Every Boy's Fantasy - PART TWO of Guns & Roses

February 12, A New Day Dawns

In October of 2023, Christian Miller started to officially date Caleb Walker. It had been four months, and in that time, it felt like it might as well have been years. He supposed it felt that way maybe because of how long they had known each other, but really, it was also because of how much had happened in that space of time.

In four months, he had been through a gamut of whirlwind changes in his life; from connecting with Caleb as they were now, Mikael busting his door in, meeting the Walker boys in full, moving into the Manor, and having his entire world flipped upside down, inside out and shaken out from the ground up.

He had really felt a certain way, when Caleb had told him, his stipulation for the café was him, taking the time to go to counseling, relax, let himself be spoiled, and under no circumstances was to check his account, his credit cards, worry about a damn thing. Caleb had been adamant about it, and serious as a heart attack, and was no longer playing with him about taking care of himself after his moment in the therapist's office that had wrecked him for three days afterward.

It had just been a bad session, not because of Masha, but because he had finally come out and told her about Charlie Higgins, and the devastation that that had created speaking about it out loud to her?

Holy God, but it had been bad. He had withered, wept, and laid in bed for half a week.

Telling Caleb he wasn't going back because he couldn't deal had pissed the blonde off so much, he had pretty much told Christian he was, he would, and he was wildly concerned now, over his state of mind.

So, he had placated and agreed just to curb back that kind of fight, but now? Now, two months in, he was kind of seeing the benefits.

He had guiltily checked the state of his credit, and found, it was paid off entirely. Every single one was at a zero balance, and Caleb had neither asked him nor told him anything about it. He hadn't seen a bank statement at all since moving in; Caleb had given him a credit card to use for anything he needed and hadn't said anything about any limits or what to watch on it.

The freedom of it all, the lack of worry about overspending? It was phenomenal, and he still didn't have much to buy, couldn't even think of things he needed, which tickled the hell out of all the Walkers that was for sure.

He had just motioned around one night at dinner, and said, "What the hell do I need?"

Drew had grinned and said, "Need? Nothing, man, its what you want that matters."

Christian hadn't understood a word out of that man's mouth saying that and shrugged it off, but it was still a very content feeling to not have to account for every single penny.

He had gone out the other day, picked up lunch, grabbed a new pair of shoes he had liked, and gotten Starbucks, nothing extreme, just a day out on his therapist's orders, but, it had occurred to him that never a day in his life...ever, had something even that small not stressed him out, or felt like it would be some grievous regret later when bill time came around.

It was really nice, and never a second went by that he wasn't very aware of what the Walkers provided him in this life right then, which was just a chance to take a deep breath and just live to live, not live to feel like he was dying all the damn time.

Turns out Darren had been right, and you did just kind of get used to it. Did it make him run out the door and buy a new Beamer? No, but it stood, he felt like he kind of could, and the freedom of even mildly thinking it was alien and amazingly poignant.

Winter as well, had also come sweeping into Roster with a vengeance, and really, Christian liked the Winter. It was quiet, even in the city, when everyone stayed indoors and was content with sleepy days and quiet evenings off the streets. It was peaceful, and out here in the countryside? It was serene, endlessly beautiful, and had finally shut down the Koi ponds into a stasis along with all the rest of it.