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Alex finds Bez in his motorhome after the race. It’s not really what he expected to see, Bez lying face-down on his bed, but his boyfriend has done stranger things.
“Hi amor,” Alex sits on the bed next to Bez. “How are you feeling?” Bez whines into the bed. Alex isn’t surprised. He knows that Marc had gotten the worst of it, but it was still a nasty crash, and even if Bez isn’t hurt at all, he’d still be guilty for causing it. “Are you injured at all? Is anything sore?”
“Uhhh,” Bez lifts his head up just enough to slide his arms underneath, so that Alex can hear him better. “My head hurts a bit.”
“What did medical say?”
“Medical?”
Alex frowns. “Yes, medical. Did Aprilia not send you to the medical centre?”
Bez is silent for a moment. “No.”
“No?”
“They said I’d be fine by Phillip Island.” Alex is getting more concerned by the minute at what Bez is saying. He was already so worried for his brother after the crash, and now he has to worry about his boyfriend too.
Alex shifts to be in front of Bez, instead of beside him. “Hey, Bez,” he says. “Can you lift your head up and look at me? Please?” Bez listens, and slowly lifts his head from his arm-pillow, but it’s obvious it hurts him. He scrunches his eyes shut the second the light hits them.
“Does the light hurt your eyes?” It’s becoming pretty clear to Alex that Bez has some type of concussion, no matter how mild. This just confirms it.
“Yes,” Bez says. “Sorry.”
“No, don’t apologise.” Alex gently puts pressure on the back of Bez’s head, guiding it back down. “Here, you can lay down. I’m just worried that you might have gotten hurt and they didn’t realise.”
“Oh.”
“Can you tell me what happened with the crash? What do you remember?” Alex asks.
“I ran into Marc,” Bez sniffles. “Does he hate me?”
Alex is quick to assure him. “No, no.” Since he’s started dating Alex, Bez has always been nervous about Marc’s opinion of him, especially after the mess a few years ago. Alex knows that now, after Bez had apologised, Marc just finds it endearing. Alex does too. It’s cute, most of the time.
This is one of the times it’s not. “Did I hurt him?”
This is one of the times where it just makes Alex feel worse. It’s his job to worry about Marc, not Bez’s. Especially not when Bez is injured himself.
“He needs surgery,” Alex admits reluctantly. Bez is silent. Alex has a feeling he shouldn’t have said anything. “He’ll be okay, Marco. It wasn’t your fault.” Bez starts to cry anyway. Alex pets his hair, but it doesn’t really help. He’s losing him. He needs to figure out what happened to Bez, and he needs to get him help.
“And after that? After you crashed?”
“I was at Aprilia.”
“No, before then.”
“Um,” Bez pauses. “I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Alex’s heart drops. This is what he was worried about. He has to take Bez to medical, now. “Is that bad?”
Alex shushes him. “Give me a minute, amor.” Carefully, Alex slips off the bed and into his bathroom. He doesn’t want to hurt Bez further with the blue light from his phone.
The first thing he does is message Marc. I might be home a bit late, he writes. I’m pretty sure Bez has a concussion and I need to deal with that first. I hope you’re okay. Marc sends a heart back, all he can manage at the moment. It's an acknowledgement and a sentence in one. Then, he goes online.
The race ended nearly an hour ago. It’s plenty of time for clips of the crash to be everywhere. It doesn’t take long for Alex to find one focused on Bez.
He’s already seen the crash, but this angle is so much worse. Marc is up and moving immediately after the crash, though clearly injured. Bez… Bez doesn’t move. Alex watches, horrified, as Bez lays still in the gravel. He doesn’t move for at least half a minute.
How did Aprilia see this, and not send Bez to the medical centre? How did they see him flinching at the lights, sentences confused and disjointed, and let him free in the paddock?
It doesn’t take much to drag Bez to the medical centre after that. It’s much easier than with Marc, at least. Bez dutifully follows him, even though the daylight hurts his eyes and the motorhome paddock noise hurts his ears.
“Alex?” Charte asks when he walks in. “Marc isn’t here, he already–”
“I know,” he cuts him off. “It’s this one,” he gestures to Bez behind him, “that I’m worried about. I think he’s got a concussion, and somehow Aprilia didn’t think to send him here.”
Charte’s eyes narrow. “I’ll have a look at him.”
“Thank you,” he says. Charte takes Bez away from him, and Alex waits. He makes his post-race posts on Instagram and Twitter, and makes one for Fermin as well. He feels guilty, not being able to celebrate with Fermin properly. He was so exhausted and now he’s got his brother and boyfriend to worry about. He makes sure to send him a message anyway.
It doesn’t take long before Alex gets impatient waiting. He’s had to do concussion protocol plenty of times before; it really shouldn’t take this long. He’s nervous now. If something is seriously wrong with Bez, something more than just a concussion, plus Marc’s arm… Alex knows he won’t react well. He’s tired of the people he loves being hurt. He’d take it being him for a change, or maybe none of them hurt at all.
It’s maybe another five minutes before Charte brings Bez back out. Alex stands up the second he sees them. “How is he? What happened?”
Charte passes Bez over to Alex, who’s more than happy to tuck him under his arm. He already feels calmer now that he has Bez with him. “He does have a concussion,” Charte confirms. “But the good news is that it’s mostly mild. Lots of rest, no screens, you know the deal. He should be alright by Phillip Island.”
Alex lets out a sigh of relief. He can’t stop himself from pressing a kiss to Bez’s curls. He knows Charte won’t tell, at least. He’s kept secrets for every rider. This is no different. “Thank you.”
“Thank you for bringing him,” Charte gives him a small smile. “I’ll tell Aprilia. Go, go home.”
They do. Or at least back to Alex’s motorhome for the night. He can tell Bez is tired, overwhelmed, and in pain. He’s not going to force Bez to fly tonight when he feels that bad. Besides, Alex can breathe so much easier with Bez lying next to him. Knowing that he’s mostly okay, hearing him snore peacefully, watching the rise and fall of his chest, it all works to soothe Alex’s anxieties. For the first time since the race ended so many hours, he’s calm.
“Ay, amor,” he whispers to Bez. “My silly scorpion. Please, don’t do this to me again.”