Realistic or Modern Taking it Slow [P]

[Gary Sue]

Cal was saying and doing everything that Gabe had wanted to hear and feel, and there was noone better than her at that. "I guess I could use that as a part time job then.", he whispered with a grin, leaving out a soft moan of pleasure during the kiss when she'd started caressing his cheek instead. His own breathing was a bit more labored as they pulled back, and before he knew it she was attacking his cheek, getting a squeal and giggle out of him. His expression was absolutely ecstatic and the dark red from his cheeks hadn't faded one bit from before, as he tried to make himself comfortable and enjoy what was coming for him.

At her proposal though, he grinned and loosened his arms from around her neck before placing them back on her waist, although he seemed to freeze up a bit. "I-I'll need some help with that... I think my head's going light.", Gabe joked, although the latter statement had some truth to it. It was hard to be flustered for so long and not feel some form of fatigue out of it. He wasn't going to let that ruin it for the two of them though. "Guide your twink through it, please~?", he almost sung in an equally breathy manner, biting his lower lip as he tried to start the advance on his own regardless. "I'll do what you do...", he whispered one final time with a wink, his grin widening just a bit more.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

"What, you want me to pay you?" she asked, chuckling as she leaned in to kiss his neck again, before murmuring, "Yeah, no. I'm pretty sure you're already getting a sufficient kick out of this," she said, noting the violent blush on his face as she did so, taking her finger off his chest so as to pull her hoodie over her head, her head reemerging with a knowing expression as she eased against Gabe slightly, shifting his arm's wrap around her waist a little lower as she smiled.

"Oh I'll help you alright. You know me. Super helpful," she said, giggling as she pinched his cheek lightly as she pecked him on the forehead.
His next line was like the world's most affirmative green light, and she brought her head back to look him in the eye, sweeping some hair off his brow as she chuckled.
"Mine. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it...? God, you're dreamy, you know that?" she asked, before I faded this scene to black so as to respect the rules of this website and the community it harbors.

----

She pulled away from his neck, satisfied with leaving one last mark as they lay there, Cal essentially propping her counterpart up in her lap with the occasional kiss as they leaned up against a particularly large arbutus tree, Cal just about as flushed as Gabe was when he started, breathing heavily."Well... That... you're good," she murmured, her hand sliding down his cheek to rest on the side of his neck as she maneuvered him down so that he could lay his head on her lap as they caught their breath. "Real good. How are you feeling?" she asked breathily, running a free hand through his hair, which was thoroughly tousled at this point.

 

[Gary Sue]

With marks all over his neck and his head almost limp on her lap, he was still panting and enjoying the refreshing, more relaxing rather than intense feeling her hand ruffling his hair. "I-I... Fucking amazing...", he struggled to speak in between heavy breaths and what seemed like pure euphoria. "That was... fantastic.", he finished and closed his eyes, biting his lips and giving a low moan as he tried to make himself comfortable. His whole body was still shaking from the excitement, and it was when it'd fade that all the exhaustion would wash over him and knock his lights out for the day. Hopefully not here though.

He tried to give a more satisfactory answer to how he was feeling, as if his expression and breathing didn't answer it all, but nothing came to his mind. As far as his innocence had gone, Cal grabbed it, pulled it right out of his head and slam dunked it down the cliff. "I-It's Riley...", Gabe huffed between tired breaths, looking up at her with one of the sweetest looks he'd given her the entire night, and a sheepish smile. "G-Gabriel Riley.", he finally formally introduced his full name to her, before muttering something else too. He repeated it, and this time loud enough for her to hear. "Please... don't forget it.". A rather sweet request, although his voice cracked up a bit in between and tears came to his eyes. She could tell they were from joy, however, not sadness. "I-I'm happy we met.", he continued and placed an arm on her leg, rubbing it calmly and caringly. "I love you, Cal."

There it was.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

God, he was rocked, utterly drunk on her. She could get used to this feeling, or even addicted, she realized, as her fingers swept through his soft hair, as if determined to claim it just like the rest of him.
"Yeah, I think so too. I am fantastic," she boasted, laughing as she planted another kiss on his forehead. Her hoodie was bunched up beside them, her arms exposed by her tank top, meaning that Gabe would have by now seen that the scarring seen earlier ran up about half way to her elbows up the back of her lower arm. Usually, she'd go painstaking lengths to hide it from anybody she fancied, but Gabe? Well, one, he already knew, and it's not like she can wear elbow-length gloves during... you know.

Actually, with Gabe being how he is, he might actually love that. But the point was that Gabe made her felt... more secure, then most people did. Probably because he had left her with no reason to believe he'd judge her, based on the way he looked up at her, seemingly enchanted.
She leaned in a bit to hear what he was saying, and her expression melted into a gentler one when she realized what he was saying.

"I'm sharp as a tac, Gabriel Riley. I'm not forgetting nothin'," she promised, as she yoinked his phone out of his shorts pocket, holding it rather high so as to stop Gabe from stopping her from what she was about to do, which was to unlock his phone by pointing it at his face to unlock it, open his contacts list with a smirk, put in her information, and list the contact name as "mistress calliope "

"Yeah, you basically met your dreams come true," she teased. "Someone to pet you, sit on you... I mean, I've got it all," she teased as she poked him on the nose, tossing him back his phone.

