The Towers

AN: So I come to clear up a few points that I got questions on. Logan is 20, he just acts and generally looks a little younger than that, but yeah, he’s 20. Morgan by the way is 24 and Nick is 30. For those interested most everyone we’ve met so far is around 25, 26ish… their ages aren’t super important except Rain who’s also 20 and Andy who’s 32. Andy and Rain’s age becomes mentioned later on so… yeah.



Nick and Logan are not related, they’re roommates, but I can’t elaborate more on their relationship because it comes up and gets explained later so you’ll just have to wait. They have a past and stuff so don’t worry.



~*~



Tuesday morning Charlie got a text message from Logan.



‘I THINK BECKETT IS DEAD FOR REAL THIS TIME!!!’



Charlie sighed and closed his phone. This wasn’t the first time that Logan had though Beckett had died. Logan watched after the strange man when Charlie wasn’t around and Charlie wasn’t around much. He worked at a grocery store and Beckett was always his last delivery on Tuesday. He’d go over to the writer’s apartment, put the groceries away, indulge Beckett a bit and then leave.



Beckett was a good person even though he was really out there. He was creative and super creative types always were. Charlie wasn’t confident in Beckett’s hold on reality. He spent too much time in his horror novels. Charlie had never read them but he had heard they were pretty bloody.



Well Logan was going to have to wait for Charlie to finish work to check on Beckett.



~*~



Tuesday evening Morgan heard a tap on his window. It startled him because he really wasn’t expecting anyone to be outside his second floor apartment. He cautiously made his way over to the window and drew back the curtains.



There was a man on his fire escape who looked suspiciously homeless. Morgan wondered why on earth he had climbed the fire escape only to knock on his window. He was tall with a mass of tangled brown hair and large bags under his green eyes. He was wearing a very old, very worn out, very large brown coat that hang limply on his thin frame. His shirt was rumpled as were his pants and when Morgan glanced down he realized the man wasn’t wearing shoes. Shit it was chilly out too.



“Can you let me in,” the man said, pressing a hand against the window.



“No,” Morgan exclaimed, taking a step back.



“I live next door to you… look I need to ask you some questions. Like what’s a romantic way to kill someone? I don’t want to do poison though, that’s so cliché…”



The strange man was still talking when there was knock on Morgan’s door. Morgan backed away to the door and opened it to find a new face. It was a shorter man with tan skin and dark eyes. He had short black hair and a short beard. “Uh, is Beckett here?”



Morgan looked at him curiously. “Beckett,” he asked.



“Tall gangly guy, probably in a dirty brown coat, most likely not washed…”



“There’s a homeless man on my fire escape,” Morgan said slowly, thinking about the man’s name… Beckett and wondering if it could possibly be who he thought it was.



“Yeah that’ll be Beckett,” the guy said. “I’ll just collect him if you don’t mind.” Morgan stepped aside to allow the guy into his apartment.



He crossed to the window and opened it easily. There was a cry of “Charlie,” as the man, Charlie, easily maneuvered Beckett out of the window. Charlie sighed and mentioned something about shoes and Beckett’s lack of them. “Oh yeah… I thought I put shoes on… Charlie how would you kill someone romantically?” Charlie seemed unfazed by this question and merely lifted the thinner man up and put him over his shoulder. Beckett seemed calm and comfortable with this.



“I dunno kid, poison,” Charlie said after giving Morgan a smile as he existed the apartment. Morgan heard Beckett complain about poison being clichéd and over done as Charlie moved Beckett back to his apartment, next door. Morgan stared after them in awe. Then he rushed over to Logan’s apartment and knocked on the door.



“Morgan,” Logan gushed happily when he opened the door. He pulled Morgan into a tight hug.



“Logan,” Morgan said when the younger man released him. “The guy who lives next to me…”



“Beckett,” Logan said sharply, suddenly serious. “Is he dead? I told Charlie I thought he might be dead. Did you see the body?” he was fretting so much it took a moment for Morgan to calm him.



“He’s not dead,” Morgan said quickly and Logan looked instantly relieved. “He was on my fire escape… Logan is that Beckett… Beckett… like the author.” He must have looked like a deer in the head lights or something because Logan smiled slyly.



“Yeah, that’s him. You a fan?”



“Yes,” Morgan gushed and he was. “I love his books… they’re amazing!” He had read all of Beckett’s books, some of them more than once. He always thought it was strange that the author had only one name. They were bloody books. Morgan liked them. Logan was looking at his amused.



“Come on, you can meet him. Charlie and I usually clean his apartment for him every Tuesday. He’s a little loopy, Beckett.”



