The Deep End

Half an hour after the random pedestrian had left Alan in the capable hands of Austin, the younger was curled up on the sofa in a pile of blankets so high that any signs of a human body being there was undetectable by sight.

Austin walked in, his concentration on not spilling the almost overflowing mugs of tea was intense. "Alan, stop pretending to be a blanket and drink your tea." The words were blunt; the tone was soft and seeping with affection.

A face emerged from the white mountain, Alan resurfaced like he had been drowning in them. He rearranges them so they were places around his body like a sleeping bag, or a worm. He left a convenient amount of space for his arms so he could drink his tea. Alan had taken a few tablets for the searing in his stomach and he was acting as high as the fucking empire state.

Austin blamed it on the mix of painkillers and adrenaline still supplied by his body. Soon enough, Alan had downed his tea and began to wiggle on the floor like a worm; his destination: Austin. Austin was so highly amused that he just sat and watched his lovable idiot of a boyfriend impersonate a ginger worm.

Somehow Alan hopped from the floor onto Austin's lap, nearly suffocating him in hoards of blankets. They decided to abandon those. Alan pouted: "You haven't kissed me in agesssss." He emphasized the meaning with one tug of an eyebrow. Austin laughed in response.

"I kissed you three days ago."

"Exactly, that was agesssss ago." Alan beamed at him; Austin fell in love with him all over again.

"And what do you suppose I do about that then, good sir?" Austin faked a horrendous posh English accent that would reduce even the Queen herself to tears. Alan simply giggled before grabbing Austin's face in his hands and kissing him.

They did this for a while. Austin's hands clutched at his boyfriend's hips; Alan pressed closer so that there was no space between them. One of the hands resting on Alan's hips gravitated towards the small of his back. Alan took this as a sign as pressed -down-. Austin tugged Alan's body away from his; staring at his rosy cheeks and messy hair.

"Alan, we are not doing this right now." Austin wasn't stern, as such, more gentle with an edge of stubbornness.

Alan turned almost shy. "Don't you want to?"

"Of course I do, but first off I have just witnessed you pretend to be a blanket, down a cup of piping hot tea and wiggle on the floor like a worm, you are not in the right state of mind right now. Secondly, I refuse go get you off on your mother's couch."

-

"Alan, honey, what happened to your jaw?" His mum asked, peering over her magazine. Alan had managed to get through a day since he was beat up without her noticing, but his luck had clearly run out.

"Er, just fell over, no big deal." He attempted to shrug it off like it really was no big deal.

His mother's gaze didn't falter once. "Alan, I'm your mother, I know when something is a big deal and I am looking straight at it." Alan blushed, his mum still staring intently at the purple tainted bruise lining his jaw.

Her strong, imposing posture crumbled and within a second she had reverted back into her over-bearing mother phase and was wrapping him up in hugs.

"Was it anyone at school?" Her tone assured Alan that he shouldn't make up another bullshit lie. He nodded, slightly ashamed at his frankly pathetic attempt of keeping the truth.

His silence answered for him. She let out a sympathetic noise ans sprung on him, enveloping him in warmth and motherly affection. "Why on earth would they do such a thing to a charming boy like you?"

Alan shrugged; looking entirely too guilty to be truthful. His mum's grip never ceased once, and Alan started to have trouble breathing. "If there is anything you want to talk about, I'm here okay?" Hails of kisses struck Alan's cheeks, he tried unsuccessfully to wriggle out of her arms.

"Okay, okay. I get the idea, but I don't want to talk about it." His mum seemed all too unsatisfied with that answer.

Alan should have seen it coming later when his dad came to ask if everything was alright; of course she would employ his dad to talk about things. She probably thought it was a male problem. Well, it was to some degree, now he thought about it.

"Hey, kid, how're things going?" Subtle really wasn't his dad's specialty.

"Mum asked you, didn't she?" Alan dramatically swung round on his chair, not focusing on his German homework anymore. His dad was like a deer in headlights.

"Okay, okay." He held his hands up in surrender, "Your mother is just worried about you. "

His dad's eyes widened slightly, and inspected his son's face. Bingo, he had found the cause of his wife's worry. His expression softened slightly as a light bulb finally went off inside his mind.

"It was about Austin, wasn't it?" Alan nodded sullenly. His dad sat down on his bed, before he started into a speech. Alan was perplexed that even such words were leaving his mouth:

"Alan, in your life, you will meet a shit load of people and just remember you don't owe anything to any of them. Live for yourself, not for others standards or expectations. If Austin loves you as much as I can tell you love him, then I hope that you two are together for as long as you wish to be."

Alan had no other will but to hug his dad, and he did. He mumbled a small 'thank you'.

"I just worry about you sometimes Alan, you are always so eager to please people, don't let people take advantage of that."