He saw the moment Morgan's walls crumbled completely, the moment Will's declaration and compromise overrode Morgan's own excuses. And it was a glorious sight.
The grin was already spreading across Will's face when Morgan sighed, "Fine," trying not to let his own grin show and doing a piss-poor job of it. Will wrapped his arms around Morgan's lithe frame, pulling Morgan in, soaking in his warmth, and feeling him melt into it. He knew that if they could remain like that forever, he would do so in a heartbeat.
It wasn't until he had forced Morgan into the shower—getting a "you don't expect me to shower alone do you?" followed by a sly smirk and an impromptu shower of his own after first creating a mess for his troubles—and the two of them were snuggled deep under Will's covers, Morgan comfortably ensconced in Will's arms as his steady breathing lulled Will to sleep, that he realized Morgan never said "I love you" back.
*~*~*
The early morning sun shining through Will's window woke him rudely in the morning. He didn't want to move, warm and comfortable where he lay enjoying the feel of Morgan's breath tickling his chest as he mistook Will for a pillow. Their limbs were tangled together, wrapped around one another in a haphazard fashion that Will didn't want to break but with one look at the time, knew he had to if he didn't want to be late for school. He glanced down at Morgan, noticing how young and peaceful he looked when asleep. He didn't really want to disturb that.
Will extracted himself carefully, not really sure how he managed to pull it off but knew that Morgan was still sound asleep as Will scribbled him a quick note that he would be back after school if Morgan wanted to wait. He knew the chances of that happening were very slim but he hoped that Morgan understood that he wasn't doing this just to help him but to
be
with him. His declaration the night before should have been evidence enough.
The day seemed to drag by slowly, every class taking twice as long as it usually did. It was infuriating. All he wanted to do was get back to Morgan, to pick up where they had left off the night before, to never let it end. He tried to focus on his class work, to listen as his friends talked about the soccer game on later that night—no one brought up Will's disappearing act from the night before and for that, he was thankful—but he was thoroughly distracted. And in so very very deep.
The second school let out, Will was in his car and speeding back to the estate, excitement strumming through his veins. But that excitement quickly turned to dread and horror as he noticed his father's car parked out front. And behind it, a police cruiser.
Morgan.
Fear like he had never felt before turned Will's blood to ice. He raced out of his car, not even bothering to grab his backpack, and threw open the front door.
"Father?!"
"Will," his father greeted from where he stood at the foot of the grand stairs, an officer by his side, notepad in hand. His face was unreadable as he glanced over at his son, before picking up the conversation with the officer once more. Will's eyes quickly scanned the room for any sign of Morgan, any hint that he was still there. A familiar brown jacket in multiple stages of disrepair caught his eye, still hanging on a hook by the door where Morgan had left it the night before.
"Father, wait. Stop, I can explain," Will interrupted, begging pleading, hoping that Morgan wasn't handcuffed, feeling afraid and betrayed somewhere on his way to jail.
"Explain what?" his father asked, standing tall and imposing, nose stuck in the air and eyebrows raised in question as his eyes stared disappointingly back at Will. "Explain how you left your window unlocked so some dirty thief could climb in and try to rob us?"
"No, father that's not what happened—"
"I suspect it was one of the homeless cretins you have taken such a liking to," his father continued, cutting off Will's explanation. "You've helped them so much and look at how they repay you. It's just lucky Carol wasn't here or else who knows what he would have done to her—"
"Father stop!" Will yelled, effectively silencing his father's commentary, leaving him dumbstruck at his son's outburst. But Will didn't care in the slightest, too busy seething with anger. "Now just listen to me. The kid—Morgan—didn't break in, I let him in. Last night. I let him stay over."
Will had been slightly hopeful that the name or his childhood friend would have sparked his father's memory, but the man didn't even blink at the name.
"What? Why would you do such a thing? Have I taught you nothing?" His father didn't raise his voice, but his tone was cold and threatening, warning Will to choose his next words carefully.
