The sick - c.s
emotional!reader x player!chris
You met Chris when everything still felt simple.
Senior year. Fluorescent hallways, backpacks slung over one shoulder, him pretending he didnโt care about anything when he actually cared too much. He used to lean against your locker and hum nonsense songs while you tried to focus on your homework. Youโd roll your eyes, but you loved it. You loved him.
He was softer with you than he was with anyone else. Matt noticed first. Said Chris looked stupidly in love. Nick never shut up about how whipped he was. And his mom, God, his mom adored you. The first girl she ever pulled into a real hug and whispered, I hope you stay.
You did.
You stayed through graduation. Through his first big fights with his brothers. Through the nights he felt small and insecure and youโd sit on his bedroom floor with him, telling him he was more than his worst thoughts. You memorized the way he looked when he was vulnerable. The way his voice dropped when he said he loved you like it scared him how much he meant it.
You built your whole future around him without even realizing you were doing it.
The first time he cheated, he swore it was a mistake. He cried in your lap like a child. Said he didnโt know why he did it. Said he hated himself. You believed him because you loved him. Because you were eighteen and thought love meant enduring.
The second time, it hurt worse. The third time, something inside you started going quiet.
But you stayed.
You told yourself people grow. You told yourself he would wake up one day and realize you were the only one who never left. You told yourself that if you just loved him hard enough, heโd stop chasing whatever emptiness he kept trying to fill with other girls.
Meanwhile, your own emptiness started growing.
You didnโt tell him about the nights your chest felt too tight to breathe. You didnโt tell him how the anxiety started to hum under your skin constantly, how every time his phone buzzed your stomach dropped. You didnโt tell him how the depression felt like a shadow stretching longer and longer behind you.
You just kept smiling at family dinners. Kept laughing at Nickโs jokes. Kept sitting next to Chris on the couch while his mom looked at you like you were already her daughter.
You became very good at pretending you were okay.
Tonight isnโt dramatic at first. Itโs quiet. Too quiet. Youโre sitting on the edge of his bed, the same one you used to curl up on after school. The same one where he used to kiss your forehead and promise you forever.
You found the messages an hour ago.
He hasnโt even denied it. He just keeps saying it wasnโt what it looked like. Like thatโs supposed to make it better.
You donโt start screaming right away. You just ask him why.
He shrugs at first. Shrugs. Like this isnโt the same wound reopening for the hundredth time. Like your heart isnโt visibly fraying.
You remind him youโve been here since the beginning. Since before anyone cared about him. You remind him you defended him when your friends told you to leave. You remind him you forgave him when you probably shouldnโt have.
His jaw tightens. He says youโre acting like heโs a monster.
You laugh, but it sounds hollow. You tell him you donโt think heโs a monster. You think heโs selfish. You think heโs addicted to attention. You think he keeps breaking the one person who never fucking broke him.
His voice rises. He says youโre not perfect either. That youโre always sad lately. Always anxious. That itโs hard to deal with.
Thatโs when something inside you splits open.
You tell him youโre sad because you never feel safe. Youโre anxious because the person you love keeps proving he canโt be trusted. You tell him youโve been fighting your own head for years and still choosing him every single time.
Your voice starts shaking. You try to steady it but you canโt.
You tell him you wake up every day already tired. That loving him feels like dragging something heavy behind you. That you keep waiting for the version of him who swore heโd protect you, but heโs the one hurting you instead.
He swears under his breath. Says youโre twisting it. Says heโs human. Says he makes mistakes.
You finally snap.
You tell him a mistake doesnโt happen over and over again. A mistake isnโt texting someone behind your girlfriendโs back while sheโs at home convincing herself sheโs crazy for feeling insecure. A mistake isnโt looking someone in the eye and saying I love you after you just betrayed them.
Youโre crying now, and you hate that he can see it.
You tell him you thought he was the one. That you pictured marrying him. That you defended him to Matt when even his own brother was disappointed. That you stood there while Nick avoided eye contact because he knew you deserved better.
You tell him you gave him every fucking chance.
He tries to step closer and you step back.
You tell him every time he cheated, it felt like you swallowed something toxic. Like you kept ingesting poison and pretending it didnโt burn. You kept thinking if you just held it down long enough, it wouldnโt kill you.
But it did.
Itโs killing you.
Your voice cracks so violently you have to grab the dresser to steady yourself. You tell him youโre exhausted from loving someone who treats your loyalty like itโs guaranteed. You tell him youโve been drowning quietly for years and he never noticed because you were too busy keeping him afloat.
He finally looks scared.
He says he didnโt think youโd actually leave.
That breaks something fundamental inside you.
So he kept pushing. Because he thought youโd stay no matter how much it hurt.
Youโre sobbing now, full-body shaking, the kind of crying that makes it hard to breathe. You tell him youโre not dramatic. Youโre not crazy. Youโre just tired of being the only one fighting for this relationship.
You tell him you loved him in a way that ruined you.
He starts crying too, apologizing without the usual excuses this time. Saying heโs fucked up. Saying he didnโt realize how deep it went. Saying he never meant to make your mental health worse.
You look at him through blurred vision and whisper that intent doesnโt erase damage.
You tell him you canโt keep sacrificing yourself for someone who keeps choosing temporary validation over permanent love. You tell him you feel like youโve been rotting from the inside while pretending everything was fine.
The room feels suffocating. Years of history pressing down on both of you.
You say you love him. Because you do. And thatโs what makes it unbearable.
But you canโt survive him anymore.
Thereโs a long silence. His breathing is uneven. Yours is worse.
And then, bitter and defensive and wounded, he shakes his head and mutters that youโre impossible to please. That nothing he does is ever enough. That maybe you just like being miserable.
You stare at him, stunned.
And then he says itโฆ
Youโre sick y/n, youโre fucking sick.
Not worried. Not gentle. Not concerned.
The word hangs in the air between you like a final betrayal.
And for the first time since high school, since lockers and humming and promises, you feel something colder than heartbreak.










