Aiden was examining a Swedish postage stamp, The 'Treskilling' Yellow, which is known to be the only one in existence. "This one should do." He said, dropping it in a small collection bag which was empty, apparently. 

"Why can't we just get Giovanni a wedding gift, like normal people." Brad complained for the umpteenth time.

The guys were busy hunting for native postage stamps all over town but now they were just hanging around in Leonardo's penthouse. Philatelic Giovanni would definitely cream his pants to that, stamp collection was his undying quirk which the other guys never fully understood but still embraced with open arms.

"Since when have we ever been normal people?" Leonardo stood from his study desk covered with medical journals and scowled. "But we really should consider getting a wedding gift though. This whole stamp collection is just some bullshit."

"Sure, a vibrating cockring could work." Carl, Aiden's husband offered with a mindless shrug making the other three burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter. It was now his fourth time hanging out with the guys and it wasn't so bad after all—at least for now.

"Guys this is important." Brad fought an urge to face palm, he wondered why he was still friends with these idiots. "In case you missed the memo, Giovanni is getting married in a weeks time so we need to start acting serious about this."

"Which is a good reason to get him a vibrating cockring." Aiden backed his husband who then smirked mischievously. It was obviously an inside pun to them.

"But doesn't this bother you guys?" Leonardo started in all seriousness. "First it was Aiden in a hoax marriage but hey, look at him now. He's happy with Carl. Now Gio is getting married to Cassy. Our circle of friends is sadly getting smaller and smaller."

"No need to be emotional." Brad chimed in. "It is what it is, people find other people. Doesn't mean our friendship has to come to an end. Still on that note, I'm engaged."

Everyone gawked at Brad as if he had sprouted a pair of horns on his forehead.

Aiden laughed. "You must be kidding me." Judging by the unfaltering expression on Brad's face they all knew the blond wasn't pulling any of their legs. "Wait, he's actually serious?"

"Her name is Elsie and she's absolutely amazing." Brad pushed an effortless smile on his face. "I should've said something sooner."

For a moment there was silence until Leonardo cleared his throat. "Elsie the red head nurse who runs the reception?" At Brad's confirmatory nod they all turned to stare at Leonardo with pitiful eyes. "Why are you people staring at me like that?" The Italian looked genuinely confused.

"Seems like you're now the lone wolf in the squad." Aiden mentioned eliciting snorts from the other guys. "It's a good thing you're not a feline person otherwise that would've been just sad." 

That made Leonardo holler. "Who said I'm a sad lone wolf? I've been seeing someone for the past year and believe me, I've never been happier."

"You got back together with...Chase?" Brad guessed earning himself a nondescript frown from Leonardo.

It wasn't exactly a wild guess since Chase was Leonardo's longest hook-up of all time. It only made sense if the two finally worked out an exclusive relationship.

"Oh God no, not Chase." He groaned.

Leonardo had done quite an impressive job keeping his relationship with Seth to himself and none of them knew the two were still in contact. After Seth's transfer from Sullivan Hospital, Brad had automatically assumed the relationship was done.

They were in for a huge surprise, especially Aiden.

"So who is this mysterious guy?" Aiden's eyes shone with palpable curiosity. "Am I the only one who's interested?" He turned to the guys for some form of backup but none of them budged. They were too stunned to react. 

Leonardo shrugged. "He's supposed to be here anytime from now." As if on cue they all heard heavy footsteps heading their direction but unfortunately it was not mystery guy. It was Giovanni and the disappointment made the guys grumble.

"Were you fuckers talking about me?"

"We have better things to talk about." Aiden said, drawing an instant scoff from the groom-to-be.

"Did you know Brad is engaged." Leonardo proceeded to ask his brother.

"What?!" Giovanni's reaction was borderline theatrical and hilarious. "Why am I the last person to know about this?"

"Settle down cowboy." Brad muttered. "No one knew about it until now." 

"Congratulations man, it was about time."

They all gave Brad their heartfelt congratulatory messages and demanded to meet Elsie and see if she was the one. Not that their opinions mattered to begin with. Brad was in love.

Carl was the first one to notice mystery guy approaching. "Seth?" He said with a hint of delight. "So, you're the mystery guy."

"Carl, what are you doing here?" Seth gasped ignoring the mystery guy question.

The guys stared at the scene unfolding before them, Carl and Seth were hugging like long lost brothers.

"Christ, it's been long. Look at you all grown up." Carl joked.

"Shut up." Seth chuckled before asking. "How's Charlie doing?"

