in light;

Christopher couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable as his siblings talked over his bedside. He felt funny, but couldn’t describe it. They were paying more attention to him than they had ever done, and he knew it was just because of the situation he had gotten himself into. But their efforts for conversation were mostly fruitless, as Christopher was barely listening, his eyes glued to the ceiling, letting their voices go in one ear and out another and wondering why he had been too scared to go through with it. Shying away from Jen’s touch, Chris avoided making eye contact with either of his siblings, not wanting to engage either of them in conversation.

Blood getting hot, Jen turned on her older brother and her hand moved so quickly to slap him in the face that one might have only recognized it as a slap by the sound. “Don’t you dare tell me to shut up, Benjamin. Where the hell have you been this entire time? Fucking some guy’s brains out, getting so high that you don’t even know where you are, diving from some cliff into a lake just so that your sad and directionless life will feel thrilling for just a moment? Fine, you’re immortal, who cares if you spend a few years in the middle of nowhere? You’re not wasting your life, but you’re wasting ours. It’s obvious that our parents aren’t going to take care of this mental child here,” she waved at Chris’s bed without looking at him, “but who says you can’t? None of us are going to live forever, Ben, so who says once we bite the dust you can’t go back to your disgustingly lax way of life?! Do you realize as much as I hate school i’m still in it? Do you realize that I dropped important things to come here to see how he was doing? You, Ben, are the number one most selfish person I have ever met, and I can’t believe you actually have the audacity to tell me to shut up, when all i’m doing is worrying about Chris?!”

Ben looks down at Chris and nearly melts, he can’t stand seeing him like this it’s just not natural. “I’m sorry buddy”he tells him. He winces as he feels Jen’s slap across his face, “Oh because you’re really helping in this situation Jen”he retorts, “Calling it stupid? That’s a great way to boost confidence, I’m sure that it’s exactly what Chris wants to hear”he says with a sigh as he takes a step towards his sister, the anger boiling up inside. There’s a reason he does’t get along with his family he forgot about it until now. “Mental child”he says quietly, “Listen to yourself, you don’t care about him”he says to her, “You act like you do”he continues, “But you don’t”. “And don’t start, you have never been in my position, the worst thing I could be doing is living my normal life-because that consists of drinking, heartbreak, anger, depression- and we’ve all seen how well that turns out”he hisses, “And last time I checked, I’m here. I’ve always been here for Chris, and you know it.”

@benjamin-radcliffe @christopherradcliffe

“As much as I hate seeing you here of all places…” Jen declared, walking into the hospital room, her eyes lying on her brother sitting up in his bed. She had visited the day before as well, but because of her flight she had gotten there pretty late and Chris had been sleeping. “…It’s good to see you didn’t succeed in your stupid, selfish endeavor to take your own life and torture your poor sister on the phone as you did so. If you didn’t look so completely pathetic in that bed, I would have the right mind to slap you.” Instead, she walked to his bedside and kissed his cheek, laying her head on top of his brown hair. “You fucking scared me, Christopher Radcliffe.”

“Shut up Jen”Benjamin mumbles as he listens to his sister, “You’re not helping”he adds as he runs his fingers through his hair. “But, it is glad to talk to you Chris”he says with a small smile as he moves over to stand next to his brother’s bed. “I know I should probably visit more, and trust me I’ll work on it. But in the mean time, I have souvenirs?”he offers as he holds up a bag. He’s awful in these situations, and honestly he just wants to run and hide but he knows he needs to step up and be the big brother as much as he just wants to be the little brother. “I didn’t get any for Jen of course”he says with a laugh, “Just for you”

his lips finally made contact with her skin after never ending moments of hovering and breathing over it, silently satisfied with the natural reaction her body was giving him. ash pressed small kisses up her neck, making sure to take his sweet time before moving up to the spot behind her ear then down to her jaw. “people never do what they should,” one hand slid up from her waist to the bare skin of her stomach, ash finding himself needing to feel his skin against hers.

Jen closed her eyes, letting her other senses take over. His smell, for once not putrid, mixed with her own fragrance each time she breathed. His lips pressing up against her skin felt like they should have been there a lot sooner, only make each contact point feel like it was sizzling. She felt her face heat up, no doubt extremely red already. When he paused to speak, that was the point that Jen abandoned all common sense. If she had any doubt about it before, it was immediately trashed and there was no going back. Turning around, Jen placed both of her hands on each side of his face, palms sensing the rough skin beneath, as she leaned in and made lip contact.