Anaphylaxis

“Jenna puked all over the first floor bathroom so save yourself the repulsion and go upstairs.”

Alex has no idea who's even speaking to him right now. She looks pretty familiar, he thinks, squinting a bit through his glasses as she brings her plastic cup up to her lips again. She stares at him over the rim of the cup, waiting for some kind of acknowledgement of whatever she just said. Alex figures he should probably give her one.

“Right. Sure. Thanks,” he nods, trying his best to sound appreciative of her advice. She grins at him in response and turns to leave, her hair flipping right in Alex's face, and that's when Alex realizes who she is. Jess. He sits behind her in History. She doesn't turn around to talk to him very much.

She disappears into the living room, leaving Alex all alone in the hallway. He wandered this way originally looking for Tay or Sierra to find out how much longer they were planning on staying for. Because he's not so sure that his mom will appreciate him coming home much later than midnight.

He should have said no when they asked him for a favor in homeroom this morning, he realizes as he heads back towards the kitchen, pushing open the swinging door. But they really wanted to come (they're not exactly invited to Gabe Saporta’s parties very often) and Alex felt bad saying no. So here he is, at a Gabe Saporta house party surrounded by people who don't even know his name. Or that he even goes to the same school. It could be worse, he figures. He could be Jack, stuck home alone because his mom refused to let him out of the house.

The kitchen isn't crowded, and Alex pulls out an empty chair at the kitchen table and sits, pulling out his phone so he can send his two friends a text. There's a girl sitting across from him, charging her phone at one of the wall outlets and there's a few guys at the kitchen counter watching a hockey game on the small counter tv. He briefly wonders how pissed the girls would be if he just went home and let them find their own ways home. But he's seen Tay at her absolute worst and would rather not be on the receiving end of it.

Tay: we can't leave yet
Tay: im PRETTY SURE Kennedy wants to make out with me
Sierra: plus well prob never be invited again let us live

They make some good arguments - except Alex knows Sierra’s last point is bullshit. Gabe invited them because he thinks they're hot. So therefore, they'll very likely be invited back the next time his parents are out of town and he invites the entire junior and senior classes.

Alex is about to point out as much when the basement door opens not too far from where Alex is sitting. He pauses, looks up from his phone just in time to see John O’Callaghan stumble up the steps and into the kitchen, looking more than a little dazed and confused. He stands there in the basement doorway for a moment, letting the kitchen be filled with annoying house music and loud yelling from downstairs, before finally closing the door behind him and leaving through the back door to the backyard.

Alex shouldn't follow him. But he does anyway.

It's not very cold out, which Alex is thankful about because he left his jacket in his car and all he has on that's slightly warm is a red checked flannel. John isn't quite as lucky - all he has is his long sleeved varsity baseball t-shirt. But he doesn't seem to care too much. Alex sits down beside him on the back steps, his heart pounding in his chest and his hands feeling sweaty and gross. He should have taken a shot or something inside before deciding to do this.

It takes John a solid thirty seconds to realize he isn't alone anymore. He goes from tiredly running his hands over his face, shoulders hunched and his elbows resting on his knees, to looking up and nearly falling right off the steps, dramatically clutching at his chest and staring at Alex with wide eyes.

“Woah. Really?” He asks, and he tugs his sleeves down over his hands. “Warn a guy.”

Alex can't stop the blush from creeping up his face, painting his cheeks an embarrassing red. Really though, what was he thinking?

“Sorry - I didn't mean to-”

“I think I took three shots of tequila downstairs,” he mumbles, furrowing his eyebrows and looking down at his feet as if he's contemplating what he just said. His words are a little slurred together but Alex gets the gist of it.

Alex isn't really sure what to say to that, honestly. Chances are pretty high that he definitely did do three shots of tequila in that basement - God knows what else is happening down there. He's about to open his mouth and say something - what, he has no idea, but something. But then John suddenly turns towards him, eyes wide and looking like he's having a very important revelation.

“Hey,” he says loudly, pointing a finger at Alex, “You're in my Chemistry class.”

Alex sighs. “I'm your lab partner.”

John just blinks at him for a second, either trying to comprehend exactly what Alex just said to him, or he's just so drunk that he can't even really properly focus on Alex. Then he nods, looks back out at the yard in front of them.

“Riiiight, right.”

It's not exactly a shock. Alex would never expect John to know his name or really even acknowledge his existence at all. They don't talk much during their once-a-week lab and honestly Alex does do most of the work while John discusses whatever the fuck he discusses with Kennedy who sits right behind them. But he would appreciate maybe some visual recognition at the very least! Jesus Christ.

