We'll Carry On

Panic. Panic. Panic.

That's what Alex's mind was screaming. Once again he has royally fucked up. Jack probably hates him, his parents probably hate him, everyone will hate him eventually.

"Hi mom, and dad" he tried to pass it off like there was nothing wrong with this scene

"Who said you could have guests round? What on earth are you wearing? You look like some emo retard! And why is he here?" Mr Gaskarth spat bluntly, not even caring enough to use Jack's name. Both boys wore a terrified expression. Neither of them answered.

"Get out of my house!" Mrs Gaskarth yelled. Jack wasted no time in rushing out the front door, not stopping to say so much as a goodbye to Alex.

"I'm really sorry--"

"I want you out as well!" Alex's mom turned her rage back to her petrified son. He couldn't believe it; his parents were kicking him out for wearing black clothes? What the fuck has the world come to?

"What? Why?" Alex exclaimed, confused. Surely his mother dIdn't mean that, right?

"You were getting better Alex, you weren't all goth and rebellious anymore. Oh god, we hoped you had passed that phase. We thought you were finally what we want you to be" She sounded so disappointed. Alex could deal with his parents being angry. They could be furious - fuck, they could be throwing flaming knives at him - and he wouldn't feel guilty or upset. But his mother's words stabbed like blades. Himself wasn't good enough, he had to wear designer clothes and listen to Drake or whatever to be loved by his parents. No matter how caring or smart or wonderful he was, as long as a band logo was proudly printed on his clothing, Alex was a disappointment. Not only to his parents, but to Jack, to his friends, even to his fake friends.

'You know what? I don't care! I don't care what they think, as long as it's about me!'

"Well sorry for the inconvenience mom," the brown haired boy sassily walked up to the woman, staring her directly in the eyes "if that's even your real name," the look of disapproval on his parents' faces as his terrible and unnecessary joke almost made him laugh. Almost. "I don't give two shits about anything you say about me. I'll never be what you want, I'll never change any part of me. If you want a perfect son, well that's fucking tragic because I'm done with you. So long and thanks for nothing!" And with that said, Alex strode out of the front door, not taking a single second to see their reactions. He had no idea where he was going, but it's just felt so good to walk under a pink sky, with the road passing by hurriedly, as if it was the world had to keep up with him and not vice versa. He felt victorious, happy, complete.

However that feeling was soon eroded away with the reality; Alex was alone and had nowhere to go. It was slowly getting dark, and he couldn't go home. That would make his whole "I don't give a fuck mom" sass speech look pathetic. There was always his brother Tom, but he lived too far to get there by foot. Jenna didn't live too far from here, but Alex doubted the fiesty blonde would welcome him with open arms. Ugh, the struggle was real.

There was one person's house he could go to. He didn't want to, and the person wouldn't want him either, but it's worth a shot. Right?

Alex continued along the street, the dark of night closing around him with every step. It was also getting cold to make matters worse. Great. Fortunately, the brown haired boy was almost at his destination. Taking nervous steps, he approached the front door. It was still a dark chesnut colour, and as glossy and clean as he remember. But then again, Mrs Barakat always took the appearance of the house very seriously.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Alex had butterflies - no, dragons - crawling along his insides. Jack wouldn't want to see him. He'll shut the door in his face. Looks like Alex is going back home then. Just as he was about to swivel round, the front door opened, revealing a confused Jack.

"Why are you here?" That's a good question. But an even better question would be 'What's a good answer to said question?'

'I'm here to apologise' 'My parents threw me out so here I am! You were kind of last choice so yeah' Alex chose to go with the first one

"I'm really really sorry for...what I did. I wasn't thinking properly, and you already said you like someone else so that was really stupid of me and you're not even gay as far as I know so--" the brown haired boy stopped himself. Did Alex just indirectly come out as gay?

"Oh um, don't worry about it, it's fine," Jack replied, not very convincingly though "if that's all, you can go now"

Ouch.

"Wait, there's something else. My parents kinda threw me out, so could I stay here tonight? Then tomorrow I'll sort it out with them and I can be out of your hair for the rest of your life" Alex wasn't sure what the response would be, but judging from Jack's frown, probably no.

"Wait there," he said, walking back into the house. Jack took a good few minutes to return, but when he finally did a small smile was on his cute face "You can stay tonight. My mom said you can stay for longer if you need to or whatever"

Relief washed over Alex.

"Thank you so much!" He fought the urge to leap up and hug the dark haired boy. Jack stepped back to let him enter. Alex didn't hesitate to come inside (it was pretty cold after all). The sudden blast of warmth caused his frozen limbs to shudder in shock. He felt quite uncomfortable standing in Jack's hallway with Jack standing opposite him with equal awkwardness.

"I'll show you to the guest room" the dark haired boy finally spoke up, gesturing to the stairs

"Sure"

'Wow this is awkward' Alex thought to himself as they went upstairs. Jack hadn't mentioned anything about the kiss but the tension from it still hung thickly in the air; so thick you could almost choke on it.

"So, uh, you can make yourself at home I guess," Jack stuttered. He was just as nervous about this as Alex was. Why wouldn't he be? Just as the two were becoming friends again, Alex had to kiss him out of the blue.

"Thanks" Jack briefly explained where everything was, but Alex zoned out. He was too focused on studying Jack's face; how his soft pink lips pressed together when he said his m's, or how his gorgeous chocolate eyes shifted from time to time. There was no denying that he was truly beautiful

'And truly out of my league'

"I'll leave you to it then" The tension in the room somehow increased (if possible) with every second that passed. After a minute of this silence Jack exited the room in a hurried fashion, to the brown haired boy's disappointment.

Alex took a moment to actually look at the spare room given to him. It was very nice; simple yet sophisticated. He checked the time to see it was only 6. Jack had said dinner was at 8 so he had time to have a power nap before that.

Flopping down on the bed, he fell asleep almost instantly, thoughts of Jack swimming through his mind.