Work Text:
Loud, boisterous laughter bounces off the walls of the kitchen, the smell of freshly cooked food wafting through the air.
The group had all gathered at Sol’s house for game night. A recent tradition, given how messy and incompatible their schedules had been the past year. Not to mention, certain members of the group hadn't quite warmed up to each other yet. Sol was determined to make it work, though.
And that he did. She stands by the stove, spoon in hand, trying to stifle her giggling at Archie's expression. They're the picture of old-timey offense, staring at Roan who’s—
Morgan’s brows shoot up.
“Ronnie, firecracker, breathe.”
They watch entertained as she tries and fails to take deep breaths through her cackling. She grips the table, trying to keep herself upright.
“F- Fuck. HA‐ Goddamn it.”
After a moment, she manages to catch her breath, hysterical laughter settling into lighter chuckles.
Sol smiles at her, “You alright over there, Roan?”
“Yeah, it's just- Did ya see their face?” she points accusingly at Archie, inhaling deeply to stop from laughing again.
Archie huffs, “It's not my fault Morgan can't play fair.”
Morgan shrugs, placing down another card. It glows a radioactive blue. “Maybe you're just bad at the game.”
Archie grumbles, looking down at the cards. They squint, planning their next move. It takes them a moment to process what Morgan just played. They whip their head up.
“Good lo– That's not even a real card!” they whine indignantly.
“Yes it is, dude. It's right in front of you,” Morgan puts on a face, faking concern. “Do you need glasses, too? I thought your eyes were magic.”
“No! I- What?” Archie stumbles over their words, snatching the card off the table. He holds it up in front of Morgan. “You- It- It's blue!”
“Woah, really? Couldn't ‘a fucking guessed,” Roan comments, smirking.
Morgan gazes neutrally at Archie, keeping up the mask of obliviousness, “It is blue. Good job, pretty boy. Glad you can still see.”
Archie bristles at the term, squinting at Morgan.
“That's not-”
Sol interrupts them, glancing over her shoulder as he shuts off the stove.
“That's not what, Mikey?” She jokes. He knows the interruption will just set them off even more.
She's right on the money, as Archie to proceeds to bury their head in their hands and groan. The action just sends Roan into another fit of giggles. Sol follows soon after.
Morgan smiles, satisfied with their handiwork. Archie has always been fun to tease. They're easily annoyed, as long as you know which buttons to push. They're a big fan of how exaggerated and over the top some of his reactions are. It's like showing some ankle to a Victorian. The scandal! And the accent—
Morgan stops that train of thought as soon as it starts—they're in polite company, for fucks sake. As they were saying, Archie is very fun to mess with. Morgan enjoys getting reactions out of people, and there's never a dull moment when trying to crack Archie's perfectly put-together facade.
It wasn't as easy, in the beginning. Sol had introduced Morgan and Roan to them a while ago. Archie had been…stiff. They were pleasant and polite on the outside, sure, but they held themself with an unmistakable air of distrust. They were never as comfortable as they pretended to be—though, it was always worse around Roan. Most people seemed to feel that way. Morgan doesn't understand the apprehension— and it showed.
Even after they'd all finally started spending more time together, whether out or at Sol’s home, Archie never really seemed at ease. There were moments when Morgan was sure that, if xe looked away, they'd get up and run before anyone could stop them. They'd always stare, almost longingly, when Morgan and Sol would joke around together. They’d fixate on gentle touches and casual affection, but never offer their own.
Archie always seemed tenser, after. Closed off. Out of jealousy or some other, mysterious emotion? Morgan hasn't decided. That isn't to say they never participated in conversations, no. Outwardly, they're easy to converse with. Xe know Roan thinks they're a bit pretentious, but that's the extent of it. He never spoke like he didn't want to be there.
It took months, and several more gatherings for Morgan to finally find a crack. Or, well, Sol did most of the work, really. She'd brought up some topic Archie was more than casually interested in over lunch, one day. They way their eyes lit up was obvious, even as they tried their best to keep a lid on their enthusiasm. A few well placed jabs and couple prodding questions and, next thing you know, he'd spent the last hour talking about the intricacies of the second industrial revolution. From then on, things got a little easier.
