Angels with Newfound Hope

Act 2 Chapter 20: Comfort

"Hey Alex? Are you okay after all that? You didn't even touch your food." Bryce was the first to speak up, addressing his remaining company, who still sat there with his minuscule plate. He was akin to a statue up until the moment his dragon spoke directly to him.

"Oh. Sorry, I was just thinking..." The man trailed off sorrowfully. He didn't want to worry anyone, but still found even taking care of himself difficult. It was a vicious cycle that led to nothing but pain in the end.

"About your guy?" The reptile guessed correctly. Scooting a little closer, he observed the human lower his head a little, as if ashamed.

"I forget if I ever told you this, but this is the first time I've ever felt anything since Zoe passed away. It took me a year after that to get back to some semblance of normalcy." Alex deflated before that very person. It hurt so much to think that this all happened again.

"I don't think you have. You've been pretty touchy about your past ever since we met." The chief stated sullenly. The human hung his head even further.

"Only about him. That wound is far too fresh." Alex let himself slump over the still warm rocks. It felt kind of nice to have something like that so close.

"Do you think you can tell me about when you first met? Maybe we could start out small so you're more comfortable later on." Bryce asked in an incredibly sweet gesture, at least to Alex. He gave the reptile a lonely glance before returning to his previous position.

"I guess. It started about three weeks ago. Me and a friend, let's call him Sam, just had lunch with Reza, and were walking back to my place. He caught up to us and asked how Sam was doing. When I looked over, I couldn't hide the blush that appeared. He was so smoking hot." The brunette began lovingly. His first encounter with Bryce was one he'd cherish forever, despite how embarrassed he felt.

"So what happened next? Did you ask him out or...?" The chief pushed a tiny bit further.

"Not in the slightest. I was so focused on hiding my embarrassment, I couldn't think. I did the next day, though. It's kind of funny how history has been repeating itself..." Alex replied with a subtle hint at said history.

"What do you mean? Was the date like one of our outings or something?" Bryce kept on, fully interested in that tidbit.

"Funny you say that. Our first date was at his favorite bar, just like when that wager was made." The man exposed it. He may have been getting into dangerous territory now, but he didn't really care anymore.

"Is that why you agreed to my invitation? Because it gave you some sort of nostalgia?" The dragon continued, a suspicion building within him.

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't. But you can see how badly I screwed that up." Alex beat himself over the head with the horrible time they had that night.

"Yeah... I'll admit, it wasn't the best outing I've ever been on. How you felt at the time didn't help either." Outing. That word stung at the edge of the man's mind. Bryce saw that as nothing more than a failure. It was probably the same case for him, but he had to bite that down and struggle on.

"Nor did the murder that was pinned on me. I mean, I literally had to make a bet just so I didn't lose anyone else I-" Alex cut himself off. He was milliseconds away from blowing everything.

"Anyone else you what? Alex, are you saying you-"

"No! No. I just meant..." Alex bleated. "I don't even know anymore..." Sighing heavily, he collapsed into his own hands. What was once accepting courage swiftly vanished, leaving him in that pit of despair to die.

"I think I do. You're just too afraid to say it, huh?" The chief guessed, to a tiny ball beginning to shiver. It was quite a conclusion to make, but seemingly not an incorrect one.

"Please... don't hate me." The minuscule human struggled to keep his breathing under control. With all of his focus going toward that, he didn't even think of his sudden tremors.

"Alex, calm down. It's not a big deal." Bryce tried to reassure him alongside a paw on his back. That only served to make his company shrink and wince away, tensing into nothing more than a pebble.

"I'm... sorry." Alex didn't even bother to hide it anymore. This would end up just like their argument in his mind.

"What are you sorry for? You didn't even do anything." Bryce tried to wrap his head around this whole thing, completely stumped by his friend's rapid shift.

"Saying that." Was all the pebble said in return.

"Don't be. Let me process it first, then we'll see if that's even necessary. Okay?" The reptile turned himself toward his cowering company in hopes of any sort of proper conversation.

Alex lifted his head ever so slightly as acknowledgement. He completely expected his dragon to outright flip out, if the last time was any indication. He didn't blame him either. All he did since they met was act like either a pitiful child, or a more precisioned Maverick. He didn't deserve anything good for that.

"Look..." Bryce finally spoke up after several moments of thought. "There's something I want to ask. Could I use that to get Emera off my back while I think about it?"

