Author's Note #1: In case some of you aren't aware, I've shifted all of the chapter numbers down a little by merging some chapters (thankfully nothing was lost this time), so the story is more condensed for newer readers (more context on why in Author's Note #2).

By editing and moving the chapters around some upvotes, comments, and reads have been deleted in the process, which means the numbers for this story will have changed slightly.

Author's Note #2: (Regarding pace of the story) See end of chapter.

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Ethan felt like he was being pulled towards his phone as he looked at Noble Guardians & Protectors's Instagram once again. It was a scratch that Ethan couldn't make disappear, because now he was looking at all the images posted on that account.

Ethan was never going to admit out loud what he was looking for in particular. His body had its own mind because it was trying to sooth the itch that was clawing away at him.

Kristen saw her brother so greatly engrossed in his phone that he didn't even notice her getting his attention. All of the clicking heels and coughing wasn't enough, so the older sister ended up snatching Ethan's phone instead.

Ethan was too slow to grab it back as Kristen stretched it away from him. "Yes?"

"You're late for the meeting." Kristen explained, "We've been waiting 15 minutes for you, and Tamsen even buzzed you on the intercom."

Ethan looked at his office phone and saw several flashing lights. Ethan ducked his head as he apologised for not remembering.

"Is something the matter?" Kristen asked. "You were quiet at breakfast. Not just breakfast now that I mention it... It's been going on for a while."

Ethan felt like a shell of the man that he once used to be. The man used to be outgoing, confident, laidback, and free-spirited. But Thomas helped break Ethan out of that shell, and there was nothing else to protect him.

It felt like too long for Ethan to speak out about it. He felt ridiculous for dwelling on it for so long, and he felt even more ridiculous for pining over the first person to try and reach out to him.

Thomas had this mysterious aura to him that made Ethan feel open whenever he was nearby. There was a connection between them, and Ethan never felt alone when he was with Thomas. This all made Ethan want to talk to the bodyguard again, as Thomas was like the aloe vera to his burns.

"It's just stress." Ethan picked up his coat that was hanging on his chair, and put it on. "Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ethan was doing it again. He found the meeting boring as he began to play with his phone under the desk. The COO couldn't even mentally shame himself, because it was an unconscious gravitational pull that made Ethan drawn to the bodyguard.

Ethan found a picture of Thomas on the company's Instagram feed. He began to smile when he saw the friendly face beaming back into the camera, and Ethan felt his worries begin to settle.

'This is so strange.'

Quickly as he could, Ethan slammed his phone onto the table after pressing a heart on the picture. The phone was face down as nobody could see what Ethan had just done, and Ethan didn't even fully understand what made him do everything he did in the last 5 seconds.

"Nice to see you paying attention, Mr COO..." Lewis snarked.

"Fuc-" Ethan had made mental notes to be better to other people, as he then adjusted his own language. "F you Lewis."

Lewis rolled his eyes as the bickering rivals were soon overwhelmed by Kristen's voice. "Now that we've got everyone's attention again, I think now is the right time to talk about sending a representative to talk about our spring lineup."

Phoebe was the head of sales as she took the floor. "I personally nominate myself since I know the most about our lineup. I would be perfect for this."

One of the other candidates argued that Phoebe was being an opportunist. "We all know that you want to go to Argentina because it's paid on the company's account."

Ethan's ears perked up as he heard Argentina. He listened to more information about how it was only for a couple of days, and it was near the state capital - where Thomas lived.

A free paid trip where he could get some counselling therapy gave Ethan great motivation to be the company's representative.

It was because Ethan felt broken - his loneliness and poor mood could easily be lifted once he got to see Thomas again, and let Thomas fix him.

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*The next morning

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Thomas was back at the airport as he was waiting on his flight to return home. After another successful mission, Thomas felt another surge of accomplishment for protecting another person.

The sun was blinding him as Thomas was sat waiting by the window, watching several baggage handlers doing their job. He had a couple of minutes to spare as he began to look at some emails.

Thomas was in the middle of entering his password when he got a call from Eric Walsh, one of the many secretaries at NG&P. "Hello?"

Eric was apologetic as he disturbed Thomas. "I'm sorry to call you Sir. I checked your plane schedule and I knew you were going to be awake, so I'm calling to pass on a message to you."

Thomas was curious as to why it couldn't wait until he came back. "I'm about to board my flight soon. Couldn't you wait until I'm back in the office, in about 14 hours?"

"I'm sorry Mr Miller, but this person has been extremely persistent that they reach you. The man said something about needing to book a plane ticket and accommodation. He also mentioned needing your help specifically."

"Can I at least get a name or something like that?" Thomas' interest peaked at hearing his help being needed. 

Eric emailed Thomas the phone number of the recipient that was constantly calling the company to reach Thomas.

After they both hung up on each other, Thomas immediately began to call the phone number - to either interrogate them, or scrutinise them.

Thomas heard the line pick up as he warily talked first. "This is Thomas Miller speaking, I heard you've been trying to reach me?"

"Tommy? It's me."

Thomas had a large grin on his face as he immediately recognised his voice. "How can I help you Mr Shelton?"

"It's Ethan you moron!"

Thomas missed this man cursing at him for random reasons. "I already figured that out Sherlock. But my secretary told me that this may be business related, so I need to treat it like so and address you accordingly."

"I thought we were friends?" Ethan pouted, "Can't you talk to me like one?"

Thomas rolled his eyes as he could hear Ethan's laughter in his voice. "Anything for you. What's up?"

The intercom system blasted over the speakers as Thomas' flight began to board all of the passengers. It was unmissable as Ethan listened to the message through Thomas' phone.

