Could We Burn, Darling?

Jack was absolutely freaking out. Today was the day he was riding the bus to Alex freaking Gaskarth's house. His best friend that he met over the Internet about a year and a half ago.

And yes, he was extremely nervous about it. He was basically ripping his hair out at the moment because he couldn't decided what shirt to wear. He was choosing between a old, oversized Blink-182 shirt or a red button up which would make him look clean and very polite.

He chose the Blink shirt.

-

At around two, he was pulling on his old Vans and grabbing the pack he had for himself. Inside held a pocket knife and pepper spray (in case Alex truly was a rapist), a book (just in case Alex was extremely boring in real life), and some money. He took a deep breath before leaving his house and heading off to the bus stop.

-

By the time Jack was nearing Alex's town, it was nearly 2:52. Meaning he'd basically spent an hour on the bus just for some kid he met on Omegle. Who could potentially kill him.

He presses the stop button on the little pole in front of him and gets up, walking towards the front of the bus with a few people trailing behind him.

When he steps off the vehicle, everything in this town seems so quite and peaceful and yeah, Jack definitely loves it already.

As the tall, lanky boy pulls out the address he had saved on his phone in Google maps, he notes that he's only a few minutes away from his destination. Coincidence? I think not.

Heading in all the directions his cell phone tells him, he ends up standing outside of a large, navy blue house with a black, shiny Range Rover parked in the driveway. Jack feels like a completely idiot, dressed in his lousy clothes.

There's also a gate that's locked and can only be opened if someone opens it for you.

What the fuck.

Jack sighs and hits the red button that says, "Speak" on it. Into the microphone, he says, "Uh, I'm here for Alex Gaskarth," in an awkward tone, feeling extremely uncomfortable now.

"Just a minute please,"A very posh accent comes through the small speaker and Jack can't help but giggle. The gate doors open and he begins his walk up to Alex's large front doors.

The doors fly open and a young girl in a maid outfit is standing there with a happy smile on her face.

Jack hopes this isn't something kinky Alex is planning.

"Hello! You must be Jack Barakat. It's very lovely to meet you, you may address me as Miss. Dawson, or simply Clara. Whatever pleases you the most," The girl speaks very prim and properly and Jack tries so hard not to laugh.

"Okay. Um, this is where Alex Gaskarth lives, correct?" He asks, his voice quiet and shy. She laughs and nods her head happily.

"Of course the Gaskarth's live here! Come now, dear. You must meet the lovely owners of this home!"

Jack is lead through ginormous rooms to enter the kitchen, where a man and a lady are standing.

"Love! Oh god, this must be the wonderful Jack that Alex is always speaking about!" The women boasts and wraps her arms around the lanky teenager. He tries not to cringe because he doesn't like meeting new people very much.

"Sweetheart, could you go get Alex? I bet he has no clue!" She giggles and turns to Jack as Clara goes up to huge staircase for Alex. And Jack's hands start sweating, "Oh, Jack, we are so excited to have you! You sound like such a lovely boy according to Alex. My name is Isobel! Silly of me not to introduce myself, this is Peter. We're Alex's parents, of course!"

Jack's really taking a liking to these British accents, and he finds himself wondering why Alex didn't have an accent over the phone.

"Alex isn't speaking to me, Mrs. Gaskarth. I don't know what's wrong, but he seems very irritated. Hitting his head off the wall and crying."

Jack becomes worried, his eyes widening, "Can you please bring me to him now?" He asks Clara and she nods her head, grabbing his hand and bringing him up the stairs to a door on the very end of the hallway.

"This is Alexander's room. Please be careful with him." She says softly and then pushes Jack into the room.

Sure enough, there Alex is, crying on the floor and pulling at his pretty hair.

"Clara, please go away. I don't need help right now, just a bit stressed." Is what the older boy says when Jack sits next to him.

"Well, good thing I'm not Clara," Jack says quietly to the other boy, watching his eyes widen. His head snaps up and his face breaks into a grin.

"Jack-o!" He shouts and tackles the skinnier boy into a tight hug. Jack was blushing. Like he was about to fucking explode blushing.

"H-Hey Alex.." He says quietly to the other boy as he pulls away from the death grip. Alex is grinning and sitting extremely close to him.

"I guess you've met my parents? And Clara? She's so lovely, isn't she? It sucks she's a maid, I'd rather just have her as a friend, really.." Alex rambles while getting up and offering his hand to his Internet friend. Jack takes it and stands up, "Shall we head to the kitchen, then? Why am I even asking, this is my house," he chuckled and winked, which made Jack's heart flutter, yes.

As they made their way downstairs, Jack made a mental note that Alex has a slight accent, and also, his room wasn't as neat as everything else was. Still neater than Jack's, but compared to the living room and kitchen, a huge mess.

Jack also noticed Alex was dressed in the cutest Christmas sweater ever that had little kittens and a cool pattern on it. He also sported black skinny jeans and Christmas socks.

So fucking cute, okay?

"Right then, Alex?" His mom called as she walked out to the dining room to see her son showing Jack around and talking probably a mile a minute.

