Chapter Text
"It's okay, I'm okay."
The purple bruise on Alex’s face clearly said otherwise. He was looking at her almost cautiously, disheveled, and yet he was lying to her face, saying everything was fine.
Oh, she wasn't stupid.
"It's four in the morning!" she replied, still holding the apartment door open as she looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and mild confusion.
The nite was calm and serene, something rare for East Berlin. The streets were deserted, with not a trace of life; not even dogs or simple mosquitoes. She had been sleeping peacefully, having finally managed to fall into a deep sleep when she heard someone knocking on her door.
She had woken up reluctantly, still in her pajamas, and… well, there was Alex, with a bruise on his cheekbone that was spreading almost to his right eye, probably from having gone to another protest.
“Just... come in.”
A murmur escaped her lips as she gave up and hurried him into the apartment, casting a quick glance down the hallway just in case before locking the door. She turned around, looking at Alex, who was standing silently as he watched her.
He lowered his gaze, suddenly very interested in his shoes. She rolled her eyes, not asking for an explanation —yet— and quickly headed to the small kitchenette. Alex was quick to follow her.
She immediately grabbed a mug, running her other hand over her face in a vague attempt to wake up. She filled the kettle with water, then set it aside for a moment as she picked up a match and tried to strike it against the box. It didn’t work.
She tried again, and nothing.
A small groan of protest escaped her, and she frowned before trying again. She ended up pulling out another match, which, to her bad luck, didn’t light either. It was Alex who took the match and finally lit it, the flame softly illuminating their faces as he brought it to the burner. She only thanked him in a low murmur, placing the kettle on the stove before falling silent again for a moment.
".... So-"
"Second time this week."
"I had to!"
“It's four in the morning!”
"I know!"
She could only give him a tired look, shaking her head before crossing her arms and leaning her hip against the edge of the kitchen counter. Alex ran a hand thru his hair, messing it up even more than it already was, and avoided her gaze as he spoke.
"It's just... y'know, if I go back like this and wake up the baby, Ariane will get mad."
"So, you prefer to come and make me angry?"
A brief silence.
"... I mean, you put up with me more than Ariane does."
Alex tried to justify himself, his eyebrows slightly raised as he looked at his girlfriend with a hint of pleading, inwardly begging her not to scold him again. Because, let’s be honest, it wasn’t that much of a surprise when he showed up one Friday morning covered in bruises and disheveled after fleeing from an officer at another protest.
She could only look at him with a slight grimace, her lips pressed into a thin, discontented line before sighing to try to keep from getting even more irritated. Oh, she hated being woken up. Especially if it was her boyfriend showing up all beaten up.
.... Deep down, she loved that Alex had enough self-confidence to know she’d end up healing him anyway because she loved him.
"... Okay. Just bundle up and I’ll heal you right away.”
A soft little smile slowly spread across Alex’s face; one of those that made him look like the same young man she had known years ago, even before the DDR had begun.
"Thanks, Liebling."
And with that, he gave her a quick kiss on the lips, making sure to caress her waist as if to make it clear that he really was sorry, before heading to the bedroom.
What a fool.
...She still loved him, though.