Maybe coming out here wasn't such a great spur of the moment decision after all.

“Listen,” he says then, looking back over at Alex. Now his cheeks are flushed and he's playing with the ends of his sleeves and Alex thinks he's either a little embarrassed or maybe just way too drunk. “I probably wouldn't be able to pick my own mother out of a crowd right now. Tequila, you know?”

It doesn't make Alex feel any better but he nods anyway.

They're both quiet for a few seconds, listening to the sound of someone yelling about broken glass in the kitchen, and Alex is in the middle of debating whether or not he should just get up and head back inside and save himself any further embarrassment. He thought this would be fine. He had a lot of things that he wanted to ask John about.

Why did you decide to come out? What made you do it? Weren't you fucking terrified?

But maybe he's better off just keeping it all to himself. John may be the first guy in their grade to come out as bisexual, but he's still John O’Callaghan, the baseball team’s star first baseman and the most attractive human being in all of Maryland. That last one is just Alex's opinion - but he's sure he isn't alone in that.

John sighs, pulls his sleeves back down over his fingers and he leans his whole body to the left, resting most of his weight on Alex. As if they're friends. As if John didn't just forget that Alex exists at all. Alex can't even bring himself to hide the smile that breaks out on his face. This is basically the beginning of every wet dream he's had since hitting puberty.

“I have a question,” Alex says, and he knows it's probably not the greatest timing on his part. John is drunk. Tequila. But he's going to ask anyway, because hey. This could just be even more embarrassing and John will just forget it ever happened. That's what Alex is betting on anyway. “Why did you do it?”

John shrugs. “Do what?”

“You know-”

“Not really.”

“I mean - your whole...coming out thing.”

“Oh,” John laughs, and his whole body shakes as he does and Alex has to force himself to keep his hands off of him. “You mean, why'd I tell everyone I also enjoy making out with guys?”

“I- yeah. That. Weren't you-”

“I dunno.”

Not exactly an eye opening conversation and not at all helpful in the slightest.

“Okay, well-”

“Hey, I'm gonna kiss you now,” John interrupts him, sitting up straight again. He was already practically on top of Alex as it was, now he tries to shift even closer together and Alex is pretty sure he's having a stroke.

Alex has kissed exactly zero people in his short lifetime.

He had to have misheard him - honestly, there's no reason for John to want to kiss him at all. Alex closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, but when he opens them again, John is right there, barely any space between them at all and if Alex leans forward the slightest bit their noses would be touching and Alex is having a conniption. He can't do this - like, literally he cannot.

And yet he doesn't even try to pull back. Not even an inch. In fact, he's the one that closes the gap and presses his lips against John’s. Because that's at least basic knowledge.

John grabs Alex's face with both hands, his cold fingers pressing against Alex’s skin and he tastes like strawberry vodka and - ok, tequila, probably - Alex’s heart is pounding in his chest and he can't quite believe he's sitting here and that this is happening. This isn't what he came out here for. He came out here for advice not a fucking demonstration.

Not that he minds. Really.

Because kissing John isn't as terrifying as he always assumed it would be (he has thought about this a lot). Considering he's never done this ever, he doesn't think he's that horrible at it. At least, judging by the fact that John isn't pulling away and looking at him in disgust.

There's a brief second, when John's tongue brushes against his lower lip, that Alex thinks he's going to try and take this further and Alex panics, because that's just - too much for one minute and he needs air before he just fucking faints and embarrasses himself. He pulls back, pulls John’s hands off of him and his glasses are crooked and fogged up and he's a mess, but John doesn't seem to notice.

“Okay?” He asks, stupid crooked smile and all.

Alex nods, “Y-yeah. Definitely.”



He's dreading school on Monday. Would rather feel like he's dying from the plague than actually walk into that building. But his mom brushes off his attempts to stay home sick and he does have a quiz in English that he probably shouldn't miss and if he does skip, Tay and Jack will have no ride to school. So he decided to suck it up, eats a waffle and chugs a glass of orange juice for breakfast, and heads out the front door with his mom calling after him to have a great day.

It'll only be great if John continues to ignore his existence and doesn't remember a single thing about Saturday night.

“Dude, it's so unfair,” Jack complains as soon as he gets in the back seat. He kicks the back of Tay’s seat (probably on purpose) and drops his backpack by his feet. “Pick me up first next time dude!”

