Under The Moonlight

Chapter 25

Haze was in bed, ze had been for a while. Eyes closed, a relaxing position, comfortable under the blankets... numbness was finally starting to set in, when-

A slam awoke zir up. Confusion shook Haze as ze tried to get un-tangled from the bed sheets and get ready to face whatever had made that loud noise. Finally, ze found zirself standing, ready to find the source of the issue.

The source, as expected, was Cas. They were pacing around the living room, murmuring things under his breath, messing up with the already messy bun. They hadn't noticed Haze staring at him tiredly in night robes, resting zirs weight on the doorframe, but that was soonly going to change.

"I assume the date didn't go well," Ze said.

"She fucking broke up with me!" Cas cried, looking up at zir, making zir notice his reddened eyes.

Oh boy, so this was this kinda situation... Haze didn't have the energy for this, but either way, ze sighed. This was gonna be a long night, but at least tomorrow was Sunday.

"What happened?" Ze asked, strolling from zir standing point and cautiously approaching the werewolf.

"I- she- she, I- I don't fucking know! I was there, she told me, and then I tried to help, she fucking exploded on me! I don't know what I did wrong! And then she broke up with me!? I have no idea how it happened!"

"How about... I make you a hot chocolate, you sit down on the sofa and tell me everything, with details, while I make you the drink? Sound good?"

"... humph. Yeah. Alright," Cas pouted, throwing himself in the couch, "But only if you add marshmallows."

"Deal," Haze snickered, going to get out the milk.

Cas explained what had happened. They narrated how, when he got to the cute gal's appartement, she started to tell them her past trauma. How she broke down. How Cas attempted to help out, calm the cute gal down, offer support. Apparently in response to this, she started screaming at him, eventually breaking up.

An obvious fact was that this whole situation was biased. After five years of being a friend of Cassey's, Haze knew one thing for sure, and it was how strongly they could feel emotions, as well as how they would sometimes ignore or just pass over some of the data. And so, ze had to be careful.

"I don't get it! It came out of nowhere!" Cas complained. Haze gave him the mug with hot cocoa, making their chaotic, angry energy levels go down fast, but not completely, "Thank you."

"No problem," Haze sat down on the coffee table in front of Cas, "So, lemme know. When she opened up about this heavy trauma of hers, what where your exact words? What did you reply?"

"Uh- I'm not sure? I- I said I was sorry, I said that a couple of times, something something, but that things where better now and-"

Haze nodded as Cas kept explaining, but the cause of all the issues that'll appear in the next part of the story was already solved. 'Things where better now'. Big beginners mistake. Unfortunately, it was too early to deliver this information, saying it would only make Cas get more mad, heated and unable to reason with.

"How about-" Haze cut them off, "You finish that hot cocoa, watch an episode or two of a show, calm down, go to sleep and worry about what to do tomorrow? Look, Cas, sweety, it's hella late and a lot of stuff happened in very little time. You need processing time, meaning you need rest. It's understandable you won't go to sleep right away, but we should discuss this all in the morning. Sound good?"

"I guess..." Cas growled, sipping into the cup, "So you going to bed?"

"Ye. I'm tired af. See ya tomorrow. I promise we'll talk more. 'k?"

"'K. G'night!"

"G'night."

...

Due to the fact that ze was a dryad, Haze naturally woke up at sunrise and got sleepy by sunset. This was cool half the time. The other half time it means zirs alarm went off at 7 am and ze wasn't ready to wake up for another whole hour.

The beep of the alarm was way too loud to ignore it, so ze had no other choice than stand up and turn it off. Hopefully, Cas would still be asleep, meaning Haze would have enough time to make zirself a tea and enjoy it before emotional drama started.

These wishes weren't met. By the time the tea was finally brewed, Cassey's door opened. Haze closed zirs eyes and inhaled the warm, sweet smell of the tea. Just a few more seconds of calmness before emotional drama hours. For the time being, zirs roommate would be calm. Issues would come after breakfast.

Just as predicted, after Cassey finished their chocolate muffin and milk, they started bitching again.

"She had no right to do that! It was so sudden... why did she do it! It isn't fair."

"I bet that's what college bitch would think of when you broke up with her," Haze replied, sipping off zirs tea.

Cas looked at zir with an annoyed glare, sending rays of hate towards Haze. They opened their mouth to give a loud, sassy answer, but their eyes got lost in space, caught in thought. They closed their mouth. Opened it again.

"Damn, I hate it when you're right!" They slammed the table with the palm of their hand and rested their head on it.

"Sorry sweety, but it's the burden of being a wise and immortal being,"

"You are only 2 years older than me. And you can die."

"Same thing. Now, answer me this key question: do you wanna listen to reason, aka, me, or do you wanna sob some more and be all emotional for a few more hours/days?"

"Uhm..." Cas looked up from the table before hiding their head back in their arms, "I don't knooooowwwww!!!"

Option B then, Haze thought to zirself.

"Alright," Ze sighed, "how do you feel?"

"Lowkey betrayed? I'm not sure... it's like- I really got my thoughts up this time, ya know?" Haze did know, "And- and things were going so well? I felt I was getting through to her. That even if there where issues, I could help Mei through, and that we were going great when she just- out of nowhere! Says she wants to break up with me. I don't get it!!!"

"I get that... Well, I technically don't, but that doesn't matter right now. Go on."

For the next 30 or so minutes, Cas kept ranting about the cute gal. On how they missed her. On how they wished the date had gone better. On how they resented not being able to help better, yada, yada, yada. The next fact might've been a surprise for many, but Haze deeply cared about Cassey and their romantic bickering. True, ze didn't understand half of it. And true, ze did usually reply with a sassy or sarcastic comment on the incoherence's of their issues. But, deep down, ze knew it helped them. Cassey could spiral down into their feelings, ignoring logical things like issues others could have or consequences of their actions. That's why Haze intervened, to keep them in check, to remind them that things weren't like that. The best thing is that it worked. Cas got calmed down. And, even if it was still a bit too soon to discuss that they were in the wrong, at least it was a start. The right moment would probably be tomorrow, after spending today drowning in ice-cream.