The Towers

There was a knock on his apartment the next morning when Morgan was eating a bowl of cereal on the floor. He unfolded himself and made it to the door without much trouble. He opened it and wasn’t all that surprised to see Logan, grinning happily and sporting a bright purple t-shirt with Gir on it over a pair of worn in jeans. He could already hear the band down stairs fucking around on their instruments. He had promised to ride into work with Tucker today, seeing as they had the same shift.



“Hey Logan,” he greeted the kid.



“Okay, dude I have decided to help you fix your furniture problem,” he said, sounding positively ecstatic.



“What?”



“Shopping, Morgan Miller, you and I are going to go furniture shopping!” He was bouncing on the balls of his felt like it was Christmas come early or something and Morgan found it strangely endearing. “I know all these kick ass places where you can pick up stuff really cheap.”



Sensing a monologue coming on, Morgan cut him off. “Logan, I have to go to work.”



Logan’s face fell. He shuffled his feet and looked at the floor. “Oh… okay…” He looked forlorn and rejected. Morgan sighed.



“Look, I get off at four… we could go then,” he suggested, not knowing why on earth he was agreeing to go furniture shopping with this crazy kid and his bright green glasses. But Logan looked up and beamed at him and Morgan thought maybe it was a good idea.



“Awesome,” Logan exclaimed and Morgan found himself smiling. “I’ll see you then.” Logan disappeared into his own apartment and Morgan shook his head, bemused, before shutting the door and returning to his cereal.



~*~



“So you met Logan,” Tucker said, a little while into their shift once the breakfast rush had subsided. He had a weird look on his face like he knew something Morgan didn’t. Morgan shrugged and nodded. “What did you think,” he pressed, still with that weird look on his face.



“He’s okay,” Morgan said, not really knowing what else to say. “On the hyper side… he’s taking me furniture shopping later today.”



“What,” Tucker said, eyes wide. Morgan was taken aback by the reaction.



“He came by this morning,” Morgan explained. “Wanted to help remedy the fact that I have no furniture in my apartment. So I agreed to let him drag me to some furniture stores later today, no big deal Tucker.”



Tucker didn’t say anything but that weird, shocked, ‘I know something you don’t’ look didn’t fade from his face.



“Hey Tucker,” Morgan said, curious about something. “I thought we weren’t allowed dogs.”



“You’re talking about Logan right… and Moppit?” Morgan nodded and Tucker laughed. “That’s not a dog Morgan… it’s a rat. A really cute rat, with floppy ears and everything.” Tucker chuckled and Morgan felt like he was missing something.



~*~



“Nicholas,” Logan gushed happily when Nick Fletcher walked through the door, looking tired but submitting to Logan’s hug anyway. Nick was much older that Logan was and he appropriately treated the other man like a younger brother of sorts. The furry Moppit barked from his place on the couch.



“Oh Logan,” Nick said in repose to seeing the dog dressed in a fuzzy pink sweater. “What did you do to him?”



“Moppit is a princess Nicholas Fletcher and I dressed him appropriately.” Logan sounded indignant, as if it was an insult that Nick was questioning his powers regarding doggy fashion. Nick rolled his eyes.



“Moppit is a boy dog, Logan,” he said slowly, like explaining to a toddler that two and two made four. Logan instantly clapped his hand over Nick’s mouth at the mention of the ‘d’ word.



“Rat,” he hissed in a low voice. “Moppit is a very cute rat.” Nick pried Logan’s hand away from his mouth and laughed.



“What you think Andy and the Scott brothers planted recording equipment in our apartment,” he said, still chuckling. Logan glared, obviously thinking that Nick didn’t take this as seriously as he should.



“So I heard there’s a new face around here,” Nick mentioned, moving more firmly into the apartment and dropping his bags. He didn’t necessarily like the constant traveling, the packing and unpacking, the plane rides and such shit, but he loved his job and he had Logan to hold down the fort so.



“Yes,” Logan exclaimed, sounded his overjoyed self yet again. He plopped down on the couch, upsetting Moppit and rearranged the fuzzy dog on his lap. “His name’s Morgan and he lives right across from us and Nick… he’s so cute.” Logan sounded ecstatic and Nick chuckled as his friend’s exuberance.



“So is he the new Lucas,” Nick asked. Lucas Scott was one of the brothers who owned the building. He was a tall and skinny sort of kid who never quite grew out of the scene thing from high school. He had a couple piercings, always wore eyeliner, hardly smiled and didn’t talk much. Plus he was the one who brought Logan to Nick and Logan has since gushed about Lucas constantly.



“What!? No,” Logan said, scandalized. “But Lucas is just a totally harmless crush Nick… Morgan is something else. He’s adorable, kind of tall with this curly brown hair and these bright green eyes and-“



“He’s straight,” Nick cut him off. Logan’s eyes got wide as Nick sat down next to him, smirking.



“Who told you,” Logan demanded, pouting. Nick chuckled again.



“Logan you have a thing about falling for straight men,” Nick pointed out. Logan deepened his pout.



“We’re going furniture shopping today Nicholas, that has to mean something,” Logan asserted. Nick nodded, humoring him.



“Why can’t you find a nice gay man,” Nick sighed.



“I like a challenge,” Logan said shrugging. Nick rolled his eyes.



