Thomas opened the door to his apartment after picking up his dinner from his favourite restaurant. He needed a mood booster after a long day of doing paper work in the office, and an eventful afternoon when he had to help out with the building's security.

Thomas expected to walk into his home and be alone in the dark. But the bodyguard saw that the lights were on in the apartment, and noises could be heard from one of the bedrooms.

Concerned that there was a possible break in, Thomas quietly dropped all of his belongings so that he could throw the intruder out. When he heard someone in Xavier's room, Thomas immediately barged in and was surprise to see the man in front of him.

Thomas immediately covered his eyes as he looked away from Xavier. "I didn't know you already came back from Finland!"

Xavier looked away from his camera, and faced Thomas. "Don't be shy! You've seen it all before!"

Thomas turned around and faced the door, because he didn't want to see Xavier take a naked selfie. "I thought you were a burglar or something! Why didn't you text me that you were back?"

"I've not been back long to be fair." Xavier explained, "I was going to take a nap when i got a match on Tinder."

"And that explains why you're posing naked like that." Thomas laughed.

Xavier sent his nude photo to his match as he then put on his underwear. He followed Thomas into the living room and watched how the other man began to eat.

"How was Finland?" Thomas asked.

Xavier stole a piece of sushi from Thomas as he then described his trip. "Uneventful, so that's good and bad."

Both of them turned towards Xavier's phone when they heard a notification go off. Xavier had a smirk on his face when he learnt that he received a message back.

Xavier looked back up to Thomas as he told him, "She just messaged me back with her own picture."

"Do I need to turn around again?" Thomas chuckled because he didn't want to watch the both of them flirt. "I don't want to see anybody naked right now."

Xavier was in the middle of texting her back when he scrunched his face at Thomas. "We have sex all the time though."

"We used to." Thomas emphasised. "Not anymore."

Xavier was going over the dates in his head as he tried to remember the last time they had sex. "It's been what, 2 months?"

Thomas nodded his head as he knew that the last time was before the hired job to protect Ethan. He remembered that there was the close time when he got back from the job, but they got interrupted when Ethan called him out of the blue.

"Want to break the streak?" Xavier asked nonchalantly. "I've got time before my date with Ciara."

Thomas was shaking his head with absolute certainty. "Our little arrangement needs to officially end now."

Xavier wasn't pushy as he knew that the friends with benefits deal was purely a physical relationship. Xavier didn't have any issues with ending it with Thomas, but he was still curious as to why. "How come?"

Thomas had an innocently sweet smile on his face as he recalled who was his motivation towards his decision. "I'm actually seeing someone - kind of..."

Xavier was surprised about his friend because he had never seen Thomas in a relationship before. "Is it serious?"

Thomas knew that this long distance between him and Ethan certainly wasn't easy for either of them. It was difficult for Thomas, because he hasn't been so passionate and infatuated with someone for a very long time. But they were countries apart, and things weren't going to get easier any time soon.

"I would like it to be."