There had been one other event before Archie was truly comfortable, though. Morgan had caught them staring, once. He'd been staring and scrutinizing xem pretty intensely as xe sat on the couch, arm around Sol. It had gone on for the last 15 minutes. Not that xe minded, they're used to stares, but they were curious.
Morgan shot them a look. Archie stared back, eyes heavy and piercing. Morgan held their gaze, unbothered. Time stood still for a moment, before Archie slowly and deliberately blinked. He looked between Sol and Morgan, nodded at them. Morgan got the strange feeling that xe passed some sort of test. They have no clue what they did but nodded in return.
Archie slouched, dropping their shoulders like a puppet with their strings cut. To this day, they're not quite sure what that was about, but Archie started reaching out more, after that.
Morgan feels a tap on their shoulder, pulling xem out of xer thoughts. While they had zoned out, Sol had served everyone a plate of pasta.
“Oh, chicken alfredo! Thanks, Sunshine,” they wink playfully at her.
The group digs into their food. They chat idly between bites about any little thing. From music recommendations to recent projects. Sol's record player runs lowly in the background. It’s pleasant.
Roan bemoans the lack of any interesting cases recently, which leads into them discussing her and Morgan's work partnership. They make jokes and argue about each other's dumber habits, the other two more than used to their banter. Morgan even sends a jab her away about their status as exes—'I'm not saying I'm the one who got the glow up afterwards, but…’— and the conversation quickly devolves into a discussion of love lives.
As Sol recounts another strange encounter with her newest boy toy or whatever, Morgan turns their attention to Archie. They'd switched spots with Roan sometime after the food was served and now sit beside Morgan, instead of across from them.
Morgan examines them, cataloging every small detail xe can. Their shoulders are slouched and they're picking at their half eaten food. Their eyes are unfocused and they are barely keeping up a smile as they listen. The bags under their eyes are more prominent than ever.
He, to put it mildly, looks like shit.
Morgan knocks their knuckles gently against the table to get Archie's attention. If Sol noticed—and he definitely heard. The sidelong glance he gives them before looking back at Roan was quick, but obvious—then he doesn't mention it.
Archie blinks and turns to Morgan, tilting his head at xem. They hum in question.
“You alright, dude? You look out of it.” Morgan stops, considering, “was it something we said?”
Archie waves them off lightly.
“No, I'm alright. Just…tired. I suppose.”
They yawn.
“Ah, see. My body agrees,” they chuckle.
They run a hand down their face, stopping to rub at their eyes. Morgan furrows their brow, concerned.
“When was the last time you slept?”
Archie pauses. Xe can see Sol and Roan give each other a look out of their corner of their eye, but keep their gaze focused on Archie.
“Well, I-” they give a half-hearted answer, “I went to bed at midnight?”
“And for how long?” Morgan presses, tone serious. They've been told they're particularly intimidating if need be.
“Ah-” Their breath hitches, clearly scrambling for an acceptable answer.
Archie gives up and sighs, “An hour, at most.”
Sol turns to them, frowning from across the table, “Micah…”
Archie shakes his head, stopping her.
“It's fine, dear. I promise. I've just been a bit busy. It's just one night.”
Before Morgan or Sol can say anything in response, Roan cuts in.
“That's bull,” she says.
“Pardon?” Archie asks, taken aback.
“You heard me, cunt. You're lying.” Roan states firmly. She crosses her arms.
“Excuse me? What gives you the right to use such foul language—” Archie starts.
“Woah, this got aggressive,” Morgan points out, “It's kinda hot. With the accents and everything.”
Archie and Roan stare at Morgan incredulously. Archie squints at them, bewildered. Roan sends them her meanest look. Morgan smiles innocently.
Sol inhales, clearly amused, but puts his hands up placatingly.
“Girls, girls,” Morgan snorts, she sends xem a lighthearted glare, “No fighting at the table.”
She turns to Roan, “What did you mean by that?”
Roan leans back in her chair, “I mean, look at ‘em.”
She nods her head toward Archie.
“They've been sluggish this entire time. Their eye bags are darker than the black sea, even with the shitty concealer, and they've had half your coffee yet look three seconds from passing out.”