“That would literally make no sense,” Tay tells him, turning back in her seat to glare at him. “Be nice to me or I won't give you details about what Alex did on Saturday night.”

Jack's face lights up and suddenly any grudge held against Tay is long forgotten and Alex wants to punch them both. “Tell me! Did he get drunk?”

“Tay I don't really think we need to ever acknowledge this and we can just pretend it never happened,” Alex tries to protest, tries to convince her that this story is actually not at all interesting and that Jack won't care. But that's bullshit and they all know it.

Tay leans even more forward, grinning at Jack as if she's about to tell him something so unbelievably scandalous. “Sierra and I were ready to leave and Alex had been whining about being bored all night, so we go to find him and guess what he was doing!”

“What?”

“Making out with John Oh!”

Jack’s hand thumps him on the back and Alex almost swerves into the curb. “Dude! That's something you tell me immediately!”

“I'd really rather not even remember it happened-”

“Oh my God, dude, that's amazing. Was he good? Are you like, the first guy he's hooked up with since he told everyone he's bi? Are you going on a date? Did he say he liked you? Were you good-?”

At the next stop sign, Alex stops short and Jack smacks his head into the back of Tay’s seat.

“Jack, shut up.”

“I will never stop talking about this. You should ask him out for Valentine's Day!”

Alex glances at Tay and even she looks a little unsure about that suggestion. It's not even worth a response, so Alex just ignores it and focuses on getting to school without crashing his car on purpose.



Alex has Chemistry right after his English quiz, and he sits in his usual seat towards the back in the first row. He flips his textbook open, reads through the first few paragraphs of the chapter they'll be learning and tries his best to be completely invisible. Because John is over in the corner with his friends from the baseball team, all laughing about something. Alex is invisible almost every day anyway. He's not sure why he thinks he needs to try any harder today.

“John, desks aren't meant to be sat in that way,” their teacher sighs as she walks into the room, arms full of textbooks and a box of chalk. Alex looks up from his own book, sees her smile at John like almost every other teacher does, and then glances over to the corner of the room. John is sitting on the top of the desk, back facing her. He sighs dramatically and hops down, and that's when Alex notices his arm is in a blue cast.

He definitely did not have that when Alex last saw him. Their teacher also seems to be curious about it, because she asks, “What did you do to your arm?” And the boys surrounding John all start laughing. Alex can only imagine why.

“Oh uh,” John shrugs as he slides into his seat the right way, “I ran into a tree.”

Their teacher blinks at him for a moment, probably trying to decide if it's worth further questioning or if she should just let it go. Alex can't help himself. He twists in his seat, gets a better view of John from across the room, and wishes he had the guts to speak up and ask him when he ‘ran into a tree’.

“Okay well...that's interesting.”

John grins at her, giving her a thumbs up with his good hand. Kennedy is sitting behind him, laughing silently. Alex isn't an idiot. John probably definitely did not just run into a tree.

Alex swears he's going to grow a pair and just ask him about it on Wednesday during their lab.



Except Wednesday’s lab turns out to be a total bust. Not only because the lab they’re doing is a simple endothermic/exothermic experiment and Alex finds those incredibly boring, but also because John isn’t even going to be his damn lab partner. Which is infuriating. But Alex won’t protest it because he’s a good student who doesn’t cause dumb issues like crying about wanting his lab partner to be the guy he made out with on the steps at a house party last weekend.

His lab teacher, Mr. Ward, informs him of his lab partner switch the moment Alex enters the lab room (“Don’t worry, Alexander - partners will go back to normal next week!). Alex is one of the first ones to class, as always, and he sulks his way to his seat at the third lab table on the right side of the room. All of the materials they’ll need for today’s lab are out on the table already and Alex pulls out his lab book to start reading over the pre-lab questions. When the bell rings, signaling the start of the period, the rest of the class shuffles in all at once and John is one of the last of them, laughing over his shoulder at Rian as he walks to his usual seat beside Alex.

He’s still smiling as he drops his backpack onto the top of the table and starts pulling out his books with his good hand and Alex figures he should definitely speak up before he gets too comfortable.

“Um - actually, we’re not partners today,” he says, and he curses himself for how nervous he sounds. “Apparently.”

John stops what he’s doing, looks up at Alex with a confused look. “Huh?”

“I mean - Mr. Ward told me you’d be Jenna’s partner today.”