"But- yeah, I'm happy too, cutie. I-... oh, uh..."

The abrupt confession of love caught her off guard, and she had no goddamn idea what to say as her heart skipped a beat, and not necessarily due to pure joy. Gabe was kind, sensitive, cute, so many things put together that she definitely liked and was interested in, but... love? That was a hard word for her. She took in a breath.
"...take a girl out a few times first, alright? I... really like you, Gabe, but-- I don't know yet, and... I'm not sure you know yet, either. I'm- uhm... it's... I'm complicated, my whole deal is complicated, and... there's a lot more of me to know, and a lot more of you to know. Jumping the gun... it can hurt people. I've... seen it happen," she explained delicately, her voice sounding as if it were about to crack near the end. God, she hoped to God he wouldn't take this wrong. She just didn't know.

He'd get that, right? Like he seemed to get other things?

Jesus? It's been a hot minute, but an assist would be nice, she found herself praying, as she set her jaw and waited for a response.

 

[Gary Sue]

His own jacket was thrown right next to her hoodie and he'd only stayed with a gray tee on his small frame. If he knew what was going through her mind at the moment, he'd absolutely agree, he'd goddamn love it. But watching her be so playful, so happy, so cheerful, it made him feel more of the same, to the point of overload. His mind had completely melted for her and it showed in his stupid expression. When she started to speak, it would have encouraged her to notice that the look on his face didn't change any. He understood what she was saying, but... it wasn't obvious whether or not he was processing it or flat out agreeing with her.

"Okay...", he mumbled before slowly and weakly pulling himself off the ground, letting out a small moan and laughing before he sat on her lap again, although this time he was facing her. He wrapped his legs around her back and threw his arms behind her head, leaning in and resting his forehead against hers. "I'll take you out as m-... As many times as you want... And I get it... I want to hear and learn and know all about you. And I'll tell you and show you and give you anything about me.", he continued and looked at her in the eyes with the same, passionate look he'd been wearing for the past god knows how long.

It looked like she could rest easy. His words were nothing but genuine, heartfelt and straight to the point, as he placed his head on her shoulder and tightened his hold on her for a warm hug. "I really like you too, Cal.", he changed his previous confession of love to make her less uncomfortable and kissed the back of her neck, trailing from there back to her cheeks and resting his forehead on hers again after. No matter how he expressed it, he felt just as strongly regardless. His breathing had gotten less heavy and more relaxed by now, and he'd have leaned in for a kiss if he didn't feel it might make her uncomfortable.

Gabe's eyes were closed and he seemed to be in heaven, holding the one person that managed to get him out of a depressive loop for the past few weeks as tightly as he could. Cal had given him a place and person to go to whenever he wanted to feel good with himself, mentally and otherwise. "I'll do anything for you.". Maybe for the first time in a while, he'd found somewhere he belonged. Or in this case someone he literally belonged to, but maybe he'd consider that less seriously when he wasn't drunk on her affection and serotonin.

He was completely living in the moment though, and nothing could stop him, no matter what was said and done. That's how well she'd made him feel. "Let's go out again tomorrow.", he requested from the bottom of his heart and opened his eyes to give her another dreamy look, and a dumb grin.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

She heaved a breathe of relief as he expressed his understanding and went in for a warm hug, reciprocating it gently, her whole body seeming to lose some tension as he took it a notch slower, clutching him as he held her close, desperately trying not to tear up like he already had.
"You're... ugh, you are unimaginably adorable. Take me out anytime, baby," she offered, pulling him into another kiss when he came back up from her neck, as if to show him there weren't any hard feelings for what had been said. Learning and hearing all about her... that was a bit scary. She knew that was the foundations of a relationship, but...

She shook the brief feeling of fear off. She didn't want to be alone anymore, and to do that she'd have to be honest. She wouldn't ruin the mood by introducing the heavy stuff now, but she had to accept she'd have to bring it up at some point. But for now, they were hugging, there was a great view, and Gabe, unlike a lot of other people she used to know, seemed to get her, on a fundamental level that just felt good.

She leaned her cheek into his kisses, a teasing smile coming over her face. "Oh I know that, cutie. You did a whole lot when you were down there," she said, flushing slightly and chuckling as she shifted her back off the arbutus tree, and laid them down beside each other, still wrapped up in a cuddly hug.

"Alright, tomorrow. You got a place in mind, or are we going to have to find another natural haven to defile, you naughty boy?" she asked, kissing the tip of his nose. What could she say? She simply adored the reactions he had when she said and did those sorts of things.

 

[Gary Sue]

Gabe thought about every single place he remembered they could go to, but then he realised something and chuckled. "Well... I have some places in mind, but I think it's illegal to do... things there, so... I'll just let you pick again~.", he grinned and gave her a peck on the lips, seeing the light from his phone that he'd placed by the side and the contact list. He read what Cal had filled out for herself and chuckled, tightening his legs around her lower back a bit more.

"So your last name is Mistress? Fitting.", he joked a bit more flirtily, seeming to have gotten the hang of how to act. He took hints from her here and there before and after, so he had a relative idea of how to go about it. "If... you ever want something or to do anything...", he looked her in the eyes with the same intense stare, biting the edge of his lip before he buried his face in the side of her neck. "... no need to ask. I trust you fully.". Obviously, he was covering all bases with this, but it might have sounded a bit charged with his expression and movements.

