RECAP:

the dinner was nice, but since everyone was sleepy, they weren't exactly hyper. finn and jack lazily played footsies under the table, and occasionally gave each other soft smiles as they ate their food. jack snuck sips of finn's sprite, (he regretted sticking with water,) causing finn to pretend to scold him, although he was grinning the entire time.

and on the ride home, jack fell asleep on finn's shoulder.

they seemed to be in their own little world. their five friends simply shook their head and smiled at the pair, in disbelief that two people could adore each other so much without realizing it.

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

"happy birthday, dear chosen, happy birthday to you!"

chosen grinned at his friends and family as they all sang him their happy birthday wishes, his skin almost glowing as the candles flickered lightly beneath him. it was the boys 19th birthday. everyone had always joked around that chosen was the dad of the group because of his age; in comparison, jack as the youngest, was only 16. but as the group of seven and their parents watched as chosen blew out his birthday candles, it dawned on them how chosen was truly, well, a grown up. and it was crazy to think about a childhood best friend truly growing up.

chosen had wanted everybody to go play laser tag. they took the day off of work, and andy and barbara had gathered everyone and their parent to go out.

the day before they had continued their acting exercises. that included things like tongue twisters, more trust exercises, and silly games. however, towards the end of the day, they had started reading off script and acting out certain scenes, just to continue getting in character. shooting was starting the following monday; they had already gotten their schedules. they would be filming for 12 weeks, (63 days) which would bring them well into september. a lot of the days, finn noticed, him and jack would be filming together, either shooting reddie scenes or practicing scenes. not that either boy had a problem with it.

"guys, screw the cake! let's play laser tag already." jack almost whined, setting his half eaten piece of cake on the table.

"what happened to you, mister i'm too cool for laser tag?" sophia teased.

"hey, i never said that!" jack said defensively. "i just wanna play. that's all."

"c'mon, let's go, before jack dies of excitement."

chosen nodded in agreement, jumping up from his seat, causing jack to clap his hands in sudden excitement, earning a laugh from finn.

jack had played laser tag before, but he barely remembered it. he couldn't stop smiling as the seven all helped each other put their vests on. their parents and andy and barbara were going to join after the first round, but for now, it was just them.

jack barely even listened as the guy who gave them their equipment droned on and on about the rules. he quite honestly didn't care, as bad as it sounded. it couldn't be that hard. point the laser at the glowing dots on your friends vest and boom. easy as pie.

jack supposed finn must have noticed him all zoned out, because he nudged jack lightly, their knuckles lightly brushing together as finn dropped his hand next to his side. "you need to listen," he said softly, and jack shook his head, looking up at finn.

"i know how to play."

"oh, do you? we'll see when you completely lose against me."

"oh, you're so on."

before they knew it, they were being ushered into the laser tag area, and being given a minute until the game officially started. jack started running to look for a place up high where he could hopefully just aim at people from a higher ground. it was fairly big; there was small walls glowing orange and purple that you could hide behind, but it was still somewhat dark, aside from the glowing items.

as he finally got the the place he wanted to be, suddenly, his vest vibrated and lit up. he assumed that meant the game was starting, and he grinned with excitement. as he looked down from the small, almost foam tower he had climbed up, he realized he didn't see anyone; and he didn't want anyone to see him. he made his way down from where he was, and stayed behind the glowing walls as much as possible. he was almost disappointed; it was nearly a minute into the game and he hadn't seen anyone.

but he heard sudden movement and quickly looked to his left, and realized it was jaeden next to him. he was catching his breath and grinning, putting a finger to his lips. "temporary truce— wy and jeremy." jaeden whispered.

it took everything in jack not to burst out into a fit of giggles as he heard footsteps and hushed voices approaching. jack assumed they had made an alliance, and much to his surprise, it dawned upon him that the other voice with jeremy and wyatt was finn.

"those assholes allied!" jack whispered. jaeden looked over at him and nodded, obviously amused. "let's get 'em." he said quietly, starting to giggle himself. the two boys repositioned themselves as quietly as they could, and suddenly, jaeden was yelling, "now!" and the boys jumped out in front of jeremy, wyatt, and finn from their hiding spot. jack tried to aim the laser at finn, but he simply couldn't due to the fact he wasn't able to stop laughing.

jack watched as jeremy, jaeden and wyatt all aim at each other and went to hide, but gasped as he felt someone pulling on his vest from the back. he lightly stumbled backwards for a moment and ended up against a wall, in the almost dark. as he heard a laugh and a quiet "shhh!" he realized it was finn.

he could make out some of his facial features; he was only lit up by dim purple lights. jack started to grin and lightly smacked finn's arm, shaking his head. "jesus! you didn't need to throw me against the wall. we're supposed to be enemies here—"

jack stopped as finn pressed his body against his own, obviously not listening to jack, but instead looking at his lips. jack was grateful that the others had gone on their way; he didn't know what they would do if they seen him and finn.

"what are you doing?" jack almost hummed, trying to sound serious. "if someone sees us—"

"i think they already know, jack." finn said quickly, looking up at him. "i think they knew before we even knew."

jack felt his insides almost flip as he leaned forward to kiss finn, watching finn quickly lean forward too, and finally closing his eyes as their lips met once again.

kissing finn was a surreal feeling; jack

almost felt as if he was drunk. drunk on love, maybe? wasn't that a beyoncé song or something? jack didn't want to think about beyoncé. all he could think about was the fact that finn tasted like buttercream frosting, and that he couldn't stop running his fingers through finn's hair. finn pushed jack against the wall a bit more, causing the shorter boy to squeal, which resulted in laughter from finn. the boys broke apart and looked at each other for a moment, before finn backed up a foot or so, grinning as jack reached his hand up to fix his hair.

then, jack quickly aimed his laser gun at finn's vest and bolted, giggling as finn started chasing jack. as finn's vest made a binging noise, he realized jack had shot him with his laser gun.

"that was unfair!" finn protested, weaving around objects to make sure jack was still in sight.

"distraction method!" jack called back. as they got towards the centre of the arena, they heard a buzzer, signifying the round was over.

"god, you're such a dork." finn smiled as he caught up to jack, lightly holding onto his arm as he caught his breath. the lights started slowly lighting up the dark spaces, and finn could finally truly make out jack's face. he was as gorgeous as ever; finn was convinced he would never be able to get over jack's cute button nose or the way his face lit up whenever he managed to make finn laugh.

"you still kissed me though." jack said playfully, kissing finn's jaw as quick as he could without trying to be obvious. finn couldn't wipe the grin off of his face as jack grabbed his hand, starting to pull him towards the exit.

finn didn't know where their relationship would go, if they could even call it a relationship. he didn't know what was in store, or even what to do next. but, as jack gave him a cheeky smile and squeezed his hand a little tighter, and finn felt his heart speed up at just that, he knew that it would be alright. they took care of each other. they looked out for each other. they made each other feel things. finn was pretty sure that the moment he met jack, he had decided then and there that he would never let the boy go.

as they joined the others, their hands still intertwined, and sophia raised her eyebrows at finn, both boys started to blush a shade of red.

"you guys are attached at the hips." sophia commented playfully.

"attached at the lips." jack corrected, shrugging.

sophia simply chuckled and shook her head.

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

THAT WAS SO WEIRDLY WRITTEN WHAT THE HELL i just needed to update because i've been so inspired with all the new content lately! i feel like this story is slowly gonna come to an end soon; i already have the ending planned out. i just need to get done the initial fluff stuff, and some drama that's gonna be happening;). but i'm sure there'll still be quite a few great chapters before i do finish, and i plan on writing more stories afterwards!

thanks for reading!

- courtney