[Otto's POV]
Otto was watching Alex doze off.
Dozing off, in the middle of the school courtyard.
He was starting to remind her of a cartoon character, falling asleep were he was sitting, and scaring awake again when he was about to fall over.
"Are you alright?" Otto asked, worry lacing her voice. He looked up at her for an instant, simultaneously giving her a good view of his bright blue eyes. It calmed her.
"Good, he isn't relapsing," she thought to herself and instantly felt guilty for the thought.
"I'm fine," Alex grumbled as he rubbed an eye. "I've just been having trouble sleeping lately. It's starting to take its toll. You see... my dad tried to wash my teddybear a few weeks ago, completely ruining it in the process. I thought I'd get used to sleeping without it, but I guess I was wrong."
Otto frowned and glanced at Jessy and Jasper for a second, to see if it was supposed to be a joke that she didn't understand, but they seemed as confused as she felt.
"Damn it! I'm gonna be such a mess in class," he complained as he still hadn't ceased the rubbing in his eyes.
"Come on, lean on me," Otto said as she took a seat next to Alex and offered him her shoulder. "At least you won't have to worry about falling over."
"Thanks," Alex said, sounding sincerely grateful, as he snuggled close and hugged her arm.
He was asleep within seconds. Otto, Jessy and Jasper all stared at him incredulously.
"Congratulations, you've been promoted to teddybear," Jessy joked with a devilish grin. Otto ignored her, too bewildered by the fact that Alex could actually sleep in the middle of the courtyard in broad daylight.
"I've been in his room," Jasper said, frowning deeply. "There wasn't as much as a dust-bunny, let alone a whole teddybear."
Otto knew what Jasper meant. Alex had been acting strange, ever since his episode during the Christmas-holiday.
"Well, as long as you don't mind being the teddybear, I don't see the problem," Jessy said with a shrug.
"What now?" Jasper asked, as he exchanged a meaningful glance with Otto. "If he's sick, shouldn't he go home? Or shouldn't we call a doctor, or something?"
Otto had been wondering the same thing. Although she doubted that sending him home would change anything.
"Let him sleep for now," Otto said as she glanced at her watch and touched Alex's forehead. "I don't think he has a fever and it's still about fifteen minutes until classes start. We'll see how it goes when he wakes up."
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[Alex's POV]
"What's all this I hear about you and Otto?" Jasper asked Alex when the two of them were sitting alone for lunch break.
"What about it?" Alex asked, uncertain of what Jasper was asking.
"First I hear from Jessy she's caught the two of you supposedly kissing and now you fall asleep on her shoulder, for the whole school to see? What's going on man?"
Ah, so that's what Jasper was talking about. Alex didn't know how to answer for a second.
"Have you fallen in love with her?" Jasper continued when Alex didn't answer. Alex choked on his mouthful and started coughing.
"How did you know?" he asked once he could breath again.
"Let's say that I recognise the behaviour," Jasper said as he avoided looking at Alex. "It's the way your eyes are drawn to her, the way you always want to be near her, the way you want to protect her..."
Alex gasped.
"You too?!" he asked incredulously. It made Jasper chuckle.
"I've been in love with her for as long as I can remember," he said, smiling awkwardly.
"Man, I'm so sorry. I never noticed. Damn it! I'm such bad friend! I didn't mean to ... uhm ..." Alex tried to apologise but couldn't find the words.
"Are the words you're looking for perhaps 'I didn't mean to steal her from you'?" Jasper laughed a dry humourless laugh. "That would be implying that I ever had a chance with her. Honestly, she's much more attached to you than she ever was to me. Heck, she even refused to go watch a movie with me, but she goes shopping with you for half a day? Shit man, that hurts. Really not cool."
"She never saw me as a threat," Alex said. "If things went wrong, she only had to cut ties with me. Cutting her childhood friend from her life would be like cutting her heart out."
"Oh, is that what you've been telling yourself?" Jasper asked. "Why you've been hiding your feelings so desperately from her?"
Alex frowned and thought for a moment, letting Jasper's words sink in. Was he being ridiculous? She had gotten closer to him recently...
"Ha," a laugh suddenly escaped him.
"What?" Jasper asked surprised.
"I just now understood something she said a few months ago. Has she ever told you about how Thomas had reacted when she'd told him she wasn't interested?"
"She has, what about it?"
"Well, Thomas laughed in her face because he believed she wouldn't reject him. He was that certain she'd like him back."
Jasper's eyes widened in realisation. "No! No! That was a completely different situation-"
"How, Jasper?" Alex interrupted him. "How is this different from back then? Are you going to tell me she wasn't this close to him? Because that's not what she told me. I can't just go and assume that she likes me back! I don't want to ruin what we have now. I'm SO afraid that she'll run away once I tell her."
Jasper watched him as he dragged a hand through his hair.
"So you're not going to risk it?" he asked after a moment of silence. "Not even if it kills you?"
"It won't kill me," Alex chuckled.
"Really? Then why aren't you sleeping lately?" Jasper countered.
"That's-! Shit. Not just that, I promise," Alex cursed. How embarrassing, being bested by Jasper in a conversation.
"Then what else is bothering you? Talk to me," Jasper said, his voice was laced with worry.
"Ugh, were to start," Alex mumbled.
"Anywhere," Jasper pushed. He wasn't going to let him off easily. Alex thought about it for a second. Why couldn't he sleep at night?
Well, his (apparently) parasitic nature to electricity was definitely bothering him. Whenever he felt weak, he felt himself drawn to electrical devices. It translated itself in playing hours of games he didn't care about, just to feel better.
And then he hadn't even started about the whole magic-business. He wanted to tell his dad, but he couldn't predict his reaction and that scared him. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't remembered anything he'd learned in ancient Egypt.
"Well, I guess all of it can be traced back to my relapse a few weeks ago," he finally put his worries into words.
"Oh," Jasper mumbled, probably realising that he was way in over his head.
"Don't worry, I won't bother you with the details," Alex chuckled at Jasper's reaction. "It's just that; here I thought I had finally outgrown this freaking nameless disease, just to be caught off guard."
Alex knew he was rambling, but now that he'd started, it all came pouring out. It felt good to voice his worries for once.
"I was barely in time to call my dad this time," he continued. "And I even dragged Otto down with me. She's been in a coma for a freaking three whole days! I was in her room when she flat-lined herself. I really thought I had killed her."
"Shit, Alex. No wonder you're not sleeping," Jasper said sincerely. "Otto's coma wasn't your fault. She'd hit her head on a rock, that has nothing to do with you. And honestly, I don't think that whatever is plaguing you is contagious, because I definitely would have been dead already if it had been."
That surprised Alex. It was simultaneously the rudest and most attentive thing anyone had ever said to him.
"You think?" he asked doubtfully.
"Yeah, I do," Jasper answered with a smile. "Honestly, it sounds to me like you need to put your mind off of things. Oh! I know just the thing! Let's hold a gaming marathon?!"
Alex stared at his friend who's eyes had gone wide with gleeful anticipation. He almost felt sorry for letting him down.
"Although that does sound like a great idea," he said. "I'm already gaming too much as it is."
"Ok," Jasper hummed as he thought. "Then maybe not a digital sport. Maybe you could do something physically tiring?"
"That's actually not a bad idea," Alex said incredulously. "I might."
"Why did you have to make it sound like I'm an idiot?" Jasper asked offended.
"Because you are," Alex laughed, feeling better already.