Royal Mistake || BxB || Complete.

Chapter Forty

Charles's POV:

Seconds went by in agonizingly long ticks, and it seemed like an eternity had passed when Warren opened the door and walked in, not bothering to knock and heading straight for Alexander's door with no questions, he gently knocked then, 'hey Alex, it's Warren, do you need anything right now?', there was silence, silence that rung a little too loud in my ears. 

'why isn't he answering you?, you're supposed to know how to deal with this', my hands were now shaky, I felt a little panicked myself, but I ignored it, what I felt was not a sliver of what he was going through, what I had made him go through, I collapsed on the couch, feeling more than helpless, 'he probably just fell asleep out of exhaustion', Warren sat next to me calmly, like everything happening was routine for him. 

'do we call someone?, a doctor maybe?', he shook his head, 'no, he usually sleeps for a long time, wakes up really hungry and thirsty and comes out to eat, doesn't talk or address anyone for a while, then we just put on something he likes on the TV and wait patiently', I sighed, I had no idea things had gotten this bad before, 'if I had gotten this prep talk maybe I wouldn't have been such an asshole to him'. 

Warren shrugged, 'what happened?, if you don't mind me asking', I gulped, 'he was burdened with breaking some bad news to my dumbass and I freaked out on him instead of the cause of the bad news', Warren let out a deep sigh, 'you couldn't have anticipated it would go this bad', I shook my head. 

'I shouldn't have yelled in the first place, I hate violence, I used to hang out with my grandpa when I was young, and he was an okay guy, but he was stern and he was polished into nothing by his days in the war, and he was so irritable and violent even towards the ones he loved, I promised myself I would never be angry at anyone I loved like that, and Alex is the only person in this world my heart has ever truly loved and yet here am I, on the other side of the door, wondering if he's ever gonna come out and if so is he ever going to forgive me?'. 

The shaky breath that left my mouth was followed by a tear that streamed down my cheek, I no longer cared that Warren was right there, the guilt I felt was overwhelming, and I was brought back when an arm wrapped around my back as I silently cried against the floor, a few minutes of an oddly comfortable silence passed, and I finally managed to stop the tears. 

He glanced me a smile, 'I'm glad you cried it out, reminder, there are two people in a relationship, even if one of them takes it harder than the other, a fight is always going to hurt them both', I nodded, his words were reassuring and I appreciated his company in that moment, he got up suddenly, 'you wanna have some tea?', I couldn't help but chuckle, 'yeah, thank you', he headed for the kitchen and I turned around to chat. 

The kitchen was open to the living room, which is why Alexander had always kept it spotless, 'hold off on the sugar, if it's too sweet, it makes me kinda', 'sick, I know, that was one of the endless unnecessary things I had to learn about you when Alex would go on ten hour rants about your little love adventures', I smiled to myself, those words filled my chest with a warmth that I couldn't describe. 

'you know that's how I know you guys are gonna be okay after this, even when you were apart, he talked about you with so much love, like you could do no wrong in this world in his eyes', I sighed, feeling my muscles relax slowly, 'he could bring me a dead body and I would help him bury it', Warren let out a bit of scared laugh, 'that's creepily romantic', 'that's how Alex would describe me too'. 

Warren finished making the tea and handed me a mug, holding one of his own as he sat next to me again, 'what do you wanna talk about to help you take your mind away from all of it?, it's gonna be a long night of waiting', I raised an eyebrow, 'you are going to stay?', my tone was not hostile, but shocked, 'of course I'm gonna stay', I smiled thankfully and he understood that as my thank you. 

'can we talk about you?, I'm just really not that interesting, plus I hear from Alex that you have a love interest', he chuckled, his cheeks briefly turning red before he shook it away, 'it's more like a love uninterested but I sure do', I took a sip of my tea, 'details?', 'well we met while touring the campus, if you can call it meeting...', and with that he continued telling me his story, I listened intently, grateful for the company and the distraction, and it turns out his life was more interesting than mine, and that didn't bother me, I was just happy to finally have him as a friend.

The T.V acted like background noise as we sat on the couch, I glanced at the clock for the millionth time, it was 4:15, I sighed, 'you should go home, I don't think he's going to come out tonight', 'even if I end up falling asleep on this couch, I am going to stick around until he comes out', I smiled, maybe I was starting to understand why Alexander wanted us to be friends. 

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of a lock snapping open, I turned around and fought the strong urge to just run and hug him endlessly, as Warren had said, he was quiet, he also looked tired, his shoulders slumped and his eyes dragging against the floor, I was brought back by the destination his slow steps had chosen to stop at, he sat in between Warren and I, his head gently fell to my lap as he curled his body into a little ball, a long sigh left his mouth as he grabbed one of my hands and held it in his. 

I gulped, my nervous eyes looked to Warren and he just gave me a smile, he stood up and walked towards the kitchen, I glanced down at Alexander, he would not make eye contact but his thumb was tracing gentle shapes onto my hand and that gave me reassurance, 'I'm sorry', I whispered and fought once again against my urge to cry, he squeezed my hand and I knew that was his way of saying that it was okay. 

In my head I had a hard time thinking that it was, his face in that moment and his lifeless figure afterwards haunted me, I think I could learn to forgive myself about that once but I knew one thing, it could never happen again, even if he stopped loving me, even if he shattered my heart into a million pieces, I could never even scratch his. 

I lent down and lightly kissed his cheek, and my other hand found its usual place in his curls, Warren came back, placing a bowl of soup and a glass of water at the table in front of us, he sat on the opposite couch to give us space, Alex sat up, he had a strange look in his eyes, 'I'm not giving you coffee', I glanced in between them both, and Alex let out a small sigh, I turned to Warren, 'advice, never cave in to the puppy face, he's not supposed to have caffeine', I chuckled, Alex reached out and took a sip of water, his hand was shaky and he grimaced afterwards, I swear this boy would drink anything so he could avoid drinking water. 

Observing his shakiness, I grabbed the bowl before he could, and he gave me a look, 'I'm feeding you, no objections', Warren laughed softly, 'welcome to the annoying Alex club', still unable to form his words properly, he could not object and so with a held back smile, I started feeding him, Warren had brought his laptop with him and he began to work on an assignment quietly. 

Once he finished eating, Alex rolled himself in blankets and placed his head on my shoulder, I grabbed the remote and put on a movie I knew brought him comfort, which was odd to say since it was a movie about a serial killer who killed people basically because he was bored, but I would not question his taste in that moment or ever, having been up for hours mixed with my fear of horror films caused me to unconsciously fall asleep, and even asleep I could still feel his hand tangled in mine, and that gave me the comforting sense that things were going to be okay.