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 Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 10:17 pm
It was storming again. Michael laid on his back, staring up at the whirling ceiling fan attached to the grey ceiling of his grey, boring bedroom. It was hot, so he hadn’t bothered with a shirt that night, instead opting to just sleep in some shorts.
Lightning flashed through the blinds, followed by a roll of thunder. He knew he shouldn’t worry, that he should trust that Caspian was okay, but seeing as they both ended up stuck in the last storm, he couldn’t help it. Peter had already come home and said he was going to bed, so that was one less thing to worry about, but…
Another flash of lightning and Michael rolled onto his side, pushing the book he’d been reading before trying to go to bed to the side, reaching for his phone instead. The screen was unlocked on instinct, but Michael told himself he should be surprised that he was scrolling through the contacts until it reached Caspian’s name.
His thumb hovered for a few moments before pressing the button to call, and held the phone to his ear. Maybe Caspian had already gone to bed. It was getting late. Which, of course, made Michael almost regret his decision because he didn’t really want to wake him, just… make sure he wasn’t out in the storm, otherwise he would have to go out looking for him.
Michael felt a strange wave of relief when Caspian answered. “Hey, sorry, did I wake you?” he quickly asked, frowning at himself for being so obviously concerned. “I just… wanted to make sure you weren’t out in this weather. Again,” he explained, hoping that would be enough of an explanation.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:20 pm
Caspian's window was open, letting in the sound of the ensuing thunderstorm that was rampaging through Destiny City. The screen presented most of the rain from getting in, but this way he could hear the cracks of thunder and the pattering rain that pounded on the rooftop.
It was a strangely comforting sound, but then again, Caspian had always been fond of storms.
It was late enough that he probably should have been in bed. As it was, he was currently standing in the middle of his room, completely drenched from head to toe, in the process of trying to figure out where he could drape things surreptitiously. He'd snuck in, but Cassie's door was closed, and it had been easy to tiptoe down the hall to his own room, trying not to drip on everything in the process.
There was a vibrating sound coming from his desk. Caspian glanced around, caught sight of his phone and the name on the screen, and dived for it, swiping a thumb hastily across to pick up.
"Michael, hey," he said, sounding pleased. It was rare that he was the one getting the call - nine times out of ten, it was Caspian who called Michael, but the fact that it was the other way around this time meant that Michael was making good on his promise to try.
"No, I'm awake," he said, and glanced out the window. "I, uh. No. I mean."
A pause.
"Not anymore, at least."
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:08 pm
Not any more, at least.
Michael immediately opened his mouth so he could tell Caspian just how dangerous it was to not only go out on his own, but to be out during a storm like this. The words never came out, and instead he clamped his mouth shut, rolling onto his back again to stare at the ceiling. With his free hand, he pressed his thumb to his temple, rubbing at the sudden headache he got.
"Okay," he said, although he was sure some of the tension was still in his voice despite drawing in a deep breath and making himself not grit his teeth. At least Caspian was safe now. Or at least no longer in the storm. Michael was trying to trust him, and with that came knowing Caspian was more than capable of making his own decisions.
Michael didn't have to like it, but he quickly realized that one, Caspian had no obligation of telling him when he went out, so if Michael wanted him to continue telling him what he did, he probably needed to back off a little and, well, trust that he would.
And two, Michael didn't actually know if Caspian had gone out alone. He assumed he had because Caspian didn't really talk to him about the other Senshi or knights he'd met, but that didn't mean anything, and Caspian could very well frequently go on patrol with someone much less controlling than Michael knew he was.
"Are you okay? I mean, I'm assuming you are... I just..." He just what? Worried needlessly? That would definitely make Caspian want to tell him. Just one more thing to get fussed about. "I just... wanted to check in. That's all," he concluded, his thumb still against his temple and he was sure his voice sounded more strained than he tried to disguise.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:10 pm
He winced a little.
"I wasn't intending to stay out that late, I swear," said Caspian hastily, working on getting rid of the sweater that was clinging damply to his arms. One handed, he worked each button carefully loose, making a face at the soaked teeshirt beneath. "I was on my way home when it started to rain and then I just sorta got stuck trying to get back, but I'm here now."
He finally got all the buttons done and peeled off the sweater - Cassie would have balked at it's neon green color - and went over to his desk, draping it over the back of it.
The strained note was not as easily disguised as it might have been before they had talked. Caspian stopped in the process of tugging off his bracelets, expression softening a little, a slight smile tugging at his lips in spite of himself.
