Breakdown

Sometimes you just needed to be alone. Sometimes you needed to stop and let yourself feel all the things you were trying to suspend up inside you to keep it together. People care, and they worried because they cared, but you couldn’t please everyone and do what was ultimately the best course of action.

He woke up way too early that morning after all of an hour or two of sleep which was broken and restless. Grayson was still asleep beside him, so he exited the bed carefully and quietly, pulling the bedroom door over behind him when he left the room. The tight coiled knot in his stomach could have been mistaken for nausea, but pent up emotion could cause even the most stable of souls to feel sick like you would never shake it.

Getting to the bathroom, he lent back against the door trying to catch his breath but instead of throwing up or fumbling for a glass of water, he just... broke down. All it took was one sob, and he crumbled, sliding down the door and curling up into a ball. It wasn’t like he hadn’t cried since the whole awful turn of events, but not like this. He pressed the back of his hand to his mouth in a vain attempt to muffle the sobs, but it was a pointless effort. The flood gates had opened, and he honestly had no idea how he was going to stop.

Riley Bryant || Original Character

Unexpected

It had been a hell of a long time since Caden woke up with someone in his bed. So much so that he got a fright when he first woke; jumping when he shifted and his hand brushed against a smooth, bare back beside him. In the first few moments of hazy wakefulness, it was unexpected. In fact, the whole turn of events the evening before that led to him waking with company had been unexpected.

He melted back against his pillow, taking a few beats to orientate himself with a sleepy rub of his eyes and a stifled yawn. He checked the clock for the time, always part of his morning ritual. Then it was a crossroads. He could get up and head to the bathroom, going about his normal daily routine as the early riser he was... or he could stay in bed. He reached and brushed the backs of his fingers over Casper’s bare shoulder. “You awake?” he enquired in a husky whisper, but all he was answered with was deep and even breathing, no sign of rousing at all.

The clock was checked for a second time, if only to buy him a couple of moments more to make the vital choice. But soon, he rolled onto his side and slowly, carefully, cuddled up against Casper’s back and slipped an arm around his waist. No thought was behind his next gesture, a soft kiss at the nape of Casper’s neck. For a morning person, it sure was exceptionally easy for him to doze back off again.

- caden drake -
original character