The Brewseum, a pub located on the south side of the city across from the ice rink, closed its doors today due to bankruptcy. Prior to its closure, the pub was known for its high quality brews and rowdy patrons. The Brewseum's owner, Benjamin Ovich, declined to comment on the situation...

Lukas is lying on the couch, vacantly watching a news report and debating on whether or not to change the channel, when Benji's face suddenly appears on the television screen. He instantly remembers everything again. Fingertips and glances. Glasses on a battered bar top, smoke in a silent forest. The way snow feels on your skin when it falls in March, and a boy with sad eyes and a wild heart teaches you to skate.

It's hard to believe that the boy that taught Lukas to skate is a man now, and it's even harder to believe that Benji and Lukas have been together for ten years when moments like those feel like they happened yesterday. So much has happened since the first time that they met, and Lukas and Benji have made so many new memories together, yet the years have just flown by.

Lukas' phone rings, but he ignores it when he sees that it's Maya Andersson calling. He already knows what she's going to ask him, and he still doesn't have an answer. He's purposely avoided this conversation, but he promises himself that when Benji gets home, he'll finally ask him, after he's figured out what exactly happened with the Brewseum.

Benji walks into the apartment and then crashes onto the couch. He's wearing a T-shirt, showing off his bear tattoo. Nobody here knows what that tattoo means except for Lukas. "What happened this time?" Lukas asks.

"It's the same thing that happens every time," Benji answers. "I tried to start up something, it worked for a while, and then it didn't." Benji shrugs, takes the TV remote, and searches for something else to watch.

Lukas doesn't mention that The Brewseum, like most of Benji's projects, was never really an idea that worked in the first place. He had been watching the pub slowly go out of business for almost a year. It was the same story with the sporting goods store, and before that, Benji had attempted to manage Lukas' band, but that gig only lasted a week before he got into a fistfight with the band's drummer. Lukas left the band soon afterwards, and now he's playing the bass in Maya Andersson's touring band. He likes to think that he has his life together now, and he wishes that Benji would do the same.

"Benji, you can't keep doing this," Lukas says.

"Doing what?"

"You're twenty eight, and you clearly have no idea what you're doing with your life. You've spent the last year babysitting old drunk men at that bar of yours, and I know you're better than that. Maybe it's time for you to find a real job."

Benji considers this and then says, "I'll figure something out soon."

"I'll break up with you if you don't."

"You wouldn't do that."

The worst part is that Benji's right. Lukas and Benji have had many arguments over their ten years together, but it's really the same argument over and over again. Their love has always outweighed their disagreements, and there's no reason for that to change now. Even now, after he's just threatened to break up with him, he looks into Benji's eyes and he knows that he could never leave him.

However, Lukas is still worried about his boyfriend. Nothing is constant in Benji's life. He's never been able to hold down a steady job. He and Lukas have moved around the city more times than they count. His friends are really more like drinking buddies than friends, and that circle is always shifting. Lukas is the only person who's consistently been there for Benji since he moved to Stockholm, and sometimes, he wonders where Benji would be if he hadn't showed up at his apartment all of those years ago.

When Benji still lived in Beartown, everyone said that he was a ticking time bomb. Sometimes, Lukas wonders if he's the only thing keeping the bomb from going off.

After surfing through all of the channels, Benji turns off the TV and moves closer to Lukas. "How was your day?" he asks.

"It was fine," Lukas responds. "I had a rehearsal this morning. Maya asked about you."

"That's nice of her," Benji says. "What did she ask about?"

"She just wanted to know how you were doing." Lukas pauses before finally adding, "Maya's doing a hometown show. She said that you're welcome to come if you want, but she also understands if you don't want to go back to Beartown."

"I don't want to go," Benji quickly responds. He doesn't even have to think about it. As much as Benji loves seeing Lukas perform, he can't go back to Beartown.

"Why not?" Lukas asks.

"They all think I'm dead there," Benji explains. "That's enough of a reason not to go." He still remembers everything that happened that led him to leave Beartown in the first place - the way that they had all ostracized him when they saw the picture of him with the man in the polo shirt - and he doubts that anything has changed since then.

"I think it would be good for you," Lukas says. "We can visit your sisters while we're there."

"It has been a while since I've seen them," Benji admits. Adri, Katia, and Gaby all visit him every once in a while, but he doesn't see his sisters as much as he'd like.

"Besides, I'll miss you if you don't come," Lukas says. "You know I get lonely when the band's on tour."

Benji thinks about it for a while. "I don't know," he says.

"Please Benji?" Lukas says. "I really want you to come to Beartown with me. Don't make me go to that frozen wasteland alone."

Benji laughs out loud, something that he does more often than he used to. It's hard for him to say no to Lukas when he says it like that. "I'll come," Benji says reluctantly, "but don't blame me if something goes horribly wrong."

"I won't, but we'll only be there for a few days. Nothing will go wrong," Lukas promises. He plants a kiss on Benji's lips, and the man with sad eyes and a wild heart kisses him back.

Benji wants to trust Lukas, but the weight of his past keeps him from fully believing him. He's doubting himself again, something that he rarely did before he came to this city. Maybe it's just because he's getting older. However, Benji realizes that the show is a while away. He still has time on his side.

Time, of course, always flies. No matter how much we want to slow down and enjoy the moment, the clock keeps on ticking. There's no way to hit the pause button on life - it keeps going, whether we want it to or not. That's how it's always been for Lukas and Benji, and the trip to Beartown comes much faster than either of them would have liked. It's not long at all before they're packing their bags and taking the train to the town that Benji grew up in.