DEAD MEN PAY THEIR DEBTS.

SHINING AND BOLD.

The windows are open. Jesse blinks groggily, squinting as the sunlight shines directly onto his face. He turns onto his side, away from the window - only to come face to face with Casey.

All the events of the previous night come crashing down onto him then, as he studies Casey. Asleep, he looks so much more at peace - the stress and worry usually found on his face disappears, and his lips part just slightly, and his combed hair becomes an absolute mess, like it is now.

As Jesse watches, Casey's brows pull together. He lets out a small noise as his eyelids flutter, and then he opens his eyes - only a little, and he looks at Jesse from under his lashes. It must have taken him a moment to process the situation, because he pulls the blanket up to cover his mouth and nose and watches Jesse for a few seconds before his eyes widen. He sits bolt upright, the blanket falling away from his shoulders to reveal smooth, pale skin.

"Oh, Lord," he groans. He runs a hand through his silvery blond hair and then glances over at Jesse almost timidly. "We...I..." His cheeks are tinged with pink.

"Yeah," Jesse replies amusedly. He props his head up on one shoulder, finding Casey absolutely adorable. "Yeah, we did."

"Where are - where are my clothes?" Casey mumbles, peering over his side of the bed. He grabs a pair of pants off the floor, checks them, then throws one pair to Jesse. "Yours."

With no small amount of mirth, Jesse catches them and watches Casey fumble with second pair he picked up.

"You seem uncomfortable," he finally observes. "What's wrong, Hawkes?"

Casey clears his throat as he pulls on his pants. "Nothin's wrong," he says, but Jesse knows him far too well for that.

"Really?" he asks idly. "You sure? You seem a bit...tense." He reaches over and slides his arms around Casey, then pulls him down onto the bed. Casey swallows audibly, his back to Jesse, but he still leans back. They lie like that for a heartbeat, and then Jesse tilts his head forward and nips at the place where Casey's neck meets his shoulder. Casey lets out a long, shuddering breath - and then he pulls away from Jesse and sits up completely. A sigh slips out of him, and he puts his head in his hands.

"I can't do this. I'm sorry, Jesse, but..." He turns his whole body to look at Jesse. The sunlight filters in through the trees outside and onto Casey, turning his eyes into forty shades of gray. "I need to tell you somethin'."

"What is it?"

"I..." Casey swallows, playing with the edge of the blanket. His eyes dart away, and then return to Jesse's. "Stop that. Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like...like you actually care. You're making this a lot harder than it has to be."

"Jus' spit it out, darlin."

"I slept with you because you reminded me of my ex-boyfriend!" The words spill out of Casey in a rush, and he sucks in a breath. He looks away from Jesse, biting the edge of his lip so hard he draws blood. "I slept with you because...because you reminded me of my ex-boyfriend," he repeats, quieter.

Jesse says nothing. He simply watches Casey, waiting. The silence ticks on for one beat, two beats, three beats. Casey sucks his teeth, seeming uncomfortable in the lengthening quiet.

"You...laugh like him, you talk like him, hell, you even have the same eyes as him," he murmurs. "You...you also do other things just like him," he adds as an afterthought, pink rising to his cheeks as he twists the covers in his hands. "If I hadn't known better, I'd have said you two were the same people. But he's...he's dead -" Casey's voice cracks, and he clears his throat. "He's dead, and it ain't - it ain't fair of me to lead you on like this. It ain't fair of me to treat you like some - some sort of substitute. That's what I did last night, and I'm sorry."