A Splash of Cold Water!

Caleb bends over and unstraps the headset from Evan and places it beside him.

A few minutes pass and Evan’s eyes slowly flutter open.

“Wow, that was intense. Feel drained like a badly wrung sponge though.”

“Hold on there, Chief, take it slow.” Caleb puts his arm underneath Evan, slowly raising him to a sitting position. “Here, drink this, it sounds like you had a wild ride."

Grabbing the cup with shaking hands, Evan chugs half the glass in huge gulps, coughing and sputtering and dribbling down the front of his shirt. “Ack…thanks Cu-, err, Caleb, that helped a lot. Yeah, it was very wild, but freeing at the same time.”

“Sounded like it, from what I heard, got a little too frisky with Andrea in the electronic Boudoir?” Caleb smirks before grabbing a small towel from his drawer. “Here, you missed some down yer shirt.”

“Thanks again.” Evan wipes and dabs the front of his shirt roughly, setting off interesting movements underneath the cloth that Caleb tries very hard to ignore.”Yeah, we got quite frisky, but more than that she helped me come to terms with a few things I’ve been struggling with my whole life.”

Caleb coughs and tries to compose his face into something resembling solemnity. “Oh, er, well that's good. Care to share with the class…i-if you feel up to it, that is.”

“Kinda hard to explain, just that I've been trying too hard to be something I'm not and that it's time to let it fade into the background and try to be a better me, you know?” Evan finishes the glass more slowly, then stands and stretches next to Caleb, giving him another inadvertent eyeful of see-through cloth and hard nipples.

Caleb coughs and looks away. “Well, uh, I’m glad for that. You gonna be able to make it down the stairs? Yer still looking a bit wobbly.” Taking the cup from Evan, he looks with concern towards Evan teetering shakily as he moves closer to the door

“Yeah, yeah, quit worrying, I think I'll be fiiii-NE! Oof!” Evan strides forward slowly and opens the door too forcefully, falling backwards rather heavily onto his butt.

“Damnit, Evan, stubborn as a damn mule. Here, I swear this is the last time I'm going to do this, y’hear?” Caleb walks over to Evan, grabs his hand and lifts him off the floor.

Evan looks up sheepishly.“Thanks, man. Sorry to be a burden. Guess I'm more exhausted than i thought.”

Caleb lifts Evan in the same cradle carry from the night before and looks him in the eye. “Put yer arms around my neck, it'll make this easier on both of us.” Evan wraps his arms around Caleb's neck trying to shift some of the weight off his arms.

Trudging down the stairs slowly, Caleb looks down and continues “And dude, y'ain't a burden, burdens are problems you gotta, but dont want to deal with. I chose to help you go through this program and I knew it'd probably leave you weak, hell, last night you were **** when I did this. This is just helping you out. It's just what friends do, yeah?”

'Stupid Caleb, you're the only friend who's ever done anything like this for me.' Evan thinks as he listens to his friend with gratitude. A sudden impulse to hug Caleb seizes him, wrapping his arms even tighter on the neck and places his head against his friend’s chest.

Bumping open Evan's bedroom door with his hip, Caleb crosses the room and gently lowers Evan onto the bed.

“There ya go, my dude. Also, you probably should change your boxers…you, uh, got a lil excited in there." Crossing over to Evan's clean clothes basket, Caleb grabs a pair of boxers and chucks them over to his friend. “Catch! Alright, Evan, you have off tomorrow right? I only have a half day myself, but I'll check on you in the morning. See how yer holding up. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up taller than me by then. G’night!” Caleb chuckles as he leaves the room.

“Good night, Caleb. Thanks for everything”. As Caleb closes the door, Evan blinks his suddenly watery eyes as he realizes exactly what he's missed all this time. Changing his underwear, Evan slides under the covers and dozes off instantly.

Caleb heads back into his room, shuts down his PC and places the headset on his desk before hitting the lights, shucking off his sweats, and sliding into his own bed. Thoughts swirling in his brain, Caleb stares at the fan slowly turning until sleep finally accepts him. 'What happened to Evan in there? He really is a changed man. Shit, I forgot to ask him about what the program said to me, but I guess it'll have to wait until morning.'