When Avi woke up the next morning, he found himself alone in Scott's bed. He was confused for a moment because he hadn't heard his alarm and it was ten minutes past his usual get-up time. So he jumped out the bed, put on his bathrobe and went downstairs in search of his boyfriend.
"Good morning, Scott," he said carefully when he saw the blonde standing in the kitchen.
"Morning" he returned. "Did you sleep well?"
"I did. But I think I forgot to set my alarm" Avi returned. He scratched his head and stifled a yawn.
"Well, you are awake now. But I would've woke you up in time for breakfast. We're having eggs and toast" Scott replied.
Avi noticed that his boyfriend still sounded a bit dull. He wasn't back to his usual self, yet and the bearded man made a mental note to be more careful with him. "That sounds nice" he commented and smiled. "Shall I set the table? We have enough time for a calm breakfast, don't we?"
Scott shrugged his shoulders. "I still need to take a shower."
"So do I" Avi replied. "What if we have breakfast and then you go and take a shower while I tidy up and then I'll shower? It's not a hair wash day so I won't take that long."
"Sure," Scott said.
Avi forced himself to keep smiling. Usually, Scott would have offered to shower together to save time or at least said something else but he was so indifferent and while Avi didn't want to be bothered by it, there still was an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Good, I'll set the table then," he said and left Scott in the kitchen.
Breakfast itself was a quiet affair. Avi tried talking to Scott, about mundane topics like movies he wanted to watch and what they were going to work on in the studio.
And Scott replied, but it was clear that he didn't really feel like talking and once they were finished with breakfast, he got up and carried his plate and mug inside.
"I can tidy up, you go and take your shower," Avi said softly while he followed his boyfriend back into the kitchen.
"There's no need to. You shower first. Your hair needs longer to dry" Scott returned and opened the dishwasher.
"I-" Avi wanted to tell Scott what he had told him before breakfast, that he didn't have to wash his hair, but he knew that Scott wouldn't care. He was lost in his mind and Avi decided to just go with it for the moment, while still keeping an eye on him. "Sure, I'll go. Thank you for cleaning."
After he had showered and put on the spare set of clothes he had at Scott's place, he waited for the blonde to finish in the bathroom. While he was doing so, he tried to distract himself from the whirlwind of thoughts going on in his mind to no avail. He strolled through Scott's garden and then sat down on the sofa.
Scott's journal was lying right in front of him on the coffee table and Avi knew that there might be the answer to why Scott was acting off. It would be so easy to just take it and read it.
"Ready to head out?" Avi jumped and turned around when he heard Scott's voice behind him.
"Sure," he said and quickly got up.
"Did I scare you?" Scott asked.
"No," Avi said and smiled at him while he still tried to push away any thought of reading Scott's journal. "I was just lost in my thoughts. Shall we? I think it's my turn to pay for coffee and tea today."
"Alright, let's hope traffic is on our side" Scott returned and grabbed his keys.
~
The studio session went good, but Scott's unusual quietness didn't go unnoticed by his friends.
"Avi? Did you fight?" Mitch asked when Scott and Kirstie had left the studio to get a new round of drinks.
"No, not at all" Avi returned. He then told Mitch and Kevin about the letter regarding the hearing and about how Scott's mood and behaviour had changed completely.
"Do you know when he is going to Rose for the next time? If he wrote something in his journal and it hasn't gotten better he probably needs advice from her" Mitch mused.
"Yeah, I hope so" Avi returned. "He is going there on Saturday morning, she scheduled him in for additional meetings so they can prepare for the hearing. But it's three more days till then and I don't know what I can do to help him."
"Did you ask him?" Kevin tried.
"Even if he did, if Scott doesn't want to talk about something he just stays quiet" Mitch added. "He is the kind of guy to either cry and talk or bottle everything up and try to not think about it too much."
"Yeah and that is my main problem. I can deal with tears and screaming and staying up the whole night to listen to him, but I just don't know what to do with him being quiet and staring at the wall" Avi said. He sighed. "I even thought briefly about reading his journal just to find out what he is thinking about." He ducked his head when both of his friends looked at him in shock.
"But you didn't?" Mitch asked.
"Of course I didn't" Avi replied. "I just thought that maybe it would make things easier for me. Because the situation right now is just too much."
"Maybe you should take a break yourself. I can take care of Scott for a day or two" Mitch offered. "You go home tonight and let me worry about him."
"And you can sleep" Kevin chimed in. "I'm sorry man, but you look like shit."
"Yeah, I don't think that it will get better until he gets better" Avi returned and shrugged his shoulders. "But I-"
He stopped when the door opened and Scott stormed inside.
"That was quick" Avi commented, but he was taken aback when the blonde didn't even look at him. He looked at Kirstie and noticed immediately what was wrong. "Wait, how much did you hear?"
"Enough for me to understand that me not being the bright and happy boyfriend is apparently bothering you," Scott said.
"Scott, that's not what I meant. It's just-"
"I don't care. I'm sorry that I am going through a rough patch right now and that it is not nice, but don't make this about you" Scott continued.
"Scott, you're being unreasonable" Mitch tried. "He is just a bit worried."
"Yeah, and he is making it all about himself. And I've had one man who made everything about himself, I don't need another one." He grabbed his bag from the ground and walked out of the door. "I need a break."
~~~~
