Chapter Text
Donnie rears back, ready to take a swing at Al.
The sun set a while ago. They've been training for Donnie's fight at the casino for a little over an hour now and they're starting to get exhausted. "Good, very good! Morag would be very impressed, Donnie!" Al says, hoping to give Donnie some more motivation to keep going.
What he sees instead is Donnie's determined spark in his eyes turn into something sorrowful as he stops dead in his tracks. Did he say something wrong? He thought Morag was the woman of Donnie's dreams! (underlined)
"Donnie? What is wrong? Did I say something bad?" Al asks.
Donnie's arms slump down, and all Al hears as a response is a low mumble. He walks closer to Donnie, arm tentatively reaching out. He's almost touching his shoulder. His fingers tingle.
After a few long seconds, he manages to gather up the courage to softly press his palm against Donnie's shoulder, gently guiding him to sit on a nearby bench. Al has never seen Donnie look so absolutely defeated. He suddenly seems so small.
He sits next to Donnie and takes a deep breath.
"Did something happen with Morag?" Al asks, carefully. Donnie is leaning on his knees, holding his head, trying to hide the tears forming in his eyes, but Al can see them. A small round spot appears on Donnie's red jeans.
"No, no, no, it's fine, it's nothing" he weakly gestures dismissively at Al. "It's just... I was at the casino, you know, and I didn't notice her because I was having so much fun. I also hadn't seen her in a while because I was stuck in the forest." Al nods, encouraging him to continue. He remembers very well how worried he was when Donnie had not responded to a single one of his daily updates. He ended up sending a whole 29 messages before getting a text back from Donnie talking about being stuck in the woods without food and water for four days. "I tried explaining to her, 'cuz I also needed to go to the hospital, y'know, I was starvin' and shit, and then to get in the casino I needed to beat some guy up. The casino was great by the way, only at first though. I wasn't doin' so good at the end."
"Yes, you asked me to bring you soap at your apartment with plus size bikinis. I was very confused, you know!"
Donnie chuckles. "Yeah. Thanks for that, by the way. The soap, I mean. I didn't think you'd actually do that."
Alvis feels something in his chest, he ignores it. "Oh, it was no problem, Donnie." He pauses for a few moments, to consider his next words. "Donnie, you did not tell me about Morag. It is okay if you do not want to, you do not have to tell me-"
"No, no, no, it's okay, I'll say it, I'll say it, uh..." He stays silent for a while, fidgeting with his fingers. His knee is bouncing up and down. "She, uh, she told me I was an asshole."
"Oh, did she?!"
"Yeah... And I think... I think she's right. I, uh, I haven't been a good man to her, Al." His face looks filled with regret. He exhales loudly. "I reacted so bad, too, god... I just kept tellin' her over and over again that I was stuck in the forest! And she was tellin' me about how I never pay attention to her, how I'm always too busy with other people, I'm always doin' somethin' else." He turns to look at Al, gesturing with more and more intensity as he goes on, "She told me she was just a desperate old woman lookin' for someone to make her feel seen, but that I'm always off on some adventure, that I make her feel like I don't have time for her, that I make her feel like she's a burden to me." His voice cracks. "And then, like the fuckin' asshole she told me I was," he sucks a sharp breath in and looks away, face twisted with shame, "as soon as she was done talkin' to me, I just... I went straight back to the slots machine! I didn't even take one fuckin' second to think about what just happened, Al, what I had done, what I had said." He chokes a few sobs. "Fuck. Al, I fucked up. I fucked up big time, you have no idea." He's back to staring at the ground, head in his hands.
Al doesn't know what to respond as Donnie quietly cries next to him. Hesitantly, he slowly puts his hand on Donnie's shoulder. He doesn't flinch, so he keeps moving across Donnie's wide back, reaching the middle to rub reassuring circles there, wishing he had the guts to give his best friend a proper hug.