7. Get out

Ed heard screaming and shouting from next door. It hadn't been the first time and probably wouldn't be the last because Alex and his mother seemed to almost fight every other day.

He couldn't understand what they were arguing about, because they spoke russian with each other but he could still tell that it caused them to be constantly at each other's throat.

But being the coward that he was Ed never asked Alex about it. Justifying it by telling himself that it was none of his business.

Even though he still subconsciously keeped an eye on the boy making sure that there fights where only verbal.

Ofcourse Ed knew that he couldn't be sure but he at least hoped that because of his own experiences he would be able to tell if Alex got beaten at home or not.

Ed shook his head and went to his bathroom to take a shower, hoping that the sound of the water would be able to drown out there yelling that cost him to remember things he would rather like to forget.

He turned on the light and got greeted by the hideous snot green tiles that where properly older than him.

If it had been his decision he would have changed them but because the apartment was only rented he wasn't allowed to do so.

Ed took of his clothes and looked into the mirror above the sink.

Years ago people had called him handsome but now with the deep circles under his eyes, his crooked nose had been broken one to many times, the yellowish teeth from all the smoking and the wrinkles on his face that made him look even older than he actually was nobody in there right mind would ever call him that.

Even his once muscular body had became bloated and hairy from a combination of to much beer and a complete lack of self care.

"What happened to you?" He asked his reflection and pushed back a strain of his dirty blood hair.

Noticing his over grown, unkempt beard he then added with a chuckle "At least shave. You lazy pig."

With a tired smile Ed turned away and got into the shower.

He had just started to enjoy the warm water when the doorbell rang.

Ed paused for a moment but then just continued to apply shampoo to his hair.

When he was about to rinse it out it rang again and after just a few seconds another ring.

Ed swore under his breath and hurried to get the shampoo out, knowing that the person probably wouldn't stop until he answered the door.

He stepped out of the shower and put a towel around his hips. Ed didn't even bother with dry himself of before he stormed to the door and swung it open, ready to tell the person to fuck off.

But when he saw Alex standing there, with his eyes all puffy and his right cheek having a red marking in the form of a hand on it, Ed emidietley paused.

"Sorry to...I'm sorry...uhm..." the boy stammered while keeping him head down.

Ed shook his head, his anger about the disturbance now completely gone.

"Don't. Just get in I have to finish my shower."

Alex looked up and was about to thank Ed for his kindness but as soon as he saw the men his mind went blank.

The guy was except for an almost to small towel around his waist completely naked giving Alex the opportunity to see the his massive, hairy body in all it's glory.

Sure he wasn't the fittest but Alex couldn't give less of a shit about that because to him this huge bear of a man was the definition of real masculinity.

His eyes wandered from the man's bare chest lower to the towel, imagining how the the proportions of his huge body would most likely correlate to the size of the things underneath the fabric.

Alex didn't even noticed how long he had been starring until Ed grabbed his shoulder and shoved him inside.

"Get inside and for fucks sake stop drooling, you weirdo!"

Ed went back, quickly finishing his shower while Alex set down on the couch.

When he was done with it downed on him that he actually had no idea how he was going to approach the topic of Alex mother obviously having hit her son.

He remembered that he had planned to trim his beard, so he did just that, hoping that it would give him enough time to come up with an idea.

Ed walked into the livingroom after having done anything to take even longer.

He still hadn't been able to come up with anything but he hoped that Alex would just start talking by himself.

It took almost fifteen minutes of awkward silence before Ed realized that that wasn't the case.

"So uhm... you wanna talk?" He tried but only got a no in response.

"Do you want a beer?" He asked, hoping Alex would say yes so he could get himself one too.

"Uhm...no thanks."

After even more awkward silence between them Alex finally spoke up again saying that he wanted to go home.

"Okay." Ed mumbled feeling relieved but also slightly disappointed that he hadn't been able to be of any help.

"Can you drive me?" Alex asked while giving Ed the cutest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen, making it near impossible to refuse.

"Sure but... you live next door so..."

"I meant can you drive me to my actual home." Alex elaborated.

Ed glanced quickly over to his clock, realizing it was already late evening but

atfer a short moment of consideration he sight and nodded.

"Sure kid."

They went downstairs and after a short walk down the street got to Ed's old car.

It was already more then a decade old and had many scratches and indents but it still worked so he had never bothered getting a new one.

Alex got into the passenger seat and told Ed the address of what he still considered to be his home.

He knew that i would take around two hours to get there but he didn't minded it because he felt happy about spending the time with Ed, even though he didn't expect the men to say much.

Noticing the necklace with a metal plate on it hanging from the rearview mirror he asked if Ed had been in the army, what the guy answered with a simple grunt.

"That's cool." Alex said nonchalantly making Ed flinch.

"There is nothing cool about war. It's just ugly and nasty." Ed mumbled.

Alex figured that this was probably not the best topic to talk about so he tried to ask other things but unsurprisingly got shot down every time.

After a while they finally reached Alex home.

The boy thanked Ed for driving him and then got out.

He walked over to a big house with a nice front lawn and knocked on the door.

Ed was about to drive off when he took one last look at Alex and saw that someone had opened the door and the boy seemed definitely not happy about seeing her.