The next morning was non-existent to Tod, who spent it sleeping. Alex on the other hand, busied himself with getting dressed and cleaning up the popcorn mess they had made last night. After he successfully straightened up everything, he headed back up to Tod's room. He stood over him, his nose touching his partner's nose gently. "Wake up, Tod, it's 4 o'clock…you need to get up." He said, smiling.
Tod mumbled and turned over; pretending to be sleeping so Alex would leave him alone. Alex saw this and ripped the covers straight off him, exposing his bare lower half to the cold. "Ah, Alex you dick!" He went to tackle him but a sharp pain in his rear end stopped him. "Ah shit…I can't go anywhere…oh well…" He chuckled.
"Tod, just because your ass hurts doesn't give you an excuse to be lazy…" Alex pulled the younger boy off his bed and he hit the floor, making the pain a lot worse.
"FUCKING HELL." Tod say, falling over. "Alex that hurt!" Tod yelled, furiously, looking up at him while pulling his sweater down some.
"Sorry…" Alex said, helping him up.
"It's fine." He said, brushing himself off and walking to his closet, pulling out a black flannel shirt and a pair of jeans and sliding off to the bathroom to shower up.
After about an hour and a half later, Tod came downstairs, fully dressed and clean. Alex stared for a minute.
"…going?" Tod's sentence just played in his ears.
"W-what…?" Alex asked.
"Where are we going?" He asked, again.
"I was thinking, lunch…?" Alex said, smiling.
"That sounds really great at this moment…" Tod said, rolling up the sleeves to his shirt.
Alex then stood up, kissing Tod quickly on the lips and walking to the door when Tod wrapped his arms around his neck from behind, kissing his cheek. Alex kissed back, chuckling.
He let go and let Alex go first out the door, then followed behind him, closing the door then taking his hand. They walked in intimate silence, Tod more awkwardly then Alex due to his 'condition' for lack of better words. He smiled down at his feet, rather sheepishly.
"Do I make you act like this?" Alex smiled, play punching him in the shoulder. Tod punched back. "Like what?"
"All girly and shy…I think it's kinda cute…" He said, nipping his nose. Tod chuckled and play punched him harder. "Maybe…I'm not telling…" He stuck his tongue out only for Alex to grab it and pull gently.
"Cunt.." Tod laughed.
"Currently not interested in them." Alex retorted, smirking and letting Tod's tongue go. The younger boy face palmed, laughing. He kissed Alex again, but longer this time. Alex gratefully kissed back and wrapped his arms around Tod's waist as Tod mimicked this gesture around Alex's neck. They soon broke and Tod smiled at him. "I love you Alex." He kissed him again, softly on the cheek.
"I love you, too, Tod." Alex replied, letting him go and grabbing his hand again. They walked hand in hand until they reached a small café in the city, where Tod let go of his hand and averted all attention to the smell of food. Alex followed quickly, apparently Tod was hungrier then he thought. They spotted Carter and made sure that they weren't seen by him by sitting themselves by a window in the corner. "This is bad…" Alex said, glancing at Carter who apparently was sitting with Terry. "What, why?" Tod asked, slightly confused. Alex stared at him with a 'are you fuckin' shittin' me, Tod?' look. "Oh…I know now…" He said, glancing back at Carter who met his gaze and a lump caught in his throat. "Shit." He whispered sharply, looking back down at the menu on his table. "I met his gaze, we're fucked…" He whispered to Alex who was looking at his menu as well. "Shut up, Tod…" He said, harshly.
Tod's brows lowered and he scowled then looked lowly back at Carter who was walking towards them. Tod slipped on his shades and hid his face behind his menu. He then heard Carter slam his hand down on the table. Alex remained calm but Tod jumped like the retard he was. "Oh Browning, you finally got a date, you fuckin' faggot." He chimed, rudely. Tod grew furious and stood up in front of him. "Don't fuckin' call him that you goddamned jackass!" He yelled, causing eyes to avert to the two males. "Ooooh, Waggner's standin' up for his boyfriend, how cute!" Carter taunted, laughing. Just as Alex was about to intervene, Tod kneed him in the nuts, causing him to draw back. "Not so tough now huh Hor-" As Tod was talking, he was violently punched in the face, sending him flying back into the table. Alex then proceeded to jump Carter but was interrupted by Tod who elbowed Carter in the stomach, only causing him to be grabbed up by the shirt and thrown against the wall face first. Warm streams of blood from his nose from Carter's earlier punch formed to lakes running down his face. Frankly he didn't care, he was just angry, because he insulted his boyfriend in the worst way possible. He grabbed one of those clunky napkin holders and hit him over the head with it, making Carter stumble back and have to pause for a reality check. Just as he was about to run in for a punch, Carter snapped back and punched him in the stomach and as he doubled over he yanked him up by the hair and slammed him into the bar, making his blood smear on the bar top. He braced himself on one of the bar stools, panting.