"I'm okay," he said, the bracelets sliding to his desk with a soft clinking sound. "Really. I meant to text you beforehand, but I didn't get a chance to. I'm really okay, though, I promise. I didn't do anything reckless or any s**t like that."
He began wheedling off the bracelets of his other hand, feeling stupidly pleased at Michael's concern as he said, "How are you? Did you go out patrolling tonight?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:42 pm
Michael pushed himself up on his bed while he listened to Caspian quickly explain himself. He wondered if maybe Caspian had expected him to yell at him, or tell him off, and he felt a twinge of guilt since… that wasn’t his intention. Sure, he’d done it before, but… he wanted Caspian to feel comfortable talking to him and… he wasn’t going to feel comfortable if he was harassed all the time.
“It’s okay,” he tried to reassure him, trying to decipher what Caspian was doing by the various sounds he could hear. Something clinked against wood, and it was muffled for a little while as maybe Caspian was rustling around with something, but Michael couldn’t tell for sure.
“I know you wouldn’t do anything reckless on purpose,” he said, taking the book he still had beside him, and picking it up to place on his bedside table, and then lower his feet over the edge of the bed to the floor. Caspian was naturally reckless, but Michael was trying to show that he trusted Caspian to make his own decisions with… patrols… and fighting… and all of that.
“I’m not here to babysit you, so you don’t have to tell me whenever you go out,” he said, and then immediately regretting his choice of words. “That’s… not… not what I meant,” he groaned softly, wondering if Caspian would take what he’d just said the wrong way. “I mean... It’s okay if you forgot… or if you weren’t going to...”
He frowned to himself, wondering how he must sound like to Caspian; saying he wasn’t there to babysit, but also calling to check up on him… wasn’t that the definition of babysitting? And then trying to prove that he trusted him to be fine on his own? It probably all sounded pretty desperate or… who knew…
“I’m fine. Just got back in town a little while ago. I went out on my boat for a while today before the water started getting too rough, so I didn’t get a chance to patrol.”
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 8:09 pm
Sitting on his bed was out of the question, since he was still soaked, but Caspian's desk chair was plastic. He perched on the edge of it, still holding the phone to his ear, and bent to untie the laces of his shoes, fumbling a little with one handed carelessness.
"Maybe not while patrolling," Caspian said, a teasing note to his voice. He kicked off one shoe and it's sock, uncrossed and recrossed his legs, and went to start on the other.
I'm not here to babysit you.
He accidentally dropped the shoe he was holding, a soft thump that made him wince a little. It was not a word he liked hearing, but Michael's ensuing groan of frustration was enough for him to understand that he hadn't meant it to refer to Caspian's age.
Or maybe he had. Caspian still didn't know exactly how old Michael was, but he knew there were several - maybe too many? - years between them, which he himself didn't care about, but that Michael probably did. He pulled off his second sock and dropped it into the hamper with the first, ignoring the unpleasant reminder and focusing instead on the fact that Michael had called him at all.
Michael was trying and so should he.
"Nah, I said I'd be careful and give you heads up when I do s**t," said Caspian lightly, his tone relaxed. "I don't mind. It'll mean that you'll know what I'm up to if I need help or something, right?"
He draped an arm over the back of his chair, propping his head up on his fist and grinning.
"You have a boat? What kind of boat? I didn't know that."
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 8:31 pm
Michael frowned at Caspian’s teasing, wondering if he knew how much it bothered him that he was so reckless. But maybe that was partially why he enjoyed his company; because he never knew what to expect from him. Besides, Caspian promised that he wouldn’t regret agreeing to trust him, so Michael had to believe that.
“Sailboat,” he said simply, figuring going into details would just bore Caspian. “I usually just head to the sound. One day I’d like to actually take her around the world, but that’s not going to happen any time soon with everything going on.” The war made things difficult for everyone to live their lives.
“You could always come sometime. Only if you wanted,” he quickly added, and then winced at himself. “I did it again, didn’t I?” he mumbled as he sat on the edge of his bed, listening to the thunder rumble in the distance. Caspian had pointed out the fact that Michael often gave him a way out, and he just couldn’t seem to break that habit.
“Sorry,” he said softly, having known that trying would be hard, but not this hard.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 8:44 pm
The thought of a sailboat brought to mind endless seas and the smell of the ocean and the bright sun above his head. Caspian let himself wander through that particular fantasy for a few seconds before coming back down to earth; it had been a while since he'd done anything but volleyball on the beach.
