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Elliot has had a question for Alex for a while. He’s been wanting to ask Alex this for almost 2 months now and it’s been eating him alive. He’d been figuring out what to say for almost 3 weeks but when he tried to ask, the conversation always went sideways, it wasn’t ever anything bad, Elliot just tried to get Alex’s attention and then Elliot would get flustered and he’d say something different than what he planned and the conversation wouldn’t go as planned.
Today, however, Elliot knew he could do it. He’d texted Alex and said they needed to talk, he knew that was a bad idea but he didn’t know what else to say without giving it away. He knew when he saw Alex, he’d be spiralling. Alex got out of his car and walked over to Elliot, he was breathing a little heavy and he was fiddling with his hoodie sleeves. Elliot smiled and held out his hand for Alex so they could walk inside.
Alex hadn’t been in the best mental state over the weekend, he’d been small the whole time so he was really jumpy today. Lockers closing, kids talking, classroom doors, it was a lot, Alex was almost hiding himself behind Elliot now. Elliot squeezed his hand and started pushing through the crowd to get to Alex’s locker. They got to Alex’s locker and Alex sighed, opening his locker and putting his bag away, he grabbed his science book and pencil case before grabbing Elliot’s hand again. Elliot smiled and started walking towards his locker with Alex, they had science first with Ella and Sarah, James had a different time table but he had the same lunch as them.
They walked into the classroom and sat down next to Ella and Sarah, waiting for Miss Alice to come in. Miss Alice came in after a couple minutes and started teaching. During the lesson, Alex got distracted by the pattern on his pencil case and ended up slipping without realising. A couple minutes later while Elliot was talking to Alex, Elliot looked at Alex because he had stopped responding. When Elliot saw Alex, he smiled, he could tell he was small, he was tracing the pattern on his pencil case with his finger, he was chewing on his hoodie drawstring, and he was almost silently babbling to himself.
Elliot tapped the edge of Alex’s desk to get his attention, Alex looked up and made a little confused noise when he did. “Hi, bud, do you know how old you are?” Elliot whispered, a soft smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Alex furrowed his brows and started quietly babbling to himself again while counting on his fingers before looking back at Elliot and holding up 2 fingers. Elliot nodded “do you want to stay at school or go home to dada and papa?” Alex shook his head and pointed at the floor “Ok, you want to stay? That’s ok”.
Alex pushed his book away from him and turned in his seat to face Elliot “Baba?” “Mmm?” “Up, up” “No, not right now, I’m working, up later” Elliot knew Alex wouldn’t like that response but he also knew that if Alex came out of his headspace, he’d never want to show his face again. Alex whined and tried to climb out of his chair “No, Alex, sit down” Alex froze and whimpered. Elliot’s head shot up “No, no, no, no, I’m sorry, baba’s sorry, come here” Elliot turned in his chair and held his arms out, Alex shuffled over to Elliot and stood next to his desk, Elliot smiled and held his hands out to Alex “Do you want hugs or not yet” Alex shuffled closer to Elliot and grabbed the shoulder of his shirt “Baba…” “Yea, I’m right here” Alex sat down on the floor and leaned his head on Elliot’s leg.
Ella piped up from beside him “Aaaaw, look at him” Elliot smiled and rested his hand on Alex’s head, gently scratching his scalp. Alex sighed and tilted his head into Elliot’s hand, clearly liking it. Elliot was happy Alex didn’t end up crying because he knew it would be his fault, he didn’t mean to make him upset, he just didn’t want him to come out of his headspace and get embarrassed. “I’m sorry, bud, baba didn’t mean to get mad” Alex looked up before nuzzling into Elliot’s thigh, he knew Elliot didn’t mean to get upset, he just did.
The bell rang for the next period and Elliot stood up, stretching with his arms above his head. Alex stayed sitting on the floor but copied Elliot, Elliot smiled “Come on, bud, we have to go to our next class” Alex shook his head and rested his head on his chair “No, Alex, come on” Alex pouted but stood up and grabbed his stuff “Good job”.
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Alex had been in and out of his headspace all of study but once the bell for lunch rang, he was out of his headspace for a while so he knew he’d be big for the rest of the day. Alex got to their lunch table before Elliot and sat down, he was really anxious. What could Elliot want that he’s waiting till after school? Alex thought to himself as Elliot sat down next to him. Elliot wanted to tell Alex now, he really did but he also didn’t want to embarrass himself or Alex. Elliot curled his pinky around Alex’s under the table, Alex accepted it and grabbed something to eat from his lunchbox.
The others couldn’t really tell anything was going on, Elliot and Alex were normally like this. Elliot could see Alex’s mind running a thousand miles a minute and he felt really bad but he wanted to tell him in private. Alex was thinking about the possible things Elliot could want to talk to him about, in private too, it was freaking him out.
- · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Alex had been zoned out almost all day, which made the day feel very long. He’d been trying to get Elliot to tell him for a while but he wouldn’t budge, thankfully, the school day was almost over so he’ll find out soon enough. Elliot was dying inside, he wanted to tell Alex so bad but he promised to himself that he’d tell Alex near the tree where they had their first real interaction.
The end of day bell rang and Elliot sped to his locker to meet Alex outside. Alex wasn’t so keen, what if Elliot was telling him something really like he didn’t want to be friends anymore or that he actually hated him and was only friends with him out of pity. Those thoughts kept racing and racing but Alex just had to pretend he was ok till he was actually told. Alex grabbed his bag and walked outside to meet Elliot. Elliot gave Alex a quick smile before grabbing his hand and taking him to a quieter spot.
Elliot stopped at the big tree near the side of the car park that didn’t get used because it was right in the sun in summer. “Alex, I need to tell you something…” Alex looked at Elliot and took an almost unnoticeable step back, the only reason Elliot noticed was because it was something Alex did when he was scared “No, it’s nothing bad, I just, um, I’ve been working up the courage to tell you this for almost 2 months but everytime I tried to tell you, I got flustered and changed the topic” Alex looked slightly less concerned now, just confused “Alex, I don’t want to be friends anymore, I want to be your boyfriend and I understand if you don’t want to and this makes you uncomfortable but-” Alex shook his head, cutting Elliot off “No, no, no, I, um, I feel the same” Elliot smiled and grabbed Alex’s hand “Ready to go home?” Alex nodded and started walking with Elliot to where he knew Mason had parked.
Mason saw them walking over and smiled, he knew Elliot had finally asked Alex out because he told him how felt towards Alex and he’d given him the go ahead. Mason nodded at Elliot, acknowledging that he knew. Elliot smiled and walked Alex over to the car, Alex opened the car door and climbed in “I’ll see you Tomorrow, Eli…” Elliot smiled, a light pink dusting his cheeks because Alex had never called him that before. “Yea, see you tomorrow….” Elliot waved at Alex and walked off to wait for his mum.