READ THE WARNING

Chapter twenty eight

!TW!~ Arguing, brief mentioning of drug usage, brief mentioning of a heart attack, fluff, sexual references, brief mentioning of domestic violence, brief mentioning of a scar, brief mentioning of child abuse

"Why the fuck do you do this?"

"Because I hate you. Obviously 'cause I care about you!"

This was the morning after the third night Erebus had fallen asleep and Alex had let him sleep. After that first night, Erebus had started struggling keeping himself awake. Alex was happy about it, he wanted Erebus to be able to rest sometimes, but Erebus was indescribably pissed off about it. 

"I've told you multiple times to wake me up!"

"You're paranoid and overprotective."

"No, I'm realistic; you still haven't seen what Cassander is capable of, you don't know what kind of person he is, I do."

"I know when he's here, Erebus. I don't know how, but I can sense it when he's watching. I'll wake you up if he's here."

"I can tell too, Alex. Just because he isn't here at the moment doesn't mean he won't be here all night and I want to be safe."

Alex wasn't completely sure how to reply. He wasn't letting Erebus win this, he wasn't gonna wake Erebus up every time he fell asleep, but how was he meant to reply to that? Erebus slowly started smirking.

"Don't." Said Alex. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Go on, anything else you wanna say on the topic?"

Alex shoved him and he laughed a bit. He shoved Alex back. 

"I'm not letting you win this, beautiful." Said Erebus. "I want to make sure you're safe."

Alex sighed. "Can you at least try to be healthy in the process? I think we'll be able to tell if he's attacking us. He's never even attempted to be quiet when entering my room."

"We never know, though. Better safe than sorry."

Alex had a feeling if it wasn't this early and he had enough energy, this argument would've gone on for hours, but he was tired so he left it there.

"D'you want coffee?" Asked Erebus, after a brief pause. Alex nodded.

They leaned on the side of the kitchen counter while they waited for their coffee to finish brewing, talking on and off about random topics.

Very suddenly, Alex heard a car pull into his driveway. He glanced out the window and, for the first time, he found himself hoping it was Sammy; if it wasn't Sammy, it was his mom, and that was the last person he wanted to see.

He leaned back a bit more to see out the window and recognised his mom's car.

"Dammit." He whispered.

He stood up and before he could walk to the door, Erebus grabbed his wrist. "We don't have to tell her anything, but I'm not hiding anything. She can't do anything while I'm here, and she's lazy enough that I doubt she'd do anything anyway. I'm not gonna friendzone you just because your mum's here."

Alex nodded. "We don't have to hide anything, but maybe tone it down; I don't want you to have to see us fight."

He heard the door unlock and he looked back. Erebus let go of his wrist and they waited a second for the door to open.

Alex and his mom looked at each other for a moment but avoided eye contact and neither were completely sure of what to say.

"Hello, Alex." His mom offered a weak smile. "Who's this?"