For Baltimore

"No one wants to go to prom with me," Jack whined, leaning into his best friend on the bus ride home. Alex chuckled despite that he himself was stuck in the exact same predicament.

"Quit the dramatics, Jay," the brunette teased, poking Jack's thigh and shrugging him off his shoulder. Jack snorted indignantly and playfully slapped Alex's arm.

"And I suppose that you have a pretty girl to go with?" Jack shot back with a scoff. Alex rolled his eyes and leant his head against the window, suddenly not in the mood for the conversation.

Jack smiled affectionately at his pout, bumping their shoulders together in attempt to redraw Alex from the shell he was in.

Alex was having none of that. No one would ever like him, or treat him the way he had fanasized about as a kid. Growing up hadn't been what he had hoped for, so he had recently decided to just not grow up. Stay young forever, stay in the little town outside Baltimore.

"You're such a baby," Jack whined, becoming impatient with the elder's seclusion. He resigned silently when Alex refused to respond. Jack shook his head and rested on Alex's tense shoulder. When Alex pulled away, Jack didn't quit and resorted to poking the shorter boy repeatedly.

"Piss off," Alex muttered, fully turning away now and silently wishing that Jack would find a new seat, preferrably not next to him at the moment.

Jack then averted his attention, glancing down in hurt because, yeah, that stung a bit. They were best friends, weren't they meant to bother each other and cheer them up? Yup, Jack was sure they were, not to put each other down, to lift them up.

Alex noticed immediately, being able to read the boy like a book.

"M'sorry," the shorter mumbled, putting his head in Jack's lap and looking up with innocent eyes. They were a strange pair, Jack and Alex.

Jack smiled and gently brushed Alex's hair out of his eyes. Alex knew he was forgiven, as long as Jack was being touchy again. They both smiled as Alex closed his eyes and slept for the remaining ten minutes of the ride with Jack rubbing his back.
_________

"Lex," the younger boy whispered, shaking his shoulder, "come on, we're at my house."

The pair was sleeping over at Jack's house, and they had arrived, but Alex was still asleep. Although Jack didn't really want to wake him, he couldn't get off the bus with the brunette in his lap.

"Mm, don't wanna," the elder mumbled, slowly waking. Jack chuckled at Alex's hair, rumpled from sleep and sticking up in random directions.

"Alexander, we can nap when we get inside, let's just get off this bus," Jack informed curtly, lightly shoving his best friend. The boy nodded, sitting up and wearily rubbing his eyes.

"Not Alexander," he whined, a pout forming. But he did get up and follow Jack off the smelly vehicle. When they walked into the house, an overwhelming smell of pizza pervaded their senses, both teens moaning aloud.

"Oh god, thank you Mrs. Barakat!" Alex gushed, hugging Jack's mom briefly before hurrying to set the table. Alex was that hungry.

"No problem," she dismissed in her Middle Eastern accent, "you help more than Jack does." Both Alex and Jack's mom laughed, causing Jack to grumble under his breath. That caused the short boy to laugh even harder, high five-ing Jack's mother.

"Mom, Alex, don't gang up on me!" He complained while shaking his dark head of hair and slapping Alex lightly on the shoulder.

"Sorry, Jacky," Alex apologized and planted a sloppy kiss on Jack's cheek. The taller boy groaned, wiping his cheek off and sticking his tongue out at Alex with a playfully agitated glare.

Mrs. Barakat chuckled, wondering how two boys could be so affectionate and still deny an attraction.
__________

Later on that night, Jack and Alex were down in the basement as Mrs. Barakat and Mrs. Gaskarth sat above in the kitchen, delicately sipping tea.

The English woman was just simply enjoying her tea, while the Lebanese woman was thinking about what she had before. Jack and Alex.

"Do you ever...wonder...
about them?" She asked curiously, setting down her cup and looking expectantly toward her company.

"What do you mean, Joyce?" She regarded quizzically, mirroring her friend's actions.

"I guess... They seem - I don't know - awfully close for just friends," she reiterated in hope of Isobel's understanding. She did know what her friend meant.

"Teenagers don't kiss each other or comfort each other like that. With Tom, he had friends over and they slept on the floor, but Alex always lets Jack sleep in the bed, or they sleep together," Isobel explained, and Joyce nodded along.

"Same with Joe. He was never this affectionate, and even May didn't hug her friends that much!" She stressed over the noise of laughter from below.

They paused for second to listen to Jack laugh loudly and Alex giggle. The two mothers smiled at each other, though there was some hesitancy, because what were their sons doing?

Then Joyce heard the familiar sound of Home Alone and her nerves softened a bit. At least it was just a movie.

"I wouldn't worry about it, dear," Mrs. Gaskarth comforted, smile still tight on her face. "It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if they did like each other."

"You're right, Bel."

And they didn't worry about it until about a half hour later, around 7:00, when the bottom floor fell completely silent. The laughs and thumps of teenage fun completely ceased suddenly for five minutes straight until the women got curious.

"What do you think they're doing?" Joyce asked, peering around the corner to only see stairs.

"Maybe they fell asleep?" The older woman countered, although the certainty in her words disagreed with her thoughts, as her gaze followed her friend's.

"Sleep, this early? Let's go see."

The pair crept down the stairs and stuck their heads around the corner to see their suspicions confirmed.

Jack sat in the armchair with Alex in his lap. They were staring intently at each other, Alex's hands wrapped around the younger's waist. Their cheeks were flushed and their hair ruffled, gazes directly eye to eye.

Then Alex leaned down and pressed their lips together. Jack reached up to cup his cheeks, thumb gently brushing across the brunette's cheekbones. Both pairs of eyes fluttered shut as Alex pressed their chests together. Jack hummed and twirled Alex's hair, tilting his head for more access.

The two mothers almost 'aww'ed aloud, but clamped a hand over their mouth and quietly retreated upstairs.

But not before they heard Jack whisper, "go to prom with me?"