Morgan felt practically giddy as they crossed the hall and Logan was still giving him that amused look. Morgan restrained his inner fan girl when introducing himself to Beckett. Beckett shook his hand for a moment, paused and then pulled Morgan’s hand close to his face and studied it. Charlie let out a deep, belly laugh and patted Beckett on the shoulder.



“Give the guy his hand back Beck,” he said in the way a father talks to a child. Beckett gave Morgan’s hand one last look and let it go. He then started studying his own hands, holding them close and flexing the fingers. Charlie rolled his eyes and began putting food in the fridge and cabinets. Logan grabbed Morgan’s arm and dragged him into the depths of the apartment.



To just say that it was messy would be an understatement. It seemed as if Beckett did very little cleaning on his own. Or else he tried to clean and then promptly got distracted by something else because there were various cleaning supplies in places. There was paper absolutely everywhere, most of it written on, some stuck to the walls with tape and thumb tacks. Logan started giving Morgan direction and Morgan helped in the cleaning process.



Beckett started helping too but he got distracted very easily by the littlest things and was more often than not a tripping hazard for everyone else. Eventually Charlie sat him on the couch, told him not to move and Beckett stared at the ceiling muttering to himself. Morgan was beginning to doubt the writer’s sanity.



“Beckett, go shower, and you have twenty minutes, I am timing you… use your stopwatch okay,” Charlie said, using that father voice again. The tall man nodded and wandered off to where Morgan assumed the bathroom was. When he was gone Morgan shot a look to Logan.



“Is he… okay?” He wasn’t sure how to express his doubt in Beckett’s ability to take care of himself and stay… well sane. Logan was scrubbing the countertops in the kitchen next to Morgan.



“Yeah… he’s really weird, you know, absent minded and stuff but he hasn’t died yet so…”



“He’s had close calls though,” Charlie said from the other room. “Once wandered off in the dead of winter, in the snow, with no shoes on. Got frostbite on his feet, they almost had to amputate.”



“But he doesn’t like… drink or anything,” Logan continued and Morgan got the distinct impression that he was defending the writer.



“Doesn’t need anything to alter his reality anymore… it’s pretty damn alter,” Charlie pointed out and Logan didn’t have a comeback for that.



~*~



Over the next few weeks Morgan felt himself really settling into the apartment. He got to know most of the other tenants in the building, got used to hearing Tucker’s band play all the time, chatted with Rain a few times (and always walked away feeling a little awkward). Beckett visited him on the fire escape about once a week, asking him strange questions about death and what he was afraid of and really weird shit. He had to use the broom handle that Rain had given him a few times when Isaac and Dakota were arguing really loudly. But things were pretty awesome.



Logan also visited a lot. Morgan was growing accustomed to seeing the younger man around his apartment and seriously considered just giving the guy a key. He was the sweet and innocent type, not someone who would steal his stuff right from under him. He didn’t follow through with this plan though when Logan mentioned that he had lost the key to his own apartment 15 times already this year. Morgan just gave permission to Andy (who had the master keys being the building supervisor and all) to let Logan into his apartment if he ever needed anything.



Logan was fast becoming his best friend. He was always lounging on Morgan’s couch, bringing over movies for them to watch, cooking dinner, playing with Moppit, jamming out to music, whatever. He was an easy going guy and Morgan grew to love having him around. Logan was the physical type, play wrestling with Morgan and cuddling with him when they were watching a movie, always demanding hugs and such. It was a little odd for Morgan who was not used to this kind of behavior from another guy but he adapted. Logan was so easy going and calm about it that Morgan didn’t worry,



Going out to dinner became their new thing. They went every week, sometimes out to legitimate restaurants, sometimes to fast food joints, it depended on their mood. But they picked a place every week, switched off paying for it, sat, ate, chatted and had a good time. Logan really was a good kid (he wasn’t actually a kid, having officially left his teens, but he just acted so exuberant and full of life that Morgan couldn’t help but think of him as a kid) and Morgan always thought hanging out with him was worth it.



~*~



“You have to leave,” Logan said sadly in a voice that was suspiciously close to whining. Nick Fletcher sighed. He always hated disappointing Logan and making he young man sad, but still he had a job. The job wasn’t often conducive to holiday dinners and the like. Still he wished he had been home for Thanksgiving. Dakota usually cooked for everyone and invited them all over to his apartment but since he was leaving with Isaac the duty fell to the little old retirees next to them. Nick hated to miss that.



“Yes Logan,” he explained gently. Logan pouted. He got up out of his seat, crossed the room and hugged Nick tightly.



“I miss you so much when you’re gone,” he said, again sounding a bit like he was whining but Nick forgave him.



“I now bud, I miss you too. But you’ll have Morgan to keep you company,” he pointed out, tickling Logan a bit in the side and making the young man smile. He looked up at Nick and nodded.