He remained quiet for a bit, nuzzling her neck and planting a few kisses from time to time, before he brought his head back to in front of her and smiled. "Hey, milady?", he teased and gave a long yawn, the exhaustion having started to hit him as smoothly as a truck does a deer. "... You don't happen to live nearby?", the boy's tone had started switching from flirty and romantic to straight up exhaustion, although she could still tell that he was beaming with happiness by the mellow look on his face and the slight purr in his voice when he spoke.

"I don't know if I can walk all the way home because someone didn't want me running away and got very rough...", he complained jokingly, before planting a kiss on her neck's underside, and starting to rub her shoulders with his hands. "... so could I stay the night over? Saves me the trouble of getting questioned by my parents how I got mauled by a bear.", Gabe chuckled once again, as he looked her in the eyes with a content look.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

She arched a brow at his mention of 'illegal' places, she dove in and gave him a kiss, and then a nip on the jaw. "I could punish you right now for being so bad, you know that?" she murmured, laughing as she pressed her body against his, as if to underline the point. But she knew he was all tired out, so she eased off him, looking for nothing more than a momentary tease.

She laughed, flushing a bit at his joke before he clarified his willingness to do 'things', which made her smirk.

"I've got a few ideas as to what to do. I'd have to get something 'adult' to make it work, though," she said, curling in close to his ear. "It'd reach all the right places, and it'd let me get so rough..." she continued, giving a pretty clear hint as to what she was talking about.
But then she pulled back, and with a peck on the lips, got a bit more serious. "But always make sure that your partner asks, alright? It's very important," she instructed. She wouldn't take advantage of him like that, but she knew that relationships often don't last forever, and that if he kept saying stuff like that, someone else might.

With that important instruction out of the way, she relaxed a bit more again, considering his request. It was a reasonable request, obviously, she had just steamrolled him with the power of several pent-up months of loneliness, but her apartment was... a bit... grim-looking right now.

"Well- it's not exactly tidy, but yeah, of course. Just be careful, or the bear might maul you all over again."

 

[Gary Sue]

At the flirting, Gabe seemed to shiver before letting out what seemed like a squeal of anticipation and tightening his wrapped legs around her and clenching the back of her shirt with his hands excitedly. "You really want me to never be able to get enough of you ever again huh?", he asked at the tease, before he slowly loosened his grip again and stopped squeezing her.

He returned the peck before she seemed to straighten up for a minute. "Mm... You don't have to ask if it'll be anything like tonight... but okay. I...", he tried to retort, stopping himself from finishing the sentence due to a yawn. Once he was done, he made himself a bit comfortable in the hug and nodded. "I understand. Yes ma'am.", he agreed to her instructions, although his grogginess made it hard to tell if he'd taken them to heart or not. He was a bit too full of her love still, probably.

With a chuckle at her final comment, he dropped his head on the ground to rest it and just smiled widely. "My room isn't ever tidy either.", he tried to comfort her, although that probably didn't mean much. "If I feel too well rested though... I might just go looking for that bear again.", he gave her a wink before closing his eyes, letting out a deep and tired exhale. He pulled one of his hands back from around her neck, rubbing his eyes and laughing sleepily. "Look at what you did to me... I've been ruined! I keep talking like you did before this, you monster!", he tried to put on the most dramatic voice he could, only to top it off with more laughter. And then, silence and tired breathing was all that followed from him. Even right then and there, his brain was on its way to clocking out as soon as it was given the chance to.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

"Oh, you're already hooked on me, I can see that. This is just fun," she admitted, before wincing as his legs tightened around her back. "Ah- careful- on the back... sorry, it just... it's like that, sometimes," she said, freeing a hand to rub her back, sighing relief as Gabe loosened back up. "I'll ask anyway," she said, pulling him into a brief, much more tender embrace than what Gabe might have come to expect from her. She closed her eyes and stifled a yawn in his shoulder as she did so. It was getting late, wasn't it? She chuckled, poking his nose.

"I mean more my entire apartment looks like a nuclear disaster, but good to know," she said, chuckling, smiling as she watched him desperately try to stay awake, and rising to a full laugh at his tease, followed by his dramatic revelation. "Nah, not just like me. I'll always be the psychic who got you first," she said, kissing him on the cheek as she started to get up, smirking down at him as he started to clock out.

"Honk honk, wake up. We're not camping out here, as romantic I'm sure you think it'd be," she teased, releasing him and taking his hand to help him get up along with her.

 

[Gary Sue]

Gabe didn't realise that he was hurting Cal, loosening up as soon as he did and frowning a bit. "S-Sorry about that.", he responded before she pulled him in closer, getting a content sigh from him followed by a small nod. "... Alright.", he just replied with a smile, appreciating the extra care she was going to take of him. The final quip from her made him smile again, before he almost fell asleep just to be honked at. "Mm... Fiiiine... Only because you asked.", he huffed and let out another yawn, using her help to get up after he untangled himself from her and grabbing his jacket with the other hand.

He dusted it and put it on, fitting it snuggly on his frame before he raised an eyebrow. "So where's Chernobyl again?", he asked with a chuckle, looking down at her hands before fitting both of his in his jackets' pockets. As soon as Cal was ready to go too and her hoodie was back on, the two started on their merry way, although the boy was having some trouble walking due to tiredness and a few more reasons. "...", he remained quiet in his sleepiness, following right next to her and giving her the occasional look every few steps.

