Reunion In A Restaurant In Michigan

Grumpy Morning Heads

Help I like this human AU too much! Yes it's the same AU as Bulls In The Bronx. Lol.

Alfred POV

I fucking hate doctor's offices.

I used to only go once a year. I was so healthy. Six pack abs, energy in every cell of my body, so wired I couldn't sit still.

Then, my parents split up. It was ugly. I went hardcore into exercise to cope. Ivan joined me, wanting to start socializing more-and stare at my ass when I did push-ups. From then on, he and I were the talk of the GSA gossip mill.

Anyway. I lived back and forth, then Dad got fed up with Mom and drove miles away, to Canada where he came from. Mattie went with him, having moved out and having had enough of Mom's craziness.

That left me alone with my increasingly eccentric mother. She was on the phone with a different guy each week. When that wasn't satisfying, she started making the house smell like weed. When that novelty wore off, she packed our bags and shoved me into the car.

I yelled at her and threatened to jump out the car, but she didn't listen. We'll start over, she said. We both need it. I found these great people....

Two years of hell, of a drugged haze. Illegal drug trials, that's what they did. They were testing drugs on certain teenagers in the compound. It was a cult, a horror worthy of science fiction.

The day I was slid into an MRI machine after Mattie found me, I wrongly assumed I was finally free. I didn't realize I was stuck in a prison I'd never get out of-my own body. When once my limbs and organs harmonized together beautifully, now it was an uneven cacophony of broken, out of tune instruments.

They found all kinds of problems. My brain was damaged. My motor skills were shit. I couldn't walk properly. I kept falling asleep at random times. My muscles wouldn't move when I wanted them to. My vision wasn't supposed to be so blurry. My vision was never the best, but now it was shit.

I stayed in the hospital for three weeks, curled in a ball, frightened and confused. I was so brain injured and sick that I couldn't completely comprehend what was happening to me.

Mattie helped me feel safe. He was always there, even during physical therapy, MRIs, you name it.

I wasn't easy to be around. I was an emotional wreck. I kept asking when I would go home, like an impatient child. Mattie, I wanna go home. Mattie, I wanna leave. Mattie, what will they do to me?

The court trials were a nightmare. I was forced to talk to counselors, a lawyer, watch myself on the news.

I was so happy to be let out of the hospital, I jumped up and down and almost tripped before Mattie dragged me inside. I was confused and thought I was going to be punished for my overt display of elation until he showed me car keys. "There's this new ice cream place. You've got to try it."

All I heard was ice cream and I was overjoyed. "ICE CREAM!"

All my shouting hurt my head, of course. I was quietly holding my head the whole drive there until I smelled the food cooking at Pizza Hut. Mmmm. I hadn't had pizza in forever. Mom was a health nut.

The ice cream was great. It was the best thing I'd eaten in a long time. I ended up getting it all over my face.

Fast forward to now. I'm in a sexy Chevrolet Silverado, cruisin' down the highway with Ivan beside me. He's wearing sunglasses and he's in a muscle shirt (and that ever-present Scarf™), lookin' hawt.

Just kidding.

It's so easy to dream, imagine yourself somewhere else. But it's impossible to get there.

I'm in bed. Where else would I be? It's where I dwell these days. I like to think it's my habitat, and I'm a sleepy wolf.

Mattie hangs out with me as much as he can. But he is as busy as ever doing God knows what.

I'm left to drift in and out of consciousness all day and make wolf noises at the cat.

Nothing very interesting happens until my phone vibrates.

My hand is shaking with an unwanted tremor as I squint at the text.

Sory 4 short notiss. Almost 2 ur front door.
Ivan

Ivan is coming over without a 10 minute heads up. That's totally not like him! He's very weird about coming over uninvited. Not that he's anything but a guest of honor in this crib.

I text him back:

I'm in bed, dude.
-Alfred

Another text comes through:

2 bah I'm alredy hear
-Ivan

That's a red flag. Ivan is usually very good at spelling, unless it's a bad day for him. When his head feels like 'spilled jelly beans', as he phrases it, he struggles with simple everyday things he usually doesn't have to think about.

When my polar bear in a scarf runs up the stairs, the entire house shakes. Pfft. My mans hasn't changed much.

"Nyet! Shut up! What room is it again? Oh."

Stomp stomp stomp stomp. Ivan is poking his head into my room now.

He's very clearly having a bad day. His hair is a mess, his nails have been bitten down to nubs, and his shoes are on the wrong feet. I can tell he's been yelling at the mirror and at himself all day.

He drags himself into my bedroom, laying next to me. "You're the only one allowed to see me like this."

I roll over with difficulty to face him. "I'm honored. Do you feel like talking?"

He shakes his head No. "Nyet. I can't even think. They're too loud. Today I snapped at Kat and threw my wooden figurines that I worked for hours on. One broke."

A yawn interrupts me. "When I feel better, I'll help you fix it."

His hands are shaking. He's gnawing at his lip. "When I feel safe with myself near my craft knives, yes. Thank you for offer."

I still his hands. "You're afraid you'll hurt someone?"

Ivan bitterly scoffs. "Tol'ko ya."

Only me. I'm glad I've been brushing up on Russian. "Only yourself? I'm glad you came over here, then."

He nods, an edge of fear in his voice. "Me too. I just, uh... don't want it. To be alone. With me. Very bad."

"You don't want to be alone with yourself."

He smiles in relief at not needing to dig a coherent explanation out of his inner turmoil. "Yeah."

We lay there silently for a while, listening to each other's breathing. Out of nowhere, Ivan begins giggling.

"It's funny. We both feel like shit, so we found each other."

I chuckle a little. "Yeah, it is funny."

I let myself relax next to him. Eventually, Ivan's eyes begin to droop with exhaustion. "They're kickin' in now."

His accent is thicker than ever. It's actually so hot.

I'm tired and my brain can't process what he just said, only his strong Russian inflection. "Hnnnuh?"

His eyes close. "Antipsychotics. They're kicking in now. I'm getting very sleepy."

Nodding in understanding, I close my own eyes. "I see. Let's just..."

"...sleep together."

And we do, waking up the next morning feeling somewhat better.