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He sniffles. "A - a story?"
I smile, my chest warm. "I can’t exactly read to you while driving, Case.”
“Then tell me one. Please?”
How could I possibly say no to such a beautifully heartbreaking request?
“Okay. Let me think.” I climb into one of the secure vehicles and start the engine, setting my phone into the mount on the dash. With how fast I'm about to drive, I'm going to need both hands on the wheel. "There once was a super grumpy vampire-"
I find Casey curled up on the floor in the second stall of the store's bathroom. He's burrowed down in his sweatshirt - my sweatshirt, actually, and fuck do I like that - his messy hair and puffy, red eyes the only parts of his head I can see. I hang up the phone and squat down in front of him. He lifts his pretty blue eyes to look at me. I reward him with a soft smile and a stroke of my hand through his hair. "Hey you."
"Hi.”
"Ready to go?"
"Mhm." He wipes at his eyes with a sleeve-covered hand. "I was supposed to get food…"
"Don't worry about that. Let's just get you home. I'll handle the rest, okay?"
His shoulders sag in what I think is relief.
“Okay.”
We don’t talk again until we’re back to the apartment he shares with Carter. I get him seated on the couch with a blanket before moving to make him some tea. All I find is cinnamon apple tea. I wrinkle my nose - who the fuck drinks tea like this? Where’s the peppermint or the chamomile or the lemon? Hell, where’s the simple black or green? But then I remember that Casey loves autumn and I smile a little. To my left, just beneath the cabinet with their coffee mugs, is a pumpkin cheesecake candle. And the blanket I had draped over him was a burnt orange.
“Embracing autumn?” I ask him as I steep the tea.
He makes a happy sort of humming sound despite how upset he still is, turning on the couch to smile over the back of it at me. “Isn’t it cozy?”
Cozy.
Goddamn, he’s fucking adorable.
“Very cozy.” I eye him, the blanket around his shoulders, his cheeks slightly flushed and damp with drying tears, his blue eyes glassy and bright. Beautiful. So unbelievably beautiful.
God, I’ve missed him.
"Do you want to talk about what happened?" I ask when the tea is finished, bringing him the steaming mug.
He shakes his head as he accepts the drink. "Not yet…"
"That's okay. Let's put something on for us to watch then. We'll just relax."
"Nothing sad," he mumbles, bringing the mug to his mouth and softly blowing on it.
I sit beside him, fully intending on cuddling the shit out of him if he'll let me. "Definitely nothing sad. Would you laugh at me if I put something animated on?"
He smiles. It's a little wobbly and weak, but I'll take it. "That actually sounds kind of nice. But no sad ones. I don't wanna watch Mufasa die or something."
"Fair enough." I grab the remote but can't continue until I have him closer. "Can I hold you?"
His cheeks turn a delicious pink as he very obviously avoids my eyes. "In your lap?"
"Is that where you'd like to be?"
He nods, his teeth catching his bottom lip. All of the daddy in me is begging to be let loose, but I rein it in. This has to be enough for me. "I'd love that. Come here."
He scrambles into my lap, clumsy and adorable. I have to swallow an oof when his elbow catches my side, but it doesn't stop me from grinning like a total idiot as I feel him settle against my chest, his head tucked beneath my chin. He wiggles around a little more before sighing, his muscles going lax.
