𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝?~~ Madness Combat oc lore

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The day dragged by slowly and painfully, the shows on the hospital TV were boring as all hell. The nurses kept assuring him that he was making a fast recovery, however he didn't quite believe them. He stayed in the hospital for another day or two until he was sent on his way back home again with a hospital bill in hand. Like he'll be able to pay this shit. He set the paper on fire out behind the complex anyway, out of sight out of mind.

He didn't feel like going to work that day, still in pain from that whole shitshow. He picked up his phone and called his boss, begrudgingly. The phone rang for a moment too long for comfort, but eventually it picked up. It was Charlie. "Hello?" The man sounded exhausted. "Hey, I'm not gonna be able to make it into work today. Medical things happened and--" "Yeah yeah, I heard. You did this to get out of working didn't you?"

Well, that's a rude assumption. He cleared his throat before speaking. "No, it was for other reasons. But my point here is that I can't come to work today." He heard a sigh come from the other end of the phone, followed by silence. He could see Charlie grabbing the bridge of his nose and slumping over his desk right now. "I can come tomorrow though." Alex added, hopefully that would convince Charlie to let him stay home today. "Fine. Tomorrow, if you need to come in late you can, but you have to come to work. Or else I'm gonna have to fire you." "Understood." He hung up the phone, setting it down somewhere nearby with a groan of annoyance. He didn't like that phone call at all.

Then a knock came to the door. The minute that he had sat down too, how convenient. He sighed, going and answering it. The woman at the door was none other than Elaine, probably coming to ask him what happened. He was bandaged on the neck and everything, so it should be obvious enough. "Hey big guy, why didn't you come to work today?" She went inside already, without permission as usual. "Issues." He answered. He glared at the short woman in front of him as she walked inside uninvited, annoyed by her presence. She had went over to the couch and sat down, turning on the TV. "Where's your snacks at, Al? I didn't eat nothin' before I came over." She leaned back with her feet kicked up on the table, sneakers still on. "Feet off the table." Alex said, going to the kitchen to appease the bitch.

See, Elaine considers herself one of Alex's friends, though he doesn't really feel the same. He sees her as an annoyance, a parasite of some sort. He can tolerate her, but not for very long without feeling like strangling her. He walked back to the living room and tossed Elaine a bag of chips, sitting down on the opposite side of the couch. Noticing she still had her feet on the damn table. Just another thing to add onto his already shitty day. "So, what kinda issues were you having? I know it's gotta be major enough for you to skip working for me to worry about it." "Shouldn't you be at work right now?" He asked, a sting in his voice. Elaine went quiet for a moment. "Why don't you answer my question first, Al. Then I'll answer yours." Chomp. He stared at her for a moment before looking up at the TV. "Don't you see the bandages?"

That's all he really needed to say here, he didn't want to say more than that. He simply watched the TV as Elaine looked over at the bandages on his neck. "What, did you trip?" Oh you dumb fucker. "No, Elaine, I tried to kill myself." Alex responded, venom starting to bleed into his already upset voice. "Oh." She responded quietly, awkwardly eating her chips. "I uhm.. I'm off today." She added, quickly and softly. Look what you've done now. You killed the mood, Alex. At least you could kill that, god. The thoughts he was having in the moment caused him to lean his head down into his palm, his body language suggesting that he was upset. Elaine took notice of this and did absolutely nothing about it. "Look, I would appreciate it if you'd leave. I wanted to be alone today."

"I think if you were left alone, you'd actually die!" Elaine responded, joking of course. Alex snapped his head up and stared at Elaine. Now was not the time to be making jokes, especially around Alex. And especially about that. Her laughter died down into a nervous chuckle, and then into nothing. "Sorry." She had sunken into the couch cushions awkwardly. "Yeah, you should be sorry." He grumbled, burying his face in his hands and rubbing it for a moment. God his whole upper half hurt like a bitch, and he's been dealing with it for days now. He felt a pair of arms wrapped around him right as he was about to get up.

He stopped completely.

Unsure how to react, he slowly looked over at Elaine. You could swear a creaking sound effect played. He hasn't had a hug in ages, especially one that he's actually needed. He just stared silently at her as she let moved her head, tilting her face upwards to stare back. Based off the look on her face, Alex assumed he was being pretty awkward at that moment. What he didn't know is that she looked sort of sad because he looked to be on the verge of tears. Her arms gave him a nice squeeze before she let go, but right before she did, he had debated giving her a hug in return. Of course, he didn't and instead made things weird. She looked back to the TV, however Alex was just.. flabbergasted, his brain was having trouble with processing things over something as little as a hug. 

He had caught himself staring at the ground and instead turned his attention to the TV. Then to Elaine shortly after. "You didn't have to do that." His voice started to break, as if speaking had opened his emotional floodgates. He didn't feel as though he deserved that comfort. Like he didn't earn it. Because he knows damn well that he's ruined too many peoples's comfort and happiness to deserve any in return, that's just the way things work. He has to keep things fair, even if he's the one causing his own depression in that case. "Yeah, I did. You needed it." That's the only answer he got from the other, and honestly what he should've been telling himself. However, he was telling himself the complete opposite instead. Because we all know that Alex is a big depressed baby, and does nothing but harm to himself. Just look at the state he's in right now, hurt, bandaged, and about to cry in front of his coworker.

Fun.