Car Tows and Railways (And How I Met You)
Title: Car Tows and Railways (And How I Met You)
Author: emily! fumbledtouchftw
Rating: I'm gonna settle for R. Although there's not much sex or whatever in it.
Pairing: Jalex
Word Count: 15, 317
Summary: What happens when Jack's car gets towed and he's forced to catch the train?
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the storyline... That's it. I haven't got some witty catch phrase to put here. Carrots. There you go, that's witty as hell.
Author's Notes: So, um. I've been on holidays the past few weeks. No internet equals fanfiction, so this kind of... evolved. I hope you like it! Cut credit goes to A Rocket To The Moon because I have that song stuck in my head. Cool story bro.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
What the fuck is that?
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Shut the fuck up! I have to be up for work soon!
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“Jack, I swear to fucking God if you do not turn that god-forsaken alarm off I’m going to come in there and shove it so far up your ass, everyone will think you’re a fucking ticking time bomb!”
Jack Barakat awakens with drool on his left cheek, hair a mess and already 15 minutes behind today’s schedule. Not such a good way to wake up, he thinks.
Throwing his deep purple duvet back, the 22-year-old lurches out of his bed and flings open the doors to his closet, finding the cleanest button down shirt and pair of pants in record time. Shrugging on a button-down pale blue shirt and zipping up the fly on his black dress pants, he grabs his phone and rushes out his bedroom door, passing his roommate, Aaron, on the way, who holds out a coffee which Jack eagerly takes.
“Why are you up so early?” Aaron mumbles over his Vanilla tea, watching as the older man hurriedly ties the laces of his business shoes.
“Long story.” Jack replies, before rushing off into his en-suite, re-emerging a moment later with a tie around his neck, his fingers moving quick and intricate as they work the fabric into specific loops and knots, until it rests easily on his clothed chest.
“Well, I’ve got nothing better to do. The View doesn’t start for another hour.” Aaron jokes, although Jack wouldn’t doubt the younger boy is fully intent on watching the horrid show, as he does most mornings.
Jack runs a hand through his greasy dark hair, grimacing to himself at the un-cleanliness. He gulps down the last of his coffee and places the mug in the sink, where it lay along with many other plates, bowls and pieces of cutlery. Aaron will do the dishes later, he reasons.
“Um, so I worked late last night, because Boss told me that if I completed all his paperwork then he’d give me a raise. I mean, not that I need the money - it just means I don’t have to go in Friday."
“Right,” Aaron says, moving over to the sink to begin washing up, eyes rolling once he sees the pile himself and his roommate have already managed to create in the past few days. “So why are you up early today? You must have gotten home late, I waited up for you but I kinda got tired and fell asleep watching reruns of Friends.” The boy admits with a sheepish smile.
“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Jack mutters, eyes trailing to the clock on the microwave which informs him in angry neon letters that he’s already 25 minutes late for the train he was supposed to catch this morning. He can catch a later one; his Boss had praised him so much after all his work last night, Jack didn’t doubt he’d still be getting plenty “’atta boy, Jack!”’s this morning. He really had nothing to worry about. “My car got towed. I was so busy focusing on finishing all the work I was left with that I didn’t realize I’d gone over the parking limit and my car got fucking towed. And to make matters worse, I didn’t have enough time to go and pick it up, so I had to catch a train home. And that’s why I’m up so early, to catch a train. Which I’ve definitely missed by now.”
Aaron is quite for a while, occupying himself with drying the now-clean plates. When he’s finished, he puts down the towel and turns to Jack, who is gathering up his last few files and shoving them messily into his black briefcase. “Well, how about I cook some Mac ‘n Cheese for dinner tonight, huh? Would that make you happier?”
Jack breaks out into a wolfish grin, walking over to Aaron and ruffling the younger boy’s ash blonde hair. “You’re amazing. How did I get such an awesome roommate?”
“It’s fate, I know. Now leave, before you get any later for work!” Aaron says, pushing the older man out the apartment door, his hands low on his back as Jack laughs and shouts a quick goodbye.
“Bye, Loser!”
Jack’s at the train station. Jack hates the train station. It’s dirty, smelly and he’s had more than a few late-night hookers hit on him years ago here, before he had his own car. Which he’d really love to be driving right now, except for that it’s currently parked in some caryard, looking pretty and un-driven, collecting dust and probably sitting in a pile of elephant shit, for all Jack knows. He hears the speakers crackle as the next train is called, a gruff voice droning out numerous stops, times and terminals which mean nothing to Jack, before he hears those revised stops, times and terminals which he’d made sure to memorize when he finally got home last night.
He rushes up from the grimy bench, collecting his briefcase and jacket, pausing when he feels light wetness against his cheek, his hand, his nose; before droplets of water begin to pelt down from the suddenly darkened sky, and Jack is forced to sprint to the welcoming doors of the train, almost slipping on the surface of the ground.
He sighs as he looks around the already packed train, mumbling a quick “Can I have a seat?” to an elderly woman on his right, and taking a seat before he hears a reply.
Too bad if she had said no anyway, I’m not standing the whole way to work.
Yeah, Jack hates the train station.
It’s a few stops later, in some unbeknownst to Jack part of town, when the train yet again lurches to a stop. Jack’s never had to worry about bringing his earphones with him to work, so for the last 10 minutes he’s taken to picking at his nails and occasionally drumming his fingers to an offbeat rhythm on his legs in a poor attempt to keep himself amused.
He’s at the point of picking at his nails again - and it’s pretty much the thousandth time, so his fingers are just about ready to bleed at all the harsh contact they’re receiving. A figure walks past Jack, and usually he wouldn’t be so interested, so drawn in, considering he’s seen dozens of drained faces walk the grubby train halls this morning, but for some reason Jack’s eyes avert to the male who swiftly walks to the back of the carriage and seats himself down on just about the only free seat known to this entire train.
He only catches a quick glimpse at the male, but he already knows what kind of person he in fact is. Jack sneaks a quick glance back at him, pretending to look for something, and letting his eyes linger for a few short moments on the lone boy. It’s lucky, but the other boy doesn’t notice Jack’s peering eyes, merely stays curled in on himself, his caramel hair covering his eyes as his nails absently scratch against his faded, acid-wash blue jeans, Sublime blearing through his earphones, almost making him forget about his surroundings.
Jack is about to approach the boy - who, he soon notices is wearing a Blink 182 shirt - when he arrives at his stop, and he can already see his work building, can almost hear it taunting him, reminding Jack that he’s just over an hour late and that he should really hurry his scrawny ass up if he wants to keep his job.
Before stepping off the train, he steals one last quick glance at the nameless boy sitting on his own; as if not by choice, more teetering on the excuse of society shouting “freak!” to his face, forcing him to loneliness.
Jack hurries off the train and out on the street, where the rain still falls thick and heavy, soaking through his button-down shirt and sending shivers through Jack’s lithe body, before he steps under the cover of the various buildings and shops that litter the road.
The nameless boy watches from his seat on the train, barely seeing past the filthy windows as people keep living and the world continues spinning and the train starts up again, moving forth to its next destination.
It turns out that working overtime and sucking up to the Boss doesn’t get you off the hook for being an hour late to work. Or at least, Jack knows that now. After a long and highly unnecessary discussion in which Jack was forced to endure and was hardly able to squeeze a word in, Jack is stuck back in his office. His boss thinks he’s working on some greatly important documents; however Jack’s got open a window of Mahjong, close to the point of winning his third game.
Sometimes, Jack’s life is difficult, like when he works overtime and his Mercedes ends up being towed. But sometimes, times like these when he’s in his own room all day, with a lock on the door and an expensive Mac laptop perched on his desk, Jack’s life is easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Jack ends up winning that third game, along with 16 more after it, before he leaves that dreaded building to step onto that horrid train, to arrive home to his wonderful apartment and be served Mac ‘n Cheese by his amazing roommate.
And some days, Jack’s life is in between difficult and easy. Like when he introduces himself to Alex.
The next morning Jack is on the train (he woke up late - again -, but the plus-side is that he gets to see the mysterious boy again, which helps to lessen the damper having to go to work puts on his day), except this time he remembered to bring his earphones, and whilst he’s still stuck next to the old lady from the previous morning, he’s got Something Corporate to ease him through it.
Last night, he’d asked Aaron to drive him to the car yard to retrieve his car, however it turned out that his beloved Mercedes had to undergo a week’s stay before Jack could fill out any paperwork and bring it home - credit to some unknown law Jack had never once heard of (a poor excuse for a law, too; Jack thought the man was just lazy).
That left Jack taking the train every morning for another week, and he was thankful the weather had cleared this morning, his gray dress shirt thankfully undamaged.
Someone flies past him, and it takes Jack a second to realize that it’s the boy from the morning before. Except this morning, he’s docked in dark denim - almost black - skinny jeans, with a dark red hoodie on top, a faded Green Day shirt peeking out through the fabric.
