Chapter Text
Alexander had every detail mapped out in his mind; the construction was a work of great precision and the final project was a piece of art. Out of desperation, he stacked two chairs and a box to make a delicate tower. This was so he could finally fix one of the ceiling-high kitchen cabinets; for weeks, the door had hung from a single hinge. However, having recently moved in and being busy at work, Alexander had only just found time to attempt to fix it.
They really needed to buy a ladder.
Holding the screwdriver in his mouth, Alexander clambered onto the stack; the box threatened to cave underneath him but, after pausing in his movements and waiting with bated breath, it thankfully held. Kneeling on the box, he reached up to loosen the surviving hinge (he thought it was best to replace both of them as they were orange with rust).
It was a difficult balancing act but his plan worked, and Alexander was giddily thinking of ways to record this and show it to everyone who said that he couldn’t look after himself. The looks of utter surprise would keep Alexander laughing for days on end.
“What on earth are you doing?”
Startled, Alexander loosened his grip on the screwdriver, which fell and clattered on the tile floor. The noise made him forget that he was precariously balanced and reared backwards. He would have hit the floor if not for Thomas catching him.
“Oh my God, please tell me you didn’t think that was a good idea,” he said, setting Alexander gently down.
Irked, Alexander said, “It would have worked if you didn’t surprise me.”
“Sure,” Thomas said, sarcasm obvious in his voice, “How did you plan to get down?”
It was the patronising tone that set him off, “I don’t know, I thought about doing a somersault off but then I decided that climbing down the way I got up was probably the better option.”
“The better option would be to use a ladder.”
“We don’t–” an idea struck him. Thomas narrowed his eyes at him and was most likely intending to make a quick retreat, but it was too late. Jumping into action, Alexander grabbed the screwdriver and climbed onto Thomas’ back. Shocked, he didn’t protest and, instead, prevented Alexander from falling twice in one day by steadying him.
“You be the ladder from a couple of minutes, I was nearly finished removing the door,” he said, reaching up to continue.
Thomas grumbled under his breath but didn’t fight it. A minute or so passed in silence as Alexander concentrated until he said, for once serious, “Promise me that you’ll wait to replace the door until we get a ladder. There’s plenty of other stuff that needs to be done without you nearly breaking your neck.”
“Promise," he replied, without hesitation.