Free After Ben by Con Riley

guessed it was so much more likely that Morgan was female. Theo worried for a while that maybe his forum friend was having real boyfriend issues—the word nightmare seemed ominous—until discovering for certain that he was male, feeling a little reassured that he wasn’t some damsel in distress.
    In a later debate about Seattle nightlife, Morgan listed the pros and cons of each and every gay bar Theo had heard of, and some which were new to him. None of them were ever his scene, but at least the discussion gave him a solid clue. Morgan was good company, male or female, but finding out that he was a gay man too made their online friendship easier.
    The next morning he ran for miles in blissful solitude in the middle of the busy gym, head full of a band he’d never heard of before, whose music made a winter’s run on a gray Seattle morning seem like California in the early summer. Logging into his personal e-mail at work during lunchtime, Theo took a moment to thank Morgan.
    THEO: I love that band. Best run ever. Thanks!
    MORGAN: You might as well give in already. Accept it, Theo. I know what’s best for you.
    Smiling, he got back to work. As he and Maggie sorted through the last of the intern applications, Theo moved a heavy box of old files and felt a twinge in his back.
    “Oh, no.” Maggie turned just in time to see Theo’s face crease in agony.
    They spent the afternoon at the local urgent care where, in between x-rays and manipulation which made him puke, Theo described how a football injury in his teens periodically came back to haunt him. In fact, his mother’s first face-to-face meeting with Ben had come about as a direct result of Theo’s back locking up.
    Ben had been a whirlwind of energy as he helped Theo to pack up his old college life. Then he talked nearly nonstop all the way up to Seattle. He was so excitable that he was outrageous, his delight at setting up their first real home together lighting him up from the inside. He grinned at Theo repeatedly from the driver’s seat, gazing over the top of his sunglasses, so fucking happy. They both had been.
    They unloaded their rented truck quickly, and all had been well at first. The one-bedroom apartment was exactly as advertised, which was a relief.
    His mother had been a little upset that he hadn’t moved back home while he settled into his new job. She didn’t seem to believe that “moving in with my boyfriend” meant exactly that. Perhaps she had chosen to think that Ben was a roommate, just like those he had had in his early college years. When Ben had called her, his husky Italian accent thicker than usual due to panic over Theo’s sudden excruciating post-couch-moving pain, she drove over immediately.
    Theo remembered the way she had moved around their little apartment, as if she didn’t want to touch anything, her face blank, arms crossed tightly. He accepted the medication she’d picked up on her way over as well as the icepack and heat pads she’d kept after his previous episodes, then slipped back into a haze of pain for a while, half aware of almost angry voices in the background.
    After the medication kicked in, Theo had opened his screwed-shut eyes to find Ben’s face just inches away. He looked absolutely miserable. Theo hadn’t ever seen him so unhappy. He tried to explain that he would be okay, that there wasn’t anything to stress over now that he had some effective pain relief. Ben just shook his head, then tried really hard to smile, saying that Theo’s mother would return in the morning with more medication. He didn’t look happy about that.
    “Did you tell her how old I was, tesoro ?”
    “Probably. Why?” His breath catching as pain spiked when he shifted in bed, Theo had found it tough to concentrate.
    “I think she wonders what an old man like me is doing with her little boy.” Theo waited for Ben to laugh. “She seemed upset, Theo, and a little confused. I think she expected me to be your age.”
    Looking back,