It's the Little Things. (Cracker x Mute Reader)

Love is Complicated

What started as Cracker feeling off for one day turned into him changing. You could tell he was starting to distance himself from you and it hurt. He became less chatty and teasing. There were suddenly reasons for him to have to go to the office for work. He wanted more time alone when he was home. His usually high libido had dropped. And the "I love you"s became so much less frequent and more forced. The part that confused you the most though, was he looked just as pained as you felt. And you were too scared to bring up the change. You were afraid of what was becoming the inevitable. So much for it being something small.

Your fears were finally realized today. The decline had been going on for about a month, dragging on far too slowly.The two of you were still trying to function like everything was fine on the days you did get together. You'd gone over to Cracker's place for a movie night and forgotten your phone. There was a small ray of hope when Cracker gave you his to use without hesitation. He wouldn't give it to you so easily if he had something to hide after all.

But it's not like much was said during the evening anyway. The movie was the only noise in the room as you sat by him, head resting on his shoulder. You were debating handing his phone back when it went off.

Alvida <Are we still on for dinner tomorrow? I love you and can't wait to see you ♥️>

He moved to grab the device but stopped when his eyes met yours. You didn't have the heart to say anything, there wasn't the need to anyway.

"(Y/n)..."

You wiped away the tears that started to spill down your face and gave him the phone.

"(Y/n) I can explain." His voice was soft as he reached out to cup your face.

You shook your head and pushed his hand away. It was time to go. With a shaky breath, you got up and marched to your apartment. Cracker followed behind, still as stubborn as always.

"Can we talk about this?"

Just your luck, Eleanor was outside her apartment. She glanced at your tear stained face and knew what was going on. You opened your door and tried to close it behind you but Cracker held it open.

"Please? I know what it looks like but it- its not how you think it is." He looked defeated and the sadness in his eyes made you almost hear him out.

It'd only make things worse if you did. You placed a hand on his chest and shook your head, pushing him back out of the doorway and into the hall. You hardly put any strength into it but he stumbled back anyway. You didn't look at him as the door swung shut the rest of the way and made sure the sound of it locking could be heard.

With a sigh, you backed into the door and let your body slid down to the floor. Tears fell to the carpet as you started sobbing. You told yourself it was a short lived relationship anyway. It shouldn't hurt. But it did.

----

"(Y/n) you can't hole yourself up like this." Eleanor had come over to check on you as she does once every couple days now.

She'd tried everything to get you out for more than just the small grocery trip to no avail. Pep talks, scolding, begging, even promises of girls nights with her and her friends. She had finally given up and busied herself making sure you were at least eating more than just instant ramen and tidied up the place a bit each time she was here.

<I can and I will. I don't want to see him.>

"No one said you had to."

<He lives across the hall El, it's unavoidable.> You were tiredly helping Eleanor clean the place, now alternating between mopping the kitchen and talking to her.