Alex fidgeted a little bit again, looking ill at ease and out of place in Gabe's home. He looked up, and a ghost flickered through the walls. His eyes widened, and he closed them quickly, mumbling "one two three" under his breath again.
Gabe's eyebrows knitted together when he saw the change in Alex.
"What happened?" he asked, concerned.
He shook his head quickly. "Nothing." he said softly, hands tightening up a little bit. He didn't want to say. Gabe would think he was crazy. Still crazy. If he didn't already.
"Alex," Gabe said, calmly but a bit assertive, "this kind of response doesn't come from just nothing. Please, I need to know."
Alex shook his head again. "Nothing you need to worry about." He said quickly. "R-really."
"Alex," Gabe said again, looking directly at him.
"I want to help, but I can't if you don't tell me."
"Nothing you can do." Alex replied softly, pressing the heels of his hands to his forehead.
"Surely there must be something," Gabe said gently.
Alex shook his head quickly. "No." He replied softly. He opened his eyes and peeked at where the ghost had been, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that it was gone.
Gabe saw Alex glace up, looking where his eyes were trained even though he knew he probably wouldn't see anything. He turned back to Alex.
"Better?" He asked.
Alex nodded a little. "Yeah." He said softly, relaxing a little and dropping his hands down again.
Gabe sighed in relief.
"Great!"
Alex cleared his throat softly, and nodded a little. "Sorry." He said quietly. He closed his eyes for a moment.
"Don't be," Gabe said one again. He has a feeling he'd had to say that a lot with the amount of times Alex apologized.
"It's obviously something you don't have control over, whatever it is."
Alex nodded slightly. "Alright." he replied in a soft voice. He ran a hand through his hair, and it came out of the tie he had put it in earlier.
Gabe saw Alex's hair come undone, unable to look away for a moment. Finally, he blinked, trying to clear the horrid thoughts of blasphemy away.
Alex picked the hair tie up and put it in his pocket with a soft sigh. He stretched, peeking over at Gabe for a moment. He's sort of attractive… Part of his mind whispered. He shook his head quickly. No. He'll probably end up like Henry.
"Something wrong?" Gabe asked when he saw agreed shake his head. He tilted his own, looking at him calmly.
"No." Alex replied. "Just, ah…thinking." he couldn't tell Gabe that he was a sodomite. He would be kicked out.
"Okay then," Gabe said, looking at Alex a moment more before getting up and going to the kitchen.
"You hungry? It's almost dinner time." Gabe didn't have much to offer, but they could scrape by if he worked a few more hours every day.
Alex shrugged slightly. "I…sort of." he replied slowly. He ran a hand through his hair.
"Okay then…" Gabe said to himself quietly.
"You okay with eating since of the leftovers from the bar?" He stuck his head out of the kitchen doorway.
Alex nodded. "Yeah. That's fine." he replied softly, getting up to help out.
"Great." Gabe ducks back into the kitchen, pulling the food out.
Alex watched him go, biting his lip a little and fidgeting with his jacket.
"Here," Gabe said, handing over Alex's leftover food.
Alex took it. "Thank you." he said softly. "For…everything." he bit his lip again, looking over at Gabe.
"You're welcome," Gabe said, turning around and giving Alex a kind, warm smile.
Alex let out a soft breath, and gave a tiny, hesitant smile in return.
Gabe's smile brightened even more when Alex returned it, and then he turned to get his own dinner of bread and a tiny piece of meat.