Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fuck.

Jack has never been one to fall head over heels for anyone. Usually, love was just a bit of bullshit people used for mutual gain, at least in his eyes it was.

But this time? This was different. He was completely infatuated with this boy, and for what reason?

Worst of all, said boy was his best friend.

As Jack ventured into the library one Friday morning during his free period, he found Davey engrossed in reading at one of the tables. He made his way to the seat beside him, dropping his backpack next to the chair. Jack nudged at the other boy, trying to get him to notice the newfound presence next to him.

“Hello? Earth to Davey? Has the nerd robot stopped functioning?” Jack teased as he poked and prodded at Davey. Eventually, Davey looked up to him with a mock-annoyed expression and a sigh escaping his mouth.

“What do you want now, Jack?” he huffed, still trying to look as annoyed as possible. The facade eventually fails, though, with a small smile becoming present on his face.

“I need your help with the homework for History. I didn’t pay attention yesterday,” Jack professed, crossing his arms over the table and resting his head in them.

“Do you ever pay attention? You’re always drawing, or staring at the ceiling, or flicking rubber bands at Race,” Davey replied, shutting his book and turning to face Jack completely.

“Oh, shut up. I really need your help with this one, Dave. I’m literally going to fail without you; I have a C-.”

Davey snickered, looking over at Jack’s distressed expression before making a decision.

“Okay, fine. I’m free after school if you are,” Davey offered. Jack immediately sat up, his request being fulfilled.

“Hell yeah I am! You can come over to my place, if ya want. Medda’s singin’ at some show or somethin’, and Crutchie has a club later,” Jack exclaimed, grinning widely.

“Alright, then. Your place. Is 5:00 good?”

“Perfect.”

Chapter Text

The school day dragged on for what felt like an eternity. The only thing Jack could look forward to was Davey’s visit later. So there he sat, in the middle of a boring math class, listening to Mr. Jacobi drone on and on about something related to triangles.

Jack honestly couldn’t care less at the moment. He stared mindlessly into his notebook, doodling whatever came to his mind. He’d never admit it, of course, but a lot of his drawings were of Davey.

When the bell signaling the end of the last period rang, Jack bolted out of the classroom to his locker. The second that he had grabbed his things, he sprinted down the hallway, ignoring the teachers he was angering by doing so. Right now, all he could focus on was getting home and waiting for Davey.

After a long, disgusting subway ride, he made his way to the apartment he lived at with Medda and Crutchie. Following that, he took the elevator to the seventh floor and walked towards the door. He took his key out from his pocket, twisted it in the door, and made his way inside.

Upon waiting for Davey, Jack had taken a shower and changed into whatever clothes he could find- which just so happened to be sweatpants and a Chappell Roan shirt. He put on his glasses, and glanced at the clock. 4:46. It was almost time!

Around fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Jack rushed over to it, almost hitting the dining table in the process. He jiggled the doorknob until it opened, revealing Davey standing in the entryway.

“Dave!” Jack exclaimed, pulling the taller boy into a hug suddenly. Davey just laughed in response, patting Jack’s back slightly.

“I literally just saw you like, eight hours ago,” he said, pulling away from the hug. He smirked, noticing what Jack was current wearing. “Nice shirt.”

It was at this moment that Jack realized that he had been EXPOSED. Music taste was something Jack believed to define a person’s personality. On the outside, Jack would say that he only listened to alternative or rock bands, like Mother Mother and Paramore. But openly wearing a pop singer’s merch that he couldn’t pass off as Crutchie’s? That was a dead giveaway that he was lying.

“Shut up, asshole!” He retorted, his face flushing as he did so. He grumbled something else, before grabbing Davey’s hand and dragging him to his room.

Jack’s bedroom walls were littered top to bottom with posters and artwork. A bisexual flag hung over his bed on the ceiling. He tossed a notebook from his desk onto his bed, and sat down next to it.

“So uh… you wanna start with the social studies?” Jack inquired, looking up at Davey. The other boy took a seat next to him on the bed, grabbing his own notebook from the bag he had brought with him.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Chapter Text

If Jack was being completely honest, he wasn’t paying attention at ALL when Davey explained the assignment to him.

Sure, he’d been nodding and saying “yuh huh” repeatedly, but his mind was somewhere completely different. And that different place may or may not have involved kissing Davey.

“Jackie. Focus. You’re gonna fail if you don’t,” Davey scolded as he snapped in Jack’s face. Jack jumped a little bit at the action, but quickly regained composure.

