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The lighting is low, and the music is soft, and Tim is exhausted.
He taps the bell again. It had said it was open until three in the morning, and the door had been unlocked. Brian had even told him he’d pulled late nights here doing homework before.
The back of his neck prickles. Ugh, he can still feel it watching him. He’s not going to sleep tonight, is he?
There’s a clatter from behind the kitchen door, and then footsteps, and then out steps a college aged guy in a dark blue apron.
“Hey,” he says. “What can I get ya?”
No apology for the several minutes Tim spent waiting. He doesn’t mind, just finds it interesting.
“Uh. Um.” Tim blanks, then remembers his order. “Iced latte with hazelnut. Please.”
“Sure thing.” The barista scribbles the order on a clear plastic cup. “Anything else?”
Tim shakes his head. Pays. It's overpriced, but it's a university town, so. He knew going into it that it would be.
“You can sit, I’ll have it ready in a minute,” the barista tells him, tilting his head and making the dim lighting catch and reflect on his glasses.
“Thanks,” Tim mumbles, and shuffles over to a booth far from the window. He slumps into the seat, pulls out his laptop. When he’d left his apartment, he’d been determined to get some work out of this sleepless night. Now, he feels significantly less determined to do so.
He pulls up FaceBook and begins to scroll.
He must zone out, because the next thing he knows, there’s a cough from beside him.
It's the barista, holding his drink out for him. He’s got a half smile on his lips.
“Sorry,” Tim says. “I didn’t hear you call it out.”
“I didn’t,” he replies. “Thought I’d be nice and bring it over.” Tim takes the drink. “We close in thirty minutes, but uh, if you got something due I can extend it a bit.”
Tim shakes his head. “That’s okay. I’ll be out by then.”
The barista nods. “Alright. I’m gonna start closing then. I won’t bother you.”
Tim shrugs awkwardly. “It's okay if you do.”
The barista’s eyes squint a little. “…Okay.”
Ah. Tim said something weird again. He folds in on himself a bit, sips his coffee. Oh, fuck. It’s fantastic. It’s really fucking good. He sips it again, ends up finishing it in ten minutes, and with no other reason to stay, heads out. The barista lifts a hand in farewell, and Tim awkwardly waves back.
He doesn’t sleep when he gets home, but the creature doesn’t appear again. So that’s something at least.
He gets lunch with Brian the next day.
“You look exhausted.”
“I am.”
That gets a laugh from Brian.
“Were you up crazy late again?”
Tim shrugs. “I tried that coffee shop you told me about.”
Brian perks up. “Oh, hey! That's great! Did you meet Alex? He told me he was working last night.”
“Alex…?”
“Light brown hair, glasses?” Brian smirks. “Bitchy attitude?”
Oh. The barista.
“I guess so. He wasn’t really bitchy. Just made me wait a long time.”
Brian laughs again. “That sounds about right. Hey, you should go again and tell him you know me! Me and him are buddies.”
“Okay,” Tim says, shrugging. “It was good coffee. I probably will.”
Tim goes back. Not so late this time, but he’s got a paper to write and what better place to do it then at a coffee shop? That’s what Brian tells him over text, at least. Its six PM when he walks in, and instead of the guy, Alex, behind the counter, its a young woman with blonde hair and side bangs.
Tim orders the same drink as last time, and sits in a corner table. Getting out of his room works, and he focuses on his assignment better. He’s so focused that he doesn’t notice the shift change, until he gets up to order another drink and this time it is Alex behind the counter.
“Hey, again,” Alex says. “You’re back soon.”
“Uh,” Tim says. “Well. I had a paper to write.”
“Sure. Most of our customers do. What’ll it be?”
Tim recites his order for the third time now. “Uhm. Also. I know Brian Thomas?”
Alex’s eyes light up. “Hey, you know Brian? Brian’s great.”
“He is,” Tim agrees. “He recommended this place. He said he knew you too. Buddies.”
“Aw.” Alex seems pleased about that. “That’s nice. He’s a nice guy.”
“Yeah,” Tim says. The chatter dwindles then, and Tim goes back to his seat, then gets back up when Alex calls the name of his order, and he stays another hour, then leaves.
Then he waits a week to get paid before coming back. The coffee isn't cheap.
When Tim pushes the cafe door open, a cool breeze comes with him. Icy November making its way to Alabama at last. Its not busy, but he’s not the only one in line. He shifts his backpack on his shoulder.
