OnlyUs

Six Months

Jack and Alex's 'us' day was really something special. They'd driven all the way up to New York. It was a long drive, but they spent the day sightseeing, with Jack taking the cutest pictures of Alex the whole time, taking a ton of photos together and every bit of New York City that he could get. 
There's one picture that Jack took of Alex that's his absolute favorite. He's holding Jack's hand, while Jack has his camera in his other hand. Alex is basically running towards this clothing store that he'd always wanted to go to and never has before, there are tons of people around them. Alex looks back at Jack as he's dragging him towards this store and Jack snaps the photo. It's beautiful, it's candid, Alex has a big grin on his face. It's genuine, and it's real. It's not posed, it's not set up. It's Jack's new favorite. 
They spent the evening at one of New York's best steakhouses, they fight on the bill. Alex winds up paying for it when Jack steps away to use the restroom. Of course, that means Jack insists on buying dessert. They go to a bakery not far from where their car is parked, it's late and all of New York City is lit up around them, cars racing by as they sit at the little table outside of the bakery, drinking hot chocolate and sharing a piece of what Jack swears the most decadent red velvet cake he's ever had. Alex thinks it's cute how he's gushing over the texture, the flavor, the icing being the perfect thickness to not overpower the density of the cake. It's the little things like that which leaves Alex reeling over Jack, wanting more. Sure their fight was huge for them, and it was stressful, it left Alex and Jack both wondering if this really will work out, but things like this make them both hopeful.
Neither wanted to go home, but with both having work and Alex having school the next day, sadly they needed to kiss their little vacation away and get back on the road for that long drive home.
The first thing Jack did when he got home was edit that photo he took of Alex, he blurred out all of the people so just his hand, Alex holding it and Alex's face with his pretty smile were the focus. He'd taken it to the JC Penney studio the next day and had it printed on a decent sized canvas, and it's now hanging on his bedroom room wall next to a couple of other pictures that he loves of him and Alex together. He'd printed another of the NYC skyline from the top of the Empire State Building that's he made black and white which is hanging on his living room wall. 

__________

Things are going smoothly, still. It's so refreshing. They're nearly six months into their relationship now and while they'd still had little arguments here or there, especially when once again, Alex was late meeting Jack for dinner because of a subscriber, they hadn't fought over it.
Alex kept his word of keeping it out of their relationship, and Jack kept his word of accepting the fact that this is simply just what Alex does and it's something that he enjoys.
To rip that away from him over jealousy would be unfair, which is what Jack reminds himself up each time that little green monster comes to play inside of his brain.
Alex has a plan, though. 

"Hey Jenna," He calls from his room where he'd just finished his last assignment of this semester, "Come here, I need help." 
Jenna comes in a few minutes later, hair half done. She's going on a date tonight.
"What's up?" She asks curiously. Alex didn't have a setup or anything, so it's probably not pictures.
"Jack and I will be official next week. I want to do something special for him but I genuinely have no idea what. I want to be creative, not something stupid and overdone, you know?" He asks, tilting his head.
Jenna smiles. This is a first for Alex. He's sweet and romantic, sure but he's never really put too much thought into anniversaries, especially not a six month one.
"Well..." She thinks, leaning against his doorframe, "What if I book him for a photoshoot and instead of him coming out to some forest-y area to do a nature shoot for me, you meet him there with a cute little picnic set up and you two have a date? Like it'll be a total surprise for him, I won't even be there." She says with a grin, thinking it's one of the cutest things she's ever come up with.
Alex thinks about it, a smile creeping up on his face as he imagines it, "Yeah, that could be really cool. I think he'd like that. It would be away from everything too, like it could actually be really really good for him. He likes that kind of thing, you know? I think I want to tell him I love him too." He blushes at that last sentence.
Jenna sits down on Alex's bed, "Do you?" She tries to sound less excited than she actually is. She's ecstatic for Alex, he deserves this so much and while she doesn't hang around Jack often, all she hears about is Jack this, and Jack that. Jack deserves this too.
Alex nods, looking at his keyboard as a distraction from looking at Jenna, a thoughtful expression on his face, "Yeah. I do. I really do. He's so good to me Jenna, like I don't know what the hell I did to deserve him, but he's so good to me. Yeah, he gets jealous. Yeah, he doesn't really like what I do since we're together officially now, but he's as supportive as he can be, and instead of arguing with me when he's feeling some type of way, or getting angry at me, he knows when to walk away and take a breather before he comes to talk to me about it. It's like since we had that huge fight that I told you about, he's really doing his best to keep it cool and find little compromises with me that don't involve me losing out on this, or him being too uncomfortable with it. I really appreciate that about him, and it makes me want to do better for him. I'm like genuinely in love with him. He's so important." He's grinning now and he didn't even realize that he was doing it.

