Sliding in the DMs - Joey Bosa

Part XIII

The past few weeks had been peaceful and quiet. Arty and Cassiopeia were all but moved into Joey's place in Costa Mesa. This would be her home for a few weeks while Joey handled postseason assignments for the Chargers. Cassiopeia was not pleased at first with her new home. Instead of exploring, she chose to hide from the two of them and lurk in corners until Joey finally realized that the new stuff he bought the diva cat would not suffice. The cat wanted her stuff that was still in Arty's apartment in West Hollywood. So, he made the car ride over there himself to retrieve her things.

Arty made sure to make fun of Joey for babying her cat as he set up a spare room just for Cassiopeia with all of her old stuff and new stuff.

Life, although beautiful, was changing so quickly for them, yet at the same time it felt like things were moving slow in their bubble. Looking at it now, almost a year in since they met, Arty felt their bubble of privacy shrinking and knew it would pop at some point from the many things going on outside of it.

That was terrifying to think about.

Neither even realized just how private and intimate their relationship had been - except for their respective younger siblings who were fooling around and not as discrete as they thought they were.. Still, Arty realized just how messy they were making this situation as more time passed. She had not yet met his parents.. He had not met hers either. She didn't know the Bosas well except from when Joey spoke about them. With his mother, it was affection and appreciation. He was clearly close with her and in their conversations, he accredited a lot of his success and achievements to how his mom raised him and taught him. His dad? From what she understood there were a lot of hurt and unresolved feelings. He opened up to her after her outburst over her mom and the childhood abuse she experienced.

John Bosa didn't sound like a pleasant person. At least, that was what she deduced from it all. Joey seemed to tense up when speaking to anyone about him and she could see a brief look of sadness in his expression, only for it to disappear moments later.

She knew that Joey felt the need to keep him at arm's length regarding his career and personal life these days, and she felt empathy for him on the matter. Dealing with her own mother who was an egomaniac, was difficult. Years of therapy after spells of self-destruction taught her a lot about self-healing and trying to make peace with it all. It wasn't easy.. Because how could anyone find peace after such abuse?

She didn't want to push Joey any further on it though out of fear of him shutting down. Instead, she made sure to reassure him that she was there for him when he wanted to talk or share.

Arty worried for him a lot at times. She thought it was interesting that in his home here in Costa Mesa, there were only pictures of him with friends, his mom, his brother, and her. None of his dad.

Sometimes the moments when nothing was said spoke volumes more than the words exchanged.

As she lay in bed, cuddled into Joey's side, her hand smoothed its way up the planes of his chest, her hand tickling against the hair growing there. She felt Joey shiver at the sensation as he grunted in his sleep. His arm she was tucked into flexed as he snuggled her in tighter to him, his breath evening out again.

Arty stared at him in the dark, the moon light pouring into the room was just enough for her to trace with her eyes his features. She could feel her eyes well up slightly with tears as she focused her eyes on his face.

She had never felt love like this. Something so strong, raw, and all-consuming. She had to admit that she expected them to fizzle after a few hook ups. It surprised her beyond belief to realize how long they've spent in each other's presence.