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It was sort of common for Alex to find her way to her brother's dorm in the middle of the night. Perhaps it wasn't smart or 'safe' in the eyes of academy officials, but he was her twin and they'd shared a room together for twelve years before coming to the academy. It was no secret that she didn't sleep, she'd found that out when a trainer she didn't know pointed it out to her after less than an hour after meeting her.
She slipped into her brother's room and climbed into his bed, turning to face him, "Sammy, are you okay?" She poked his face a few times, leaning forward so that their noses were touching. "Assbutt, wake upppp," She tried to keep it quiet enough that his roommates wouldn't hear, but she needed to wake her brother up now. Alex hadn't been able to talk to him earlier and now that she was awake, she felt that she needed to. He'd sounded rather frantic in his message.
When she noticed his eyes fluttering, she poked his face again, "Sammy, it's your sister. Wake up, nerd."
Sam was exhausted by the time he landed in bed at around one in the morning. He had been assigned to a nightmare of a trainer as an assistant and they had run him ragged.
He hadn't even been to see his two favourite people the entire week because of the assignment and he was beginning to feel the ache. Texts and calls just didn't cut it.
He thought he was still asleep when he heard a loud whisper. He had completely forgotten that he sent Alex a text about Kenny. Frowning slightly, he stirred until his eyes opened and saw his twin right in his face.
He gave out a shriek before hitting her in the face with his pillow. "Jesus!" He hissed, his heart beating so hard in his chest. "What the fuck, Lex!"
Alex blocked her face from the pillow and snatched it from him before hitting him with it, "Would you calm down! Jeez you act like I haven't been doing this for the last twenty-three years." As she watched him settle down, her eyebrow arched and she gave him a few more minutes to breathe and lower his heart rate.
She reached out and poked his face again, "You good? Or are you planning on waking up your roommates and getting me kicked out?" Although, she'd like to see them try, she knew all of them well enough to cause some damage if she needed to via their devices. She kept that bit to herself because she had a feeling Sam would get a little miffed. He did have to live with them after all.
"You have to tell me about the girl, dingus. That's why I'm here and I couldn't sleep."
He fumed when Alex tried to pass it off as a regular occurrence between the two. He hadn't gotten used to it when they were kids, after being forcefully isolated, it didn't become any less daunting.
Smacking her finger away from his face, Sam calmed down enough to whack the pillow on her face again. He then put the pillow back under his head and winced when she reminded him of the message he had sent.
"Shit. Sorry, Lex." He cupped her face and squeezed. "Okay so me and this girl are vibing really hard. She took my jacket. I mean I gave it to her but she actually kept it and it's been...two weeks? I wanna take her out on a date but I don't know how and I'm freaking out man. She's legit pretty and sweet but like-" a yawn overcame Sam and he buried his face into his pillow and for a second just stayed there, consumed by his tiredness.
Once he calmed down, she waited for him to go on about the important topic of conversation. It was strange that he'd texted her about a girl, he hardly ever did that. Then, it wasn't very often he got to interact with them so she supposed she could understand. Either way, it was intriguing to watch him talk about her. He seemed really into her and that sort of worried Alex. He already had a fragile enough heart, the last thing he needed was for it to get stomped on by some girl he just met.
Alex reached out and brushed her fingers through his hair. She knew it was probably the wrong time for her to come and expect him to talk, but, it was the only time that she allowed herself. If she didn't stay busy, she knew that she would go crazy and now that she wasn't asleep, it hadn't occurred to her that not everyone had the problems with it that she did. "She sounds nice, Sammy. And if she kept your jacket, it probably means she likes you, too."
She took a deep breath and frowned, her eyebrows pulling together, "But are you sure you're ready for that? I mean, we're just now starting to get out more and your heart...I just don't want anything to happen to you because of...because someone doesn't understand." She didn't know this girl, she hadn't met her so she couldn't really judge. But this was her twin, her family, the only family she had. If this girl did anything to hurt him, well, Alex would have a problem with that.
He almost fell straight to sleep when Alex ran her fingers through his hair but he had to stay up. He hadn't seen Alex in a while and her being here meant so much to him.
Her first response had him smiling and then came her worry. Her worries were his too. He'd been thinking so much about how Kenny would react once she really knew him. Alex had been the only one who really knew what he felt all the time. To share it with someone new was absolutely scary. Especially someone like Kenny.
"I'm...not." He admitted finally as he looked at her, his eyebrows knitted together. "But I really like her, Lex. And...she's been so nice to me. I don't know if there'd be someone else who'd be as nice to me."
All Alex wanted was for the two of them to have normal interactions with people. Friendships, enemies, relationships, well the last one more for him, but she didn't know how they were supposed to do it. One lie could have him doubled over and people lied in relationships all the time. He could never be too careful. This girl could have been the sweetest thing, but if she didn't know any better, she could lie about something silly and hurt him. Alex wasn't quite ready to take the risk of letting anyone hurt him.
"I know you like her, Sam, but our circumstances are different than everyone else's. If she makes the tiniest wrong move, it could do a lot of damage," And she wasn't going to lose her brother because some twit couldn't be honest about everything.
Her lips pressed together in a tight line and she propped herself up on her elbow. She wanted what was best for him, she always had, but this was one of those things that she didn't know what the right choice was. "I want to meet her before you go further with anything."
Sam was drifting in and out of sleep but he caught the gist of Alex's words. He knew she was right. Their circumstances were very different. He could handle lies a lot better than before but they still packed a punch. Especially when they were directed at him.
His eyes were closed and he barely heard Alex's request as he curled up close to her in an almost fetal position.
"Okay, Lex." He mumbled. Had he been more awake, he would have been hesitant to let Alex meet Kenny. It felt way too soon and he wished he had more agency in the matter but he would have to admit, having Alex befriend Kenny was a better idea to gauge how she was.
But he didn't think of the repercussions of introducing a friend to a potentially scary Alex. Let alone a friend he wanted to be more than with.
It was probably wrong for her to request something like that when he was half asleep. It wasn't like he was aware of what she was going to do, not fully anyway. But she wasn't going to take it back now because it was serious. Sam had never had a girlfriend, she was allowed to be over protective if she wanted to.
When he curled up closer to her, she smiled and cuddled him, kissing the top of his head, "Sam, you still awake?" If the girl panned out to be something better than Alex expected, she was going to cross that bridge when she came to it. It wasn't like she wanted her dweeb of a brother to be alone forever. He just wasn't allowed to leave her when he fell in love. She'd always need him.
"I love you, Sammy. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."