By the time a few minutes of carefully walking around the park trail had passed and they were back on the main, more familiar streets, he started walking a bit closer to her, taking a hand out of his pocket as he did and bringing it next to hers. He took hold of it before he pulled them both back in his jacket's pocket, with a small grin and a smug look on his face. "So it's not cold.", he nodded and gave her a toothy grin, before turning his head to keep his eyes on the pavement in front of him.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

"It's all good, don't sweat it. I just cramp up sometimes, and it hurts like a motherfucker. Not your fault, we'll just have to keep it in mind," she said as she helped him up, grabbing her hoodie and throwing it back over her head, getting to her feet as Gabe unentangled himself successfully.

"Woah, buster! You think I'm just gonna give you directions to my super secret nuclear hideout? Follow me, and you'll see," she said, smirking as Gabe got up alongside her, and she started to walk back into town. As they reached more familiar streets, and Gabe grabbed her hand, she flushed at his next course of action, smiling almost... bashfully?
"Wow, maybe you aren't nearly as helpless as I thought," she joked, squeezing his hand lightly, fixing her hair a bit with her free hand. "Because you seem to know what I like," she said, chuckling as they finally made it to their destination, causing her to stop, carefully so that Gabe, who wasn't paying full attention, wouldn't be abruptly stopped in his tracks.

It was a run-down apartment building, in a notably less affluent part of town where many of the buildings seemed to desperately need some kind of renovation.
"We're here. It's... sorry, it's not that impressive, but... you know," she said nervously, scratching the back of her head and looking down, before she guided him to the front door, entering the building and making her way to the stairs, looking forlornly at the elevator she knew didn't work, making their way up to the second floor.

She stopped by the first door on the left on the second floor, retrieving a key from her pocket and opening the door to her apartment, which was rather small and sure enough, very unkempt. Dirty dishes piled in the sink, a... very dented section of wall, with a few approximately fist sized holes in it. She blinked, as if she forgot that was there, and did her best to ignore it. The couch was the only piece of furniture that was clear of discarded laundry or other urban flotsam.

"Behold, uh. Chernobyl," she said awkwardly.

 

[Gary Sue]

"Just cause I'm a twink doesn't mean I'm helpless, lady.", he laughed with her, only for it to stop as he realised just how close they really were. "... We're already there?", he wondered and looked up at the building in front of them, noticing the state of things. Man, talk about a wreck. He thought she was just being humble or trying to play it down, but everything in the vicinity appeared to be... well, badly maintained is one way to put it. "N-No, it's alright, I just thought you didn't mean mean it.", he tried to put her mind at ease with a chuckle, being... kind of neutral on it.

Obviously he wasn't excited, but it didn't sound like his mood had been ruined. He was still with her anyway, practically rubbing his head on her shoulder while she unlocked the front door before following her inside. And up the second floor they went, and it was... wow. Alright, the two really couldn't compare the state her apartment and his room were in. "... Am I a psychic?", he asked her after turning his head, blinking blankly a few times and offering a small, but endearing smile. "Tomorrow we could... help you clean things up? Spend the day to make your home feel like home again.", he offered in case she felt her house was a complete and utter mess.

It was understandable though, if she felt like she was stuck in a hole, no wonder her home reflected the same state. She didn't even want to stay inside, taking care of it would normally be out of the question. "Right now though-", he trailed off with another yawn, feeling his eyes tear and rubbing them before he stepped in and looked around. "Where should I sleep?". The idea of sleeping on the same bed felt like he would be coming off as though he wanted to rush things, so he wouldn't go ahead and propose it himself, although it was a wee bit too late to start having such thoughts. Of course, his mind was on the grind. And in this case, the grind was finding a piece of furniture that was comfortable and he'd have no trouble falling on and dying for a few hours. He didn't really show it, but his legs were going to give in any moment now.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

Cal looked completely embarrassed, to be honest. If it had been anyone else asking, for any other reason, she would have never taken them here, and even now, she was starting to regret saying yes. She turned on the light, which flickered on in a fashion that implied that the single bulb dimly lighting the room was reaching the end of it's life.
"...yeah, sorry about... this," she said in a subdued cracking tone as she watched Gabe look around, clearly initially shocked by the mere sight of the place. It was a good thing she managed to get out of bed long enough to clean the moldiest dishes last night, or it'd be even worse.

"Yeah I- I know. I'm really sorry, uh-" she looked around, as if suddenly realizing how bad it really was. Like she'd been half asleep for the weeks and months this had all been piling up, a great sense of shame bubbling up as she looked back at Gabe, before looking back down at the floor, as if ashamed.

This... this isn't good at all, is it?