Jack makes an irrational decision and collects his things, standing up and moving towards the back of the carriage where the mysterious boy is sat.
The boy watches every step Jack makes as the taller male moves closer and closer, before he’s stood somewhat in front of the caramel-haired boy, speaking a fluid “May I sit down?”. The boy nods, despite being unable to hear Jack through the earphones, however deciphering the darker-haired male could only be asking the one question. The man sits down next to him, the seat squeaking with its disapproval as he places his briefcase on the floor, before the shorter boy’s wide honey eyes avert back to the trashy windows he despises so much.
A few minutes later, after watching building after building rush by before him, the shorter boy catches a quick glimpse of the man beside him and... The fact that he’s staring at him. Out of sheer embarrassment, he pulls out his left earphone and turns to face the mystery man beside him, who’s still staring at him, except now he’s flashing this adorable grin and wow, okay. Cute boys on the train are definitely not an occasional thing.
“Is there... Is there something wrong?” He splutters, wary of looking like a complete idiot in front of this gorgeous man.
“I said I love Blink!” Jack says, that ever-present grin still glowing. The other boy looks confused, his thick eyebrows knitted together as he stares back at Jack, his mouth hung open a little.
“Right... Cool.” He says, looking away from the strange man, ready to place his earphone back in his ear, when a warm hand reached out to grab his arm; emitting a gasp with the contrast of the other’s skin. The calloused, warm hand was relaxing, in comparison to his own skin, which had been exposed to the harsh, cold air when he had bunched the sleeves of his jumper up to his elbows.
His head whipped around to face the darker-haired male, Jack quickly realizing his mistake and pulling his hand away quick as lightning, settling it down onto his lap.
“Sorry. I just... Your shirt. You had a Blink shirt on yesterday, and I just... I love them.” Jack murmurs, and he’s hardly able to pick up on what the man says, but he manages.
“Oh! Of course. Yeah, they’re my favourite band.” The lighter-haired boy grins, unhooking the other earphone from his ear and placing the two of them together, before winding it around the thick iPod and placing it in the front of his khaki green backpack. “Got that shirt at their concert when I was sixteen. Pretty amazed it still fits!”
Jack just smiles, his chocolate eyes scanning over the face in front of him, taking in every feature, like the way his eyelashes curled upwards, and the barely-there freckles that dotted his cheeks.
Jack soon broke out of his trance - before he looked like even more of a fool - and thrusted a hand out.
“Jack.” He said. The other boy smiled before placing his own hand out and returning the hand shake, before replying with a simple, “Alex.”
Alex. Jack thought. So simple, but so...
And Jack couldn’t really think of a word to finish the sentence before Alex was sparking up a conversation about bands and previous concert stories and other things that were so incredible that Jack wished with almost everything in him that he never had to leave this grubby, filthy, wonderful train.
“I’ve never seen you before. Usually I recognize all the regulars on the train.” Alex says, and Jack is almost positive he spots the ghost of a sly smirk upon Alex’s face, and he can’t help but stare at the plump, rosy lips, wondering how soft they really feel. How soft they’d feel pressed up against Jack’s own lips, slick and sliding together, tongues brushing, swiping, tangling.
“Jack?” Alex eyes the taller male strangely, watching as his glassy eyes quickly re-focus, and he shakes the far-from-friendly thoughts from his mind.
“Uh, sorry,” He says, smiling a sheepish grin and ruffling his dark hair. “Just kinda got... distracted for a second there. What’d you say?”
Alex laughs at Jack’s shyness, because really, Jack’s cute, really cute, and Alex is definitely not about to fall for a tall, dark and handsome boy he just met. “I said I haven’t seen you before. Are you new to the rusty railroads of Baltimore?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s kind of a weird story, you probably wouldn’t care anyway.”
Jack looks down at his hands clasped tightly together, before releasing his grip and beginning to rub his hands over his ridiculously boring and very business-like dress pants.
“Well, go on.” Alex says with a cheeky bright smile, encouraging Jack with a slight dig of his elbow into the other man’s skinny side.
“You really wouldn’t care. Like, at all.”
“Oh c’mon, Jack. It’s either you tell me or we sit here in silence for the next half hour.” Alex tests, looking at Jack, a slight pout gracing his lips.
Jack is silent, a bored expression upon his face as he looks at Alex.
“Fine.” Alex sighs, bunching his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and resting his head against the cool glass of the train, eyes staring forward and lips sealed tightly together.
After a minute, Jack caves, knocking his shoulders to Alex’s with a mumbled “I hate you” and Alex just grins, adjusting his body to face Jack’s own and removing his hands to lace them together on his lap.
“Well,” Jack says, the ‘e’ sound droning out before his tongue clicks to the roof of his mouth in emphasis. “I worked overtime the other night, and my car kinda got towed. So I asked my roommate Aaron to drive me to pick it up, but it turns out that I can’t get it back for another week. And yeah, it sucks. So I’m stuck catching the train.”
Alex nods with Jack’s words, before he lets out a hum of approval.
“Why don’t you just get your roommate to drive you?”
“Because I don’t wanna be a bother. Aaron’s such a nice kid; he does everything for me. He cooks dinner every night, and makes sure I have a coffee every morning when I wake up and, I don’t know, I feel like that’d be asking too much, y’know? I don’t wanna be a burden on him.” And Alex just nods with a small smile.
“He sounds like a rad guy.”
“Yeah, you’d love him.”
The conversation stays like that for a while, subjects ranging from previous jobs to current jobs (Jack found out Alex works part time in a comic book store, a much more interesting career than his own stuck-in-a-dreary-office choice), to close friends (Alex already likes the thought of this mysterious ‘Rian’ man, whilst Jack couldn’t help but laugh as Alex explained his two best friends, Brendon and Ryan. Brendon, the always lovable but too-energetic-for-his-own-good boyfriend of Ryan, the quiet yet wistful other half). Too soon, as both boys agreed, the train reached Jack’s stop, and the two were forced to say goodbye. However, not before Alex reached out to grab the fibres of Jack’s work shirt, halting the man’s movements.
“I-I’ll see you tomorrow, y-yeah?” Alex stutters, pink tinting his cheeks as he looks up at Jack.
“Yeah.” Jack replies coolly, although secretly his heart is beating ten times faster than what should be considered healthy, and he kind of just wants to pull Alex into his arms and take him home. But Jack already knows that’d be crossing a few boundaries in itself. “Yeah, definitely.”
Jack leaves then, stepping off the train with a swelling feeling in his chest one could only describe as happiness.
Jack ends up scoring another lecture from his boss when he shows up at work. Albeit, he’s a little earlier than he was yesterday, considering it wasn’t pissing rain on him this morning, but apparently still late enough for his boss to be thoroughly pissed.
Jack had the upper hand though, complaining about his car being towed because he was doing his Boss a favour, leading up to the complete idiocy of train timetables these days and before he knew it, Jack was gaining himself an apology from the older man, because as angry and downright stressed as his Boss can get with his employees, he knows Jack works hard for his business, and whilst others sometimes have a hard time understanding it, he does have a heart, and he is capable of feeling sorry for someone.
Later that afternoon, Jack is on the train home. And he’d never admit it aloud, but it’s lonely without Alex. He remembers from earlier in the morning Alex said he only worked a few hours each shift, meaning he’d probably end up catching an earlier train. That would explain why he was missing yesterday afternoon, Jack thinks.
The next morning, Jack’s alarm actually wakes him at a decent time - decent enough to the point where he could catch an earlier train, and quite possibly show up to work on time. However, he decides against it, pushing that ‘late to work’ factor one more day to ensure he gets to talk to Alex.
When he gets on the train that morning, he waltzes straight past the elderly lady, who gives him a small smile before turning back to the scarf she’s been knitting for the past three days. He walks straight past the far too lovey-dovey couple, the weird goth kid with too many piercings, and he hurries along that little bit faster to walk past a man curled up in a seat alone who Jack’s almost positive is a hobo, but he’s not about to go and ask him.
He sits himself down in the last seat on the left - Alex’s seat - as he waits for the other boy. 10 minutes later of mindlessly watching people wander in and wander off, Alex steps on. He looks different, Jack notices almost immediately. He’s standing, lengthy and tall, and Jack notices that Alex is really tall when he’s not folding in on himself. Not as tall as Jack, considering he reached 6 ft long ago, but close to it.
But that’s not the only thing Jack notices. Alex’s hair is different - a lot different. The caramel strands Jack had admired from afar (and even close up, if he’s being entirely honest) have been dyed a different shade entirely. And from what Jack can see, it’s not your typical brunette or black dye that Alex has used - no, Alex’s hair is purple. It’s fuckin’ purple and all Jack can do is sit and gape because Alex was cute before, yeah, but now, now he’s just hot and Jack really, really shouldn’t be thinking these things about a boy he’s only really known for a day.
Alex sits down beside him, his head dipped downwards with a shy smile on his face, pink already flushing his cheeks.
“Hey.” Alex says breathlessly, finally looking up at Jack and brushing the freshly tinted hair out of his honey eyes.
