Forever Is Fine.

“Alex, seriously, what are you plotting?” Jack sighed as Alex slipped their hands together, pulling the younger after him.

“You’ll see.” Alex replied swiftly. They were almost at the top of a huge hill, so massive that you could see all of the city from the top.

“Alex.” Jack whined, pawing at the blindfold over his eyes.

“Calm down, we’re almost there.”

“Almost where?”

“You’ll see.”

“Alex, seriously!” Jack sighed, stopping dead.

“Jack, please. Just listen to me this one time, that’s all I ask.”

Jack shut up after that, but Alex could feel by the way that Jack was clinging to his hand that he was still concerned as to what was going on.

“Okay, we’re here. Sit down.”

Jack flopped down onto the dampened green grass and went to remove the blindfold clogging his vision. Alex caught his wrist and moved his hands away.

“Not yet. I have a story to tell first.”

Jack sighed dejectedly and folded his arms over his chest.

“Do you remember the day we met?” Alex asked, sitting behind Jack and sliding his arms around his waist.

“How could I forget?” Jack laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alex was eight years old when he came to the United States. The day he started elementary school was torture. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

In the lunch hall at noon, the gossip was rife. Even little kids knew something was different about him. As soon as he entered, the hall went quiet, save for a few whispers of ‘Hey, isn’t that the new English kid?”

He ate lunch mainly alone that day, a few curious kids coming over to ask him what England was like. That was, until Jack arrived. He waltzed straight over to Alex’s table and plonked down opposite him.

“Hey, you look lonely. I’m Jack.” Jack had said, grinning like a buffoon.

“Alex.” The English kid replied gloomily.

“Do all English boys have pink lunchboxes?” Jack asked, a quizzical look on his baby-faced features.

Alex laughed.

“Nope.” He said, popping the ‘p’ sound “Just me.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Awwh.” Jack said, smiling “You were a sweet little gay eight year old. Even with a pink lunchbox.”

“You’re never gonna let that die, are you?” Alex smiled “How about junior prom?”

“Alex, I’d be worried if anybody forgot junior prom.”

Jack bit his lip as he rang the doorbell of his best friend’s home. Moments later, said best friend answered the door in his usual abrupt fashion.

“Jack? What’re you doing here?” He asked groggily, tired brown eyes staring out through highlighted brown hair.

Jack clammed up, his words sticking and gluing in his throat, refusing to even consider moving.

“Well? Do you want me to power nap on you or something?”

“Go to prom with me. Please.” Jack blurted out. He instantly regretted it because of the look of pity in Alex’s eyes.

“That’s what this is about? You don’t want to go to prom alone, and you know I haven’t got a date, so you ask me? To go as friends, I presume?”

Jack’s face fell.

“Yea. Friends.”

Alex smiled weakly.

“Give me ten.”

As promised, Alex re-emerged ten minutes later, somehow having fixed his hair, pulled on a tuxedo and applied a slick of eyeliner. How he did it, Jack will never know.

The car conversation was desert dry. Jack couldn’t stand it. Alex had gotten the complete wrong end of the stick, and it hurt.

“You said you weren’t coming!” Zack cried, throwing himself at the two of them as they clambered out of the car.

“Yea, we lied.” Alex laughed, still somewhat sluggish after his nap was disturbed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Three hours and several glasses of punch later, Alex had forgotten entirely about the ruined nap, and was more concerned with trying to talk to Jack with a straight face.

Jack gave up all hope of conversation in the end and stalked out rather publicly. Rian glared at Alex and shook his head in disdain. Even in his semi-drunk state, Alex knew he’d fucked up.

Alex found Jack outside, on the phone to his sister.

“Look, May, I know I gotta tell him, but how? He thinks I asked him here as a friend!”

“He’s drunk. If I said anything now, he’d forget by morning and if we did something stupid I’d never forgive myself and he wouldn’t get it.”

Alex stopped. He closed his eyes.

“It’s not that I don’t trust your judgement May, it’s just I know him better than you do. If I told him when he’s sober he’d be freaked out, if I tell him when he’s drunk he won’t remember. Face it, it’s hopeless.”

