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While he was in the foster system and with his bio parents, Alex’s food intake had been limited as punishment. That made him develop an eating disorder, which ,for the most part, only relapsed when he was sick. He’d had a few bad days after he started living with Mason and Kieran but overall, he was getting better.
Today, Alex woke up and immediately knew today was a bad day. He felt weak, his head hurt and he could feel his heart beat in his throat. He stood up and had to pause before walking. He walked stomped downstairs, which made Mason look over when he walked into the kitchen “Hey, bud, what’s-” He was cut off by Alex glaring at him and stomping back upstairs. Mason looked over at Kieran before walking upstairs to check on their son.
Alex slammed his door and slid down with his back against it, resting his head on his arms. He heard Mason walking upstairs and crawled over to his bed, sitting against that instead so Mason could come in. Mason slowly opened the door and poked his head in “Hey bud, can you come down and drink something? Just so you have something in your stomach?”. Alex nodded and stood up, slow enough that he didn’t collapse but fast enough that Mason wouldn’t notice.
Alex followed Mason and a very sleepy Lily downstairs and to the kitchen.Alex sat down at the table while Mason made him a meal replacement drink so he’d get something filling in his stomach. Lily padded over and sat in the chair next to him, rubbing her eyes. Mason put the glass down in front of Alex and walked away so he didn’t feel pressured. Alex picked up the glass and drank from it, it was the one he had when he was in his headspace, vanilla but Mason always put a small teaspoon of nesquik strawberry flavouring in because he knew he liked it subtle.
Alex finished his drink before going back upstairs to get dressed for school. He threw on a hoodie that he stole from Mason because it smelt like him and a pair of jeans. He packed his school bag and walked downstairs. He grabbed his lunch and put that in his bag too before walking out to the car so Mason could take him and Lily to school. Lily was a small kid so she was still in a car seat, which meant it took longer to drop her off because Mason had to get out of the car to help her so Alex always got dropped off first.
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Alex had been dropped off at school and was currently making his way to the big tree outside the school building when one of his friends, Elliot, came running over “Hi Alex! It’s good to see you again, you weren’t here on Friday, I hope you’re feeling better!”. Alex winced and nodded, Elliot had always been super energetic but it seemed like it was amped up for some reason. “Elliot, I’m not in the mood…” Alex grumbled, slumping down against the base of the tree. Elliot frowned and sat down next to him to keep him company.
The bell rang and Alex stood up, making Elliot fall over because he was leaning on Alex. Alex started walking towards the school building, Elliot rushing up to walk beside him. Alex had science and study before he had lunch, he at least had friends in lunch, Elliot, Sarah, James and Ella. They were nice and included him in their conversations so he considered them his friends.
Alex was sitting in class when his vision started fading in and out. It lasted a couple minutes before it went back to normal so he had a drink of water and rested his head on his desk. His teacher didn’t say anything because he had a learning plan. Most of the teachers he had knew about the stuff he’d been through so they let him do whatever he needed to cope with it.
The bell rang for period 2 which meant study but he stayed in his seat till everybody left. Once he heard the classroom door close, he lifted his head and his teacher walked over, her name was Miss Alice, she was Alex’s favourite teacher and he had her for science, maths and P.E. She walked over and crouched down next to him “Is everything all right, Alex?” Alex nodded “My vision just went funny, that’s all” “Ok, what class do you have now?” “Study, but I don’t have anything I need to study for”. Miss Alice nodded and stood up, walking back over to her desk at the front of her classroom “Well, I don’t have a class now, so you can stay in here”. Alex nodded and laid his head back down on his desk, slipping his thumb into his mouth.
Alex sat up and rubbed his eyes huh, I must have fallen asleep Alex thought to himself. He stood up and stretched, a yawn escaping her mouth. He grabbed his bag and walked to the Cafetaria. He walked over to the table he normally sat at with his friends. He pulled his lunch out of his bag and sat it on the table before laying his head on the table. He felt his friends sit down next to him and they started talking while eating. Alex lifted his head and pulled an apple out of his lunchbox. He munched on that for a while before deciding he’d eaten enough of it and shoving his hand into his lunchbox like a lucky dip. Alex pulled his hand out of his lunchbox along with a bag of carrot sticks. Alex made a disgusted face and shoved the carrots back into his lunchbox, which made his friends laugh, and grabbed something else.
He grabbed his sandwich roll with cheese, tomato and pepperoni in it (he hates sandwiches with a passion, like me 🙂)and pulled one half out of the container. He ate most of that by the time the bell went for the next class, maths with Miss Alice again. He put his lunchbox back into his bag and looked at his friends “I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll see you guys in class”. His friends nodded and walked off, Alex made his way towards the bathroom, putting his bag in his locker on the way.
