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It was too much. The pitter-patter sound of rain against a tin roof. The angry shouts of a male and female arguing, the voices too muffled to understand. A TV show turned up loud in an attempt to block out the noise. Cars and bikes and people laughing. The buzzing of a heater older than himself. A white cat spread across a fluffy blanket cleaning herself, the soft ring of the bell of her collar rang around the room. There was too much happening at once. A lanky boy sat curled into himself on his hardwood bedroom floor, his hands pressed against his ears desperately trying to block out the noise. He mumbled to himself in an attempt to calm himself down.
A loud bang of thunder rumbled the house causing the windows to shake. That was the breaking point for Alec, he no longer believed that he could handle this on his own as he had always done before. He immediately sprung up and leapt for his phone that was sitting on the bedside table next to him, he stared at it for a moment before fully making up his mind. With shaky, hesitant hands he dialled the only number he ever cared to remember, Herb, his best friend.
“Hey, are you okay?” Herb asked almost the second they picked up the phone, a slight pang of embarrassment spread through Alecs chest. “Do you need me to come over? Because I’ll come over if you need me.” Herb always knew when something was wrong and every time it managed to make him hate them even if only for a second.
“Yeah,” was all Alec managed to say, he felt as if he had swallowed a ball of nails considering how much his throat ached.
“Okay, I’ll be there in like five minutes. Hold tight,” they managed quickly before they hung up the phone.
Alec carefully placed the phone back on the table and sunk back into the floor, comforted yet worried by the fact that his friend would be there soon to help him through this. Even though Alec knew that he could always call Herb for help, he couldn’t help but feel as if he was being a burden, couldn’t help but feel Herb may only be putting up a front, while silently judging him for being so weak.
A few minutes later the sound of the distant yelling stopped for a minute but started up again as loud footsteps made their way closer to Alec’s room. A few mere seconds later his bedroom door swung open, forcing him to lift his eyes to see who the cause for such a ruckus was. Bacon made her way over to where Alec was sitting and meowed at him, waiting for a sign that hinted towards him being okay.
“Are you okay?” Herb asked, voice giving away the fact that they ran all the way there. They made their way over to Alec, placing a hand on his back as a form of comfort, the action didn’t go unnoticed.
At this moment Alec broke. The newfound tears glistened like diamonds on his face in the dim lighting. His face contorted into something pain-like, something that almost looked like agony. Alec didn’t appear to be in any real physical pain, but, nonetheless, his eyebrows furrowed, lips quivered, eyes turned red and struggled to stay open. The tip of his nose and cheeks painted with a light pink on his pale skin. Alec wasn’t just crying, he was sobbing, his body shook violently with each sound that escaped him, he wasn’t able to keep the noise in no matter how much he wished he could.
“Hey, how about we go onto the bed, okay? Something a bit more comfortable,” Herb’s voice was soft and laced with concern for their friend. Not trusting his own voice, Alec nodded to show his agreement to the suggestion.
Herb’s hands ghosted over Alec’s back and forearm, allowing Alec to get up on his own but still being close to show support in case it was needed. Herb rested their back up against the headboard and guiding Alec to lie against them, his back pressed to their chest using Herb as his own personal body pillow. Once they were both finally comfortable Herb grabbed the TV remote changing channel to play a random movie rerun. Herb allowed Alec’s breathing to return back to a normal pace before they even thought of speaking up again.
“A fear of thunderstorms and sensory problems are great for days like these, right?” Herb attempted at a joke; a wet chuckle escaped from the boy resting against them. The sound caused Herb to let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding in.
“Yeah, you got that right,” Alec replied, looking up at Herb with a small smile. Alec liked when Herb was around, they made him feel like he could let his emotions out without being judged, it was nice to say the least.
“Y’know, you don’t have to hide your emotions from everyone, you can ask for help from people other than me,” Herb’s face turned serious, their features less soft than they were before.
“I’m trying to,” Alec sighed deeply, “but what if they judge me?”
“Then screw them. If they judge you for showing your emotions, they’re probably just unable to express their own.” Herb carded a hand through Alec’s black curls, “people are dumb to expect something so unhuman from you.”
“Yeah, screw them,” Alec echoed Herb’s statement with a hint of pride in his tone. Alec knew now that he could always count on Herb to remind him that expressing your honest emotions doesn’t make you less of a man, it just makes you human.
The familiar jingle of a cat bell rung out as Bacon jumped onto the bed and made her way over to where Alec and Herb laid to make herself part of the group.