John shakes his head and zips his bag closed and walks to the front of the room where their teacher is currently explaining something in the lab book to Rian. He interrupts their whole conversation, Rian rolling his eyes as John just starts talking, holding up his sprained wrist as he goes. Mr. Ward, clearly not even in the mood to deal with John and his complaints, nods and waves him off back to his seat. John returns to the lab table with a grin and all Alex can do is raise one eyebrow in question.

“I am absolutely not going to be Jenna’s partner,” he explains, pulling out the stool and taking a seat beside Alex. He tugs his phone charger out of the side pocket of his bag and plugs it into one of the outlets. “I just told him you and I work so well together and it’ll be so much easier for me, you know? Considering my injury.”

Alex’s palms are sweaty and he’s sure he looks like he’s seen a ghost. John actually wants to be his lab partner and that’s - ok. Overwhelming.

“How did you even do that, anyway?” Alex finds himself asking, watching John plug his phone into the charger and rest it on his backpack. “I don’t exactly think you ran into a tree.”

John laughs, and it’s the most beautiful laugh Alex has ever heard and he’s not sure why he’s just realizing this - John laughs pretty much all day every day because he takes nothing seriously - but it’s probably because it’s directed at him. His eyes squint and his nose scrunches up and he looks so cute that it almost physically pains Alex. Because apparently one kiss and Alex is head over heels.

“It happened after you left Saturday,” he tells Alex, lowering his voice so nobody else overhears, “I was like, pretty wasted - obviously - and I fell. Down some steps. Like a total idiot.”

Alex doesn’t actually care about this - not that he’s heartless or anything, but he really honestly just cares about whether or not John is going to acknowledge what they did that night. Because Alex needs to know if it’s something. Anything. He’s grasping at straws here, he’s pretty sure.

“Oh. That sucks.”

“Yeah. But I’m pretty sure the reason I tripped wasn’t strictly because of the tequilla. Know what I mean?”

“I...no?”

John fucking winks at him. Says nothing else. And Alex is left baffled and confused as Mr. Ward comes around with some handouts to help them out with the lab questions.

“Don’t worry,” John tells him in a whisper a minute later, when Alex is measuring out hydrochloric acid into a flask. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

Alex flushes, not even sure how to react to that statement. He’s glad John kept their ‘hookup’ to himself, considering literally nobody other than Tay and Jack and Sierra know he’s gay. But at the same time, he thinks maybe it would just be easier if John had said something. He knows it’s stupid to think that way, but whatever. He’s pretty sure John has no interest in him anyway. And that’s the end of the whole thing.

Except, throughout the entire lab, John sits way closer to him than is necessary. His hand touches Alex’s on multiple occasions and more than once, he knocks his knee against Alex’s under the table. So now Alex is just even more confused than he already was. But this was definitely one of his favorite lab classes since school started.



Friday is the last day of school before February break, and Alex is still as confused as ever. He hasn’t spoken to John since Thursday in lab and he hates it because he’s sure if they spent even a minute more together, he could figure out what exactly is going on. He’s sure it’s nothing - considering, John is very popular and very good looking and Alex is a nerd and has three friends total and his good looking days are few and far between. But still. He can’t help but hold on to that little bit of hope and think maybe they’ll make out again at the next party - if Alex is ever invited to one again, that is.

At the end of the day, Alex is by his car with Tay, waiting for Jack to finally come outside so they can go home, Tay rambling about a quiz that she failed and doesn’t think it’s fair because the questions were too vague. Alex isn’t really listening. He’s a little too busy staring across the parking lot, watching John walk to his own car with Kennedy right beside him, telling a story with a lot of hand movements.

“He's so hot,” Tay sighs, and Alex isn't sure if she's talking about John or Kennedy, but he nods in agreement anyway, because Kennedy isn't too bad to look at either.

It's only a few seconds later, still staring at John walking, that Alex realizes the guy isn't walking to his car anymore. He's walking towards Alex.

“Oh my God, why is he walking this way?” He mumbles to Tay, suddenly feeling panicked and nervous and he has half a mind to hop in the car and drive out of the parking lot before he even gets over here. “Tay, what the fuck is he doing?”

“He's totally coming right over here,” she hisses back at him, and because she's the absolute worse, she grabs her backpack from the ground and opens the back door of the car, sliding into the backseat just as John is within shouting distance.

“Alex!” He yells from twenty feet away, walking quickly and waving his sprained wrist. He's wearing his stupid baseball hat backwards and his jeans are especially tight today and Alex is sweating. “Hey!”