"Emera?" The smaller male was rather quick to reply. At least he finally progressed away from his typical stone face. The last thing he wanted was to be another Maverick to his dragon.

"Yeah. How about it? Mind if I knock her down a peg or two?" The chief asked with a hopeful smile, which was met with one less wide.

"If I get to be there, I'll gladly help you knock her off the whole horse." Alex promised, holding out a hand that his company took for a shake.

"Beautiful. I just have one question; what's a horse?" Bryce queried simply. His company gave him this look as if to say 'why'.

"Bryce, that is somewhat unrelated." The human deadpanned.

"Not my fault you mentioned it." The dragon replied simply, still waiting for some kind of answer.

"Well, tough. You only need to know she's riding something." Alex fired back. He didn't notice it, but his dragon gave an evil little smile before huffing in mock defeat.

"Okay. You win. I guess I'll just have to- kyaah!" The chief launched himself at his friend. He didn't even get a chance to react outside of yelping before being pinned to the ground.

"Bryce, what the fuck?! Get off me!" The smaller male tried his best to get the supreme weight off to no avail. If only he had some assistance...

"Tell me what a horse is and I will!" The reptile shot back. His struggling prey really was too weak to require any real effort to keep there.

"That's what this is about?! You are such a child!" Alex cried in irritation. He did want to be pinned, but not like this.

"And proud of it!" Bryce fired right back.

"I hate you so much." The prisoner groaned in defeat. His dragon feigned sadness at this new revelation. In the very least, it made him get off.

"Do you really?" The larger male pouted, his totally real distress causing some mild shame in the other.

"No..." The human turned his head away. Even if it wasfake, he couldn't stand to see someone he cared so much about upset.

"Good. You know, I'll bet you can be a lot of fun to be around, if only you'd let that side out more often." Bryce pulled his friend in closer for comfort. It was getting a little chillier as well thanks to the ocean air.

"Yeah, well... It'll be easier if I can overcome this grief anytime soon. I doubt that'll ever happen." Alex curled in on himself, leaning into his dragon a little. He was a great comfort in spite of everything.

"I only hope you can trust me or Maverick to help when times get tough. Despite everything that's happened, we both care about you, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes." The dragon soothed further. His friend came a long way already from the cripplingly depressed little ball he was. Perhaps there was a chance he could get back to normal after all.

"Maybe. We can only see what the future holds." Alex, however, was a little less sure. Who knew just what would happen later on. This could very well be his last week here for all he knew. There was still so much he wanted to do, to experience, with the man of his dreams.

"Well I can see one thing." Bryce bubbled, gesturing to the trash strewn about. Of course everyone left their stuff like total layabouts. The human huffed in bemusement before getting up with his love. This would be a good minute of cleaning...

"Hey. So I've been meaning to ask; how'd you get all those scars? You don't have to tell if you don't want to. I'm just a little curious." Bryce piped up after several moments. Alex was in the middle of tossing one of his beer bowls away when the question was presented.

"Ah... that's better left in the past." The plastic container rattled inside right as he finished the sentence. "What about you? That throat scar looks rather painful."

"That one's a lot like yours. Let's just say it's a badge of honor." The chief mused rather fondly over what would've been a painful reminder. His friend, however...

"Like mine...? You only noticed it just now?" Alex half-jokingly called out the density of his companion.

"Wait, you have one?" Bryce fired back in surprise. Now that he looked closer, the human did have a similar bite scar covering both sides of his neck.

"Bryce! I cannot believe you." Alex pouted. He was just glad his previous attitude was returning bit by bit the more they bantered. Depression was an exhausting thing to go through, and he knew for a fact that he wouldn't have made it without Bryce or Maverick.

"What? I can't help it! Your neck just isn't all that appealing to me." Bryce joined the fray, not knowing just what he'd unleashed on himself.

"So which part is?" Alex pressed. Emotions began bubbling up from long ago, ones that he never thought he'd feel again.

"Why are you asking? You think you're going to bag me?" The reptile questioned with a small ball of trash in hand.

"No." Alex began with a dry laugh. "I know when I don't have a chance in hell. It's unlikely we'll ever end up anything more than friends." It hurt so much for him to say that, but to him, it was the truth. Everything he did ended up pushing them further apart. And that was if he didn't find out about his activities with Maverick.

"Alex, listen." Bryce sighed deeply. "I know you're just coming out of a relationship that ended horribly, somehow. You want things to go back to how they were before. But I'm not the person to do that with. I just want to help you heal and move on from that. If you're not ready, then maybe we should just quit talking until you are." The dragon drove home a very harsh ultimatum. Whether or not his company would make a decision was up to him alone.