But this conversation had been a long time coming and not even the subtle threat in his father's voice could stop it. Will straightened his back, determined not to be cowed by his father and not to back down from the challenge he had presented him.
"No, you haven't taught me anything," Will stated, staring straight into his father's eyes and meeting the threat head on. "You haven't taught me what life is really like for the rest of the world. You kept me in this bubble of morals and ideals that you said everyone should live by but that you failed to mention are only
yours
. While you sit up here in your lavish estate, throwing your money around buying expensive unnecessary cars and luxuries that we don't
need
, the people you call 'lowlifes' are starving and dying just trying to survive. Just trying to get by! And I'm not going to sit by and remain ignorant to it. I'm going to do something about it."
His father turned fully toward his son and then took a minute step forward. "You will watch your tongue, son. This is no way to speak to your father."
Will shook his head. "I have learned more about life in the last few months than I have in years listening to you. I'm done listening. I want to make my own morals, pave my own ideals and live my own life." He paused his rant, remembering suddenly the real reason it had come about. He backtracked, "But right now that doesn't matter. Drop all charges against Morgan and release him at once."
There was a long pregnant pause before his father tilted his head and gave a single nod to the officer still standing by the stairs. "Fine. Since it seems like my son has finally decided to become a man and take full responsibility of this, I will abide by his wishes." He addressed Will then, an unreadable glint in his eye. "However, anything that was destroyed or taken by that boy is coming out of your allowance."
"Fine," Will agreed without hesitation, knowing full well there would be nothing. He then turned his attention to the officer and addressed him, "Please call in and release him immediately."
"We never caught him, but I'll call the search off," he said with a respectful nod to Will.
But Will didn't stick around to see if the officer stayed true to his word, nor see the pride in his father's eyes hidden behind his usual mask of indifference. In the next second he was racing back out the door, fear still lingering in his heart, knowing he needed to find Morgan and fast.
*~*~*
"Morgs?" Will called hesitantly as he approached the cardboard lean-to. "Morgs, are you in there?"
Only silence met Will's ears and he felt his heart sink. He was sure Morgan would have come straight here after his narrow escape. The soup kitchen would have been his next guess seeing as it was almost time for the evening meal, but he had been so sure.
"I met your father." Will jumped as Morgan's voice sounded from behind him but a wave of relief washed through him at the familiar voice. He whirled around just as Morgan hopped down from the emergency stairs on one of the surrounding buildings, landing gracefully on his feet a few feet away. His outer jacket was gone—still hanging by the door at the estate—and an unreadable expression on his face. "Again. He didn't seem to recognize me but was very welcoming, nonetheless. Accused me of trying to rob him before calling the cops. There might even be an APB out by now for the dirty thief that broke into your house."
Will winced, knowing that if he hadn't convinced his father otherwise, that statement may have come true. Nevertheless, this was not good. "Morgs, I am so sorry. I didn't know he was going to be back so soon. I never would have—"
"Never would have what, Will?"
He opened his mouth to respond, but found he didn't have an answer to that. What he had been about to say was he never would have invited him over but he knew it was a lie. He knew how harsh the wet nights could be, sometimes escalating into a freeze unexpectedly. There was no way he was going to let Morgan sleep out here, exposed to the elements. And Morgan's assurances that he had done so before and could do so again had no effect lowering Will's worry and concern.
"Yeah, I thought so," Morgan bit out when Will still didn't answer.
Immediately Will tensed, the remorse being pushed aside as defensive anger rose to the surface suddenly. "God you're infuriating! I was trying to help you! I said I was sorry, didn't I?!"
Morgan grit his teeth, as a brief flash of hurt ran across his face before quickly being replaced by rage. "You are missing the point!"
"Then tell me, what is the point?" Will demanded, trying to quell his anger but failing miserably. "For you to get yourself killed? I'm allowed to help others but heaven forbid I try to help you."
Morgan just glared back at Will, unmoving.
