(♦️|🥤🎒) Give Me Comfort To Calm My Fears

                                    

                                          
Night in Bridgeport can be nice and calming, a relaxing time to take a walk. Tonight was not one of those nights. There was a storm just overhead and it was bad but it wasn't just rain, oh no, it was full of thunder and lightning. Just lovely.
Liam had been living with Bryce for nearly a year now after ONE ended, they both agreed on the decision as Liam had nothing back in San Francisco and was honestly not quite bothered to clear up his disappearance with the police. Not like they'll believe his Australia excuse. Although it wasn't the only reason the backpack had, he obviously didn't tell the other about it.
You see, ONE has given the poor bag some fears. He's scared of drowning, for obvious reasons and he's scared to be alone. While he did have friends and all back in San Francisco, something stuck out to him about Bryce. He didn't live with anyone back home and having the soda bottle's company is nice now that they're back on good terms. Liam just guesses that he's scared of seeing him disappear again, without knowing what happened, making him feel alone. Tonight wasn't doing him much justice either.
The thunder and lightning had been keeping him up, scaring the living shit out of him, not allowing him to close his eyes for even just a minute as he flinched at the sound of thunder or the flashing through the window. He didn't understand how Bryce could sleep through it. If he's being honest, he doesn't know why it scares him really. He thinks it's because of what happened on the smokestack that night but it had also always frightened him as a kid, so that adds to it as well. Scared of being shocked or how loud the thunder was. It doesn't help that he did get struck that night and it was painful. Liam was just laying on his 'bed', if you could call it that, and gripping the duvet while he tried to steady his breathing.
It seemed like it was working and the storm seemed like it had passed. Liam loosened his grip and relaxed a bit, not hearing or seeing anything for a few minutes. He attempted to finally go to sleep, which nearly happens. Oh, but just as he was nearly fully asleep, it happened again. Lightning struck, thunder coming after it. The backpack immediately jolted up from fright.
Liam covered his mouth with both of his hands because he almost just screamed at the top of his lungs. He didn't want to wake Bryce and he looked to his right, to Bryce's bed, to make sure he didn't. The soda bottle seemed to still be asleep, Liam assumed because Bryce was facing the wall and he couldn't see his face. The backpack simply sat up fully and brought his legs up to his chest, his breathing had quickened again.
Liam felt like a child. He felt like a fucking child for being scared of something so stupid as thunder and lightning. He's an adult, not a five year old! He shouldn't be scared of this, he shouldn't be. It makes him feel childish. It makes him feel pathetic. He's acting like a child and he hates it. He's not a child, why is he acting like one? Liam started getting angry at himself for letting himself be scared of something so stupid, as a result, he began yanking his handle down with both hands. He was pulling it down as if it were hair on your head, he was doing it harshly as well. He was hurting himself doing this and he was aware, but he deserved it for being a child. He's not five, so why is he scared of such stupid things like being alone and thunder and lightning? He only gets more upset and pulls harder. Tears begin forming in the backpack's eyes, more being produced with each pull. They'd soon start to soak into his fabric and his breathing became choked, gasping a little bit.
Liam was so lost in thought that he didn't even register the sounds from his right, none of them, no matter how loud they were, his eyes were closed anyways. It would only be until he felt warmth on the hands used to harm his own handle when he opens his eyes to look. His vision is blurry due to the tears but once they fall, he can see the figure before him clearly.
While Liam was distracted by processing who it was in front of him, Bryce guided his hands away from his handle and held them tight to avoid any further damage to the now scrunched handle.
Bryce hadn't actually been asleep during the storm, it was too loud to let him rest, so he just hoped he'd fall asleep at some point. But then after that thunder, he heard Liam's breathing and it caused him to check on the backpack.
Bryce began to rub circles on the back of Liam's hands with his thumbs while trying his best to comfort him. It seemed like it was working when the tears stopped flowing and gasping was no longer heard. The two now sat in silence on the mattress that laid on the floor, the backpack avoiding eye contact. He was embarrassed.
"Are you alright?" Bryce questions Liam. He's unsure of how he feels but answers anyways "Y-yeah, I think so.." "Good. Now what happened?" Was the second question Bryce asks. Liam didn't want to answer, he really didn't because he feared why the soda bottle would think of him if he knew. But the nice feeling he got from the bottle's hands encouraged him. Bryce would understand.
"The..thunder and lightning just..scared me I guess.." Liam answered, lightly chuckling at the end. While he thought Bryce would understand, he didn't want the soda bottle to think he was a child.
"Didn't know that scared you but it's normal to be scared of it." Bryce replied, causing Liam to finally look at him directly. "It's normal for adults to be scared of it?" "Well, yeah. Everyone has their fears. I have mine, large bodies of water." Bryce admitted, still rubbing circles on the shorter one's hands.
The moment was nice, but it had to be ruined by more thunder and lightning, making Liam jump. It really does frighten him. Bryce thought for a moment, looking away from Liam when something came to mind.
"Do you want to sleep in the bed tonight? It's probably more comfortable than the mattress." Bryce asks as he looks back towards the backpack. Liam appreciates the offer and would take it, but it's Bryce's bed. He would have declined if he wasn't stopped by Bryce getting up and removing his hands. Liam felt the warmth slowly leave as well, he wanted to keep their hands together to keep that warmth. It felt oddly nice to the backpack.
Bryce stood up and held his hand out for Liam to take, which he didn't hesitate to do. The soda bottle sat himself on the edge up the bed and pulled the backpack towards him and onto his lap. This immediately flustered Liam but that feeling was soon shut down when Bryce began rubbing circles on his back. It was calming. Liam couldn't help but wrap his arms around the soda bottle while somewhat burying his face into his chest. He enjoyed the comfort, loved it even. It felt special to him but he couldn't pin point why and quite frankly, he didn't care during the moment. He was lucky to have a friend like Bryce. He liked the comfort he got from him.
Eventually, Liam was calm enough that his handle drooped forward, tapping off Bryce's face, earning a chuckle from the bottle himself. Liam was also beginning to fall asleep, the storm no longer bothering him anymore and Bryce must have noticed this as he placed a kiss on the backpack's forehead. Liam smiled at the action and leaned into Bryce more. It didn't take long before Bryce moved from the edge of the bed to the top and laid the both of the down, getting under the blanket with Liam slightly on top of him, slowly drifting off to sleep. 
Liam thought about how lucky he was to know Bryce, to have someone like him in his life and with what just happened, maybe he likes Bryce more than just a friend.