Alex and the blonde girl are both behind the counter, her taking orders and him making drinks. From in the middle of brewing something, Alex glances up and catches Tim’s eye. He quirks a brow.
Tim looks away.
When it's his turn at the counter, the girl says, awkward, “Uh, Alex said-”
“Iced hazelnut latte.” Alex smacks the drink down in front of him. “Was I right?”
Tim blanches. That’s exactly what he was going to order. “How did you know?”
“You got it the last two times. I have a good memory.”
“Shit,” he says. Is Tim a regular now? Is that what this means? He’s never been a regular before, but he’s seen it in TV shows. Alex smirks.
“What’s your name?” He asks. “Brian’s friend.”
“Tim.”
“Nice to meet you.” Alex hands him the drink “Ring him up, Aims.”
‘Aims’ rings Tim up. He goes to find his usual seat, but sees that its taken. Someone’s backpack is slung across it, the occupant hunched over a laptop, baseball cap bobbing up and down as he types frantically. Tim decides to go sit somewhere else.
Not much else happens.
It’s the fourth time he goes that something happens.
He walks in the door at midnight, that Thing glued to his back, sees Alex behind the counter, and nearly turns around and walks right back out.
“Hey! Tim, what’s up?”
That Thing curls closer around his spine, its spindly hands digging into his body, its faceless head exhaling icy breaths down his neck. Tim wants to leave. Tim can’t sleep.
Tim walks to the counter.
“Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d try to get some work done.”
Alex gives him an easy smile. “I get that. My friend Jay is doing the same.”
He nods across the shop to Tim’s seat, where a guy their age is dozing into his hand, baseball cap perched on his head. It rings a bell in Tim’s brain, and he realizes this guy was here last time too.
“Oh. You know him?”
“Yeah,” Alex says, already getting a cup. “Iced hazelnut?”
“Uhm, yeah. Unless there’s something you’d reccomend…?”
Alex raises a brow. “Straying away from routine, huh? Hmm. Do you like sweet stuff or do you lean darker?”
“I guess sweet,” he answers. That Thing edges away just a bit. Socializing always helps.
“You got any allergies?” Alex scratches his chin, and Tim’s eyes track the motion.
“No,” he says.
“Cool.” Alex waves him off. “Go sit down and I’ll make you something I think you’ll like.”
Not wanting to bother Alex’s friend, he chooses a different spot near the wall. He can see the other guy, Jay, and Alex behind the counter from here. The music is slow and smooth and quiet, and Tim can see how Jay must have fallen asleep listening to it. It’s jazzy. He wonders if Alex picked it.
He opens his laptop. That Thing flickers into the corner of the room, then outside behind the window. It watches all of them. Tim does his best to ignore it like usual. It was bad enough that it chased him out of his bedroom, he isn’t going to let it bother him here too.
In what feels like no time, Alex is dropping into the seat across from him. Tim closes his laptop, because that seems polite.
“Try it,” he says, nudging the cup to Tim. Tim picks it up, the steam wafting into his face, and warily gives Alex a look.
“What is it?” He asks.
Alex’s lazy grin widens. “I’ll tell you once you try it. Go ahead. See what you think.”
Tentatively, Tim takes a sip. It’s- sweet. Almost too sweet. But good. Really good.
“I like it,” says Tim.
Alex’s eyes scrunch with his smile. “It’s a vanilla white chocolate mocha with cinnamon. My own invention.”
“It’s really good.” He takes another sip. “I like it.”
“Good.” Alex cracks his knuckles absently. “I made it back when I first started here. I used to have a crazy sweet tooth, it was all I drank. I like mine more bitter now, though.”
“I don’t… really know if I have a sweet tooth or not,” Tim confesses.
Alex blinks. “Really?”
“I haven’t experimented a whole lot. I used to only get coffee when Brian made me come with him somewhere. This is the first place I’ve come to by myself.”
“We’re glad to have you,” Alex tells him. “I hope it was my super awesome charms and aura of coolness that kept you coming back.”
Tim snorts out an unexpected laugh. “Yeah. Definitely.”
Alex beams at him.
Tim doesn’t notice when that Thing disappears completely.
He also doesn’t get any work done. The next day is spent in the library, cramming as many assignments as he can before the Monday due date. It isn’t until he’s leaving at nine at night, though, that he hears his name. He looks around and then-
“Oh. Alex, hi,” he says, walking over to the table near the front that Alex has occupied. Another person is with him, wearing a baseball cap. Jay, this must be. Awake this time.
