Fireworks. [Chapter Six]
Title: Fireworks
Rating: PG - 13
Pairing: Alex and Jack, if the kids don't believe, make them believe.
POV: Third, focused on Alex
Summary: So it's true what they say, if you love someone, you should set them free.
Disclaimer: Totally fictional, soz.
Credit: Title to YouMeAtSix
A/N: I'm so sorry that this took a while to be posted, I've had a pretty... 'eventful' weekend, to say the least. I hope you aren't too disappointed.
Masterpost.
“It was so fucking funny, oh my god, you should have seen his face, Alex.”
“Yeah, yeah, I bet it was hilarious...”
Alex was sick to death of hearing Josh boasting.
“He was fucking crying his eyes out, stupid faggot!” Josh exaggerated; he looked like he was about to explode from laughing so hard. Alex forced a laugh through his throat; he didn’t want to raise suspicion.
“So he is actually gay then?” Alex questioned, looking toward his shoes uncomfortably.
“Yeah, he totally admitted it. He was all, ‘oh my god, I take it up the arse!’ It makes me sick.”
Alex looked up frowning, “I highly doubt he said those exact words, Josh.” His best friend was known to make bullshit stories up.
“Well no, but it’s true though, isn’t it?”
“I suppose...” Alex shifted on his feet; he just wanted the last bell to fucking ring already. Home seemed to be the only safe place at the moment. He didn’t want to listen to anymore of Josh’s fucking voice, and he seriously didn’t want to see Jack. The boy would probably want to interrogate him on why Josh was such a prick, and why Alex even bothered with him. Then it would end with Alex getting angry, and he didn’t want to hurt the boy even more than he already had been.
“He said some totally fucked up thing about you though, man.” Josh was smirking as he spoke, he was loving the fact he was just stirring up the drama.
“...W-what did he say?” Alex paused, looking up from his shoes, nervous as fucking anything. What the hell had Jack said about him?
Then it dawned upon him.
The weekend.
- - - -
Jack could have said anything to Josh.
He could have said that Alex cried in his arms, that he comforted him, that Alex spilt his fucking heart out to the kid.
He could have told Josh all about Daniel...
No, the boy would never be so harsh.
“Come on, Josh. Tell me what the fuck he said!” Alex was shouting now, desperately wanting to shake the answer from his best friend.
Josh was still grinning; Alex felt like hurting him, the bastard deserved it, after all.
“Apparently you said that you’re more than just a friend to him.”
Alex’s eyes widened, his clenched fists loosening, his palm rubbing his cheeks as he realised what was said. Jack had taken his words the wrong way, Jack assumed Alex was beginning to like him; Jack was in a lot of fucking trouble.
“I didn’t mean it like that, oh for fuck’s sake!” His fingers were now in his hair, pulling at the strands through frustration and anger. “I need to find Jack, where did you leave him?”
“Wait, so you did say it to him?” Josh raised an eyebrow, he hadn’t caught on yet.
“Yeah, I said it, but I meant like, he’s becoming a good friend. Not just a friend.”
Even Alex didn’t know whether it was the truth or not. He hoped it was.
- - - -
Chewing the inside of his cheek, Alex pushed his way through the sea of school kids, searching for that one boy. Fuck what he thought earlier; he really did want to see Jack right now. Well, it was more of a need than anything else.
He didn’t want Jack getting the wrong idea, he didn’t want the boy to get hurt over this all. He didn’t want Jack to start “fancying” him or something, no, because that would just ruin everything.
Alex doubted he’d even be able to look the boy in the face.
He was straight, Jack was gay, and maybe this wasn’t the best idea to develop a friendship.
He slipped his hood over his hair, protecting it from the harsh winds that blew into the school grounds. He hated the bi-polar English weather almost as much as he hated Josh, currently.
Jack had to be somewhere.
Alex was ready to just give in, he doubted even seeing the boy amongst hundreds of students, but then he noticed him.
Jack, his American friend, stumbling across the concrete. His hand seemed to mould into his stomach, he looked in pain. His lip appeared swollen, even at a distance. In his mind, Alex saw Josh’s fists pummelling the boy, even if the reality of it all wasn’t that dramatic.