“Your hair.” Jack points out, and usually he would feel rude for completely disregarding someone’s greeting like that, but Alex just laughs at him, bringing two hands up to tug at the strands, before letting them go, Jack watching with amazement as they fall to shape Alex’s face perfectly.
“Looks great.” He says after a moment, and Alex just smiles harder, pearly teeth on display as he just smiles, and Jack can honestly say that he has the nicest smile Jack’s ever seen.
They talk for a while, about anything and everything, really, before Jack remembers something pretty vital.
“Oh, um. I kinda need to start catching an earlier train.” He says, and Alex’s face drops. Jack just knows he’s already starting blaming himself, so he quickly opens his mouth to explain. “No! I mean, I keep showing up to work late, and my Boss obviously doesn’t really approve too well of it. So, um... Yeah. I need to catch an earlier train.”
Alex replies with a whispered “Oh” and Jack’s heart just breaks that little bit more.
“But hey! We can totally exchange numbers or whatever and like, do something on the weekend. ‘Cos you’re kind of really cool to hang out with and, y’know.” He suggests, and watching the way Alex’s face lifts with one of his bright smiles is enough to make Jack smile as they swap phones, fingers tapping away as they install each other’s numbers into the other’s phone.
When Jack stands up at his stop, he almost topples over as Alex pulls him back down and into a hug, and Jack is shocked, but he soon leans into it, wrapping his arms around the boy with a smile.
After a moment, Alex seems to realize what he’s doing and quickly lets go of Jack, blushing like crazy. Jack grins like a maniac, whispering an “I’ll call you” before quickly running towards the end of the carriage and stepping off the train, and Alex looks out the window just in time to see Jack smiling at him from the outside. Alex gives him a small wave, watching Jack as he walks in the opposite direction, his eyes on his back as the train screeches and groans and starts moving again, a lot like that first day.
When Jack gets home that afternoon, Aaron automatically senses his dejected mood.
“What’s up, Barakitty?” His roommate asks. Jack cracks a smile at the nickname, but his mood quickly dampens once again when he remembers why he’s so upset.
“I have to catch an earlier train to get to work in the mornings.” And Aaron looks confused at that, because he knows Jack’s been not exactly early to work the past few days, so he doesn’t really see the problem. It can’t be his hatred for catching the train either, because he already got an earful yesterday of how awesome - and cute and funny and adorable and smart and did he mention cute? - his new ‘train friend’ was. Yeah, Aaron knew all about Jack’s new friend and - dare he say it - crush. Because Aaron is gay himself, and it’s not hard to spot the signs. Which he then scolds himself for being unable to pick up on Jack’s shitty mood because duh, no late train means no Alex.
“Alex?” He asks, and Jack looks up at him with sad chocolate brown eyes. Aaron bites the inside of his cheek, looking over at Jack with sorry eyes. “Well, did you get his number?”
Jack nods and whips his phone from his pocket, prepared to show Aaron when he sees the name, and there it is, in small, white letters, right below Aaron’s own number.
Alex <3
Jack’s heart skips a beat, his fingers gripping tighter to his phone as he stares down at the writing, mouth open. This catches Aaron’s attention, and with his brows furrowed he moves to stand beside Jack, too staring down at the writing.
“Oh my God, Jack, you dog!” He shouts, throwing his hand up for a high-five. Jack, eyes not moving from the screen, raises his hand and blindly thrusts it in the direction of Aaron’s and almost completely missing the other’s hand, the ball of his hand slapping to the younger boy’s fingers. He can’t stop smiling, he really can’t.
The next morning, Jack wakes up half an hour earlier than yesterday. It’s pretty shitty, too. Aaron isn’t awake yet, so he ends up dropping in to Starbucks quickly to grab his morning coffee before he reaches the train station.
Sitting on the train isn’t much better either. There aren’t many people at this time of the morning, so it was easy enough to find a seat alone, where he’s able to listen to his music on the stupid early train and look out the stupid window at all the stupid people who for some reason are up this early on a normal day. And it’s shitty, keeping all his random thoughts in his mind and not being able to say them aloud to someone who will laugh along with him and crack the same stupid jokes. And he doesn’t really care at all how childish and ridiculous he looks sitting with his back against the window and his legs crossed in front of him on the seat. He’s only interested in glaring a hole in the window opposite him, where thankfully no-one is seated; otherwise he’d be getting some pretty mean looks thrown back at him. It was hard enough walking onto the train this morning and seeing the empty seat at the end, knowing that eventually, some stranger is going to sit there and steal Alex’s seat, along with all Jack’s hopes of seeing the other boy. Jack just sits there and lets Oli Sykes scream into his ear, loud and angry, because he’d never really admit to anyone that he has Bring Me The Horizon on his iPod, but he’d definitely admit that in times like these, their music is a fucking blessing.
He’s halfway through Visions when someone walks down the aisle. He practically scowls at their ridiculous skin-tight jeans and studded belt - which, might he add, has been pushed sideways, the buckle resting against a jutting hipbone - and dark gray slouch beanie, dark tufts of hair peeking out from the material. He’s only really acting like this because he’s in a shitty mood; because he’d much rather be somewhere with Alex than this piece of shit, sad excuse of a train.
It’s then that Jack stops glaring at everything and wishing death onto the world, realizing that it’s all too familiar. The pants (or, in other terms, the legs), the ridiculous belt buckle, the beanie... and the hair. How did he not notice before? It’s like it was right in front of him.
Except that it was.
A mere moment ago. But of course, Jack’s too busy absolutely hating life to notice even the most obvious things around him.
He whips his head around, looking to his left, to the end of the carriage, to the last seat on the left.
And there’s Alex. Sitting alone, smiling at Jack because yeah, Jack’s such an idiot for not realizing in the first place.
It’s almost as if Jack can read Alex’s mind and Alex Jack’s, because then Jack is springing out of his seat and power-walking towards Alex, almost forgetting his briefcase and coat. But it’s okay, because he’s grinning like a fool and Alex is just grinning back at him and Jack doesn’t really know what to call the strange feeling in his chest, but it doesn’t matter right now because Alex is here.
Jack seats himself down next to Alex, and for a minute they both just kind of smile and stare at each other, taking in everything.
“What are you doing here?” Jack finally questions, and Alex just looks down shyly, moving his right hand to lace his fingers with Jack’s before he looks back up at the darker-haired boy with excited eyes.
“Wanted to see you.” He replies, and that tagged along with Alex’s fingers between his own is kind of the most beautiful thing Jack’s ever known.
With quick, irrational thinking, Jack uses his other hand to pull out his phone and dial in familiar numbers. Alex looks at him with wide, curious eyes as Jack waits for the monotone ringing to end, before a chirpy voice falls upon his ears. Stacey.
“Hey Stacey. It’s Jack Barakat. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it in today. I think I caught something overnight, I might need the day to just get over it.” Stacey happily agrees, all the while Alex is looking at him like he’s grown a second head, whispering to him in a hushed tone.
“Jack, what are you doing? Jack, stop!” And Jack just smiles, moving the phone away from his ear and unlacing his fingers with Alex’s, moving his now free hand to press a finger to Alex’s lips, whispering a “Shhh”, and Alex then shuts his mouth, curious eyes still watching Jack’s every move.
“Yeah. Thanks for that, Stacey. See you tomorrow, hopefully!” and as soon as Jack ends the call, Alex is firing questions at him.
“Jack, what the hell was that for? You did not just fake a sickie! What are you doing?!” Jack just laughs and nods, throwing his arm around Alex’s shoulders.
“I’m gonna take you out. Let’s go to the movies.” Jack says, with the most convincing smile he can muster.
“But I have to work today!”
And that seems to be how Jack convinces Alex to call in sick to work, and they end up out the front of the cinemas, the two of them squinting up at the board which states what’s ‘now showing’.
“Well,” Alex says, turning around to face the busy road. “It’s not even open yet, what d’you suggest we do?” However before Jack has a chance to reply, Alex is complaining about a want for coffee, and that’s how they end up sitting in an almost empty Starbucks, Jack sipping on his black coffee while Alex warms himself up with a Cappucino Latte. He’s definitely gay, Jack decides, as if all the signs before this moment weren’t enough.
After small talk over coffee, they end up in front of the cinemas again, Alex complaining about how he wants to see Yogi Bear and Jack complaining right back at him that “You are such a pansy it’s not even funny. We’re not seeing Yogi Bear, and that’s final”.
Fifteen minutes through the movie and Jack’s restless. He can’t get comfortable in his seat and he’s definitely not capable of keeping his eyes on the screen for more than 30 seconds. He totally caved in to Alex, and he’s totally now being forced to watch some stupid, animated bear do ridiculous things onscreen that only six year olds would laugh at. And 23-year-olds named Alex Gaskarth.