"The guy just had a breakup with Enzo and believe me, it was bad." Carl let out a miniature sigh. "Maybe you should visit him sometime. Knock some bit of sense into in his head, he always listens to you."

Seth winced. "That bad huh?"

"That bad." Carl nodded.

Before the two could go on and on Leonardo cleared his throat to gain both of their attention. "Seems like you two already know each other?"

"Seth has always been like a little brother to me." Carl grinned, draping an arm around Seth's neck and ruffling his hair as if he was petting a little puppy. Seth's face contorted into a scowl. "His cousin Charlie is my childhood best friend."

On the other hand anger was curling hot like a blazing fire that was threatening to burn Aiden from inside out. He could almost feel blood boiling inside his veins. "Is this supposed to be a joke?" He bellowed, getting everyone's attention.

Seth's eyes then connected with Aiden's hostile ones. The resident wasn't expecting any of these people to be here. All he wanted was to cuddle with his boyfriend after a long day at the hospital.

Just great.

"You know I thought maybe after scoring yourself a free 148 500 pounds, you'd actually have the decency to drop the façade."

Seth was at complete loss of words. "What are you talking about?"

"Drop the act, Seth." Aiden chuckled humorlessly. "Leonardo paid for your student's loan, just like you always wanted right? Now what else do you want from him? A marriage deal so you can gnaw him from the inside?"

"Aiden!" Leonardo used his authoritative voice but Aiden was not the type to be shepherded. He was a rogue like that.

"Oh come on, we all know why he's still hanging around." He turned to address his literal frozen friends. "But unlike you guys I always defend what is right."

"Like you cheated on that race and almost killed me, right?" That immediately silenced Aiden. "I always felt bad for drugging you and stealing your ten grand but since you're such an asshole, I'll start replaying the incident in my head until I'm satisfied and maybe I can work out an orgasm from it."

Giovanni cussed under his breath and the others only managed to inhale sharply. This was seriously getting out of hand at an alarming accelerando.

Seth shrugged as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "I'm not anyone's charity case and neither am I a gold-digger as all of you think I am. All I ever wanted from Leonardo was his love, not his money. It was never about money."

"Seth don't—" Leonardo tried to stop his boyfriend when he ambled dangerously close to Aiden. He didn't know what to expect.

"You don't have the right to tell me who I love. If you want to report me for drugging you to the Medical Board of California just do it already! Infect, I dare you Aiden."

Then Seth turned to look at Leonardo with so much hurt in his eyes. "You had no right to pay for my student loan whatsoever. I can't believe you even kept that from me. I am done."

Carl felt blood draining from his face. "Seth wait!" He called out but to no avail. He was gone. Not that Aiden cared.

A look of great bitterness swept across Leonardo's face. He balled his fingers into a fist and drove them into Aiden's jaw without any second thought. "I want to find all of you gone when I get back." He said, stomping out like an offshore hurricane.

Aiden grimaced massaging his bruising jaw. "He must've broken something. Fuck!"

"You are such a jerk, you know that?" Carl shook his head at his husband. "Find yourself a ride to the hotel."

"Aw come on Morrison, you're supposed to be on my side at all times." Even a simple task such as talking hurt like a bitch. Aiden was seconds away from committing homicide.

Brad raked fingers inside his short blond hair. "Well, that went down to shit incredibly fast."

"Yeah, right." Giovanni muttered pressing an icepack on Aiden's brutalized jaw. "Leonardo is going to murder you."

"I'm looking out for a friend here, sue me!" Aiden roared with anger.

"Dude, get over yourself." Giovanni was starting to feel agitated. "You almost killed the guy for what? A stupid race? Unbelievable! And why the hell didn't you tell us about that specific part?"

"It wasn't supposed to be fatal." Aiden defended himself. "Racers knock other racer's cars all the time, it's a winning technique and you of all people should know that." He pointed at Giovanni accusingly.

"Oh for God's sake Aiden." Brad barely showed his emotions but today was an exception. The blond always had a soft spot for Seth and he was raging mad. "You made a terrible mistake, Aiden. Fix this mess now."

"Your own husband was disappointed to the point of ditching you in your assailant's home. That should tell you something, Aiden." Giovanni pointed out.

"I was being a friend."

"We get that okay," Giovanni said quietly. "But you were an asshole to Seth. Hell, we all saw it in his eyes, the guy is hopelessly in love with Leonardo. They are crazy about each other. If Seth makes my brother happy then I'm happy too. But right now Aiden you're starting to piss me off with your infuriating egocentricity. I want you to find Seth and be a man, apologize."

"Fuck no." Aiden seethed. "I'm doing no such thing."

