As soon as Teo's fingers started running through his hair, Casey let out a little bit of a noise from the back of his throat. He loved that feeling. With other people, he'd never really found comfort it in it, but with Teo, he did. Maybe it just spoke to how much of an affect the other man had on him. He just had this natural ability to calm him and ground him in the moment. Even at his worst, his darkest moments over this past year, Teo had been able to always bring Casey back. There were moments where Casey thought he could never repay how much Teo gave to him, knowing that what he could give back in his own mind paled in comparison even when the other man insisted otherwise. Maybe it was just that part of Casey that didn't ever want anyone to feel like he didn't care. Always striving to provide, protect, and care for. Maybe it was a little much at times, he would readily admit that. But he had found someone who even if he didn't always understand exactly why Casey was having a bad day, still tried. Still tried to provide that space where he could work through it.
As he watched Teo's face relax and shut his eyes Casey took a moment to study Teo's face. And there it was, one of those moments hitting him square in the chest, about how much he loved this man. Casey could honestly say that he hadn't been in love with Teo since he was a kid, even if his first real crush on another man had been the man sitting next to him. Back before Casey really knew what it meant, back before he really knew about either of them, back when Casey was still Benji's friend and a good few inches shorter, not a single gray strand in his hair, and where most of his bulk was fat and not muscle. But they'd found their way to each other, and when they did it felt like everything slid into place for him. It felt like he'd been waiting for the right time, the right person for both him and Alex. Because Casey knew that he came with a kid and he had to do right by his son first and foremost. His life was messy and complicated. And yet here this person next to him had taken it all in stride, even in the rougher patches. That moment gave him the courage to start on what he wanted to do tonight.
"We're both lucky." Casey sat up slightly, and adjusting so that he was sitting more facing his boyfriend. "I love you. Sometimes I honestly can't believe how lucky I am. That maybe I was always waiting for you, and even in the chaos, we still managed to found solid ground. All that time before was just me getting ready for you, going through the things I had to so that we would fit together." Casey resisted the urge to reach across to the side table and pick up a candy cane and start eating it as his nerves really started to kick in.