She looked around the room. Where would he sleep? How the fuck had it got to the point she had no idea where someone could sleep in her own home? She could barely stomach the thought of crawling into bed, because what if she was going to feel so much worse when she woke up? She might ruin... all of this. She sighed, her breath heavy and shaky as it spilled out of her. No. She couldn't cry, she couldn't do any of that, Gabe was too tired for that, this feeling did not matter right now, she knew. She just had to get over it. She sniffed, fixing her hair again.
"The couch is clean. It's... not perfect, though. I'm sorry," she said, as if determined to apologize as much as possible. She just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"I'm really sorry. It's- it's fine. I'll figure it out. I'll figure something out, it'll be fine. I'll- I'll get it cleaned up myself," she promised. What the something that she'd figure out would be, she had no idea, but... she had to. This was humiliating, degrading, and frankly embarrassing. "I'll- go grab you a blanket," she said, dashing off. "Make yourself comfortable!" she called back as she dashed into her room, where she knew the only blanket that didn't have something horrible on it was. She starting to take it off her bed, as she felt the feelings she knew she had to suppress come up.

Not in front of him, not in front of him, for the love of CHRIST not in front of him, she pleaded as she swept the blanket off the bed, running out rather red in the face as she set the blanket on the couch.
"Uh... there," she said, standing awkwardly, as if not entirely sure what to do now.

 

[Gary Sue]

Every time she spoke, Gabe could tell something was up. He wanted to open his mouth, to say something and stop her, but she kept nervously pacing back and forth, either to get something or to move away... it kinda hurt to watch. If he felt sleepy before, just seeing her have panicked so much made him feel tense enough to go back to having almost full awareness of everything. With a frown on his face when she finally set the blanket on the couch, he sighed and walked up to her, looking up before giving her a firm hug. "Hey, hey, hey, Cal. Cal, it's alright.", he said simply, understanding this was probably not how she wanted things to look either.

"It's okay. We'll take care of everything together. Yeah?", he asked and pulled back to look up at her with a hopeful look on his face, and a small smile. Knowing her, she'd probably tear up any minute now, but that's what happens when you bottle your feelings up. Not that he, the crybaby, was one to talk either, but. He wasn't the focus right now. Calliope needed the attention much, much more than he did. "Maybe it's a mess, yeah. But you've been a mess. And I've been a mess. We haven't been doing okay.", he tried to help her out, rubbing her shoulder with one of his hands slowly.

"We'll take care of this mess together. We can take the day tomorrow to care for you. Like you did for me tonight? Please?", he repeated himself one more time and requested her with a sense of gratitude in his voice, trying to hide the exhaustion from his face. It felt like he saw it as a form of 'paying her back', for all the good time she'd helped him have. It was then that he looked towards her room before back to his girlfriend. "If... you don't... you know... mind? H-How big is your bed?", Gabe somewhat shyly asked, although his proposal was pretty obvious. With how everything was breaking down, maybe she needed something more personal and even 'rushed'. Not that sleeping in the same bed was that big a step forward in a relationship, but...

"If the mattress is hard or whatever it doesn't matter, I-I don't- I would even sleep on concrete if we were together. I-I was just thinking you'd... you know, unwind.", he tried to save her some extra stress and laughed to himself with a hand on the back of his neck, although she was definitely much more neurotic than she let on. "Since it was... very, relaxing at the cliffside. Being with you, cuddled up and laid down? D-Do you... want to do that again?", he tried to ask with the same dark blush from before on his face, looking at her and then away again. Even here, he didn't seem too deterred if it meant making her happy again. "Just sleeping... y-you know, huddled up together?"

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

"It is alright. It's fine, I can- I can fix this, you don't need to do that, it's fine- it's totally fine. It's-" she knew she was about to cry, and when she cried, sometimes she got angry, and when she got angry... she glanced in the dents in the wall. When she got angry, she got really angry. Gabe didn't deserve to see that. Nobody did. Nobody should ever have to see how she really felt, especially now. But looking at him, so concerned, so genuinely concerned... and what he said, it made sense, he was calm, and he wanted to help. The saddest thing about this to her, wasn't the fact that her apartment looked this way, the fact that Gabe had to see it, see her like this, it was that someone wanting to help, instead of drive those feelings down or try to ignore it... that was a new feeling. And even she knew how wrong that was.

"I... please... I just... Gabe- I... I just- I need to sleep. That's all. My room- it's... it's..." she choked up, slumping in on herself as every last ounce of morale was drained out of her at once.
"It's worse. It's so much worse. Please don't- don't go in there, it's so much worse," she admitted bringing her arms up to clutch the back in a hug which was much more desperate, as if she believed he would disappear.

"It's all bad, so don't look at it. I don't... please. This is my fault, I'll fix it. You don't... don't have to feel bad for me," she said, whispering the end of it through the lump in her throat.
"Just sleep on the couch tonight. It's- it's more comfortable than the bed, anyways!" she said, as if this whole thing were about the comfort of the couch rather than how Cal was feeling right now.
"I'll be fine, I just need some rest, I've... been up for a while, it's- I'll be better, I promise," she said.

 

[Gary Sue]

As bad as she felt, the same reflected on Gabe, like his chest was crunching up and hurting. "H-Hey, hey... It's not... I feel bad for you because I understand... I want to help, please. You're not alone right now. Your twink's here, yeah?", he tried to cheer her up before she seemed to push for a close to the night. The boy didn't want her having any more mental breakdowns on the spot, so... he nodded to her and just gave a smile, running his hand up and down the side of her arm.

"If you feel stressed out, or whatever, and you need anything... anything. Just wake me up. Okay?", he tried to make sure she knew he was there for her, giving her a kiss on the cheeks and another hug. "I won't go anywhere, yeah? I'm right here.", he told her as he patted and rubbed her back, planting kisses on her neck. "Right here.", he repeated one more time, helping her get back on her feet and sighing. "Come on, we have to go catch some z's.", the brunette tried to put them back on track with a grin, giving her a few pats on the shoulder.