“What’s up?” Alex says.
“I was just leaving, I finished my assignments.”
“Aw,” he does a little faux pout. “Jay and I just got here. We need to finish a script and storyboard for a project.”
Jay is watching Tim with a curious look on his face. He gives a little wave when Tim looks at him, and Tim waves back. He clears his throat.
“Uhm. Script? Do you do theatre with Brian?”
Alex laughs. “No, Jay and I are film majors. I did meet Brian in theatre, though. We were both in the improv club.”
A smile pulls at Tim’s lips, imagining Alex doing improv.
“We’ve met already, then. I was Brian’s roommate as a freshman, and I went to his improv show. We must have seen each other there.”
For some reason, Alex’s face goes visibly red. “Oh, great… I hope you don’t remember anything I did. I am not an actor.”
Tim doesn’t remember. But the blush on Alex’s face is funny. “I don’t know, I bet if I thought real hard I’d be able to recall your scenes.”
“Please don’t,” Alex says.
Tim laughs, and quickly Alex is grinning again.
Alex has a nice smile.
Tim lies awake in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, and thinks, oh, fuck.
His interactions with Alex have a new sort of flavor to them. He becomes extra aware of himself, his body, the things his face does. Hyper conscious of how he fidgets and mumbles and can’t look Alex in his eyes, only the little space between them.
More than that, though, he becomes more observant of Alex. What clothes he’s wearing under his dark blue apron, how his hair is parted, the dark circles under his eyes.
They talk more. Tim prepares his wallet for the uptick in purchases of coffee, except Alex starts doing this thing where he says its “no big deal” and then doesn’t charge Tim’s card.
“That’s not a good way to run a business,” Tim says.
“Eh, not my business. I just work here,” Alex replies.
Tim raises a brow. “Aren’t you worried you’ll get fired?”
Alex shrugs, scribbles something on Tim’s cup. “No. I’m not worried.”
He brings Tim’s drinks to him every time. When they’re not busy, he sits down at the table with Tim. Even when it is busy, sometimes he’ll sit down for a moment anyway, or at the very least just linger beside the table.
When Alex sits with him, they talk about anything. Tim shares that he’s an english major, and is in the string ensemble, that he plays the guitar. Alex shares more about being a film major, tells Tim about the scripts he’s writing, the stories in his head. Tim thinks Alex must be the most creative person in the world. Alex says that’s not true, but he’d like if it was. They both stare at each other for too long after that, and Tim’s face burns.
Brian says it sounds like Alex likes him back. He says he didn’t know Alex was into guys, but that must be the case. Tim feels flustered about all of this. He’s only just realized he’s into Alex, what will he do if Alex feels the same way?
“Uh, ask him out? Duh?” Brian says, grinning. He rolls a pen back and forth on the table in their study room.
“No, I can’t,” Tim says. “What if he says no?”
“He won’t,” Brian scoffs. “He totally likes you back.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
Tim had some crushes back in the hospital and in the homeschooling group he was apart of, but not many. Boys who were nice to him, mainly. Nice until they learned how messed up he was.
What would Alex think when he got to know Tim more? Beyond surface level, Tim was a walking disaster. Brian knew some… but not all.
But Alex, he made Tim want to tell it all. To share these dark parts, and get that reassuring smile in response, and something more comforting than just a touch on the arm. He thinks about Alex holding him, and immediately feels dirty for it. He wants it so bad, though.
Is it wrong to want?
Apparently so. His hallucinations get worse. That Thing lives in his peripherals at all times. His episodes get more frequent. The psychiatrist says it must be stress. She prescribes him a higher dose of his anti-psychotics. Tim dutifully takes them, though his head feels like static still, and he wakes up drenched in sweat at five in the morning every day. He stops going to the coffee shop, though his eyes continue scanning for Alex in the library and in the hallways.
He doesn’t see him.
It’s the end of Thanksgiving break, two weeks before finals, and Tim is back at the coffee shop.
He can’t sleep, he needs to study, and he’s being haunted. The upped dose is bothering him still. He just wants some caffeine and to be productive for a bit before Monday. He freezes outside the glass door.
Alex is inside, but not alone. Brian is there too, and it looks like they’re arguing. Tim is about to make a break for it, when he and Brian lock eyes through the door. Brian’s expression smooths, and Tim opens the door, cautious.
