"You said what to him?" Lev growled.

Him on one side, the right side of the hospital bed, folding himself forward in his chair to glare at the person across — Ziro, he on the other side, left side of the bed, sitting straight as a pole in his own seat, a new abashed side to him on full display.

"...it was a dick move," Ziro admitted, sheepishly, all the dominance drained from his voice.

In between them sat Alex, sitting up in bed with nothing to shield him from the increasing tension except a half-full miniature bag of spicy ketchup ripple-cut potato chips. He lowered the bag from his face, only up to his nose though so he could send a distress call across the room to Carsyn with his eyes.

"Syn!" he called to her, "you're not gonna say anything?"

Carsyn, lounging in a chair with her legs dangling over one arm and her back pressed back against the other, took nibbles from a miniature bag of sour cream triangular chips while keeping her eyes glued to her phone.

"It's between them," she said with an apathetic wave of her hand. "Just let them handle it, Lexy." Alex begged to differ though, since their argument was about him.

"You are such a controlling asshole that you tried to make him choose between me and you?" Lev spat, nearly shouting.

"진정해 (jin-jong-hae) take it easy. I just apologized to Alex, and he never listened to me anyway. No real harm, no real foul," Ziro responded, as if Alex wasn't right next him.

Lev's folded upper body shifted a threatening inch closer towards Ziro, directly in the way of Alex's line of sight. "Is 'sorry' supposed to make up for the shitstorm you could've caused?" he grounded out, light-skinned veins popping on his forehead.

"알았어, 알았어 (ara-sso ara-sso) okay, okay." Ziro raised his hands midway in the air in surrender. He seemed more inconvenienced by the angered Lev than uneasy. "If it helps settles things, you can hit me — wherever you want, as hard as you want."

"What? N-no way!" Alex blurted, his hands releasing the bag of chips to fall crookedly onto his lap, and reaching out just in time to halt Lev by his shoulders and subdue him as he tried rising from his seat.

If only Grayson were still in here to give another mini lecture on 'considering options that aren't direct violence', instead of downstairs dining on vending machine coffee and snacks in a waiting area along with the rest of the parents.

"Hey, you know what," Alex started, his hands hot against some of the exposed skin of Lev's shoulders sticking out from his tank top; and his eyes boring into Lev's trying to quell the other's antagonized mind. "Ziro did that to me, so if anything I'm the one he needs to make it up to."

A few stamped out grunts from Lev before the hostile stance of his body softened, his vexation melting from Alex's touch as he let him self be guided back down to sit.

"Fine," he grumbled.

"콜 (kol) deal," Ziro agreed. He'd crossed his arms at some point, his inconvenienced countenance ready for a less inconveniencing compromise. "What do you have in mind?"

Alex retracted a hand, leaving one still on Lev's shoulder in case he tried exploding again. Then he looked over at Ziro on his other side, eyes meeting eyes. It wasn't such an unsettling thing anymore, Ziro's gaze zeroing in on him. "Okay, doctor says I gotta stay here for a few more days, to see if my head's healing fine and whatnot, and I'm also still not in the best shape to be moving around, walking places. So, while I'm stuck in bed, you can be my more mobile set of hands."

"Is that all?" Ziro said, uncrossing his arms and straightening in his seat. "I can do that."

"Look at you, Lexy," Carsyn remarked. She was grinning with pride, albeit still preoccupied with her phone, her free hand swimming through the bag of sour cream chips. "Fanning the flames before a wildfire starts. Good tactic."

On his right side, Lev growled again. "...getting off easy."

Alex gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I wouldn't say that. I can be very needy. Just ask my dad." His head flicked back to Ziro, cocking it then at the empty aluminum can set on the over-bed table positioned over his legs. "I could use another cherry pop." He tried coating his voice in as much assertiveness as he could to satisfy Lev, but not too much assertiveness that it left Ziro peeved.

When Ziro didn't move fast enough, Carsyn broke in, "you heard him, Acera." She'd finally looked up from her phone, a vicious tint in her eyes that could be seen across the room, reminding Alex that she'd had the same idea as Lev earlier to work over Ziro for what he'd tried to make Alex do. He was glad though, that she was being calmer now than Lev was. "Get to it. 빨리 (ppa-lli) hurry up!"

