"Tried for me please." Nora says as she was practically shoved into the door frame out from Alex's apartment. "I can't promised anything, I don't even agree into talking to you in therapy what makes you think Henry would?" Alex says holding Nora by her shoulder and she groaned as she walked out from his apartment. "The key word is try. He needs it."

Alex grabbed her by her elbow before she could walk any further and she could see his eyebrow crooked into one line. "What do you mean?" He asks and Nora sighed before crossing her arm around her chest, her small bag dangled right below her arm and Alex waited.

"Henry hasn't spoke since he got here. Not to me at least." Alex shook his head lightly, "Maybe he's a quiet guy." He defends and Nora cocked her head to her side not believe that was the reason. "How many times have you seen a quiet guy in ER won't try something out of your expectation?" She asks and Alex stares into the space between her finger coiling around her bag belt.

"Have you seen the scars?" She asks and Alex nodded weakly. "Don't let it be fresh." She warned and Alex nodded. She waved him goodbye before she disappear into the elevator and Alex couldn't thanked her enough.

Alex closed the door of his apartment with his eyes focused on his guest bedroom now being Henry's room. He inhaled and exhaled sharply before he stepped further and knocked on the door softly. "Come in." Henry's soft voice echoed from behind the door and Alex turned on the doorknob revealing Henry stood right before the big wardrobe.

He saw Henry found the clothes he hangs inside included the drawer filled with socks and underwear all he bought for Henry. He saw how Henry's finger trailed the clothes on the hanger on by one almost as if he touches them it would breaks into pieces.

Alex leaned against the door frame with his arm crossed against his chest as he saw Henry pulled the arm sleeves and softly sniffed the fabric. His eyebrow furrowed watching Henry soft and yet fragile behavior. "It's new, some of it were but some were mine. I barely used them so I thought it would fit on you." He says after he saw Henry took a whiff on one of his jumper.

Henry shook his head softly before he smiled at him and closed the wardrobe door, "It's not that. I like your smell. It's on your clothes and all over the apartment. Santal 33?" He asked and Alex was stunned to even say anything so he just nodded.

"You have good taste." He says and hopped without his crutches to take a sit on the bed. He let his palm running over the comforter feeling the softness under his skin. "I guess your client used the same one?" Alex asked and Henry's eyes shot sharply at him surprised at his word.

"No." He says and Alex could hear his voice breaking. "I used to have one." He says almost like a whisper but Alex heard him enough. He was surprised that Henry actually knows luxury brand and yet he doesn't know anything about Henry's past.

"I'm gonna pay back everything I owe you. I promised." Henry says again before Alex could ask further. "Don't make promises you can't keep, darling." Henry eyes shot towards Alex still leaning against the door frame and he tried to hide his smile only then Alex saw his face dropped and the smile disappear.

"Is that guy your boyfriend?" He asks and Alex stood straight from his position and stepped further into the room. He took a seat next to Henry on the bed leaving only inches away from each other. Henry could smell him better and he was right when he could smell Alex everywhere around the house.

"He's uhm- a friend." He says and Henry still had his gaze towards the space between them. "We need to talk." Alex starts and Henry looked up to meet Alex's brown eyes and Alex could finally see Henry's hazel green eyes clearly. Henry sat up straight with his arm hugged his body waiting for Alex to continue.

"I let you stay here but there are rules in this house. I don't want you to do drugs in my home, or bring your client in here, none of it under my roof. You hear me?" He could see Henry's eyebrow furrowed into confusion when he said those words, "Why did you keep saying that word?" He asks and Alex returned the same expression. "What word?"

"Client? Why do you keep saying that?" Henry asks innocently and Alex's mouth gaped apart not able to answer that question. "I- I mean, whoever, no stranger inside my house, if you have visitors you need to let me know first." Alex told him and he nodded, "Noted." He says and Alex mimicked him.

"Oh, there's one more thing." Alex says and Henry leaned closer closing their gap and Alex could see the circles under Henry's eyes and how tired his face were.

"Nora asks if you would talk to her in therapy." Henry's face contorted and he exhaled fixing his posture before he shakes his head. "That's nice of her but- I think that's not necessary." He says and Alex pressed his lip in a thin line. "Henry, whatever happened in the past, I'm not here to judge but you need help and I am willing to help you. But all of these meant nothing if you keep doing what you're doing to yourself."

He could see Henry pulled the sleeves of his sweatshirt that Alex had give him in the hospital hiding his insecurities and he knew well that Alex saw his scars.

"I don't want to talk about it." He says still holding the edge of his sleeves cuffs with his finger and Alex saw how the fabric stretches and he sighed. "It's up to you, I'm not forcing you to do anything but please think about it." He says and Henry still had his gaze towards the ground and nods softly.

"I'll leave you to rest." Alex says as he stood and Henry eyed his tall figure and he had to tilt his head up before Alex exited the room. Henry wished he could tell everything to Alex and wished he would met Alex in a different circumstance unlike this one.

Henry stayed in bed for the rest of the day and eventually fallen asleep. He was shaken awake when he felt a hand shook his shoulder and he flinched before he shot up and backed away from the person. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He screamed and he could see the other person also startled.

