A Wall Between

Chapter 25

It had been a long and overwhelming day and Sasha would probably be exhausted for at least a week once he got home, but for now he was okay. A few times he'd been worried things were getting to be too much and he'd just crash on the spot, but then Cooper had just been there, calm and safe, and he'd managed to keep going.

Still, he was looking forward to getting home and decompressing on his own. There was nothing wrong with that. He just didn't have a limitless capacity for human interaction like Cooper seemed to.

That was still his biggest worry when it came to the potential for anything between the two of them. It just didn't seem fair to Cooper, who seemed to get lonely... well, pretty much the instant he was alone. Sasha certainly couldn't relate to that and he wasn't sure how much he could accommodate it. He felt a little bad that Cooper seemed so invested in making sure everything was as good as it possibly could be for him while he couldn't go to such lengths to return the favour without compromising his own mental health.

If Cooper minded, though, he gave no indication of it. Right now he was just snuggled in against Sasha's side in the car, being all cute and sleepy.

They arrived back at their apartment building and trudged up the stairs together. Sasha still had Cooper's jacket on and he didn't intend to give it back until they reached the doors to their apartments. He enjoyed flapping the sleeves.

They got upstairs and Sasha started to take the jacket off, then he just stopped and stared at his door. His stomach dropped and he felt his breathing become strained and nothing felt real and he wanted to turn back time and reverse the simple mistake he'd made.

"Sasha?" Cooper asked.

"I didn't bring my key," Sasha whispered.

"Oh, sweetheart," Sasha heard Ellie say, but his eyes were still fixed on the door, willing it not to be true. What was he going to do? He reached up and tried the knob, but of course it didn't turn.

"It's okay," Cooper told him, but it really, really wasn't. "That time I locked myself out and came over to your place wasn't the first time I'd done that. I know what to do. I'll call the landlord for you. Okay?"

Sasha nodded, then sat on the floor against his door and buried as much of himself under the jacket, face included, as he could. It smelled slightly of the deodorant Cooper used.

Cooper wandered further down the hall so Sasha couldn't actually hear the conversation, but it seemed to go on longer than he would have expected. Was he in trouble? Would they not be able to get him back in? He didn't want to deal with another problem tonight. He'd tried really hard, pushed himself to and even beyond his limits, and now he deserved rest. For once, he felt like he'd earned it. And now... this. And it was his own fault for being careless.

"Hey," Cooper said as he knelt down next to Sasha. "You okay?"

Sasha shook his head, not unburying himself from within the jacket.

"Fair," Cooper said. "So, the situation is that they really don't have anyone nearby who can come out tonight. They want to wait until morning to send someone out, but I'm pretty sure if you really need to get back in tonight, I can get them to send someone."

Sasha hugged his arms tighter around his face. "I don't have anywhere to sleep."

"You can stay with us."

Sasha lowered his arms just slightly. "There isn't enough room, is there?"

"Abra and I can cuddle up on Cooper's futon on the floor and you and Coop can have the bed together," Ellie told him. "We're good at making things work."