Robin's going to be honest, he's kind of been avoiding Jude.

He's sorry, okay? He knows he was planning on a confrontation about their feelings, but it just feels so awkward. He genuinely doesn't know how to act around his best friend anymore, because every time he's around the guy he can't help but think about it. He genuinely misses Jude, he hates it when he goes a while without seeing him, but he won't do anything about it.

Robin thinks Jude is beginning to notice, so this is becoming a problem to say the least.

Robin requests more hours at work, and the other receptionist hardly works for a while. Weeks go by with them barely seeing each other, and Robin feels sad. He thinks it's for the best, though. It's a good thing for him to stay away from Jude, he really can't risk a repeat of  The Bedroom Incident.

He regrets it so much. Not for the reasons he should, either. He should regret it because he's not interested in Jude like that. It grossed him out, it shouldn't have happened. He should regret it because they're just friends.

Instead, Robin regrets it because he wants it to happen again. He got a taste, so now he's addicted. He wants it to happen so much that he can't remember what it's like to not desire his best friend like this.

Robin is currently sitting in his bedroom. He just got off work, and it seems like those are the only two places he's been the past couple of weeks. Again, he's avoiding Jude. A couple minutes go by of Robin staring blankly at a wall before he hears his phone vibrate.

Actually, it's vibrating. Continuously. Someone's calling him. He looks at the caller ID and finds, Mom.

Weird. Robin feels disappointed, and it takes him a second to realize why. He was hoping it would be Jude. Actually, now that he thinks about it, he hasn't heard from Jude in a while.

"Yeah?" Robin answers, and the lady begins talking immediately.

"You and Kat have medicine ready," she says, and Robin refrains from rolling his eyes. He knows where this is going. "I need you to pick it up. They might not let you pick up hers, since you aren't an alpha or her guardian. If that happens call me."

That's a policy in a lot of pharmacies. That you can't pick up prescription medicine for a secondary gender other than your own. It's mostly enforced when it comes to omegas, and the whole graduation party drugging incident is the exact reason why, since Atrabide is for omegas and Miles really shouldn't have been able to access it anyway. Robin used to think the policy was kind of dumb.

He doesn't anymore.

"Okay. Anything else?"

"I'll be home late tonight. That's all."

They hang up quickly after that, Robin not pressing for any more details. He doesn't understand why he needs to pick up the medicine right now, at 9 p.m., but oh well. He grabs his keys and sandals and heads out the door.

Robin's truck is low on gas, but he doesn't feel like dealing with it right now. He makes a mental note to get gas tomorrow. The drive to the pharmacy is short, and Robin hopes he can get this over with quickly and without incident.

The lady at the counter seems nice, and Robin gives her the names. She appears a bit older, near retirement age, and she thankfully doesn't confront him about the gender thing. Most likely because the last names and addresses are the same. Even as she hands him the medicine, though, something feels off. Robin is getting about sick of this feeling, instantly in a bad mood, but he stills smiles and says goodbye to the lady.

It's seriously bothering him, though, so upon entrance to his truck, he sits down and reads the labels of the medicine.

He's not even sure why Kat needs medicine. Suppressants are more of an omega thing, especially scent blockers. So, he decides to figure out exactly what he just picked up for his mother.

Robin finds his normal medicine, but upon reading Kat's prescription, he feels confused.

Not only does he find rut suppressants and alpha scent blockers, but he finds medicine for mood disorders.

Robin ignores the guilt he feels for snooping as he suddenly has a billion questions. Kat has a diagnosed mood disorder? Since when? Why does she want to cover the fact that she's an alpha? Robin's situation made sense, but there would be no societal consequences for her.

Robin genuinely feels so confused right now. When did Kat stop telling him things? Honestly, now that he thinks about it, she didn't even tell him when she presented. He was lucky Jude happened to be driving by.

Great, now Robin's sad. He and his sister used to be so close. He wants to know what happened.