He's right there now. Right in front of Alex. And Alex's mouth is too dry to even speak. So he just smiles and hopes he doesn't look like a crazy person.

John, shockingly, does not look nearly as calm and collected and he always does. He's fidgeting with his backpack straps, pulling it off his shoulder and pulling it back on again, as if he's nervous about something. He shifts his weight from one foot to another and he clears his throat as he says, “I kind of - I was thinking and I wanted to -”

Suddenly the zipper on his backpack splits open, and everything is falling out of it. Alex can't help but gasp, can't help but just stand there and watch John desperately try to grab all the papers that are littering the floor, all the pens and sharpies and notebooks that are everywhere.

“Of fucking course,” John mumbles, shoving a crumpled batch of paper back into his bag. Alex hesitates to help, because he's still in a bit of shock here, but then sees a pencil lying by his foot and he bends down to grab it.

“Um - here,” he says, and he's so fucking pathetic, honestly. John takes the pencil, smiling sheepishly at him, and shoves it into his backpack. He just stands there for a moment, as if he's assessing exactly how much he just embarrassed himself in front of dozens of members of his senior class. Alex wants to speak up, want to ask him what he was going to say before his bag decided to dump all of its contents out onto the concrete.

But then John is sighing, rolling his shoulders and taking a step backwards. “Are you um. Gonna be at the game tomorrow night?”

Alex had no plans of actually going to the hockey game tomorrow night. He doesn't like hockey. But he nods anyway and John grins at him and tells him he'll see him there and Alex feels likes he's entered the fucking twilight zone.

“Wow. He totally was trying to ask you out,” Tay says from behind him, poking her head out of the back seat.

“Really? Because I have no idea what just happened here.”

“We need to make you look extra hot tomorrow night.”

Fuck Alex's life, honestly.



The hockey game on Saturday night is stupid. It's stupid for a number of reasons - first of all, Alex's knowledge of hockey is very limited. He knows what a hockey puck looks like. And he knows they play on ice. That's literally about it. Second of all, it's fucking freezing in the stupid arena. He should have brought gloves. Third of all - it's Valentine's Day. Everyone's wearing red and discussing dates and Alex hasn't even seen John once yet. So it's fucking stupid.

“Relax, you look good and he obviously was trying to ask you out yesterday so there's no reason to be so uptight,” Sierra tells him, patting him on the back as they sit down on the bleachers. It's pretty crowded for a high school hockey game, Alex thinks, looking around for any sign of John. He sees Kennedy. And Rian. About four sets of bleachers away from them. But no John.

Jack reappears from wherever he wandered off too when he claimed he was going to take advantage of the fact that his mother finally let him out of his house. He’s clutching a soda, a bag of popcorn and a soft pretzel in his arms and staring down at his phone as he takes the empty seat next to Alex. “Want some?” he asks, shoving the bag of popcorn under Alex’s nose.

Alex pushes it away, “I’m going to throw up.”

“Well, try not to. My sneakers are new.”

The game starts at five and John is still nowhere to be found - and Alex has been very observant and has scanned the entire crowd at least three times now - and Jack drops his soda on Tay when he stands up for the National Anthem and Alex really is starting to think he should have just stayed home. John clearly isn’t coming and now he has to suffer through this awful sport for God knows how long.

“You can’t even tell!” Jack tries to convince Tay after he desperately tries to scrub the soda off her shirt with a wet paper towel, “Good as new!”

“You’re a fucking moron, Jack-”

“Wait - shut up!” Sierra hisses, barely audible over the sound of the crowd around them, “Kennedy is coming over here!”

That’s nice and all. Kennedy seems like a decent guy but Alex literally doesn’t care about him at all and there’s popcorn crunching under his feet and the referee on the ice keeps blowing the whistle and it’s giving Alex a headache. Tay and Sierra are whispering about whether or not they have something in their teeth and if their hair looks good enough to talk to the guy and Jack is devouring his soft pretzel and complaining about not having any more soda. Alex used to wonder why nobody else considered them ‘cool’. He doesn’t anymore.

When Kennedy finally reaches the row of bleachers they’re sitting in, Tay and Sierra are trying to look as if they’re paying attention to the game going on and it’s up to Alex to acknowledge the guy. He looks up, eyebrows raised in question and Kennedy sighs and shoves his hands into his jacket pockets.

“You’re Alex, right?” he asks, rocking back on his feet and looking like he’d really rather be anywhere else, doing anything else.

