#elvey

Davey slowly flips the page of his book. He cringes at the sound of paper crinkling, looking over to see if it woke his boyfriend up. Elmer seems undisturbed, his chest still rising and falling. His eyes are closed, his face relaxed and peaceful.

The only time Elmer is entirely still is when he’s sleeping. When he’s awake, he’s bouncing off the walls and talking non-stop. He’s basically the human version of a golden retriever. This may sound like a bad thing, but it’s actually incredibly adorable. Just ask Davey, who is completely smitten.

“No!” Davey looks over, closing his book. Elmer kicks his leg out, a whimper escaping from his throat. “Please. No.” his voice cracks. He throws an arm over his face. “Leave me alone! Leave me alone!” he shouts. A tear runs down his face, his body damp with sweat. 

“Hey, Elmer. Wake up, sweetheart. It’s just me. It’s a nightmare.” Davey gently shakes his boyfriend. Elmer’s eyes flutter open, and then they go wide. He sits straight up. His chest heaves. “It’s okay. You’re safe.” Davey whispers. 

Elmer practically throws himself onto Davey. He wraps his arms around him, fists balled up in the fabric of his shirt. “Just breathe. I’ve got you.” Davey runs a calming hand through Elmer’s hair, whispering calming words into his ear. Little by little, Elmer calms down. He pulls away and hangs his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“You had a nightmare. It happens. Do you wanna talk about it?” Elmer hesitates for a moment before nodding. “I was back at the refuge. There wasn’t any sort of law there. No honor, no rules. I was six, tiny, starving. I did what I had to do to survive. The others were doing the same. So we fought for everything. I stole some bread, they stole it back. They picked on me because I couldn’t fight back. I thought I was going to die in there.”

Davey holds Elmer’s hand as he talks to ground him. “I got out of there. But I still have nightmares about it. I was hoping you wouldn’t have to see one.” Elmer can’t look Davey in the eye. Davey gently tips Elmer’s head up. “You don’t gotta be ashamed. I get nightmares too. Everyone does.”

Elmer bites his lip. “You ain’t gotta lie. I know it’s weak, and weakness gets you killed-” Davey shakes his head. “This isn’t weak. You aren’t weak. You’re one of the bravest people I know, Elmer. So don’t you go talking bad about yourself. I won’t stand for it.” Elmer chuckles quietly, a small smile appearing on his face.

TW: violence

ELMER’S POV:

I made twenty cents today! I can buy Davey his favorite pastry from the bakery on the way home and still have enough left over for dinner. I count the coins again. They clink into my palm, and the silver faces stare up at me. 

“Hey. Kid. Nice stack of coins you got there.” I whirl around. Two men stand in front of me. They’re tough, the kind of guys you don’t want to meet in an alley. Which is where I happen to be right now. Just my luck.

“I don’t want any trouble. Just leave me alone, alright?” The men chuckle and elbow each other. “We got a tough guy. Now, you gonna hand over those coins or not?” I back up, but they follow. I consider yelling for Jack or Albert or someone, but decide against it. They won’t hear me anyway.

“Give us the coins, kid.” I don’t move. The coins are tucked tight in my palm, the ridges cutting into my skin. The mugger repeats his order. I still stand frozen. The man lunges at me, knocking me to the ground. 

My head hits the cobblestone with a crack and I see stars. A fit hits my cheek and a foot hits my ribs. I try to fight back, but I’m dizzy and my arms are held down. The blows keep coming, and the pain just melds together. I’m pretty sure my nose is broken. 

I feel the coins being ripped from my palm. The man peels my fingers back, forcing them open. Once they get what they wanted, they leave me. I try to sit up but fall right back down. It hurts to breathe. I’m just gonna close my eyes for a minute. Just a minute.

                                                   ****************

“Elmer! Elmer, wake up. Please wake up.” I blink my eyes open. I see a very blurry Davey above me. “Davey?” I choke out. “Oh, thank God. It’s me. I’m gonna get you back to the lodging house, alright? You’re okay.” His voice sounds panicked. I’m not quite sure why. His arms scoop me up. I curl against him. He’s warm. I can hear his heart beat. It’s way too fast. 

He’s running as best he can while holding me. At some point we make it back to the lodging house. Davey lays me down on a bed. Much more comfortable than the alley. “Here. Drink a bit of water.” Davey holds the lip of the cup to my mouth. I take a sip, and the cold water soothes my throat. My head starts to clear a bit and everything becomes less blurry.

Davey helps me sit up. “Can I take your shirt off? I need to see if you’re ribs are broken.” Davey asks. I nod. He helps me unbutton my shirt and pull it off. I look down and see that my chest is covered in purple bruises. Davey gasps but tries to stifle it. “I’m going to go get some ice. Stay here.” Davey runs off and comes back a few moments later with a bag of ice. I hold it against my most painful bruise. It doesn’t do much to quell the pain.