She spins one hand lazily while she explains.
“Not to mention, they responded to your text at 3 am the other night. The fucker hasn't even buttoned his shirt correctly. Since when does he do that?”
The more she points out, the more embarrassed Archie gets. They're avoiding everyone's gaze, even as Sol and Morgan grow increasingly concerned.
They cough into their fist, “I believe we all understand your point, darling.”
They fidget with the ends of their hair.
“I may have…understated the extent of my sleep deprivation. Although I feel as of we're making quite a fuss out of nothing. I've slept at least six hours in the last 3 days.”
Sol gapes.
“Mikey. That's only two hours a day?”
Archie smiles sheepishly, “Yes, well. I was b—”
“Busy, yeah. We heard, man,” Morgan cuts in.
“Right. I suppose I-” they sigh again, this one long suffering. “I haven't been able to sleep very well, I'm afraid. Sleep has eluded me for too long. Not much else to it.”
Morgan slides their chair back patting their own thighs as they stand up. Xe stretch before picking up their plate.
“Alright, up we go.”
They nod at Sol, “Sunshine, you grab the blankets. I’ll get the plates.” Sol makes a beeline to her room. They glance at Roan.
“Ronnie.” They tilt xer head towards Archie, signaling.
Roan nods, getting out of her seat immediately.
“What? What are you do—” Archie yelps as Roan proceeds to pick them up and tuck them under her arm like an unruly toddler.
“Put me down this instant!”
Roan snorts.
“Fuck no.”
Morgan smiles, collecting all the plates and cups and heading to the kitchen. They carefully wrap Archie's dish before putting it into the fridge.
When xe return, they see Roan and Sol standing over the couch in the living room, chatting. They walk over to where they're standing and spots Archie on the couch, cocooned in blankets. There are some on the floor with pillows of various sizes.
“Oh?” Morgan raises a brow.
“We're having a sleepover!” Sol beams.
“Yeah. She thought sleeping in company might help get this dickhead some rest.” Roan stares down at Archie, who glares at her from their nest of blankets.
“Hell yeah. Sol’s couch is like, stupid comfortable.”
Morgan smiles and sits down on the floor. They prop a pillow up behind them and wrap a stray blanket around their shoulders. The lights in the room are dim and the record player has switched to something softer.
“So what, are we gonna sit here till they fall asleep or..?” Morgan asks.
Sol joins them on the floor. Morgan immediately pulls him into their lap. He grins.
“ I was thinking we could watch that new detective show that came out?” She says, grabbing the remote and a blanket for herself.
“What, and take the piss out of it?” Roan asks, getting comfortable on the nearby armchair.
“Obviously! We have time. Mikey won't sleep for another hour or so. They're stubborn like that.” Sol explains.
“You're aware that I can hear you, yes?” Archie grumbles.
Sol smiles and pats them on the leg.
“Nope! We took your hearing aids and my house doesn't echo like your room. We can say whatever we want.”
Archie rolls his eyes, hiding a smile.
They all settle in their spots. Sol turns the TV on, rambling on about how popular the show has gotten, despite it's terrible production value. It takes a bit of convincing to get Roan to move past the description and how stupid the names are, but they finally get the show going.
They're not long into the second episode, having paused several times to point out inconsistencies, when Archie falls asleep. Morgan gently points it out to the other two, signaling them to be quieter. The night continues on like that, with whispered jokes and hushed conversations.
They only make it a couple more episodes before everyone decides it's time for bed. Morgan is tasked with moving a sleeping Sol into a more comfortable position. Roan has fallen asleep in her seat, so xe also take the chance to get her a pillow and move her neck so she doesn't wake up sore.
While they're up, Morgan reaches into their bag and pull out a small baggie of pills. They pop one in their mouth, downing it with a sip of water. They look around for a sticky note and pen, writing something down and stapling it to the bag.
Quietly, they slip the pills and note into Archie's overnight bag. Morgan heads back to the living room to get some rest, eyes heavy.
‘To Archie,
Take one (1) if sleep starts avoiding you again. Works like a charm. Lmk if there's any side effects alright? You have my #.
Pretty boys need their beauty sleep.
Yours truly, Morgan ;]’