Leonardo was busy working on a medical research on his laptop while Mia and Matt were laughing and painting in the opposite room.

"Uncle Aid!" Mia screeched as she sprinted toward Aiden to hug him. "Daddy, uncle Aid is here!" She called out to her dad as if he hadn't noticed.

Great.

"Hey Lil' boss," Aiden smiled fondly at the little child. "Someone's been busy huh?" He pointed at the multi paint splashes on the floor making her giggle.

"Matt and I are painting ladybugs come I'll show you everything uncle Aid." She said, hauling Aiden further into the living room and Leonardo didn't even bother concealing his glare.

"Wow you and Matt are really good." Aiden gasped. He could see the blatant effort right there. "You two should make me a piece sometime and I'll hang it in my office. Can you do that?"

"Yes uncle Aid," Mia clapped her hands excitedly. "Matt will help me paint a nice picture for you. Right Matt?" She quickly turned to ask her friend who was pretty chilled for his age.

"Yup." The kid replied, making sure to concentrate on his master piece.

"Okay kids I will leave you to it." Aiden stated before heading toward Leonardo.

"If you think I'm going to apologize for hitting you then you're completely mistaken." The Italian stated with a permanent scowl on his face.

"I wasn't expecting you to." Aiden said, inviting himself to sit next to Leonardo.

"So what do you want?"

"How serious is this thing with Seth?" No beating around the bush whatsoever, Aiden immediately aimed for the bull's-eye.

For a moment Leonardo stared at his friend, he felt his jaw tightening with so much unexpressed rage. "There's nothing serious going on between me and Seth. He's a good lay so I just fuck him. You know I don't do serious relationships anymore."

Neither of the two men knew Seth was only a wall away, ready to pick things up from where him and Leonardo had left off two days ago.

Shock was an understatement of the century, the resident was devastated. He had a hard time picking up his fallen jaw and heart which had dropped deep inside the pits of his stomach.

He's a good lay so I just fuck him. Wow.

The words were like a shard of glass, stabbing him where it hurt the most—his fragile heart. Seth felt as if he had wet leaves stashed inside his thorax cavity. He was not prepared for that major bombshell. 

Crying for a man was only meant for weaklings, Seth vowed not to shed even a single tear drop then he left Leonardo's penthouse as discreetly as he'd came. 

"Are you kidding me Aiden?" Leonardo was starting to feel frenetic. "I told you I've been seeing Seth for more than a year now and that should've given you a rough idea of how serious this is. I really do love him, and I think he's the one for me."

"I didn't mean to mess things up for you, man." Aiden rubbed behind his neck in apprehension. "I just felt like you were making a mistake, again."

"Don't you dare compare Seth to Kelvin." Leonardo growled. "Seth is a different, he's not that kind of person. He's not perfect but he's close to perfection. At least for me."

"I now know okay? Carl told me I was wrong about him," sighing. "I was trying to protect you, Leo. I was there when that asshole ex of yours single handedly broke you down into a barely functional human. I used to hold you when you cried yourself to sleep for weeks. So sue me if I thought I was saving you from catastrophe."

"You're an asshole." There was slight humor in that statement which made the businessman relax a bit. "But you're also a good friend."

Leonardo sighed as he recalled Aiden being his epicenter of comfort when he discovered Kelvin, the love of his life was only in for the bag. The guy was already in a long term relationship with his fiancé who lived in the Netherlands at that time and Leonardo was just their source of income and business connections. That broke Leonardo leaving him almost like a shell for weeks, but Aiden was there for him and took it upon himself to piece him back together.

"I'm sorry about how I treated Seth the other day." Aiden sounded somewhat sincere. "I was out of line."

"We all cross each other's lines." It's not like him and Giovanni hadn't roughed up Carl when they were all still younger, for Aiden's sake. "But you shouldn't be apologizing to me."

"I can't bring myself to look at him." Leonardo ushered Aiden inside his bar and poured him a generous amount of scotch.

"Thanks." Aiden muttered then he proceeded to clear his throat. "I can't face him. Eventually I will apologize but right now I can't bring myself to do it. What I did to him was cruel, Leo."

Leonardo sighed then he poured himself a drink too. "Tell him you're sorry and save yourself from all this mental guilt. We have already talked about this before, Aiden. He stole from you because he felt like you owed him that race but that's in the past now."

"I will talk to him later today."

"Better do that fast because I really need to get laid soon. I can't be resorting to my hand every now and again, it's not as satisfying. You get what I'm saying?" Leonardo said as if it was a normal conversation to have which made Aiden visibly grimace.

"Leonardo, I don't need to know all that."

"Well, deal with it. It's your fault I'm not getting any in the first place."

"It must suck to be you man." Aiden laughed eliciting a low growl out of the Italian.

"If I were you I'd shut up right now." Leonardo warned.

"As if I would actually do that."

. . .

Ed seemed perturbed as he watched Seth running around his kitchen, creaming in a bunch of baking mixtures like a chaotic chef that he was. Seth was making a huge mess and he didn't seem to care either. For someone who had asked to crash in just for a few days the resident was surely not acting like a guest.

It was nothing Ed had ever seen before. Not that he knew Seth at a deeper personal level but Ed could sense something was completely off with the guy.

"Are you planning on opening a bakery or something?" Ed's eyes roamed around Seth's disarray. It was going to take days if not months to clean that shit up.