“I am focused, Dave. Blah blah, Thomas Jefferson, Louisiana Purchase, all of that shit,” Jack groaned in response, looking to his notebook. When he realized that it was practically useless- all that he had “written” down were various doodles- he reached for Davey’s.

Jack wouldn’t lie to himself- he loved how Davey’s handwriting looked. The way the letters were slightly loopy, how neat it was… it was a clear contrast to his own scribbles.

The two continued to “study” for a while- with Davey actually doing the work and Jack gazing longingly into his eyes- until Jack had enough and decided that he’d rather do anything else.

“The only thing you care about is grades, Dave. Do you ever take a break from studying? Do you ever do anything that’s NOT totally nerd-like?” Jack grumbled, flopping down onto his back.

“Call me a nerd if you want, but at least I’m passing my classes,” Davey chided with a smirk. “But uh… would you want to take a break for a while?”

“Please, Dave. I’d literally rather do ANYTHING else than schoolwork.”

And so, after much debating on what they’d do instead of homework, Jack decided that he’d put on the Hamilton pro shot in the living room and Davey would have to suffer through it.

“Jack. Every single time we want to watch something, you pick Hamilton,” Davey groaned, slumping into the couch as Jack started the movie.

“Deal with it, asshole. It’s my favorite. Plus, it’s about the American Revolution, if your nerd brain wants to geek out.”

To Jack’s suggestion, Davey tried focusing more on the historical aspect of the musical. To no one’s suggestion, Jack focused on slowly inching closer to Davey, and hoping that he wouldn’t catch on.

Chapter Text

Jack wasn’t going to admit that he was freaking out. Because he wasn’t. It’s not like his heart was racing, and his brain was foggy, and his cheeks were flushed. Okay, fine, maybe he was freaking out.

Scratch that. He was going insane. The poor guy’s head was spinning.

He had a reason to. Anyone would freak out if they were cuddling with their crush while watching a movie.

But there he sat, on the couch with Davey, trying not to lose his mind as he rested his head on the taller boy’s chest, practically in his lap.

After a painstaking two hours and eleven minutes (yes, Jack had that memorized), the end credits rolled and Davey looked down to Jack. He noticed the rose colored hue that had dusted the other boy’s cheeks, but he wasn’t going to mention anything. After all, it was 88 degrees outside- Jack was probably just a bit hot.

Davey stretched out his arms and sat up, which was followed by a groan from Jack. He chuckled at the action, finding it funny that Jack was so displeased by him moving.

“What, you mad that we have to go back to studying now, Jackie?”

“Do we have to…?” Jack whined in response, still slouching against Davey as he tried to get up.

“Do you want to fail?” Davey laughed in response.

“Honestly, I’d rather fail than get up.”

“Sucks for you, then. C’mon, we can make a game out of it or something. Like your football or whatever. Uh… ‘the quarterback has the homework, and he’s uh… going to the end zone!’”

Jack actually let out a laugh at that one. With a bit more of his reluctance, he sat up, and followed Davey back into his room.

—————————

The next day, Jack actually felt really glad that he’d made the decision to finish his homework. Or, well, have Davey do it for him. He actually got passing grade on everything, not just Spanish this time!

At lunch, however, he sat next to Davey at their table instead of his usual spot by Race. It didn’t matter, though, since Race was always too busy making out with Spot to notice any changes in the layout. Those horny bastards.

“So, Davey, you’d be free to come over again tonight?” Jack mentioned as he swallowed whatever food had been in his mouth. Honestly, food was too good of a word to use- this was literal trash. An attempt at microwave waffles that had somehow turned out to be rock hard.

Race, the sexual deviant that he was, somehow made a moment to stop shoving his tongue down Spot’s throat and actually engage in conversation.

“Ooh, Davey pays Jackie here visits, now?” His tone was suggestive and he wiggled his eyebrows at Jack as he took a bite of his “waffle” (it didn’t deserve to be called that) and grimaced due to its nastiness.

“Yes, Race, now shut up, please,” Jack grumbled in response, before turning to Davey expectantly.

“Yeah, I think so,” Davey replied in response, chewing a piece of the sandwich he had brought (lucky bastard.)

In all honesty, Jack didn’t plan for any actual studying today. In his mind, he was forming a plan in the hope that he could get Davey to like him back.