Alex opened his eyes and frowned. Did Jack really think he was like that? That he’d flip out about whatever he was talking about? He knew he wasn’t.

“There’s nothing I can do or say, sis. I just have to hide it until he realizes something’s wrong, then I’m fucked.”

“Okay, I’ll think about it. Love you, thanks.”

There was a sound of a phone disconnecting and then a sob. Alex frowned deeper. He knew it was Jack, it had to be - no one else was outside right now and had a sister called May - but Jack doesn’t cry, he’s not like that.

“Look at yourself.” The American laughed, tears in his eyes.

“Just stop being pathetic, and go and tell him. You know you can, May’s right.” There was the sound of fabric sliding from metal and then footsteps on concrete. Then Jack walked straight into Alex.

Before he could even begin to apologize, or form sentences to explain in his head, Alex had pulled him by the lapels of his jacket and forced their lips together. There was the loud clanging of the school clock in the background, telling the two that it was midnight, that they’d finally kissed at midnight.

Jack pulled away, tears in his brown eyes and on his cold cheeks.

“You’re drunk.” He stated, his voice fracturing and splitting.

“No I’m not.” Alex replied defensively, folding his arms.

“Yes you are! You won’t even remember this in the morning!” Jack shouted, tears starting to fall all over again.

“Y’know what Alex? Just forget it. Forget tonight ever even happened.” Jack said quietly, climbing into his car and heading home. Alex’s face fell, and he could do nothing but watch as Jack drove away.

“Goodbye Jack.” Alex said quietly, biting back any tears that were threatening beyond belief.

Rian stepped out into the parking lot with his date, Kara, and looked around, seeing only Alex.

“What part of ‘fix this mess’ don’t you understand?” Rian yelled at him “Zack didn’t say ‘make the mess worse’, now did he?”

Kara squinted through the half-light at Alex and patted Rian’s arm.

“Ri, stop it, he’s crying.” She mumbled.

Rian walked over to him and hugged him gently.

“I’m sorry man, I’m sorry.”

When Jack had gotten home, all he’d done was take off his jacket and hunt down his sister. She let him cry on her until she was positive he was okay. May’s not an idiot, and she knows what her brother’s like when he’s upset.

~~~~~~~~~~

“God, you tell it worse than I remember.” Alex laughed. He’d trailed off halfway through because he couldn’t remember.

“That’d be because you were too drunk to remember.” Jack smiled.

“Remember we didn’t talk for days, ‘cause you wouldn’t and I didn’t know for the life of me why?” Alex continued.

“Yea I do. They were, like, the worst days of my life.” Jack replied, shaking his head.

“Then I cornered you in the Math classroom and asked you out? Zack wouldn’t shut up about sexual fucking tension!” Alex continued, laughing gently.

“He was right, when you think about it. World first, but he was.” Jack said, resting his head on Alex’s shoulder.

“I want tonight to be one of those nights, that’s why I brought you up here.” Alex said quietly, blushing.

“Up where?” Jack asked again.

“Open your eyes and see for yourself.”

Jack pulled off the blindfold and opened his eyes. He was staring out over the illuminated city from the top of an absolutely huge hill.

“Alex…” He said slowly, still in awe “How did you find this place?”

“We’d had a fight one time, and I’d walked out on you… I just kept walking and I ended up here…” Alex mumbled, biting his lip.

Jack stood up and stared out into the city, the twinkling, spangling lights in the distance like sequins on a skirt.

“It’s beautiful…” Jack trailed off, his mouth open.

Alex stood up and walked over to him, a smile creasing his lips.

“Just like you then.” He said quietly, wrapping his arms around the younger’s waist. Jack smiled and turned around in his embrace.

“My turn for a story.” Jack said, gently kissing Alex in a way that could only be described as true love “How long do you have?”

Alex smiled, blinking at the half-lit silhouette of Jack against the lights of the city below them.

“As long as I’m with you, I’ve got forever.”

Jack beamed, and kissed Alex again, placing his hands on his shoulders and holding the kiss for a few moments.

He smiled again,

“Forever is fine.”