Simple//Tradley:Jonnor

the world fell away

^mehhhh I can't remember if I've used it or not but I'm being shouted at to get off my laptop so it's gonna have to do^

~

Confusion was flooding Brad.He hadn't felt anything in years, and suddenly his brain was exploding with an extortionate amount of thoughts which made him feel things he didn't recognise. He was drowning in anger and sadness and he couldn't tell one from the other. He understood nothing. He hadn't felt anything since he was 13, and now anything and everything sent him spinning out of control.
This time, it was because of the dream he kept having. The one about his sister in the car.
Tristan was sitting against the wall with Brad's head in his lap when he heard a sharp intake of breath, which instantly made him worry. His fingers were gently running through the brunette's curls whilst his mind asked a million questions. Was anybody looking for them? Had Connor and James worked out where they were yet? Would he die there? Would Brad die there? Why couldn't his life just be normal?
But the gasp stopped his thoughts, redirecting all of his attention to the one thing which really mattered to him in that moment. Brad.

Tristan looked down to the brunette, whispering his name but getting no reply. His fingers halted in Brad's hair, waiting to see what the boy would do. He never knew what to expect anymore; Brad had been a mess. A waterfall of emotion. It was like he was suffering from extreme bipolar, but Brad wasn't flicking between happy and sad. It was anger. Anger and sadness. One minute he'd be angry, then he'd be sad, and then he'd sit and be completely empty, taking no notice in Tristan's existence, completely unresponsive. Like a statue. Like he used to be. Empty.

It scared Tristan when he did that, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the breakdowns. Over the four days they had been stuck inside that room together, Brad had been having these type of fits. He'd get so angry over his confusion that he would shout and scream, punching the wall and pulling his hair, kicking Tristan away when he tried his best to calm the brunette. If he wasn't angry, he'd sob and fall to the ground, trying his best to gasp oxygen between his sobs, shaking because he cried so hard. At least when that happened, he didn't protest to Tristan holding him. What scared Tristan the most is that eventually, Brad would short circuit and go limp, completely unconscious. The first time it'd happened, Tristan had thought he was dead and felt his own heart stop as he reached his hand over Brad's chest. Relief flooded him when he laid his hand down to feel a heartbeat, albeit one which seemed unnaturally fast, but it would always slow and go back to normal, and Brad's body would relax into Tristan's arms. He would wake up 10 minutes later, rambling about his sister and cars, which was exactly what Brad was doing in that moment.

Tristan felt his heart break as he heard sobs coming from the small boy. No matter how many times he heard the noise, the brunette's cries would never fail to make the blonde's heart break. "The car," Brad whispered "Natalie, she was hurt."
Brad hadn't said much in the four days they had been trapped in the basement, but he had repeated that same line many times, like a broken record.
Tristan winced at the words, preparing himself for the worst. Sometimes, Brad went back to sleep. Sometimes, he sat up and stared into the darkness for a while, lost to the depths of his mind. Other times, he exploded like a bomb, his fear and lack of understanding for his emotions winding him up to the point of violence. He'd hit Tristan twice. Both times, Tristan had taken it, letting his anger fizzle out in the pain of the knuckles on his left hand grinding against the concrete floor until his skin was raw. He had no idea how he had used the pain to keep himself from getting angry at Brad, but he could work it out later - he didn't care about himself in that moment. All his thoughts were on Brad.

The blonde started to card his fingers through the brunette's hair again, trying to soothe Brad back to sleep and praying that the boy didn't wind himself up - it hurt him to watch Brad exhaust himself with the emotions he didn't know how to handle, but what was Tristan to do? He didn't know how to deal with Brad's emotions any more than Brad did, which was the reason he blamed himself for the fits, despite being the only thing currently anchoring Brad to the world.