Fuck that, he thinks, We’re getting out of here. And with that, he stands up, Alex looking up at him with those wide, curious eyes he always seems to sport, before Jack is tugging him by his arm out of the cinema; and it’s kind of difficult, because Jack still has his work briefcase in one hand. Alex complains the whole way about how his popcorn is going everywhere and if Jack doesn’t stop, he’s getting a cup of Fanta over his head right the fuck now.
He’s bluffing, Jack already knows.
Jack stops walking and Alex almost slams right into the back of him, and he’s so lucky because if he had, all that bluffing shit would have gone straight to hell.
“Alex, let me tell you this.” Jack says, and he sounds so serious that Alex honestly thinks he’s about to yell and shout and scream in his face. “Next time we go out, I pick the movie, ‘kay?” He finishes, Alex letting out a sigh of relief mixed with a laugh, and then Jack is tugging them along again, his grip loosening as it slides from Alex’s arm down to his hand, where he tangles their fingers together. Even though Jack is in front of him, he still sees the small smile gracing Jack’s features as they walk.
They end up back at the train station, which Alex thinks kind of sucks.
“Uh, Jack? Where are you taking me?”
“To my place. There are better movies there.” He says as he looks down at Alex, that cheeky smile that Alex has already grown to love appearing on his face. And yeah, if Jack wants to make the two of them skip work and take Alex back to his place, Alex is cool with that.
To say Jack’s apartment is huge is kind of an understatement, Alex realizes. It’s massive, with tall windows and polished mahogany floorboards and spotless white walls and it’s just so modern and beautiful that it makes Alex kind of embarrassed about his own, much smaller (and a lot cheaper, for that matter) apartment.
Jack is standing at the fridge; the door wide open, the cold air making Jack pull down the sleeves of his jacket. “You want a drink? We got soda, water, juice, beer. Take your pick.” Jack shouts to Alex, who’s still gaping, marvelling the house.
“Um. Beer’s good.”
Jack walks over to him, handing him the beer and cracking open his own. “Good choice.” He says with a smirk, and Alex just knows Jack’s trying to get under his skin, so Alex does his best to stay composed.
Aaron takes that moment to walk into the room, voicing a quick ‘hello’ to Jack before he stops entirely, hands frozen in place from where he was buttoning up his dark red shirt.
“Uh... Hey, stranger.” He says to Alex, and Jack laughs, moving over to the shorter boy and putting his arm around his shoulder.
“Aaron, meet Alex. Alex, this is my roommate Aaron.” Jack says with a smile, and yeah, they’re totally gonna be mad friends.
“Oooooh!” Aaron gushes, and his shirt is suddenly no longer important, because what’s important is flailing over Alex and pointing out just about everything he already knows about the boy, just because he can, because apparently Jack just talks about him that much.
“Ooooh! And... Wait.” Aaron moves over to stand in front of Alex, and said boy just sort of freezes, anticipating what the younger boy is about to do. What Alex doesn’t expect, however, is when Aaron reaches up and pulls just slightly at the beanie perched atop Alex’s head, before he marvels at the colour.
“There it is; the hair. That’s what he talks about the most. The purple hair. He loves it, just so you know. Yesterday, when he saw it, he came home and it was just so cute because he kept gushing about how hot you looked with-“
“Okay, that’s enough Aaron! Alright, I think Alex gets it! Just... where are you going?”
“On a date.” Aaron says, and he smiling so hard, but he’s not opening his mouth and so his face just kind of... scrunches, but it’s cute, Alex decides. And Aaron’s pretty cute and he kind of just wants to smoosh him. If one were even able to ‘smoosh’, or whatever.
“Ugh, not with that redhead loser, right?” Jack says, rolling his eyes.
“Nick is not a loser! He’s a redhead, yes, but he’s not a loser! Shut up, you met him once! And he was all nervous and antsy because you were being mean and intimidating and just generally Jack and shut up! I’m going out with him whether you like it or not, mother.” Aaron barks, and the three of them laugh before Jack removes his arm from Alex’s shoulder and moves over to Aaron, squeezing his shoulder and looking into his crystal blue eyes, before saying, very seriously, “Stay safe, little son.” Aaron laughs and shoves him to his best ability.
“Fuck off, weiner!”
Jack’s voice turns about ten times higher as he points a finger at the younger boy, his other hand placed on his hip. “Don’t you dare talk to your mother that way! I do nothing but care for you and love you and this how you treat me?!”
“I’m going, I’m going! Seeya loser! Seeya Alex, nice meeting you!” he says, walking out the door.
“You too!” Alex shouts at the last minute, before the door closes and the two of them are left alone.
It’s quiet for a moment, before Alex turns to Jack. “That was weird.”
“Aaron’s a weird kid. You’ll love him. So what d’you wanna do?”
“I dunno.” Alex replies, sipping on his beer.
“Let’s watch a movie. A good movie.” Jack says, putting some much-needed emphasis on the ‘good’, which makes Alex laugh sheepishly. He moves over to the living room where the Flat Screen TV sits, and he turns to see Jack looking at him from the bottom of the staircase.
“Where are you going?” Jack asks, hands on his hips, mischievous smile on his face.
“Going... to the living... room.” And he loosely raises a hand to point to said room, Jack smiling the whole time.
“C’mon, Dweeb. We’re going to my room.” Jack says, long legs already moving to race up the stairs, leaving Alex dumbfounded and embarrassed.
Alex trudges up the stairs, considering the consequences of being here. What if Jack ends up being an assassin? And he’s been hired to kill Alex? Or if he knows Alex’s Boss, and his Boss find out he’s not actually sick and things fuck up majorly and Alex ends up getting fired and he’s left with no job and no money and soon then he’ll lose his house and-
Jack’s back is really, really fucking fascinating all of a sudden. Because Alex has now reached the top of the stairs, and thankfully Jack’s facing away from him, but he’s shirtless. And it’s still enough to make Alex’s insides turn into a pile of jelly because wow, Jack’s skinny, really skinny. Naturally, of course. He’s all arms and legs and jutting bones, but for some reason Alex just can’t seem to look away. Jack’s humming to himself as he looks through his closet for a shirt, and Alex is still staring when he turns back around, except he kind of awkwardly splutters and pretends like he wasn’t just watching Jack change; and he can already feel his face burning with sheer embarrassment.
Jack all but bounces over to Alex, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him over to the TV, where Jack crouches down and opens the cabinet up, and Alex is sure there must be at least a thousand movies in there.
“Pick one!” He says, excitement evident in his voice.
“Uhh... I don’t really know. Whichever you think we should watch.”
That’s how they end up lying on Jack’s bed, Kevin McAllister’s voice merely background noise as the two of them talk. Jack’s lying on his stomach, his face squished into the pillow as he looks sideways at Alex, who’s laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling with his placed together on his stomach.
“I never really got a say in it, like, at all.”
“So your parents just decided that moving countries is suddenly gonna make you forget about their dead son?” Jack says bluntly, confusion etching his words.
“I guess; it’s not that they didn’t care about me, they did and... they still do. Just, Daniel was their first born child. Their first son. I was just... The other son, I guess.”
“Well that’s shit.”
“Yeah. But I tried to look on the bright side of things. I got used to America - the accents, the weather, the food, the people. Obviously, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. When I moved, I lost all my friends, all the people I could trust and count on. It’s like, put yourself in this bubble. A bubble of happiness. You’ve been in this bubble your entire life. And one day, someone releases you into this strange reality and as much as you don’t want to, you have to learn to deal with it, you know? And it’s shitty, and it sucks so bad, but you’ve just got to deal with it. That’s how I looked at it, I guess. I worked really hard in school, got good grades. I never really had many friends when I moved here, I mostly just kept to myself. Nobody wants to befriend the weird new kid, right?” Alex explains with a sad smile.
Jack hoists himself up on his elbows, looking down at Alex.
“I would’ve befriended you. So you’re weird? We’re all a little weird inside, aren’t we? I’m sorry you had to go through that though, with your brother and everything.”
Alex shrugs, staring back at the ceiling as if it would give him all the answers to life. “S’not your fault. It happens. Same shit, different day, right?”
It’s quiet for a while, Jack picking at the fabric of his pillowcase, before looking back over at the other boy.
“So do you like it here? In America?”
“Yeah, I’ve learnt to like it. Sometimes I get a little homesick, but doesn’t everyone feel that way when they’re away from their heart? I mean, that’s what England is, my heart. I grew there, I was happy there. I’m... happy here. I’m happy with the way I’ve grown here.” Alex pauses, turning his head to face Jack, looking him straight in the eyes; honey to chocolate. “I’m happy I met you.”
Jack’s heart swells at that, and he doesn’t care that he hardly knows Alex, that they met just under a week ago, that he practically dragged Alex out of work just to be here with him. He needs Alex, he knows it. Alex needs him.
“I’m happy I met you, too.”
Alex smiles at Jack, turning back to the ceiling. Jack isn’t sure what’s so fascinating about it, and honestly, Alex is quite the same. But it’s there, and it’s blank and white and boring, a lot unlike Alex’s mind right now.