Chapter Text

An excerpt from Jack’s texts with Race-

Racer 🩰👑🗽: JACK

Racer 🩰👑🗽: JACKIE

Racer 🩰👑🗽: BISEXUAL DISASTER

Racer 🩰👑🗽: ANSWER MEEEE

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨 : wtf do you want

Racer 🩰👑🗽: are you ✨gay✨ for davey

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: that’s what you needed to ask???

Racer 🩰👑🗽: yes or no

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: maybe

Racer 🩰👑🗽: is he coming over ur house today?

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: yea why

Racer 🩰👑🗽: do u have a date to prom yet?

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: no why

Racer 🩰👑🗽: r u that slow??

Racer 🩰👑🗽: ASK HIM DUMBASS!!!

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: idk man

Racer 🩰👑🗽: bitch istg

Racer 🩰👑🗽: if u don’t ask I will confiscate your right to finger guns flannel iced coffee sweater weather by the neighborhood bisexuality

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: oh no what an nightmare 😑

Racer 🩰👑🗽: just do it

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: okay fine asshole

Racer 🩰👑🗽: thank you ☺️

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: now shut up, he’s here

Racer 🩰👑🗽: use protection!! 😊😊😊

Jack 🏳️‍🌈🗽🎨: i ain’t the one who needs to be told that

Chapter Text

You got this Jack, don’t worry about it.

When Davey’s car pulled up to Jack’s apartment building for the second time that week, Jack could easily feel every butterfly in his stomach. Why was he crushing this badly? He had no idea.

As per Race’s suggestion, no matter what happened today, he was going to ask Davey to prom. People went as friends all the time, right? So why not him and Dave? A knock on the door snapped him out of his delusions.

Like usual, the pair made their way into Jack’s bedroom for studying. Today’s session was more math based, as Jack needed help with his Pythagorean theorem homework. Of course, Davey seemed to know everything about the subject. Why does he have to be so smart?

Jack took off his glasses, and set them beside on his nightstand. He sighed, before turning to Davey, who was still rattling on about math.

“So to find the hypotenuse-“

“Dave,” Jack commanded, causing Davey to snap his attention over to him.

“Yeah, Jackie? What’s up?” Davey cocked his head to the side, wondering what’s got Jack in such a loop. A justified question, really, as the latter seemed to be perspiring.

“So… uh… you got a date to prom yet?”

There it was. The foundation of a question.

After a moment of silent reflection, Davey spoke again.

“No, I don’t. Why?”

And there it was. The foundation of the answer he’d hoped for.

“…would you wanna go with me..? Like, as friends of course, duh. It ain’t like it’s a date, or anything like that, really, because I’m not in love with you,” Jack rambled, trying not to look at Davey as he continued to talk.

Well, it was somewhat there.

“Oh, uh, yeah. That’d be fun. Yeah, I’d uh, I’d love to go with you,” Davey said with a hint of a smile on his expression.

HELL YES, HELL YES, HELL YES!! IT’S THERE!!! DING DING DING, YOU’VE WON THE JACKPOT!!!

Ahem. Be chill, Jack.

“Oh, that’s great! Yeah, that’ll be super fun. Yay. And just to clarify, it’s not a date. Like, not a date date, because I’m not in love with you.”

…why do i keep saying that…?

“Right, yeah, uh… of course. Not a date, because we’re not in love,” Davey replied with an awkward smile and an attempt at Jack’s signature finger guns motion.

Okay, that kind of hurt. Fuck it, though, YOU’RE GOING ON A KIND-OF DATE WITH DAVID JACOBS!!

Chapter Text

Davey quickly packed up his things the second their study session was over. He had NOT expected Jack to ask him that sort of question.

Prom? Really? That was a new one.

Jack only asked people he was dating to prom. Katherine last year before they broke up, some girl named Emily before that, then a guy named Mason before her. Now Davey? What was up with that?

Sure, people went as friends all the time. That was normal. Finch and Albert had gone together last year, right? Wait, shit, they’re dating now. Okay, but what about Specs and Romeo? Wait, shit, dating again.

As he walked out to his car, he ran over the entire situation in his mind.

“Not a date” is what Jack had called it, albeit anxiously. So, not a date is what it was. Nope. Not a date at all.

It wasn’t like Davey was in love with Jack, either. Just… mildly infatuated with him. Yeah, that was it. It wasn’t like Davey made time out of his day to observe the green hue of Jack’s eyes, or the way he muttered Spanish curses when he got upset over his homework, or the gentle brown curls that stuck out from under his beanie, or-

Oh fuck.