"Alex oh my god. You two are so cute. I'm so happy for you. Honestly, you two seem really good for each other and you seem so happy. So you think that's a good idea then? Because if there's only a week before you hit six months, I want to book him now before he's got work to do at the studio or some other photoshoots. Do you know his schedule?" Jenna asks, going onto Jack's photography facebook page.
Alex nods, "He's working and he's got shoots book all the way up until Saturday, the day of our six months. So I'm not entirely sure it'll work. Try it." He shrugs.
Jenna calls Jack's number, knowing that he may not answer but still.
Surprisingly, he does pick up and Jenna lies, saying Alex is doing schoolwork. She asks to book him.

"I'd love to but that's the day of mine and Alex's six month...I wanted to spend the whole day with him if he's not working. He told me he doesn't know his schedule yet and he's going to try to get it off if he does work, but it's kind of up in the air..." Jack says, Jenna had put him on speaker.
Alex mouths to her, "Tell him I work til 5"
Jenna nods at Alex, "Alex works til 5. He just found out and texted me about it a few minutes ago, said he was going to call you so you two could work something out." 
"Oh..." Jack sounds disappointed, "Well, he said he'd try to take it off, but maybe we could do something at noon? What were you thinking?" 
Jenna smiles at Alex, who's over there at his desk grinning again.
"Maybe we go to that one trail, I forget the name but you did Sammy's shoot there, it's got the waterfall all the way up the trail. I think it would be really cool." She keeps her tone cool and casual.
Jack thinks for a moment, "Yeah I can just meet you there, park a little closer to the end of the trail so I can just cut through. Does 12:30 work?" He asks, sounding a little more excited over the fact that he'll at least have something to do. "The lighting should be really, really good by then. You know, how it kind of looked at Sammy's shoot when the little rays of light were coming through the trees and reflecting off the water? I thought that looked really cool and we did her shoot at 1, so we should be good as far as good lighting goes." He gets more excited the more he talks about lighting. Jack's favorite way to shoot is with natural lighting. He doesn't really like using studio lights if he can avoid it, and he hates using his flash. He's so much more of a natural photography kind of guy, getting the realities of nature in a beautiful way.
Jenna grins, "Sounds perfect. Let's say an hour long shoot? 20 to 30 shots depending on our timeframe?" 
"Sounds great. I'll knock off the price since you're Alex's friend."
Jenna giggles, "Thanks. You don't have to, whatever you knock off I'll just replace in tips anyway." 
She can almost hear Jack rolling his eyes, "Alright, well we'll figure it out after. What are you going to be wearing so I know what I'm working with?"
Jenna thinks, not really planning on going that far with this idea. She really just wanted to get Jack in the area. "Probably like an off white dress, so I don't blend in with the ground or the trees." 
"Cool, sounds good then. We can definitely come up with some cool shots. See you then." Jack says contently.
"Awesome. See you Saturday then." She hangs up and looks at Alex.

Alex grins at her "You were so good oh my god. Okay perfect. I feel so sad that he sounded so bummed out! I have to lie to him all the way until Saturday. I hate that." Alex pouts a bit.
"But it's for a good reason. He won't be mad, I promise." Jenna assures him.

What really sucks is that the whole week, Jack is totally booked and Alex is busy with work and of course, his OnlyFans, which he's been keeping true to the schedule he made up with Jack, but it really did cut into their time together. Saturday couldn't come faster.
They'd had some time together, nights spent together which were incredible as they usually are, movies and cuddles, sex and sleepovers. They both want so much more, though. More time, more togetherness.

It's Saturday morning and Alex is scrambling, preparing this little picnic.
He'd gone out and bought a cute little picnic set with a blanket and basket, like some genuine Pinterest style stuff. He wants this to be perfect. It's not every day that you tell someone that you love them. It's not every day that you can sit down to think and come to the genuine realization that you're the happiest that you've been in a long, long time. That's something special to Alex, and to him, it deserves to be treated as such. 
He baked a red velvet cake, trying to get as close to the bakery cake from New York that Jack loved so much, he made cute little sandwiches with all the works, a bottle of rosé and two cute rose gold tinted glasses, a small charcuterie board and a cute set of plates, silverware and napkins, white with gold trim around them. 

He has Jenna drop him off towards the end of the trail, so he can cut through easily instead of walking the entire trail, just like Jack had planned. Obviously, Jack can't see his car parked there.
He gets to the little spot that Jack is meant to meet Jenna at, setting up their little picnic right near the river, close enough to the waterfall but not so close that they'd get misted or that it would be too noisy near them. Instead, they're under a nice canopy of trees with enough light flooding in to make it look serene and beautiful, just like Alex wants it to. The weather is nice for it being the end of summer. It's not too hot today, it's 73 degrees which is great compared to what it was last week. He couldn't imagine being out here last week at 85 degrees. Absolutely not. He loves August, but he's not a huge fan of it's weather most of the time.
He's nervous as he looks at the time on his phone, Jack will be here any minute and his stomach is in knots. How is he going to say it? How is this going to play out? Does Jack feel the same way? Is he being an idiot? Is he overthinking this? Is he not thinking about it enough?
He's a wreck on the inside, keeping it cool on the outside.

