Only The Good Die Young
Title: Only The Good Die Young
Fandom: Elite
Characters: Ander. Original characters - friends of Alexis. Mentions of Omar, Alexis.
Warning: Character death.
Rating: PG
Summary: When Ander hears that Alexis has died, he reevaluates his own life and decides he wants to experience the things Alexis never got to.
Ander’s tried not to think about when this day would come, even though it’s always been at the back of his mind ever since that last day at the chemo ward; Alexis has died.
He looks down at the ring on his finger, which had been in Alexis’s family for years and given to the oldest son on their eighteenth birthday except for Alexis who had received it on his seventeenth; it looks somehow wrong on his finger, given that Ander is not family, has no business wearing this.
“Of course you’re family,” Ander smiles despite himself as he hears Alexis’s voice in his head referencing their old joke, “you’re banging my mom, right?”
Alexis’s mother had actually called Ander and got quite angry with him, not that long after Alexis decided he was stopping his chemo, telling him he should have tried harder to persuade Alexis to continue; Ander had wished that he could, but he also understood that Alexis wanted to spend his final days feeling less sick, not putting himself through something that he knew wasn’t going to save him, and it wasn’t up to Ander, or Alexis’s family, or anyone except Alexis to make that decision.
He thinks of what he’d said to Omar about how there were so many things he wanted to do now he was in remission; the news of Alexis’s death makes him feel more determined to pursue some of these opportunities himself, to do all the things Alexis was never going to get the chance to do. And he wishes he’d talked more to Alexis about what his hopes and dreams were while he was still here, instead of going on at him about the whole drama with Omar and Malik, using Alexis as an excuse to split up with Omar rather than confront him with the fact that he knew about Malik, and feeling relieved that Alexis had seen the funny side and been willing to go along with it. If Ander had taken more time to ask Alexis more questions about himself, maybe he would have had a better idea now of what Alexis’s hopes would have been.
It shouldn’t even have been this way. Although Guzman has explained to him over and over again that it wouldn’t have made a difference, there was a part of Ander that would always feel that he had brought things on himself, that maybe he would have been okay if he had felt able to tell Guzman when he first knew that Polo was Marina’s killer. And even if he found it too hard to tell Guzman, Ander knew there were other things he could have done. Going to Samuel may have been easier, since Samuel didn’t have that whole history of friendship with Polo that Guzman did, and he had almost said something to him once, really thought he could do it, and then when it had come down to it he had taken the coward’s way out, just said “I don’t think it was your brother”. Or he could have confided in Omar, or his mother, any of their friends, anyone, and he’d have done the right thing. And there he was now, in remission, with a future, while Alexis, who had never done anything wrong in his life, was never going to have that chance.
He looks around him at the faces surrounding him at the funeral, people who had known Alexis well, and wonders if they are the same friends who Alexis said had faded out of the picture after he got his cancer diagnosis. He tries to remember names Alexis may have ever mentioned, but finds that he can’t; was that because Alexis had preferred not to talk about them, or because Ander just hadn’t remembered any of their names?
Ander wishes Omar could be here with him now; while they were still on the outs because of the whole Patrick thing, Omar had at least known Alexis and would have been there for him. Patrick hadn’t wanted to talk about it when Ander had tried talking to him, had just said something about it being too bad and started talking about some stupid reality TV show. Ari had tried to explain afterwards that sometimes Patrick found it hard to talk about death, but Ander thought about it and realised they didn’t talk about anything personal, never really had, and found himself missing the way he could talk about anything with Omar.
This guy named Javier comes to introduce himself to Ander, says he’d been friends with Alexis since they were five years old, brings him to be introduced to Alexis’s group of friends from school. As Ander talks with them about how Alexis supported him through his chemo, as they share with him some funny stories about Alexis from his schooldays, Ander asks if any of them knew of anything Alexis had wanted to do, anything that Ander could now do for him.
“He wanted to see Niagara Falls,” a girl named Catalina says; Ander thinks about how he, Guzman and Polo had always talked about travelling once they finished Las Encinas, and how he and Guzman have already discussed taking the trip in Polo’s memory; they haven’t got as far as setting up an itinerary, in fact haven’t even made a definite decision to go, but Ander’s sure he can persuade Guzman to add Niagara Falls to it if they do.
“Jumping out of a plane, white water rafting…And he wanted to hook up with as many people as possible,” some guy named Ernesto jokes; Javier pokes him and says that if Alexis had ever mentioned the class joker from their high school, that was him. Ander laughs along, not wanting to admit how little he can actually remember Alexis saying anything like that.
“That was kind of a joke between those guys,” Javier explains, “but he said to me once that he’d be happy if he just met someone he could be happy with. So if you think there could be someone like that in your life, Alexis would have wanted you to pursue that.”
Ander thinks about it; he knows that a big part of him misses Omar, but he also knows that he really wants to take this trip with Guzman. Hell, even if Ernesto had been kidding, the white water rafting didn’t even sound so bad. As Ander jokes back to Ernesto that he’ll take a selfie of the rafting and send it to him, he thinks about Omar, and whether a relationship could work if he did take the trip. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t, but he knows he should take the chance, with the trip, with Omar, to live the life Alexis never got to live.
