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Donnie thought back to himself as he slammed the door to his bedroom. He was 19 now, and still living with mother. Elizabeth had long moved out, but he was stuck where he was, and he had once again participated in another dispute with his mother over the obscene amount of medication he was taking.
He had thrown in some curses and threats and overall regretted the conversation, but he needed to get his point across somehow. And he still hadn’t managed.
It wasn’t until the moment he heard the ‘click’ of the door slamming that he realized he had been crying. His face was flushed with sorrow and anger, and there were tear stains all along the collar of his worn blue shirt.
He flipped down onto his bed, not bothering to grab a book or even hide under his covers.
Donnie just allowed himself to cry some more, balling his fists and covering his face with them.
“Donnie.”
The boy didn’t budge, because he knew from where the voice had originated.
“Donnie,” the voice came again, “It’s okay.”
Donnie furrowed his brows at this, and propped himself up on his elbows, looking around his room. “What the fuck do you want?” he muttered, and harshly whipped around when he felt ghostly breath hit his back.
He was greeted with the familiar “face” that belonged to Frank. The cold metal of the mask could be felt from a foot away.
“I know you are tired, Donnie,” Frank said in his usual hushed tone. The voice was typically unnerving to Donnie, but there was a gentle quality to it that he hadn’t heard up until this moment.
“It’s just too much, isn’t it?” Frank continued, “I understand.”
“What could you possibly understand about this?” Donnie practically growled, but he was stopped in his tracks by a paw on his shoulder.
“More than you know.”
Donnie somewhat melted into the touch, his heart sinking a little deeper in his chest. It had been painfully long since he had felt affection, and he was grateful, even if it were from hallucinatory origin.
“Frank-“ Donnie began, rolling over to face the Rabbit a little better, but he went quiet.
“I know you are tired of talking, Donnie. You don’t have to right now.”
Donnie let his elbow fall flat, along with the rest of him, so that he was eye-level with Frank’s chest.
There were no more spoken words, just silent gestures of platonic affection, as Donnie scooted himself closer to the rabbit, wrapping a shaky arm around him.
The feeling of warm fur against cold skin brought Donnie to closing his eyes, and he pressed his face against the furred chest before him.
Frank met Donnie halfway, wrapping his own arm around him, paw patting at his back.
Donnie already felt himself drifting to sleep, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to enjoy this, because he knew when he woke, it would all be gone.
But despite his best efforts, as he snuggled a little closer against Frank, Donnie fell straight to sleep.