He opened his mouth to say something - but the apology from Michael came before he could speak, and Caspian leaned a little more heavily against his arm, his expression flickering. So he'd realized as soon as he'd said it. In spite of this fact, a small smile was on Caspian's face.
"Yeah, you did it again," he said simply, but it wasn't an accusation; it was a fact, lightly noticed and then gently pushed aside and forgiven as he said, "If you don't mind me hitching a ride, I'd love to commandeer your boat sometime to go sailing."
He had noticed - it was progress, even if it would take some time to get to where he wanted.
A laugh escaped him, Caspian's voice taking on an eager tone as he said, "Are there other sailboats around? Can we go and pirate them? You could have yourself a whole fleet, just think Captain Gallo," Caspian added dramatically. "Comandeering an entire fleet of little paper sailboats."
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 8:51 pm
There was nothing wrong with what Caspian said. It was all light hearted teasing, but it still made Michael suddenly tense and grow quiet. He told himself that Caspian didn’t know saying something like that would bother him, so he didn’t hold that against him. He only hoped his voice didn’t betray him.
Thankfully, Caspian wasn’t able to see his expression.
“There are other sailboats around, but that would be highly illegal and impossible with just the two of us,” he frowned, figuring it was better to try and remain as casual about the topic as possible. “I’m not really Captain material, anyway,” he mumbled, growing restless and standing so he could make his way over to the window to peer out.
“But yeah, if you’d like to come… I’ll let you know next time I plan on it. Probably next weekend.”
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:05 pm
His wet clothes were making him vaguely uncomfortable the longer he sat there, but Caspian was too focused on talking to Michael to pay much more attention to that. He leaned against his arm, holding the phone to his ear, and was silent for a moment, simply listening to the sound of his voice.
It was quieter now, faint rustling sounds in the background, but it was mostly indistinct enough that Caspian couldn't tell what he was doing. He swung a leg, and said, "Okay fine, no commandeering ships. I'm sure we could think of something else exciting to do."
His voice grew a little quieter, faintly amused. "But no, yeah, I'd like to go."
Caspian sat up a little, running a hand through his soaking hair, which was steadily drying. The room around him was lit only by the lamp on his desk - he hadn't bothered to flip on the overhead light, and everything was cast in a warm, yellowish glow.
"You doing okay tonight?" he asked, after a moment, and while his tone was light, there was a note of concern in it that wasn't quite able to be hidden. "No bad dreams lately?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:25 pm
“I could always teach you, if you’d like,” he offered, leaning with his back against the windowsill, his head tilted back against the glass. “Peter already got me roped into teaching someone else, anyway,” he explained, if only to let Caspian know that the idea wasn’t even his own to begin with. It just happened to be something he was doing already.
The softness of Caspian’s voice concerned him slightly, and he frowned as he listened, trying to pick out if something was bothering him without being able to see his normally very expressive face. If he could see him, that was one thing, but trying to just decipher through the tone of his voice was another thing entirely.
Caspian’s next question took him by surprise, and he shook his head even though Caspian couldn’t see. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just restless I guess,” he admitted, although continued to frown at the mention of bad dreams. While he wanted Caspian to call him if he needed to about his bad dreams, Michael had yet to actually call for the same reason, not wanting to seem as though he couldn’t handle himself.
But he always had bad dreams. Some were worse than others, some were not so bad. He knew how to handle them, mostly.
“Just a few,” he forced himself to say, his hand reaching back to grip onto the windowsill for support. “It’s fine though. I usually don’t have trouble falling back to sleep. If… if it was really bad… I’d call, okay?”
Michael had no idea why he just promised to do something he had no intention of doing before, but he kept reminding himself that he was going to try to trust Caspian, and this was one of those things he needed to trust him with.
“Why?” he added, having heard the concern in Caspian’s voice, just barely their under the softly spoken words. “Everything okay with you? What’s wrong?”
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2016 12:31 pm
Michael might not be able to see the way Caspian's face had lit up at the idea of being taught to sail, but his voice was indicative of it as it was. "That'd be awesome," he said, swiveling back and forth in his chair, a grin pulling at his lips. "And oooh, you're teaching someone? A friend of Peter's?"
His wet hair was dripping down his face, cold water sliding across his cheeks. Caspian shook his head like a dog, spraying his desk and floor with droplets in the process, then raked a hand through the dark locks, trying to squeeze some of the dampness out with his fingers.