Davey WAS in love with him.

He climbed into the front seat of the old minivan he had inherited from his mom. Immediately after doing so, he banged his head against the steering wheel.

“David Meyer Jacobs, what the actual hell?!” he scolded himself as he came to terms with his situation.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t had a crush before. Like, uh… what was her name? Oh, right, that Charlotte girl or whatever!

…he never actually had liked her. He just had told Race that during a game of truth or dare.

Oh shit.

Was he gay?

No.

Yes.

“God fucking dammit!”

He made his way to the Jacobs family’s apartment, where he then proceeded to lock himself in his room and experience a healthy dose of gay panic.

What would his family think? What would his friends think? What would JACK think?! This was a complete disaster for Davey, obviously.

After that, he tried to ditch the thought of Jack in its entirety. He embarked into Les’ room, and picked up a copy of Percy Jackson that had once belonged to him.

Mindlessly flipping through the pages, he suddenly thought about how much Percy reminded him of Jack. The attitude problems, main character energy, leading a group of probably not mentally stable or straight kids, all of it.

This wasn’t helping.

What was he going to do about this? Bury it in his heart and move on? That wasn’t going to be a good mechanism of avoiding it.

Oh well. It’s a mechanism nonetheless.

Chapter Text

Jack woke up extra early the next day to review his notes. Less because he actually wanted to pass, more because he wanted to impress Davey.

He immediately sat down at his desk, and scanned over his notes. At that moment, Charlie groggily stumbled into his room, his only support keeping him upright being his crutch.

“Jackie, what the hell are you doing…? It’s like, five in the morning….” he groaned, blinded by the light of Jack’s room.

“Can’t talk, Crutch, I’m busy,” Jack muttered as he jotted down something in his notebook.

“Nope. You’re going back to bed. This ain’t normal,” Charlie ordered as he flipped off Jack’s light switch, to the distaste of the latter.

A few hours later, at a more reasonable time, Jack arose again and started to actually get ready for the day. He emerged from his room for breakfast, making sure to sport as many of his bisexual flag accessories as possible. Totally not to show Davey, nope!

Medda and Charlie were both seated at the kitchen island when he entered the room, sharing a meal of eggs. Jack immediately grabs a bag of coffee grounds and sets to work on making himself a cup of said coffee. The silence in the room is deafening, that is, until Medda speaks up.

“Crutchie told me about your crush,” she remarked casually, staring at Jack. He turned his back to her in response, and cursed his brother under his breath.

“It’s nothing,” he retorted, trying to maintain some dignity in the situation.

“No, this is a big deal, Jackie. You haven’t even LOOKED at anyone since you broke up with Kath, and now you’re head over heels for Davey? What’s up with that?” Charlie teased as the grin on his face extended. Jack felt the extreme urge to slap him.

“Can you people get off my ass? Please? It ain’t like you’ve never had a crush, Crutch, and Medda… you’s gotta have liked somebody, yeah?”

Both his foster mother and brother shrugged and nodded in response, not denying his claims.

“But still,” Medda chimed in again, “you haven’t had a crush on a boy in a good while, have you?”

That much was true. The last guy he had dated had been in freshman year, and he was a senior now.

Due to his family pissing him off at the moment by prying into his life, Jack took his coffee to-go, grabbing his backpack and heading out the door.

When he had arrived at the school doors, Jack made his way to the library. To his distress, Davey was there, but honestly- when was Davey NOT in the library? Shockingly, to his side was Race, seemingly getting tutored by Davey.

Jack made his way over to the pair, trying to hide his growing blush from just being in Davey’s presence. Yeah, the obsession was getting bad now. Race, being the arrogant asshole that he is, obviously made a comment on it.

“What’s the matter, Jackie? The heat gettin’ to ya?” Race egged as he wiggled his eyes suggestively. Jack shot him a look as he retrieved a notebook from his pin-clad backpack.

Surprisingly, his effort to don himself in bisexual-ness had made somewhat of an effort for Jack. Davey pointed at the three-beaded necklace he was wearing and remarked something along the lines of “cool necklace. Bi colors.”

That hadn’t been what Jack was expecting. For Davey to recognize it so easily, and even say that it was cool? Wow. Maybe things were looking up for him after all. Maybe Davey wasn’t straight. Maybe he had an actual chance, instead of just a not-date to prom.

