Mark knocked on the door and waited. He heard footsteps and the door opened to reveal a disheveled Dean. His hair was messy and he wore a pair of sweatpants and a plain light blue tee-shirt that made his eyes look dreamier than ever.

"Hey, what's up?" he said and let Mark walk inside.

Dean's loft was one of the coolest apartments Mark had seen. He liked his own apartment, but it couldn't measure up to this. It had an industrial style, with brick walls and industrial furniture all around. But there were also enough plants in here to make this place similar to a jungle.

"I got a new assignment yesterday," Mark started, sitting down on one of the leather chairs opposite the sofa where Dean sat.

"That's good news! You didn't sound happy on the phone though. Got me worried..." he said with a frown.

"You should be. My assignment –" Mark stopped talking when he heard the bathroom door open.

Out walked half-naked Matias stretching both his arms upwards with a yawn. He sleepily smiled at Mark, scratched his ribcage right by one of his scars, and fell on the sofa next to Dean.

"Good morning," he said, reaching and taking Dean's coffee mug from the table.

"Morning," Mark replied.

"You were saying..." Dean said, setting his hand on Matias' knee. "Your assignment..."

"My assignment is photographing Portland Scouts for the whole season".

"Thomas's team?!" Dean yelled, leaning forward.

"Don't talk so loud, babe," Matias groaned, closing his eyes.

"Are you hungover?" Mark asked him. He hummed a yes and looked at Dean.

"He drank more than me. His metabolism is just way better," he said, pointing at Dean with a sharp, light blue nail.

"Hey-hey, can we go back to the original topic here? You're photographing Thomas's team! For the whole season!" Dean snapped.

"I don't know how I will make it..." Mark muttered.

"You're one of the strongest people that I know, Mark. I'm scared for him," Dean said with a shake of his head.

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

"You healed. Sure, you still have some feelings –good and bad- for Thomas, but you have looked past them. You lived..."

"So did he! Even I have heard the buzz over Thomas Heissmann," Mark said.

"Oh, yeah totally. Thomas Heissmann is the name in the MSL. But he is still my best friend. And you never asked me so I never told you, but do you really think he has managed to live happily in that closet of his where he is bombarded with homophobia every single day?"

"He did have a broken look in his eyes..." Mark muttered.

"Yeah, a lot of things are broken about him lately," Dean muttered back and fell heavily back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mark asked, but Dean didn't answer.

With a sigh, Mark rubbed his face with his hands and shrugged off his gray overcoat. How was he going to make it? Seeing Thomas that often? After everything that happened...

Something shiny grabbed Mark's attention and he blinked up. His eyes moved between Dean and Matias and a smile split his face.

"Is that an engagement ring?" Mark asked, his eyes moving back down to Matias' left hand.

A huge smile split Matias' face and moved his hand in front of Mark so that he could see it better. It was a white gold band with a fairly big square-cut fire topaz and a few smaller ones on its side. Their rainbow colors glimmered with each angle that the light touched it.

"He proposed last night!" Matias said and crashed his lips against Dean's cheek.

"Oh my god, you guys! I'm so happy for you," Mark replied immediately.

"Yeah, you're actually one of the first people to know," Dean said and intertwined his fingers with Matias'.

"Did you tell your father?"

"He knew before I proposed. I told him about a week ago. You know, so he could wrap his head around it..." Dean replied with a half-smile.

"Are you planning on telling your parents?" Matias laughed at that. Then he let out a bitter sigh. 

"I will... at some point. I just –last time I spoke to them they told me that if I wanted to play with makeup and paint my nails I should have just not transitioned," he said.

"That was a year ago, right?" Mark asked.

"And a half," Matias answered and stood up. "I'll be right back," he said and walked upstairs to their bedroom.

"I wanted to thank you," Dean said, smiling at Mark.

"Thank me? About what?"

"Without you, I would have never met him. I would have never met my soulmate. These three years have been the best in my life. And that's all thanks to you," Dean said.

"You don't need to thank me. I didn't do anything other than introduce you to each other. You two made it work. You fell in love," Mark replied.

"Hey, if you think about it, your assignment is actually working out for us. Now when you see Thomas at the engagement party and the wedding you will be ready for it," Dean said and looked over at Matias who walked downstairs with a shirt on and his laptop in tow.

"I won't be," Mark started as Matias sat back down on the sofa and opened his laptop, "but at least there will be alcohol there".

"We'll have an open bar just for you," Matias said as he finished what used to be Dean's coffee.

"You mean we'll have an open bar for both of them, right?"

Matias looked hopelessly upwards. "Our wedding ceremony will be filled with drunk queers".

"Of course it will be. It has to be awesome," Dean replied and pulled Matias in for a kiss.

Matias rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. Since the last time Mark had seen Matias he had changed his hairstyle into an undercut and whatever his hairstylist had done was amazing, because the highlighted tips created a great contrast with his darker skin.

"How is your story going?" Mark asked him.

"Don't... don't ask me that. That's the worst question ever..." Matias said with a pleading look in his eyes. Mark snorted and stood up.

"Are you heading out?" Dean asked him.

"I need to go through today's pictures and sent in the best ones. And I have an anniversary to celebrate," Mark said.

"Wait up, I'll walk down with you. I need to go open the store," Dean said and quickly went upstairs to change into a better attire than the one he had slept in.

"Anniversary?" Matias asked Mark, as he put on his coat again. It wasn't cold enough for a coat yet, but Mark had left his apartment very early in the morning and he had been cold.

"We've been together for eight months today," Mark replied, pulling out his phone.

"What? Do you celebrate every month anniversary?" Matias asked.

"Hey, it's a romantic evening with sex in the end. I don't complain," Mark replied with a shrug. Matias laughed and turned to look at Dean who walked down the stairs while running his hand through his messy hair in an effort to tame it.

"I'll come by to help you out in a few hours," Matias told him and Dean leaned down to plant a kiss on top of Matias' head.

"Love ya," Dean murmured and walked out of the apartment with Mark. Dean stopped by his car, resting a hand on the black matte paint of Mark's car and turned to him. "You're going to be okay, right?" he asked him.

Mark shrugged and opened the door. "I'll manage".

"Look, Thomas knows we still talk to each other... so I don't know if he will tell me anything about today... or you in general. We've kinda avoided bringing you up. But I can ask him how he feels about it," Dean said. Mark was shaking his head before Dean had even finished speaking.

"Don't. I don't want him to know that I talked to you about it. If he does talk, fine; but don't start the conversation".

"Okay, I won't," Dean silently promised. "Text me if you need anything," he said and hugged Mark goodbye, before taking off to his store.