“Yep. Alex. That’s me.”

“John told me to ask you if you could meet him out by the snack bar? He was running super late.”

“Oh.”

Kennedy blinks. “Yeah so um...you want to? I’ll tell him you’re not coming if not…”

“Oh - yeah. Sure. I’ll go now.”

“Cool,” Kennedy nods, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He types something out and then looks back up, eyes settling on Sierra sitting beside him. “Hey, Sierra,” he says with a shy smile, and then he’s walking away, back towards where he came from and Sierra is practically on the floor.

“Oh my God,” Tay sighs, “He’s into you.”

“You think? Oh God, did I look stupid? Did I even smile?”

Jack looks at Alex, gestures towards the doors to the snack bar, “Get going, then. Don’t keep him waiting like a total dick!”

So Alex leaves Jack there alone to deal with both of the girls and their crying over boys and Alex is about to cry himself, his palms all sweaty and his mouth is dry and he really wishes he had worn a different shirt because this stupid flannel is making him feel hot and confined. John is going to take one look at him and regret asking him to meet him, probably.

John is exactly where Kennedy said he’d be - standing off to the side of the snack bar line, staring down at his phone. He looks nervous and that makes Alex feel a little bit better. Alex has no idea what’s going to happen here, but at least he’s not the only one feeling like this. He’s only a few feet away when John looks up and finally notices him and he grins, blinding Alex with his stupid beautiful smile and Alex can’t handle this. And then he notices what John has in his hands and his heart feels like it’s in his throat.

“Hey!” John says happily before Alex can even speak up. He has a tight grip on the box in his hands and Alex hopes he keeps it right there. “My car had a flat tire so of course I got here late,” he explains, as if Alex was questioning his whereabouts. “Because apparently that’s just my luck this week. If you haven’t noticed, all I seem to do around you is embarrass myself.”

Alex furrows his eyebrows - he had definitely not really noticed that. “I don’t really…”

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” John shrugs, looking down at what he’s holding. The heart shaped box is almost taunting Alex. “I had like, this whole big plan to ask you out yesterday after school and then my fuckin’ backpack just broke open and that plan just got shot to hell and then I was going to ask you out before the game even started but of course my car had a flat so I was late and I have this stupid cast on my wrist because I fell down a flight of steps because I was drunk and couldn’t stop thinking about you and kissing you and - I don’t know if you know where I’m going with this but like...I like you. Um. Yeah. I sort of - I got you this. Valentine’s Day, you know...”

He seems so deflated by the lack of reaction from Alex but he holds out the box of candy anyway, and Alex’s heart is pounding and he doesn’t want to take it but he has to because John looks so upset and Alex doesn’t want to upset him even more by fucking denying his heart shaped box of candy. So he takes it, holding it gently with his fingers and trying not to look like he’d rather toss it in the trash.

John seems to catch on to Alex’s aversion towards the candy anyway, because he sighs and rubs the back of his neck and gestures lamely towards it. “The candy seems like such a lame thing, now that I think about it - I totally should have thought of something else, but like, I was pressed for time and I felt like-”

“John, no it’s not-”

“The box was kinda romantic but then again I guess not-”

“John, I’m allergic to nuts,” Alex finally says, interrupting him mid-sentence because he really couldn’t take the guy being miserable and hating himself for buying a box of candy.

John’s eyes widen, and suddenly he looks absolutely horrified and he grabs the box right out of Alex’s hands. “This definitely contains nuts. Oh my God, I almost killed you.”

Alex can’t help but crack a smile - because he’s starting to get what John meant by constantly embarrassing himself around Alex. “It’s alright. Tay once tried to feed me almond butter and she’s known I’m allergic for years. You get a pass this time.”

“I’m just gonna…” John tosses the box into the closest garbage can and comes back to where Alex is still standing, running his hands over his face and sighing dramatically. “Okay so. This was a disaster. All I wanted to do was ask you to be my valentine and take you on a date and instead I buy you candy that could have killed you and fuck it all up.”

Alex shrugs, “I mean, there’s still hope,” and he has no idea where this confidence is coming from but he thinks it’s probably because John makes it so easy. “I like ice cream.”

“I also happen to really like ice cream.”

“You could take me to Cold Stone. It’s open till eleven.”

John nods, steps in a little closer and puts his hands on Alex’s hips. Alex really, really hopes nobody is paying them any attention. “Okay so new plan - I’m gonna kiss you and then take you to Cold Stone. Deal?”

“Deal.”