After several months' worth of hospitalisation, or at least what felt like it, Alex was immensely relieved when he was finally deemed well enough to leave the damnable building, if not permanently just yet. The issue of where he would be staying - and didn't that sting - had been solved just the day before, rather miraculously. according to the teenager himself, especially, seeing as the Bank wasn't - to the best of his knowledge, at least - in any way involved. An unanimous decision was reached amongst the hospital staff that he would need supervision for some time while he was still healing, and still dependent on several different types of medication, and for that reason, his own house was not even discussed. At one thought of his old neighbours, there was no protest from Alex, and when he heard the offer from Leonard, he could hardly believe it. The absolute chatterbox of a nurse had actually offered to let Alex stay with him in his appartment, which apparently had a spare bedroom, and was at a reasonable distance from the hospital. Tha fact that the young man was a trained nurse also reduced the need for checkups to actually be carried out at the hospital, since many of them they could simply do at home.
It was rare that Alex was thankfull of having been unconscious, especially when it had been for such a long time, but this time, it meant that his ribs had had the time to heal almost completely by the time he got restless enough that he would have ignored the doctor's orders and exercised anyway. As it was now, all physical activity that did not cause undue strain on any of his (far too many) weakened bones, was encouraged. Even his karate lessons were promoted as something he should try to get back into. When Leonard jokingly said that he would start too, to make Alex "feel more proffessional", it was decided.
At first, Alex instructed him at home, after he had settled into what was now their shared appartment, with a minimum of personal belongings (school books, and a couple of pictures someone had fetched from his old house, and a new debet card that somehow had money on it). Leonard let Alex familiarise himself with his surroundings and relax a little, before he invited friends over after the teenager moved in, but eventually he would have to get used to being around other people again, he reasoned, and his friends were mostly well behaved. It probably also helpet that he explicitly told them beforehand not to stare! The poor teenager was already too touchy when it came to the subject of his face, having people starign at it, or too obviously avoiding it, would only make matters worse. It was a bit of a strain at first, but eventually they each got used to it, and were able to interact more freely.

"Hey, Alex, you coming or what?" was half shouted through the door of his and Leonard's flat. The question was answered in a somewhat irritable voice, making it obvious that the same thing had happened several times before.
"I told you before, Gerald, I don't want to go to the park. People stare. I hate it." The younger voice had an underlying bitterness to it, that either went unnoticed, or was ignored.
"But it's so nice out, how can you not want to go to the park? Alice is coming too." Gerald was obviously not one to give up easily.
"Didn't you hear me the first time? And your sister is the wors argument you could possibly have used. She's a pest, and you know it. She's even worse than you, sometimes."
"Ey!" Mock offense lay thick in that one syllable. Reluctantly, though, it seemed acceptance of Alex' refusal to come was settling.
"At least tell Princess to hurry, then," he said, to avoid an awkward subject change. What his flatmate had done to deserve a nickname like that, the teenager would never know.
"Sure," was the immediate reply from Alex, before he turned around to shout in the opposite direction.
"Leo, your girlfriend's here, wonders when you'll be ready." He was rewarded with a choked laugh from one side, and outraged protests from the front dor, which was exactly why he had chosen to use those words.
Half a minute later, Leonard emerged from his room, pulling a hat down over Alex' head on his way past him, effectively hiding most of his face, including both his eyes, between the hat and the hair that Alex had let grow long exactly so that he could use it to hide his face.
"Hey, stick boy, won't you come?" he asked, in a way that made him much more difficult to refuse. With a sigh and a nod, the teenager complied. The hat wouldn't earn him nearly as many stares as his face would, and it really was nice out.
"How come he always listens to you?" Gerald near whined when both occupants emerged from the flat.
"Because I'm his mum, so he has to," Leonard deadpanned, with a completely straight face, and Alex mused to himself that their conversation would probably sound really strange from an outside point of view. Good thing they had really busy neighbours.