"What if that's the only way...?" Alex countered softly. It wasn't much, but with some luck, maybe it would incur some thought.

"Then I'll be your wingman. But you need to try and pull yourself out of this pit you dug." Bryce blocked it out under the assumption of him wanting any relationship.

"No. What I mean is... I don't know." The ambassador sighed softly. "Tell me something. Have you ever had a sense of deja vu, to the point where you're convinced you've been somewhere or done something before?" He began with something a little more on the shallow end of this whole mess.

"Where'd that come from?" Bryce started himself before a hand stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Please, just answer the question." Alex begged, barely able to make eye contact anymore.

"I... think so? I suppose it depends on whether that was in a dream or not." The chief ended up lost in his own idea momentarily.

"What did you dream about?" The human directed their conversation back on course before it could be lost to silence.

"It's hard to remember now. All I saw in it was Reza, a generator, and then everything went white. It was all only for a split second before I woke up." Bryce exposed everything he could to his company. This, in turn, caused a stream of agony for the latter.

"Oh... I see." Alex paused for a few moments. "I had a similar one the day I came here. When I was in the hospital, I guess."

"Would you mind telling a little more about that? Maybe there could be something here." Bryce spoke genuinely and gently. All he wanted was to get to the bottom of this.

"I think so? Let me see..." The man started off. "I was in a lab of some sort, with Reza in front of me, and someone else by my side. He had his gun on us when the other started charging him."

"Okay, I already have a question or two. Did the other person look like anyone in particular? I'm just trying to get a full picture here." The chief interrupted.

"I think they were a dragon or something? Everything just flew by after the first shot was fired. The only thing I remember next was them forcing me out, then an explosion..." Alex's voice bittered with grief as he relived more and more of the scene.

"Explosion... I know that generators can be rigged to do that. You think that could tie this together somehow?" The reptile questioned, curious about just what this could entail.

"I don't know. Do you really think the dreams, or rather nightmares, of two people who hadn't even met could be remotely related?" The companion fired back. His dragon sat there for what felt like a good while just absorbing everything. Even when turbulent, he still radiated pure beauty.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I've heard worse from some of my own officers. But we'll have to talk about that later. It's getting late now." Bryce pointed out the time. Judging from the moon, it was creeping toward midnight.

"Damn. I didn't think it was that late. Why don't we stay at mine? It could be a bit safer." Alex proposed. He may as well have been high as a kite offering something that crazy up.

"Alex, that's all the way across town!" Bryce called out half-jokingly. Of course, he'd say that, but...

"I have a comfy bed just for you." The human countered with his best salesman pitch. His whole thing hinged on his dragon sleeping on a sofa regularly. Said dragon contemplated it deeply for several moments.

"Soft mattress?"

"Like a cloud."

"Fluffy pillows?"

"As can be. Down-filled, even."

"And the blanket?"

"A perfectly huge and warm quilt, fit for the Chief himself." This whole match between them, starting with Bryce, resembled a short tennis rally. Every request the larger male made, the smaller one fulfilled with fervor.

"How about the company?" Bryce asked one final thing; one that caught Alex completely off guard.

"I- I'll be on the sofa." The man resigned himself to a fate he felt he deserved.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with. Just know that I'll be fine if you change your mind. I haven't shared a bed in a while, after all." The chief commented with a hint of flirtation, if only to comfort his friend a tiny bit.

Alex remained silent throughout most of their walk. The only things keeping this from becoming an ad-hoc sensory deprivation tank were the various night insects, and their own footsteps. The ambassador's apartment block had just come into view when Bryce finally spoke up.

"I hope that bed is big enough. I'd hate to end up breaking the thing." The reptile commented, wincing at the thought of a small wooden bedframe snapping under his weight.

Opening the door, the pair slipped inside dragon-first. Alex promptly guided Bryce to his chambers. The latter was relieved to see a freshly made king-sized bed calling his name. His response was to immediately 'dive' head-first under the covers.

"You were right... this is so comfy." Bryce grabbed a pillow to snuggle into, feeling the exhaustion sink into his bones more and more. A yawn escaped his lips as his face was buried into the silken fabric. "It puts me right to sleep..."

As his dragon drifted off to dreamland, soft snoring and all, Alex took to the living room for whatever little rest he could get. Not like that would do anything. Turbulent dreams and that agonizing memory would plague him once again that night...