The Suffering Of Fools (IJ Fanfic, Sal Vulcano X Brian Quinn)

Part 1

Sal removed his glasses and rubbed his sore and aching eyes with his near trembling thumb and forefinger, letting out a drowsy sigh. Shooting had finished, and he now sat alone amongst the empty boxes piled high above his head in looming towers, and monitors now blank with the absence of the others. The lights hung dimly overhead, throwing down their paled glow that fell across his softened features; now creased with fret that showed in the loose and hanging bags that eclipsed beneath his usually sparkling, now dull green eyes.

Joe and James had left scarcely an hour ago, and he knew not the whereabouts of Q. What worsened the cruel and debilitating humiliation of the punishment, was that there was never anyone that stayed with him to pick up the pieces.

He replaced the glasses, situating them once more across the bridge of his nose and sitting them along his ample cheeks that had earlier risen in joyful spheres to form merry dimples, but were now low and without the lined blemishes of a smile. He pondered upon the show - upon his friendship - and wondered which would falter first, as he sat there in the cold din of the room.

He remembered also the sounds of their laughter, and how he chortled along with them, at first, and how happy they all had sounded. Then, as trouble began to brew and he had stopped laughing, even telling them of his fears, how they had continued. How the anger swelled in his guts as their laughter became more mocking of his concern, and how little they seemed to care.

He let out another sigh, and bent almost double in his seat; resting his elbows on his knees and his forehead in his palms, running his long, gentle fingers through his hair the colour of raven down. It was in this way that Brian found him.