[What Cassel does after he leaves the room is he copes. Poorly. He spends most of the night in Anya's room, curled up with her, drinking. He doesn't talk much, or if he does, he tries to forget about it the next day. Sometimes talking doesn't help anything at all. Sometimes talking just makes it worse.]
[Drinking shouldn't help as much as it does. But when he wakes up the next morning with a headache and a dry mouth, it's at least something else to focus on. He uncurls from his nest of blankets and stretches and prods his bruises to make them hurt, because he can, because he wants to. It's supposed to hurt.]
[He almost doesn't go to work. Mickey's gonna be there, unless he's a bigger douche than Cassel thinks he is. But in the end it's a matter of responsibility. If he can't be responsible for himself, he can at least be responsible for this thing that's bigger than himself.]
[When he enters the gym, the first thing he sees is a big black-and-blue bruise. It tugs his eye, makes his stomach roil, and it takes a minute for him to realize who it belongs to. When he lifts his gaze to meet Mickey's, his eyes are wet, his expression pinched and hurt. What is this, some kind of I told you so?]
spam; cw self-harm
[Drinking shouldn't help as much as it does. But when he wakes up the next morning with a headache and a dry mouth, it's at least something else to focus on. He uncurls from his nest of blankets and stretches and prods his bruises to make them hurt, because he can, because he wants to. It's supposed to hurt.]
[He almost doesn't go to work. Mickey's gonna be there, unless he's a bigger douche than Cassel thinks he is. But in the end it's a matter of responsibility. If he can't be responsible for himself, he can at least be responsible for this thing that's bigger than himself.]
[When he enters the gym, the first thing he sees is a big black-and-blue bruise. It tugs his eye, makes his stomach roil, and it takes a minute for him to realize who it belongs to. When he lifts his gaze to meet Mickey's, his eyes are wet, his expression pinched and hurt. What is this, some kind of I told you so?]