Lovestruck

Jack Barakat didn't mind elementary school. He didn't mind waking up early in the morning, he didn't mind learning about new things, and he definitely didn't mind playing outside. He didn't particularly enjoy some things, though. Jack didn't enjoy how long the school day was, or how the work seemed to begin to get harder for him by the sixth grade, and in no way did he enjoy the mean teachers and annoying students. Nevertheless, he was able to tolerate all of these things. The only part of school Jack absolutely loathed was Alex Gaskarth.

Although classes were mixed around every year, for some odd reason, Alex and Jack were always kept together. It would probably be in everyone's best interest if they weren't, but then again, they would just see each other at recess and lunch, anyway. Perhaps it was some ploy by the teachers to force them to get along, or maybe the staff of their school didn't even notice their hatred for each other.

It started out small, with the two little boys giving each other death glares in kindergarten, when Jack would raise his hand to go first, even though he knew Alex wanted to. The way Alex always tried to sing over Jack during the national anthem in assemblies may have also sparked it, as did all the times Jack stole the toys Alex was playing with.

Their relationship existed of simple bantering for quite a few years, until about the second grade, when things began to get physical. The first time Alex hit Jack was when the younger boy cut in line in front of him as he was waiting for his turn on the swings. It was a quick punch, delivered to Jack's shoulder, but he wasn't having any of it. He spun around. shouting at Alex before shoving him to the ground. There was a supervisor nearby, luckily, so their first physical fight could not escalate any more. Both boys were sent to the office, once again giving each other death glares from across the room.

The second time they got in a physical fight, it was because Alex nabbed one of Jack's fries as he walked past his desk during lunch. Obviously, Alex had been jealous of how Jack's mom had brought him McDonald's that day, and saw no better solution than what he did. Jack stood up in his chair abruptly, stomping around his desk before sliding in front of Alex and delivering a punch right to his face. Alex returned the favour, slapping Jack back in the same area, after cowering back a bit. The teacher was out of the room, so they continued to hit each other for quite a bit longer, until some other kids told on them.

Of course, with two big personalities in the room, competition got tough. Especially when you absolutely hated your competitor. Fourth grade was when things got even tougher for Jack and Alex. By then, they had figured out the art of personalized name calling. Obviously, names like 'stupid' and 'butt head' were passed around between the young boys from an early age, but it wasn't until they figured out how to hit home, that the insults actually began to sting. First, Jack somehow figured out that Alex was born a year earlier than everyone else in their class, but because his birthday was in December, he was held back a year. Jack taunted him about this endlessly, until Alex finally got fed up with it, and found something about Jack to made fun of. He always sneered at Jack's face, making accusations about the little boy's nose, just because it stuck out the smallest bit more than everyone else's. Jabs like this, about things neither boy could help, were swung around constantly from that day.

By the time the pair reached high school, they still hadn't made up. Their feud moved along with them, following Alex and Jack into bigger halls and classrooms. They were still constantly sending each other to the office, bruised shins and black eyes still being regular occurrences. The verbal fighting didn't wear down either, it was common for each of the boys to publically humiliate each other in front of their groups of friends.

Somewhere in the middle of elementary school, for some odd reason, both boys were able to pick up best friends. Jack became friends with a boy named Zack, because their names sounded cool together, and because Zack was bigger and taller than a lot of the other kids, meaning he could help Jack deal with Alex. Zack never agreed, though, always telling Jack it was his fight, and that there was no way he'd intervene. Alex found a kid named Rian, who was the perfect partner for everything. Rian tended to act like a parent when it came to his fights with Jack, though, even lecturing Alex about his behaviour from time to time. Oddly enough, Zack and Rian didn't hate each other. They were even somewhat friends. The two boys were always civil on the playground, no matter how much their best friends told them not to be.

As high school rolled around, so did Jack and Alex's parent's interventions. Although they weren't particularly fans of each other, since their sons regularly abused each other, they decided it would be in everyone's best interest of they tried to get their sons to get along. In no way did this mean going near each other, because although neither family condoned the violence, it was almost as if their son's feud had continued up to them. They did make comments from time to time at home about maybe being the bigger person once and a while, and they explained to the kids why what they were doing was wrong at group meetings in the school office.

Naturally, the push and pull from authority didn't phase Jack and Alex, and they continued to downright hate each other all the way into where they were now, twelfth grade. Their friends had become fed up with their behaviour, and turned to just ignoring it. They ignored the shoves in the halls, the grunts of anger when one saw the other, and the way they still personally attacked each other. Even though every insult ended in an injury, neither act ever stopped.

Funnily enough, neither boy bothered the other about their sexualities. They both been nervous about coming out, scared of the other's harsh words. Both Alex and Jack had kept it a secret, but their covers were blown at the exact same moment. It was in tenth grade, when they both had dates at the same movie theatre, for the same movie, at the same time. Alex was on a date with a boy he had met at his music school, while Jack was on a date with a boy he had met at the skate park. Alex was a singer, and the other teen from his classes was a guitar player, so they were often paired up. Jack, meanwhile, only met his date because he usually just sat and watched at Zack skateboarded. Alex and Jack locked eyes immediately when they noticed each other from across the lobby, both of their eyes flicking down to the other's hand, which were each holding their date's. This was the only confrontation where no names were thrown or hits were made, because both boys understood nothing could really be said.

