Blink Outtakes

Visitation

This scene didn't advance the plot and stuck out like a sore thumb when I tried to have it as part of the main narrative, so I removed it. But I still like the idea of some closure for them both.

Set between Answers and Cold.

Scott thinks he hears a knock and so makes an effort to wake up and see what's going on. However, once he's awake, the first thing he needs to deal with isn't the knock but the pain radiating along his entire left side. He hisses though gritted teeth and blindly feels around until he finds the PCA button, looped through the bedrail to be within easy reach. He presses it and just the thought of its impending relief helps quite a bit.

The placebo effect really is amazing.

Then he opens his eyes. It's getting dark outside, late evening, and the lights in his room are dimmed so he can rest. There's a tall, broad figure in the doorway and it takes Scott a second to focus because it's not someone he was expecting to see. "Austin?"

"Hey Scott," Austin says. As always, he's managing to look both friendly and intimidating as hell at the same time; Scott's always admired that about him. "There's someone here to see you, but I wasn't sure if it was okay to let him in when your family is out getting dinner?"

Scott's confused as hell, and it only lessens a little when Alex steps out from behind Austin and hovers uncertainly.

"Um, hi. Sorry. I should have realized...I didn't mean to wake you...I just..." Alex waves a hand around vaguely, like Scott's supposed to understand what he means. Maybe once upon a time he would have.

"It's okay." Scott gestures towards the chair beside his bed. "Come in." He smiles at Austin, who nods and steps back out into the hallway out of view.

That's weird, right? Maybe?

Alex hesitates a few seconds more and then walks in and sits down. They stare at each other for a long, awkward moment. It gives Scott's meds a chance to start kicking in for real at least, so that's nice.

"You look good, Allie." Scott finally says, unable to take the silence any longer. And he does; his hair is casually swept up and back and he's wearing the maroon V-neck that does wonders for his skin tone with an open white button-down and Scott's favorite pair of his form-fitting jeans.

Previous favorite. Fuck.

Alex glances down at his outfit. "Yeah, sorry. I'm... well, I guess I'm not above trying to look good when visiting my ex. Which probably makes me a bit of an asshole." He looks back up at Scott. "You look..." Scott wonders just how blatantly he's about to be lied to. "Well, you've looked better."

Not bad. Accurate but not overly insulting. "Shut up, I look fantastic." Why hadn't he let Mitch do his hair for him that afternoon? He'd offered, but Scott hadn't seen the point. Admittedly, he didn't want Mitch hurting himself trying to style Scott's limp, greasy, gross hair one-handed, but mostly he'd refused because he'd been in pain and it made him grouchy as hell. "I admit my current style choices could use some work."

Blankets, bandages, bruises, hospital lighting, and the whole cyborq-esque shoulder apparatus aren't really his look.

He doesn't even know why he cares. He doesn't want Alex back, so it shouldn't matter in the slightest how attractive or unattractive he is right now. And yet somehow it does.

Apparently Alex isn't the only one not above trying to look good when seeing an ex.

Enough wallowing. "Um, why is Austin here?"

Alex snorts softly. "I don't know if you've noticed, Scott. But you're kind of famous."

Wow, really? He had no idea. "Okay?"

Alex's eyebrows both go up, like Scott's missing something obvious. "It's Austin's job to make sure crazy fans and potentially crazy ex-boyfriends don't hurt you," he says slowly, speaking like he would to a particularly dumb child. "As in you literally pay him to do that."

"Oh." When he puts it like that, Scott does feel a bit stupid. He looks away. "Right."

"Sorry," Alex says, and it sounds like he means it. "That came our harsher than I meant. I know thinking is probably harder than normal right now." Then he winces. "Wait, that's not what I meant. I meant you're in pain and probably on some serious meds and you just woke up so it makes sense if you're a bit slow–" The wince gets bigger. "Shit, that came out wrong, too. I just meant–"

Scott turns back to him and holds up a hand, smiling to take the sting out of his words. "Jesus, just stop talking."

"Yeah," Alex says, still wincing. "Yeah, good idea."

He's still adorable when he's mid-fuck up and it gives Scott a sharp pang of nostalgia. "I've missed you, Allie."

"Me too." Alex smiles sadly and looks away, staring out the window into the darkness. "But nothing's really changed, Scott. Has it?"

Scott can't help but glance at his shoulder. Who the fuck knows how much will have changed for him?

"God, I'm really killing it tonight." Alex runs a nervous hand through his hair. "That was insensitive as fuck. I just meant none of the reasons we didn't work out have changed, have they?"

That is true. They'd grown to want different things. Their interests and personalities worked for a while together, but it seems they weren't compatible for a lifetime. Even without the strain of Scott's previously unacknowledged feelings for Mitch, even if he and Mitch weren't on the cusp of becoming more, getting back together with Allie would likely have just hurt both of them even more in the long run.

Scott's silent for a long moment, then asks, "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to...I needed..." Alex sighs and runs both hands over his face before leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "Fuck, I thought you were dead."

Scott nods, biting at his lip. "They told me. I'm so sorry someone did that to you. Most of them are great but sometimes..."

"I'm well aware some of your fans are batshit, Scott."

It's Scott's turn to wince. Batshit fans didn't break them up, but they'd been an additional pressure on both of them, especially Alex. Some of the responses had been awful when the fandom had figured out they were together, and some were even more so when they'd obviously broken up.

Scott sometimes wonders if publicly acknowledging their relationship would have made all of it better or even worse. What he says is, "I'm still sorry."

"I know." Alex stares at his hands, rubbing his knuckles with his thumb. "I just needed to see for myself that you were okay. Relatively, I mean. I still...I still care about you. I was worried."

"I get that."

They sit in silence for a few more minutes. It's somehow not as awkward as before.

Eventually, Alex nods at the metal contraption on Scott's shoulder. "So how bad does that hurt?"

"Like a bitch," Scott admits. "The drugs help, but mostly I'm trying not to think about it." He reaches for his PCA and pushes it again. Then he smirks slightly. "How bad are you holding back a pun about how screwed I am?"

Alex's nose scrunches up and he huffs a laugh. "It's been seriously killing me."

Scott laughs as well, carefully. He made the mistake of laughing not-so-carefully a few hours ago when his Dad imitated Landon's facial expression during his recently accomplished first swimming lesson. To say Scott had regretted the experience was a serious understatement.

But he thinks they might have made a bit of a breakthrough here. "We going to be okay? As friends, I mean?"

Alex's face softens into a lopsided smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I think we'll get there."

Thoughts?