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 Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:50 am
The answer was expected, but maybe Morgan could have said that no matter what Casey had landed on. As time went on, his faith in Mason had dwindled. Morgan thought he was good at reading people–even those he’d never met.
He didn’t like how much Casey had withdrawn once they started dating. He didn’t like how jumpy he was, how he was always making excuses for Mason, how he was always catering to him despite his own well-being.
Casey never said anything bad about Mason but he didn’t say anything spectacular, either. When giving him praise, Casey seemed to only describe the bare minimum, and it was always backhanded in some way. Morgan wondered if he was aware of it or if it was subconscious.
Casey’s eyes never sparkled when he talked about Mason. He always seemed shy, like he was uncomfortable with the subject. Mason made him withdraw into himself, made him doubt himself and his friends, scared him.
Morgan liked the way Casey played with his hair, the way he busied himself to find some comfort while he sorted through his emotions. He was easy to read right now and Morgan was glad for that and some honesty.
It felt like a light in the darkness, at least. A chance for a path forward.
“That’s not what love’s supposed to be like,” Morgan murmured, but he knew Casey had to know. He was such a romantic, such a dreamer. There was no fairy tale ending when you were afraid of your partner.
“I’ve been so worried about you. I don’t want you to do anything just because you think it’s what I want, I want it to be because it’s what you want, too. While we figure this out, I want you to put yourself first, above everyone else, all right? I’ll stick by you no matter what. I just want you happy and safe.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:51 am
Casey remained close to Morgan, soaking in his warmth and comfort and kindness. He kept his hands in Morgan’s hair, and breathed deeply against his neck and jacket collar as he calmed himself down.
He was still so afraid that what he wanted wasn’t even possible. But everything that Morgan said--
Could it really work out like that? Could he really live happily with both Morgan and Ariel? Would Ariel be okay with that?
“I wish Ariel was here,” he sniffled quietly, but nothing about his words or gestures implied that he didn’t want to be there with Morgan. He just wanted to be with both of them. But then again, he was also afraid they’d think he was being too whiny and pathetic.
Or maybe that was just what Mason would tell him to expect.
“Thank you, Morgan. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I didn’t know--”
He didn’t know he could have everything he wanted with the two people he wanted to be with the most.
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:51 am
“You don’t have to apologize, Casey. It’s okay.”
Without releasing Casey, Morgan adjusted his position only slightly so he could raise his wrist up to examine his watch. “He’ll be getting off of work soon. Why don’t I get him an Uber over here?”
He and Casey still had a few hours before their shift was supposed to be over. The office wasn’t exactly the most comfortable place in the world but they’d invested a lot of time into making it cozy enough. It was worth it, especially in the winter.
“I’ll order takeout. It’s just us for the rest of the day, I’m sure no one would mind.”
It wasn’t like people didn’t have friends or family come visit every now and then. As long as their guests were responsible and no one was shirking on duties all the time, no one really saw any harm.
There wasn’t much to do today anyway. The snow was going to pick up in a little while and it was rare that anyone wanted to visit in bad weather. They’d prepared as best as possible and weren’t anticipating a blizzard. The most work they had to do was logging the afflicted trees and noting the effectiveness of their treatment, and they were already pretty on top of that.
The couch in the back office doubled as a pullout bed, and Morgan suspected both Casey and Ariel could benefit from a nap if they’d let themselves have one.
Harrison certainly wasn’t going to complain.
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:51 am
It felt as though his heart leapt to his throat. Along with a chill of anxiety and guilt. He wanted to see Ariel. To talk to him. Apologize. Beg him for forgiveness. Even if Morgan said he didn’t have to apologize, Casey didn’t feel like he’d done enough to make up for everything he’d put them through.
“I would like that. Please,” he sniffled quietly, trying not to seem as excited or anxious as he felt. “I want to talk to him, but-- oh… It probably wouldn’t be good to talk to him on the phone. I might just make him worry more,” he winced.
And he was worried about delaying Ariel from getting there. Besides, he wasn’t sure what he could even say coherently on the phone.
“I can wait,” he promised, even if he really wanted to talk to him. “Thank you,” he sniffled again and rubbed at his eyes.
“I don’t know what to do about Mason… he’s going to wonder what’s taking me so long to get home if I stay longer than our shift. I’ve got a lot of my stuff there. And I don’t know what will happen to the puppy if I don’t go back.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:51 am
Already pulling out his phone from his pocket, Morgan suffered the chill of the air to text Ariel. It wasn’t a long message, and he continued to rub Casey’s back.
“Don’t worry about Mason, yet. We’ve got a few hours to figure things out. If you need to get your stuff, I can drive you over and help. If you don’t want to do anything tonight…”
He let his voice trail off as he considered, and finally shrugged. “I don’t want him to try and talk you out of anything or pressure you to do something you’re not comfortable with. What’s wrong with the puppy–Penny? Is he not taking care of her?”
Or just foisting all of that responsibility on Casey?
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:51 am
“He’s just busy a lot,” Casey mumbled quietly, knowing that he tended to defend Mason more often than not, but he couldn’t help it. “I offered to help take care of her. And she likes me a lot, so it would be weird if I didn’t help out.”
But he was absolutely the one taking care of her most of the time. If not all the time. He only wished he could bring her with him like he did Harrison, but Mason claimed he wanted time with her, too.
“I’m okay,” he promised after a moment, rubbing his face once more. He was still sniffling a little, but he knew it was cold and Morgan had already gone out of his way to find him. And brought him hot chocolate that was probably cold by now. And Harrison was waiting for them.
“We can get everything ready for Ariel. If that’s okay?” It would keep him from pacing anxiously around at least.
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:52 am
“Good idea. We can clean up a little for him.” There wasn’t much of a mess to straighten up but Casey could benefit from some busy work.
Morgan gave him one more squeeze but made no attempt to stand and no effort to push Casey away. It was no trouble to give him his own time to make a decision. There was no rush to untangle from each other’s arms.
The wind had picked up just slightly, hardly noticeable except for the way it occasionally shook loose the snow on the upper branches of the trees around them. They could heat up back at the office, Casey could catch his breath, maybe actually enjoy some of the hot chocolate.
“We’ll have to pick out what we should order. You can help me figure out what Ariel would like most.” Casey wouldn’t decide for himself but Morgan wanted to keep him busy thinking about something.
“Are you ready to get up? If you hold the hot chocolate, I can carry you back. Might help you warm up, too. And I’d hate for you to get dizzy from standing up too quickly again.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2025 9:52 am
Casey’s heart fluttered. Looking at Morgan now, he had no idea why he didn’t try talking to him and Ariel about how he felt before. They’d never given him any indication that they would ever leave him behind, and yet Casey had still been afraid of an inevitable that now seemed laughable.
Casey held out his hands for the hot chocolate and tipped his head onto Morgan’s shoulder.
“You’re right,” he agreed, nodding that he was ready. He was fairly certain that Morgan enjoyed carrying him. This wasn’t the first time he’d been carried, and it definitely wasn’t something he’d turn down unless he absolutely had to.
But since Morgan was offering to carry him instead of helping him stand up, he would go with that.
And for good measure, he pressed a kiss against Morgan’s neck.
Morgan was often very quiet and contemplative. He didn’t need to use words to convey how he felt. And Casey hoped that he could do the same for Morgan. A little at a time at least.
Fin!
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