The Bandana Code (Jalex)

Purple: Piercing

Jack stared at his calendar with disbelief. The last weekend of the month was Alex and his anniversary. How could it already have been a year?

He wanted to do something special, but he wasn't sure what. The others had been cracking jokes about engagements and moving in together and Jack was in no way ready for any of that just yet, but he loved Alex and he wanted to do something that mattered.

Normally he'd probably consult the elder boy on the situation but given that he wanted it to be a surprise that wasn't really an option. He supposed he could ask his friends, but he doubted he'd get much out of it beyond the obvious, normal cliche stuff and that wasn't really what he was after.

Thankfully, the internet was full of ideas. Though a lot of them were pretty extreme, even for Jack.

Still, he wanted to show his commitment to Alex, to have them bonded in a serious way even if it wasn't quite marriage and living together and all that just yet. He'd created the perfect plan, he just hoped that Alex would like it too.

                                    ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･───

Alex tapped his foot with nervous excitement as he waited for Jack to arrive.

Today was their anniversary and he had absolutely no idea what Jack had planned. He'd been told to make sure he had the weekend free and that he should pack a bag for a couple of nights away. Nothing more.

Alex loved that Jack had put in all this effort for him, but he absolutely hated surprises.

As he sat there, waiting for him to arrive for whatever it was he had planned, he couldn't help but think of all the worst-case scenarios. All the things that Jack could plan that he'd absolutely hate, which would put him in the position of either pretending to like it and secretly hating the entire weekend or telling him straight and hurting his feelings after he'd put in all this effort.

His phone buzzed with a text making Alex jump. He checked it to find Jack was outside. He took a deep breath to calm himself before swinging his bag over his shoulder and heading to the door.

"Have fun!" Rian called from the living room. "Make sure you send me photos of the ring before you post it all over socials. I wanna see how good a job he did considering he didn't consult me." Alex rolled his eyes.
"Suck it asshole." He was really getting sick of all these engagement jokes.

A terrible thought occurred to him as the elevator made its descent. What if Jack did propose? What if he was ready for that? What if all the jokes had made him think that was what Alex wanted? They'd never spoken about it before so how would he know not to take any of it seriously? Alex suddenly felt sick.

As he exited the building, he found Jack parked directly outside, he was drumming his hands against the steering wheel and singing. Alex couldn't hear the song but if he had to guess he'd assume it was probably something by blink.