(Patrick's POV)

Brendon knocked on my door at eight in the morning.

When I first heard the knocking I thought it was Pete. He did promise to come back as soon as the sun was up. So of course I rushed out of bed, more than ready to see him again. Only to be decorated with disappointment when I saw Brendon standing there. It's not like I didn't like seeing my best friend, I'd just rather see Pete.

There was something weird about Brendon. At first glance I didn't see it. He was wearing his usual t-shirt and jeans with a sweater over it to fight the morning breeze. His hair was styled upward as always and he was even wearing his reading glasses.

But when I looked again I noticed something was off. His eyes were pink. And not like when he was stoned. His inner eyes were red and the rims around them were even redder. There were bags large enough to hold a weeks worth of clothes under his eyes. He looked alert. A little too alert. The kind of alert you got when you didn't sleep all night and you drunk tons of coffee to hide it.

"Good morning." His smile made him look insane.

"Good morning, Bren." I stepped to the side to let him in.

"Did you have a good night?"

He sat down in the center of the couch. Placing a stack of folders on my coffee table. I closed the door slowly. Taking my time walking over to the couch to sit next to him.

"Yes. D-Did you?"

"Yeah." He rolled his eyes. "Well, kind of."

"Oh?"

"Work stuff kept me up a little later than usual." He motioned to the folders.

"Do you need some help?" I offered.

It was my office he was doing all the work at after all. It was about time I stopped moping around and got back to my job. Brendon could only do it by himself for so long. I was grateful for him taking control during my downward spiral. He'd done a damn good job. But now Pete was back and I was better. I needed to start pulling my weight. Especially if doing it alone made Brendon this way.

The look of relief he gave me made me feel worse. This was really too much for him. "Yes, please."

"Okay." I reached over and lifted the one from the top. "Amanda Rose." I read the familiar name. "Throat cancer, right?"

"Right." He nodded.

I opened the folder and scanned over her chart. "I see you've  started her on the Carboplantin. Why did you stop the Cetuximab?"

"What?" He looked at me in a dazed confusion. Like he'd been day dreaming while I was talking. "Oh. She had a skin reaction to the Cetuximab last month."

"Brendon." I sat the folder back on the table. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." His bloodshot eyes connected with mine. "There's just a- a lot of work to get done and- and-"

His eyes closed for a few seconds. I sat there staring at his eyelids in worry. When they opened again, they were full of tears. Instinctively, I grabbed Brendon towards me. Letting his head rest on my shoulder. His nose pressed against my skin as he cried.

"Brendon, it's okay." I cooed as I rubbed his back. "You can take a vacation. Go somewhere with Ryan for a while. I'll just hire a temp and-" He cried even harder. "Holy smokes, Bren. I don't know what to do."

"I-It's not about work." He sobbed.

"It's not?"

"No. I Went through years of medical school." He reminded me. "I could finish that shit in a day after not sleeping for a week straight." He had a point there. We'd done similar things before.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Ryan's wrong!"

"What's wrong with Ryan?"

"He didn't want to have sex last night."

"That's all." I laughed lightly. "He was probably tired-"

"And then he waited until he thought I was asleep and snuck out. He was only wearing boxers, Patrick! Where did he drive to at two in the morning with boxers?"

"I don't know." I wanted to comfort him but that sounded bad.

"I called and texted and he didn't reply. And then I found his phone on the couch in the living room. He never leaves his phone!"

"So you think something may have happened to him?" I guessed. Trying to keep up with the strange tale.

"No! He got in the car and drove away. It wasn't like he was kidnapped or something. He left me in the middle of the night to go be with another man."

"Brendon, that's ridiculous. I'm sure Ryan had some kind of emergency and didn't want to worry you by waking you in the middle of the night."

"You're defending him?" He pulled away from me.

"No I'm just-"

"You wont be defending him when I tell you where he went."

"Where did he go?" I didn't need the answer. As soon as the question escaped my mouth, I knew what Brendon was thinking.

"He went to see Pete."

"You can't possibly know that." I didn't mean to sound as defensive as I felt.

"Where else would he go? That's the only man he's ever been interested in besides me since we started dating. Do you have any idea how many men have hit on Ryan right in front of my face? And he never gives them the time of day. He's never done anything suspicious. But the day after Pete reappears in our life, he's gone in the middle of the night? It doesn't take a rocket scientist, Pat."

"That's ridiculous." I shook the thought from my head before it could plant seeds of doubt. I didn't want to deal with a forest of distrust so early on.

"You sound sure." He used the back of his hand to wipe his wet eyes. "Were you with Pete last night?" His eyes darted towards the closed bedroom door and he whispered. "Is he still here?"

"No. He-"

Another knock sounded at my front door. Geez I was popular this morning. At least Pete was finally here. He could silence Brendon's suspicions himself. There was no way he'd let Ryan spend the night at his hotel. Not when we were just beginning our relationship again.

I opened the door and was disappointed for the second time that morning. Ryan stared back at me with an annoyed expression. My eyes raked over his fully clothed body. So he'd gone home after his secret escapades last night then.

"Is Brendon here?" He bit out.

"Why?" I lifted an eyebrow. "You want to see if he slept here last night after you disappeared?"

A weird gleam entered his wide eyes. I couldn't tell whether or not it was mocking. "You don't want to go there with me, Patrick. Trust me. Now would you please let me see my boyfriend-"

"You can let him in." Brendon called from behind me. So I stepped to the side. Ryan stormed into my house. Stopping directly in front of Brendon.

"Are you okay?" He reached out to touch his face and Brendon took a step back. "Why are you crying?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What?"

"Where'd you go last night? You didn't have any clothes on and you left. After two in the morning!"

"I wasn't feeling well." Ryan sighed. "I didn't want to wake you up. But I felt like shit. Out of no where it felt like I was about to die or something."

"What was hurting?" Brendon narrowed his eyes.

"My stomach. I slipped out of bed and went to the ER. I thought I would be back by the time you got up. But it was crowded."

"What did they say was wrong?" The suspicion was emptied from his voice and replaced with worry. There was no way Brendon was actually falling for this shit.

"An allergy to that tuna we ate last night. You don't always break out in hives, you know."

"I know about allergy variations, Ryan. I graduated medical school." He glanced over at me apologetically and then back at lying Ryan. "You should have told me."

"I know, baby. I'm so sorry." He pulled Brendon into his arms. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

I could have barfed. He was so full of shit and it was so obvious. Maybe Brendon was just blinded by how much he loved him. Was I like that with Pete?

I didn't get to dwell on that theory for more than a second. Because for the third time, someone was knocking on my door. I swung it open in annoyance.

"What?"

"Hey, babe. Did I come at a bad time?"

"Pete! No. Hey!" I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Good morning." Tyler stepped from behind him.

Great.