A/N This is a prime example of why I don't update my chapters one at a time. For some reason, it triggers my writers block, and I have to pull myself through each chapter. Anyways, sorry for the wait!

Brad was fully expecting Aiden to distance himself from him, to give them both time to reflect, so he was surprised when the next week carried on like normal as far as their routine went.

When he arrived to work in the morning, Aiden was already there waiting with coffee and his start of the day paperwork. When Brad worked on said paperwork, Aiden sat on the other side of the desk from him and helped. When Brad had a meeting, Aiden was there by his side taking notes. When he was hungry, Aiden peeked his head in his office to ask where he wanted lunch from.

Aiden's usual presence throughout the day was the only normal thing about their relationship though. Where there used to be a fair amount of conversation between them, often initiated by Aiden, was now silence. They did mostly everything without talking, and when they did speak, the interaction was usually full of awkwardness..

It made him hesitate before beginning to speak Wednesday morning, afraid to say something wrong and make the silence between them grow even more tense. They'd finished their usual paperwork earlier than they did most days, but instead of leaving, Aiden remained in his chair and began going over the contract for the important deal he was supposed to be finalizing that afternoon. There shouldn't have been anything wrong with the document, though it was good business practice to review it, and Brad appreciated Aiden's dedication.

Still, it was unnecessary for him to be the one doing the work, and Brad figured the younger boy would like to flee from his office as soon as possible to free himself from the nearly unbearable atmosphere.

"Um," he began tentatively. The man quickly raised his head, green eyes slightly wider than usual as he waited for him to continue. "You don't have to stay and help me with this, you know."

The smile Aiden gave him then was very polite. It was the smile an assistant was expected to give their boss, but Brad found himself disappointed by the gesture that failed to radiate its usual warmth. "I'm just doing my job. I really don't mind," Aiden insisted. Something about his voice told Brad that there was no use trying to get him to change his mind.

Despite the awkwardness, he was staying.

Nodding, Brad looked back down at the contract. "Will you be joining me in today's meeting? It should just be getting a signature, but if you'd like to come along in case we have further discussion, you may".

"I'll come," Aiden confirmed. "It'll be a good experience, I think. I've yet to accompany you to a contract meeting".

Not knowing what else to say, Brad fell silent.

Aiden remained in his office for an hour longer before Brad successfully dismissed him by advising him to eat before their noon meeting. "What about you?" The younger boy had asked. "Want me to pick something up for you somewhere?"

Another difference in their relationship was how Aiden simply nodded and left when Brad said no instead of arguing with him over it.

The second the door closed behind his assistant, Brad groaned and allowed his head to come rest against his desk top. He should have been thinking of his upcoming meeting, the one his father trusted him with even though the client was important enough that he was surprised his father wasn't handling himself, but he couldn't. All he could think about was the blond man who'd just left, and how he could fix what he'd broken between them.

***

Twenty minutes before his meeting was scheduled, Brad received a phone call from a displeased business partner. This would have been fine- twenty minutes would be enough for him to clear up the misunderstanding and talk the woman down– if not for Mr. Dansen (the CEO of the company he was arranging the important contract with) showing up for their meeting ten minutes early.

He was notified by Aiden poking his head into his office, giving him a grimace that communicated the issue perfectly. Brad smiled a little bit and raised his hand to cover the bottom of the phone so his voice wouldn't be picked up on the other line. "Would you offer him coffee and tell him I'll be with him in a moment?"

A thumbs up was given in confirmation, and Aiden slipped out of his office, the door clicking shut softly behind him.

It only took him a few moments to wrap up the call, promising to call back sometime later in the week to discuss it further when he had more time. When he finally hung up the phone, he gathered the papers he needed from his desk and left his office.

Immediately, he paused. There was a couch beside the elevator doors where Brad was expecting Dansen to be seated as he waited, but it was completely empty. "Um..." at the sound of his secretary's voice, Brad shifted his eyes to look at her. "They're in the conference room already". Something about her voice sounded strange, and Brad's eyebrows raised.

"Is everything alright?"

The answer was spoken quickly, almost as if she was nervous. "Yes". Her eyebrows drew together. "It was just strange when Mr. Dansen arrived... I'm sure it's nothing".

Strange? Brad wondered, making the way down the hall towards the conference room. He'd met with Mr. Dansen a handful of times before, and nothing about the man had ever struck him as off. Still, Martha was usually quite good at reading people, and if she'd noticed something was strange, he'd be sure to proceed carefully. The last thing he wanted was to ruin the agreement they'd spent the last month discussing because Mr. Dansen was having a bad day.

Feeling slightly more anxious than before, Brad looked down at the paperwork in his hands as he reached out to grasp the knob on the door to the conference room. It was because of his diverted attention that he didn't see them until he was a few feet into the room and looked up again. "Mr. Dansen, I apologize-" was all he got out of his mouth before he froze.

