"Mark?" a sweet voice called, and Mark froze up. "Mark McGregor?" he turned around and saw Birgit Heissmann pushing a shopping cart as she walked up to him.

"Mrs. Heissmann?"

"My God, it's been so long since I last saw you!" she exclaimed a huge smile splitting her wrinkled face.

"Yeah... about seven years?" Mark muttered still not sure how to react.

"You've grown up so much..." she said, giving him a once-over and placing a hand over her heart. "How are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm fine. Finally had a break from work," he said with a chuckle. Her smile didn't falter.

"Oh, what are you up to these days? You wanted to get a photography degree if I'm not wrong..."

"Yes, I got it. I actually get all kinds of assignments for stuff to photograph. My latest is photographing the Portland Scouts," he said leaning against his own shopping cart.

"Really? You've been working with Thomas?" she replied with genuine surprise in her tone.

"I thought you knew. I thought he told you..."

"Thomas..." her voice faded, and she lowered her head. "Thomas doesn't really talk to us anymore".

"Wait... what? The way he talked- I... he cut himself off?"

"You talk to him?" she asked a hint of a smile on her face. Mark nodded, not wanting to say much about it.

He thought Thomas had told her they were working together. He thought Thomas had told her they were back together. It was obvious she didn't know anything about it. They had been together for almost two months by now. How could he not have mentioned it to her?

"Mark, honey..." Marigold called from behind him and both he and Thomas's mother turned to look at her. "Birgit, so good to see you!" she exclaimed looking at the woman before her son and going closer.

"Mari, hello," Birgit said, sniffling her nose and trying to control her emotions.

"It's so nice to see you now that our sons-"

"Mom," Mark cut her off. She looked at him with a frown and then turned to Birgit.

"Now that our sons...?" Birgit urged and Mark's shoulders slumped.

"Now that we are back together," he muttered, lowering his head. He hadn't wanted to tell her. Thomas should have been the one to tell her. It wasn't Mark's place.

"You're back..." her voice faded and slowly she took half a step closer to Mark. Before she knew what she was doing she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in a hug. "Take care of him, please," she whispered.

"I will".

***

At the sound of the key in the lock, Kenzie shot up from where she sat next to Thomas and jumped down to go greet whoever was coming. Thomas, in his half-asleep state, rubbed his eyes and looked at his phone for the time. It was a little past midnight.

"Hey, there Kenzie," Mark cooed at her, petting the overexcited pup, and turned to look at Thomas who stood up and slowly walked up to Mark.

There was a trembling in Thomas's chest, and he chose against speaking up, afraid that he would not be able to talk. Instead, he stayed frozen for a second and then reached out to hug Mark. But Mark's hand shot up and stopped him firmly.

"We have to talk," he said and watched as Thomas's expression was filled with panic. Looking at Thomas something inside of him snapped. His hand that was on Thomas's chest balled up in a fist, grabbing him by the shirt, and pulled him closer, crashing his lips against Thomas's.

Thomas moaned in his mouth, his hands reaching up to grab Mark by his waist, and without breaking the kiss, Mark started leading him to the bedroom. His suitcase was left discarded next to the front door, Kenzie looking at them for a while but then going on to her bed and curling up.

Once they reached the bedroom, Mark didn't throw Thomas on the bed. Instead, he pushed him against the curtains that were drawn over the window wall. Mark broke off the kiss and looked down at Thomas while taking a few deep breaths.

"I thought..." Thomas started, while heaving, "we had to talk..."

"After I fuck your brains out," Mark growled back. A chill ran down Thomas's spine. "Take off your clothes," he added and turned to grab the lube and a condom from the nightstand.

Thomas happily obliged, taking off his clothes and started to walk toward the bed, only to be stopped by Mark who grabbed him by the wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked Thomas with an intense frown.

"I thought- you said... we..." Thomas stuttered. Mark let go of him and went to pull back the curtains. "Mark, I- people might see us!"

"I don't fucking care," he said before undoing his pants and undressing.

"Yes, but I fucking care," Thomas countered stepping up against Mark.

"You live on the eleventh floor. And besides, you have mirrored windows. No one is going to see you. Now let me fuck you," Mark said, kissing Thomas once more and feeling him melt against him.

Thomas gave in, letting Mark turn him around and push him against the window. His palms were against the cool surface and he could see the full moon, for once having clear night sky in two weeks. He heard Mark from behind him squirt a big amount of lube out of the bottle and then his mind turned to mush as two fingers entered him.

