"Hey Mom," he said breathlessly, fatigue of one who had stayed up far longer than they should have with a lot of stress dumped onto their shoulders showing through his voice. The other end of the line responded, but their response was muffled.

I leaned forward a bit, not meaning to but automatically curious and fixing my position so I could listen discreetly to Edric's conversation. I mean... if he really didn't want me to hear he would have left the room right? Right.

"How's he doing sweetie?" Came the other voice, the genuine concern showing through the receiver making me blink in confusion. Concern... about me?

Edric sighed, his eyes flicking to me before he looked away again.

"Okay... Physically at least... I've just told him."

"Are you still in the room with him?"

"I'm not leaving. But... he doesn't... he can't..." Edric seemed to be getting choked up, and my heart hurt to know that I had been the cause of that pain. I bit my lower lip harder and looked away, guilt weighing like a ton of bricks on my chest.

The other feminine voice spoke again, but since I wasn't trying to listen anymore the words were a bit blurry. I only picked up a few parts of her conversation and they sounded like she was trying to console him, telling him to hang in there and other stuff like that. What a mom should do.

The last thought was added bitterly, but I quickly shook myself out of that space of mind, I didn't have the strength or time to go there right now; it wasn't all about me.

"I love you, Eddy, always remember that." Edric turned his head away from my sight now, although I could still see the very tips of his ears turn a delicate shade of pink; perhaps it was because he knew I could their conversation and was listening. It made me grin timidly at his act to keep up his 'strong man' facade. Though, I could never imagine calling him 'Eddy' myself.

I blinked.

Of course, you wouldn't call him that. That's way to personal and you will only and forever be Edric's friend. Who would want to deal with you seriously after this Killion? No one, that's who.

There was a small silence before the amused version of the female voice filtered through the receiver.

"Come on, you gotta say it back. Say it for your poor old mother. I looove you to mom."

Edric cleared his throat, putting his hand over the bottom of the phone since his mother had raised her speaking voice especially loud, maybe so I could hear. I held back the giggle that was threatening to spill past my lips at her antics, and how good Edric's relationship was with his mother. I felt my insides warm up the more I listened to them talk.

"Mom," Edric stressed through embarrassed and slightly irritated gritted teeth, rolling his eyes and looking up towards the heavens as if they somehow had the answer as to how he would get himself out of this situation.

"Don't roll your eyes at me young man, and just because you're in the same room as your crus-"

The mute button was hurriedly stabbed by Edric's finger, worried silvery-blue eyes looking over at me for a split second before they turned away and the mute was taken off, just as Edric's mother was finishing her sentence.

"-mean that you can't tell your mother that you love her, as you've done for the past twenty-six years."

Edric sighed defeatedly, switching his phone to his left hand and holding it back up to his ear.

"Yes, yes you're right... I love you to mom, with all that I am and all that I have. I love you to the ends of the earth and to the heights of the sky-"

"And would you like some fries with that attitude of yours? Don't get sassy with me Edric. Besides... I love you more."

Edric frowned for a second, then grinned widely. From the look on his face and the tone of amusement coming from the other side of the line, you could tell that they were doing something that they had been doing for years, and I almost felt like I was intruding on something personal.

"I love you most."

"I loved you first. And that's all we shall say about that. Take care of your boy Edric, it's most definitely not your fault and remember to always be a gentleman."

*Click*

Edric made a small noise of disbelief in his throat as he stared down at his phone with a puzzled look on his face, which led me to believe that maybe his mom had never used that last line on him before to win their little 'love you more' argument.

Once again, the thought of their relationship made me feel all giddy and proud of Edric, although if you asked me the reason why I really wouldn't know. It was... It was like I was happy that Edric was happy.

Geez, that 'low-key' crush was really starting to cloud over all my sane thoughts... I'm so pathetic honestly.

In fact, I bet that if you looked up 'pathetic' in the Merriam Webster Dictionary I'm pretty sure 'Killian Alexander Allerton' would be printed in that old English font right below the pronunciation.

Yeah... great. (Please note the heavy sarcasm, I do that when I'm stressed.)

I watched with cautious eyes as Edric pocketed his phone and sunk back down into the chair beside the bed, scrubbing a hand over his face before he smiled at me. A tired, weary but somehow cheerful and reassuring smile. It made my stomach flip a little bit, but I ignored that small fact.

It really wasn't the time to be thinking of trivial things like that. No, it was definitely the absolutely wrong time to be thinking or feeling things like that because... because... I almost... according to Edric I almost got...

"Stop that," came a soft whisper from beside me, and my violet eyes flicked to his.

"Stop thinking," he finished, reaching out with his hand to wrap around my own and giving it a small squeeze.

"I-I know." He stopped, steadied himself, then continued.

"I know that you're probably scared... No, that's a stupid statement... I know that you're scared, and I know that you can't remember anything about last night-don't lie to me, I know this works. And you probably don't remember much from yesterday either, if anything at all."

A shiver went down my spine at the reminder, and my teeth worried at my lip while my eyes shifted around the room uneasily.

"Hey, hey, I wasn't finished yet," He chided gently, giving my hand another squeeze so my attention was focused back on him.

"I just wanted to say... that I'm here. That you're not alone and I don't blame you for what happened or... I don't want you to feel like you have to go through this by yourself, and you don't because I'm willing to be here for you... f-for as long as you need me."

My heart skipped a beat, and my mouth went dry. That... that sounded like something so intimate, but I knew it wasn't. It wouldn't, would never be something like that... or at least not yet. But I could still hope, ad I let myself smile and nod before I tossed away my inhibitions and threw my arms around Edric, closing my eyes and burying my face into his neck.

What would this be like? Having someone who cared enough to hold your hand while you cried, reminded you to eat if depression set in and kicked you out of bed when you just didn't want to wake up in the morning?

It would be... wonderful.

"Thank you," I whispered, the two small words not feeling like they even began to cover what I was feeling, so I said them again, and again, and again. Over and over.

"I'll be here," He would whisper back, stroking my hair while his shoulders seemed to sag with relief.

And if only I knew how much those three words meant for Edric to say, not to me but for himself.

I'll be here.