A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. It keeps me going and inspired. =) It also helped me realize that I put a lot of food in these chapters, and that I have no excuse or explanation for that. =P This ones a little shorter than normal, but I'll try to post the next chapter a little quicker to make up for it.
Again, thank you for all the reviews! I always enjoy them, they're kind of like puppies to me. ^_^
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"A failed attempt at restoring my brains functionality." Reid grumbled and flung his blankets violently off of him. He may be used to sleep deprivation, but this was ridiculous. He just wanted to rest, he was so exhausted.
But every time he almost drifted off all he could see was Barbara's stark blue eyes softening gratefully before widening in panic, and then he'd hear his own gunshot booming through the air before her stark blue eyes slid from his mental vision.
Cold hardwood froze his feet when they touched the floor, but he didn't move. He sat on the edge of his bed, head bowed, staring at his hands. With a long shudder he finally stood and stumbled from his bedroom to flop onto the couch. The hopeless feeling of not being able to escape his own subconscious bore down above his head.
And then there was Morgan. Reid was as confused as ever. The elder man was dropping so many sexual hints and teases that Reid thought he was going to lose it. He was sure Morgan was messing with him, and it was infuriating. How could he ignore the comments any longer before he took Morgan up on one of his false offers?
A strange series of tones and beeps brought Reid out of his head and he looked around him unenthusiastically. Oh, yes, his phone. He leaned forward with no haste and grabbed it off the table, one missed call from one minute ago. Oops. Reid flipped the phone open and he stared at the phone like it had grown another head. He stared at the screen a moment longer before deciding to ignore it. Morgan must have butt dialed him or something.
When his phone rang for the second time he knew it couldn't be the same mistake twice, especially since it was one in the morning.
"Reid here." He wasn't surprised to hear the dead quality of his voice.
"Hey, Reid. Sorry to call so late." Morgan answered and bit back asking how his friend was.
"Yeah. What do you need?" Reid asked bluntly and scrubbed a hand over his face.
"I know you can't sleep."
"And?" Reid sighed in exasperation and repeatedly scrubbed his hand through the back of his hair.
Silent for a moment Morgan sighed right back. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay…Sorry. I'll let you sit and stew by yourself."
"I'm sorry Morgan. I'm just so drained. I just want to sleep." Reid admitted hesitantly. After Morgan had correctly accused him of letting things eat him up, Reid was making a conscious effort to voice his feelings more often.
Relieved that Reid had chosen to confide in him Morgan rubbed the back of his head and smiled bashfully. "Um…Can I help?" He offered, not sure what he expected Reid to say.
A shaky laugh came from Reid's parted lips. "I don't know how you'd do that really." He said, while the thought of Morgan's strong arms encircling him and holding him all night ran through his brain.
"I don't know. Um. I could…" Morgan shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed. "Stay on the phone with you?" Morgan paused and shook his head harder. "No. You should come over. Or I'll come over there. We'll have a sleep over."
"A sleep over?" Reid's voice was unsure and cautious.
"Yeah. Like with popcorn and some harmless movies with happy endings." Morgan held back the joke about another kind of happy ending and sucked on his cheek.
Reid was worrying his bottom lip between his teeth like a mad man. The nerves in Morgan's tone had to be because he didn't want Reid to take the offer the wrong way. Reid was uncertain. Could he have a sleep over with Morgan without letting his feelings froth to the surface? Especially in his mental state?
"Come on, Reid." Morgan laced his voice with as much comfort as he possibly could.
"Okay…I'll come to you I guess." Reid said anxiously. He didn't want to do this, but a night with Morgan? Even if he was asleep in the man's guest room, just being in the same vicinity as Morgan made him feel better.
"Good." Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll see you soon?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm on my way." Reid mumbled and snapped his phone shut.
What kind of ride was Morgan taking him on?
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The soft, hesitant knock on Morgan's front door rang through his still and silent house as if Reid had thundered his fist against the wood. Morgan leapt to his feet and jogged to the door to let Reid in for the second time that week. He couldn't help but feel elated.
When he opened the door he found a very lost looking Spencer Reid. Dark circles had painted themselves under his eyes, and his eyebrows were screwed up almost as if he was pain. His hands tapped unconsciously on his legs, and when he stepped into the house his eyes darted everywhere but Morgan's face.
