Autumn
Sometime in the early morning, when the burst of Mara’s alarm through the wall rouses him briefly, Ryan finds himself staring at Alex’s sleeping face. The black eye and the bruising along his jaw seem even darker now, stark in the grey light, and Ryan vaguely wonders whether Alex’s parents know that he’s left yet.
He doesn’t feel any anger now towards Alex’s father. Or his mother, for that matter. It’s too old, a pattern he’s seen repeated for too many summers, to waste more energy on. At the very least, Alex will spend more time away from home now, to come and see him, and if…
He absently ghosts his fingers over the swollen jaw, and Alex twitches away before stirring and blinking blurred eyes at him.
“Sorry,” Ryan murmurs. It seems sinful to raise his voice, to disturb the temp