Both men looked back at him. The older CEO currently had Aiden trapped between himself and the table, his arms caging him in with his hands pressed firmly against the table so he could lean in. Aiden's green eyes were very wide, and when his gaze met Brad's, it wasn't difficult to see how uncomfortable his assistant currently was.

Mr. Dansen clearly didn't care because his attention shifted away from Brad towards the blond haired man again, a smile forming on his face. "I thought I recognized him the last time I was here, but I didn't get a good look at him then so I wasn't sure," the white haired man claimed, eyes greedily roaming Aiden's face, oblivious to Brad's growing anger towards him.

He recalled the last time Mr. Dansen had been to their building. It was towards the beginning of discussing their agreement, when Aiden was still rather new to the company. He hadn't been invited to the meeting, Brad still unsure of what he was capable of.

"I never considered it before myself, but it's quite an idea. Hiring someone to have fun with around the office. I was wondering why I hadn't seen him at the club recently, though it makes sense now though". One of the man's hands came up to brush against Aiden's cheek, making the younger boy flinch and squeeze his eyes shut. "How would you feel about coming to work for me-"

"Would you please step the fuck away from my assistant?" Brad asked, amazed with how calm he was able to keep his voice while he was fuming. Aiden's eyes shot open again, looking at him in surprise.

Does he just think I'd let this happen? Brad wondered, saddened by the idea.

Alarmed, Mr. Dansen's hand dropped and he turned his face again. "You seriously hired someone who used to work at a stripclub?" the man demanded. "What kind of company is this?"

"Not one who hires perfectly capable people for the purpose of fun," Brad replied. Seeming completely confused, the older CEO looked back at Aiden for a moment before huffing and stepping back with a shake of his head. Immediately, Brad noticed the way Aiden relaxed slightly, his arms coming up to cross over his chest protectively.

Despite the fact that there was now distance between them, Brad's anger wasn't leaving him. It was actually getting worse the more he processed the situation, the more he considered what the older man said about Aiden and the more he thought about the panicked look on his assistant's face.

"I don't know how I feel about this," Mr. Dansen continued, shaking his head a little bit. "I don't know if I'm comfortable signing this contract anymore". The man was still looking at Aiden, eyes half lidded. "There's exceptions that could be made, of course-"

"No," Brad cut in, not willing to let the man even voice what he was thinking. It seemed quite obvious already, and he had no interest. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Mr. Dansen".

Now the man was focused on him, eyes incredibly wide. "What do you mean, leave? I haven't signed the contract yet".

"And you're not going to," Brad continued. "I no longer have the desire to work with you, and if you're truly as concerned with our companies practices as you say, you shouldn't work with us either. Please leave".

"Mr. Bradford," Aiden voiced, using the title for the sake of the other man in the room, Brad was sure. "I-"

Knowing that Aiden was going to protest his decision, Brad raised a hand to cut him off. Still looking troubled, the blond fell silent.

Mr. Dansen looked between the two of them a few more times before huffing and grabbing his brief case from the conference table. "I can't believe this," he claimed. "Treating me this way for the sake of a low level employee who used to work-"

"We treat all of our employees with respect, sir," Brad cut in dryly, taking a step back so he wasn't blocking the doorway. "This is the last time I will ask you to leave before I call security, Mr. Dansen".

Neither the CEO nor Aiden looked as if they could believe what is happening, astonishment clear on both of their faces. Before any more protests could be given, a soft voice interrupted them. It's a good thing, really, Brad thought, feeling his control over his temper teetering. "Is everything alright?" Martha inquired.

"Yes," Brad insisted, turning his head to look at the woman in the doorway. "Perfectly fine. Please escort Mr. Dansen out of the building and shred these documents". He handed her the small stack of papers he'd brought. "I believe we are done doing business".

The secretary's eyes widened, but she'd been working with him long enough to know questioning him would not be appreciated. "Yes sir," she acknowledged, straightening and fixating her gaze on the oldest man in the room. "If you'd follow me, sir, I'll see you to the lobby".

With another disbelieving huff and a comment under his breath that made Aiden wince, the CEO followed Martha out of the office and down the hall.

It was silent for a long moment as Brad glared after them, aware of Aiden's gaze studying him. Once they were out of sight, Brad looked forward again, feeling the tenseness between his brows relax. "Are you alright?"

He moved a few steps towards the younger man and then paused when he noticed Aiden's arms were still crossed, his posture closed. The last thing he wanted was to make him even more uncomfortable. Aiden must have realized this, because his arms dropped to his sides and he gave a hesitant smile that Brad figured was supposed to be reassuring.

"It's okay". Green eyes adverted as if ashamed. "I had to deal with that kind of thing all the time at my old job".

