Break All the Rules 9

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Part 9

Alex had been in a lot of awkward situations in his life. None of them held a candle to this one, though.

"Jesus Christ, Freddie!" The man put down his crowbar, which, holy fuck, and ran a hand through his hair. "Give a man some warning before you break in at midnight, won't you?"

Freddie rolled his eyes, holding up his key. "This isn't breaking in."

The man had expressive eyebrows and he raised them then which, somehow, spoke more than words could.

"It's nice to see you, too, dad." Freddie said, brushing past him and leading them into the living room. "And I would've called but I was running low on battery."

"I'm always telling you to charge that thing."

"I would've," Freddie said, bending down to grab one of the chargers on the floor, "but visiting mum was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Alex came over and convinced me just a few hours ago."

Alex waved, as if it wasn't obvious, "Hi, Alexander Ku, I'm Freddie's friend."

"Soulmate." Freddie corrected, almost absentmindedly as he fiddled with his phone.

No, Alex had lied, the silence that fell just then was infinitely worse than being threatened with a crowbar. He didn't know what to say or do and he stared at Freddie, waiting for him to laugh or tell them he was joking, but he didn't. So Alex did what he normally did and ignored his problems, settling on the other couch and grabbing blankets to warm himself up.

"Do any of you want to expand on that?" Freddie's dad asked.

Alex wasn't talking so Freddie took it upon himself, "He's my soulmate, he said my words, but you know I'm dating Sean."

"Is this a pro choice thing?"

"It's not. It's because I was already in a relationship when I met Alex, I wasn't going to break up with someone I liked because of that."

That looked at him and said. "Oi, you promised me a hot chocolate."

"I'll make your drink." He said, getting up.

"I'll come with," Alex said quickly because he wasn't going to stay in a room alone with someone who had a crowbar, "need to make sure you have the correct marshmallow to cream ratio."

Freddie gave him a pass, acting like it was a believable excuse, and gestured him over. Alex followed him into the kitchen, watching him fill a mug with milk and put it in the microwave before he crowded him against the counter.

"What the hell was that?" Alex demanded. "We're soulmates? How can you say that when we promised each other we wouldn't tell anyone?"

"He's my father! I won't lie to him." Freddie said firmly.

"And I'm not asking you to."

Freddie sighed, "Then why are you so mad?"

"I'm not mad, I'm hurt. You broke our promise."

And, the thing was, Freddie didn't look like he understood the problem at all. Alex hated that. He hated that he'd kept the promise, that Freddie hadn't and couldn't even understand what he'd done and why it was bad. Once again, Alex was the emotional one who cared too much and he was sick of it.

"I'm tired." He said, stepping back. "I'm going to go to sleep, I'll take your floor or something."

Freddie looked like he wanted to argue but he didn't. "I've got a double, we can share."

"Okay."

There were three rooms upstairs, and a bathroom, but only one had Freddie's name spelled out on the door. It was written in old multi-coloured stickers, one of the Ds half torn off, and Alex wondered how long he'd lived here. He didn't spend too much time wondering about it, swigging some mouthwash, before he crawled under the covers and into the promising warmth.

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