“I’ll be strong,” he said and nodded firmly. Nick laughed. Logan was really, really something. He was a great kid and he had grown a lot in the 2 years he had been here. The guy was 18, just a teenager, filthy and half starved, nowhere to go. Lucas had just knocked on the apartment door, holding onto the kid, saying he needed a place to stay, saying he’d look better once he was cleaned up, and Nick had agreed. He didn’t know why on earth he had agreed but he had never once regretted his decision.



Nick ruffled his hair and left shortly after that. One day he was going to get a job where he didn’t have to travel so much. Then he wouldn’t have to leave Logan like this. On day.



~*~



A couple days before Thanksgiving, Morgan was perched out on the fire escape, a thick coat wrapped around him, staring out into the night, just thinking. There was a clatter above him and Morgan looked up to see Dakota above him. “Hey,” he called out and Dakota returned the greeting, coming down the metallic stairs and sitting next to Morgan.



They hadn’t talked a whole lot but they exchanged pleasantries and small talk so Morgan was fairly comfortable around the other man. “I’m leaving tomorrow,” Dakota said… he sounded a little forlorn about this prospect and Morgan wondered why.



“Yeah, to go see Isaac’s family for Thanksgiving, right?”



Dakota nodded, not looking Morgan in the eye. Morgan wondered vaguely why Dakota was talking to him about this. “Yeah… I’m pretending to be his boyfriend. I have no idea why Isaac wants me to do that… I’ve met his parents before, they’re perfectly fine with me.” He seemed to be talking to himself a bit, thinking out loud.



It seemed that Logan was right when he said Dakota didn’t have any idea that Isaac was in love with him. He didn’t even seem to consider it a remote possibility. “Is Isaac gay,” Morgan asked, keepignt eh conversation going.



“Yeah… well sort of… he likes girls to. But his parents no that already so I don’t see why I have to pretend,” Dakota explained and sighed. He sounded really confused and messed up about the whole thing.



“Are you… do you like guys,” Morgan asked slowly, carefully. Dakota shook his head. He didn’t seem defensive about it either, if anything he seemed sad. But that could just be the general confusion and such permeating everything. “Yeah me either,” Morgan muttered. That got a real reaction out of Dakota.



“What,” he said and he sounded generally shocked. Morgan was a little taken aback. “You’re not… you’re not gay? But what about Logan?” Dakota sounded really confused and mildly upset.



“What do you mean,” Morgan said, totally at a loss. Logan was his closest friend in the apartment complex, maybe ever, and sure they were always joking around and touching and stuff but why would that mean anything?



“I thought… I thought for sure you and Logan were together,” Dakota said faintly, like a small section of his world was being trashed. “I mean I see you guys around and I know he’s always over at your place and he’s happier now than he’s ever been, all giddy and shit. You’re… you’re not together?”



Morgan shook his head. He found it mildly amusing that Dakota assumed (and if Dakota assumed there were probably others, Isaac at the very least) that he and Logan were some sort of couple. Perhaps he should have been a little angry about being perceived as gay but he wasn’t. He didn’t really care that much. It was just kind of funny. He didn’t even know Logan was gay.



Dakota was looking at him suspiciously like he didn’t believe Morgan at all. “We’re just friends,” Morgan stated. Dakota nodded but he still didn’t look to sure.



~*~



The next day was Morgan’s day off and predictably his apartment was full of Logan. They played board games, watched TV, and generally had a good time. They were watching Law and Order at one point, snuggled on the couch. They were lying lengthwise and Logan was fit between Morgan’s legs, leaning back against his chest, head rested on his shoulder. Morgan was pretty comfortable like this, arms wrapped around his friend, feeling Logan’s chest rise and fall under his hands. It was like having a girl friend again almost, that sort of closeness. Morgan liked it.



“So,” Morgan said when they reached a commercial. There was a smile on his face. “Dakota upstairs thinks we’re a couple.”



Logan twisted a bit in his arms to get a look at hm. Then he burst out laughing. “Seriously?” Morgan nodded, laughing along. Logan seemed highly amused by this which Morgan thought was good. Then he remembered something he had never actually asked Logan before.



“Hey Logan, are you gay?” Logan stopped laughing and got eerily quiet. His grip on Morgan’s arms got tighter, like he was afraid Morgan was going to let him go. He looked away from Morgan and nodded slowly, like he was ashamed. “Logan,” Morgan said, a little concerned. “Hey, it’s okay, I don’t care.” And he meant that. Logan looked at him and Morgan gave the young man a smile. Logan looked absurdly relieved and gave him a swift, awkward hug and settled back into his place.



“I got kicked out of my house for being gay,” he mentioned, just as the commercial’s were over and the show was coming back. Morgan didn’t know what to say so he just squeezed the kid a little tighter.