"Then we are done here." Giovanni growled making his way out. "By the way, you are not invited to my wedding."

"What? That's just petty man. I'm your best man, you can't just cut me off like that!"

"Forget it."

Now it was only Aiden and Brad remaining.

"You need a ride to your hotel?" Brad asked the stubborn businessman.

"Why are you not attacking me like everyone else is?" Aiden's voice remained somber. "You don't have to feel obligated to give me a ride, Brad."

"Shut up Aiden. Now, are you coming or what?"

. . .

Leonardo cussed the elevator again and again. Everything was too slow for him. What the hell did Seth mean by I am done? His mind was racing to wild places making him go crazy. So far Leonardo had plotted over a thousand murder scenes in his brain and all of them ended with Aiden dead either way.

Leonardo hadn't contemplated the possibility of Aiden not coming to terms with his relationship with Seth. Clearly their private chat about a year ago didn't mean anything to him. The guy had openly told Leonardo he wasn't going to stay back and watch some hustler invade his friend's brain with illusions and declarations of love. Saying it was his responsibility to protect the people he cared about from fraudsters like Seth. One reason Leonardo had kept his relationship undisclosed to his friends for over a year.

Finally, Leonardo reached the underground parking lot where he claimed his Maserati Alfieri and sped down to Seth's apartment.

He just has to be there.

Seth felt a massive pressure that needed to be unloaded within him. Seeing Leonardo inside his apartment was not helping either. He was pissed off beyond imaginable heights.

"Do you see me as your rentboy?" Seth slowly asked making the chief of surgery visibly cringe.

"What? No! I just wanted to help."

"Help me with what exactly?!" Seth was going berserk. "You still think I'm only with you because I need a daddy taking care of my fucking bills? Is that what you think of me?" Seth screamed his lungs out and Leonardo let him be. "Tell me, you think I'm a desperate gold-digger stringing himself to some rich guy just to have his life roll smooth? What the hell were you even thin—"

The way Seth talked about himself was nauseating to Leonardo. He just had to shut him up. The Italian slammed his boyfriend's back on the kitchen walls and kissed him senselessly. Leonardo mentally cursed when he felt Seth's body trembling violently against his, he was upset. Even his breathing was all kinds of wrong, coming out in rough patches. Leonardo kept coaxing Seth to calm down, his lips and tongue never ceasing on their current pursuit.

Seth moaned softly when Leonardo deepened the kiss making it harder for him to keep up with his aggressive pace. Everything was just hard. Seth had no choice but to completely surrender himself in Leonardo's arms.

"You shouldn't have done that." Seth was still trying to catch his breath after Leonardo withdrew from him. 

"Which part exactly?" The attending whispered.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Seth muttered. "I want you to revoke your payment." 

"You know I can't do that."

"I was saving up for my student's loan, I was only left with something like 2000 pounds otherwise I had everything under control." Seth stated with an ice cold glare which almost made Leonardo gulp in fear. "I'm wiring a transfer to your bank account right now and the rest I'll make a deposit as soon as I have it."

"I don't want your money, Seth."

"So you think I want yours?" Seth sounded broken, fragile even. "What do you want from me Leonardo?"

"I want you. Just you."

"I'm not a swindler, at least not anymore." Seth stated through clenched teeth. "I want you to love me as I am, then I do the same for you. Is that too much to ask for?"

"I did what I did out of love, Seth. You didn't ask me to do anything but I did it anyway because I love you. You would have done the same for me."

"Leo..."

Leonardo simply placed a reprimanding finger on the resident's lips, halting his tirade.

"Why should there be a Berlin wall between us? There shouldn't be any restrictions between us. No one can stop me from taking care of you from time to time. Not even Aiden can stop me from taking care of what's mine."

"I'm still transferring the money back to your account. You should've talked to me about it first."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to insult you or anything like that." Leonardo's tone was filled with regret. "I don't want to fight with you, please?"

"I don't want to fight either." Seth mumbled. "But right now I'm upset and I need time to cool down from all of this."

"Don't push me away." Leonardo was virtually pleading. "Please, don't do that to me."

Seth breathed. "I'm not pushing you away. I don't want to say anything I'll regret later. Just let me be for a while. I will find my way back to you when I'm feeling better."

"Come here." Leonardo beckoned the resident for a hug which he positively responded to. "I love you and you mean so much to me. Never doubt that." He murmured against Seth's temple.

Seth inhaled deeply into Leonardo's scent. "You should go. Please."

Sighing dejectedly. "I guess later then." Leonardo said.

"Right, later." Seth responded curtly.