"And if you need anything, absolutely anything, tell me. Wake me up, I'll do anything to help. And that means absolutely anything, okay?". After driving the point home like that, he just smiled and walked over to the couch, sitting down on it. It... really wasn't as uncomfortable as he might have expected. With a pleased look on his face, he slowly laid down and looked at Cal, giving her a thumbs up and a chuckle before he draped the blanket over himself. "Good night Cal. And thank you for everything today. I-", he stopped himself short from causing another breakdown probably, freezing up before he started to chuckle. With a cough to clear his throat, he put a stop to it and finished. "I'm glad we met and... you know, things went the way they did... together. I'll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams.", Gabe got down to the bottom of his long list of good night wishes, slowly closing his eyes. He made the occasional effort to check if she were still there or had gone inside every now and then, but... after one or two tries, he fell asleep. Deeply asleep, with a peaceful look on his face.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

"I know you want to help, Gabe... I know," she assured him, somehow pulling herself from the brink even before Gabe started comforting her, her expression locking down, her jaw tightly set. It was an obviously forced expression, but it was, in her opinion, better than what would happen if she didn't force it, heaving a deep breath as Gabe rubbed her arm. She blinked, sniffing again, and nodded.
"Alright, I- I'll... wake you if something comes up," she said, intending for that to be a lie as he leaned in to kiss her cheek, his affirmations continuing. It was hard not to fall apart again as kisses trailed down her neck, along with the simple repetition of the fact he'd be right here"

"Okay- okay, I will..." she agreed, as he sat down on the couch. There was a tense moment, as if she were unsure how he'd react to it, followed by a visible relaxation of her posture as he settled in.
"Yeah... it was good. Best I've felt... in... I dunno, honestly."

In forever, it feels like. How pathetic is that?

"But I really enjoyed it. I... yeah. Good night, Gabe," she said, waving as she walked back to her room, opening the obnoxiously creaky door, the white paint on it's wooden face chipped and peeling rather unattractively, stepping through it into the squalorous, musty room, her small, seemingly rock-hard bed a plain, yet macabre throne in the middle of empty cans, bottles and wrappers. Several rugs which had once been in use were rolled up in the corner, messes that had caused them to be rolled up to ostensibly be cleaned later having long since developed into what Cal knew would be a moldy, smelly, horrible mess if she ever unrolled, or potentially even touched them ever again, moth-eaten curtains placing a sickly filter upon the moonlight which cracked through her window.

This building should be abandoned, condemned even, she knew. Nobody should live here. Sometimes the floorboards of her room creaked so badly she feared her foot would punch right through them. This place was one step up from being homeless.
She closed the door gently behind her, before walking up to the windowsill, where a bottle that had been broken at the neck still remained from some tantrum or another. A discarded Fanta bottle next to it was full of fruit flies, alive and dead, and she was pretty sure she saw a cockroach some point this week.

She hated this place so, so much. Her shaking legs finally quit holding her up, giving her just enough time to crawl into bed, face-down, blanketless, before she knew she wouldn't be walking anywhere far for a while.

She didn't get much sleep, as always. She'd lay awake for a few hours, and then fall asleep, only to wake up about twenty minutes later in a strange kind of dazed confusion, believing naively that she was a kid again, somewhere far and away from here, before remembering where she was all over again. As it usually went, it was the second time she woke up that she was too tired, too worn down to hold that expression on her face any more.


And so she wept. Try as she might, she'd never been a silent weeper. Usually her weeping was mixed up with a fair bit of anger, but this time... she didn't even know what to be angry at. She's the one that made all the mistakes, she's the one whose at fault for her ending up back here every night. And she knew taking that kind of anger out on herself was the biggest mistake someone could make.

This would continue until she was interrupted or until she fell asleep again.

 

[Gary Sue]

It took a good minute or two before Gabe began to feel like he was in a nightmare, constantly hearing Cal cry and being unable to help. After such an impactful first night, it was only to be expected though- he hadn't had a good dream in a long while, let alone about someone new he felt good with. He shot up from the couch eventually, and the crying continued... from her room? Maybe, it wasn't a nightmare after all. But that wasn't good either now, was it? He frowned and got up, feeling somewhat weak and wrapping the blanket around his figure to stay cozy as he made his way over.

And with the door creaking while it opened, he looked at her, but couldn't bare to watch for more than a few seconds before he entered it uninvited and with no hesitation, got on the bed and hugged her. "Cal... Cal, come on...", he told her with a shaky voice, and it looked like his own eyes were tearing up at this point. The warm sensation of the tears slowly going down his cheeks didn't feel good, and he felt much of the same of what she did... for some reason. He hurt just as much as she looked to, and it felt horrible.

"I-I'm here for you Cal, what's wrong..?", Gabe tried to find out what was troubling her so much. He understood she could be sensitive and get put off easily, but... not that easily or to that extent. He didn't know what time it was, and the room looked to be in horrible condition, so he couldn't tell either. He patted her back and tried to comfort her one more time, although he wasn't sure where words would get him. He just kept a firm grip on her, trying to squeeze her as least as possible so she wouldn't get hurt any and feel even more discomforted.

