Troublemakers!Benchtrio AU

Chapter Five

  Boo in heelys. Yasss. Art credit to Vita (as it almost always will be). Song is Ticking, by TIN. It just reminds me of Ranboo for some reason. 

  Trigger Warning(s): swearing, drinking, mentions of depression, hangover

  Toby's POV: 

  I felt like sh*t. 

  I closed my eyes, staring at the ceiling. It had been a couple of days since Rylan's strange episode and Tommy's strange behavior. They seemed to be fine now, albeit Rylan being a bit more quiet than usual. 

  Tommy was out with Blade after dinner, trying to find a relatively cheap new computer. Mumza and Dadza had Our Chromebook had completely busted this morning while Rylan was trying to use it. He'd started crying for no reason whatsoever, but that comes hand in hand with depression. You sometimes cry over stupid things. 

  He was still sleeping next to me on the couch, snuggled next to me under our blanket. 

  I did my best to slip out of his grip and the blanket without waking him up. He stirred slightly, but didn't wake. I glanced at the clock. The sun would be setting soon. 

  I sighed. I guess I'd clean up the kitchen. Rylan tried to keep it clean so that we could avoid bugs. It was a miracle that we hadn't found any, especially in my and Tommy's room. 

  I was struggling to put away a bowl in a cupboard when a voice startled me. I jumped and dropped the bowl, and it landed on my toe. I cursed, wincing and snatching the dish from the floor and resisting the urge to kick something. 

  "Sorry," Ry said, taking the bowl from me and setting it in the cupboard. I sighed. 

  "It's fine." 

  "You good?" he asked me."

  "Fine." 

  He regarded me for a moment. I glared back, trying to say, 'I'm f*cking fine now back off.' Clearly it didn't work.

  "What's wrong?"

  I resisted the urge to snap at him. He refused to tell me what was wrong with him, but here he was, pushing me. I knew that Ry struggled with that stuff. After having been disowned by his parents for being trans, he'd struggled with opening up to others. It made sense, really.

  I turned to the sink and pulled out another dish, drying it. Rylan quietly joined me. For a long while, we just worked in silence. Until I finally opened my mouth and admitted, "I feel like sh*t."

  He turned back to me, worry written in his expression. "How so? Are you sick? Is it depression? Or is it something else?"

  "Depression is a b*tch," I muttered in response. 

  Rylan pulled me away from the sink and sat me down. He had yet to scrub the tear tracks off his face, but he still managed to look serious and concerned, and not just sad and upset. 

  "Is there anything I can do?" 

  I slumped against the counter. "I don't think so. I just feel awful." Unintentionally, I found myself glancing at the cabinet that I really shouldn't be looking at in a time like this. Rylan caught where I was looking, and frowned.

  "Sorry," I mumbled, burying my face in my arms. "Cravings get worse at times like this."

  Rylan got up, and I didn't blame him. Who would want to be hanging out with me right now? Even if we were 'depression buddies,' as Tommy called it, I wouldn't want the weight of my current baggage plus whatever else I was dealing with at the time.