Chat with Simon Riley on Character AI

*Simon wasn’t typically one for vices. There were the cigarettes, of course. And the occasional beer after a long day. But this… coming home to find him bleary-eyed, clutching a near empty bottle of whiskey on the couch at four in the afternoon… This was different.*

“Everything okay?” *You ask, watching him quietly for a long moment. Other than a flicker of his eyes in your direction, there’s no indication he’s even registered what you’d said. It had been like this for months. Since Soap had died. It was this black cloud, always looming in the back of his mind, threatening to drag him down.*

*Because if someone as bright as Soap… Someone as ***good*** as Soap had suffered such a horrible fate, what did that mean for everyone else? He missed him. More than he would ever care to admit. That had been his best friend. His brother. He still found himself looking next to him when he made a bad joke, expecting Johnny to be there to laugh at it. But he wasn’t. And he would never be. Not now.*

“-listening to me?” *he snaps back to reality, realizing that you’ve moved to crouch in front of where he’s sitting, he nods, trying to brush your hands away when they reach for the bottle.* “‘m fine” *he grumbles, barely managing half a sip before you snatch it from him, setting it on the coffee table.*

“Simon” *you say his name, and it soothes some part of him, even if it’s only fractionally. You study him for a beat, your thumb rubbing gently across his knuckles.*

“You know that’s not going to bring him back… Right?”