"Why are y-...", his words were interrupted by a sniffle and a kiss to her neck before he brought his face in front of hers, resting their foreheads together. "Why are you so stressed?", the troubled boyfriend tried to ask her again, but she probably wouldn't say. He contemplated what he could do, how he could show her he was there, and... nothing came to mind. He thought back to earlier, he tried to scrounge up whatever made her happy, but the only thing his mind was going to was whatever all happened by the cliffside. "C-Come on, I'll be right by you... It's okay... if you can't sleep. I... I was having a bit of trouble too."

He slowly rubbed his nose against hers and continued rubbing her back, with a sad smile on his face. It didn't feel like anything else could brighten her mood, so... maybe she just needed to burst out. Just not violently, not with cussing or anger. That's what his face seemed to hint at at least, and if she were to even try asking for anything, he'd instinctively nod for her. Even Gabe felt useless now. Besides this, it felt like there was very little he could do, so he was just... just hoping, this would help.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

She almost reached for the pocket knife under her pillow until she remembered that someone Gabe was in the house, meaning that it probably wasn't an intruder. She peeked out from the pillow she'd jammed her face into, a single tearful eye checking to make sure it was him. When he approached and hugged her, she flinched, resisting her initial impulse to violently pull away.
"I-I- I just need a minute, I'll be okay, I'll be better!" she wailed, sniffing as she tried to wipe away the tears against the pillow. "I told you not to- not to come in. It's-... I told you! Why doesn't anyone listen to me?!" she asked mournfully, her face too deeply buried for Gabe to possibly maintain the contact he was seeking.

Her body was wracked by more heavy sobs as he continued by rubbing her back and trying to establish what precisely was wrong. At that point, Cal let out a long groaning wail, followed by her suddenly rolling out of bed, grabbing the broken bottle on the windowsill, and absolutely obliterating it against the wall across from her with a throw that would be considered athletically impressive in other circumstances. The act of doing such hurt. It hurt a lot, honestly, her entire body almost completely stiff from the long day that preceded this moment, but that only fueled her anguish.
"I'm in fucking hell, Gabe! I'm in fucking hell, and I- I fucking put myself in, and now I can't get out! Are you seeing the fucking problem now?!" she asked, gesturing at the completely wrecked room around her, erratically pacing, almost clawing at her face in an attempt to extinguish her rage.

"I did this! I'm the problem, I'm the fucking problem! I- I... what else can I be? Everything hurts! Everything... sucks... I can't fix it, I don't know how... I don't know how," she said, starting in a yell and ending in what was almost a whisper as her legs finally folded, bringing her to her knee, leaned against the wall, hiccupping with her hands on her face.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't want to... yell, please- I... why did you come in...?" she managed to ask as she seemed to break down uncontrollably.

 

[Gary Sue]

Gabe gave her a nod, quietly starting to pull back before she asked. "Wh-Why I'm..? I heard you crying, you couldn't sleep so I thought... I'm your-", he tried to explain his position but she... pulled back out of nowhere? She went towards the nearest window, grabbed what looked like a bottle and- he yelped out of surprise as she threw it to the wall, ducking and almost sinking into the bed entirely. He was startled, and the shouting didn't help either. He moved both of his hands to cover his ears, being sent back into full awareness from her breakout. He watched her and did his best to listen, but it was obvious the living daylights had been scared out of him.

He couldn't really focus on her, his own eyes having started to tear, her words almost starting to blur together and his entire body shaking from the fright he'd been given. Before he knew it, she wasn't shouting again and slowly slumping down and curling up, just when he could begin to understand her again. "I-I thought that you... I-I made you happy earlier wh-when we... So I th-thought you- I'm sorry... I-I didn't mean to...", he tried to apologise himself, realising she was crying and having a complete mental breakdown. A part of him realised he might as well never catch a break at this rate, but... this was just a bad first impression. Yeah, things would improve. He'd make them improve, they had to find some way for her to cope with this, she was too good after all. She was just a bit lost.


He scurried to the side of the bed closest to her, slowly rolling off himself and crawling to her before giving her a nervous, shaky hug and doing whatever best he could to just... He didn't even know at this point. "I-It's okay, I'll help y-you, just... Calm... C-Calm down, please.", he begged her as he started to cry and sob himself, sounding just as frightened as he seemed. His petite figure was all curled up beside her, and even so it was in a very intimidated and defensive manner despite knowing... Well, hoping, right now, that she didn't want to hurt him any. "I-I just... Please c-calm down now...", he tried to ask her to control herself, but nothing more than scared pleading really came out. His hug was tight, as though she was going to slip away. "I'm h-here for- for you... I'm s-sorry I didn't listen... I won-... I won't disobey y-you again..."

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

She was shaking too, realizing what just happened, what she'd just done. What she'd done to Gabe, specifically. She wanted to say something, to comfort him, to not be like this right now. But it took so much effort to simply pull her hands away from her face, and stop sobbing for long enough to speak. "You did- you made me happy, Gabe, it's just... I live here, every day, and being happy with you, it... reminded me how wrong that was... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please- don't- you don't have to obey me, no!" she cried, taking hold of his shoulders and bringing him into a hug.

