Sunsets and Constellations | B X B

• T W E N T Y N I N E •

A R I U S

Arius slipped his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt as he paced up and down the hallway, trying to calm himself down.

He had just showered and gotten himself and Ryder two cups of coffee. Ryder had insisted that he go and catch some sleep as he'd been really worried and stayed by Elijah the whole day.
It had been a day since the mini tragedy and Elijah hadn't really woken up, although the nurse assured them that he would be up and about in a day or two. He'd gotten a concussion due to the impact of the fall.

Arius wanted to slap Elijah silly for putting them all through so many horrid emotions within a few minutes. He could swear his eyes had welled up when Elijah wouldn't budge and he just kept shaking him and asking him to wake up. Everything that happened after that was a blur, Arius didn't know who took him and Elijah back to his friends, he didn't know what time they got back, nothing.
Although he did remember the absolutely shocked face of Ryder which reflected exactly how he felt.

He was waiting for Ryder to call him so he could go inside. He was trying his best not to focus on his surroundings because he absolutely hated being near a medical facility, let alone inside of it. It brought back terrible memories and made Arius very anxious. But the strange desire to make sure he saw Elijah before he started his classes for the day had driven him to step foot inside the facility more than willingly.

Ryder stepped out of the room, looking very sleepy and tired, lips curving upward into a small smile at the sight of Arius.

"How's uh, is he awake yet?" Arius fumbled, holding out the cup.

"Yeah he's up! Completely checked out though, it's very unlike him. Lisa says we can take him back to the dorms this evening, he should be considerably better by then." Ryder said, sipping from the cup as she sat down.

"I assume you want to go see him before we head back for the day, go on." She said, following a minute of silence as they awkwardly looked at each other.
Arius simply nodded and made his way into the room. It felt like stepping into a room that was stripped of all the light, the blinds drawn shut and lights turned off.

"Elijah?" He mumbled softly, shuffling closer to the bed, his heart beating against his chest for some reason.

It was the weirdest fucking feeling Arius had felt in a long time. The boy looked absolutely shaken. His eyes were red and his cheeks very sunken in.
His eyes lit up at the sight of Arius and he pushed himself up, trying his best to sit straight. He shot him a wry smile and raised his eyebrows, letting out a small chuckle.

"Johnson! What are you doing here?" He questioned, voice sounding very deep and rough.

"How are you feeling, moron?" Arius said, sitting by the bed. As wary as he felt while sitting there, Elijah's smile was infectious and Arius couldn't hold back his own after a while.

"Like shit. My head is killing me, and I just feel generally irritated." Elijah groaned, shifting in his bed to face Arius.

"Serves you right, you are so unnecessarily impulsive Elijah!" Arius chided, rolling his eyes.

"You have never called me by my first name before, but twice today?" Elijah laughed, completely ignoring his remark about being impulsive.