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It´s Thomas´ first day off in over a month and after sleeping in and a long breakfast, he´s lying on the couch and finally continuing reading his book. He is content to stay like this for hours, but after what only feels like a few minutes a loud knocking on his front door disturbs his peace. He lets out a sigh and puts his book aside, before getting up and walking to the door. As soon as he opens it, the man in front of it, who is wearing a hoody, with the hood drawn deep into his face, tries to get in. Thomas is about to stop him, when he says: “Please let me in Thomas, I´ll explain everything. Just let me in.”
“Hamilton?”, Thomas asks confused, but allows the other man to come in.
Alex sounds desperate and frightened, so he quickly closes the door behind the other man and turns around. That´s when he notices that Alexander is shaking, though Thomas can´t imagine that he´s freezing, because it´s the middle of summer. He doesn´t make a move to remove the hood either, which definitely worries him.
“Alex, are you alright?”, he asks, taking a careful step towards him.
The other man is silent for a moment, before he shrugs.
“I don´t know.”, he mumbles. His voice sounds not like him at all, but small and wrong.
“Let´s go sit down, huh?”, Thomas says, and Alex nods hesitantly.
He follows Thomas into the living room, and they sit down next to each other on the couch. Alex lets out a small hiss, which only causes Thomas to grow more concerned. He reaches out to Alex, to rest his hand on his shoulder, but the other man flinches away from him, so he drops his hand again.
“What happened?”, Thomas asks quietly.
Alex is silent again and just as he is about to repeat his question, Alex starts talking: “I had a fight with my b- ex. I had a fight with my ex and it didn´t end all too well for me.” He lets out a joyless laugh, before taking in a shuddering breath.
“Are you hurt? Let me see.”
Alex shakes his head again, shifting away from Thomas, so that he is pressed against the other end of the couch.
“It´s fine. Can I just stay here for a few hours until I´ve figured out what to do? He won´t look for me here.”
Thomas considers this for a moment, before he nods.
“Alright. I´ll let you stay here, when you show me your face.”
He feels bad about it, but at the same time he´s far too worried about his younger colleague to care much about it. He can almost hear Alex debating with himself, before he sees his shoulders slumping.
“Fine.”, he mumbles, and pushes the hood of his pullover back, but he´s still avoiding looking at Thomas.
Thomas takes in a sharp breath when he sees Alexander´s face, staring at him in shock. His face is bruised and bleeding from his split lip and the cut on his right cheek, and one of his eyes already looks a bit swollen.
“Fuck, Alex, you should go to the hospital.”, Thomas says, slowly shifting closer.
The younger man shakes his head, still refusing to look up.
“No, it´s fine. Nothing´s broken.”
Thomas hesitates a moment, before he gets up. Almost instantly, Alex´ head snaps up and he stares at him in fear.
“Don´t worry. I´ll just go and grab my first aid kit and some frozen stuff to keep the swelling down.”
Thomas waits until Alex nods reluctantly, before walking into the kitchen and quickly grabbing everything he needs. When he gets back into the living room, Alex is staring out of the window with an expression he can´t quite place.
“Alex.”, he says softly, to make the other man aware of his present, but it still causes him to flinch.
“Hey.”, he says quietly, and gives Thomas a small smile.
Thomas sits back down next to Alex, showing him the disinfectant.
“That´ll burn a bit.”, Thomas warns.
Alex nods without saying anything. Thomas gently grabs his chin and turns his head a bit, before pressing the cotton pad against his wound. Alexander lets out a soft hiss, but remains still, pressing his eyes close. Thomas works as fast as possible, first cleaning Alexander´s wounds, before putting medical strips on them.
“Good as new.”, Thomas says, once he is finished, which causes Alex to give him a small smile. “You want to talk about it?”
Alex shrugs and looks down at his hands, picking at the skin around his nail.
“There is nothing much to say. I broke up with my boyfriend a few weeks back, because I realised that he isn´t a good person. Today I wanted to get some stuff I still had at his flat and…”, he takes a deep breath. “And I don´t know how it happened, but next thing I know is he´s suddenly screaming at me and… I know it´s my fault. I made some smartass remark and suddenly he just grabbed me and threw me against the wall and started punching me. I managed to somehow get away, but he kept following me and he knows where I live and also where my friends live, so I came here. I´m sorry, I didn´t know where else to go and-”
“It´s alright.”, Thomas interrupts him. “You don´t need to apologize. And it´s not your fault either that that happened to you.”
Alex just shrugs and looks away from him again, taking deep breaths. Thomas doesn´t really know what to do, so he just watches the other man silently.
“Do you think he will find me here?”, Alex asks after some time. He turns back to him and looks at him with big and scared eyes.
It breaks Thomas´ heart to see him like this and he would like to reach out to him and console him, but fears that it will only upset him more.
“I won´t let him hurt you again.”, Thomas promises. “You are safe here.”
Alex nods slowly.
“Okay, but what about later, when I go home, what if he waits for me there?”
“Alex, you´re obviously gonna stay the night. And you should report him. Has he… has he ever done something like that before?”
Alex is quiet again, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
“No, this was the first time. You really think I should? Report him I mean.”
“Yes, I do.”
Alex nods.
“Okay. I will think about it. I can really stay the night?”
This time it´s Thomas who nods.
“Of course. You can stay here as long as you need.”
“Okay.”, Alex mumbles, his voice cracking.
He takes a few shuddering breaths, but he can´t stop the tears from running down his face. Thomas watches him helplessly for a few moments, his heart breaking for him again.
“Can I do something?”, he finally asks, and after a moment, Alex nods.
“Can you just hold me?”, Alex whispers.
Thomas doesn´t hesitate, before pulling Alex against him, holding him close and gently stroking his hair and back, while Alex cries quietly into his shirt. They stay like this for what feels like hours, until Alex stops crying and just slumps against him.
“I´m sorry.”, he says again, but Thomas shakes his head.
“You don´t need to apologize, Alex.”
“Okay.”
“Are you hungry?”
After a moment, Alex nods. Thomas gently pushes him away and grabs his laptop from the tv table, before pulling the younger man against him again. They search for a delivery place that has food they both like and finally settle on ordering two pizzas from a place near Thomas´ flat.
“Wanna watch a movie while we wait for our food?”, Thomas asks, and Alex nods, giving him a small smile.
“But something funny or sweet please. I don´t think I can handle anything else right now.”
Thomas nods.
“Of course.”
They settle on watching on old cartoon, and Thomas is glad when he hears Alex genuinely laugh again and can´t help but smile down at him. He finds himself watching the younger man, rather than the movie, but Alex doesn´t seem to notice. When he lets out another giggle at something a character has said, Thomas can´t help but think that he would do anything to protect him.