"No offence Spencer, but you look like shit." Morgan used the man's first name for the first time since the day he had decided to make Reid his.
"No offence, but fuck off." Reid returned and tossed his slippers onto the shoe mat by the door. Morgan was surprised not only by Reid's language, but also by the fact that he even owned a pair of slippers.
Deciding to ignore Reid's unthankful words he motioned him to follow him to the kitchen. "Come on, stage one, ice cream sundaes."
"What do ice cream sundaes help?" Reid's eyebrows knitted together in that adorable way that made Morgan want to lick his face.
"Don't you indulge in comfort foods? I mean, you are addicted to sugar." Morgan played cautiously and began to unload his cupboards of any sprinkles, syrups and other sugary items he could find.
"Well, kind of I guess. I just never use it for comfort, more out of necessity." Reid shrugged and hopped up to take a seat on one of the counters, not being able to stop himself from his eyes lingering on Morgan's behind for a few moments.
With a shake of his head Morgan set down a jar of maraschino cherries. "So, you don't have a comfort food of choice?"
"No, I just generally enjoy sugar." Reid shook his head. "Do you?"
Morgan turned and smiled fondly at his ceiling. "Yes. Salty, popcorn and flavor blasted goldfish. Sweet, peanut butter oreos mixed into chocolate mint ice cream."
The face that Reid made to the combination of sweets was between desire and disgust, and brought a broad grin to Morgan's face.
"I got it from my mom. Leave me alone." Morgan chuckled and opened the ice cream. "And now, I'm going to teach you what my mom taught me. Put everything and anything into your ice cream, and it will make the world taste sweeter."
Reid couldn't help but think how corny that was, but he hopped off the counter and joined Morgan at the ice cream buffet. His mouth watered at all the sugary sweets laid out before him.
The elder of the two looked at the younger out of the corner of his eyes and witnessed a flash of pink darting out across his lips. Great, now he was going to be thinking about his tongue flicking and licking around for the next five minutes.
Pride swelled Morgan's chest as he watched his friend pile on so many ingredients he began to worry if he'd end up puking. He had three scoops of ice cream, piled with oreos, pretzels, chocolate and caramel syrup, six cherries, topped with several kinds of sprinkles, and was that even strawberry syrup too?
"Are you sure you've never done this before?" Morgan teased, and with his own treat in hand he led Reid back to the living room.
"Hey, you put me in front of a sugar buffet. Doesn't matter if I've down it before, sugar is like oxygen."
"I thought that was love."
"Well, you thought wrong." Reid shrugged and cuddled down onto the side of the couch he always occupied when visiting Morgan. He inhaled the scent of Morgan that permeated from the house and it sent a warm tingle of comfort across his skin.
Shaking his head Morgan continued with his plan. "Stage two, movies with happy endings, unrealistic or not, accompanied by comfy soft blankets and the like." Morgan shook out a blanket and turned to Reid who was looking at him dubiously.
"Where are these stages coming from?"
"My ma." Morgan had to remind himself that Reid's mom probably wasn't up for the task of doing things like this for her son.
Sucking on his cheek Morgan moved toward Reid and gently lay the blanket across his lap. Dark eyes met chocolate ones and strong hands tucked the blanket in around Reid's slender frame.
"Thanks," Reid mumbled shyly and began to stir the contents of his sundae together. Had Morgan really just tucked him in? What the hell was going on? Not that he hadn't liked the warmth that spread through his body from where Morgan had touched him, but what the hell?
After Morgan picked out a movie, he tucked himself in and began to wolf down his own sundae. A hesitant smile flickered on Reid's face as the movie started. Mallrats. The constant comedy of the movie was a good choice, and it didn't hurt that Reid actually liked the movie. How had Morgan known that?
Comfort coiled itself in Reid's stomach, along with the contents of his sundae. He had stuffed as much as he could into his face, but his bowl was still half full. He frowned at it and went to take another bite, but was cut off by Morgan's voice.
"You don't have to finish it if you can't."
"Sorry," Reid mumbled and Morgan smiled kindly. Reid shifted to stand and clean out his bowl but Morgan's hand shot out and grabbed his arm.