Logan would always put on this façade for people, all confident and cheerful, but Nick knew better. Nick knew the kid had gotten his heart broken more than once, and fell for people harder than he should. Nick knew this kid Morgan was probably going to break Logan’s heart yet again and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Logan just never did anything halfway and when you loved like that you ended up hurt. But Logan wouldn’t stop.



Nick just worried that some day it would damage Logan beyond repair. He was a good kid and Nick was fond of him. Logan didn’t deserve that.



~*~



Furniture shopping was not nearly as dramatic as Morgan thought it would be, not for lack of trying on Logan’s part though. The kid had borrowed a van from a friend, apparently one of the brother who owned the building… Lucas. Lucas apparently rented this van out to Tucker’s band when they had gigs. There was certainly enough space, especially with all the seats taken out.



Logan was utterly comfortable in the passenger seat, giving Morgan directions and fiddling with the radio until he found something he liked. Morgan did pretty good on the furniture front too. He managed to pick up a little table, a couple of chairs, a couch, an arm chair, a TV set and a couple end tables. Logan also managed to talk him into various odds and ends for decorative purposes. Like a little wall hanging of a panda eating bamboo, a little moving statue of dolphins jumping into the water that also functioned as a clock, and a lava lamp. And those were the tame suggestions he had. For ever little piece of decoration he had bought, Logan had tried to push five others on him. Strangely enough, Morgan found it endearing.



When they purchased everything Morgan was willing to get, it was around eight and Morgan was pretty hungry. “Hey Logan,” he said. Logan looked up from fiddling with the radio. He was clutching his own lava lamp and a plush lion on his lap. “You want to get something to eat? My treat?” Logan’s eyes positively sparkled.



“Yes!” Morgan laughed at his response.



~*~



Andy loved his job, he really did. He got to work with his hands, do basic repairs and stuff, got paid and event free rent. Yeah he absolutely loved his job. However there were some parts he didn’t love so much. One of those ‘not so loved’ parts of his job was in the form of John Crew in apartment in 3D. John really made Andy work for his money.



Today there was a knock at Andy’s door and Andy gritted his teeth in anticipation. Oh course it was John on the other side of the door and Andy resisted the urge to roll his eyes. John was an average sized guy, not to tall, not too short, lean enough. He has messy blond hair and a fair amount of scruff. He scuffed his toes and looked guiltily at the floor.



“What’s wrong now John,” Andy asked. Seriously he sometimes thought the man must really hate something. Not a week went by when John wasn’t at the apartment or calling him or something, because something in his apartment was broken. And because Andy was the building supervisor he had to take care of it all.



“Uh… my toaster exploded,” John said sheepishly. Andy smacked his palm against his face.



“What!? How the fuck did your toaster explode?” He kept his annoyance in check. He didn’t have any real anger because he just didn’t do anger. Right now he was to shocked to be angry anyway. John just shrugged and Andy sighed. He gathered up his toolbox and followed John down the hall and up the stairs.



“You know there’s a dog in Fletcher’s apartment,” John said as they walked.



“Nah man,” Andy said, shaking his head. John gave him a funny look.



“There totally is,” John said firmly.



”Nope,” Andy insisted, shaking his head. “It’s a really furry rat.”



John howled in laughter. “Oh don’t tell me, Logan got to you, didn’t he?” Andy said nothing.



~*~



Logan had directed Morgan to a little Thai place which was pretty neat. Morgan had never had Thai food before and Logan insisted that he needed to try it. Morgan found the younger man’s enthusiasm slightly tiring but mostly just cute. It was a weird thought, thinking another man was cute but Morgan didn’t dwell too much on it.



Logan ordered for both of them after getting a quick rundown of what Morgan liked. They chatted for a bit until their food arrived.



“Did you meet anyone else in the building yet,” Logan asked and Morgan nodded.



“Yeah, Rain upstairs.”



“The painter,” Logan asked. “She scares me a little.”



Morgan chuckled. “Yeah I understand that. I met the two gy above me too… uh… Isaac and-“



“Dakota,” Logan exclaimed, cutting Morgan off. “Yeah they’re cool guys, kinda strange though. Isaac works at Infra-Black with Lucas and Paul. He’s really awesome. He’s like totally in love with Dakota though… like hardcore, Morgan, seriously. Dakota’s been his best friend forever, completely doesn’t get it. You know Isaac’s gone through so much shit. And Dakota’s always been there.”



Morgan was mildly impressed about the speed of Logan’s speech and the amount of his knowledge. “Did Isaac tell you… that he was in love with Dakota?” He didn’t know why he was getting into this whole gossiping thing, but seriously that explained quite a bit of their interaction when Morgan saw them.



Logan shook his head though. “No, but he’s completely obvious. I mean, did you hear? He’s getting Dakota to pretend to be his boyfriend for his family’s thanksgiving dinner. Plus he’s always talking about Dakota… pinning over him. It’s sweet and kinda sad, you know.” Logan sighed but smiled.



“Do you know… everything about people in the building?”



“Well not really. I mean I don’t have like a real job so I spend a lot of time around the building and I know everyone pretty well,” he shrugged and Morgan accepted this explanation.



It was a good dinner and Morgan only had to argue with Logan for a minute or two before he got the younger man to hand over the check. Morgan paid and Logan gave him a hug when he stood up. “Next time is my turn to pay,” Logan insisted and Morgan would hold him to that.