Poison (Jalex)

Shitty Puns From A Tired Author

As far as Jack could tell, Alex was a pretty nice guy. I guess you could say he was, well, Charming.

Ah, puns.

They spend the first few days of school together and Jack's never been better in English.

Jack and Rian are getting along fairly well too. Zack is pretty quiet, but he seems nice. The four are becoming an inseparable group of friends.

Pretty soon the school is talking about homecoming.

"Any of you guys seen Alex?" Jack asks, taking a seat across from Rian at their usual table.
"Wouldn't you liked to know," Rian responds, wiggling his eyebrows.
Jack rolls his eyes and looks to Zack expectantly. The half-giant shrugs and turns back to his meal.

Jack sighs and figures that Alex is probably in the library or something. He was kind of a nerd after all.

A sudden guitar riff catches the attention of the entire cafeteria. It's a fast riff, probably consisting of mostly power chords. A bunch of students stand up, looking for the source of the sound.

There, just above Jack's table, a group of pixies are lowering a sort of stage onto the table. Rian and Zack pull their trays off the table. "What the hell, man!" Rian shouts.

Jack, grabs his own tray, half mesmerized by the weird scene before him.

When the platform is lowered onto the table, Jack sees Alex, playing an electric guitar and dancing around like an idiot.

The music stops. "Now that I've got everyone's attention," Alex says into a microphone that a pixie handed him as soon as he stopped playing. "I'd like to ask my fiancé to the homecoming dance!" He smiles at Jack. "But before I can do that, I need him to come up here."

Alex holds out a hand for Jack to take. His mischievous grin causes the butterflies in his stomach to start rioting. One of these days, this guy is going to cause the butterflies to break through his chest and kill him.

That's morbid, Jack thinks.

He allows Alex to pull him onto the makeshift stage. "So," Alex says into the mic, he gets down on one knee and grabs a sign off the floor. The sign just says 'HOCO?' "Will you go to homecoming with me?"
Jack laughs. "Sure."
Alex winks at him and then stands up. "HE SAID YES!"

Most the cafeteria cheers. The others are part of Ronnie's group of villains who simply glare.

Alex and Jack step off the platform and Alex hands his guitar and the mic to the pixies who helped him out. He thanks them with a smile and then sits down at the table next to Jack.

Then he realizes he forget to grab a meal before serving time ended. "Fuck," he mutters, his stomach growling.

Jack pushes his tray over and hands Alex the fork. "You can have mine if your not a germaphobe."
"What are you going to eat?"
"I already ate most of it. I'll be fine."
Alex tilts his head, studying Jack before he starts eating Jack's leftover food.

"So who are you two going to homecoming with?" Alex asks with his mouth full. At least he has the decency to place his hand over his mouth so no one has to see chewed up food.
"No one," Rian shrugs. "Dates are overrated. "Plus, I'm in charge of planning."
Zack raises an eyebrow at him. "You're planning homecoming?"
"I have a knack for party planning. My dad used to help me throw the best unbirthday parties anyone's ever been to."
"What does that even mean?" Jack asks, frustrated.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you were homeschooled until this year."

Jack looks between the group. Alex is still eating, Zack is on his phone, and Rian is studying a newfound tear in the fabric of his top hat.

"So what's an unbirthday?" Jack asks again.
"It's like a birthday," Alex says. "But, ya know, un."
"What?"
"Exactly!" Rian exclaims. "It's a what!"
Jack blinks while Alex just laughs.
"Happy unbirthday by the way," Alex says with a wink.
"What does that even mean!?"
Zack rolls his eyes. "Basically every day that's not your birthday is your unbirthday."
Jack lets out a sigh of relief. "So I'm not dying?"
"Not yet," Rian informs him. "We don't celebrate death days. That's a funeral."
Zack snorts.

Rian and Zack leave the cafeteria pretty soon after that while Jack stays with Alex until he's finished eating.
"Ya know, boarding school sucks, but at least the food is good," Alex says as he sets his fork down. "Thanks again. I owe you food."
"Nah, that's okay."
"Nope, I'm taking you to lunch tomorrow since we don't have class. What're you craving?"
"Anything but apples."
Alex laughs, then his face goes grim. "Oh. Right."
"Sorry that was dark."
"No, I totally get it! That's gotta be pretty terrifying knowing you're going to basically fall into a coma."
"Yeah...."

Alex grabs the tray off the table and then helps Jack to his feet. They walk hand in hand to the trash where Alex leaves the empty tray. Then they head out to the garden outside.

"So, our first official date tomorrow," Alex says, pulling Jack over to the fountain. "I was thinking something casual. Homecoming's going to be pretty fancy so let's go do something fun."
"Okay."

Alex frowns. Jack can feel Alex's dark eyes staring deep into his soul. "I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I? My friends say I can come on a bit too strong sometimes."
"No! No, you're fine, I just- it's all weird."
- "Why?" Alex doesn't seem upset by Jack's statement, more just... curious.
"I dunno. I've never really had friends before and now I have a fiancé. Well I mean I've had a fiancé since before I was born but... I'm still just a kid, ya know?"
Alex nods. "I get it. I've kinda known my whole life who you are, I don't know why your mom was so strict. Would it be weirder if we had known each other from day one?"
Jack shrugs. He's not sure how to answer. He's not sure if there is an answer.

"I'm sorry," Jack says after a few moments of silence. "I really, really like you, like a lot. I just... I don't know what I'm doing. I've never really been out of the house before let alone on a date with a hot guy!" Jack freezes, "I mean-"
Alex laughs, nudging Jack with his shoulder. "You're not so bad yourself," he interrupts. Then he squeezes Jack's hand. "We can take it slow if you want."
"How slow?"
"Just tell me if I go too far," Alex mutters, leaning in a bit closer to Jack.

"Is this too fast?" he asks, their noses just barely touching.
Alex's eyes are half closed as he breathes against Jack's skin.

Jack isn't sure what to do or say. His heart is pounding in his chest and he's almost positive Alex knows he's holding his breath. "I-I dunno. I mean- I- uh," Alex looks up at him with soft brown eyes, waiting for a yes or no. He doesn't back away.

"No," Jack says finally, letting out a breath. He can feel Alex smiling as he closes his eyes, bracing himself for what comes next. "It's not too fast. 

Alex pulls away suddenly. "Well that's good so I know the boundary line for now."
Jack blinks at him for a second.

Alex stands up, brushing off his jeans. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" He grins. "For lunch?"
Jack can only hope Alex can't see him blushing. "Y-yeah. Tomorrow."

"Goodnight then!"
"N-Night good."

Alex chuckles softly as he walks away, leaving Jack a blushing mess in the garden.