just friends ; jalex

20

"that was cute," rian says when alex stumbles into the kitchen the next morning.

"what?" he asks, still bleary with sleep. jack hasn't woken up yet, so alex had had to carefully untangle himself from the boy.

zack looks up from his bowl of cereal— jesus, did they just walk in to alex's kitchen and make food? okay— and smiles. "you and jack were cuddling."

his cheeks grow hot immediately. "we were not," alex defends himself immediately. "we weren't."

"dude, hey," rian breaks in. he's got a soft expression on his face, and he's speaking carefully. there's a fleck of chocolate cereal stuck to his cheek. "i don't care if you guys cuddle or not. i'm not gonna like, punch ya in the face for being gay."

zack swallows the cereal in his mouth and goes, "that would make you a hypocrite."

in response, rian smiles and nods. "it would."

meanwhile, alex is standing there in silence, quietly taking everything in and trying to wrap his mind around it. boy, jack is never gonna believe this, is he? and if what alex just understood is right— did rian just come out to him? "you're gay?" he asks, not meaning to sound so incredulous, because he's known that all his life.

it's just been like— a constant thing. you meet rian, you see a gay guy. you go, "oh, okay," and move on. and he's just there, in the background. making out with zack occasionally. just a fact of life.

"surprise," rian responds, and takes a giant bite of cereal.

oh shit, hey, it's true.

alex blinks a few times. "ah..." he starts, then closes his mouth, not really finding anything good to say. called it? good for you? "cool," he says eventually, and rian nearly chokes on his cocoa puffs. "what am i supposed to say?" he asks then, "c'mon, i—"

"hey, alex," zack interrupts— oh, that's a rarity— and smiles when alex diverts his attention to him. "you know, if you ever wanna tell us anything... you know, if you happen to be gay or whatever... we won't judge." and it almost seems like he winks when he says it.

oh, come on, alex complains to himself. is it really that obvious? it's not like him and jack have ever done anything in public. cuddling was like, the most implicating thing, and that was when they were both drunk.

no one saw what happened in alex's bedroom the other day. oh, hey, remember that? that was a good time.

"just one question," alex says to the two boys in his kitchen. "actually, two."

"go for it," rian prompts.

"one... why do you think i'm gay? or want me to admit it so badly?" he folds his arms over his chest, but he's speaking in a fairly curious and neutral tone.

rian takes a moment, tapping a finger on his chin. "just helping you, lex. figure out who you are and all that. question two?"

before he can stop himself, or at least rephrase his words somehow, alex blurts: "how long have you two been dating?"

zack's eyebrows pop up, and he blinks once or twice. he makes eye contact with rian, fighting to hide a smile, and answers alex with a: "a few months."

"yes!" alex shouts, "i called it!" boy, is jack gonna want to hear this, he thinks to himself gleefully.

rian laughs. "try and keep it secret for a bit. we're not quite out yet."

relatable, in alex's case. then again, it's still debatable as to if he's accepted his bisexuality yet. give him time, everyone.

"got it," he says in response to rian, and goes to grab a bowl for cereal.

and that's how the morning goes.

to no surprise, jack stumbles out of the basement around eleven, nearing noon. "g'mornin'," he slurs to everyone, and yawns. "hey, lex."

alex grins at him, wide awake by now. "mornin'."

stumbling into a seat, jack reaches for the remains of alex's cereal, pulling it towards himself. "what did i miss?" he asks, staring into the milk like he's trying to find his true self.

barely able to contain it, alex looks at rian excitedly, and the boy sighs and smiles and nods. "rian and zack are dating!"

halfway through a bite of cereal, jack chokes. "you're joking!"

"dead serious," zack says. "surprise?"

jack's spoon clatters against the side of the bowl. "you can say that again." he pauses, runs his hands through his hair, and adds: "surprised at how long it took for you to admit it." since, you know, everyone's known for months now.

as soon as he says that, rian starts laughing. both jack and alex look at him. alex is the first to question him: "you good, ri?"

"sure," rian responds, grinning. "jack, you're a hypocrite."

a hypocrite? what does that mean? alex tilts his head and looks at rian quizzically— meanwhile, zack half-gasps and starts laughing, and jack opens his mouth in protest. 

"can i have an explanation?" alex breaks in, looking as utterly confused as he feels.

"don't tell him!" jack half-pounces on rian, suddenly wide awake. "rian!"

rian laughs and shakes jack off of him, referring him back to his cereal. "i won't. it's nothing bad, lex."

well, he's still confused as hell. so, you know, an explanation would be nice... but if everyone wants to hide it from him, he won't push it. "sure," alex mumbles, and rubs his eyes. the hangover is starting to get to him.

"if you want to know," zack says suddenly, and everyone in the room looks at him, "we're making light of the fact that there's a few things that jack hasn't admitted... that he's long overdue for." he punctuates his sentence with a coy smile thrown at jack, who glowers over his cereal.

alright, so jack's keeping secrets, that's cool. like what? what does he need to admit? alex is usually pretty rational and even-headed, but he finds himself jumping to all sorts of crazy conclusions. 

jack has something to say, that he won't tell alex.

is it that bad?

a/n: sorry for the late update im tired as hell rn also good newz im meeting atl this sunday (6/04)