Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

kenny peeled his eyes open and squinted at the sunlight pouring through his windows. he felt that kind of rested one feels after taking a nap in the afternoon, where you wake up with dry eyes and a parched mouth and wonder if you were better off not sleeping at all. he crawled out of bed and dragged himself through the hallway.

it was only when he stepped into the kitchen and saw jack and bobby that the events of the previous night hit him. jack gave him a gentle smile from the breakfast table. bobby avoided eye contact with him completely. kenny sat down and got himself a plate of pancakes. he had survived the fourth of july.

jack cleared his throat a bit and gave bobby a Look.

“uh, kenny,” bobby said. “sorry about yesterday.”

“oh,” kenny sighed, not really caring anymore. “that’s okay.”

bobby nodded awkwardly and went back on his phone. jack looked annoyed and kenny found it endearing. jack always wanted people to talk out their issues and be emotionally vulnerable, but teenage boys weren’t built for that.

they continued breakfast as normal. somewhere outside a bird was chirping so loudly it made everyone’s heads hurt. kenny pushed the food around in his plate. bobby stole jack’s whipped cream from right off his pancakes. jack punched him in the arm hard enough to bruise.

bobby finished eating and ran off to facetime his girlfriend of the month.

jack smiled at kenny. “you know, you’ve just survived your first of our family holidays.”

“first of many, hopefully,” kenny laughed.

“my parents love you,” jack said. “i overheard them saying that you’re polite… and sUcH a GoOd FriEnD to me.”

kenny laughed. “well, let’s make sure we keep it that way. until we’re ready.”

“until we’re ready.”

kenny appreciated that jack didn’t say much about the previous night. they were both worn out though, so they curled up on the couch and watched their favorite show for the rest of the morning.

kenny could get used to vacations like this. more importantly, he could get used to a life like this. a life with his jack.