Why Don't We One Shots

Labeled - Jarbyn

A boy. A musician. A weirdo.

There were so many labels that Jack dealt with every day at school. 'Normal' was never a word that came to mind when you thought of him.

Jack never liked the labels. He never liked being stereotyped or put in a box. He was always doing different stuff - skateboarding and singing on live streams and trying out for American Idol - just trying to break boundaries and shake up the status quo.

But never in a million years did he think he'd fall for a boy. Much less fall for Corbyn Besson, the new kid.

"Just be home by five," his mother had said that day. Jack was eager to start perfecting a new trick on his board at the skate park. He dropped into the bowl a few times and was adjusting a wheel on his board when suddenly, a streak of blonde hair flashed past, and the boy took a nasty fall down the ramp. He sat at the bottom of the bowl-like structure, elbows resting on his knees.

Jack skated down the ramp, jumped off his board, and dropped beside the boy, leaving his board skidding along without him on it. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"I...I don't know!" Corbyn had sobbed. "I've never done this before. I'm new here, and I don't know anyone yet. But some of my best friends back home always liked skating, and it seems popular here too, so I thought...I thought for once I could be..."

"Normal?" Jack chuckled as he helped the boy up.

"If that's what you call it." The boy brushed his fingers through his blonde hair, not a trace of sadness left in his bright green eyes. "But who wants to be normal anyway, right?" Jack just laughed with him, watching his eyes brighten.

And as they talked and spent time together over the next few months, Jack realized how much he wanted to be around Corbyn. How he looked for his face whenever he turned a corner, how he would make him laugh just to see those green eyes light up again, how he offered every time to hold Corbyn's hand as Jack taught him how to ride a skateboard - if not to catch him when he stumbled, then just to feel the warmth of Corbyn's hand in his, to feel connected to Corbyn. Jack just wanted to be near him.

Jack was in love with him.

He was terrified to tell Corbyn, afraid that it was going to ruin their friendship. But he told him anyway.

They had met up at the skate park again. The place they first met. And Jack told Corbyn everything. And by the end of it all, Corbyn stood there, stunned. Then, he took Jack's hand gently and led him to the bottom of the bowl where Corbyn had fallen and Jack had picked him back up. Corbyn sat down and made Jack sit across from him, their knees touching.

"Corbs, what are we doing?" Jack had asked nervously. He had just spilled his heart out, and yet Corbyn had yet to come up with a response.

"Do you know where we are?" Corbyn asked him, meeting chocolate brown eyes with serene green ones. "We're sitting in the exact same spot where we first met, which is partly why this is one of my favorite spots in the world. Do you know why else it's my favorite place?"

Jack shook his head, and Corbyn smiled warmly.

"It's my favorite place," Corbyn continued, "not just because it was where I first met you, but because it was where I first fell for you. I guess you could say literally, at that." Corbyn laughed easily. "My point is, you like me, I like you. What do we do now?"

Jack knew exactly where he was going with this. He leaned over and gave Corbyn the slightest touch of a kiss. And Corbyn pulled him closer and loved him with everything he had.

Now, Jack hated being labeled. But when he and Corbyn started dating, he never thought of the new ones he would get. People said terrible things to the couple, and neither of them understood why or what they'd done to deserve it.

"J-Jack," Corbyn sobbed, "why do people hate us so much?"

"Because we're different, honey," Jack told him. "Because we're happy." He brushed a stray tear off of Corbyn's face. "But no one can ever make me stop loving you. No label can change that."

~