“Tim, hey buddy,” Brian says, brushing past Alex and meeting Tim halfway. “What are you doing here?”
“Homework,” Tim says, conscious of That Thing’s presence in the corner of the room now. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Aw,” Brian says. “You and Alex are in the same boat.”
“Brian-” Alex starts, turning around, and Tim has to quiet his gasp.
Alex does not seem…well. The dark circles under his eyes are darker. There’s a gauntness to his face that makes it look like he’s been sick. And his expression is… sharp. Not crooked grins sharp, but more like… broken glass sharp. It doesn’t soften on Tim, just remains hard and angry and pointed. His posture is tense.
“Are you okay?” Tim asks, without meaning to. Alex’s angry eyebrows dig deeper together. Brian’s lips pinch, and he squeezes Tim’s arm.
“No, he’s not actually,” Brian says.
“Would you cut that out?” Alex snaps. “I’m fine!”
“You’re being- I don’t even know! But don’t lie to me, I fucking hate that.”
“Oh my god,” Alex groans, and stomps back behind the counter. “Hi Tim, what can I get you?”
Tim is frozen. He doesn’t know what's going on, likes none of this. Is clearly intruding on something.
“You can’t avoid this,” Brian says, prodding Tim in the back to make him go forward. “You’re going to tell me what's going on. I don’t care if I have to force it out of you.”
“That’s not how anything works,” Alex says with a glower. “You can’t force someone to talk about how they feel.”
“Yes, I can,” Brian argues. “You’re not well, and you won’t talk to me or anyone else about it, and it’s clear it’s been going on for weeks! Would you just tell me what’s bothering you?”
Alex’s jaw clenches.
That Thing flickers closer. Tim sees it out of the corner of his eye. He also sees the way Alex’s gaze darts towards it, and then back to Brian.
Like he’s just seen it move too.
Tim’s stomach drops. The floor opens up beneath him. This is a nightmare. This is hell. No, no, no. Alex was so good, so healthy, so fine- and Tim has- has spread this sickness to him.
He thinks he might throw up. He yanks out of Brian’s grasp and runs out of the coffee shop. Already half way down the block he hears his name, but it's too late, he’s already gone.
Tim holes up in his room for the rest of the break and the first few days back. He can’t bring himself to go outside and infect anyone else. That Thing torments him constantly, feeding thoughts and images into his head, standing menacingly in his doorway or outside the window. It doesn’t end. Tim can’t escape it. And yet, at the same time, he thinks, better him than Alex. If That Thing is obsessing over Tim, then Alex should be safe. He sobs in bed for hours, hides in his closet, picks at the skin around his nails until he bleeds. He feels like a monster. He thinks he deserves to be killed like one.
Of course he infected Alex. Because nothing can ever be so simple for him. There is no such thing as a meet-cute for someone like him. There’s no getting the guy or hidden crushes, just misery forever and ever.
Brian shows up on Wednesday morning. That Thing hovers over him like a hologram while Brian forces Tim to get dressed and herds him out the door. He walks Tim to his first class of the day, and then is there waiting when its over, and takes him to his next one. They go out for burgers later, and Tim has two, wolfs them down, doesn’t realize he’s been starving.
“Feeling better?” Brian asks.
Tim nods. That Thing is outside, watching them through the window. “A lot. Thanks.”
Brian smiles. “Of course, man. Thanks for letting me help.”
Tim gives him a weak smile back. The next day, he goes to class on his own. It starts getting better again.
Finals week hits him like a bus. He blearily migrates from test to test, cramming in the meantime, praying he’ll remember everything. Dates and authors and titles. Essays upon essays.
He’s eating lunch with Brian before another exam when Brian’s phone buzzes with a text. He opens it, then sighs.
“What is it?” Tim asks.
“Jay, again. He’s asking if I can check on Alex after my final today.”
Tim’s stomach turns. “Is… something wrong with him?”
Brian snorts. “Yes. But he won’t admit it. He’s the most stubborn asshole I’ve ever met, and won’t accept any help from me or Jay. Jay says he skipped an exam this morning.”
“Oh,” Tim says. He thinks of how Alex noticed That Thing. He thinks of how being around someone is all it takes for him to usually feel better.
Maybe what happened to him is what’s happening to Alex right now.
“Can I go with you?” Tim asks.
Brian frowns. “I don’t know, man… he might not like that. He doesn’t know you very well.” He pauses, then looks apologetic. “No offence.”