“Then yeah. I’m happy here.”
part 2
Author: emily! fumbledtouchftw
Rating: I'm gonna settle for R. Although there's not much sex or whatever in it.
Pairing: Jalex
Word Count: 15, 317
Summary: What happens when Jack's car gets towed and he's forced to catch the train?
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the storyline... That's it. I haven't got some witty catch phrase to put here. Carrots. There you go, that's witty as hell.
Author's Notes: So, um. I've been on holidays the past few weeks. No internet equals fanfiction, so this kind of... evolved. I hope you like it! Cut credit goes to A Rocket To The Moon because I have that song stuck in my head. Cool story bro.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
What the fuck is that?
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Shut the fuck up! I have to be up for work soon!
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“Jack, I swear to fucking God if you do not turn that god-forsaken alarm off I’m going to come in there and shove it so far up your ass, everyone will think you’re a fucking ticking time bomb!”
Jack Barakat awakens with drool on his left cheek, hair a mess and already 15 minutes behind today’s schedule. Not such a good way to wake up, he thinks.
Throwing his deep purple duvet back, the 22-year-old lurches out of his bed and flings open the doors to his closet, finding the cleanest button down shirt and pair of pants in record time. Shrugging on a button-down pale blue shirt and zipping up the fly on his black dress pants, he grabs his phone and rushes out his bedroom door, passing his roommate, Aaron, on the way, who holds out a coffee which Jack eagerly takes.
“Why are you up so early?” Aaron mumbles over his Vanilla tea, watching as the older man hurriedly ties the laces of his business shoes.
“Long story.” Jack replies, before rushing off into his en-suite, re-emerging a moment later with a tie around his neck, his fingers moving quick and intricate as they work the fabric into specific loops and knots, until it rests easily on his clothed chest.
“Well, I’ve got nothing better to do. The View doesn’t start for another hour.” Aaron jokes, although Jack wouldn’t doubt the younger boy is fully intent on watching the horrid show, as he does most mornings.
Jack runs a hand through his greasy dark hair, grimacing to himself at the un-cleanliness. He gulps down the last of his coffee and places the mug in the sink, where it lay along with many other plates, bowls and pieces of cutlery. Aaron will do the dishes later, he reasons.
“Um, so I worked late last night, because Boss told me that if I completed all his paperwork then he’d give me a raise. I mean, not that I need the money - it just means I don’t have to go in Friday."
“Right,” Aaron says, moving over to the sink to begin washing up, eyes rolling once he sees the pile himself and his roommate have already managed to create in the past few days. “So why are you up early today? You must have gotten home late, I waited up for you but I kinda got tired and fell asleep watching reruns of Friends.” The boy admits with a sheepish smile.
“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Jack mutters, eyes trailing to the clock on the microwave which informs him in angry neon letters that he’s already 25 minutes late for the train he was supposed to catch this morning. He can catch a later one; his Boss had praised him so much after all his work last night, Jack didn’t doubt he’d still be getting plenty “’atta boy, Jack!”’s this morning. He really had nothing to worry about. “My car got towed. I was so busy focusing on finishing all the work I was left with that I didn’t realize I’d gone over the parking limit and my car got fucking towed. And to make matters worse, I didn’t have enough time to go and pick it up, so I had to catch a train home. And that’s why I’m up so early, to catch a train. Which I’ve definitely missed by now.”
Aaron is quite for a while, occupying himself with drying the now-clean plates. When he’s finished, he puts down the towel and turns to Jack, who is gathering up his last few files and shoving them messily into his black briefcase. “Well, how about I cook some Mac ‘n Cheese for dinner tonight, huh? Would that make you happier?”
Jack breaks out into a wolfish grin, walking over to Aaron and ruffling the younger boy’s ash blonde hair. “You’re amazing. How did I get such an awesome roommate?”
“It’s fate, I know. Now leave, before you get any later for work!” Aaron says, pushing the older man out the apartment door, his hands low on his back as Jack laughs and shouts a quick goodbye.
“Bye, Loser!”
Jack’s at the train station. Jack hates the train station. It’s dirty, smelly and he’s had more than a few late-night hookers hit on him years ago here, before he had his own car. Which he’d really love to be driving right now, except for that it’s currently parked in some caryard, looking pretty and un-driven, collecting dust and probably sitting in a pile of elephant shit, for all Jack knows. He hears the speakers crackle as the next train is called, a gruff voice droning out numerous stops, times and terminals which mean nothing to Jack, before he hears those revised stops, times and terminals which he’d made sure to memorize when he finally got home last night.
He rushes up from the grimy bench, collecting his briefcase and jacket, pausing when he feels light wetness against his cheek, his hand, his nose; before droplets of water begin to pelt down from the suddenly darkened sky, and Jack is forced to sprint to the welcoming doors of the train, almost slipping on the surface of the ground.
He sighs as he looks around the already packed train, mumbling a quick “Can I have a seat?” to an elderly woman on his right, and taking a seat before he hears a reply.
Too bad if she had said no anyway, I’m not standing the whole way to work.
Yeah, Jack hates the train station.
It’s a few stops later, in some unbeknownst to Jack part of town, when the train yet again lurches to a stop. Jack’s never had to worry about bringing his earphones with him to work, so for the last 10 minutes he’s taken to picking at his nails and occasionally drumming his fingers to an offbeat rhythm on his legs in a poor attempt to keep himself amused.
He’s at the point of picking at his nails again - and it’s pretty much the thousandth time, so his fingers are just about ready to bleed at all the harsh contact they’re receiving. A figure walks past Jack, and usually he wouldn’t be so interested, so drawn in, considering he’s seen dozens of drained faces walk the grubby train halls this morning, but for some reason Jack’s eyes avert to the male who swiftly walks to the back of the carriage and seats himself down on just about the only free seat known to this entire train.
He only catches a quick glimpse at the male, but he already knows what kind of person he in fact is. Jack sneaks a quick glance back at him, pretending to look for something, and letting his eyes linger for a few short moments on the lone boy. It’s lucky, but the other boy doesn’t notice Jack’s peering eyes, merely stays curled in on himself, his caramel hair covering his eyes as his nails absently scratch against his faded, acid-wash blue jeans, Sublime blearing through his earphones, almost making him forget about his surroundings.
Jack is about to approach the boy - who, he soon notices is wearing a Blink 182 shirt - when he arrives at his stop, and he can already see his work building, can almost hear it taunting him, reminding Jack that he’s just over an hour late and that he should really hurry his scrawny ass up if he wants to keep his job.
Before stepping off the train, he steals one last quick glance at the nameless boy sitting on his own; as if not by choice, more teetering on the excuse of society shouting “freak!” to his face, forcing him to loneliness.
Jack hurries off the train and out on the street, where the rain still falls thick and heavy, soaking through his button-down shirt and sending shivers through Jack’s lithe body, before he steps under the cover of the various buildings and shops that litter the road.
The nameless boy watches from his seat on the train, barely seeing past the filthy windows as people keep living and the world continues spinning and the train starts up again, moving forth to its next destination.
It turns out that working overtime and sucking up to the Boss doesn’t get you off the hook for being an hour late to work. Or at least, Jack knows that now. After a long and highly unnecessary discussion in which Jack was forced to endure and was hardly able to squeeze a word in, Jack is stuck back in his office. His boss thinks he’s working on some greatly important documents; however Jack’s got open a window of Mahjong, close to the point of winning his third game.
Sometimes, Jack’s life is difficult, like when he works overtime and his Mercedes ends up being towed. But sometimes, times like these when he’s in his own room all day, with a lock on the door and an expensive Mac laptop perched on his desk, Jack’s life is easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Jack ends up winning that third game, along with 16 more after it, before he leaves that dreaded building to step onto that horrid train, to arrive home to his wonderful apartment and be served Mac ‘n Cheese by his amazing roommate.
And some days, Jack’s life is in between difficult and easy. Like when he introduces himself to Alex.
The next morning Jack is on the train (he woke up late - again -, but the plus-side is that he gets to see the mysterious boy again, which helps to lessen the damper having to go to work puts on his day), except this time he remembered to bring his earphones, and whilst he’s still stuck next to the old lady from the previous morning, he’s got Something Corporate to ease him through it.
Last night, he’d asked Aaron to drive him to the car yard to retrieve his car, however it turned out that his beloved Mercedes had to undergo a week’s stay before Jack could fill out any paperwork and bring it home - credit to some unknown law Jack had never once heard of (a poor excuse for a law, too; Jack thought the man was just lazy).
That left Jack taking the train every morning for another week, and he was thankful the weather had cleared this morning, his gray dress shirt thankfully undamaged.
Someone flies past him, and it takes Jack a second to realize that it’s the boy from the morning before. Except this morning, he’s docked in dark denim - almost black - skinny jeans, with a dark red hoodie on top, a faded Green Day shirt peeking out through the fabric.
Jack makes an irrational decision and collects his things, standing up and moving towards the back of the carriage where the mysterious boy is sat.