Alex went to attack Carter again but was stopped by Tod, who built up enough strength to kick Carter in the chin, which only worked for a few seconds before Carter grabbed him around the neck and shoved him against the bar again, leaving him no passage for air. He struggled and clawed at Carter's hand, violently.
"Let him go, you're gonna kill him!" Alex shouted, trying to attack him again. He then noticed Tod's look and stopped. It was a look of worry, fear and anger.
Tod managed to make out words as he was being strangled by Carter and drowning in his own blood at the same time.
"Don't….g-get…" He had to pause as Carter tightened his gripped and he violently kicked at the floor while still clawing at Carter's hand. "Involved…" He finished his earlier sentence.
Alex then tried to pry Carter's hand away only to have carter unlatch it from Tod's neck and throw him into the wall once again, making his blood splatter on the walls. Tod was barely conscious at this moment. A crowd had gathered around them and murmurs could be heard. Carter chuckled and grabbed the younger boy and threw him down, making him slide across the floor, creating a skid mark of blood on the floor ending with an unconscious Tod. Gasps and screams could be heard as they stared at his body.
Alex pushed Carter out of the way and ran to Tod, kneeling down and turning him over, cringing at the sight of his bloody face and bloody half exposed chest from where the buttons were ripped from his shirt. His nose wasn't broken, just really bloody. The blood, in fact, was smeared all over him and even his hands. His body was limp and cold like he was dead but he was faintly breathing. Alex went to call the police but someone had already called them and the ambulance.
While the police handcuffed Carter, the paramedics lifted Tod onto a stretcher and onto the ambulance with Alex following them inside.
It had been a few hours on the ambulance ride while Tod was on a breathing machine, due to the fact that Carter totally ruined him and had almost killed him. Alex was holding Tod's hand, pressed to his face since the beginning of the ride. He couldn't live with the fact that he had let him get pulverized like this, and by Carter none-the-less. He knew Tod was a ball of cold fire, wild but really couldn't do anything.
He kinda felt as if it were his fault, with Carter calling him a fag and not Tod. Tod was just standing up for him.
Alex's mind was riddled with several thoughts until they reached the hospital, where he stayed back until they successfully got Tod out of the ambulance and into the hospital. He silently followed until he was asked to wait outside the door so they could clean him up.
He waited, patiently and after a few more hours, he was finally aloud to go back in. He thanked them and went straight to Tod who was starting to mumble. "Tod…Tod can you hear me?" He asked, almost happily.
He blinked, trying to make out whatever or whoever was there. It was bright…like he was in heaven or somethin'. And he couldn't have been more convinced; an angel was standing over him. "Alex…am I in heaven…are you an angel…?" He asked, hazily. Alex smiled a smile of relief. "No…you're alive…" He said, kissing him, softly. Tod kissed back, tasting Alex fully for the first time since last night. "You put on my chap stick, didn't you?" He asked, biting his lip. "I like mint, Tod, you should know this by now." Alex chuckled, kissing him again. Tod returned it and smiled then it immediately turned to a frown. "What am I doing here…what happened?" He asked, looking up at Alex. "Uh…you and Carter….uh…got into it and you kept pushing me away every time I tried to help…and he almost killed you…" Alex looked away from him. Tod stared down at his now idle hands.
"Alex…?"
"Hm…?"
"….Nevermind."
"Tell me…"
"No…..it's not important…"
"Tod…"
Tod felt uneasy and squirmed some. "Does Carter know about us…?" He said, lowly. "No…and I plan to keep it that way…" He said.
"Good…"
Just then, the nurse came in. "Mr. Waggner, your parents are here to see you." She said, letting his parents through. Alex stood up and bid them all farewell and smiled tenderly at Tod before leaving.
