"Jack and I did something really, really fucking stupid."
Thousands of fans open the Instagram live to what they expect will be Jack's self deprecating sense of humor, only to find a very distraught Alex revealing the drama that's taken place over the last few weeks.
At first it seems like another one of the bands many, many jokes. A prank set up by Jack and Alex, the token pranksters of All Time Low, likely fed up with being "shipped" together on the internet.
Jack's barely made it back to the hotel when a young girl, probably about 14 or so, stops him in the lobby, handing him her phone without another word.
"Look, I don't know if I did something, or if all of this drama took that big of a toll on Jack that he had to go, but-" Jack doesn't even recognize that Alex is speaking right away. He thinks it's just a video, not a livestream of Alex, stupidly out in the cold snow of Big Bear again, looking for Jack who'd gone out to clear his head.
Why'd Alex jump to such dramatic conclusions anyway? Where is he? Why's he telling the fans?
"I woke up this morning, and I had this overwhelming feeling that something was wrong. And now I have no idea where Jack is. I need to find him. I need to tell him that I love him, I-"
Jack looks up, recognizing the scenery around Alex in the livestream. It's....
The hotel?
He looks to the entrance to the lobby, and realizes why Alex had stopped talking. He's there, frozen in his spot, watching Jack carefully, almost dumbfounded that his search was that easy and anticlimactic.
Jack hands the phone back to the girl, and runs to meet Alex at the door.
All over the world, fans watch the scene play out on their phones. People of every age sit at the edge of their seats, watching Alex forget about the live stream altogether. As he closes out of the stream, the final image to appear on thousands of screens everywhere, is of Jack pulling Alex into a firm embrace, before Instagram asks if the stream went well.
Meanwhile, in barely freezing cold Big Bear, Jack is checking to make sure Alex didn't give himself another cold.
Alex laughs when Jack pressed the palm of his hand over Alex's forehead.
"Jack," he chuckles, "I'm fine. There's no storm or anything." He gently grabs Jack's hands, intertwining their fingers. "I should be asking if you're okay. You disappeared this morning. When you weren't there I panicked and I-"
"You said you loved me."
Jack's gaze is panicked, searching. It's like he's waiting for Alex to take it back.
"I do," Alex says slowly, unsure where Jack's going with this.
"I know you mean as a friend but- I can't keep pretending I'm not in love with you," Jack explains, his voice desperate. "It was one thing to be friends, but pretending to be in a relationship was such an awful idea. I thought I was over you, but I'm not. I'll never be. I'm in love with you, Alex. I always have been."
If Alex wasn't teary eyed before he certainly is now. Jack's not sure what Alex is thinking. Alex is always thinking just for once Jack wants him to just talk.
Alex bites his lip, searching Jack's gaze for any hint of what he should say. This the most terrified he's ever been.
Half the lobby is watching him, and he's already admitted to half the world that he's in love with Jack, so why can't he just say it?
"I know." Stupid!
"I know," Alex repeats, a bit more confidently. "I didn't before but, I was talking to my mom last night and... I didn't have a word for it before now. Now I... Jack when I said I love you, I didn't mean it as a friend."
"Please don't be fucking with me," Jack begs.
"I'm not. I'm in love with you, too, Jack. I didn't realize it back in high school, or the first few tours, but I realize it now. I'm in love with you, Jack Barakat."
And then Jack's lips are on Alex's. It's a shock for both of them, but only for a second. A few cheers ring out from around the lobby, and the girl who let Jack borrow her phone is definitely filming, but none of that matters.
For a second, it's just the two of them. Jack and Alex. Alex and Jack.
The two of them against the world.
Until, at least, Mr. and Mrs. Barakat march through the door.
"What the hell is this?" Mrs. Barakat huffs. "You leave your family so you can kiss some boy? A man can't love another man, Jack. When will you get it through your thick skull?"
Alex wheels around, already visibly steaming.
Uh oh.
"What the fuck kind of mother are you, anyway?" Alex spits, stomping right up to the small woman. "Jack left because you treat him like shit, and you've been doing it for over a fucking decade!"
"Alex-" Jack tries to interject.
"No!" He seethes. "I'm sick of sitting back and watching them hurt you!" He turns back to Jack's mother, but Jack pulls Alex by the hood of his jacket, stopping him in his tracks.
"She's not worth it," Jack huffs. "She just wants to make a scene and make us look bad." He nods to the front desk. "They already called hotel security. It's over."
Alex glances warily at Jack's mother, and then at his father standing a few paces behind her, and then at May, who shakes her head in warning when he catches her gaze.
"Let's just go back to the room," Jack says softly. "Okay?"
Alex looks up at Jack for the first time since his parents showed up. Why are they here anyway? Alex sighs at Jack's tired expression. This isn't Alex's fight, and Jack has nothing to say.
So Alex nods, and they walk silently to the elevator as hotel security ushers Jack's parents out the door.
YOU ARE READING
Coffee and Christmas (Jalex)
FanfictionJack's parents are low key homophobic, but they don't argue as much with Jack about his bisexuality as much as they used to. However, now that the holidays have rolled around, they want Jack's (non-existent) girlfriend to join them at their lake ho...