Not for the first time, Brad was incredibly glad he'd hired Aiden. "Well, you shouldn't ever have to deal with that here". He took another few steps towards him, closing most of the distance between them. "If anything like that ever happens again please inform me immediately. You don't need to be treated like that anymore".

The look on Aiden's face then was openly fond, and Brad felt his heart stutter in his chest, fingers itching to reach out and touch.

"What about the contract, though?" Aiden asked, voice small. "I don't want you to throw something big away just because-"

"I don't care about the contract," Brad interrupted, voice strong with conviction. "It's not important to me at all in comparison, and after that... if I ever see that man again, I don't how if I'll be able to stop myself from-"

It was Aiden's turn to interrupt, his cheeks flushed pink and eyes fixated on his shoes. "Don't".

"Don't?" Brad echoed, confused. "Don't what?"

"Don't say things like that," Aiden continued. "Things that make me think that you... things that give me the wrong idea".

Brad resisted the urge to sigh, wondering how to tell Aiden he wasn't getting the wrong idea without majorly embarrassing himself. "But they're true," Brad assured. "I'm not lying to you when I say these things".

Aiden met his gaze again, eyes glassy. "Why?" he asked vaguely. Before Brad could question, he continued. "Why does it make you mad?"

"That he treated you like that?" Brad thought it was pretty clear why. "Because he acted like you were an object. He knows nothing about you, and yet he deems himself worthy of judging you to be useless beyond the things you're capable to do with your body. It's unacceptable".

Nodding, Aiden pressed his lips together tightly, still looking up at him with wide eyes. He seemed close to crying, Brad noticed, and his hands curled into fists at his sides, frustrated that he'd worsened the situation. I should apologize, he determined, though Aiden spoke first.

"Would you feel that way about any of your employees?"

Oh, Brad thought, finally understanding.

"No one deserves to be treated like that," he replied, eyes shifting away as he prepared himself for his next words. "But I don't think I would be as upset if it was someone other than you".

This was something Brad expected Aiden to want to hear, so he was surprised when the boy only looked even more distressed. "But then why don't you want me?" the younger man asked sadly, dropping his head to hide his face.

It was quickly becoming one of those situations Brad was poorly equipped for, but he found himself somewhat relieved that they were having the conversation. It was long overdue. "When did I ever say that I didn't want you?" Brad's voice was low, just loud enough to be heard.

"You didn't want to kiss me," Aiden pointed out, raising his head once more so Brad could see his face.

Brad felt his eyes widen a little bit as he thought back to that night. "That's because you tried to kiss me without saying anything first, and I thought after the first time you were impulsive".

"It wasn't impulsive," Aiden protested weakly.

"It seemed really impulsive".

The younger man no longer seemed like he was going to cry. Instead, he looked mildly irritated with him. "It wasn't. I wanted to do it for a while".

"Then why didn't you say anything about it?"

"Say what?" Aiden demanded. "Say that I wanted to kiss you? You're my boss!"

This logic made Brad frown. "I'm your boss, so you can't tell me you want to kiss me, but straight up kissing me is alright?"

"Ugh!" Aiden's arms crossed again, though this time it was out of annoyance, not discomfort. "You know, I wouldn't have kissed you if you didn't give me these mixed signals all the damn time".

"Mixed signals?"

The way Aiden looked at him then made Brad feel as if he lacked self awareness. "Do you even realize how often I catch you looking at me?" Aiden asked, voice dry. Brad felt his eyes widen in surprise. "From the beginning, I saw you staring, and I noticed you smiled at me more than other people, and that you let me get away with things you don't let other people get away with. Of course I would think that you liked me, but when I kissed you and waited to see how you reacted, you were just completely normal!"

"So were you," Brad defended.

"Because I was trying to leave it up to you! You're my boss. I can't just openly seduce you!" He shot back. "You acted like nothing happened so I thought that was that, but then you still treat me differently and I didn't know what you wanted from me".

"I acted like nothing happened because you never brought it up and it thought you saw it as a mistake and wanted to forget about it," Brad explained. Aiden's mouth opened to respond, but he was quick to interrupt the younger man, figuring that if they continued like this, they'd only go in circles. "I should have communicated with you better. I've spent so long wondering what your feelings are for me, and I should have realized that of the two of us, I'm the one in the position to ask".

Aiden's arms fell to the sides, his mouth slightly parted as he looked up at Brad in surprise. It was like he knew the question he was about to be asked when Brad himself even didn't know how to phrase it.

It took him a minute. "Aiden... what are your feelings for me?"

The man in front of him visibly swallowed. "My feelings for you?" he echoed, voice small. "I..." suddenly, he no longer seemed sure of himself, gaze averting. "Isn't it obvious? I... I like you. A lot".