"I heard that so I'll be quick," Ethan explained. "I've got a business trip to Argentina, and I need to stay there for 3 days. Anyway, I was hoping to see a friendly face while I'm there? Or at least a tour guide so I don't get lost."

Thomas felt ecstatic when he heard the news. He waited less than one second when he told Ethan enthusiastically, "Stay at my place! It's a lot smaller than your place, and it's no way near as nice, but at least you have a friendly face there."

"I mean, are you sure?" Even though Ethan was asking for Thomas' help, he didn't necessarily expect Thomas to jump the gun immediately. "I don't want to intrude when there isn't a lot of room."

Thomas had to join the queue as people were boarding the plane. He had to quickly end the phone call because he needed to turn off his phone. "Listen Ethan. I really need to board my plane, but I'll call you when I get back."

Ethan understood as he began to rush his words. "Of course. Yeah I understand. And I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise, I'm happy to speak to you." Thomas chuckled. "We'll iron out the plans out later, but I really I have to go now."

"Sorry!" Ethan immediately hung up the phone so that he didn't take anymore of Thomas' time.

Thomas smiled softly again at Ethan's dramatic departure. He missed having Ethan around, and Thomas was looking forward to seeing him again soon.

~~~~~~~~~

It was around midnight when Thomas finally made it home. Thomas didn't wait until morning to file his report on his latest mission, as he went straight to the office once his plane landed.

Closing the door behind him, Thomas left his suitcase by the door as he quenched his first in the kitchen. Thomas was nursing a freshly opened beer as he witnessed his roommate enter his vision. 

"Hey, you're back!" Xavier warmly greeted Thomas. "How'd everything go?"

Thomas opened another bottle for Xavier as he then passed him the beer. "Nothing special. Kicked some butt, looked awesome doing it - same old."

Xavier nodded his head as he expected nothing less from the renown bodyguard. "I'm definitely getting the next trip abroad. You had back to back trips, so throw me a bone and hook me up with something?"

Thomas shook Xavier's hand as he agreed to help his friend. "Deal."

After they clinked their glasses together, both of them took a swig as Thomas then paid attention to Xavier's attire. 

"Do you always walk around our apartment in your underwear when I'm not here?" Thomas laughed.

Xavier shrugged his shoulders as he looked down at his own body. "We both know you like this."

"I can't argue with that." Thomas admitted as he casually took another sip from his beer.

Xavier stood up from his chair so that Thomas got a full view of his toned body. "I was actually going to get a shower before I go to bed. You want to join me?"

"Go warm up the water and I'll unpack my bag." Thomas instructed as he saw Xavier's back walking towards the bathroom.

Thomas picked up his suitcase and took it to his bedroom. He placed it on his bed as he unzipped it, unloading several things inside.

After a while, Thomas began to strip himself down so that he was only in his underwear. He was out the door and on his way to join Xavier in the shower, when he heard the notification from his phone on the bed.

Thomas turned back to check his phone, and saw a reminder to call Ethan. There was a small smile on his face as he closed the bedroom door shut.

Thomas was on top of his bed, lying down in his underwear, as he called Ethan immediately. After a couple of seconds, Thomas heard Ethan's sleepy voice. "Hey. I'm sorry it's late, I had this thing at the office and I just kind of forgot."

Ethan yawned into the phone as he was tired. "It's fine. I'm always happy to speak to you."

"Back to what I was saying at the airport, I would really like it if you stay with me." Thomas suggested. "We can hang out, catch up a bit, and then I can also show you around."

"Sounds like a plan," Ethan happily agreed. "There's some other stuff that I want to go through with you right now, unless your busy?"

Thomas was about to answer Ethan back when his door opened. He put his hand over his phone as he saw a wet and naked Xavier standing in the middle of his doorway.

"You've been gone for ages," Xavier mentioned. "You joining me?"

Thomas pointed to his phone as he then shooed Xavier out of his room with his free hand. "Can't." Thomas mouthed.

"Tommy?" Ethan called out for, "You there?"

Xavier was nonchalant as he shrugged his shoulders, and closed the door behind him. Thomas was alone again as he could still hear Ethan calling his name on the phone.

"Sorry. I had to sort something out." Thomas told Ethan.

"Oh." Ethan yawned again quietly. "Was it important?"

Thomas shook his head as talking to Ethan was the only thing he wanted to do right now. "Nothing important at all. So what did you want to talk about?"

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Author's Note #2: I know some of you have reasonable doubts about how much of a slow burner this story will be, and I completely understand. If I was in your position then I can understand your frustration on waiting everyday for a slow paced story, and for that I'm really sorry.

All of my chapters are around the same length unless stated otherwise, so at this rate I can guarantee that the pace between Ethan and Thomas will definitely pick up in a lesser amount of time (without going on a tangent from what I originally planned).

For context:
• It took 14 chapters for Ethan and Thomas to become friends (now it's only 9 by shifting the chapter numbers). 
• The 2 week bodyguard period lasted over 23 chapters (now it's only 16 with the new chapter numbers).

I 100% regret making the early portions of the story too much of a slow burner in that long amount of time period, but I definitely don't regret what I wrote in them.

I'm really excited for these upcoming chapters because there will definitely be more development between Ethan and Thomas in general - and I'm guessing a lot of other people would like that too.

This story will still be 1 chapter a day (better pace in the story since we have a foundation to build on now), but the number of chapters a day is unchangeable because of my own scheduling and personal reasons.

I just want to thank you all for your patience with this story, I'm sorry for dragging the early sections this long, and I hope you understand where I'm going with this and this story.