Chapter 1: Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride
Morgan knew something was wrong with Reid the minute he stepped off the elevator. His eyes were blood shot, his clothes were more rumpled than usual and his hair was a mess – and not a purposeful messy, an 'I don't give two shits so I came to work with bed head' messy. There were also deep circles under his eyes, as though he hadn't slept all weekend. He didn't even have a cup of coffee with him. Morgan knew that Reid had been to New Orleans that past weekend to visit Ethan, but this was not how he normally returned from those visits.
I wonder if they had a fight or something?
Morgan decided to approach the situation slowly and carefully, knowing that if they had fought, and this was Reid's reaction, things must not have been resolved, at least not the way he wanted. Reid and Ethan had been together for a long time, ever since they reconnected when Reid was still using and Ethan helped him get clean. Ethan was good for him; a genius in his own right, he could understand Reid more than most. He didn't live life according to conventional rules, and that was good for him too; he was too uptight sometimes and Ethan knew how to help him relax. The long distance relationship was hard though, Reid had talked to him about it many times, about the arguments that it caused.
I wonder . . . I wonder if they had that same argument again and broke up or something. Reid's so in love with Ethan, that could explain his appearance, although if they did break-up, I'm surprised Reid was able to drag his ass into work at all.
While he had been thinking, Morgan had walked to the break room and he prepared a cup of coffee for Reid, coffee syrup really after all the sugar he put in, but that was how Reid took it. He walked into the bullpen and set the coffee cup on Reid's desk.
"I'm here for you man, if and when you want to talk."
Reid nodded, and surprised Morgan by standing and saying, "can we talk in your office?"
"Of course!" Morgan led the way, Reid on his heels, fingers tightly wrapped around the coffee cup, silently thankful that Morgan could read him like a book. Morgan shut the door, locked it, and closed the blinds on the windows. He sat down on the loveseat and Reid followed. He was staring at his lap, ringing his hands. Clearly he wanted to talk about things; he just didn't know where to start.
"Did you and Ethan have a fight?" Reid nodded as tears began to slide down his face.
"We broke up," he whispered. The tears were flowing in full force now and Morgan pulled his best friend close, holding him while he cried.