Phobia

3

Ambulances and fire trucks appeared not a moment later, filling the air with blaring sirens and the sound of screeching tires as they braked and stopped in the middle of the street. James was rushing back over to the two at the side of the burning house as kevin shakily handed aleks back his hoodie, deciding not to question the knots and strokes of lighter and darker brown that marred his once pale skin.

"what the fuck happened in there?!" he shouted as he fell to his knees in front of the youngest, pulling him into a careful hug before pulling away, "you two scared the shit out of me." Two paramedics ran over to the three and began to check over the male with the cat, staring at aleks with a questioning gaze as he stepped away and sat on the cool grass, patting out the last of the embers on his jeans.

"sir," a female from the ambulance walked over to the Russian and kneeled down slowly, placing a hand on his extended knee, "is it all right if we check you over? We saw you come out of that fire with the other person so we would like to check if you have no serious injuries." Aleks kept his hood up as he revealed his mouth slowly and smiled reassuringly.

"im fine ma'am, thanks for asking." He lied, moving his charred leg away from her as she frowned and shuffled closer.

"are you sure sir? Your arms looked pretty bad..." he nodded once more as kevin and james looked over in confusion, realising that he was refusing the treatment of the older woman.

"im perfectly fine, nothing some bandages cant heal." The woman nodded slowly and walked back over to the ambulance.

"There's something wrong," James started with a soft frown, "he's been acting strange since the storm..." His smile fell when he looked over at the younger and studied him carefully, watching each closed off move and how every part of his skin was hidden.

"s-something might have happened," kevin croaked, clearing his throat, "he walked home alone, yeah? Something might have happened on the way back." James nodded slowly, his eyes closing before he breathed outwards.

"let's just get you fixed up buddy."

---

Aleks listened to the trio from over at the tree, picking up the first aid kit reluctantly and pulling up his sleeve to inspect the burnt wood that replaced flesh; he sighed and closed his eyes, looking away before dusting it off and inspecting the large, blackened hole.

"fuck..." he mumbled, wrapping the bandage around it quickly before pulling his sleeve back down and repeating the same action on the rest of his body.

"hey," the Russian pulled down his trouser leg and looked up quickly, pulling his hood up slightly to cover his face when he realised it was james, "are... are you okay?" aleks sighed quietly as the elder sat down in front of him and replied quietly.

"no james," he whispered, "im not okay."

~

Jordan pulled his car up to the scene of the fire, his eyes wide as he ran over to kevin and fell to his knees in front of him.

"you're okay!" he whispered breathlessly as he pulled the younger into a tight hug, "you're okay, oh my gosh... I thought you were dead. I got a call that there was a fire and then it was on the news and-" the half Asian cut him off by placing a shaky hand on his cheek and smiling, leaning forward and rubbing their noses together lovingly.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Kevin smiled before looking over at aleks and james, "you should thank aleks though, after their chat."

"what happened between them?" the younger shuffled and winced slightly before speaking again.

"something happened to aleks and apparently, he only came out of their bathroom when I called him this morning. I told james to talk to him since aleks refused the paramedic's help." The elder frowned before nodding slowly, hugging the smaller again.

"at least you're okay."

~

Seamus and eddie appeared at the scene not much later than jordan, parking haphazardly on the side of the road before shooting out of the car and over to kevin.

"holy shit kevin, we just heard what happened! Are you okay?" jordan smiled and pet hox slowly.

"just some bed rest, I'll be fine." The youngest croaked, looking over at aleks and james worriedly and grabbing Sly's wrist quickly as he stood up.

"what? I need to talk to aleks." The half Asian shook his head.

"you cant, they're sorting things out between them," aleks began to walk away, "it doesn't seem like it's going too good though." Kevin began to cough and wheeze, causing jordan to lean forwards and rub at his back.

"you're okay baby, don't worry." Kevin nodded shakily and coughed into the crook of his elbow, leaning into jordan's side shakily.

"fuck, I know baby, im just a little shaken up..."

~

Aleks ran a hand through his hair, hiding his skin from james as he looks at the ground.

"aleks, please, tell me what's wrong!" the Russian frowns and lets a tear fall, sniffing lightly and turning away from the elder.

"I cant james, it's just... im scared... im covered in burns and I look like a fucking monster. Just let me go to the bar and get, I don't know, fucked up or something." James watches his boyfriend with tearful eyes, his hands covering his mouth.

"Aleksandr." The younger ignored him, "Aleksandr marchant, look at me." Aleks turns his head slowly, looking over his shoulder, "you are not a monster, you never were and you never will be. You are my boyfriend and that will never change, whatever you look like. I will always love you for you."

Aleks let out a sob, covering his face and crying quietly, "j-james... I cant do th-this... i-I don't want to have the chance that you could le-leave me about this..." james took a small step forward and reached a hand out to aleks' shoulder.

"baby, aleks, please." James reeled back when the younger gasped and slapped his hand away, turning and falling onto his back.

"d-don't touch me!" the elder sucked in a huge gasp and scanned aleks' face.

Wait, aleks thought, holding a hand up and feeling for his hood, whimpering when he didn't feel it.

"aleks..." the half latino held a hand out towards the younger, smiling encouragingly with tearful eyes, "i-it's okay," aleks knew it wasn't, "you're fine." The others had looked over at james and aleks in confusion, eyes widening in shock at the fear on aleksandr's face and the tears streaming.

"it's not! Im not okay!" the Russian shouted, scrabbling to his feet and running down the road, away from them all.

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Word Count: 1146