He was not sure he believed the just a few comment, Caspian frowning slightly. "You can still call me even if you don't have trouble," he said, toying with the cord of his mouse that was sitting on his desk. "You know I'll listen to you, even if they're not that bad."
Though a part of him wondered whether Michael was just trying to spare him from listening, or something to that effect. Caspian opened his mouth and then shut it again.
Does the age difference between us bother you?
How old are you really?
Do you think of me as a kid?
He couldn't ask. Caspian swallowed the words and gave a shake of his head.
"I just want you to feel relaxed around me, is all," he said, a small smile on his face.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2016 1:10 pm
“I… guess she’s a friend of Peter’s…” he said with a grimace, moving away from the window and returning to sit on the edge of his bed. “By now, I think she’s spent more time with me than with him,” he said with a shake of his head, although it hadn’t been as horrible as he was making it sound. “She’s your age and goes to DCU, too. You might know her,” he said, not thinking it was that big of a deal, and just talking at this point.
He could hear the spray of something whip around the phone speaker, and Michael frowned, pulling the phone away from his ear for a few moments to stare at it and then put it back. He opened his mouth to ask about the noise, but instead paused with what Caspian said next.
For him to feel relaxed around him… it was going to take a lot more than just a short amount of time since he’d actually agreed to try, but he could understand Caspian’s concern and didn’t blame him for wanting that.
“I know,” he mumbled, looking out the window at the rain pouring down once more. “I know you’ll listen…” Michael said, feeling a little guilty that Caspian felt the need to remind him. And then with a small sigh, he said, “If anyone is a good guy, you are, you know.”
But that wasn’t really resolving anything, and wasn’t showing that he was wanting to try, so Michael gritted his teeth for a moment, before forcing himself to open his mouth. “I… will call… next time… Just… don’t be upset when I wake you up,” he said, feeling his face heat with some embarrassment and humiliation over the fact that he had nightmares in the first place.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2016 7:12 pm
"Ohhh, so it's a her," said Caspian knowingly, a slight teasing note in his voice. "I see how it is. What's her name? DCU is pretty big, though, so the chances of me knowing who it is are probably kinda slim as it is. But maybe she's in one of my classes or something."
He wasn't quite sure why, but the thought made him feel vaguely uncomfortable. Caspian had thought that the age difference between them was a struggle for Michael, but if he was teaching someone at DCU, that was another person several years younger. And hadn't Peter said that Michael didn't really know many people?
It was a pointless train of thought that eventually ran off the track before Caspian knocked it aside, focusing on what else Michael was saying.
He plucked at his clammy shirt, opened his mouth, and then shut again. For the first time since they had met, a faint pink tinge touched across Caspian's cheeks, hardly noticeable, least of all to him, but he could feel it like someone had just pressed something warm to his face.
"I think you're thinking of the other Caspian Lyons you know," he said, but the compliment had pleased him, however unexpected it had been. "Your definition of 'good' is a little skewed, my friend."
But he was fighting a smile that shifted into something softer, Caspian's fingers slowly running through his hair.
"I won't be upset if it's you," he said lightly. "You can always call me. Now, my sister, on the other hand..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2016 7:39 pm
”Lyons, huh?” Michael wondered out loud. “You’ve never told me your full name until now, you know. I should have known it would have been something befitting of a Narnian king,” he lightly teased, only because Caspian seemed to be in a pretty good mood, if not a little quiet.
“And yeah, her name is Olga. White and black hair,” he told him, shaking his head at the thought of Olga and her enthusiasm, which reminded him a little of Caspian, really. Part of him wanted to give Caspian the heads up that Olga was a senshi, too, but he didn’t. He would keep her secret as she would keep his and Peter’s.
“Does your sister like to wake you up in the middle of the night,?” he asked, if only to try and continue the conversation. There were a lot of things he could think of talking about, but he had to wonder if Caspian, despite saying he wanted to talk, really did want to talk for a while. Part of his restlessness, he realized, was because he was feeling lonely. It was weird, being able to recognize loneliness after years of ignoring it and pushing it aside.
“Did you even get a chance to get dressed, or are you still standing around in wet clothes?” he suddenly asked, remembering the strange sloshing noise from just earlier. It wouldn’t surprise him if he was. “Don’t expect me to come and take care of you if you end up with a fever,” he frowned, although the threat was half hearted, and he was sure Caspian knew that he would bring him whatever he needed in a heartbeat. That didn’t mean he liked to advertise it.
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