6. Good Morning

Alex rushed to the elevators but to his distress he saw that both of them were out of order.

He was already running late for school and definitely didn't needed this right now.

With a sigh he went towards the staircase, already feeling exhausted just by the thought of having to walk down nine floor and then probably up again after coming home from school.

Alex hopped down the stairs, taking two at a time but when he reached the platform between the fifth and fourth floor he emidietley stopped in his tracks.

What he saw made his heart drop. He held his breath and slowly took a step forward towards the seemingly lifeless body that was slumped together in the corner.

"Ed?" He asked, his voice barely more then a wisper.

There was no reaction from the larger men so Alex slowly creeped forward and kneeled down in front of him.

He reached out his shaking hand and lightly taped Ed on the shoulder.

"Please Ed don't..."

One tear after the othe run down his cheeks and his entire body trembled in fear of having just lost the only person in his life that he at least considered to be his friend.

But then the man finally opened his eyes and Alex was overwhelmed by a feeling of complete euphoria.

Before Ed had even the time to comprehend what was going on or where he was, Alex had flung himself at him and wrapped his arms tightly around his neck.

Ed was about to push him off but then he noticed that the boy was crying like a waterfall. So instead he decided to just let the kid do what he wanted, at least until he had calmed down.

When he finally did Ed, who still had no idea how he ended up in the staircase asked him what was going on.

Alex lifted his head from Ed's shoulder and looked at the men as if he was insane for even having to ask such a stupid question.

"I thought you were dead!" He yelled and slapped the guys upper arm.

Ed chuckled.

"No not quite yet I'm afraid. I mean unless hell looks like a concrete slap housing block, then maybe..." He trailed off, think that that would also make Alex his personal demon, who would torment him for the rest of eternity.

The thought made him giggle even more and earning him another slap on the arm.

"This isn't funny!" Alex protested and whipped his tears away with his sleeve. Ed nodded even though he still couldn't get rid of the stupid grin on his face.

Then they heard footsteps coming down the stairs making them both look up.

A few seconds later a young woman with a hijab came into view.

She stopped at the platform above them, giving them a shocked stare and finally making Ed realize how there situation must looked without the context.

Anybody would be weirded out if they saw a middle aged, burley drunkard with a teenage boy on his lap in a dimly lit stairwell.

Ed thought to himself and grabbed around Alex waist and moved him to the side.

She slowly moved down the stairs, without taking her eyes off of them for even a second.

"Good morning." Alex greeted her seemingly still  unaware of the awkward situation.

"Uhm... good morning." She polity replied and then rushed past them.

Then Alex turned his attention back to the big guy. "Why are you here? Are you hurt?" He asked and tilted his head so he could examine Ed from all angles to see if he was hurt somewhere.

Ed looked away and sighed.

"No."

He then went mentally through the possible ways of how he could have ended up passed out in the corner of the staircase.

"I probably gotten a little bit to drunk yesterday but I don't know why exactly I'm..."

"The elevators aren't working." Alex interrupted, making Ed think about it for a moment. He grunted, deeming it as the most like reason why he hadn't been able to make it home in his drunken state.

"So...uhm" Ed tried to change the subject of there conversation, not wanting to dive deeper into the topic of his drinking habits but he didn't know what else they could talk about.

So when finally a question came to mind he just blurted it out without thinking much about it.

"So you where really worried about me?"

Alex gave him an 'are you stupid?!' look and shook his head in disbelieve.

"Yes ofcourse!" The boy almost yelled.

"Why?" Ed requested to know. He just couldn't wrap his head around the idea that someone would worry about him.

"Because we are Friends!"

Ed raised his eyebrows and was about to say that they weren't but then decided to just let it slide and instead asked "Yeah but why?"

The boy looked at him confused not understanding why Ed was questioning there friendship.

"What do you mean?"

Ed leaned his head against the wall and looken down at the confused boy.

His other friends that he had known for years by now would probably not give a shit if he had gotten hurt while being drunk. They would have rather used that opportunity to take his pack of cigarettes or would have just let him left but definitely none of them would have cried for him like this.

"Why do you want to be friends with me?" He then asked with slight hint of sadness in his voice.

"Uhm well... I... I just want to. Okay?!" Alex stuttered, feeling for some reason very insecure about Ed's questioning.

He definitely did wanted to be Ed's friend but he didn't exactly know why. All he knew was that the big guy didn't seem to judge him no matter how awkward or strange he behaved and that made him feel save and accepted, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

But then Ed asked something else that made Alex panik.

"Is it really just friendship that you want?"

The boy looked at the older man in shock, his face turning a deep shade of red.

He opened and shut his mouth multiple times, clearly not able to get what he wanted to say over his lips.

After numerous attempts he just looked away and got to his feet while mumbeling "I have to go to school."

He grabbed his back and was already a set of stairs down when he heard Ed say something that made him back over his shoulder for a moment before he continued to leave.

"Maybe in another lifetime. Maybe at another time. Whatever it is between you and me."