Robin realizes that his phone is ringing again. For how long, he has no idea, but he's expecting it to be his mom again. Possibly checking to make sure everything went smoothly, despite that not being like her. Instead, he finds his best friend's name flashing on the screen, and he feels his heart rate pick up.

Okay, Robin, it's fine. Just focus on the road. Don't say anything suspicious.

Robin takes a deep breath and presses the green button. Immediately, Jude is talking.

"Robin? You there?"

"Yeah."

"What are you doing?"

Jude's voice sounds slightly breathless and muffled.  Robin frowns. "Driving, why?"

"Good. I need you to come get me."

Robin feels a mixture of confusion and alarm. Jude never asks for help, even from him. He slows down a bit on the road and passes his neighborhood.

"Where are you?"

"Downtown Irvine. You know where the Subway and that pet store are?"

Wow, Jude is far away. How did he get over there? If he needs a ride then the guy didn't drive down there, so...?

"Um, yes. Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Just–yeah. I'm in the parking lot."

He hangs up, and Robin is left in silence. He has so many questions right now, on so many topics, and he honestly just wants to go to bed. It is so weird for Jude to call him like that, the guy is basically allergic to asking for help. He's so unbelievably self sufficient, and he has no reason to be in downtown Irvine right now to begin with. Something had to have happened, someone had to have taken him there.

Robin regrets not keeping up with Jude recently. The guy is pretty unpredictable, life beyond interesting at all times. Robin is really excited to get some answers.

The drive takes nearly an hour, factoring in traffic, and Robin does his best to distract himself with music. Once he reaches the parking lot Jude was referring to, he almost immediately spots the guy.

Upon laying eyes on his best friend, Robin is immediately hit with an adrenaline rush. His eyes widen, and he speeds up a bit so he can reach Jude faster. He stands out because he's wearing white, but also because there's blood on him. When Robin reaches him, Jude starts trying to get up from where he'd been seated on the curb. Robin immediately exits the truck.

"Jude?!" Robin exclaims, alarm apparent in his voice as he approaches the guy. He tries to help him up but he really doesn't make much of a difference. "Jude? What happened?"

Jude grunts as Robin helps him up and even to the passenger side of the truck. Jude won't accept any assistance after that, though. Robin reluctantly goes back to the drivers side, starting up the vehicle upon being back in his seat. Jude makes it in fine, but he's leaning pretty heavily on the door.

"Jude? Do we need to go to a hospital?"

"No." Jude replies, voice low. "Just take me home."

"What happened?" Robin repeats, and he has no intention of taking Jude home. He can't fight the urge he has to take care of the guy, so they're going to Robin's and Jude will have to put up with it.

"Car crash."

Robin's eyes widen, and he glances over at Jude, who is staring out the window.

"Are you going to elaborate?"

"No."

"Jude—"

"Why do you suddenly give a shit?"

Robin's eyebrows pinch together, and he stares at the street ahead of him. "What are you talking about?"

"We've barely spoken for a month. You don't even answer me anymore. Stop pretending to care."

"I do care," Robin says, feeling offended. "I drove almost an hour to get you. In the middle of the night."

"Wow, don't strain yourself." Jude says, sarcasm evident. He's starting to hurt Robin's feelings. Robin understands that the guy is in a bad mood, and probably doesn't want to talk about the fact that he won't have a car for the foreseeable future—something that matters quite a bit to Jude. Still, this is unnecessary.

It's silent for a while, but once Jude realizes that they aren't getting over or slowing down to take the exit for his house, the guy speaks up. "Where are we going."

"My house."

"You don't have gas."

Damn, Jude has a point. Robin also doesn't have the energy—or the money, really, he's saving up for another tattoo—to stop for gas. Begrudgingly, Robin admits to himself that Jude is right, and takes the exit last second. Jude makes a noise of dissatisfaction at Robin's less than passable driving skills.