"Put it on the coffee table, you don't have to take care of that right now." Morgan nodded at the coffee table and Reid obediently set the bowl on it. The slender man shifted to curl into himself and licked his lips lazily.
Dim lighting and a full stomach wrapped Reid up and he felt himself beginning to doze off. Every once and awhile he'd jerk his head up, trying to stay awake and enjoy the movie and the company, but soon he lost the battle.
The darker skinned man found himself staring at the sleeping figure of the man he loved. Mission successfully completed, he allowed himself to relax fully into the sofa. He was just feeling his own impending sleep when he felt something softly fall against his shoulder. Blearily, he looked over to find a very passed out Reid cuddled against him. Morgan bit his cheek and contemplated the sleeping form for a moment before carefully moving his arm to wrap it protectively around the slender body next to his.
Heart jolting at the contact Morgan's face lit up in a lazy smile. Reid cuddled closer into the warmth of Morgan's body, and the burly man sighed in contentment. Was this Reid's subconscious speaking for him? Was his sleep betraying his comfort with Morgan and feelings for him? Or was he just cuddling up to Morgan because it was the closest body of warmth? What ever the reason, Morgan decided to bask in it before letting himself drift off into sleep at last.
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Sunlight dancing across his eyelids woke Reid up from one of the best nights rest he'd had in awhile. He slowly forced his eyes open and groggily looked around him. That's when he finally noticed he was cuddled up into Derek Morgan's chest, and one of the man's strong arms was wrapped around him.
Shit. Reid began to gently extract himself from Morgan's embrace and lifted himself silently from the couch, despite how much he wanted to stay right where he was. Morgan would not be happy if he woke up to find they had been cuddling in their sleep. It would be awkward, and Reid didn't want anything to do with that. He crept to the front door and then glanced back at Morgan with guilt.
How could he just sneak out in the morning after Morgan had gone through the trouble of making sure he had a good nights sleep? He couldn't. So, Reid stood rooted to the spot, worrying his bottom lip. Maybe he should just sit on the other side of the couch again and go back to sleep? Or at least pretend to be back asleep?
With mouse quiet footfalls, Reid brought himself back to the couch and slowly sank back down into it. Good, Morgan hadn't woken up. He slowly brought his feet up and cuddled back into the corner.
Sleep found the young man again, much to his surprise. Even more surprising was when he woke up his legs were laying across Morgan's lap and the man's hands were rested on his shins
With an exasperated grunt, Reid began to move his legs to avoid the situation again, but this time Morgan woke.
"Good morning, sleep well?" Morgan's voice was gruff, and his hands remained on Reid's legs. The slender man cleared his throat and shifted his legs to move again.
"Sorry, I must've stretched out in my sleep, I-"
"It's okay, I don't mind." Morgan stared at Reid meaningfully, but Reid missed the hint in the midst of his apprehension.
"Um. I've got some errands to run today." Reid went to move his legs again, but instead of just keeping his hands in place Morgan tightened his hold.
"We could go together, I've got some things to pick up too." Morgan's voice was steady, but soft.
Reid didn't know what to think. Was Morgan just touching him and being reassuring to be a good friend? Was this comfort in touching linked to the sexual comments he'd been making? Reid felt anger mounting in his chest. Why couldn't Morgan just say what he wanted from him? Then again, Reid had been living with his longing for the man for years and hadn't so much as uttered a syllable about it.
"That's okay." Reid mumbled and made to move again, but Morgan's hold didn't loosen. "I kind of need my feet to stand." The strong hands loosened their grip and Reid bit his lip before moving his feet to rest on the floor.
"Come on, man. Why are you running away?" Morgan asked. Reid observed the man's eyes and found a degree of hurt in them.
"I'm not running." Reid told him flatly and stood.
"Yes, you are."
"What do you want from me, Derek Morgan?" Reid snapped, not being able to contain himself anymore, despite the favor Morgan had done for him. "You are giving me signals and I don't think you realize what you're doing to me with those." Reid moved to the door and shoved his slippers on. "It's not that I don't appreciate the friendship, but jesus! You're blurring the line, and you don't even know it!"
"Reid, I-" Morgan's sentence was cut short when the door slammed. "Do know what I'm doing…" He trailed off to himself.