( cont. @wildf1re ) it hurt when they broke up. riley never really understood why it happened ⸺ he'd spent countless nights replaying every conversation in his head, wondering if he'd said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing, loved too much or somehow not enough. riley had never stopped loving him. despite the drunken voicemails that he'd leave sometimes, that was the one thing he refused to let anyone know, or at the very least, say out loud. if he wanted to keep this ... whatever they had, he needed to keep his feelings buried where they belonged. he needed to convince himself that he'd moved on ⸺ that whatever still lingered in his chest was nothing, even if the brush of their fingers made his heart flutter, or if every moment spent around bash reminded him of what he'd lost. a small smirk tugged at his lips, "that's the last thing i'd want happenin' at a wedding, silly." a soft chuckle escaped him as he set the guitar aside, leaning back on his palms ... but as soon as the song was mentioned, the smirk on his lips faded almost instantly. the song he wrote when they were still together. the one where he stayed up until four in the morning finishing because every word felt too important, a confession of his love for sebastian. riley swallowed, feeling his throat dry. sometimes he wondered if bash knew exactly what he was doing ⸺ if he knew how easily he could pull at old wounds of his heart that had never properly healed. his gaze lingered on the horizon for a moment before finally shifting toward the other, "thought you'd be sick of it by now," he muttered.