The boy watches every step Jack makes as the taller male moves closer and closer, before he’s stood somewhat in front of the caramel-haired boy, speaking a fluid “May I sit down?”. The boy nods, despite being unable to hear Jack through the earphones, however deciphering the darker-haired male could only be asking the one question. The man sits down next to him, the seat squeaking with its disapproval as he places his briefcase on the floor, before the shorter boy’s wide honey eyes avert back to the trashy windows he despises so much.
A few minutes later, after watching building after building rush by before him, the shorter boy catches a quick glimpse of the man beside him and... The fact that he’s staring at him. Out of sheer embarrassment, he pulls out his left earphone and turns to face the mystery man beside him, who’s still staring at him, except now he’s flashing this adorable grin and wow, okay. Cute boys on the train are definitely not an occasional thing.
“Is there... Is there something wrong?” He splutters, wary of looking like a complete idiot in front of this gorgeous man.
“I said I love Blink!” Jack says, that ever-present grin still glowing. The other boy looks confused, his thick eyebrows knitted together as he stares back at Jack, his mouth hung open a little.
“Right... Cool.” He says, looking away from the strange man, ready to place his earphone back in his ear, when a warm hand reached out to grab his arm; emitting a gasp with the contrast of the other’s skin. The calloused, warm hand was relaxing, in comparison to his own skin, which had been exposed to the harsh, cold air when he had bunched the sleeves of his jumper up to his elbows.
His head whipped around to face the darker-haired male, Jack quickly realizing his mistake and pulling his hand away quick as lightning, settling it down onto his lap.
“Sorry. I just... Your shirt. You had a Blink shirt on yesterday, and I just... I love them.” Jack murmurs, and he’s hardly able to pick up on what the man says, but he manages.
“Oh! Of course. Yeah, they’re my favourite band.” The lighter-haired boy grins, unhooking the other earphone from his ear and placing the two of them together, before winding it around the thick iPod and placing it in the front of his khaki green backpack. “Got that shirt at their concert when I was sixteen. Pretty amazed it still fits!”
Jack just smiles, his chocolate eyes scanning over the face in front of him, taking in every feature, like the way his eyelashes curled upwards, and the barely-there freckles that dotted his cheeks.
Jack soon broke out of his trance - before he looked like even more of a fool - and thrusted a hand out.
“Jack.” He said. The other boy smiled before placing his own hand out and returning the hand shake, before replying with a simple, “Alex.”
Alex. Jack thought. So simple, but so...
And Jack couldn’t really think of a word to finish the sentence before Alex was sparking up a conversation about bands and previous concert stories and other things that were so incredible that Jack wished with almost everything in him that he never had to leave this grubby, filthy, wonderful train.
“I’ve never seen you before. Usually I recognize all the regulars on the train.” Alex says, and Jack is almost positive he spots the ghost of a sly smirk upon Alex’s face, and he can’t help but stare at the plump, rosy lips, wondering how soft they really feel. How soft they’d feel pressed up against Jack’s own lips, slick and sliding together, tongues brushing, swiping, tangling.
“Jack?” Alex eyes the taller male strangely, watching as his glassy eyes quickly re-focus, and he shakes the far-from-friendly thoughts from his mind.
“Uh, sorry,” He says, smiling a sheepish grin and ruffling his dark hair. “Just kinda got... distracted for a second there. What’d you say?”
Alex laughs at Jack’s shyness, because really, Jack’s cute, really cute, and Alex is definitely not about to fall for a tall, dark and handsome boy he just met. “I said I haven’t seen you before. Are you new to the rusty railroads of Baltimore?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s kind of a weird story, you probably wouldn’t care anyway.”
Jack looks down at his hands clasped tightly together, before releasing his grip and beginning to rub his hands over his ridiculously boring and very business-like dress pants.
“Well, go on.” Alex says with a cheeky bright smile, encouraging Jack with a slight dig of his elbow into the other man’s skinny side.
“You really wouldn’t care. Like, at all.”
“Oh c’mon, Jack. It’s either you tell me or we sit here in silence for the next half hour.” Alex tests, looking at Jack, a slight pout gracing his lips.
Jack is silent, a bored expression upon his face as he looks at Alex.
“Fine.” Alex sighs, bunching his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and resting his head against the cool glass of the train, eyes staring forward and lips sealed tightly together.
After a minute, Jack caves, knocking his shoulders to Alex’s with a mumbled “I hate you” and Alex just grins, adjusting his body to face Jack’s own and removing his hands to lace them together on his lap.
“Well,” Jack says, the ‘e’ sound droning out before his tongue clicks to the roof of his mouth in emphasis. “I worked overtime the other night, and my car kinda got towed. So I asked my roommate Aaron to drive me to pick it up, but it turns out that I can’t get it back for another week. And yeah, it sucks. So I’m stuck catching the train.”
Alex nods with Jack’s words, before he lets out a hum of approval.
“Why don’t you just get your roommate to drive you?”
“Because I don’t wanna be a bother. Aaron’s such a nice kid; he does everything for me. He cooks dinner every night, and makes sure I have a coffee every morning when I wake up and, I don’t know, I feel like that’d be asking too much, y’know? I don’t wanna be a burden on him.” And Alex just nods with a small smile.
“He sounds like a rad guy.”
“Yeah, you’d love him.”
The conversation stays like that for a while, subjects ranging from previous jobs to current jobs (Jack found out Alex works part time in a comic book store, a much more interesting career than his own stuck-in-a-dreary-office choice), to close friends (Alex already likes the thought of this mysterious ‘Rian’ man, whilst Jack couldn’t help but laugh as Alex explained his two best friends, Brendon and Ryan. Brendon, the always lovable but too-energetic-for-his-own-good boyfriend of Ryan, the quiet yet wistful other half). Too soon, as both boys agreed, the train reached Jack’s stop, and the two were forced to say goodbye. However, not before Alex reached out to grab the fibres of Jack’s work shirt, halting the man’s movements.
“I-I’ll see you tomorrow, y-yeah?” Alex stutters, pink tinting his cheeks as he looks up at Jack.
“Yeah.” Jack replies coolly, although secretly his heart is beating ten times faster than what should be considered healthy, and he kind of just wants to pull Alex into his arms and take him home. But Jack already knows that’d be crossing a few boundaries in itself. “Yeah, definitely.”
Jack leaves then, stepping off the train with a swelling feeling in his chest one could only describe as happiness.
Jack ends up scoring another lecture from his boss when he shows up at work. Albeit, he’s a little earlier than he was yesterday, considering it wasn’t pissing rain on him this morning, but apparently still late enough for his boss to be thoroughly pissed.
Jack had the upper hand though, complaining about his car being towed because he was doing his Boss a favour, leading up to the complete idiocy of train timetables these days and before he knew it, Jack was gaining himself an apology from the older man, because as angry and downright stressed as his Boss can get with his employees, he knows Jack works hard for his business, and whilst others sometimes have a hard time understanding it, he does have a heart, and he is capable of feeling sorry for someone.
Later that afternoon, Jack is on the train home. And he’d never admit it aloud, but it’s lonely without Alex. He remembers from earlier in the morning Alex said he only worked a few hours each shift, meaning he’d probably end up catching an earlier train. That would explain why he was missing yesterday afternoon, Jack thinks.
The next morning, Jack’s alarm actually wakes him at a decent time - decent enough to the point where he could catch an earlier train, and quite possibly show up to work on time. However, he decides against it, pushing that ‘late to work’ factor one more day to ensure he gets to talk to Alex.
When he gets on the train that morning, he waltzes straight past the elderly lady, who gives him a small smile before turning back to the scarf she’s been knitting for the past three days. He walks straight past the far too lovey-dovey couple, the weird goth kid with too many piercings, and he hurries along that little bit faster to walk past a man curled up in a seat alone who Jack’s almost positive is a hobo, but he’s not about to go and ask him.
He sits himself down in the last seat on the left - Alex’s seat - as he waits for the other boy. 10 minutes later of mindlessly watching people wander in and wander off, Alex steps on. He looks different, Jack notices almost immediately. He’s standing, lengthy and tall, and Jack notices that Alex is really tall when he’s not folding in on himself. Not as tall as Jack, considering he reached 6 ft long ago, but close to it.
But that’s not the only thing Jack notices. Alex’s hair is different - a lot different. The caramel strands Jack had admired from afar (and even close up, if he’s being entirely honest) have been dyed a different shade entirely. And from what Jack can see, it’s not your typical brunette or black dye that Alex has used - no, Alex’s hair is purple. It’s fuckin’ purple and all Jack can do is sit and gape because Alex was cute before, yeah, but now, now he’s just hot and Jack really, really shouldn’t be thinking these things about a boy he’s only really known for a day.
Alex sits down beside him, his head dipped downwards with a shy smile on his face, pink already flushing his cheeks.
“Hey.” Alex says breathlessly, finally looking up at Jack and brushing the freshly tinted hair out of his honey eyes.