Finally, Brad thought, dropping his head with a heavy sigh. After spending hours thinking about Aiden's feelings, trying to interpret each of the man's words and actions towards him, it felt incredibly good to have them laid out in front of him. He was relieved he felt that way. For a while– if he was being honest with himself, this probably had to do with why he'd never brought up the topic of feelings to Aiden before this– he'd been worried about how he'd feel when the truth came out, worried that he wouldn't know what to say or that he wouldn't be able to return the feelings.

But right then, he knew exactly how he felt, and didn't feel afraid to express it.

Unfortunately, while he was basking in the warmth he felt from Aiden's confession, the blond seemed to be getting panicked. Before Brad could announce his own feelings, Aiden very sadly mumbled, "I'm sorry".

"What?" Brad lifted his head quickly, eyes taking in Aiden's expression. "No. Don't be sorry". Finally, he took the last two steps towards him, standing close enough that Aiden needed to tilt his head almost all the way back to look up at him. "I feel the same way. I have for a while now, I think. If I'm being honest, before you kissed me I didn't really think about it like that, but there's no other explanation for how often I find myself thinking about you, or how much I enjoy your presence".

Nothing happened for a moment and Brad carefully watched Aiden's face as he slowly processed the information. His distressed expression shifted to confusion before settling in surprise, and Brad smiled at the sight. "Is that okay?"

"Is it..." Aiden trailed off. "It's okay... you really like me?"

"I do," Brad confirmed, not stopping himself from reaching out to touch the other man now. His hand came up to Aiden's face, fingers teaching lightly over his jaw, fascinated by the electric like tingle he felt at the contact. Touching someone had never felt like that before. Green eyes slipped shut. "Really".

They were close enough that Brad could clearly hear the sound of Aiden's shaky breath being released before the boy's eyes cracked open, showing him just a sliver of green. Entranced, Brad shifted his hand against Aiden's skin, putting it in the perfected position to brush his thumb against the blond's lower lip gently. He did.

They both paused, eyes meeting.

He wasn't exactly sure who moved first, but he supposed it didn't matter, both of them lunging forward so their lips could meet, mouths already open out of desperation to taste one another. Aiden's hands were fisted in the front of his suit jacket, pulling him down to his level.

Standing like that was fine for a little while, Brad distracted by Aiden's tongue in his mouth and the soft noises being made by the younger man, but eventually he began to feel the ache in his back from the bend. Groaning, Brad fastened his hands on either side of Aiden's hips to lift him up onto the table behind him. Their lips stayed connected until Aiden gasped in surprise, hands sliding up Brad's chest to rest against his neck.

"Boss," the younger man breathed, cracking his eyes open and grinning up at him. At the same time, his knees parted for Brad's hips. Overwhelmed, but the word or action, Brad wasn't exactly sure, Brad groaned and ducked forward again, kissing his assistant hard.

Aiden laughed against his lips, one of his hands moving to tug at Brad's tie. At first, Brad was unsure of what was being asked of him, but then Aiden slowly laid back against the table, using his grip to pull Brad down with him as well.

It was a lot to take in, Brad thought as he was kissed senseless. I'm his very short list of romantic history, he'd never kissed someone this heatedly. It felt new and exciting in the way things typically weren't once you hit a certain age, and he craved it, let the feeling cloud his judgment.

They shouldn't be doing this. They were at work. It wasn't even late enough in the day that most people were gone already, and he wasn't sure if he'd closed the door or not, though he was completely unwilling to pull away from Aiden's lips for the second it would take him to check.

Still, he felt slightly on edge about it, so when he heard the light rustle of fabric come from somewhere behind him he tensed.

"What?" Aiden asked softly when they pulled apart. Brad didn't respond, just slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder in the direction of the door. The younger man must have looked as well, because there was a gentle whisper of, "oh".

Garett was perfectly framed in the doorway, blue eyes very wide as he took in the sight in front of him. There was a long moment in which none of them moved, and then Garett dropped the binder he was holding in order to raise both of his arms over his head in what looked like celebration, eyes alight with delight.

Without saying anything, Garett backed away out of their sight.

"Ah, fuck," Brad groaned, dropping his head down to rest agaisnt Aiden's collar bone. "I can't believe that happened. I'm never going to live that down".

With a little laugh, Aiden brought one of his hands to the hair at the back of Brad's head, petting him gently. "He didn't seem all that surprised".

Lifting his head, Brad considered telling the other man about Garett's suspicions about them. Before he could decide, Aiden got his attention by tracing his jaw with his pointer finger.

"Should we go somewhere else?" He whispered, eyes down as if embarrassed.

It was clear what he was asking. Should we leave work early in the middle of the day and go somewhere more private to continue? As a professional, who'd just done something that would majorly piss of his superior (his father), the correct answer was I should probably work late tonight and try to find a way to make up the revenue I just lost, but this wasn't what he said.

Instead, he did exactly what he wanted to and answered, "yes".