Davey dabs a rag in water. He places a hand on my face and tilts my head. He gently cleans the blood off my face. His eyes are sad, his face stony. The water slowly turns red as he cleans the rag. 

“What happened?” He asks softly. “Got mugged.” I can’t meet his eyes. “I should have fought back. I’m sorry-” 

“Why are you apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Davey interrupts. A tear rolls down my face. I can’t stop it. Davey wraps me in a hug, my head against my chest. He holds me as I cry. “I made twenty cents. I was going to buy you something from your favorite bakery.” Davey smiles a bit. It’s a sad smile but still a smile.

ELMER’S POV:

“You know you when you love someone so much it physically hurts? And you know that you’ll never get to be with them and you hurt even more? That’s what I feel every time I look at Davey.” I flop back onto Romeo’s bed, throwing a hand over my face. 

“You need to tell him. He likes you too, but the two of you are the most oblivious people to ever exist.” I complain to Romeo every day about how much I love Davey and how he’ll never love me back, so I’m pretty sure that he’s getting sick of it.

“But he doesn’t like me back. I mean, look at him, he’s smart, and funny, and cute, and a bunch of other stuff. And I’m just... I’m named after glue, Romeo.” 

“I will tell him for you. I mean it. You’re going to die of love sickness and I don’t have the money to pay for a funeral.” I sit up. “You wouldn’t dare.” Romeo smirks. “Wanna find out?” he sprints out of the room, heading straight to the main room where Davey just happens to be.

I run after him, pushing Albert out of the way. Romeo is standing right in front of Davey, a devilish smile on his face. “Davey, Elmer has a-” I clamp a hand over his mouth. He tries to finish his sentence but it comes out as unintelligible mumbles. Romeo licks my hand and I move back, wiping his spit on my pants.

“As I was saying, Elmer has a-” I tackle him to the ground, holding his lips shut with my fingers. “Romeo. I will release a herd of moths in your sock drawer. Shut up.” Romeo smirks. Well, he smirks as best he can with me holding his lips closed. 

Davey watches the two of us with concern. “Are- are you two okay?” I nod my head yes, glaring at Romeo. “Yeah. Romeo is just trying to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong.” Romeo rolls his eyes but stays silent. Not that he really has a choice.

“Alright. Well, when you two have finished up, I um. I wanted to talk to you about something Elmer.” my heart freezes. “Me?” Davey nods. He runs his hand through his hair nervously. “Sure. Of course. We’re done right now.” I release Romeo and he struts off, a self satisfied look on his face.

Once the two of us are alone, I look at Davey. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but they’re up nonetheless. “So. Um. I was just wondering. D-do you maybe haveacrushonme?” my eyes widen. “No, why would you think that? That would be weird.” I laugh nervously and internally cringe. 

“It’s just. I heard you talking with Romeo about me and how I would never like you back. Who says I won’t?” I must have misheard him. “Maybe I like you too.” Am I hearing things? I’m losing my mind, this is all a hallucination. 

“You like me back?” Davey’s cheeks are beet red. “Yeah. I have for a while. I just didn’t want to say anything ‘cause I thought you wouldn’t like me back.” My eyes go wide. “How could I not like you back? You’re amazing!” Davey smiles a bit, the blush on his cheeks reddening. “Do you maybe want to go on a date or something? Only if you want to.” Davey fiddles nervously with his vest as he says this. 

“Davey, I’m bored!” Elmer laid his head on Davey’s shoulder. Davey pressed a kiss to the side of his head but didn’t look away from his computer.

“I don’t know how they expect me to write a ten page essay in six hours. I’m going to fail. I’m going to become a college dropout and sell drugs and own twelve cats.”

Elmer reached over and shut the computer. Davey gasped in indignation, scrambling to get it open again. Elmer, however, held it closed.

“You need to take a break, sweetheart. You finished writing an hour ago, you don’t need to keep editing.” Davey sighed and threw his head back.

“It needs to be perfect,” he groaned. Elmer grabbed Davey’s hand and pulled him up, walking him over to the couch. He pulled Davey down and wrapped an arm around him, pulling his head to his chest.

“You’re allowed to take a break. You can’t do your best work when you’re stressed.” Elmer ran a soothing hand through Davey’s curls. Davey leaned into the touch, his tension fading.

Davey suddenly wrapped his arms around Elmer and pressed his face to Elmer’s chest. “I hate being anxious.” His voice was muffled, but Elmer still understood.

“I know. But I’m right here for whatever you need. Now, I’ve been waiting to watch the new episode of Grey’s anatomy with you. Promise you won’t judge me if I cry?”

Davey chuckled, leaning into Elmer’s arms. “Promise.” Elmer clicked on the TV and the episode started playing.