When Mark woke up, he had a killer headache. His birthday party had ended at around seven in the morning. Or at least that's when the music stopped playing. Because he stayed up way past that.

Bryan had been the designated driver. He hadn't drunk one drop of alcohol. Mark was impressed by his ability to resist. Especially considering the way everyone else had been drinking. Mark, himself, had been the worst of all. He started drinking at around nine when most people started rolling in. By the time Thomas came, he was drunk and by the time Thomas got drunk, Mark was shitfaced.

He stretched his body and rubbed his eyes, surprised by the fact that the bed next to him was empty. Neither Kenzie nor Thomas were there. When they had come back after the party, despite both of them being too drunk to normally function they fucked until they passed out. There was dried cum on his abs and a few stains on the sheets next to him.

He stretched out and looked at the time on his phone. It was a few minutes past three p.m. Mark wasn't sure whether that was too late or too early. But seeing as he didn't feel too good, he decided to keep on being in bed. He ignored the notifications on his phone, turned around, and yawned.

"Hey..." came Thomas' soft voice from the door. Mark opened his eyes and looked at him. Thomas was resting against the doorframe, looking at him with a dazed smile.

"Hi," Mark replied, his voice rough and scratchy.

"I've never seen you drunk before," Thomas said and slowly came to lie down next to Mark. "You really turn into something else".

"I know. That's why I don't get drunk often," Mark replied and yawned.

"You should. I really enjoyed you last night... well, this morning actually," Thomas replied and pressed a kiss on the corner of Mark's mouth, with a hungry glint in his eyes.

"I barely remember the details," Mark replied. Thomas smiled and his one hand snaked passed the covers and over Mark's warm body.

"Then I should remind you," Thomas muttered and moved his lips to Mark's neck.

"I'm too hungover to fuck you right now," Mark said, enjoying the trail of neck kisses that were making him hard.

"Let me do all the work. I'm starving for some Irish," Thomas whispered against his skin and dragged his lips down Mark's sternum.

He pushed Mark to his back and then moved under the covers. Mark closed his eyes and pressed his head harder against the pillow as he let Thomas devour him. Despite not having been with many people, Mark was impressed with how good Thomas was in giving head. He wanted to let himself go, but his own ringtone that started playing made him hold back. Mark reached out and brought his phone to his face to see who was calling him and then, he grabbed Thomas by the hair to pull him back.

"I need to answer this," he told Thomas looking him in the eyes.

"Well, answer it," Thomas said and looked up at him innocently.

Mark shook his head at him and kept him up by his hair. Rolling his eyes, he cleared his throat and then answered his phone.

"Mark, good afternoon!"

"Mr. Folkner, how are you doing?" Mark responded, taking his eyes away from Thomas as to not get lost in them.

"Oh, I'm fine. How are you?" his boss replied with a chirpy tone.

"I'm..." he paused as Thomas leaned down and started sucking him off again. "I'm great," Mark said through gritted teeth.

"Awesome! I was meaning to ask you whether you had any free time this week for this photoshoot for a calendar we were planning on doing".

"This week?" Mark asked and he sucked in a sharp breath as to compose himself. "Yeah, I have time. Just send me the time and place and I'll fit it in".

"Great. I will do that," Folkner replied just as Mark finished in Thomas' mouth and suppressed a groan.

"I was meaning to ask you". Mark paused to look at Thomas, who wiped his lips and looked at him questioning. "Do you need me to send you a picture of Heissmann?"

"Why would I need that?" his boss asked, and Mark rose to his elbows.

"Isn't Lily interviewing him for an article?"

"Not that I'm aware of. We're not doing a piece on him," Folkner said and cleared his throat. "If that's all..." he started.

"Yes, I'll be waiting for the details of the photoshoot," Mark said.

"Okay, good. Goodbye".

"Bye..."

"What's wrong?" Thomas asked Mark as soon as he set his phone aside.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," Mark told him, shaking his head and running his hand through Thomas' hair.

