Alex stood there for a long moment after the brothers finished speaking, his fingers curled slightly around the edge of the small table beside him as if it were the only solid thing left in the room as he rested on the wall directly behind him. The silence stretched between the three of them, it was thick and uncomfortable, and nauseating and yet none of them seemed willing to break it first. Raphael's breathing was uneven, almost like he was impatient, while Antonio stood farther back near the door with that infuriating composure that made it impossible to read what he was truly thinking. Alex felt their eyes on him, weighing him, waiting for him, and it made something sour twist inside his chest. And that, he knew was the contempt he felt for them and thier affairs.
He exhaled slowly and leaned back harder and comfortably against the wall, folding his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture he did not even realize he was making.
