Hell's Book of Random One-shots

Break My Stride - Male Crush

He'd been quiet all evening and it was beginning to concern me.

It wasn't unusual, we could quite often sit in a comfortable silence together for hours on end doing our own thing but this was different.

He was sat in his favourite chair, staring at the wall as if it had the answers to the mysteries of the universe.

Occasionally I would try and strike up a conversation but they were short lived, if I asked a question, I would only get short and abrupt answers in response. It was infuriating, but I also didn't want to push him into speaking until he was comfortable, so I let him be.

Eventually, he'd open up in his own time, until then we'd have to continue on as if he wasn't being a little more distant than usual.

However, my patience only lasted four days.

We'd had another night of near silence, occasionally broken with snippets of talk here or there until we reached bedtime to start another day of it.

Truthfully, I was beginning to reach the end of my tether and settled on deciding to finally question what was wrong with him earlier that evening. If he didn't answer then fair enough, that was on him and he had every right to say no but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

As I rounded the corner into the bathroom, I found him stood in front of the sink, toothbrush held tightly in his hand, complete with a glob of toothpaste, as he stared at his own reflection.

"Okay," I started, leaning against the door frame while folding my arms, "you going to tell me what's going on in that head of yours?"

His eyes flickered to me briefly before returning back to his own reflection, his jaw tensing a little as he shuffled on his feet and swallowed deeply.

A good sign from him.

"I just had a rough day at work, I really don't think I'm cut out for this," he eventually replied, having to clear his throat a little after.

The downcast expression on his face made my concern skyrocket while my protective side already started to bristle despite not knowing where this self-doubt had sprung from.

"Hey," I frowned, walking over to wrap my arms around him from behind and rest my head on top of his arm, "you have worked your ass off to get where you are, don't ever doubt that,"

"But everyone keeps sayin-"

"I don't care what everyone else says, everyone has naysayers, you just keep being you and doing what you do."

"I try, but sometimes it's so hard and," he fidgeted on his feet again, his fingers clasping tighter around the toothbrush as his other hand clasped onto the edge of the sink, "sometimes I think my co-workers don't like me or think I can't do my job efficiently."

I looked at him through the reflection then sighed softly.

Seeing him this dejected was nothing short of heart-breaking.

Gently nuzzling the top of his arm, I smiled softly before pressing a kiss to his t-shirt covered shoulder.

It was moments like this that I knew any words of actual encouragement wouldn't bring him out of his reverie, when he got into this mood it could be difficult to draw him back out.

Sometimes talking with reason didn't work, so I would have to go an entirely different route.

Luckily, I happened to have one perfectly in mind.

"Ain't nothing gonna break my stride, nobody's gonna slow me down."

His eyebrow slowly quirked as he looked at me, his face a mask of confusion as I tilted my head to smile at him, getting into my groove as I started to sway from side to side, nudging his shoulder with my own.

"Oh no, I've got to keep on moving."

He continued to stare at me in bewilderment, though his lips quirked a little at the corners as I pulled away and coaxed him into setting the toothbrush down so I could take hold of both of his hands, intending on leading him into a small dance with me as I continued my inhuman singing.

"Ain't nothing gonna break my stride, I'm running and I won't touch ground."

I looked at him with my own eyebrows raised in expectation, still swaying to the tune now blaring in my head.

"Oh no," he said after a brief pause, finally allowing himself to smile, "I've got to keep on moving."

My smile widened as we laced fingers and swung our arms in rhythmic sawing motions, continuing our increasingly enthusiastic rendition of the song, his own singing being broken by laughs every now and then.

After four of five repeats of the same lyrics, we stopped and he smiled at him, the song still hopefully playing in his head, giving him a mood boost if he was anything like me.

"Thank you," he said, giving a small nod and squeezing my hands.

"Don't mention it, anything to see you smiling again," I let go of one of his hands and reached up to fiddle with his hair, "I hate seeing you upset."

"I know, though maybe I like it," he shrugged a little, "it gives you a reason to cheer me up."

"That is both romantic and manipulative," I laughed.

"I have my moments."

"Yes, yes you certainly do," I shook my head and let go of one of his hands, patting his shoulder, "now brush up those teeth, you have work in the morning."

He pouted and let go of my other hand, turning back to the sink and picking up his toothbrush with a loud huff as I turned away and stepped out of the bathroom, now full of the need to listen to that song.