"That's- I don't want that. I'm sorry- I don't... please, don't feel that way. Please," she begged. "I don't- I don't want to do that to you, to anyone. I... oh, god..." she murmured. It hadn't even been a day, and she'd already hurt him. Her face fell back into her hands, as she shook her head.
"Back- at the cliff, I felt... so much more human, and I-... don't, anymore. Not here. I didn't- I didn't want you to see this. Not yet. Because I know... it scares people, it- it drives them away, and it ruins everything, and... people like you, good people, when they don't leave I end up... I end up... I end up in this loop, and I just- I hurt them. I don't want to. I want to be different, I want to be so much different, so I... thought if... I'm sorry," she said, starting to calm down as she kept talking.

She sighed, pulling back and looking Gabe in the eye, a tear still rolling down her cheek.

"You're... such a good person, Gabe. I- I'm sorry it had to be me... I'm so sorry."

 

[Gary Sue]

Gabe was pleasantly surprised when she returned the hug, tightening his own and listening to her with breathing as shaky as his figure was, shaking his head at her. "N-No, it's my- it's my fault, I asked if I c-could come here, you didn't... I-I caused this, it's okay...", he tried to pin the blame on himself so she wouldn't get bogged down by anything else, feeling like he got stabbed in the gut when she said that she was hurting everybody, and as soon as he was finished, he just started to shake his head and tighten his hug in fear. "N-No, no no no, I'm- I'm not sorry it was you, I'm- I lo- I-", he found himself constantly stammering and took a moment to breathe again, get himself back in form...

Once he'd composed himself a little bit, he tried to finish what he started saying before. "I'm not sorry it was- I'm happy it's you, I-I just... I want to be there for you, I-I want to make you feel h-human again, I...", and following that was silence. It was clear he was too scared, too out of it to put his thoughts into words, and his body was still in much of the same state. "I-I'll do anything to help, I'm sorry... I-I caused this...", he kept blaming himself and just sunk down a bit, hiding his face in her shoulder. And warm tears kept coming out, his sobbing just getting louder and louder before he began to wail himself. And this wasn't just because of Cal's outburst, he was in a slump himself even if he didn't show it.

Unlike her, his feelings bottled up and instead of small outbursts, his just built up to big explosions. When they did though, it was usually enough to leave him with a headache. This was very well the first time, and he didn't seem to be doing anything but just... Crying. Crying, holding her tightly and spazzing out with every sniffle and sob. "I-I'm- I'm sorry!", he almost shouted and then he went back to wailing. Almost like a child that was lost, without the tiniest hint what to do.

 

[Admiral_Jesus]

"Hey, hey, you- no, you didn't cause anything. I- this happens, sometimes I- I get like this. It's not your fault, Gabe- it's not, I promise!" she protested, rubbing his back as he pulled in tighter. "You were worried, and- and I didn't know how to deal with that, so I- so I ran away, and I shouldn't have. You deserved to have an explanation, okay? Don't- please, don't blame yourself," she pleaded. She shook her head, leaning her head into his shoulder as Gabe's distress increased, and she was starting to realize what precisely was going on as he started to hold on dangerously tight. It hurt, it hurt a lot. And by that she meant physically, the stiffness and seeming sensitivity of her body and nerves, along with his thrashing, tight squeeze brought on waves of physical pain that brought more tears to her eyes, but she shoved that down.

"Gabe- Gabe, breathe. I need you to breathe, okay? It's going to be alright. What happened, you- you just wanted to help, and- and I promise, you did. I- I could have gotten so much worse, in here, all alone. It's okay. It's just us... take the time you need, but you also need to breathe," she said, bringing a hand to the back of his head to stroke his hair, attempting to bring him some solace in his sorrow. She'd seen this before, in people. Sometimes they totally forgot to breathe, and eventually they'd just throw up, or something.
"You- were so much better to me than you needed to be. You don't have to be sorry for anything you did tonight," she murmured, forcing her tone to remain regulated even as he thrashed against her already rather agonized body.

From there, she knew there was nothing to do except hold him, nothing to say except for the occasional reminder that it was okay, she was here, and just to breathe.
"It's okay..."

 

[Gary Sue]

For the few minutes this lasted, he couldn't do much but muster the energy to apologise before going back to crying, eventually going silent with the occasional sniffle breaking up his sobbing. By the time he raised his head from her shoulder again and loosened his grip around her, he looked horrible. His eyes were red from crying so much, tears had made a few different streams down his cheeks and his mouth was in a big frown, his cheeks constantly spasming and trying to break it up for a smile. A forced one, but...

"I-I'm sorry I could- couldn't stop... I-I handle stress horribly a-and I'm...", he tried to explain as his eyes met with Cal, only to stop when he saw the look on her face. His sharp and sudden breathing slowly quieted down, and he seemed almost ashamed in himself. Rather than berating himself further though and taking the blame, he just fell into her shoulder and sniffled. "S-Sorry...", he stated one last time and kept his face hidden before raising it, only to start frantically wiping his tears away with his hands as if she hadn't seen him already.

"I didn't w-want to waste your time like this, I-I'm sorry I couldn't hold b-back... I'll do a-anything you want, I'm s-sorry...", the boys whimpers continued, although his head seemed to be clearing up as he moved his head around a bit and looked at her in the eyes, with a vulnerable, weak look on his face. "I'll... I'll make up for- for it tomorrow... I pro- I promise... I'll d-do my best to..."