Alex and Felix (LGBT) ?

Part 2

Alex wrinkled his nose—because what kind of nickname was that—but he dutifully started going through the links, skimming over them quickly in case he had any questions. He was still a little confused about Harvard referencing when it was something other than a website or a book but the links provided helpful examples. It was amazing how useful the internet could be when he knew where to look.

Felix came back, leaning over the back of the couch, and humming. "Oh, referencing, bane of my life."

"I've never referenced," Alex said, beginning to make notes of the links in his notepad.

"I thought you had essays in A level Economics."

"I didn't do the A level. I'm kind of regretting that now."

Felix hummed again. "Interesting. I was doing essays in high school."

"Really, when you were still such a cute little kitten?"

"If you're going to make cat jokes at my expense, I have so many ginger jokes I could make back."

He grinned. "Try it, I've heard them all."

Felix frowned, looking at him in concern. "That's not cool, you know."

"It's fine, it was just banter and I gave as good as I got. That said, though, high school is not a thing I miss at all."

"I wouldn't go back there for all the love in the world. For one thing, caffeine was banned and you'd get a detention for sneaking an energy drink."

"I couldn't live without caffeine."

"Another thing we have in common. We should be best friends or something."

The kettle clicked and Felix followed the noise into the kitchen. Alex didn't want to stay in the living room alone so he made his way over as well, feeling already more at home when he saw a cup with Merida on it.

"You didn't strike me as a Disney princess kind of guy."

"I have three sisters," Felix said in reply, tipping in a generous amount of coffee. "They make my life hell. Well, I suppose they have their moments but never tell them I said that or I won't be able to look them in the eye."

"Where would I ever meet them?"

Felix shivered in an exaggerated fashion. "They have a scary habit of popping in unannounced and trying to ruin my life."

"My heart breaks."

"Careful, with that kind of tone, I might not want to give you coffee."

Alex reached out for the Merida cup. "That is my cup! I'm Scottish and a redhead, just like her."

"Well, I can't argue with that."

Alex curled his fingers around the warmth happily, taking a sip, and quickly reeling back. "What happened to two sugars?"

"What are you, weak? Drink your coffee."

He looked at him flatly.

"Sorry." Felix said, utterly repentant. "But we are all out of sugar right now. One of my flatmates used it up when she was baking and we haven't got anything till the Saturday when it's grocery delivery. Do you want honey instead?"

"Does that work?"

"Let's find out."

Honey wasn't the same as sugar, Alex decided, but it was a close equivalent and his coffee was sweet enough to be drinkable. It was perhaps too sweet, as Felix said when he had a taste, but Alex had something of a sugar addiction and he hunkered down with his cup on the couch of the living room.

"Your flat is really nice," he said, "we don't have a space like this in ours. We have to walk to the main building if we want somewhere other than the kitchen to hang out or drink."

"You should come over and play drinking games here, then," Felix said, "we're always up for more people to go out with."

"Scotty and Ellie would like that. They're always looking for more people to be drunk with because three is so far from a crowd that it's not even funny."

He laughed. "You should give me your number and we can arrange something. Your actual number, this time."

Alex groaned, holding his head in his hands. "I swear I'm not that scatterbrained, usually."

"Here, give me your phone. I'll do it."

He handed it over, far too used by now to trusting relative strangers with his phone, "The passcode is four zeros."

"Isn't that really unsafe?"

He shrugged. "I am not getting locked out of my phone for a day just because Ellie keeps guessing the wrong combinations."

"Is that something she does a lot?"

"She's been my best friend since forever, the closest thing I'll ever have to a sister, so, yeah, she does it a lot."

"She sounds nice, though."

Alex couldn't help but smile, genuinely warm. "She's the best."

After his coffee, he didn't stay for much longer. For all he wanted to, he really needed to go home and work on his essay. He texted Felix for the first few days after crashing at his place but the texts petered out as their lectures and essays left them both slammed. It was just another friendship that didn't work out, something that was synonymous with Freshers' week, so he didn't pay much thought to it.

Until Felix called.

"Hey, it's Felix," he said, speech a little slurred. "Can I cash in on that favour now?"

"It's two am in the morning."

"Is that a no?"

"No, it's okay," Alex said, because he still hadn't gone to sleep yet. "Are you drunk?"

"A little? Like, I'm not so bad but my friend has the keys to my flat, and I need somewhere to crash. I could probably walk to where you are. I think I remember it, you lived with the boy ... with the hair?"

Alex sighed, grabbing his jacket and keys. "Tell me where you are and I'll come and get you."

"So, you know that place where the safety bus drops people off?"

"You mean outside the students' union?"

"Yeah, I was there but then I saw this cat and I went to follow it and I think I'm a little bit lost right now. Like, all I can see is this massive blown up picture of that new superhero movie."

"So you're near the university cinema," Alex said, mostly to himself. "Stay there, okay?"

"I'll be waiting."

Alex found him easily enough because his team had been scarily efficient when they took part in the scavenger hunt in Freshers' and they'd learnt all the buildings on campus pretty quickly in order to win. Besides, there really weren't that many other people out so late at night. Felix was pretty tipsy, almost falling over as soon as he stood, so it was a battle in itself to get him back into Alex's halls and then up the stairs to his floor. He gave up on trying to make him brush his teeth but he did make sure he drank two full glasses of water before letting him get into his bed.

It was a single so he manoeuvred Felix into a more comfortable position, making him into the little spoon because he was not going to be vomited on, and wrapping his arms around him loosely because he didn't know where else to put them. And, for all that it should've been, it didn't feel weird and but instead he felt content and warm and was only vaguely concerned when Felix twisted in his sleep and pressed his nose against Alex's neck. There was a soft exhale of air, lips pressing against the skin of his collarbones in a kiss, and Alex had huffed, pushing him away because, ew, drool.

That was the first time they slept together; it wouldn't be the last.