"How painful the hangover was today."

[deepinmysoul]

Who: Caden and Brendan Drake
What: That awkward moment when your teetotal nephew is hungover
Where: Home, Broadway, NYC
When: About lunch time the day after THIS

Caden was oblivious to what Brendan had done the night before. In fact, he had wholeheartedly believed Brendan's text telling him he was going for a coffee with Reecy was exactly what had happened. Caden had woken up early and gone to brunch with Casper before his lover was due on set to film his TV show. Then he met briefly with Lisa and Sam for coffee, and although nothing had been officially declared there yet, Caden could see his sister had feelings for the doctor and he was 100% okay with that. It was Justin's uncle, and Caden adored that whole family.

So when he got back and heard someone being violently sick in the bathroom, considering only one person lived with him, he knew who it was and was instantly worried. Hangover didn't even cross his mind. He went straight to the bathroom and pushed the door open, finding Brendan on the floor hugging the toilet bowl and throwing up pretty intensely. "Hey, hey... Bren, buddy, you should have called me if you were sick," he chastised gently, but as soon as he was in the bathroom, he could smell the stale odour of cigarette smoke and booze. Not to mention the fact Brendan was still in the clothes he was wearing at the theatre the night before, his leather jacket half on one arm and half off draped over his leg.

"Are you... hungover?" he asked in surprise, voice raising a little in tone.

Comments

[betterplacetoplay]

Brendan couldn't believe how awful he felt. He had never been hungover in his life. In fact, other than a pint on his 18th birthday with his mum that she took him for because it was something a father would usually do with their son and she hadn't wanted him to miss out, he hadn't touched a drop of booze. He saw what it did to Maisy when she had days she wanted to be trashed. So, this was really his first time popping his booze cherry, and apparently it made him want to pop his other cherry with Reecy. That sucked so hard. For one, she had a boyfriend, and two, Brendan always wanted to lose his virginity to someone he had deep feelings for and was dating, and all those other things he wanted to come before he tried sex for the first time. He didn't even know why he was feeling rejected by Reecy when he had always wanted all that to be what his first time was like. The whole situation had left him feeling miserably, unwanted, and lonely. Even more than he had been before he told Reecy he wanted to get drunk.

He groaned and closed his eyes. The room was spinning a little less now he was lying down and propped up on some pillows in bed, but he didn't feel less ill or stupid. Caden's response should have been expected. Brendan had expected him to be disappointed or angry, hence why his defences had gone up. But his uncle was right, they had always had a close relationship and Brendan had always felt like he could talk to Caden about everything. "I'm just... lonely. When Mais hit me, it felt like nothing had changed, and that was why I came to New York. For a change. Bryce might die. His Mum and Dad told me that yesterday before what happened with Mais."

[deepinmysoul]

It was really hard news to hear, and if it was hitting Caden this hard, it would have been hitting Brendan a hundred times worse. They had grown up together, Bryce was his closest friend. To hear your friend might not survive an illness of this magnitude, and then have a sister whose moods were extremely volatile around you, Caden would have been going out to get blind drunk too. "I'm sorry there's no better news with Bryce, Bren. He's been very sick and this is something no one hoped it would come to. But I know his Mum and Dad very well, and they would want to be honest with you so you're kept informed and not blindsided. I also know Bryce and he was willing to go through anything it took to give himself the best fighting chance to beat this. It's just a waiting game, but I know it hurts. I know it hurts so much, Bren."

"Are you lonely in general or feel like everyone has someone and you don't want to interfere with that? It's okay if it's the latter, because you're only human and it's natural to start wanting those sorts of things when you hit your teens and start to figure life out more. Is that ice okay? Is it too cold? It should help a little. You've got a lot of swelling where she hit you," he murmured sympathetically.