"Yes, mum?" Alex asks and Jack giggles. He fucking giggles at Alex's small accent. He's never heard that over the phone. Alex raises an eyebrow jokingly at him, "Is there something wrong with my accent, Jackary?" Jack giggles and shakes his head, smiling at the other boy.

Isobel smiles at the boys, seeing how much her son actually does like this messy, lanky teenager (Alex is actually turning 20 in a couple weeks and Jack is just 17, going on 18. And yes, Alex still lives with his parents).

"Well, we're bringing Clara out for dinner. I feel like she's such a wonderful girl, you know, she deserves it tons," She talks although neither of them as listening. Alex is whispering things to Jack, and the skunk haired kid is giggling and making weird faces in response.

"Okay mum." Alex smiles over at her as he walks over and hugs her, kissing her cheek, "Tell Clara I said to have a great time,"

"Will do, love," She kisses his cheek and smiles at Jack, "It was so lovely meeting you, boy," she walks to him and pulls him into a tight hug. Jack smiles softly and hugs back because he's never felt so welcome anywhere else before.

"See you, boys!" Peter shouts as he heads out the door. Clara says goodbye quietly, leaving behind him. Of course, Isobel leaves last after going over with Alex not to hurt Jack because she'll be responsible, and not to make a huge mess of the house.

When they leave, everything seems slightly more awkward. Alex just smiles at Jack and watches him.

"You don't speak much, do you?" He asks him. Jack shrugs his shoulders then and everything goes quiet, "Well you spoke a lot on the phone."

Jack glances at the other boy then down at his feet, nodding, "Just kind of nervous, you know? It's not everyday that someone gets to meet their basically only friend. Who they met online. And is 2 years older."

Alex laughs and nods, "I guess you're right. I'm just an outgoing guy. By the way, I love your shirt. But it's huge on you? Why are you so skinny? We need to get you some food, boy, come," He waves Jack over while walking to the kitchen. Jack giggles at his friend as he follows behind.

"Well the only unhealthy things we have are Oreos and Doritos," Alex smiles over at the taller boy. Jack shrugs.

"I like those." He says simply and Alex grins with a nod, taking it out of the cupboards and handing them over to the other.

Jack hears soft and loud barking from somewhere in the house and looks around. That must be the two dogs Alex has, Baz and Peyton.

To be quite honest, Jack doesn't like dogs. He much rather prefers a kitten or bunny. And then he hears purring.

"Oh god, it's so annoying!" Alex says and shoos away the cat as he sits down on the ground and plays with his dogs. Jack grabs the black and white kitten, pulling it into his arms and sitting with the elder.

"He's so perfect, how could you ever say he's annoying?"

"He's a demon from Hell! Wait till you see how many fucking cuts I have from the bastard!" Alex says whilst being licked on the face by both Peyton and Baz. It's hard to take him seriously so Jack smiles and shakes his head.

"I think he's cute. What's his name?"

"He doesn't have one. Should just call him Demon though."

Jack rolls his eyes, "Oh, shut up. He's a kitten, he needs to be given a name. So, why not just call him..."

"Jack." Alex finishes the sentence for him with a smile.

"What?"

"The kitten. It's name is now Jack. Do you like that?" He asks the kitten and it purrs quietly in agreement. Jack blushes and pets the kitten's head gently, "He's kind of like you in cat form." Alex says, holding his most favorite dog ever, Baz, in his lap.

-

"Want to watch The Conjuring?" Alex grinned at Jack as they sat on the couch. The younger's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly hid his fear and nodded his head. His friends all said it was the scariest movie ever.

"Didn't the movie come out like 5 days ago?"

"Yeah..."

"How do you have it already?" Alex laughed in the response and shook his head, pushing the movie into the player.

"Rich people often have their ways, love," He grins at the other and gets up, turning the lights off. He made his way back over to the leather coach, sliding next to Jack and offering some of his blanket to him. The younger of the two blushed and slid a bit closer to him, going under the warmth of the blanket.

-

10 minutes into the movie, Jack was already sitting in Alex's lap and hiding his tear-filled face against the other's chest. The caramel haired boy ran his fingers down the sobbing boy's back.

"Jack?"

"W-What?"

"We're turning this off," Alex mumbled and hit the pause button, getting up after moving Jack from his lap. He went over to player and took the disc out, then put The Nightmare Before Christmas. He went over to a teary eyed Jack, sitting down and pulling the boy back up into his lap.

"S-Sorry, I know y-you wanted to watch it," he whispered to the older, snuggling closer to his warm body. Alex laughed and shook his head, brushing the dark strands from his friend's face.

"Hey, don't be sad, I was kind of scared too."

"You were?"

"Yeah," he smiled down at the other, who giggles and shakes his head.

"Liar," he mumbles playfully and turn towards the TV, curling up in his lap. He pulled the blanket around his body more, shutting his eyes. He feels lips press against his hair and he tilts his head back, sleepy eyes staring into wide, pretty ones.

"It was so lovely to meet you, Jack."