Briggan dressed in a tattered pair of light denim jeans, a worn-out metal band tee, and his old Converse shoes. He stepped out of the bathroom and went to his bedroom, where he took notice of all that Mastace had done while he was away. He had to say, it looked nice. It was much better than what he'd been living in the last few years. Perhaps he should hand the lion more credit, as he clearly deserved it...
Mastace shut the door as silently as he could. He had no idea if Briggan was out of the bathroom yet, and he had no intention of letting him know anything that had just happened. He stepped into the hall, keeping his breathing as level as possible.
"Briggan?"
"Yes?" Briggan called back. He was in his bedroom. Mastace stepped into the room and saw that Briggan was looking around the room in awe. "I like what you did to the place."
"Well, there's still quite a bit to do but we can work on it little by little." Mastace said. He was finding it difficult to keep his cool, and he had no idea on how he was going to keep his sudden anxiety under wraps until he could better process his own thoughts.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Briggan said.
Mastace stopped and looked at Briggan a moment, in shock of his sudden increase in comfort level with his visitor. It took a quick moment for Mastace to come up with a response. "Indeed," he said, "we will."
Briggan sat on his bed. He looked down at the floor and his expression went blank. This went on for a short time before he lifted his head toward Mastace. "Hey, Mastace"
Mastace had the feeling that what Briggan was about to say was going to send waves of shock through his mind. "Yeah?" he said, mentally preparing for a heavy response.
"Thanks," Briggan said. "For everything."
Mastace stood there, appalled. He couldn't say anything for several silent moments due to his stupor. He was simply speechless.
"Is everything okay?" Briggan asked. His head tilted slightly as he made his inquiry, and Mastace took notice of how quaint the motion seemed.
"I-I..." he stammered. It took a second for him to regain his composure enough to be able to push out the words. "I don't know... I think I'm going to head home so I can sift through my head for a while."
"Did I say something?" The worry in Briggan's voice was impossible to ignore.
"No, Briggan. It has nothing to do with you, I just suddenly got a lot on my mind and I need to process through it all." Mastace sat next to Briggan and put his hand on his shoulder. "I'll talk to you about it once I figure it all out. How does that sound? You like that idea?"
Briggan looked straight ahead, then back down at the floor once again. "Sure, that's fine."
Mastace watched Briggan for a few moments, not sure what to do. Just then, Briggan ambushed Mastace with the shockingly inviting warmth of a hug. Mastace, still in shock, returns the embrace.
"I hope it all works out, whatever's going on." Briggan said, then pulled away from the hug. Mastace just took it all in, the shell shock of all that has just happened within the last hour coming down on him. His own thoughts were now betraying him to notions he'd never known before. Everything happening inside himself was now foreign to him. Briggan was no longer the only one undergoing a metamorphosis, and Mastace knew it. As of this moment, it was written by Fate that neither of them would come out of this the same.
If only I knew whether these changes are going to be for better... or worse...