He got to the bathroom, which was, shockingly, empty. Great no-one in here to judge him. He walked to the last stall and locked the door. He took a deep breath and kneeled on the floor by the toilet. He wiped the edge of the toilet down because it’s a boys bathroom at school and leaned over the toilet bowl before sticking his fingers down his throat to trigger his gag reflex a couple times before he actually threw up. He threw up his lunch and the drink he had this morning and that made the water works start. He started sobbing, like the kind of sobbing that makes it hard to breathe and makes you cough in between sobs.
Miss Alice was in the middle of teaching when she noticed Alex’s usual seat was empty so she glanced around the classroom but still couldn’t see him. She kept teaching then handed out the worksheets and walked over to Alex’s friends. “Have any of you seen Alex?” “Not since lunch” James whispered “He said he was going to the bathroom when the bell rang” Ella mumbled “He didn’t eat much either…” Sarah trailed off. Elliot frowned “He’s been gone for almost 20 minutes” Miss Alice knelt next to Elliot’s desk “Do you wanna go look for him?”. Elliot nodded and walked out of the classroom, heading straight to the bathroom near the cafeteria because that bathroom is almost always empty and it’s near his locker.
He stood outside the door and he could Alex’s sobs and retching already. He opened the door and walked through the bathroom slowly so he didn’t scare Alex even more. He got to the last stall and gently knocked “Alex? It’s Elliot, can you unlock the door?”. He heard the lock click and gently pushed the door open, poking his head in to see Alex hunched over the toilet, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Oh, Alex….” Elliot whispered as he walked over. Elliot knelt down in front of Alex and pulled him into a hug. Alex whimpered and whispered “I’m sorry, I thought I got better…….” Elliot ran his fingers through Alex’s hair “Shhhhh, it’s ok, you’re safe”,
Elliot stood up and helped Alex up “Come on, you need to go home, we’re going to the office”. Alex froze and shook his head frantically “Hey, hey,what's wrong” Elliot was starting to get even more concerned than he already was. “Alex, you can either go to the office and they can call your parents or you can go back to class…” Elliot said softly. Alex nodded and mumbled “Home?” Elliot smiled “Ok”.
Elliot walked Alex to his locker so he could grab his bag before they went to the office. They got to the office and Alex hid behind Elliot. Elliot held Alex’s hand and rubbed his knuckles. “Um, Alex needs to go home, he threw up in the bathroom, I think he made himself throw up on purpose….” Alex whimpered and hid his face in Elliot’s shoulder, confirming his suspicions. The lady at the office looked up and raised her eyebrows “Why would I send him home if he made himself throw up?”. Elliot scowled “Because he threw up, it shouldn’t matter if it was self inflicted or not”. The lady just rolled her eyes “Well, I can’t send him home without a teachers note”
Elliot scoffed and took Alex back to class to get a teachers note so Alex could finally go home. Elliot knocked on the door of their maths classroom and Miss Alice opened the door to see a teary eyed Alex and a very unhappy looking Elliot “Hey boys, what’s up?” “The lady at the office won’t let Alex go home without a teacher's note even though he threw up”. Miss Alice frowned and stepped back into the classroom to write a note for Alex before walking back to the door and giving Elliot the note “Come back as soon as his parents get here, ok?”. Elliot nodded and took Alex back to the office, handing the lady the note. She at the office took the note and typed something on her computer before picking up the phone and calling Mason.
Mason was sitting on the couch and Kieran was in the kitchen cleaning when his phone rang. Kieran poked his head out of the kitchen “Who is it?” Mason looked down at his phone, his eyebrows furrowing “Alex’s school”. Mason answered and put the phone to his ear. Kieran had no idea what was being said, all he knew was that Mason was getting more and more worried the longer that call went on. A little bit later, Mason put his phone down and stood up “Alex made himself throw up and he wants us to come get him, according to Elliot, who grabbed the phone halfway through the conversation because the bitch at the office wasn’t telling the whole story, he’s also fighting his headspace” Kieran raced to the door and grabbed his jacket “Mason, if we don’t leave now, I’m running to his school myself”.
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Masona and Kieran burst through the front doors of the school and rushed to the front office. The lady at the office rolled her eyes and pointed towards a door. Mason walked towards the door, Kieran almost ran and opened the door first to see Alex laying on the floor, sniffling, his spare pacifier in his mouth with his head in Elliot’s lap. Mason smiled at the sight in front of him and knelt down “Hey, bud, ready to go home?” Alex lifted his head and nodded, rubbing his eyes. Kieran smiled and picked Alex up, resting him on his hip.