“Your hair.” Jack points out, and usually he would feel rude for completely disregarding someone’s greeting like that, but Alex just laughs at him, bringing two hands up to tug at the strands, before letting them go, Jack watching with amazement as they fall to shape Alex’s face perfectly.
“Looks great.” He says after a moment, and Alex just smiles harder, pearly teeth on display as he just smiles, and Jack can honestly say that he has the nicest smile Jack’s ever seen.
They talk for a while, about anything and everything, really, before Jack remembers something pretty vital.
“Oh, um. I kinda need to start catching an earlier train.” He says, and Alex’s face drops. Jack just knows he’s already starting blaming himself, so he quickly opens his mouth to explain. “No! I mean, I keep showing up to work late, and my Boss obviously doesn’t really approve too well of it. So, um... Yeah. I need to catch an earlier train.”
Alex replies with a whispered “Oh” and Jack’s heart just breaks that little bit more.
“But hey! We can totally exchange numbers or whatever and like, do something on the weekend. ‘Cos you’re kind of really cool to hang out with and, y’know.” He suggests, and watching the way Alex’s face lifts with one of his bright smiles is enough to make Jack smile as they swap phones, fingers tapping away as they install each other’s numbers into the other’s phone.
When Jack stands up at his stop, he almost topples over as Alex pulls him back down and into a hug, and Jack is shocked, but he soon leans into it, wrapping his arms around the boy with a smile.
After a moment, Alex seems to realize what he’s doing and quickly lets go of Jack, blushing like crazy. Jack grins like a maniac, whispering an “I’ll call you” before quickly running towards the end of the carriage and stepping off the train, and Alex looks out the window just in time to see Jack smiling at him from the outside. Alex gives him a small wave, watching Jack as he walks in the opposite direction, his eyes on his back as the train screeches and groans and starts moving again, a lot like that first day.
When Jack gets home that afternoon, Aaron automatically senses his dejected mood.
“What’s up, Barakitty?” His roommate asks. Jack cracks a smile at the nickname, but his mood quickly dampens once again when he remembers why he’s so upset.
“I have to catch an earlier train to get to work in the mornings.” And Aaron looks confused at that, because he knows Jack’s been not exactly early to work the past few days, so he doesn’t really see the problem. It can’t be his hatred for catching the train either, because he already got an earful yesterday of how awesome - and cute and funny and adorable and smart and did he mention cute? - his new ‘train friend’ was. Yeah, Aaron knew all about Jack’s new friend and - dare he say it - crush. Because Aaron is gay himself, and it’s not hard to spot the signs. Which he then scolds himself for being unable to pick up on Jack’s shitty mood because duh, no late train means no Alex.
“Alex?” He asks, and Jack looks up at him with sad chocolate brown eyes. Aaron bites the inside of his cheek, looking over at Jack with sorry eyes. “Well, did you get his number?”
Jack nods and whips his phone from his pocket, prepared to show Aaron when he sees the name, and there it is, in small, white letters, right below Aaron’s own number.
Alex <3
Jack’s heart skips a beat, his fingers gripping tighter to his phone as he stares down at the writing, mouth open. This catches Aaron’s attention, and with his brows furrowed he moves to stand beside Jack, too staring down at the writing.
“Oh my God, Jack, you dog!” He shouts, throwing his hand up for a high-five. Jack, eyes not moving from the screen, raises his hand and blindly thrusts it in the direction of Aaron’s and almost completely missing the other’s hand, the ball of his hand slapping to the younger boy’s fingers. He can’t stop smiling, he really can’t.
The next morning, Jack wakes up half an hour earlier than yesterday. It’s pretty shitty, too. Aaron isn’t awake yet, so he ends up dropping in to Starbucks quickly to grab his morning coffee before he reaches the train station.
Sitting on the train isn’t much better either. There aren’t many people at this time of the morning, so it was easy enough to find a seat alone, where he’s able to listen to his music on the stupid early train and look out the stupid window at all the stupid people who for some reason are up this early on a normal day. And it’s shitty, keeping all his random thoughts in his mind and not being able to say them aloud to someone who will laugh along with him and crack the same stupid jokes. And he doesn’t really care at all how childish and ridiculous he looks sitting with his back against the window and his legs crossed in front of him on the seat. He’s only interested in glaring a hole in the window opposite him, where thankfully no-one is seated; otherwise he’d be getting some pretty mean looks thrown back at him. It was hard enough walking onto the train this morning and seeing the empty seat at the end, knowing that eventually, some stranger is going to sit there and steal Alex’s seat, along with all Jack’s hopes of seeing the other boy. Jack just sits there and lets Oli Sykes scream into his ear, loud and angry, because he’d never really admit to anyone that he has Bring Me The Horizon on his iPod, but he’d definitely admit that in times like these, their music is a fucking blessing.
He’s halfway through Visions when someone walks down the aisle. He practically scowls at their ridiculous skin-tight jeans and studded belt - which, might he add, has been pushed sideways, the buckle resting against a jutting hipbone - and dark gray slouch beanie, dark tufts of hair peeking out from the material. He’s only really acting like this because he’s in a shitty mood; because he’d much rather be somewhere with Alex than this piece of shit, sad excuse of a train.
It’s then that Jack stops glaring at everything and wishing death onto the world, realizing that it’s all too familiar. The pants (or, in other terms, the legs), the ridiculous belt buckle, the beanie... and the hair. How did he not notice before? It’s like it was right in front of him.
Except that it was.
A mere moment ago. But of course, Jack’s too busy absolutely hating life to notice even the most obvious things around him.
He whips his head around, looking to his left, to the end of the carriage, to the last seat on the left.
And there’s Alex. Sitting alone, smiling at Jack because yeah, Jack’s such an idiot for not realizing in the first place.
It’s almost as if Jack can read Alex’s mind and Alex Jack’s, because then Jack is springing out of his seat and power-walking towards Alex, almost forgetting his briefcase and coat. But it’s okay, because he’s grinning like a fool and Alex is just grinning back at him and Jack doesn’t really know what to call the strange feeling in his chest, but it doesn’t matter right now because Alex is here.
Jack seats himself down next to Alex, and for a minute they both just kind of smile and stare at each other, taking in everything.
“What are you doing here?” Jack finally questions, and Alex just looks down shyly, moving his right hand to lace his fingers with Jack’s before he looks back up at the darker-haired boy with excited eyes.
“Wanted to see you.” He replies, and that tagged along with Alex’s fingers between his own is kind of the most beautiful thing Jack’s ever known.
With quick, irrational thinking, Jack uses his other hand to pull out his phone and dial in familiar numbers. Alex looks at him with wide, curious eyes as Jack waits for the monotone ringing to end, before a chirpy voice falls upon his ears. Stacey.
“Hey Stacey. It’s Jack Barakat. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it in today. I think I caught something overnight, I might need the day to just get over it.” Stacey happily agrees, all the while Alex is looking at him like he’s grown a second head, whispering to him in a hushed tone.
“Jack, what are you doing? Jack, stop!” And Jack just smiles, moving the phone away from his ear and unlacing his fingers with Alex’s, moving his now free hand to press a finger to Alex’s lips, whispering a “Shhh”, and Alex then shuts his mouth, curious eyes still watching Jack’s every move.
“Yeah. Thanks for that, Stacey. See you tomorrow, hopefully!” and as soon as Jack ends the call, Alex is firing questions at him.
“Jack, what the hell was that for? You did not just fake a sickie! What are you doing?!” Jack just laughs and nods, throwing his arm around Alex’s shoulders.
“I’m gonna take you out. Let’s go to the movies.” Jack says, with the most convincing smile he can muster.
“But I have to work today!”
And that seems to be how Jack convinces Alex to call in sick to work, and they end up out the front of the cinemas, the two of them squinting up at the board which states what’s ‘now showing’.
“Well,” Alex says, turning around to face the busy road. “It’s not even open yet, what d’you suggest we do?” However before Jack has a chance to reply, Alex is complaining about a want for coffee, and that’s how they end up sitting in an almost empty Starbucks, Jack sipping on his black coffee while Alex warms himself up with a Cappucino Latte. He’s definitely gay, Jack decides, as if all the signs before this moment weren’t enough.
After small talk over coffee, they end up in front of the cinemas again, Alex complaining about how he wants to see Yogi Bear and Jack complaining right back at him that “You are such a pansy it’s not even funny. We’re not seeing Yogi Bear, and that’s final”.
Fifteen minutes through the movie and Jack’s restless. He can’t get comfortable in his seat and he’s definitely not capable of keeping his eyes on the screen for more than 30 seconds. He totally caved in to Alex, and he’s totally now being forced to watch some stupid, animated bear do ridiculous things onscreen that only six year olds would laugh at. And 23-year-olds named Alex Gaskarth.
