All That I've Got

Alex offered Frank pajamas, and Frank took the pants, but insisted on keeping his hole-y Batman shirt on. It comforted him.

He spent a while in the bathroom, showering and thinking.

When he finally got a chance to look in the mirror, he was shocked. He knew what he looked like, but the Frank in the mirror was too tired looking, too thin, and too lost.

Also, this new Frank had a massive healing wound on his forehead. On closer inspection, Frank noted that it was about 2 and a half inches long, and that it had been stitched up. It was a few days old at the most, and probably should’ve been in a bandage.

“Fuck me,” Frank groaned.

“Sorry, kid, I’m straight,” came a reply from outside the bathroom door, and Frank opened it to scowl at Alex.

“Shut it,” he said, “and then look at this thing on my head.”

Alex came into the bathroom, and looked at the displayed cut in the steam-fogged mirror.

“Oh, ew!” He squealed, “I thought I saw that, but ew!”

Frank had to stop himself from stomping on the guy’s foot. Instead, he pushed his hair over the cut, and went back into Alex’s room.

“So what do you think happened there?” Alex asked a moment later.

Frank slumped down on the second bed in Alex’s messy room. “Once again, I have no idea. Maybe it’s the reason I can’t remember anything?”

Alex plopped down on his own bed, mussing up his pink hair and pushing dirty clothes off the bedsheets. “I think it’s only in movies where a bump on the head makes you forget things.”

Frank could hear the smile in Alex’s voice, and he laughed a bit himself. Something about Alex put Frank at ease, made him feel less like he didn’t belong in this fancy apartment in Chicago. Made him feel normal.

Alex fell asleep with his butt in the air a few minutes later, and though it wasn’t even that late, Frank found himself following suit. He really fucking wished he wake up to a semblance of a normal life. . .

----

Someone poked Alex awake around two in the morning. It was Chris. Alex could make out him putting a finger to his lips in the dark. Then Chris motioned for Alex to follow him out of the room.

They passed sleeping Frank. Alex had no idea how the kid could be so passed out, seeing as he’d been asleep in that car for half a day before they’d gotten to him. But Alex guessed maybe shock could exhaust people.

Out in the polished ivory hallway, the warm light illuminated the bags under Chris’s eyes.

“Have you even been to bed, Chris?” Alex asked, concern coloring his voice.

Chris ran a hand down his face, scrubbing at the stubble across his jaw- a movement Alex had become very familiar with in the last few years.

“No,” Chris said finally, “but don’t worry about me, Alex. Listen, I have a request.”

His eyes met Alex’s, and Alex nodded. He’d do anything to help Chris, who’d saved his ass countless times. Chris continued.

“I need you to make Frank stay. Use your ability, and make him want to be here. His friends went to a great deal getting him safely here, and the only way I know how to protect him is to have him here.” Chris motioned at the apartment around them.

Alex didn’t even have to think before he agreed. Everything in him knew Frank needed to stay here, where he was safe. Everything in him knew that Frank was something new, something worth protecting.

Chris looked relieved, and he hugged Alex for a moment before telling him to go back to bed.

“I will if you will,” Alex replied.

Chris smiled and nodded. “Okay, deal. Thanks.”

Alex shuffled back into the shadowy room, pausing a moment beside Frank, then he continued to his own bed and was out in minutes.