Love is a Dangerous Thing

"So you asked him to be your boyfriend?" Chris asked from where he was sat up straight in his chair the afternoon after Christmas. He looked thoroughly shocked at the news Zack had mumbled quietly with pink tinged cheeks and an uncertain smile. "You, Zack "I don't like to talk" Merrick asked Alex to be your boyfriend?"

"I sort of wrote it but yeah," Zack murmured waiting to see if Chris would yell at him or not.

"Dude!" Chris chucked the football at him and luckily Zack caught the unexpected pass and didn't get hit in the head. He looked up to finally meet Chris's gaze and grew a little more confident when he saw the proud smile on his face. "Way to go Zack! Did you tell him you love him too?"

"Yeah," Zack shrugged and smiled himself. "I even almost kissed him," he said which was mostly a lie but it made him feel good and he knew it would impress his friend.

"Well shit," Chris laughed. "I guess I'll just wait for the wedding invite, huh?" Zack didn't even tense up at the joke which prompted Chris to smile even more. "Get dressed, I'm gonna take you out for a new picture frame and an ice cream, you've more than earned it."

"Okay," Zack said nodding with excitement. "Let's have some fun, I can do that now."

Zack looked through his clothes, including the new ones Alex got him for Christmas, and picked out some that looked decent. Quickly he dressed in a pair of pants, a long sleeve flannel, and the new jacket Alex got him. When he was done he went to the bathroom and scanned over his appearance for only a brief second before he remembered Alex was his boyfriend now and left the room with a smile. If Alex was willing to be with him than he must not look too bad he thought as he walked out to the living room.

"I heard you're going out?" Alex raised an eyebrow from the couch chuckling softly as Zack fell into his side quickly. "Chris said you told him you almost kissed me?"

"Maybe," Zack blushed. "I was just excited, he was really proud of me, it felt nice to make someone proud."

"You make me proud all the time."

"Yeah but you don't count, you love me," Zack couldn't help but smirk.

"You're very cute but you better get out there before Chris ditches you."

"You're not coming too?" He asked, suddenly feeling more worried than before. "I've never been anywhere without you."

"I know," Alex nudged him away gently and stood up reaching a hand out to help Zack do the same. He kept his hand in his until they got to the door and then he let go and replaced his hand with an old faded gray beanie and a house key on a necklace that he slipped over his head and under his shirt. "You can consider these late Christmas presents. The key is to remind you that you always have somewhere to come home to and the beanie is to remind you that you always have a person to come home to, they'll keep you from worrying too much."

"You think I'll be okay?" Zack flipped the the beanie around in his hands playing nervously with the worn fabric until Alex took it from him and pulled it snug on his head.

"You'll be fine buddy, trust me."

With that Alex opened the door and Zack gave him one last unsure glance before taking a deep breath and heading down the stairs by himself. The weather outside was freezing and he felt bad for making Chris wait but the older guy didn't seem to mind. He told Zack where they were going and they set off down the street with no one holding Zack's hand.

It took a while for Zack to get used to not having anyone holding his hand or wrapping an arm around him. For the first twenty minutes he found himself looking around for Alex even though he knew his boyfriend was still at home. Once he got past the initial discomfort though he found it wasn't that bad and he made small talk with Chris while they walked until he felt a decent amount of his earlier confidence come back to him.

The hat helped a lot when they walked down particularly crowded streets because he could take it off and keep it in his hand the way a child might hold onto a teddy bear. It did exactly what Alex said it would and reminded him of being home in his warm bed with someone that loved him. When he felt uncomfortable in the middle of a shop with too many people, that he just knew didn't like him, he could remember the one person that did. Chris asked him about it but he just shrugged and kept it in his hand because it felt like something he wanted to keep between him and Alex alone.

"Alright, we got a cone, you got your picture frame, is there anything else you wanna do?" Chris asked a couple hours later when they were walking down an empty street, Zack with a rocky road ice cream and Chris with a plain vanilla.

"No, I just wanna go home, I miss Alex," Zack said without thinking.

"Okay, Romeo, let's get you back before Alex dies of loneliness," Chris laughed and the blush on Zack's cheeks warmed him up some. "How exactly did you ask him anyways? I never did get the full story."

Zack told him the short story on the walk home and Chris filled the rest of the time with his own stories. He talked more than Zack listened but he seemed content just to listen to his own voice so Zack didn't worry about it. He finished his cone halfway home and filled the rest of the time fiddling with his beanie and occasionally catching enough of Chris's story to laugh.

"Thanks for taking me out," he said when they were standing outside his and Alex's apartment building. "It wasn't that bad or at least it didn't feel that bad to me."

"It was fun," Chris agreed. "We should do it again sometime but Alex has texted me," he pulled out his phone to check. "Twelve times, so you better get up there and let him know you're alright."

"Okay, thanks again," Zack hesitated for a second and then hugged Chris very, very quickly. "You're a good friend to have and stuff," he mumbled in explanation.

"Glad to be your friend and stuff. I'll see you later, I don't think you really need my help that much anymore."

That made Zack smile as he walked up the stairs and took the necklace with his key off and put it in the door taking a second to feel proud of all he'd done in the last few days before he opened the door. Inside he found Alex asleep on the couch and he shut the tv off and took off his shoes before slipping under the quilt with him and going to sleep himself.

When he woke up next Alex was still sleeping soundly underneath him, his chest rising and falling slowly. Looking at the clock he saw it was about an hour past when they usually ate and carefully got up and went to the kitchen. There wasn't a whole lot he knew how to make but he figured he probably couldn't screw up a can of soup so quietly he got out a pot and got to work.

"Are you making dinner?" Alex asked in a sleepy voice as he wrapped his arms around Zack from behind and yawned against the back of his neck.

Zack shivered slightly and nodded, turning around to face him properly, "you slept a long time, are you sick?"

"Nah, I just missed napping with you today." Zack blushed but nodded because that actually made perfect sense, they slept a lot during the day. "Did you have a good time with Chris?" He nodded again. "Are you letting the soup boil over onto the stove?"

"Shit," Zack cursed under his breath and turned back around to turn the stove off and move the pot to a back burner. "Sorry Alex."

"Don't worry about it, I'll grab bowls you get spoons."

With their very hot soup in two bowls they made their way back to the couch and Zack detailed everything that happened that day. He showed him the plain black frame they got and grabbed the picture from his room to put it inside. It took a little help from Alex but they got it inside the frame and Zack set it back on his dresser with a fond smile.

"I love you very much," Zack announced after dinner when they were laying together on the couch again. "I don't really know exactly what that means though, you know? I just know I like being around you and I want to spend all my time with you and I feel like more of a person around you instead of just an empty thing."

"Hmm, sounds like love to me," Alex grinned. "To me it feels like you make me happy and I want to be a better person when I'm with you, like every bad thing that's ever happened to me was worth it."

"You make me feel like talking, I like talking when I'm talking to you."

"You're so adorable sometimes, it almost hurts me."

"You love me so much sometimes it does hurt me," Zack rubbed the cut on his head as they both laughed. "I really do love you though, I feel like I'm really getting somewhere with trusting you. A week ago I never would have had the confidence to tell you exactly why I love you, I would have been scared you'd laugh at me but I'm starting to not be so scared all the time."

"Because you love me more than anyone in the whole world?"

"Yeah Alex," Zack laughed. "That's exactly why."