A D Tier's Breaking Point

Chapter 29

Neither of the villains cared about how long Morgan had sobbed into Alex's chest, or how many boxes of tissues Alex had to summon to mop up the mess. Monday never piped up once to interrupt, to the point you could believe she had left them to actual privacy. Eventually Morgan's tears had reduced to hiccups, and they finally let go of Alex's shirt and flexed their fingers, trying to get rid of the trembling in their hands. Once they were steady Morgan fished a lens case and a familiar bottle out of their pocket, pausing to contemplate them for a moment.

Alex didn't respond except to touch Morgan's hand, watching them carefully. Morgan sniffed, but nodded and sat up properly. Once they had decided, there was no other hesitation, and soon the now full case was being tossed onto the coffee table, and Morgan was rubbing their sore eyes. 'I really shouldn't sleep in those,' they murmured.

Alex picked up the currently abandoned bottle and brushed a curl out of Morgan's face, 'Can I help?'

Morgan swallowed. If they were less exhausted and drained they would probably refuse, but right now it was taking everything in them to stay upright. 'Kay,' they whispered, letting Alex tilt their head back to apply the eye drops. He was much quicker and more efficient this time, wiping away at the wetness under Morgan's eyes as he finished and brought Morgan in to rest against his chest.

'Okay,' Morgan croaked, 'questions.' Alex was silent for a moment, making Morgan shift slightly, 'I know you haven't asked everything you want to.'

Alex grimaced, running a hand through Morgan's hair again absentmindedly. 'I don't think you can treat this as a bandaid Morgan.'

'Why not?' Morgan asked.

'You've been hurt enough. I don't...I'm sorry, I should have waited until you were ready to talk about this.'

Morgan scoffed, 'I don't think I ever will be.'

That earned another squeeze, Alex burying his face into Morgan's hair. And if his lips brushed Morgan's forehead, neither of them commented on it, or on how Morgan sighed at the touch. 'I'm sorry,' Alex whispered.

'It's not your fault.'

'I still feel bad,' Alex said, running a hand down Morgan's arm as they clung to his neck. 'I just...if I could work out how to snap my fingers and make it all go away I would. But...'

Morgan tried to smile as their lip trembled, 'You could alway try going back in time?'

'You said I wasn't allowed to break the space-time continuum,' Alex said, before spotting the look on Morgan's face. 'Unless I'm allowed to now?'

Morgan met Alex's gaze, suddenly serious, 'What...would it be like? If you did that?'

Alex took a slow steady breath. He didn't want to answer, but Morgan was looking at him expectantly, and he couldn't work out a believable lie. 'Time travel is very, very tricky. Easiest way is for me to go back to the exact spot I was in, but as soon as I step back in it's like an extreme butterfly effect, the timeline I came from goes poof.'

He should have been worried at the look on Morgan's face, at the focus and clarity cutting through the exhaustion. Morgan sat up properly, staring at Alex, 'How far back could you go?'

'I...I don't know,' Alex shrugged, trying not to panic at Morgan's sudden intensity, 'I don't really use that power, it takes way too many calculations and it's not really that fun.'

'Do you think you could go back a year?' Morgan asked. 'A year and a day, I know what time I left the store, and the store name, you could swoop in and grab me right before-'

Alex put a hand to their cheek, making Morgan falter. 'I definitely can't be that specific.'

'Then...you just need to get back to before I got to the flat.'