The rest of the ride is spent in silence, and upon arrival to Jude's house, he wastes no time exiting the vehicle and making his way inside. He's slow, and Robin wants to help but he doesn't need this guy snapping at him again. He's clearly in a bad mood, and when he gets like that he isn't fun to be around.

Robin doesn't want to leave things like this, though. Can't really stop for gas either. So, he follows Jude inside—against his better judgement. He tries to check his phone to see if his mom has called him again, possibly wanting to know where he is, but finds it dead. He doesn't have a charger.

Wow. Robin wants to go to bed.

Sighing, Robin just trails behind his best friend as they walk up the stairs, and into the bedroom. Jude disappears into his bathroom and closes his door, but Robin doesn't give a shit. He opens it, and obviously the guy wasn't that opposed to Robin's presence since he didn't lock it.

Upon entrance, Robin finds Jude with his shirt off. He is briefly distracted, especially since the scent of Jude's room—which he should really be used to—is catching up with him.

Robin's eyes widen at the condition of his best friend. The lighting had been too low before, so he couldn't really see the injuries. Only blood and minor bruising. Robin is immediately in front of Jude, grabbing the guy by his arms to keep him still while he checks him over.

Jude has a lot of bruising, some alarming shades of dark blue. He has a few cuts and scrapes, but Robin doesn't see any big injuries. Mostly just a bunch of smaller ones that all add up to him looking like a complete mess. He does have a bruise on his cheek bone and dried blood on his temple, though, which are cause for concern. Also, there is blood where it shouldn't explainably be, judging by the guy's injuries, making Robin think it's not Jude's. This only raises more questions.

"How did this even happen, Jude?" Robin asks, because Jude was always a decent driver. A little on the fast side, but decent nonetheless.

"Car crash." He repeats, and Robin huffs. He looks up to make eye contact.

"How did you get in the crash? What were you even doing in downtown Irvine?"

Jude purses his lips, clearly not wanting to answer that. Robin just gives him a meaningful look, hoping that he can convey how much he genuinely cares and wants to help. After a moment, Jude sighs. "I was racing someone."

It's crazy how fast Robin's concern turns into irritation. "Racing? Seriously?"

Jude rolls his eyes and pulls out a first aid kit from under the sink, struggling the whole time. Robin helps him to the closed toilet seat, and begins cleaning Jude's wounds before he can attempt to do it himself. Robin is kneeling on the floor, in between Jude's legs, and the guy watches him the whole time.

"Yeah." Is Jude's delayed response.

"Why? Who?"

"It doesn't matter," Jude replies, and Robin resists the urge to glare at him.

"Where's your car now?"

"The shop. My parents picked it up earlier." He replies, and Robin feels surprised. His parents took his car to be fixed before helping their own son?

"They just left you there?" Robin asks, frowning. He already knows the answer.

"What do you think?" Jude replies, and Robin frowns. Jude's dad has always been hard on him. Constantly trying to teach him life lessons in fucked up ways, how to solve his problems completely on his own. He's the reason Jude is so unbelievably self sufficient. It's usually not a good thing.

This, though? Leaving Jude stranded after a serious car crash? That takes the cake.

Sure, it was dumb for Jude to be racing to begin with, but still. That's ridiculous.

"Well thank you for calling me," Robin says, because he's happy that Jude felt comfortable reaching out to him in a time of need, despite things being weird between them currently.

Jude doesn't respond, and Robin finishes patching him up a minute later. He helps Jude over to his bed, even though the guy honestly seems pretty capable on his own. It's a good sign that he's already feeling okay enough to resist assistance.

Robin stays the night. He doesn't ask for permission, but Jude doesn't protest when Robin curls up next to him. He rests a hand on Jude's bicep, because for someone reason it helps ease him. He ignores how content he is, how happy it makes him to be in Jude's presence, and tells himself that he has no choice. He rationalizes that he needs to look after his best friend, so this is only natural.

The whole time, however, Robin can't help but feel like he's forgetting something.

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