"Just here," Will snapped, digging into his pocket and withdrawing his wallet. He pulled out a couple hundred bills and offered them out to Morgan. "That should be enough to get you a few nights at a hotel until I can come up with a more permanent solution."
"I don't want your charity, Will," Morgan gritted out, making no move to take the money. "So you can just go back to your life of luxury and we can forget any of this ever happened. I was doing just fine without you."
"Yes, I can see that," Will bit out, harsh sarcasm dripping from every word as he gestured to the cardboard lean-to.
Morgan reeled back as if Will had physically hit him, a mix of shock, hurt, and seething anger washing over his face as his eyes glared daggers that pierced Will's heart.
He shouldn't have said it, shouldn't have cut Morgan down, and shouldn't have degraded him like that. He couldn't help but in that moment to compare himself to what little he knew of Morgan's foster parents.
Right then, he felt no different than them.
"Morgan, I—" Will started but he never got to finish as a second later he was lying flat on the ground, cheek throbbing and head spinning from a well-aimed fist, listening to Morgan's fast retreating footsteps. Despite being slightly disoriented, Will scrambled to his feet, wobbling a bit before he was able to right himself.
"Morgan, wait!" he shouted in desperation just as Morgan exited the alley and disappeared from sight.
How could this have gone so completely up in smoke in so little time? One minute he had been searching for Morgan trying to find him in order to apologize and explain and the next he was accusing him of being incapable of providing for himself. It didn't matter if it was true, it didn't matter if it had been a slip of the tongue, all that mattered was that he had hurt Morgan, hurt him enough that his usual physiological fighting manner had turned physical, something that he had never seen happen before.
Will knew that this time, he had gone too far.
*~*~*
"Judy, did you see Morgan at all today?" Will asked as he came striding into the kitchen and deposited his tin on the counter. They had just finished up serving the meal for the day and Will noticed that Morgan hadn't made his usual appearance in line. To say he was slightly worried was an understatement.
Judy paused in her scrubbing of a tin, brows furrowed in thought. "No, I don't believe I did," she responded kindly with a hint of confusion in her tone. She shrugged and continued to scrub the tin clean. "Hmm, that's weird. He never misses a meal. At least, he hasn't since he started coming here. Did you guys have a fight or something?"
Will just nodded, not sure if he trusted himself just then to speak lest he break down under the guilt threatening to crush him. He had spent all day yesterday searching for Morgan after their fight in the alley, wanting to beg, plead, get down on his knees and pray for forgiveness. Anything, he would do anything to take back what he had said and the hurt he had caused. Last night was one of the worst nights he had ever had. Sleep had been slow in coming and when it finally had, he had woken not an hour later from a nightmare so bad it had taken him until the sun had risen to finally calm down enough. School had been a whole other nightmare on its own, with his teachers having to keep reminding him to pay attention and his friends asking him if everything was alright. He didn't tell them, how could he? They had complained about him spending too much time at the soup kitchen as it was. How could they possibly understand that he not only served the homeless but he had fallen in love with one? They may be his friends but like him, they came from wealthy families and would probably react toward the lower class citizens the same way his father did. No, until he could fully gauge how they would react to Morgan's status, he would keep it under wraps.
So he suffered through the day, feeling the guilt and fear slowly build until he was sure it was going to crush him. He had left straight after school and headed for the soup kitchen, arriving an hour early in his anticipation of seeing Morgan and finally getting to talk to him, but he apparently never showed.
Judy stopped scrubbing again, turning around to face Will with a soapy hand on her hip. "What are you still standing here for?"
Will looked down at the rag in his hand. He was supposed to be on kitchen cleaning duty but hadn't even started yet. "But I haven't—"
"No, someone else can do that," Judy remarked, snatching the rag from Will's hand and tossing it on the counter. "You just focus on finding Morgan and making sure he's ok."
Will stared at her for a second, her words sinking in slowly before a grateful smile broke out across his face. "Thanks, Judy."