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Chris didn't go to his next class right away.
He stood outside the cafeteria doors, hands in his pockets, face blank as always, but Ruel had known him long enough to recognize the tension in his jaw. Chris looked like he was in one piece, but something was off, muted, unsettled, almost rattled.
Ruel approached quietly, sliding into his space without warning, because Chris never needed verbal permission from him.
"You good?" Ruel asked softly.
Chris didn't answer.
He didn't look at him either. He kept staring at the wall across from them, rigid, unreadable, his breathing too steady to be natural.
Ruel sighed a little, leaning his shoulder against the wall so he was eye-level with him. "That's a no."
Chris's jaw twitched.
That was confirmation.
Ruel waited. Not pushing. Not crowding. Just... there.
Chris finally muttered, "They were annoying."
He meant the group at lunch. The teasing, the looks, Wesley's discomfort he tried to shut down.
"That's not what I asked," Ruel said lightly.
Chris shot him a cold glare, but Ruel didn't flinch. He never did.
Silence stretched between them, long and familiar.
Ruel crossed his arms, voice gentler. "You're walking different. Shoulders tight. Breathing's off." He paused. "Whatever happened... you're carrying it."
Chris hated how easily Ruel could see through him, how he could take one glance and peel him open like it was nothing. Anyone else would've been shoved away by now.
Ruel wasn't anyone else.
Chris exhaled through his nose. "It's nothing."
"Chris," Ruel said, quiet, steady, "it's me."
The words hit harder than anything emotional ever could. It was a reminder, Ruel wasn't asking in the way other people did. He wasn't demanding vulnerability. He was offering a place to put the heavy things down if Chris wanted to.
Chris's eyes finally shifted toward him, guarded but not hostile.
Ruel raised a brow. "Wesley?"
Chris didn't move for a moment. Then, barely audible, "Yeah."
Ruel nodded like he already expected that. "You look... different around him."
Chris tensed, shoulders drawing up. "Don't start."
"I'm not judging," Ruel said, voice still soft. "Just making an observation."
Chris stayed quiet.
"Did something bad happen?" Ruel asked.
"No," Chris said immediately. Too fast.
Ruel reached out, not touching, just hovering a hand near Chris's arm, letting him choose. "Then something good did."
Chris looked away again, eyes cold but softer than they were before. His silence said everything.
Ruel let out a small, knowing breath. "Thought so."
Chris finally spoke. "I didn't mean for anything to happen."
"I know."
"It just—" He stopped, frustrated at the words sticking to his throat.
Ruel finished gently, "—got away from you?"
Chris's eyes flickered. That was exactly it.
Ruel leaned his head back against the wall. "Happens to the best of us, you know."
"Not to me," Chris muttered.
Ruel gave a tiny, sad smile. "No. For you it's... different."
Chris swallowed hard. His voice came out rough, barely there. "I don't know how to... do any of this."
"You don't have to," Ruel said. "Not alone anyway."
"Everyone's complicated," Ruel replied. "But he makes you feel something. That part doesn't scare me."
Chris scoffed, looking away sharply. "It scares me."
Ruel didn't tease him. He didn't smile. He didn't lighten the mood. He just nodded, accepting that as truth.
For Chris to admit fear at all, that meant something.
They stood there in silence again, shoulder to shoulder, Chris breathing heavier than usual, Ruel matching it without comment.
After a moment, Ruel said, "You don't have to explain it, you know. I get it."
Chris's voice dropped low. "You don't."
Ruel's expression softened, the way he only ever softened for Chris. "I do. I know what it's like to want something gentle when all you know how to feel is... sharp."
Chris froze.
That hit too close.
Ruel looked at him carefully, the way someone handles a wounded animal that trusts them enough not to bite.
"You're allowed to want good things, Chris," Ruel said quietly. "Even if you don't know how to hold them yet."
Chris swallowed. His eyes burned not enough to be tears, but enough to sting. He hated it.
Ruel nudged him lightly with his shoulder. "And hey, if Wesley's the one you want... I'm not going to let you ruin it out of fear. I've got your back."
Chris let out a slow exhale, the tension in his shoulders easing just barely.
Ruel's voice dropped to a whisper. "You're not as cold as you pretend to be."
Chris didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
Ruel already knew.
After a long silence, Chris finally said, "Thanks."
Ruel smiled a little. "Anytime."
They walked back toward the cafeteria together, Chris slightly behind, Ruel close enough to steady him without touching.
And for the first time since the incident, Chris didn't feel alone inside his own head.
Not with Ruel beside him.
Not anymore.
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_________________________________ PATREON IS UPDATED TO CHAPTER THIRTYONE, IF YOU WISH TO KEEP READING AND UNLOCK EXTRA CHAPTERS!
