Page 116 of Cross the Line

“Thank you.”

“What?” Alec blinks moisture clinging to his eyelashes.

“I said thank you. Thank you for loving me when I didn’t deserve it, and seeing more in me than I saw in myself. Thank you for loving me when I didn’t know what to do with it and loving me until I did. Thank you for loving me the way only you could.”

“Oh.” Alec’s lips tremble and his heart aches and he wishes there was a word for something beyond love, because that’s what he feels for Theo.

“You’re good for me, Alec. You’re everything I need and all the things I never let myself want. I’ve never been in love, I don’t know how. But you make me want to try. I can’t give you those three words yet, but I can tell you if there was anyone I thought I could love, it would be you.”

Alec cries in earnest, heavy tears of grief and joy that Theo wipes away with gentle hands and soft kisses. He murmurs promises against Alec’s cheeks and lips, the kind that make Alec believe in forever. When the nurse comes in because of Alec’s elevated heart rate, Theo has the decency to blush but remains at Alec’s bedside, hand in Alec’s as the nurses fuss and mark things down in his chart and give him more pain meds.

His brothers return by the time the meds kick in, his head spinning and the world going fuzzy. Not once does Theo leave, his hand firmly in place holding Alec’s, even when Charlie glares at it. It’s quiet at first, but then Jason says something that makes Andrew laugh and just like that, Charlie’s expression loosens.

At some point his parents arrive, leading to a tearful reunion and some difficult conversations. When they notice his and Theo’s joined hands, Alec pretends to be in too much pain to partake in another conversation, choosing to focus on the way Theo’s thumb smooths over the back of his hand while his parents move into the hallway for hushed conversations with his brothers. Their voices are low, drifting through the cracked door and though Alec feels stripped raw in every way, there’s a relief to finally have all of his secrets laid bare.

When Theo’s lips press against his forehead, soft promises whispered against his temple, Alec gives in to his exhaustion and closes his eyes, his body aching but his heart lighter than it’s been in years.

“You’re being too noisy.”

“Me? You’re the one stomping around like La Chupacabra.”

“Is that like the boogeyman?”

“No. Yes. Maybe. Just shut up or you’ll wake him up. You’re so noisy.”

“You’re both fucking noisy,” Alec mutters, not needing to open his eyes to know who is in his room. He opens them anyway, his two best friends are a sight for sore eyes.

“Hey,” Riley says with a smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes.

“You scared us, asshole.” Antonio takes a deep breath, letting out a heavy exhale. He looks like he might cry. “Shit, you look?—”

“Sexy as hell, I know.” Alec cracks a smile that makes his cheek ache. Despite being the one in the hospital bed, all he wants to do is make the worry on his friends’ faces disappear. “It’s okay to be jealous. Most people can’t rock the hospital look as well as me. Or the bruises. It’s a gift to wake up looking this good.”

“Fucking idiot.” Antonio shakes his head in fond exasperation and then sighs heavily. “I want to hug you, but all your family is in the hallway so we could have a few minutes, and they said, well Charlie said, if we hurt you he’d make sure security banned us.”

“I’m pretty sure he was joking,” Riley points out, but he does turn to look at the half-closed door. “Better safe than sorry, though.”

“I want a hug,” Alec pouts.

Riley moves first, angling his much larger body around Alec in a protective hold while Antonio moves around the other side of the bed to emulate. It’s a bit awkward-looking for them and more of an air hug than a real one, but their unwavering presence fortifies Alec in a way only his best friends really can. When they pull back, they have the grace to pretend not to notice Alec wiping at his eyes. Maybe the car broke something in his brain, too. He’s cried more in the last twenty-four hours than the last five years of his life combined, and he’s pretty over feeling like a leaky faucet.

“So be honest, how much did you guys cry?” Alec asks, desperate for a narrative shift where he doesn’t feel so out of control. “I bet you couldn’t even sleep without me.”

“How did you know the whole campus got together and held a crying vigil?” Riley deadpans. “We used up the entire supply of tissues at SLU.”

“You two are so weird,” Antonio snorts, but he’s smiling the way he usually does when Alec and Riley are on their bullshit train.

“You love us,” Riley grins, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Fuck knows why. You’re both pains in my ass.” Antonio shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls something out, dangling it in front of Alec. “Here this is for you.”

“Is that what I think it is?” Alec asks, turning his left hand palm up. The IV stings a little, but it’s worth it when the cool plastic beads fall into his palm.

“If you’re thinking ‘wow, is this the most special and important piece of jewelry I’ll ever get,’ then yes,” Riley smirks, reaching across the bed to add a second bracelet to Alec’s palm.

He lifts them both, grinning at the chunky letter beads and colorful plastic ones. They’re both blue—one a pale blue like the sky and the other dark, the word on both the same.

“We have matching ones,” Riley says, tugging on the sleeve of his hoodie to reveal his own friendship bracelet in hot pink on his right wrist. Antonio copies, pushing his hoodie sleeves up to his elbows to reveal a red one.

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