He was lucky the bed is big enough for him to back up otherwise he would be on the ground right now and slowly the person turned on the light by his bedside and Henry could see it was Alex.

"Hey, hey, it's me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He says and Henry could feel his heart is literally jumping out from his chest and he clasped his shirt in fear.

"Hey, it's me. Don't worry you're safe." He says and Henry still couldn't believe that he is. Alex could see how his eyes looked around the room trying to calm himself. "You're safe Henry. It's just me." Alex says and Henry still shaken about being in the strange place with a stranger he barely knew and it might take him sometime to adjust.

"What time is it?" He asks and Alex checked on the watch on his wrist and told him it was half past seven and Henry had miss dinner. That is why he is in the room tried to call him out for dinner. Henry shook his head before he moved closer to the middle of the bed, "I'm not hungry." He says and Alex sighed.

"You didn't have lunch, you barely eat breakfast, come on. Let's eat dinner." He says and stood from the bed and Henry stares at him. "It's okay Alex. I'm not hungry." Alex sighed again and Henry could see how he had his hand cupped on his waist with his face fixed into almost an anger.

"I'm not gonna ask again, either you come out or I will carry you out. My house, my rule. We don't eat in our room, we eat at the table like normal human being." Alex says and Henry could see how infuriated he look and slowly pulling himself over the edge and starts to look for his crutches around. He swore he put his crutches just by his bed and when he look, it wasn't there.

"Oh for Christ sake." Alex says and in one swift movement, he scooped Henry in his arm and he yelped in surprised. He carried him outside although with Henry protest he won't budge and placed him on the chair by his dining table and Henry could see he actually cooked for him.

It wasn't much but it was enough for Henry cause he never had a nice warm meal in years and tonight, he saw more food that he could eat since the last months he had all combined.

In front of him a plate of pasta cooked al dente and a glass of red wine poured just the right amount. "Alex." Henry starts and Alex took the napkin before he placed them on his lap and he shushed him. "Eat." He says and Henry sighed.

"Alex. We need to talk." He says and Alex shook his head pressing his finger on his lips to Henry and starts pouring the pasta on Henry's plate.

"Please." Henry begs and he palmed Alex's arm with his shaken hand and Alex noticed. He still shaken up about the earlier and Alex being Alex, he didn't exactly knows how it would affect Henry. So he stopped and nodded before he met with Henry's pleading eyes.

"Tell me what you want from me?" Henry starts and Alex was even more confused. "Just tell me what you want from me so I could repay your kindness Alex. Cause I don't think I would be able to repay you in this lifetime." He says and his voice breaks but Alex could see how Henry's eyes teared up towards the end and he fixed his posture in his seat.

"I don't want anything. I told you I helped you cause you needed me." Alex denies and Henry slammed the table with his fist. "Bullshit! Everyone needs something! There is no kindness nor humanity left in the world I lived in Alex! Just tell me the truth!" He practically screamed right now and he wished he didn't but he wanted to see how Alex would react.

"Not everyone in this world wanted to use you Henry. There is kindness, there is also good in them." He says and Henry shook his head. "There is none in mine. All I know you give some, you got some." He says and Alex shook his head rubbing on his temple.

"Believe all you want but I don't want anything. Well, maybe I do one something." Alex claimed and Henry listened, "Some company. It's been lonely living here all alone. I always work and if I'm not at work, I'm sleeping here." Alex starts and Henry slowly slumped into his seat.

"It's nice knowing someone is there when I got back and took care of the place when I'm not here. You can cleaned, you can cook just don't burn the house down." He jokes and Henry didn't find it amusing and had his gaze straight in Alex's eyes.

"That's called a wife." Henry says and Alex snorted, "If you can convinced me to be married then I think my mother would adopt you instead." He says and this time Henry actually laughs and it was the first time he heard Henry laughs.

"Just eat, don't think too much of what I want but focus on your recovery. I know the urged will come when you wanted to reach for drugs but I seriously hoped you would think of what have I done for you to stop you from doing so." Alex word came almost as warning and Henry couldn't face him but nods softly in understanding.

They both ate silently and after forcing Henry to eat more and finally gave up for having losing the battle once again, Henry finally went into the room and this time he threatened Alex that if he carried him up like that again, he will make sure Alex regret it. Alex didn't know what he meant by that but seeing Henry almost smirked at him, he won't dare to try thinking he might not want to know this side of Henry just yet.

He took Henry's crutches out and he used them to assist him into the bed and closed the door after he wishes him goodnight.

He was glad that the room has separated bathroom from Alex and the moment he locked the door, he went into the bathroom and again locked the door as well. He took one look of himself in the mirror and gulped his throat feeling the tightness grew in his chest. He crouched right in front of the toilet bowl leaving his crutches against the wall and slowly bringing his two fingers inside his mouth before he pushed it deep inside his throat and triggered his gag reflexes.

It took him only seconds to feel the rise of his bile coming out and he threw everything into the toilet bowl for the next few minutes.