After watching Xavier leave to get ready for his date, Thomas was left alone in the living room as he began to toy with his food. He had suddenly lost his appetite as a sinking feeling was burrowing inside of him.

~~~~~~~~~~

That same night, Ethan stumbled into his home after an equally drunk Harrison carried him over the threshold. They went clubbing with some of the people from work, because Ethan thought it would be a nice way to send Harrison off - before his freedom is filled with nappies and late night feedings.

Ethan dropped himself onto the couch as Harrison laughed at his brother in law. Ethan was a mess as his clothes were damp, his hair was dishevelled, and his speech was delayed because of how he kept almost throwing up.

"I'm going to get you some water." Harrison told Ethan.

Harrison poured some water in a glass, and went to the refrigerator to get some ice cubes. When he looked inside the fridge, Harrison briefly saw that it was very scarce inside.

"You hungry?" Harrison closed the fridge and took the glass of water to Ethan. "I can order you some food? Or some groceries perhaps?"

Ethan briefly closed his eyes as he spoke out loud. "I'm not hungry."

Harrison forced the glass into Ethan's hands, and helped him lift it to his lips. "Drink."

Ethan took a sip of it before placing it on the table. He then grabbed the nearby blanket and lazily wrapped himself up. "Go home Harrison, Kristen's probably worried about you. I just need a minute down here and then I'll go upstairs."

Harrison tucked Ethan's blanket in properly as he placed his hand on Ethan's shoulder. "Take it easy. I'll see you soon, alright?"

'See you soon.'

Ethan heard Thomas' words, and just nodded his head before watching Harrison leave his house.

Ethan was home alone again as his eyes landed on the laptop in front him. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ethan threw his blanket on the floor, and went back to the kitchen so that he could fix himself a proper drink.

Pouring himself some vodka, Ethan downed the shot as he then took it all to the living room. He poured himself another drink as he then turned his laptop on.

Ethan saw the notification that he got a missed call from Thomas. It was during the time where Ethan was lost on the dance floor, and so Ethan wanted to immediately call Thomas back.

As the call was ringing, Ethan downed the shot as he was waiting for Thomas. It took a very long time for Thomas to pick up the call, and during that time, Ethan made himself another drink as he waited.

A groggy Thomas rubbed his eyes as his voice was now hoarse. "Ethan?"

Ethan's voice was cheery as the alcohol amplified his mood once he saw Thomas. "Tommy! How are you?"

Thomas was immediately able to identify that Ethan was at least tipsy. Taking into account his appearance and happy expression, Thomas assumed that Ethan had a good night out. "Not as good as you I guess."

Ethan deliberately held out his shot in front of Thomas and downed it. After scrunching his face because of the sharp burn, Ethan poured himself another. "Join me Tommy!"

Thomas was happy that Ethan appeared to be buzzed. He chuckled to himself as he had to point out the time, "It's 4am over here."

"What?!" Ethan finally checked the time and took into account the 1 hour time difference. "Why'd you call me?"

"I called you 4 hours ago," Thomas pointed out. "Because you didn't pick up, I just assumed you fell asleep or something."

Ethan was frustrated with himself as he facepalmed. "I'm really sorry Thomas. I just got so excited to see that you called, and I didn't even check the time when I got back."

"Don't apologise!" Thomas laughed. "I'm actually glad you called back. It's been a while since we last spoke like this."

The last time they video called each other was about the magazine interview. Since then it has been difficult for them to schedule times where it was good for the both of them.

Ethan felt saddened by this realisation as he then placed his drink on the table. Ethan thought he could see a glimpse of the same reaction from Thomas, because he watched Thomas briefly look away from him before smiling brightly again suddenly.

"Come on, tell me about your day!" Thomas insisted as he tried his best to hide his yawn.

"It's so late for yo-"

Thomas was making random interrupting noises as he spoke over Ethan. "Let's go Ethan. Make my night better and tell me what you were doing today."

Ethan had immediately noticed how Thomas' cheek was bruised when he accepted the call. He also picked up on the fact that Thomas must have had a rough day, "Is it something to do with your face?"

"I thought you liked my face!"

"I do!" Ethan chuckled, "But not when someone's hurt it."

Thomas laughed along as he held his hand up to his bruised cheek. "One of the fired bodyguards assaulted me when I wouldn't let them back into the programme."

Ethan was visibly shocked to hear that someone would even try to hurt someone as big and strong as Thomas. "Did you beat the shit out of him?"