Right at 12:25, since Jack never likes to show up late to anything, Jack comes walking through. Alex looks up at him, sitting cross legged on the cute little picnic blanket. Jack stops dead in his tracks, clearly confused. He adjusts his camera bag and just stares for a second before coming back down to earth, smiling at Alex. Hey, at least the surprise worked.
He approaches and sits down on the little blanket, setting his camera bag down and his tripod next to it.
"What is all this?" He asks, that big smile of his seemingly glued to his mouth.
Alex smiles back at him, "a happy six months surprise." 
"Very happy." Jack leans in and presses a kiss to Alex's lips, "So all week, I've been totally bummed out thinking I wouldn't get to see you until tonight and that I'd be filling my time taking pictures of your friend, and really, you were doing all of this?"
Alex nods, "Jenna and I really sold it, huh?" He grins, proud of himself.
Jack laughs, "You did. You really did. You did good. This is so nice." He looks around the pretty scenery. Really, Alex couldn't have chosen a better spot. It's gorgeous out today and that only accentuates the natural beauty of the place.
"I just wanted time with you, not in my house or your house, not going out to some restaurant, just time with you and only you, and what better place than somewhere quiet like this? You like it?" Alex sounds nervous and happy all at the same time.
Jack doesn't quite understand the nervous undertone to Alex's voice, but he doesn't really question it either. "I love it, it's so nice and it's not what we'd usually do...I was thinking if you had the day off, we'd go have another us day in New York or something since you liked it so much last time, but this is honestly so much better Lex. It's so quiet and calm." He smiles.
Alex smiles back, "I just needed a good place to be with you and enjoy us, celebrate us and be able to tell you that I love you without the world revolving around us, loud and obnoxious." That wasn't exactly how he intended on it coming out.

Jack almost misses what Alex said, about to respond to the rest of it, to agree with everything he'd said. Then his brain caught up to him.
He looks at Alex and he's not entirely sure what his expression looks like, but Alex looks even more nervous than before.
"To tell me you love me?" Jack asks, making sure he heard it right at all. Maybe he hadn't.
Alex nods, "Yeah...I was going to say it in a different way and not until later and I was going to try to be cute about it and I really didn't want to mess it up since obviously it's special and I -" 
Jack cuts him off with a kiss.
"I love you too." He smiles, amused at Alex's cheeks that are slowly turning beet red.
"You do?" 
Jack nods, "I do. I've been wanting to tell you too, you know." It's true, but he'd been thinking it for months now.
"Why haven't you?" Alex questions, toying with a bit of string on the blanket.
"Because," Jack shrugs, "I've been thinking it for a while now, but I was nervous about what you'd say if I told you. I knew I was going to tell you soon, maybe today even, but I wanted to be sure it was right. I wanted to see it from you too, you know?" 
Alex looks up at him, "I know. Look," He opens the picnic basket, setting up the little charcuterie board with salami, crackers, brie cheese, olives and slices of white cheddar, he gets out the little turkey sandwiches he'd made for them, the big slice of red velvet cake, and the glasses as well as the bottle of rosé, silverware and plates as Jack watches him curiously, "I was going to have all of this set up first, and we'd talk for a little while, and we'd eat and I'd tell you that I used like three different recipes to make this cake, trying to get it as close as I could to the cake in New York City, and we'd drink a couple of glasses of rosé, and then I'd find a way to say it, but I just kind of said it now." He sighs.
Jack smiles at him, "It's perfect. You really did all this for us?" Clearly, he can see it, but Alex isn't exactly the type to just do this on a whim. Sure he'd done their cute movie night a few months ago, but really nothing elaborate.
"Yeah...Today is special to me. It's important. I'm the happiest I've been in a long time and it's because of you. You make me want to do better and be better." Alex sounds emotional and he's not bothering to hide it. He's got tears in his eyes and he's confused as to why.
Jack kisses his cheek and pulls him in for a hug, "It's special to me too." He presses a soft kiss to Alex's head that's laying on his shoulder, "You're special to me. You're my best friend. I love you."
Alex looks up at him with a smile on his face, the tears rolled over onto his cheeks and Jack wipes them away, "I love you." Alex says quietly.

They get through their little picnic, laughing and talking, totally at ease and they're both starting to think it's better that the I love you happened the way that it did, because the tension is gone. The worry and nervousness dissipated into nothingness, happiness and bliss taking over instead.
They put their little picnic away and walked around the area a bit, Jack taking pictures of Alex, Alex stealing Jack's camera to take pictures of Jack, the tripod set up with the little remote hidden in Jack's hand, getting photos of themselves together, kissing and hugging, playing around with each other with Jack just hitting the button repeatedly, not caring if the shots were perfect or if all of them were even in focus, he just wanted as many memories of this day as he could get.

They love each other and that's all that matters, and it shows right here in the hundreds of photos Jack is snapping. The only proof either of them need are captured and permanent.