Fandom: Elite
Characters: Ander. Original characters - friends of Alexis. Mentions of Omar, Alexis.
Warning: Character death.
Rating: PG
Summary: When Ander hears that Alexis has died, he reevaluates his own life and decides he wants to experience the things Alexis never got to.
Ander’s tried not to think about when this day would come, even though it’s always been at the back of his mind ever since that last day at the chemo ward; Alexis has died.
He looks down at the ring on his finger, which had been in Alexis’s family for years and given to the oldest son on their eighteenth birthday except for Alexis who had received it on his seventeenth; it looks somehow wrong on his finger, given that Ander is not family, has no business wearing this.
“Of course you’re family,” Ander smiles despite himself as he hears Alexis’s voice in his head referencing their old joke, “you’re banging my mom, right?”
Alexis’s mother had actually called Ander and got quite angry with him, not that long after Alexis decided he was stopping his chemo, telling him he should have tried harder to persuade Alexis to continue; Ander had wished that he could, but he also understood that Alexis wanted to spend his final days feeling less sick, not putting himself through something that he knew wasn’t going to save him, and it wasn’t up to Ander, or Alexis’s family, or anyone except Alexis to make that decision.
He thinks of what he’d said to Omar about how there were so many things he wanted to do now he was in remission; the news of Alexis’s death makes him feel more determined to pursue some of these opportunities himself, to do all the things Alexis was never going to get the chance to do. And he wishes he’d talked more to Alexis about what his hopes and dreams were while he was still here, instead of going on at him about the whole drama with Omar and Malik, using Alexis as an excuse to split up with Omar rather than confront him with the fact that he knew about Malik, and feeling relieved that Alexis had seen the funny side and been willing to go along with it. If Ander had taken more time to ask Alexis more questions about himself, maybe he would have had a better idea now of what Alexis’s hopes would have been.
It shouldn’t even have been this way. Although Guzman has explained to him over and over again that it wouldn’t have made a difference, there was a part of Ander that would always feel that he had brought things on himself, that maybe he would have been okay if he had felt able to tell Guzman when he first knew that Polo was Marina’s killer. And even if he found it too hard to tell Guzman, Ander knew there were other things he could have done. Going to Samuel may have been easier, since Samuel didn’t have that whole history of friendship with Polo that Guzman did, and he had almost said something to him once, really thought he could do it, and then when it had come down to it he had taken the coward’s way out, just said “I don’t think it was your brother”. Or he could have confided in Omar, or his mother, any of their friends, anyone, and he’d have done the right thing. And there he was now, in remission, with a future, while Alexis, who had never done anything wrong in his life, was never going to have that chance.
He looks around him at the faces surrounding him at the funeral, people who had known Alexis well, and wonders if they are the same friends who Alexis said had faded out of the picture after he got his cancer diagnosis. He tries to remember names Alexis may have ever mentioned, but finds that he can’t; was that because Alexis had preferred not to talk about them, or because Ander just hadn’t remembered any of their names?
Ander wishes Omar could be here with him now; while they were still on the outs because of the whole Patrick thing, Omar had at least known Alexis and would have been there for him. Patrick hadn’t wanted to talk about it when Ander had tried talking to him, had just said something about it being too bad and started talking about some stupid reality TV show. Ari had tried to explain afterwards that sometimes Patrick found it hard to talk about death, but Ander thought about it and realised they didn’t talk about anything personal, never really had, and found himself missing the way he could talk about anything with Omar.
This guy named Javier comes to introduce himself to Ander, says he’d been friends with Alexis since they were five years old, brings him to be introduced to Alexis’s group of friends from school. As Ander talks with them about how Alexis supported him through his chemo, as they share with him some funny stories about Alexis from his schooldays, Ander asks if any of them knew of anything Alexis had wanted to do, anything that Ander could now do for him.
“He wanted to see Niagara Falls,” a girl named Catalina says; Ander thinks about how he, Guzman and Polo had always talked about travelling once they finished Las Encinas, and how he and Guzman have already discussed taking the trip in Polo’s memory; they haven’t got as far as setting up an itinerary, in fact haven’t even made a definite decision to go, but Ander’s sure he can persuade Guzman to add Niagara Falls to it if they do.
“Jumping out of a plane, white water rafting…And he wanted to hook up with as many people as possible,” some guy named Ernesto jokes; Javier pokes him and says that if Alexis had ever mentioned the class joker from their high school, that was him. Ander laughs along, not wanting to admit how little he can actually remember Alexis saying anything like that.
“That was kind of a joke between those guys,” Javier explains, “but he said to me once that he’d be happy if he just met someone he could be happy with. So if you think there could be someone like that in your life, Alexis would have wanted you to pursue that.”
Ander thinks about it; he knows that a big part of him misses Omar, but he also knows that he really wants to take this trip with Guzman. Hell, even if Ernesto had been kidding, the white water rafting didn’t even sound so bad. As Ander jokes back to Ernesto that he’ll take a selfie of the rafting and send it to him, he thinks about Omar, and whether a relationship could work if he did take the trip. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t, but he knows he should take the chance, with the trip, with Omar, to live the life Alexis never got to live.