Thomas smiled at seeing Ethan's concern, because it was a nice feeling to have someone care about him like this. "I used my words, and not my fists to escort the guy out."

Ethan leaned closer to the camera and teased Thomas, "But you could take that guy down if you wanted to, right?"

"Of course!" Thomas laughed in between yawns. "I can easily take down one scrawny guy who thought it would be great to illicit sex in our building."

"And that's frowned upon?"

Thomas was shaking his head in disbelief after seeing the coy and devilish smirk on Ethan's face. "Such an expeditionist..."

After Thomas had talked about his own day, he was generally interested in hearing about what Ethan had been up to today.

Ethan placed the laptop on his lap as he began to lay down on the couch. "I spent the morning driving across state to see one of our distributors. I then ran into Kristen before she left work, and she insisted that I take Harrison out to give her some breathing room."

"What does that mean?" Thomas yawned again.

"I think it's pretty sweet," Ethan admitted. "But Harrison is helping Kristen with every single thing a little too much. Kristen feels like she's suffocating a tiny bit, and she thought that Harrison could go on a night without hearing her throw up a lot, or fetching some weird cravings."

Thomas was struggling to keep his eyes open as he used the heel of his palms to wake himself up. "Can't be worse than your pineapple on pizza."

Ethan smiled because he remembered the look of disgust on Thomas's face when he first heard about Ethan's love for it. "You're just unsophisticated."

"Says the one that likes to have sex in an office!" Thomas smiled brighter.

Ethan felt so happy and relaxed as he talked to Thomas, because even in their tired states, it was still fun to be around him.

But Ethan kept counting how many times Thomas was either yawning, rubbing his eyes, or forcing himself to stay awake. It was one too many for Ethan as he felt responsible for calling so late - making him stay up at 4am.

"You're exhausted Thomas," Ethan pointed out softly. "Go back to sleep."

Thomas couldn't hide how tired he was anymore as the facade was slipping. He was too tired, and despite the fact he was thrilled to see Ethan, 4am wasn't the right time. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

Ethan looked down towards the ground as he whispered, "And when will that be?"

Both of them silently understood that Ethan was asking about meeting each other in person. Yearning so much for the other person showed how their feelings for each other were genuine and sincere. But it was also a negative, because they couldn't be as happy as when they were together.

"I don't know..." Thomas admitted dejectedly.

It was the answer both of them continued to dread, because it meant that there was more time they were spending apart. Talking to each over the phone and texting each other was fine for now, but it wasn't as great as being able to hold the other person in their arms.

"There's another week and a half until my dad comes back," Thomas told Ethan. "And as managing director, I need to at least stay here until he comes back."

Ethan wasn't able to join Thomas in Argentina because he had his own work life to deal with. "I'm pretty sure the rest of my family wants everyone to help lighten the load for Kristen. Plus I'm thriving at work at the moment - my career reputation is a lot more positive."

Ethan then suggested meeting each other the week after. "Maybe you can come over once your dad is back?"

Thomas looked away from Ethan, because he felt like he was giving more bad news to the other equally yearning man. "I'm in New Zealand for 2 weeks."

"2 weeks!?" Ethan accidentally shouted.

Thomas swallowed the lump in his throat as he whispered sadly, "I'm sorry."

Ethan heavily groaned when he realised how awful he sounded. He didn't mean to sound so upset about Thomas' work schedule, it was just painful that things were getting more difficult for the both of them to be together.

"We'll sort something out," Ethan hoped. "I'll try and see if I can sneak away before you leave. But for now, just get some sleep."

Thomas forced a smile on his face as he looked back at Ethan. "I'll see you soon, Ethan."

Ethan did his best to smile for Thomas. As happy as he felt seeing the bodyguard, the harsh reality could only allow his lips to go up ever so slightly. "Good night."

The call was disconnected as Ethan then closed his laptop shut. Sighing with defeat, Ethan sat up on the couch so that he could move his laptop out of the way.

As Ethan began to stare at the walls that continued to haunt him, Ethan felt both happy and unhappy because of how the world wasn't allowing him to have what he wanted.

Ethan was finally getting everything he didn't know he needed and wanted. He felt like the desolated void inside of him was being repaired and mended since he met Thomas.

But the pessimistic outlook on life was resurfacing all over again, as Ethan felt so lonely and alone sitting in his home. Feeling completely worn down because of uncontrollable forces, Ethan began to drink from the bottle until he passed out from exhaustion.

==========