"I'm starting my Peds fellowship so I'm going to be that likeable doctor. Kids love cupcakes." Seth replied without even bothering to spare Ed a glance. He was busy melting butter and bar sugar. "Please pass me that milk carton." He gestured at the box licking his finger which was heavily coated in creamy cake mixture.

Ed sighed, complying. "You're starting a Peds fellowship?" He wanted to get to the bottom of the thorn in Seth's flesh. "You don't seem like a Peds type of guy to me—more of a neuro guy I guess."

Seth instantly scowled. "Why not? Because you think Peds is not hardcore enough for a dude?"

"I didn't say that and you know it." Ed raked fingers inside his brunette hair. "It's just not you. So why Peds then?"

"Those little humans have so much faith compared to adults. They believe in impossibles and most kids recover from any type of brutal surgery because they're indestructible. And the joy that comes with it y'know, Peds is absolutely amazing. Now will you stop disturbing me?"

"I get that part." No he didn't get any of it. Seth was destroying his kitchen while stood there doing nothing. "But you're making a huge mess in here man."

"I will clean relax, don't you have something to do?" Seth was starting to feel irritated. "Seriously, you're going to just stand there and watch me all day?"

"I'd rather not." Ed started for the exit. "Make sure you clean that mess up. I mean it, Seth."

"I will." Seth reassured him. 

After a couple of hours Seth had baked about fifty assorted cupcakes and cleaned Ed's kitchen too. It was even cleaner than it was when Seth found it. Still the pain was there, it was an incessant dull ache that he couldn't numb. Baking had failed to distract him from the excruciating pain of his heart strings ripping apart. It was too painful.

Then Seth turned to the bottle for comfort. As he swallowed the burning tequila down his throat he suddenly felt stupid. The signs were there, for a year Leonardo had never actually acknowledged their relationship to his friends or family.

It made perfect sense. He only loved the sex because he was a good lay, there was nothing more. But after everything we did together? How was that even possible? Seth's lips trembled at the thoughts screaming inside his head then he cradled his face using both his hands.

"I can't believe he really did this to me." He took another full gulp, slightly wincing at the burn on his throat.

Suddenly a drunken thought meandered inside Seth's barely functioning brain. He was going to make Leonardo feel at least a quarter of the pain he was feeling. It was petty but he didn't give a shit at that point. Seth quickly texted Leonardo then he switched off his phone.

[Seth, 1:47PM] I'm sorry I can't do this (whatever it was) anymore. I'm seeing someone else and I don't wanna string you along. It's not fair for you. 

After about two hours Seth was completely drunk and laughing his head off.

"What is wrong with him?" Marianne nudged Ed who also looked equally lost.

"That's why I called you. He just came here with a duffle bag, asked me to crash in for a few days then he started baking, now he's like—this."

"He was baking?" Marianne literally screeched. "Seth was baking?"

"That's what I just said." Ed shrugged. "I ate some of it, dude might be in the wrong profession. He should consider baking full time."

"Oh my God. Seth was baking?" Marianne was not even paying attention to what her boyfriend was saying.

"Should that be a problem?"

"Yes, it is a huge problem. He only bakes when he's very depressed and sad. What the hell happened to him?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Ed asked. "You're basically Yin and Yang so you should know better." Marianne scoffed at that.

"Y'all know I can hear you, right?" Seth's words were slurred. "I'm not deaf so you can as well ask me whatever you want to know."

"You better start talking now before I kick your ass for being an idiot." Marianne took in a sharp breath. She looked like a typical disappointed mom ready to beat the crap out of someone. "Look, you're drunk maybe you need to lie down a bit."

"No, I'm totally fine." Seth defended himself with a humorless dry laugh. "What can be worse than discovering that your one and half year relationship was none existent? That your supposedly boyfriend only thinks you're a good lay so he just fucks you. And there's nothing serious going on between you two? Nothing beats that." Again, Seth laughed so hard making Marianne and Ed gawk, completely speechless.

Ed was the first one to recover. "Son of a bitch." He could feel himself turning red. "I had literally no idea Leonardo was such a dick."

"Get in line pal, I've already covered that part." Seth drunkenly laughed.

"Oh babe." Marianne immediately enveloped Seth into her arms. Seth's torrents of pain instantly coursed down his face. He cried like he'd never cried before. Marianne rubbed his back whispering soothing words. "Tell us exactly what happened." She went on to probe and Seth began to give them a rundown of events and what he'd heard. 

"I'm so confused right now," Marianne began when Seth had calmed down from his sobbing. "He seemed like he was very much invested in you—Ed what the hell?" She ended up squirming, Ed had pinched her side interrupting her line of thought.

"I think now is not the time." Ed whispered.

"Let her be," Seth reprimanded Ed. "I want to talk about it now and get this horrible feeling over and done with."

"You can stay here as long as you want." Ed claimed the couch opposite to the best friends and sighed. "I'm off to my shift, you guys will be okay on your own?"

"Yeah." Marianne replied with a small nod.

"Thanks really, Ed." Seth hiccupped.

"No problem." Ed was out.

"I fucking hate him, Annie." Seth whispered from the blue and Marianne responded by tightening her hold on Seth. "I hate him so much." Another alcohol induced hiccup.

"If it makes you feel better I'll castrate him and feed his balls to stray dogs for you."

Seth still managed to laugh despite himself. "You can't do that."

"Wanna bet on that?"

"I will definitely pass." Seth chuckled, getting more comfortable in  Marianne's arms. "I don't have money to bail your ass out of jail."