Chapter Text

Race couldn’t help but interrogate Jack as they walked through the halls on their way to lunch.

“So, did you ask him? Did he say yes? You still like him, right? Are you guys dating yet?” he pestered, walking backwards as per usual.

“Keep your shirt on. And watch out, you’s gonna run into a wall,” Jack grumbled as he grabbed Race by his collar and turned him.

“Yes, I asked him. Yes, he agreed. Yes, I still like him. No, we’re not dating.”

Race groaned, both from being turned around and from Jack being a loser. Why couldn’t the bastard just suck it up and ask Davey out already?

That’s what Spot did with him. In fact, his boyfriend’s exact words had been “You. Tall gay boy. Listen, I like you, and I hope you like me, so we are going to Olive Garden at six on Thursday and you are going to like it.” Race had never been more smitten in his life.

But, he supposed that Jack and Spot were very different people. In fact, before this year, they’d almost hated each other. It wasn’t until Race and Spot had gone out that Jack changed his ways.

“I don’t understand. Why don’t you just grow some balls and ask him out? You’re Jack Kelly, you got everybody wanting you all the time,” Race ranted, huffing in the process. “Why is Davey such a difference?”

“I don’t know…! He’s just… Davey. I don’t know how to start. What if he’s straight?” Jack griped in response.

“You could turn a straight guy gay.”

“Shut up, no I couldn’t.”

“Just sayin’, Jackie. Don’t give up so easily. I’m sure Davey would like you back; you ain’t THAT undesirable,” Race smirked as he spoke.

“Just be quiet.”

To each their own, he guessed.

Chapter Text

Was it normal to completely cut off your best friend/crush/possible date from your life?

No.

Was that what Jack was doing?

….Yes.

By now, a week had passed since he last had an official conversation with Davey. Sure, they’d passed in the halls with a simple “hello”, but otherwise, nothing. Jack had even switched lunch tables to avoid speaking with him.

Obviously, this chain of actions had caused concern amongst their friend group.

“Okay. This is getting out of hand. Does anyone have any idea as to what the FUCK is going on with Kelly?” Spot raved as he set his lunch tray down at the table.

“I got no clue. He’s been acting weird all week,” Albert replied. “It ain’t like him.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m concerned…” Spot mumbled under his breath, which was meant with a humorous scoff from Race.

“You? Concerned about Kelly? Wow, who are you and what did you do with my boyfriend?”

“Shut up.”

By this point, the group of boys was joined by Katherine and Sarah. They obviously knew exactly to jump on the conversation, as they too had noticed Jack’s abnormal behavior.

“What the hell is going on with Jack?” Kath inquired as she sat down.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Finch sighed.

“This ain’t like him. It’s weird,” Race agreed.

“Someone wanna tell me what’s up with Jack? He’s been avoiding me,” Davey echoed as he joined the crowd.

“Join the club, Dave. It ain’t just you,” Spot groaned. He looks around the table, observing his answer-keen friends.

“So,” he began again, “we all have noticed a problem with Kelly. And we all have no idea as to what is going on. And it’s been going on for a week now, which is really weird. Does anyone have any ideas?”

“Maybe he’s bored with us?” Race suggested.

“He’s becoming a stereotypical jock,” Elmer chimed in.

“He has a crush on Davey,” Sarah remarked.

Everyone’s attention immediately went to her.

“I’m not joking.”

The crowd sat in dead silence, as a contrast to the ever noisy cafeteria scene.

It did sort of make sense, really. The way Jack would immediately get nervous and flustered whenever Davey so much as walked near him. The repeated asking to see him. How Jack had asked Davey to prom. The avoidance.

“…why me?” was the first reply, coming from Davey himself.

“Why not? You’se a good looking guy, Dave. It ain’t really a surprise that you’se got someone lookin’ atcha,” Race replied with a smirk as he tried to stifle a laugh. Since he was the only one in on the actual secret, this entire situation was hilarious to him.

“What the hell is so funny?” Spot snapped, turning to face his laughing boyfriend.

“…I knew! I knew this whole damn time! And none of you’se did! And it’s so damn funny to see you guys JUST figuring the crush thing out!”

“…oh my fucking god. He does like me,” Davey marveled in response, sort of frozen due to shock.

After Jack had asked him to prom, it had been pretty clear that Davey started having feelings for him. Jack had basically been his gay awakening. Was that weird? Maybe that was weird…

“I’m gonna go.”

And with that, Davey stood up from the table, and excused himself from the library.