Ziro scoffed and sent a glare her way, but Carsyn pretended not to see and reverted her attention back to her phone.

"Cherry pop it is. I'll be back then," Ziro said. He stood from his chair, avoiding the scowl across the bed from Lev, and sending a sideways glance to a still apparently calm Carsyn.

When the door closed behind him, Lev shifted, settling. Somehow Alex could tell.

"Now if only Mitchell would split so we could have some alone time..." Lev said quietly to Alex.

"Oh, umm..." Alex spared a mousy glimpse at Carsyn; still scrolling through her phone. He whispered back to Lev, "so umm, Syn knows. About us, our second sleepover-"

"What?" Somehow Lev had managed not to shout that; just a raspy, barely audible whisper. "How the hell did she find out?"

"I told her, today actually, earlier. I'm really sorry, but she's my penpal and we tell each other everything."

"Sh-she's your what?"

"My penpal. It's a long story, but basically Syn and I met a year ago — online though — through this website that pairs people together who are like, opposites. After they're paired, you can start mailing letters to each other, talk about whatever to see if you click."

The look on Lev's face was unreadable. "What sort of stuff did you guys talk about?"

Alex shrugged. "A lot of things: favourite food's, recipe swaps, hobbies..."

More shifting from Lev, his shoulders stiffening.

"Are you..." Alex started, doing his best to be as quiet as a rock so that Carsyn couldn't hear a word. "Are you jealous? Because you don't have to be-"

"I'm not-" Lev's voice got away from him, but he'd caught it just in time. He and Alex glanced at Carsyn; she hadn't budged. "I'm not jealous, Prior." He reached up, plucked Alex's hand from his shoulder, and rested it on the bed entwined with his own. "How would you feel if you found out your boyfriend used to spend so much time sending personal letters to someone he hadn't even met in person?"

Alex's arms turned to jelly, all the feeling evaporated from the hand glued to Lev's. He could barely keep his voice down. "B-boyfriend? Is that what you said? I-is that what I am to you now?"

"Did your ears get jacked up too? You heard what I said," Lev pointedly replied. Alex's heartbeat sped up, the erratic sound inescapable as the thumping organ threatened to split open his chest. He felt a squeeze on his hand, seconds before his gaze nearly fell away from Lev's. "If that's what you want to be — my boyfriend, I mean."

This was a different Lev now, the one sitting next to him and holding his hand. This wasn't the abrasive and snappish Lev that tried hard to be 'tough'. No. This was a Lev he was still getting to know but had witnessed a few times now; the thoughtful, warmer, gentle Lev. This was the Lev that had taken his heart hostage and unleashed a horde of hysterical butterflies into his stomach.

This was Leven.

Alex kissed him. Foreheads a breath apart, noses brushing, sunlight silently chiming in through the window behind Lev. A lot less stiff than the first time.

Everything was slow again. Wordless. Warm. Gentle-

"Gonna take some time getting used to that," Carsyn butted in.

Alex had retracted his lips in a blinding instant, while Lev twisted his head to shoot a similar glare that Ziro had on earlier.

"Can you mind your own business, Mitchell?" he snarled at her.

She'd finally set her down, letting the device rest screen-down in her lap. "It's a free hospital, Novas."

"Not free enough that you can stare at people macking on each other."

And they went at it: Carsyn debating in high volume about 'macking on' being an outdated slang; Lev holding his own with equal amplification by calling her a 'perverted weisenheimer'.

Alex wasn't sure how long it was before Ziro returned; his presence startling Alex — not in the way it usually did, though— as he stole the narrow spot next to him on the bed. He looked down at Ziro's raised arm hovering by his chest, noticing the aluminum can being offered to him. Before Alex reached for it, Ziro pulled the can's tab up with a quick click and lowered it into Alex's waiting palm.

"먹어 (mo-go) eat," Ziro instructed, calmly, as he watched a bickering Carsyn and Lev stab accusing fingers at each other from where they sat.

Alex lifted the can to his lips and took a sip of the cherry beverage. It was fizzy, strong, sweet — just like the group, just like a lot of people in Riviam Point.

Everything, down to the cherry soda, was perfect.