InsaneJournal

The silence in the apartment was deafening, broken only by Alex’s tired sigh as he carefully pushed the bedroom door open. He smiled faintly seeing Jayden still sound asleep, curled up under the heavy down blanket Alex had brought in earlier. Leaving the door as it was, he walked over to the side of the bed, setting the bowl of soup he had down onto the nightstand.

“Jay,” he said softly, gently shaking his shoulder. “Jay, wake up.” The redhead stirred, making a muffled noise of protest as he pushed his face into the pillow. Alex laughed softly, shaking his head. “Come on, Jay, get up. I’ve got food for you.”

One green eye finally slit open, Jayden sleepily looking up at him. “Mom’s no’ ‘ere?” he asked.

“Not for another few hours,” Alex said. “Now, you hungry? Got some soup here for you.”

Jayden nodded, struggling to sit up. “Foooood,” he whined, making Alex laugh again as he carefully propped his battered cousin up on pillows.

“Here you go,” Alex said, sitting on the edge of the bed and handing the bowl over to Jayden.

“Thaaaaank you,” Jayden managed before he dug into the thick soup, messily slurping it down. Alex just shook his head again, knowing he was going to need to wash his blankets afterwards, and remained silent as Jayden ate. The silence was not to last, however, as Jayden paused in his eating, spoon halfway to his mouth.

“…Zayne come back yet?” he asked softly, flinching as Alex’s shoulders hunched and eyes darkened.

“No.”

The silence hung heavy as Jayden watched Alex as the older man stared at the far wall. After a long moment Alex looked back at Jayden, as if sensing the gaze, and forced a smile. “Don’t…worry about it, okay? Just focus on taking care of yourself. Zayne…he’ll be okay.”

“Are you okay?” Jayden asked before he could stop himself. Alex’s smile turned slightly bitter, and he looked away again.

“Yeah, I’m…I’m okay, Jay. Just finish your food.”

Jayden sighed, giving up and doing as he was told. He shortly finished off the soup, and Alex helped him settle back down for sleep, his injuries preventing him from moving too much on his own. He waited until Alex had nearly reached the door before speaking again.
“Do you think he’ll come back?”

Alex froze mid-step; Jayden waited, silent as his cousin’s shoulders slumped as he shook his head. “I don’t know, Jay. I don’t know,” he said softly. “I hope he does but…I just…”

“He has to come back,” Jayden nearly whispered. “He has to. He wouldn’t just take off on you like that…”

Alex sighed, turning just enough to give Jayden a weak smile, looking so tired and sad the redhead knew his cousin had been lying about being okay. “I hope you’re right,” he said, flipping the lights off. “Get some rest, Jay.”


After leaving Jayden to sleep and putting  the bowl in the sink to be washed later –he certainly had no energy to do so now- Alex sighed again as he flopped unceremoniously onto the couch.

“I’m not okay,” he whispered to no one, staring at the door as he felt a sense of helplessness settle in. “I’m really not…Zayne…”

The shocking loss of his best friend stung worse than ever it had ever these last few days, and Alex rolled over onto his other side to bury his face in a pillow. There was no way to know if Zayne was okay, if he was even alive. And being saddled with the responsibility to take care of Jayden until Tara came to get him prevented him from going to look on his own.

There was a chance that Zayne would never again wake him up at two in the morning over silly, trivial things. That he would never again wake up to find the blond curled up beside him, cold feet against his leg, claiming it was too cold out on the couch. That he would never again have to put up with all the inane quirks and traits that were both annoying and endearing all at once and made Zayne who he was.

The strain of both losing his best friend and having to take care of his bedridden cousin was too much at once and all too suddenly Alex felt the tears well up in his eyes. Hoping that Jayden had actually listened and gone back to sleep, Alex curled around the pillow, hugging it tight as he finally broke under the stress.

