitch, not a snitch." Jack high fived him for that one.

Fingers gently tracing the bandage he assumed Alex had gotten from cleaning his wound with Marissa and Natasha while he was gone, Jack sighed. "So, guys, it's our last night. What should we do?"

Notes

yo! what do y'all think of what's going on in the story? how do you think alex should deal with max the next time he sees him?

in other news, i finally finished my uni apps, things are looking brighter, and of course i got another chapter out this week due to my pretty good mood! also, i love christmas :^)