As usual, the silence didn't last for long. When Jack saw Alex talking to a different boy at school the next day, the walked past the pair on his way to his locker, casually dropping a comment about Alex being a slut. Alex retaliated in his usual way, chasing after Jack and hurting him somehow. This time, he decided to kick Jack in the back of the knee, causing the younger boy to fall to the floor. Although their romantic relationships soon ended, their hate-filled one with each other continued to thrive, all the way until almost graduation.

It was April, and it was supposed to be sunny, but the weather obviously didn't listen to anyone. Almost the entire school had plans to go out in the sun, but when it started raining at the end of the school day, everyone's plans were ruined, especially a certain couple's. Drizzles turning to showers, and showers mixed with thunder. Eventually, lightening came along, and it really wasn't anyone who was stuck outside's lucky day... Except for Jack and Alex, perhaps.

"Wait, so you're telling us they survived because they were holding hands?" Jack's father asked doubtfully. He wasn't freaked out because his son Jack had been holding hands with another boy, he was confused at the least, because that other boy was Alex Gaskarth.

"That's what I just explained, sir," the boy's doctor sighed, collecting up his papers. "Because they were doing so, they shared the impact of the electricity." Turning to Jack and Alex, where they sat silent on separate hospital beds, the doctor added, "You two seem to be just fine. You can go home, but don't hesitate to come back in if you feel ill anytime soon."

With that, the doctor was exiting the room, leaving two awestruck families left to deal with an odd situation.

"Alright," Alex's mother said, trying to be calm, We better be on our way, then."

"Actually," Jack's older brother spoke up from across the room, "I think they should explain themselves."

Jack's mother was about to scold her son for bringing up the idea, when Alex's father shook his head. "No, that's an excellent idea. What do you all think?"

The entire group nodded their heads in unison, as Jack's older sister crossed her arms, prompting the pair of teens. "Boys?"

It was a common thing for both Jack and Alex to ignore the rules. That's why, when the school's staff told all of the students to go home, the pair headed out in the rain, hand in hand. They often talked quite a bit on their little escapades, discussing how wrong they've been and how hard it's going to be to reveal the truth. Their discussion was cut short when they noticed lightening hitting not far away from them, though, so they began running home. Still hand in hand, Jack and Alex were shocked both metaphorically and literally when a lightning bolt hit them both. They were still holding hands throughout the entire thing, and even after the event. Fortunately, an old woman had been looking out of her window at the time of the incident, and called an ambulance for the boys. That's how they ended up in a hospital, with a story to tell their friends later, and a story to tell their parents now.

Their relationship didn't start in a very conventional way. It was the beginning of their first year of high school, on a pretty warm day for September. School was let out early, but both Jack and Alex hung around after the bell to chat with their friends. Once they were the last two students left outside, though, they finally decided to pay attention to each other. Jack walked over to Alex first, cornering him against the school walls as Alex spoke.

"Fuck off, you loser."

"Wow, good one," Jack laughed, shoving Alex back against the wall. Alex retaliated quickly, kicking Jack in the knee. He didn't expect the darker haired boy to fall forward, though, breaching both of their personal areas.

"Get the fuck off of me," Jack spat, and Alex scoffed in response.

"You're the one who fell on me, you dick."

"No, I fucking wasn't," Jack argued back.

"Yeah, but," Alex tried, his voice trailing off. Their argument was forgotten when the brunet noticed Jack staring at him, from where he still hadn't moved yet.

"Um," Jack mumbled.

"Do you maybe wanna..." Alex tried again, his eyes flicking down to Jack's lips, just like Jack had done to his own only moments prior.

"Yeah," Jack nodded, but he still didn't move. As much as he wanted to, he didn't want to be the one to give in. He had been pushed into the position he was in, but he wasn't moving forward any more by himself. He left it to Alex, bossy little Alex, to wrap his arms around his neck and pull him down to his level. They were once the same size, but by the end of high school, Jack had grown quite a bit taller than Alex. Alex then pressed his lips to Jack's, too, pulling back to gage Jack's reaction before making another move. Jack didn't let him though, because he decided it was his turn. Sliding his hands down from Alex's waist to his hips, he locked his lips with Alex's, initiating their second of many kisses.

From then on, they kept their relationship a secret, until the were effectively busted by Mother Nature. They thought when everyone found out their would be a huge argument, but everyone was actually quite happy for the couple. Ever since that day, their romance continued to flourish, all the way into adulthood, where the realized they had found a love more rare than being hit by lightning.

Notes

hi! this is my newest one shot, one that i actually wrote only a few weeks ago, not a whole year ago lmao

let me know what you thought in the comments, vote if you can, and check out my other stories!!! thanks so much for reading :^)