Tears dropped on his face with a slick of saliva strand on his chin and he wiped it with his palm. He sniffed in regret knowing how hard Alex had cooked for him but he couldn't. He couldn't feel the sensation of satisfying his hunger knowing that it was one of the thing he feels the hardest to do to survive being out homeless.

He could stand being cold or warm but hunger, he saw the desperation in someone out of hunger that made them do stupid and reckless thing that cost them their lives. Just what he told Alex, the way he sees the world and the way Alex sees it is different. Alex might see it from the good side and the positive side but Henry, Henry saw the other side where all the demons and the bad in the world really is.

.

It has been two weeks since Henry stayed at Alex's home. He admits that sometimes he missed going out and Alex never did stops him from doing so but Henry chose not too. He was too afraid to even step out from the apartment and Alex noticed everything that happened.

Today was the appointment date for his cast to be removed and Henry couldn't be happier. It was starting to itch and Henry wished he could removed it sooner. He saw the doctor drilled into the cast and slowly he spread them apart and his legs broke free. Alex saw the smile on Henry's face when they pulled the cast off and couldn't help smiling as well.

The doctor then took a lung test for Henry and Alex saw he tried his best but his lungs might not recovered as fast as his legs and he still coughs here and there and Alex could hear him sometimes in the middle of the night but he was afraid that if he checked on Henry, he might feel that he invaded his privacy.

"One last thing." The doctor says and took a step back showing Henry the weighing machine. "Hopped in." He says and Henry sighs longly before he stood and stepped on his legs for the first time in weeks. He wobbled almost falling backward but Alex caught him in time.

He thanked him before he walks slowly on to the weighing scale feeling his heart starts to pump really harder than earlier. He stepped on and let the doctor took the reading and Alex saw how his face contorted into worried before he took a step closer to see.

"Wait, is that even right?" He asks and the doctor glanced at Alex signing him to stop asking questions and Henry took a step off the weighing scale.

"Do you need some pain meds?" The doctor asks as Henry walked back to his seat but didn't actually sat down. He shook his head letting the doctor continue, "Well, if you need them, you know I can only gave you Tylenol." Henry nodded still hasn't say anything else and the doctor scribbled something on his chart.

"Henry can you wait outside for a while? I need to talk to Alex." The doctor says and Henry nodded not letting his gaze left Alex and he saw how Alex nodded at him in assurance with a soft smile on his face. "I'll be right out." He says and Henry nodded.

As soon as the door closed, Alex took a seat right opposite of the doctor and he still writing something on Henry's chart. "Has he been eating?" The doctor asks and Alex nodded in confused. "Yeah, I make sure he ate breakfast, lunch and dinner whenever I had a chance. Sometimes he even cooked." He says and he wasn't lying, Henry did cooked and it was as good as he does but he did try his best since he wasn't raised like he did.

"What happens after?" The doctor asks and Alex sighed running his fingers over his curls and shrugs. "Did you happened to see him spending a lot of time in the toilet?" He asks and Alex shook his head. "Alex, I don't have to explain everything to you and I think you know what I meant." He says and Alex nodded pressing his lips together.

"He needs to gain a little bit of weight at least so his lungs can improve better. Otherwise he might got sicker and he might never coming out of it. He might not be able to run or be in a cold weather for certain amount of time for now but if he strict on his recovery he might live a normal life." The doctor says and Alex snorted.

"What is normal about him? Have you know anything about him at all? Have you asked him or even hear him talks about himself? I could barely get words out of him and you think I would know what he did behind that door." Alex was furious hearing the doctor thinks he is stupid too even notice about Henry but again he doesn't know anything about Henry.

"Well whatever it is, you need to sort it out. He's your responsibilities now." He says and tear the prescription off his booklet and handed it to Alex. He saw the scribbled on the paper and eyed the doctor in frustration and the doctor had the audacity to laughs at him.

On the paper it mentioned a bottle of Moet and box of condoms and he thought it was funny for Alex but he didn't find it any funnier. He crumpled the paper and tossed it to the guy and he laughs hysterically before Alex left the room.

He was looking for Henry outside the clinic and couldn't find him anywhere and he starts to panic. He went to the nurses counter to ask about him and they told him he left towards the entrance.

Alex ran frantically towards the main entrance to find Henry and he couldn't see him anywhere. Not until he heard his soft voice speaks from his side and he turned sharply at him, "Everything good?" He asks and Alex exhaled feeling out of breath for running out like that. He nods and Henry stood up from the bench hiding his hands inside his sweater pockets and Alex knew he is cold. Henry's nose is red and his lips are paled.

"Let's go." Alex said and Alex hailed a cab for them to go home. Throughout the whole ride Alex was silent and so does Henry. Both stared into the window in each other side and once in a while Henry steals glances at him but Alex was too focus outside of the cab not realizing Henry staring at him.

"Alex?" He whispered and he didn't budge at first not until Henry pulled his shirt that made him gasped and turned his gaze towards Henry in the cab. "Everything okay?" He asks and Alex was contemplating whether or not he should ask Henry about this. The more he let his mind runs all of the possibilities the more he was afraid to even ask Henry.

He couldn't find the word to begin so he settles with a smile and nod instead.