“None taken,” Tim replies, though he thinks of how much they used to talk, sitting together all the time, sharing anything and everything. “But I think I can help.”
They take their exams. Tim struggles to focus. He thinks of Alex the whole time.
He gets in Brian’s car afterward, and they drive to Alex’s house. He lives there with two roommates, Brian says, but they aren’t really friends with him. Neither of them have been any help with Alex’s problem.
“Depression,” Tim offers. “I think he has depression. Like me.”
Brian nods slowly. “That could be it. My mom’s anxiety always got worse in the winter. Maybe that’s what it is.”
Tim just makes a noise of agreement. He can’t explain the visions and the paranoia and the very real monster that’s stalked him since childhood, and how that monster has latched onto Alex too.
“Oh great,” Brian says as they park outside a quaint one story house. “Another dead squirrel.”
“Another?”
They get out of the car and stare at it on the sidewalk.
“Ever since Alex got fired these have been showing up,” Brian says, nose wrinkling.
“Alex got fired?”
Brian sighs. “He stopped showing up to work or answering his bosses emails. Happened two and a half weeks ago.”
Tim’s heart clenches in sympathy. This is worse than he thought.
They walk up to the porch and knock. A guy opens it that Tim doesn’t recognize, but Brian seems to.
“Hey, Matt. Have you, uh, seen Alex today?”
Matt winces. “Dude hasn’t left his room since I woke up around twelve. I dunno if he was out before that.”
Brian nods. “Well, we’re here to see him.”
“Cool,” Matt says, letting them in. “What’s up?” He says to Tim.
“Uhm, hi,” Tim says back. Brian claps him on the arm, and gives it a little squeeze. Brian leads the way down one of the halls past the kitchen. The door they stop in front of is shut, and looks dark.
Brian makes to open it, but Tim stops him.
“Look, I know this sounds crazy,” Tim says, “but can I try talking to him first?”
Brian frowns. “Tim…”
“I know, I don’t know him as well as you, but I think I get what he’s going through. Can I just try?”
Brian studies him for a long moment, then sighs, and steps back. “Go ahead, I guess.”
He opens the door cautiously, just a crack and then wider. Tim steps inside, hovering in the doorway and squinting. The room is a mess. Clothes and trash on the floor. Blinds drawn down tightly. The bed is unmade, and pressed into the corner of the room, a little crooked, like it hadn’t always been there. Tucked into the corner of the bed is Alex, dressed in boxers and a hoodie. He stares at Tim, in the shadow of the hall light.
“Alex…” Tim murmurs, and shuts the door behind him.
“The hell are you doing here?” Alex mutters, curling up tighter against the corner.
“I-“ he swallows. Steadies himself. That Thing is there, lurking by Alex’s dresser. Static pulls at his thoughts, it's hard to focus on Alex and not give into his racing pulse and fear instinct.
“I know I don’t know you so well, but I, I know what's going on.”
Alex says nothing.
“I want to know you better. I thought maybe- well. I- I liked talking to you. I had fun with you.” Tim shuffles more inside the bedroom. “And I know what's going on here.”
“You don’t.”
“I do,” he presses. “I get it. More than you know.” He comes closer, sits on the edge of the bed. “You’re scared. Let me help.”
“I’m not- what do you think you know? You don’t know anything!” Alex snaps.
Tim shakes his head. “I see it too.”
There is silence. That Thing flickers into the corner of the room, further from the two of them. Tim’s heart pounds, and he licks his lips.
“I see it. Right there. It haunts me too.”
Alex’s breaths are audible.
The room is freezing.
Tim stands up, and takes a shaky step closer to the creature. “Leave him alone,” he says. “Alex didn’t do anything. It's me you want.”
“Tim-” Alex gasps.
“You hear me?” He barks at That Thing. “You leave him alone. You’re mine.”
“Tim!” Alex’s hands close around his arms and yank him back. They’ve never been so close before. They’ve never even touched. Alex is so much taller than him, but so much narrower. He seems paper thin. His face is terrified.
“You- you-” he stammers. “How?”
“My whole life,” Tim says. “I’m sorry. It's my fault that it came to you. I shouldn’t have tried to get close to you. I should have known better. I should have-“
Alex jerks forward and kisses him. The static falls completely away. Blissful silence. Scratchy, chapped lips against Tim’s, which are bitten raw and cracked down the middle. Tim’s hands find Alex’s waist, because he needs to tether himself right now.
This is his first kiss.
