Declassified

Declassified Part 7 Settling Down

      Thalia was already slipping on her clothes when Alex woke up. "Hey, Thal." He said sleepily, watching her. "How'd you sleep?"
      "Good morning." She came back to the bed to kiss him. "I slept well, how about you?"

      "I slept okay." Alex slid his hands against her bare skin. "I thought you'd sleep in after being up late last night."
      Thalia shook her head. "No. I have an internal alarm clock. No matter when I go to bed, I almost always wake up at the same time."

      "Lucky for me, because I like watching you get dressed." Alex smiled as he pulled her down on top of him.
      Thalia laughed, and before they knew it her clothes were back on the floor, and they were trying to catch their breath.

      "I'm really starting to like our size difference." Alex teased, kissing her neck. "The possibilities are endless."

      "I don't know about endless, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun figuring them all out." Thalia told him, starting to get out of bed. Alex grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back against him, curving himself around her perfect body. "Let me go." She laughed, trying to get up.

      "No. You should definitely stay here." Alex kissed the back of her neck. "Are you actually trying to get up?" He teased, amused at how easily he could hold her in bed. "I thought you were supposed to be the brawn in this relationship."

      "You are a bully." Thalia laughed as she struggled to get free.
      "I know, but you like it." Alex insisted, biting her earlobe lightly before letting her go. "Sorry about Dan yesterday, by the way." Alex said, watching her get dressed again.

      "Oh." Thalia averted her eyes, her cheeks pink. "It's okay. I like your brothers." She said, not entirely convincingly.
      "Even Dan?" Alex asked, pulling on his pajama bottoms.

      "Yeah, at least Dan lets me know what he thinks about me." Thalia shrugged. "I really like Andy, but he makes me a little nervous."
      Alex frowned. "He's really nice." He told Thalia, wishing he could explain away Andy's behaviour. "He just gets anxious, especially around new people. Especially women."

      "That's kind of sexist." Thalia observed, putting her hands on her hips.
      Alex laughed. "No, Andy likes and respects women. Dan, not so much." He frowned. "I think Andy worries that he's going to accidentally hurt someone, and women, being generally smaller than men, just make him that much more nervous. Children too."

      "Oh." Thalia tilted her head to one side as she thought about it. "Then I must terrify him." She smiled as Alex pulled her out of his room.

      "You do." Alex agreed, laughing as they went into the living room. "He just doesn't like to touch anyone when other people are around, but he's okay with being touched by people he knows well, like Lily."
      "What would he do if I touched him?" Thalia asked, looking curious.

      "Probably stay perfectly still and hope you went away." Alex admitted, smiling. "He's okay with, say my mom or my dad hugging him, but if you were to try...." He laughed. "I don't think he'd let you get close enough."
      Thalia laughed too. "Somehow I don't anticipate wanting to hug him any time soon."

      Alex smiled. He knew where she was coming from. Although Andy was the nicest person he knew, he definitely wasn't approachable. Most people shied away from the huge man. "That's probably for the best." Alex said playfully. "If only he knew that you were the one more likely to hurt him."

      Thalia looked surprised. "Does he actually think he's going to hurt someone?"

      Alex shrugged. "Yeah. It's anxiety. It's not rational." He frowned, but after almost thirty years he still didn't understand his brother. "When we were growing up, we were always big kids, especially Andy. He's heard since he was old enough to walk to be careful, to be gentle, to not rough house. I think he just took it to heart."