Alex rested his head on Kieran’s shoulder and Mason ruffled Elliot’s hair “Thanks for keeping an eye on him, kid” Elliot nodded “He needed it, plus I really care for him, he’s my best friend ….. And I kinda have a crush on him…..” Mason chuckled and bent down “If you ever ask him, he’ll say yes, you’re basically all he talks about” Elliot nodded and stood up “I should get back to class, I’ll see you later, Alex” Alex waved and tucked his head back into Kieran’s neck.
Kieran took Alex to the car while Mason signed Alex out. Mason walked to the car to see Kieran in the passenger seat and Alex sitting in the back seat with a sensory book. He smiled and climbed into the driver's seat. Mason plugged his phone into the charger in the car “Kieran, can you put on the disney playlist Alex likes?” Kieran looked up “Huh? Sure” and put the playlist on. Alex heard the first song start playing and his head shot up and he started babbling along with the song.
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Mason got out of the car and opened Alex’s door to see Alex fast asleep, pacifier in his lap and book on the floor. Kieran was unlocking the door so Mason could take Alex straight inside and Kieran could go pick Lily up soon too. Mason unbuckled Alex’s seatbelt and picked him up. Alex whined and lifted his head, rubbing his eyes “Hi, baby, did you sleep good?” Alex babbled softly and gripped Mason’s shirt. Mason chuckled and kissed Alex’s nose before taking him inside. Alex had woken up more and was babbling a lot now, he was staring at his dada and chatting away happily.
Mason took Alex upstairs to his room to get him changed into something more headspace friendly. Mason laid Alex down on his bed while he looked for something to put him in. He was searching his closet when he found the box of little clothes he and Kieran had bought Alex and pulled it out. He rummaged through it and pulled out a footed onesie with stars and moons on it, the onesie itself was a navy blue and the stars and moon a soft yellow, a diaper with a similar pattern and a pair of scratch mittens with paw prints all over them. Mason walked over to Alex and showed him the clothes he was changing him into before starting to change him. Mason had grabbed Alex's wrists to put the scratch mittens on him but when he did, Alex tensed and whined “Shh, bubs, it’s ok, I’m being gentle”.
By the time Mason had Changed Alex and given him a bottle, Kieran was back with Lily. Lily came rushing over to her brother to check on him. When Alex saw Lily coming over to him, he turned his head from the bottle and started babbling happily at her, clearly excited to see her. Lily smiled and kissed his forehead then sat down next to Mason. Alex turned back to the bottle and kept drinking, eventually, he finished it and Mason burped him. Alex started squirming, which indicated it was time to change him. Mason called out to Kieran and asked him to grab a towel, wipes, baby powder and a fresh diaper for Alex but by the time he’d finished the sentence, Kieran was already there with the things he’d asked for.
Mason had changed Alex and picked him up, taking him to the kitchen and sitting him in the large high chair, strapping him in and taking his scratch mittens off. They were having Chicken and veggies for dinner, well Mason, Lily and Alex were anyway. Kieran put a sippy cup with slightly watered juice, some pieces of chicken and a couple steamed veggies on the tray of the high chair for Alex. Alex grabbed the sippy cup and took a couple sips before putting it down. He grabbed a couple green beans and eating them. He picked up a piece of chicken and shoved it in his mouth before grinning. Lily looked over and giggled, seeing her brother happy always made her happy.
They finished dinner and Mason was in charge of cleaning the table so after playing in the living room for a little bit Kieran took Alex and Lily upstairs to get them ready for bed. He stopped at the bathroom so Lily could brush her teeth and took Alex to his bedroom to change his diaper again. While Kieran was changing him, Alex was babbling on about god knows what, Kieran knows he heard the words “dada” and “fish” but he couldn’t make out anything else. Lily came in just as Kieran was doing up the last couple buttons of Alex’s onesie and walked over “Papa, Can you braid my hair?” Lily asked, tilting her head “Of course I can, sweet girl, do you have a hair tie?” Lily nodded and handed it over. While Kieran braided Lily’s hair, Alex sat beside them and babbled nonsense again.
Once Lily was off to bed, Kieran took Alex to the bathroom and brushed his teeth for him. Alex spat his toothpaste in the sink and sighed, looking at Kieran through the mirror “Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!” Kieran smiled “Yes, buddy?”. Alex giggled and held his arms out to him, Kieran smiled and picked him up “Nigh’ nigh’ time now” Alex nodded and rested his head on Kieran’s shoulder and whispered “Dada?”. Almost as if summoned, Mason walked up the stairs and smiled “Bed time now, bud?”.
Kieran laid Alex down in his bed and tucked him in, along with his beloved yellow cat. Alex hummed and wiggled to get more comfortable, his pacifier now in his mouth. Kieran kissed his forehead and Mason smiled “Nigh’ nigh’ bubs, see you in the morning”. Alex mumbled around his pacifier and closed his eyes. Mason and Kieran left his room and said goodnight to Lily before going to bed themselves.
For such a shit day, it ended pretty well.