Last First Kiss

Hang in There

//TW: Mention of smoking and drinking\\

Elijah's POV

Alex and I walked out of the hospital to the car. I held onto his arm so I didn't fall. I just finished my treatment for the day. It took a nap throughout the whole thing, hoping I wouldn't be as tired afterwards. It didn't work.

We got in the car and drove home. I went straight to bed while Alex made himself something for lunch.

When I woke up, the room felt colder even though I was covered in blankets. I got up and looked around the apartment. Alex wasn't there.

I glanced over at the door to the balcony. I looked out and saw Alex sitting outside. I opened the door and he shot around to look at me.

"Oh! Uh- I didn't expect you to be awake," He stuttered. I saw a beer bottle in his hand. I sighed, pulled up a chair, and sat down.

We both stayed silent. Alex put the bottle by his foot. He clenched his fists and stared at the floor.

"I'm mad at you because I'm worried you know," I mumbled. He looked at me. "I'll make a deal with you. If I keep going with treatment, you quit smoking and drinking." I held out my hand. He looked at my outstretched hand then at me.

"Those are very different things. How about-"

"No it's not. Both can lead to death." Alex's eyes widened. He shook my hand and we both went silent again.

Alex picked up the bottle. He dumped it out and smashed the bottle on the ground. I looked over at him.

"You didn't need to do that last bit," I laughed. Alex looked back down at the mess he made.

"Yeah. I'll go get the dustpan." He stood up and went to leave. Before he did so, I grabbed his arm and pointed at the sky.

"It's snowing," I cheered. He looked up as small snowflakes fell from the sky. "Looks like a white Christmas this year!"

"I guess so," Alex laughed. "Now get back inside before you get sick...er."

ˇ°—•<3•—°ˇ

I watched as Alex struggled to decorate a small tree he'd bought. He was attempting to put multi-colored lights around it. It wasn't working too well for him.

I laid on the couch, my head propped up by pillows and my feet on one of the arms of the couch. Cereal laid on top of me.

Alex groaned and put the tangled lights down. I folded my legs in so he could sit. He began to pet Cereal to calm down. I put him on Alex's lap and got up. I walked back over with a small tray.

I handed Alex one of the mugs that sat on it. I put the tray down and took the other.

"Drink some cocoa and watch Christmas movies with me. You can fix the tree later." I said. Alex laid out on the couch. Him being 6ft, covered the whole couch.

"I'm not moving," He laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"I was sitting there first," I nudged him. He shook his head.

"Well you got up. The couch was fair game." He put his mug down and put his arms behind his head.

I put my mug down as well. I laid on top of him, laying my head on his chest.

"Fine," He groaned playfully. "I'm only letting you stay because it's cold and you're warm." He wrapped his arms around me. I laughed and grabbed the remote.

It wasn't long before we found a festive movie to watch. It also wasn't long before I heard Alex snoring.

"We've only watched two movies," I laughed. I looked up at him. His hair was growing back. I touched the wig I had on. It was green to match the season. I sighed and rested my head on Alex's chest again.

The doctor's haven't been able to tell if I'm getting better or not. Not a good sign. I looked at the tree.

"I'll make it to Christmas," I mumbled. I heard Cereal meow. He jumped up and laid next to me. I lightly hugged him, turned off the TV, and went to bed.

ˇ°—•<3•—°ˇ

"Merry Christmas!" Alex called as I walked out of my room. I rubbed my eyes and looked over at our small tree. Three wrapped gifts sat under it.

We went over and sat down.

"I say we open them at the same time," Alex said. He handed me one of the boxes. I gave him another.

"3, 2, 1, go!"

I tore off the wrapping paper and opened the cardboard box. A pair of pajama pants with small cats wearing Santa hats was folding inside.

I looked up at Alex. He took the same pair of pajama pants out of his box.

"Well," I smiled. "Looks like we can match now." We both laughed. I grabbed the other present and placed it in front of Cereal. He looked at it confused then began to lightly bite at it.

He tore off a large piece of wrapping paper so I got the rest off for him. I held a small rat toy. I squished it and it made a squeaking sound. Cereal's ears stood up and he stared at the toy, his tail slowly moving.

I lowered it and he pounced on my hand. He took the toy and played with it.

"Hey you go the right size!" Alex cheered. I looked over at his room. He had the pajama pants on that I'd gotten on. "Why don't you put yours on and we'll go out to look at the city?" I nodded and went into my room.

I got changed and we went outside. Alex held my hand as we walked on the sidewalk towards the center of the city.

There was a large tree that you could see from a few blocks down. There were so many lights on it that you couldn't even count. We stayed in the center of town, looking at the stores with their decorations up.

Alex and I had gone to the hair salon a few days ago. We bought hair dye and dyed one of the wigs so it was both green and red. A few people commented on it as well as our matching pajama pants.

"I never asked you yet, why do you wear pajama pants all the time?" Alex asked as we walked back to the apartment. I looked up at him and thought for a moment.

"Because if I'm going to feel uncomfortable all the time due to a sickness, I'm not going to wear scratchy clothes to make me more uncomfortable," I said. "Plus it's fun." Alex laughed softly.

"Yeah, it is fun."