It was unfair, he decided, that something like this should happen just as Zayne finally got his life straightened out. It made it even worse that he could do nothing about it at the present moment.

Alex was unsure of how long he had been curled on the couch when he heard the doorknob jiggle, and he realized someone was trying to open the door. Hastily wiping his face dry he sat up, startled to hear keys instead of the knock he was expecting. Only three people, including himself, had a key to his apartment, and one of the other two was hopefully asleep by now.

He stood as the door opened, and nearly collapsed back onto the couch as a familiar blond head peeked through the door.
“Zayne…”

The battered, bruised blond smiled weakly hearing his name, letting himself in and closing the door behind him. “Hey, ‘Lex…sorry I took so long…” he said quietly, leaning against the door. “Those guys…it’s harder to take them all now than it used to be…”

When he received no reply, Alex unusually quiet, he glanced up; he physically jerked back seeing the tears rolling down Alex’s face, the younger man shaking with silent sobs. “Alex?!”

“You…idiot…” Alex choked out, putting his hands over his face. Zayne took an unsteady step forward, about to speak when Alex suddenly dashed forward, nearly knocking the both of them over as he slammed into Zayne. “Don’t ever do that again!” he cried, hugging Zayne tightly.

Zayne stood dumbfounded for several seconds, before he shook his head and put his arms around Alex, hating how the younger was shaking. “I won’t,” he said, resting his forehead on Alex’s shoulder. “Promise. Never again.”

“Good,” Alex practically sobbed, his face pressed into Zayne’s shirt. He briefly tightened his grip, before he pulled back enough to look Zayne in the eyes. “W-Welcome home.”

Zayne was silent as he looked at Alex; despite the tears still streaking down his cheeks he was smiling, and the blond felt a smile of his own growing. “I’m back,” he said simply, drawing Alex back into a tight embrace. “Love you, ‘Lex,” he added a moment later.

Alex paused as he went to reply; he was unsure what Zayne meant by that, and the possibilities flitted briefly through his mind. Then he shoved them aside, deciding later would be a better time to worry about such things and settled with just saying what he knew to be true. “Love you too, you great big oaf.”

Zayne chuckled lowly, and a comfortable silence fell around them, neither willing to let go…until Jayden’s voice echoed from the bedroom, the redhead awake and whining.

“You guuuuuys, stop being sappy and get in here! I need to pee!”

Alex burst into a fit of giggles, while Zayne futilely attempted to stifle an amused snort.

“Hold on, Jay, I’m coming,” Alex called, wiping his face dry as he detached himself from Zayne.

“Huuuuurry,” Jayden whined, and Zayne chuckled as he followed Alex to the bedroom, stopping in the doorway. Jayden spotted him as Alex carefully lifted him out of the bed, waving so frantically he looked like he was flailing. “Zayne!” he cheered, eyes bright and happy despite the bruises and cuts he was sporting. “I knew you’d come back!”

“Of course I did,” Zayne replied, watching as Alex helped his cousin hobble over to the attached bathroom. “You seem to be doing better than when I saw you last.”

“But of course!” Jayden exclaimed. “Can’t keep the Jay-man down!”

Alex rolled his eyes at this, sighing. “I’ll drop you if you say that again,” he warned, before all but shoving Jayden into the bathroom. “Holler when you’re finished,” he said, closing the door. Shaking his head, he looked up at Zayne, smiling again. “Up to helping me take care of this twit until Aunt Tara takes him home?”

Zayne shrugged, cocking his head to the side. “I guess. What else are bestest buddies for?”

Alex snorted, a wry grin making its way to his face. “For winning your fights on Mondays and Thursdays,” he sniped, making Zayne laugh. “Happy to have you back, Zayne.”

“Happy to be back, ‘Lex,” the blond replied, leaning against the doorframe.

“Saaaaaaaap!” Jayden shouted from inside the bathroom. Alex sighed as he kicked the door, shaking his head again.

“Shut up, Jay!”