Fuck that, he thinks, We’re getting out of here. And with that, he stands up, Alex looking up at him with those wide, curious eyes he always seems to sport, before Jack is tugging him by his arm out of the cinema; and it’s kind of difficult, because Jack still has his work briefcase in one hand. Alex complains the whole way about how his popcorn is going everywhere and if Jack doesn’t stop, he’s getting a cup of Fanta over his head right the fuck now.
He’s bluffing, Jack already knows.
Jack stops walking and Alex almost slams right into the back of him, and he’s so lucky because if he had, all that bluffing shit would have gone straight to hell.
“Alex, let me tell you this.” Jack says, and he sounds so serious that Alex honestly thinks he’s about to yell and shout and scream in his face. “Next time we go out, I pick the movie, ‘kay?” He finishes, Alex letting out a sigh of relief mixed with a laugh, and then Jack is tugging them along again, his grip loosening as it slides from Alex’s arm down to his hand, where he tangles their fingers together. Even though Jack is in front of him, he still sees the small smile gracing Jack’s features as they walk.
They end up back at the train station, which Alex thinks kind of sucks.
“Uh, Jack? Where are you taking me?”
“To my place. There are better movies there.” He says as he looks down at Alex, that cheeky smile that Alex has already grown to love appearing on his face. And yeah, if Jack wants to make the two of them skip work and take Alex back to his place, Alex is cool with that.
To say Jack’s apartment is huge is kind of an understatement, Alex realizes. It’s massive, with tall windows and polished mahogany floorboards and spotless white walls and it’s just so modern and beautiful that it makes Alex kind of embarrassed about his own, much smaller (and a lot cheaper, for that matter) apartment.
Jack is standing at the fridge; the door wide open, the cold air making Jack pull down the sleeves of his jacket. “You want a drink? We got soda, water, juice, beer. Take your pick.” Jack shouts to Alex, who’s still gaping, marvelling the house.
“Um. Beer’s good.”
Jack walks over to him, handing him the beer and cracking open his own. “Good choice.” He says with a smirk, and Alex just knows Jack’s trying to get under his skin, so Alex does his best to stay composed.
Aaron takes that moment to walk into the room, voicing a quick ‘hello’ to Jack before he stops entirely, hands frozen in place from where he was buttoning up his dark red shirt.
“Uh... Hey, stranger.” He says to Alex, and Jack laughs, moving over to the shorter boy and putting his arm around his shoulder.
“Aaron, meet Alex. Alex, this is my roommate Aaron.” Jack says with a smile, and yeah, they’re totally gonna be mad friends.
“Oooooh!” Aaron gushes, and his shirt is suddenly no longer important, because what’s important is flailing over Alex and pointing out just about everything he already knows about the boy, just because he can, because apparently Jack just talks about him that much.
“Ooooh! And... Wait.” Aaron moves over to stand in front of Alex, and said boy just sort of freezes, anticipating what the younger boy is about to do. What Alex doesn’t expect, however, is when Aaron reaches up and pulls just slightly at the beanie perched atop Alex’s head, before he marvels at the colour.
“There it is; the hair. That’s what he talks about the most. The purple hair. He loves it, just so you know. Yesterday, when he saw it, he came home and it was just so cute because he kept gushing about how hot you looked with-“
“Okay, that’s enough Aaron! Alright, I think Alex gets it! Just... where are you going?”
“On a date.” Aaron says, and he smiling so hard, but he’s not opening his mouth and so his face just kind of... scrunches, but it’s cute, Alex decides. And Aaron’s pretty cute and he kind of just wants to smoosh him. If one were even able to ‘smoosh’, or whatever.
“Ugh, not with that redhead loser, right?” Jack says, rolling his eyes.
“Nick is not a loser! He’s a redhead, yes, but he’s not a loser! Shut up, you met him once! And he was all nervous and antsy because you were being mean and intimidating and just generally Jack and shut up! I’m going out with him whether you like it or not, mother.” Aaron barks, and the three of them laugh before Jack removes his arm from Alex’s shoulder and moves over to Aaron, squeezing his shoulder and looking into his crystal blue eyes, before saying, very seriously, “Stay safe, little son.” Aaron laughs and shoves him to his best ability.
“Fuck off, weiner!”
Jack’s voice turns about ten times higher as he points a finger at the younger boy, his other hand placed on his hip. “Don’t you dare talk to your mother that way! I do nothing but care for you and love you and this how you treat me?!”
“I’m going, I’m going! Seeya loser! Seeya Alex, nice meeting you!” he says, walking out the door.
“You too!” Alex shouts at the last minute, before the door closes and the two of them are left alone.
It’s quiet for a moment, before Alex turns to Jack. “That was weird.”
“Aaron’s a weird kid. You’ll love him. So what d’you wanna do?”
“I dunno.” Alex replies, sipping on his beer.
“Let’s watch a movie. A good movie.” Jack says, putting some much-needed emphasis on the ‘good’, which makes Alex laugh sheepishly. He moves over to the living room where the Flat Screen TV sits, and he turns to see Jack looking at him from the bottom of the staircase.
“Where are you going?” Jack asks, hands on his hips, mischievous smile on his face.
“Going... to the living... room.” And he loosely raises a hand to point to said room, Jack smiling the whole time.
“C’mon, Dweeb. We’re going to my room.” Jack says, long legs already moving to race up the stairs, leaving Alex dumbfounded and embarrassed.
Alex trudges up the stairs, considering the consequences of being here. What if Jack ends up being an assassin? And he’s been hired to kill Alex? Or if he knows Alex’s Boss, and his Boss find out he’s not actually sick and things fuck up majorly and Alex ends up getting fired and he’s left with no job and no money and soon then he’ll lose his house and-
Jack’s back is really, really fucking fascinating all of a sudden. Because Alex has now reached the top of the stairs, and thankfully Jack’s facing away from him, but he’s shirtless. And it’s still enough to make Alex’s insides turn into a pile of jelly because wow, Jack’s skinny, really skinny. Naturally, of course. He’s all arms and legs and jutting bones, but for some reason Alex just can’t seem to look away. Jack’s humming to himself as he looks through his closet for a shirt, and Alex is still staring when he turns back around, except he kind of awkwardly splutters and pretends like he wasn’t just watching Jack change; and he can already feel his face burning with sheer embarrassment.
Jack all but bounces over to Alex, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him over to the TV, where Jack crouches down and opens the cabinet up, and Alex is sure there must be at least a thousand movies in there.
“Pick one!” He says, excitement evident in his voice.
“Uhh... I don’t really know. Whichever you think we should watch.”
That’s how they end up lying on Jack’s bed, Kevin McAllister’s voice merely background noise as the two of them talk. Jack’s lying on his stomach, his face squished into the pillow as he looks sideways at Alex, who’s laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling with his placed together on his stomach.
“I never really got a say in it, like, at all.”
“So your parents just decided that moving countries is suddenly gonna make you forget about their dead son?” Jack says bluntly, confusion etching his words.
“I guess; it’s not that they didn’t care about me, they did and... they still do. Just, Daniel was their first born child. Their first son. I was just... The other son, I guess.”
“Well that’s shit.”
“Yeah. But I tried to look on the bright side of things. I got used to America - the accents, the weather, the food, the people. Obviously, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. When I moved, I lost all my friends, all the people I could trust and count on. It’s like, put yourself in this bubble. A bubble of happiness. You’ve been in this bubble your entire life. And one day, someone releases you into this strange reality and as much as you don’t want to, you have to learn to deal with it, you know? And it’s shitty, and it sucks so bad, but you’ve just got to deal with it. That’s how I looked at it, I guess. I worked really hard in school, got good grades. I never really had many friends when I moved here, I mostly just kept to myself. Nobody wants to befriend the weird new kid, right?” Alex explains with a sad smile.
Jack hoists himself up on his elbows, looking down at Alex.
“I would’ve befriended you. So you’re weird? We’re all a little weird inside, aren’t we? I’m sorry you had to go through that though, with your brother and everything.”
Alex shrugs, staring back at the ceiling as if it would give him all the answers to life. “S’not your fault. It happens. Same shit, different day, right?”
It’s quiet for a while, Jack picking at the fabric of his pillowcase, before looking back over at the other boy.
“So do you like it here? In America?”
“Yeah, I’ve learnt to like it. Sometimes I get a little homesick, but doesn’t everyone feel that way when they’re away from their heart? I mean, that’s what England is, my heart. I grew there, I was happy there. I’m... happy here. I’m happy with the way I’ve grown here.” Alex pauses, turning his head to face Jack, looking him straight in the eyes; honey to chocolate. “I’m happy I met you.”
Jack’s heart swells at that, and he doesn’t care that he hardly knows Alex, that they met just under a week ago, that he practically dragged Alex out of work just to be here with him. He needs Alex, he knows it. Alex needs him.
“I’m happy I met you, too.”
Alex smiles at Jack, turning back to the ceiling. Jack isn’t sure what’s so fascinating about it, and honestly, Alex is quite the same. But it’s there, and it’s blank and white and boring, a lot unlike Alex’s mind right now.
“Then yeah. I’m happy here.”
part 2