WHO: Thomas and Alex WHAT: Alex is sad WHERE: Their place WHEN: 5 August RATING: PG-13ish? STATUS: Complete upon posting
This time, Alex arrived home safely from work. He was using a crutch, but for the most part, Alex was able to get up and move around okay. During work hours, he either used both crutches or snatched a chair from one of the units whenever his leg smarted too much to walk on. It was uncomfortable, but not undoable.
He limped in, still in scrubs and headed toward the fridge, shifting his crutch from one arm to the other so he could peer inside. There were other things on his mind. Billy mostly. Apparently Billy wasn’t interested in him at all. Billy never even talked to him anymore. Not surprising. Most people eventually let him down in the end so it was at least something of a mercy that Billy had rejected him early on.
Fuck him.
Was it too early to drink?
“Fuck,” Alex grumbled and grabbed the orange juice. He closed the door to the fridge and took a glass down from its cabinet, then did his best to pour while trying to remain upright. Unfortunately, he lost grip and the glass slipped onto its side, sending orange juice onto the counter as the glass rolled off and shattered on the floor. Of course, Alex tried to catch it which only made him drop the entire carton on the floor along with the glass.
“FUCK!” he exclaimed as he scrambled for the paper towels, all the while doing his best not to slip or slice himself on the glass or both.
***
Thomas had been laying down reading when he heard Alex get home, fighting the urge to get up and go take care of him and whatever he needed. It was a hard battle to fight though. And a losing one as he heard that glass shatter on the floor. He was out of bed, and in the kitchen before Alex could cut himself on the glass or fall. “Don’t worry about the mess.” He said, moving to put an arm around the younger man to help him stay steady. “Winie go lay down,” he said when he saw the little bear moving to join them in the kitchen.
He placed a soft kiss on Alex’ forehead. “You know you can ask for help right?” He murmured before stepping away to get a towel to start cleaning up. There was no reproach in the question, just a gentle reminder. He paused though when he felt the turmoil in Alex’ emotions, turning back to look at him in concern. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” He asked, dropping the towel on the spot as he went back to him. Clean up could happen later. Alex was more important.
***
This was ridiculous and fucking embarrassing. For once, Alex felt a little bad that Winie was being made to go lie back down, but he wasn’t going to undermine Thomas just then. Alex helped clean up as much as he could with a stupid bum leg. He had to, it was about pride or some shit like that.
“Oh,” he groaned at being questioned. “Relationships are for saps.” He paused with an orange juice soaked paper towel in hand. “No offense.” Alex tossed the paper towel in a bin. No orange juice. No Billy. Just a dumb, sulky face. “I feel so fucking stupid,” he grumbled, moving to lean against Thomas again.
***
Thomas wrapped his arms around him as Alex leaned against him, letting himself support the two of them as they stood there. “None taken handsome.” He responded with a smile. He reached up one hand to play with his curls. “What happened?” He asked, reigning his ability in tightly. Later if Alex wanted Thomas would take some of it away but only if it was what Alex wanted.
***
“Doesn’t matter,” Alex sulked. It didn’t. It also didn’t surprise him. If he didn’t know any better, he would have said Damon must have cursed him in that department or maybe the universe was just punishing him. Either way, he wasn’t going to take the chance of getting close like that to anyone else since they always, always disappeared one way or another.
“I’m ready to get back to work,” he complained. He was bored and his leg itched. For the latter, he grabbed a fork and slipped it under his boot to scratch the itch.
***
Thomas raised one brow in response to that comment. “Doesn’t matter to who?” He asked quietly, pulling him in closer. God it was hard for him to resist the knowledge that he could...make this better so easily. But he had to for all their sakes.
“Are you supposed to be doing that?” He asked, amusement in his gaze as he watched him scratching. “You know I won’t stop you from going. You’ll just have to deal with me driving you. Although...I will let you pick which of my cars we take.” He didn’t ever want another call like the one they’d gotten telling him that Alex had been in an accident. He’d lost control that night for a bit and all of the humans around him had been driven into panicking.
***
“It itches,” Alex whined. Whether he was supposed to or not didn’t really matter to him just then. But he did put the fork down on the counter again. He needed to get off the leg, but he wasn’t going to complain too much or he’d just feel like a glob of...complaints.
At Thomas’ offer, Alex gave a little snort and curled his fingers gently the the hem of his friend’s shirt. “You have got to stop spoiling me,” he stated and would have kissed Thomas if he weren’t with Alex’s best friend. That didn’t stop him from leaning in to place a kiss on the corner of Thomas’ mouth before he pulled away so he could go and sit down and put his leg up.
“Remind me not to catch feelings for anyone else,” he said. “I’ll just keep single and fuck who I want for the rest of my life.”
***
Thomas gently guided him towards the bedroom so he could sit down, kissing him softly. “That is not going to happen. I kind of like spoiling you. Live with it.” He teased as he picked up his book and set it on his nightstand. He frowned at that comment, busying himself with marking his page before saying anything.
“What happened with Billy?” He asked once he was sure his annoyance at the unknown man wouldn’t show. Clearly it had been something and whatever it was had been bad. And that alone made Thomas not a fan.
***
For some reason, Alex trusted that neither Damon nor Thomas would leave him or discard him like yesterday’s news. He tickled gently underneath Thomas’ adorable chin and smiled a little at him.
“Don’t frown,” he said, then shrugged.
“I don’t know. One minute I was sure he was into me, the next, he fell off the face of the planet.” Not exactly the way Pogue had, but Billy hadn’t even shown interest in being friends after they’d met.
***
“Wrinkles don’t stay for me. Haven’t you noticed yet?” Thomas said as he stretched out beside him on the bed.
Thomas did frown at that, mentally cursing the unknown man. Damon was probably going to be pissed off too. Had he been happy about the possibility of Alex falling for someone? Not really. Happy for Alex yes but not happy about the situation as twisted as it sounded (and was). “He probably figured out he wasn’t good enough for you.” He said, reaching out to rub his back in slow circles. “If he does rear his head back up - for his sake, keep him away from Damon.” And from Thomas but he was keeping that a secret for now.
***
“Yeah right,” Alex rolled his eyes.
It was probably the opposite. Bill had likely figured out that he was too good for Alex. Alex would have liked to have been given the chance to try, though. He gave a slight sniff, pushing down stupid emotions that didn’t belong there; it wasn’t as if he and Billy had actually even started dating.
“Fuck it,” he said, adjusting his leg so that it was elevated. Then he turned to his friend and put an arm around him, pulling the man gently to his chest. Thomas didn’t have to worry about Billy coming round, Alex was certain of it. Billy didn’t strike Alex as the bar type, but he was someone Damon might notice in a crowd. Billy was beautiful. Striking really. But Alex still wasn’t concerned.