Alex wanted to give Jack a hug, oh so badly. He ached to wrap his arms around the now fragile boy, just as he had done with him. He wanted to rest his chin on Jack’s shoulder, pull him in closer so there wasn’t a single gap between their bodies. Alex needed him to be okay.
“Jack...”
“Let me guess, you’re joining in with your best friend’s beating?” Jack tried to push past the boy, but Alex’s hands grasped his shoulders, holding him in place.
“Let me finish.” Alex breathed, taking his hands away. Was a simple gesture like that considered to be misleading?
“I’m sorry, okay?”
“What for? You didn’t do anything, it was that bastard who you seem to love so fucking much.”
“Oh shut up, Jack.” Alex was becoming impatient with the boy’s attempt to guilt trip him, even though it was beginning to work a charm. “Just take the fucking apology. I never planned for Josh to hurt you, and you know too fucking well that I wouldn’t join in.”
Jack folded his arms across his chest, he looked away from Alex’s gaze, “I don’t think I know you at all...”
The English boy shrugged his shoulders, “That’s debatable.” He murmured, his hands deep into his pockets. “You’re the only person who knows about Daniel, about my self-harming, the depression... In all honesty, you know me better than anybody, even if you don’t know a lot.” He wanted Jack to just fucking look at him, to see that for once, he was being genuine. He wasn’t just feeding a pack of lies to make the boy feel better.
“I don’t understand you.”
“Me neither, and I don’t think we ever will.” At least that managed to lift Jack’s chin.
“You’re so complicated, Alex.” He sighed, finally calming down, his thumb gently massaging the bruising skin of his cheek.
“I know, and I’ve apparently been giving you mixed messages...”
Here it goes.
“Mixed messages? What do you mean?” Jack furrowed his thick eyebrows in confusion.
“Josh told me what you said.”
“What did I sa- Oh...” Jack finally understood now. “The whole, you like me more than a friend? Is that it?”
Alex nodded sheepishly, “Yeah.” He mumbled, though it was now his turn to avoid eye contact. “I just meant that I think you’re more than a normal friend, y’know? Like, we could be so much closer if we tried.”
Jack scratched the top of his head as he groaned, “I see. So I guess that means you’re straight, then?”
Another nod.
“Did you know that I was... well...” Awkwardness seemed to be swimming in their atmosphere.
“Gay? No.” Alex admitted, even though he had had his suspicions. He couldn’t deny his own unpleasant accusations. “I mean, at some points I was like, ‘isn’t that a little gay?’ Like the way you hugged me on Saturday.” He was putting his harsh words into a nicer context.
Jack rolled his eyes, “When I hugged you? That’s what made you think I liked other dudes? Fuck, don’t you people hug each other here?”
Alex shrugged, “Well yeah, but if it’s like, two girls, or a guy and a girl... Guys don’t hug each other because that’s-“ He bit down on his tongue.
“Because that’s gay.” Jack finished the sentence for him, but his laugh that followed ensured Alex that he couldn’t care less. “Well, whatever, it’s true, either way.” He agreed, another laugh lighting up his injured face. “But you know...”
Jack paused, his eyes wandering up and down Alex’s body, “You thought I was gay to hug you, doesn’t that make you gay, because you hugged me back?”
Fuck.
Alex frowned, “That’s different.”
“How is it?” Jack was fighting back this time, because he had his own suspicions about Gaskarth.
“I don’t know, it just is. I don’t like other guys.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“Don’t be sarcastic with me.” The blonde haired boy’s eyes were narrowed; he just wanted Jack to shut up.
“Jeez, calm it, seriously. I’m just kidding. I’m not one to tell you what your sexuality is, that’s something you have to find out by yourself.” Jack was smirking, Alex wanted to add another bruise to his face.
“I don’t need to find anything out, I know what I am.” His words were firm, but Jack just laughed.
“I’m sure you do.”
“I’m fucking positive.”
Yet the more Alex argued, the less he believed in himself.
“Let’s just walk home, we must be the only kids in school now.”
“Kinky.”
“Shut up, Jack.”