Hollow | BxBxBxB

-11- Biting The Bullet

Stirring awake the next morning Connor yawned tiredly, last nights adventures had socially drained him quite frankly so he was glad to have at least gotten some sleep to ease that. He couldn't help thinking about what had happened though.

It intrigued Connor the things Alex had been saying, the shadows moving and begging someone to shut up. Maybe that's why Alex was here? Maybe he suffered from some kind of disorder that made him believe such things were happening or caused him to hallucinate that they were?

The boyfriend revelation was also fresh in Connor's mind. He hadn't expected it all. Sure Alex had flamboyant hair, but not every pink haired guy was immediately gay. Yet he was relieved Alex had turned out to be. Plus that the other boys didn't care.

Sighing heavily Connor dragged himself out of bed and began to head downstairs. Soon he was seated in the dining room in the familiar battle with a bowl of cereal. It was what his daily routine was becoming now. Have a stare off with some cornflakes and somehow lose the battle every time despite his opponent being an inanimate object.

"You can do it" Riccardo whispered encouragingly from beside him. Connor turned to face him gratefully, they'd only met yesterday so for the brunette to be already that nice to him was so sweet.

Nodding Connor took a spoonful of the cereal landing it in his mouth, he crunched at it cringing at the noise it was making, he felt like all eyes were on him as he swallowed then put his head down.

"Keep going Connor" Doctor Mercury broadcasted from across the table.

Riccardo sent Connor a reassuring smile as he took a bite from the apple he was eating. Connor returned it feeling safer than he did before, he took another mouthful of the cornflakes managing to eat them quicker this time, then he reached for another.

...

Connor stumbled out of the dining room hurriedly, it had been a week since he'd first managed a few spoonfuls of breakfast. Every day since then he'd been slowly managing a few more at a time. Riccardo had been so nice to him throughout it all waiting patiently and never rushing him.

He'd learnt a lot about the brunette too, he'd learnt about the orchard Riccardo's parents owned in Italy and the evenings he'd spent there sunbathing in the Italian heat. He'd also opened up a bit to Riccardo discussing his home life and what college had been like for him.

Despite getting on well with Riccardo he hadn't yet spoken to the other two, after every meal Riccardo had diligently been offering him to sit with them in the lounge but every time Connor had refused. He was feeling guilty about it and knew prolonging his meeting with them would only worsen his anxiety.

Settling down in his room with a puzzle book Connor whiled away the time. He'd gotten really into doing the various puzzles inside the big book he'd brought with him. Before getting here he'd never had the motivation but now with it being one of the only sources of entertainment he'd given it a go. It had been really fun challenging his mind with the tricky puzzles.

It also helped distract him from how soon the next meal would be, despite managing more of breakfast each day over the week his other meals had been going extremely poorly, he'd skipped at least half of the dinners and barely eaten anything at lunch. Doctor Mercury had been coming to speak to him every evening to try and figure out what he could to to help but Connor hadn't been much use in telling him.

Lunch time that day wasn't too dissimilar. Connor picked at his salad pitifully, flipping it back and forth with his fork but never actually taking a bite. As usual Doctor Mercury made futile attempts at encouragement but it all just went in one ear and out the other for Connor. Riccardo seemed a bit brighter that day compared to others, he'd convinced Doctor Mercury to put on a classic rock & roll radio station so was bopping out to the tunes whilst eating, letting the table know his opinion of each song or artist. Connor felt it was comforting to have someone talking and distracting him from the pile of calories in front of him.