The Morning After
Cal looked up slowly, not wanting to meet the otherâs eyes. Turned out not to be the best idea, though, as his eyes lingered on muscles along the way. âIâm fine,â he said, but the words were near inaudible.
Caspian watched him, raising an eyebrow at the way his eyes seemed to roam over his exposed chest before moving upward. âLike Hell you are.â The shadow manipulator was always a stubborn fellow. âLookâŠCalâŠâ His voice softened and he took another step closer. âIââŠI donât want to see you hurt okay? I guessâŠif you really donât want to talk about itâŠfine. But I just want to help. I care about you, you know.â
"I know⊠Iâm just too used to being nothingâŠ" Saying the words aloud only reinforced what he had known all along. No one had ever considered him anything more than a puppet or play thing. "Iâm not used to someone caring."
"You were never nothing." It broke his heart to hear the angel say these things. "People may have treated you like nothing, but you were never nothing." He inched closer, looking up at the other when they came close enough that he could feel the body heat radiating off of Cal. "We can take this one step at a time, but I'm not going to stop caring about you. You'll get used to it; you just have to stick around me and relax. I won't hurt you. I won't touch you unless you want me to." He smiled softly, delicately. "We'll get through this."
