Sorry this took so long! I seem to be saying that a lot...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextAvery didn't have to sit alone in the bathroom for too long before a form stepped into the bathroom, the white light spilling over the short figure. Their short blonde hair was messier than usual, spilling over the front of their head and partially covering Hayes's eyes from sight. His clothes were disheveled, his pink hoodie spilling out from under his sweater. Hayes's shoes were gone as well, replaced by gray socks.
What was Hayes doing at the cafe so early? Morning prep wasn't for another few hours, and the sun hadn't even come up yet!
"H-hey Avery." His voice sounded hoarse, more hoarse than usual anyway. It reminded Avery of when they'd cuddle together and Hayes would fall asleep on accident. Avery would always feel somewhat worried over Hayes so they'd let him sleep. Eventually he'd wake up or would wake Avery up if they had fallen asleep as well, and his voice would get that gravelly tone that Avery always found cute. He always reminded them of a sleepy kitten when they snuggled together, plus Avery didn't mind the cute blush that would spread across his cheeks.
"Hey." Their throat was starting to ache again but they tried not to let it show. They threw a smile on, but Hayes didn't look like he believed it. He stepped into the bathroom, his steps quiet as his sock covered feet hit the tiled floor. A flash of white made Avery look to his hands, to see a first aid kit in one with a fluffy towel in the other.
Hayes came to a stop just within arms reach of them, before setting the first aid kit down and walking over to the sink. He came back barely a moment later, the towel dampened. "Can I...?" He motioned to the towel stiffly, but Avery understood. They nodded and leaned forward on the seat while rolling back the sweater sleeves. Hayes carefully stepped close to them while bringing up the towel to brush it against Avery's cheeks. He dabbed at their skin, wiping the tear stains and flakes of dust and dirt that had accumulated there. He wiped at their lips and around, wiping a bit bile off the corner of their mouth. His hands were soft as he wiped their skin, each stroke careful around the bruises that marred Avery's face.
After wiping their face clean, he put the towel down and grabbed the first aid kit, pulling out a large bandage like the one on their face. Reaching upwards, his soft fingers lightly pulling at one end of the bandage. Avery bit their lip and took a deep breathe as Hayes nodded at them, before yanking off the bandage in one quick go.
Avery sucked in a breathe as their fingers dug into their thighs, watching Hayes throw away the old blood speckled bandage before he softly wiped at the cut with a clean damp part of the towel. He placed the bandage softly on the wound before pressing it against Avery's head while offering an apologetic look.
'At least it doesn't sting too much.' They brought a hand up to lightly press against the bandage while giving a comforting, or at least what could pass as comforting, smile to Hayes. His glossy blue eyes held a sense of disbelief with his mouth pressed into a nervous thin line, all the while checking the bandages on their elbows, adding to the feeling of guilt and shame that was burrowing in them.
'Hayes has enough trouble already with his anxiety and work, I shouldn't be bothering him with this.'
"...Sorry you got woken up over this Hayes. You can go back to bed if you want! I'll just finish up changing the bandages." It would be as a good time as any to try and learn how to properly change bandages besides letting Hayes go back to sleep anyway, but the now kneeling young man was already shaking his head while unrolling more of the bandages.
"You're injured, and I'm qualified at changing bandages. None of these are very serious, but it's better if you have someone else to wrap them." He had finished changing the bandages on Avery's elbows and had moved his hands to Avery's feet. His hands started unrolling the bandage wrapped around their ankle first, his hand slowly turning and unrolling with a practiced ease that showed that he clearly knew what he was doing.
The bathroom drifted into uncomfortable silence as Hayes went to work rewrapping their ankle, never once looking up at them. Was Hayes upset with them not talking about what happened? Was he angry at them for waking him up so early? He didn't seem like the guy who'd get angry over that, but what did Avery know?
'Should I...talk to him about this? Ask him what's wrong?' Avery shook their head a little at that, it seemed like everything was going wrong except for things between Avery and the others. '...How long are they just gonna let me stay quiet about this? They said I didn't have to tell them what happened, but for how long? Are they going to be angry at me for not talking about it?'
"H-Hayes?" Their voice cut through that unwelcome wall of silence while making Avery jump at how unintentionally loud their voice had gotten. Hayes didn't seem any better off, visibly jumping at their voice.
'Crap.' Avery's cheeks flushed in embarrassment and shame as they looked away. Why did they always seem to mess things up!? He was probably just concentrating on wrapping their ankle, not simmering in anger about Avery not wanting to talk or whatever! Avery was probably the only one that thought the silence was uncomfortable, not a big surprise considering how stupid loud their voice was.
"Avery," Hayes's voice pulled them from their thoughts, pulling their eyes to his as he slowly wrapped their ankle in fresh bandages. After glancing down to make sure the bandage was wrapped correctly, he looked up to them again while wrapping his hand softly around theirs. "What is it?"
They forced a sigh out of themselves as they ran their thumb along Hayes's knuckles. They were just overthinking things right? It was like what Gina said, they just had to have a little faith.
"...Are..." Avery could feel their throat closing again, but the soft squeeze of Hayes's hand gave them enough comfort to swallow and keep going. "...Are you, or the others angry with me?"
His eyebrows twitched together, like he had both expected that question but hadn't. It didn't make a lot of sense the more Avery thought about it, but he replied faster than they expected so they buried the thought away for the time being.
"A-ah..." It was his turn to look nervous, but he didn't look away from them. "...While we can't be happy with how things are going, or what happened to you..." He squeezed their hand again to try and quell the rising tides in both their eyes. A snarky part of Avery almost knew it was pointless given how often they had been crying recently, but it was a small part of them and Avery gave it no thought. "...W-we're all just happy to see you back with us, safe and sound. If something worse had happened..." He didn't finish his sentence, but the tightening grip of his hand on theirs left his thoughts clear as day.
Avery couldn't stop their quiet sniffling as they tried to hold back their tears, so they settled by pulling Hayes's head to them and holding it against their chest. Gently, of course. His arms wrapped around their sides without gusto in return and Avery returned the favor by wrapping their arms around his head. They cradled his head to their chest and tried to stop the rising tears, mindful of not putting too much pressure on him.
When Hayes squeezed his arms just as tightly in return and didn't pull away, Avery finally released the breath they had been holding and let their body relax.
Hayes cared about them, but how long would that last? What if they did something that made him decide that they weren't worth his time? There were so many mistakes they could make, so many things they could do wrong that could turn him away.
'To hell with this, I'm gonna enjoy this while I can.' Avery let out a deep breathe and ran their fingers through their boyfriend's soft blonde hair, the short strands parting easily between their fingers-
-Tendrils dissipating as blonde overtook black. Empty eyes staring at them as encroaching darkness spread around them-
A shaky breath as Avery kept their cry quiet, coming out as some pathetic noise. They tightened their grip to keep Hayes from pulling away to see what was wrong. They didn't want him to worry anymore than he already had, so they forced the cry deep into their chest and let it dissipate into several shaky gasps.
Avery didn't want him to worry anymore. They wanted him to feel safe around them, like he could relax. How could they do that if they couldn't stop themselves from crying at nearly every little thing?
Notes:I've had this on my laptop for what felt like two solid weeks! I'm really sorry I made you all wait so long and the fact that this is so short, but I didn't want to keep anyone waiting any longer. Fingers crossed it doesn't as long to update again...