Quickly Mark added a third digit and after what felt like seconds to Thomas, he removed his fingers and positioned himself. Thomas's knees buckled as Mark entered him and he let out a pained moan that fogged up the window. Mark's nails clawed at Thomas's waist and kept him up as he thrust inside him.

One of Mark's hands moved up to Thomas's shoulder and then he ran his fingers down his back, leaving red impressions and causing Thomas to hiss in pleasure. A string of moans and whimpers left Thomas's mouth as Mark grew more aggressive. Thomas didn't even realize when he orgasmed.

"Get hard for me again, babe. Cum again," Mark whispered in his ear, biting down on the soft skin of his earlobe. His hand wrapped around Thomas dick, moving against it until it got hard again.

"Keep going, please," Thomas said, almost out of breath. He felt himself reaching his climax for the second time, but before he could tip over Mark held him by the base of his shaft cutting his breath off. But he didn't stop thrusting. Thomas's palms balled into fists and tears gathered in his eyes as he painfully needed to orgasm, but Mark wasn't letting him. "Mark-" he started but his breath hitched as Mark tightened his grip. "Mark; fire!"

At the sound of that word, Mark let go of him and stumbled backward as if Thomas had burned him. Without Mark to support him anymore, Thomas fell on his knees and started heaving. For a second, Mark didn't know how to react but when he heard Thomas half-sob, he immediately snapped out of it and kneeled next to him.

"I hurt you. I'm sorry. Thomas, I'm sorry," Mark started and cupped Thomas's face. Slowly, Thomas looked up at him feeling horrible for crying over this.

"Don't... apologize. You don't have to. I- I don't know why I'm crying," Thomas replied, trying to calm himself down, even more tears going down his cheeks.

"I do have to. I got carried away and I hurt you. I'm so sorry," Mark said and softly kissed Thomas. Then he pulled him in a hug and kissed the crown of his head. "You know I love you, right?"

Thomas nodded and took a deep breath. He did his best to calm himself down fast. Mark hadn't meant to hurt him. Mark loved him. His mind wandered off to that box with pictures he had looked through repeatedly in these past two weeks. Not having Mark around had been really weird but knowing that he would come back and talking to him over the phone had helped. He was actually proud of himself for not drinking too much to deal with it.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Thomas asked him, pushing against him and looking up at Mark.

"I bumped into your mom the other day..." Mark started, licking his lips and wiping away the last of Thomas's tears. "I kind of told her about this... us".

"Wait; you what?!"

"I didn't mean to! My mom kind of was about to say it and I stopped her and well... your mom is not an idiot," Mark hastily replied.

"Why would you tell her?" Thomas asked and started to put on his pants.

"Why wouldn't you?" Thomas shook his head and walked to the bathroom to clean himself up. 

"You know why," he said loud enough for Mark to hear. With a frown, Mark followed him.

"I literally don't," he replied resting against the doorframe.

"You're turning it into an accessory?" Thomas asked, looking at the condom Mark still had on through the mirror. Mark rolled his eyes and threw it to the trash as Thomas washed his cum from his chest.

"Why aren't you talking to your family anymore?" Mark pressed, going to stand next to Thomas.

"Because I'm happier this way," he uttered and walked off.

"Thomas," Mark called following Thomas in the kitchen, where he was pouring himself a glass of water. "As far as I remember your family was pretty accepting of your career choice and sexuality. And your mom is heartbroken over you not talking to her..."

"And you were heartbroken over me breaking your heart. She'll get over it," Thomas said once he finished drinking the whole glass.

"What the fuck? I got over you breaking my heart because we got back together. Why are you hurting her?"

"Because I'm not her Thomas anymore!" he exclaimed and then fled the kitchen to go sit on the bed.

"What are you talking about?" Mark softly asked.

"After I moved out, she kept asking me these questions that I couldn't answer without hurting her, so I just stopped talking to her about my life. As for my father, yes, our relationship is fine but at this point, we exclusively talk about soccer. And Abigail... I don't think she has considered me her brother ever since I came out". Thomas shook his head. "I distanced myself as to not give them the pain I felt and now I can't talk to them because they don't know me anymore".

"You need to start talking to them again..." Mark said and crouched in front of Thomas.

"I don't want to hurt them," Thomas replied looking at his hands that rest on his lap.

"You're hurting them more this way," Mark told him and reach up to touch his cheek. Thomas touched Mark's hand and looked at him bitterly. He didn't believe that.