They pull apart. Tim can’t see the creature, but feels its gaze still. It still watches. Maybe it's outside.
But it left the room.
“It's gone,” Alex says, dumbly. “How did you-?”
“Being around others helps,” Tim offers. “Socializing. Eating. Sleeping. It feeds off instability. You can’t let yourself sink too deep or it gets harder to pull yourself out.” He pauses. “I almost sank too deep. Brian helped me. Now we’re here to help you.”
Alex drags a hand over his jaw. “He’s here?”
“In the hall.”
“I cussed him out last time I saw him.” He frowns, visibly ashamed. “I’ve been so angry. I always feel like I’m being watched. Like I’m seconds away from snapping.”
“The anger is part of it. The paranoia too,” Tim explains. “It's not you. That's its influence.”
Alex stares at him. “You know a lot about this.”
“Like I said. My whole life.”
“There’s a lot I don’t know about you.”
“I- yeah..” Tim trails off. “I can tell you more sometime, maybe?”
Alex licks his lips. In the dark room, his eyes look almost black.
“I’d like that,” he murmurs. “Pull me out.”
Brian is in the hall. He gives Alex a hard look, and then a gentler one.
They go out for burgers. Alex eats two, wolfs them down, says he hadn’t realized how hungry he was.
Brian gives Tim a squinty eyed smile. Tim’s chest feels warm and light.
Tim goes to see him the next day, walks him to his professors office, and waits in the hall while Alex explains he had a family emergency and would really, really love to take the final he missed. He’s allowed. Tim thanks fucking god.
He waits the whole time Alex takes it, right there in the office. When he’s done, he looks surprised to see Tim, but not unhappy. Alex drives him home, and as Tim walks to his door, Alex jogs up after him, catches his arm, says “wait” and holds out his phone. They exchange numbers.
They start to text.
Tim is floating.
The semester ends. Tim asks if Alex is going home for the holidays. Alex says i usually do. Tim says the whole time or just the actual days? Alex says are you asking if i want to hang out over the break?
They start ‘going out’. Tim can’t tell if it's a friend thing or a something else thing. But they eat together. And Alex takes him to the movies. And they sit in Alex’s car, and Alex tells him about his family, and Tim tells Alex about his.
And Alex kisses him again, and Tim is a melted puddle in that passenger seat.
“Is this just as friends, or-?”
“Tim,” Alex says, breathy, sort of a laugh. He’s holding Tim’s face in his hands. “What the hell do you think?”
They kiss a lot that night. It’s kind of incredible.
Tim officially meets Jay, right before Christmas. He’s really fucking funny, and keeps poking Alex and teasing him about how, apparently, smitten he’s been for Tim. When Alex leaves for a minute to use the restroom, Jay hugs Tim tight and fast and thanks him for helping Alex, for saving him.
Tim doesn’t know about all that. But the hug makes his eyes wet and hot. Neither of them talk about it when Alex comes back.
Christmas happens, and they text and call through it. Tim sees his dad, never his mom, and Alex sees his whole family and doesn’t seem to enjoy any of it. He tells Tim that he’s going back to his house on the twenty sixth, and Tim says that sounds like it's for the best.
He tells Alex to be safe. That the monster likes when they’re unhappy. His family was making him unhappy, so…
“You worrywart,” Alex says. “I’ll be okay.”
“You promise?” Tim asks. “You’ll call me if you need me? I’m coming back the day after you, so it won’t be that long, so it should be okay-”
“Tim.” His voice is calm and gentle. “I haven’t been seeing it as much. I’ll be okay.”
“Oh,” Tim says.
They maybe need to talk about that. About Alex seeing the monster sometimes, even if its not all the time, and why he can see it too, and why him to begin with-
“I can hear you overthinking,” Alex says.
“Sorry.” Tim bites his lip, tangles his legs up more in the sheets of the guest room at his dad’s place. “I just worry about you.”
“I know,” Alex says. There’s a rustle in the background of the call, like Alex is shifting in bed too. Tim wants to spend the night with him. He doesn’t know how to bring it up. “We’ll talk in the morning?”
“Yes,” Tim says, trying not to sound as eager as he feels.
Alex makes him feel more eager than he ever has before.
In the New Year, Alex gets a new job. He’s working at a movie theatre now, the same one he brought Tim to a handful of times. Tim, like any good partner, still visits him during his shifts.
Even though he doesn’t get free coffee out of it anymore.