my fault | justin + alex

chapter two

The night Justin stayed at Alex's house he had met Peter, Alex's brother, and Alex's dad. The police officer was happy to finally meet a friend of Alex's that was a guy and not a girl, especially someone as sporty and charming as Justin. Justin was everything in a son that Alex's dad didn't see in Alex but Justin made sure to keep the conversation steered clear from that topic. Justin thought that Alex was ten times the son he'd ever be, ten times the friend and ten times the boyfriend. It was a wonder that Jessica didn't go back to Alex. The night Justin spent at the bleach blonde haired boy's house was nice and warming because Alex gave him a place to sleep that felt like home. Alex's bedroom felt like home, even if it wasn't really Justin's home at all.

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"Stop staring at me Foley," Alex warned as he went over to his closet and took out some clothes to wear to bed. Justin had just been broken up with by his girlfriend and he'd announced to too many people what Bryce did. It was a mess but finally, late into the night, the two teens were safely in Alex's bedroom.

There were blankets on the floor for Justin to sleep on but Alex still felt guilty about how pathetic the makeshift bed was. Like he'd said on Justin's arrival, Justin wasn't a hobo. He shouldn't have to sleep on the floor like he was one. Alex couldn't fix it now, not unless he offered to sleep on the floor instead, but Justin didn't deserve that much kindness.

"Fuck you Standall," Justin responded defensively and shoved his cold hands into his pockets.

"Yeah. Sure," Alex rolled his eyes and hesitantly removed his shirt, clumsily rushing to get his other shirt on in fear that Justin's eyes were still on him.

They were, but Justin didn't want Alex to know that. Justin sniffled, rubbed his eyes and finally pried his eyes away from the interesting boy. Alex was very hot and cold with him but he didn't mind, Justin could imagine he'd been the same with Alex recently too. The tapes had everyone on edge and sometimes when people were scared they did crazy shit. After a moment of thought Justin changed into some casual clothes to sleep in, only some sweatpants because he rarely wore a top to bed. It shouldn't bother Alex anyway and Justin lazily threw his bag to the side of the room. When he glanced to see what Alex was doing he couldn't help the smirk that spread across his lips.

"Stop staring at me Standall," he teased, repeating what Alex had said before. His usual smirk was spread across his face and that only made Alex more annoyed with him, though he wasn't really annoyed.

"Fuck you Foley," Alex said with a roll of his eyes, trying to suppress the smile coming to his own lips.

The two boys locked eyes, blue met blue, and finally that rare smile came to Alex's lips. Alex sometimes smiled but never like this. Justin had never seen him with this glint of happiness in his eye and his smile reaching his eyes, it was quite.... beautiful. The two of them burst into laughter, not sure why they found their interaction funny but it was. After an awful night for Justin, the two unlikely friends managed to laugh and forget about everything for a couple of seconds. The happiness was short lived, much like any happiness for the teens at this time, but it was still thought about fondly afterwards.

Neither boy had felt alone that night. They stayed in a comfortable silence of understanding in their separate blankets, Alex toying with the idea of offering the other half of his bed to Justin. He never made that offer so Justin didn't have the chance to accept, but they still had a blissful night without the troubles of the world.

The troubles came back in the morning as soon as Justin stepped out of Alex's presence.

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