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Alex trailed a hand over the rock of his walls, fingerpads grazing along the rough surface. He relished in the feeling for a moment before stopping to shrug off his travel backpack and prop it up against the side of his desk. With a heavy grunt, he collapsed into his familiar black gamer chair, powering on his computer. Maybe he’d ring up Karl for a quick chat.
He hopped on Discord and navigated to his friends list to see that Karl was offline. Recording a new video with MrBeast, he guessed. Not only that, however, none of the other feral boys were online.
God, what time was it? Alex squinted at the corner of his screen displaying the time and date.
10 AM.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
He groaned and leaned back in his chair. He should probably be studying for law school, but he really didn’t feel in the mood, especially just after arriving from the airport. Instead, he simply closed his eyes.
He was finally home — well, technically, his place back in California was his home, too — but there was something about his jokingly proclaimed “cave” that just felt so much more homey. Perhaps it was the rocky walls, littered with years-old scrapes and scratches on them from when he’d tried to carve into them. Or maybe it was the brick ceiling that he’d used to stare at for hours, eyes tracing the cracks in between each individual block. Or maybe it was —
He cracked an eye open and made eye contact with a small bundle of tan fur from across the room. His mouth twitched, threatening to become a smile as he opened his other eye. “Tiger!”
The cat meowed as Alex practically leapt from his chair and strode across the tiny room to gently scoop up the cat, carefully flipping him onto his back so he could tickle his soft belly fur. “I missed you, buddy,” he beamed.
The feline began to wriggle away, making Alex yelp and struggle to keep his hold on him. Unfortunately for him, Tiger managed to break free and he gracefully leaped onto the floor, swishing his striped tail.
Alex pouted and squatted down, hugging his knees close so he was now at eye-level with his cat. “Come on, Tiger,” he fake-sobbed, beckoning wildly with his arms. “You’re my son! I thought you missed me.”
Tiger turned around to face him. They were now eye to eye — human to cat.
Tiger blinked.
Alex blinked.
Then Tiger turned away and padded out of the room, wiggling past the cracked-open door.
“Bastard,” Alex muttered under his breath, before chuckling and heaving himself up to return to his computer. He was about to sit down when he spotted out of the corner of his eye —
Huh.
He reached over his piano keyboard and grabbed the twelve-inch-tall action figure sitting at the very edge, instantly noticing the thick layer of dust on it. He scrunched his nose and carefully wiped it off with a hand, revealing purple plastic underneath.
He sneezed loudly and laughed out loud at himself, clutching the half-cleaned Thanos figure in his hands. He recalled all the memories he had with this: taking it outside for mini photoshoots, propping it up on his mic and knocking it over with his old ukulele . . .
Damn. Time goes by way too quickly, doesn’t it?
Reluctantly, he held it close to his chest. He had to admit, it wasn’t very comfortable; after all, it was a foot-long hunk of plastic being pressed against his body. A simple plush would’ve sufficed, but he supposed it wouldn’t have the same sentimental value anyway.
Alex glanced at his computer monitor once more. Nope; everyone was still offline.
But that was okay. He had his Thanos figurine to keep him company.
He laughed at the absurdity of it all and held the bumpy-chined purple hunk of a man even tighter.
Yep. That was okay. For now.