"I'm going to go shower. Join me?" Thomas asked getting off the bed.

"You seriously have to ask?" Mark replied and finally decided to sit up.

What was Lily up to? She was interviewing Thomas but not for the magazine she worked for. To Mark's knowledge, she wasn't employed in any other magazine or tabloid. And she wouldn't do an interview now for a future possible article.

After Thomas had told him about the scheduled interview, he had kept an eye on her. The only thing that was stuck in his brain as weird was her behavior during his birthday party. She hadn't drunk one drop of alcohol. Not one. And she hadn't danced or seemed to enjoy even one second of it. Instead, she was looking at everything and everyone like she was examining them.

"Are you still not feeling good?" Thomas asked him hours after their shower when they were both sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"I think this hangover will last till the end of next week," Mark said while rubbing his temples.

"Oh, well... try to drink less next time," Thomas said in a joking manner.

"You're an asshole," Mark muttered not hiding his smile.

Thomas exhaled through his nose and slightly shook his head. He knew that Mark was joking, but part of him felt the weight of that word. He was an asshole. Seven years ago, he had broken the best person in his life. He had isolated himself from his friends, only Dean persisting enough to not be shut out. He had pushed his own loving family away, thinking that it would hurt them less than being associated with him. With his toxic personality. He was an awful person.

His eyes, that had drifted to his palms in his lap, looked up at Mark again, who was paying attention to the movie. He took note of the dark circles under Mark's eyes, and of his hair that despite the shower looked as if they had seen better days. Without thinking, he reached out and ran his hand through the hair on the back of Mark's head. Mark smiled and leaned into the touch slightly closing his eyes.

"Why do you love me?"

The smile on Mark's face wavered and he turned to look at Thomas, not sure whether he was being serious. The hopelessness in Thomas's golden-brown eyes sent a chill down his spine.

"What are you talking about?"

"Why am I worth it to you?" Thomas rephrased, his hand still in Mark's hair.

Mark brought his eyebrows together and after pausing the movie he turned so that his whole body was facing Thomas. He thought about it for a second and then he smiled at him and caressed Thomas's cheek with one hand.

"Because in all my life, nobody else has looked at me the way you do. Because you're funny and driven and strong. Because you are here next to me. Because I love every aspect of your personality. Every aspect of you. Because you are right for me," Mark said and kissed Thomas's forehead when he realized that Thomas was rendered speechless.

"How do you always know to say the right thing?" Thomas finally responded and Mark laughed at his words.

"I don't always say the right things. I just know you well enough to understand your questions," Mark said and softly kissed Thomas on the lips.

"I seriously don't know what I would have done had you not entered my life," Thomas whispered and pressed his forehead against Mark's.

"I didn't enter it. I was driven to it," Mark replied.

"By what? God? Destiny?" Thomas joked, looking into Mark's gray eyes and resting his shoulder on the back of the couch.

"Who knows?" Mark said. "All I know is that me being here with you wasn't something I thought would happen. I didn't think I'd see you again, much less date you".

"That's a lie," Thomas said with a half-smile.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't think you'd see me again? We have mutual friends. Even though you didn't know Dean and Matias would get engaged, Rachel and Bryan have been in a committed relationship for the past seven years. And they are planning on getting married. So even if you hadn't been assigned to my soccer club for the season, we would have seen each other at some point at their weddings and you knew it," Thomas explained. Mark shook his head.

"I had thought about that," he started, "but every time I did, I just concluded that I would be as far away from you as possible. I wouldn't show up at the engagement parties. I'd avoid you at weddings. I wouldn't get close to you unless it was absolutely necessary".

"Did you really want to stay that far away from me?" Thomas asked, his voice breaking as the words left his lips.

"I didn't want to get my heart broken again. I would have done everything to avoid that," Mark said. "Can you blame me?"

"I would have probably avoided you too. Despite dying to see you," Thomas said under his breath and let out a heavy breath.