"Businessman of the month?" Riley asked Tadashi.

He shook his head. "Businessman of the year," he corrected. "He'll be on the front of the magazine, and there'll be a section with only his pictures. That is minus the interview section."

"What kind of questions?" Riley asked.

Tadashi shrugged. "Mainly business...his life, nothing personal."

"Relax darling," said Alexander. "I've done this before."

Riley turned to look at him sitting on the chair next to him. "Yeah well I wasn't there to fuss over you before."

Alexander leaned forward to meet Riley. "You sound hot when you say stuff like that," he said in a low voice.

Tadashi's eyes darted between the two of them. It was no good.

Before they could kiss, he used one of the sample pictures to separate them and stop the act.

"You'll get to the lovey-dovey stuff when we're done here," he said despite the sour expressions in their faces. "Come on, I've got a long day ahead of me."

Alexander leaned on the table and Tadashi continued. "They are thinking this outfit for the cover," he said.

Alexander would have to wear the stylish suit with nothing like a shirt inside. The picture would be completely normal except for the fact that his chest would be exposed.

Most of his hair would be swept to one side and he'd be asked to look nonchalant as he posed for the photos.

"The outfits are not bad," said Alexander while leaning back. Mason didn't seem to see the other empty chair right next to him when he came over. He chose Alexander's lap.

He picked the picture up and studied the outfit. "What is this?" He asked.

"The outfit," said Alexander. "For the magazine cover."

"Outfit? Where's the rest of it?" He asked in disbelief.

"What?" Alexander said.

"Don't 'what' me," he turned around to face him. "You're not wearing that for the public eye. No one else is allowed to see you half naked like that."

He tried to argue but was cut off. "It's not even–"

"Alexander," Mason said firmly. Then he turned to his assistant. "Tadashi, where's the next one?"

Alexander resigned with his hands up in surrender and let Mason handle it.

"Here you go," his assistant put it on Mason's hand with a smile of amusement on his face.

"Much better," he heard Mason say.

"There's another request for an interview," said Tadashi, after the issue had been resolved. "A different magazine wants all of you on the cover. Apparently this relationship is all the buzz these days and every one is eager to get any kind of insight."

"Are you serious right now?" Asked Riley.

Tadashi linked his fingers. "I am. They've offered the option of doing the interview on tv...in fact it's what they are hoping for. Alexander has always hated being on air, but things could be different now. I'll leave you all to discuss it yourselves."

Tadashi got up to leave and he bumped into Zel. "I can't show up on tv! I'm not famous!" He giggled as Tadashi righted him. As if he'd said like the most absurd thing ever.

Alexander leaned forward and his front rested against Mason's back.

"Nothing's been decided yet princess," Alexander turned to him. "Let's just say no, they don't have to know anything," he said.

Tadashi watched Alexander whine his complaints against Mason's back before he finally excused himself.

It was like looking at someone else entirely, how Alexander had changed.

༻༺

Jet fisted his hands to stop them from trembling as he looked at her, his mother.

"Jet?" She gasped and asked in disbelief. "My boy...it is really you?" Her eyes were teary as she asked.

The last time she'd seen him he was seven, he was twenty eight now and she recognized him in a heartbeat.

She cupped his face and kissed both his cheeks as the tears spilled out of her eyes.

"Mama?" He said, forgetting to hug her back and not quite believing they were together again.

"Oh Jet, my son my baby..." she paused for a while. Doing nothing but weeping silently. Even for anybody, it would have been too much to take. "I missed you so... so much."

"I missed you too mama," his voice broke. "I missed you all so much."

Jet completely lost himself in his mother's arms and let it all out. All the pain and frustration and loneliness he'd felt for more than twenty years of his life.

It hurt so bad his chest felt raw with emotion.

Mason wiped his eyes and turned to Riley's chest. "This is so beautiful I can't," he said.

Riley's heart ached for Jet as he watched, he dropped a kiss to Mason's temple and rested his chin on his head.

"Mama, I wanted to introduce you," said Jet, his eyes were red from all the tears, but he smiled as he looked at them. "This is Mason, Riley, Pierre, Alexander and Zel."

They both turned to the men he loved with his whole being. "They're my... my..."

Jet hesitated because he hadn't thought if his mother would accept it, if it would be too much for her to take in.

"They're your family now aren't they?" She said to his surprise. "The love is clear between you all."

What was he worried about? This was the fierce woman who once punched the shit out of one of his uncles for calling his older cousin sister names for saying she liked girls.

He'd always kept his mouth shut after that, and even apologized; an uncommon gesture for most of the grownup men in his family.

She'd always been the coolest person he knew, how did he forget that?

She kissed each of their cheeks and it made Jet melt inside. Then she finally turned back to him.

She smiled again and another tear slipped out. "I can't believe it's really you..., you've grown up so much. I love you so much."

"I love you too mama," he said. Twenty years was a long time, and he noticed all the changes in her.

Her hair was greying and her skin sagged more than it did before. But she was as beautiful as ever.

Jet let her fawn all over him and kiss him over and over. Riley might tease him about his bashful behavior later but at the moment he couldn't help it. He was just a seven year old boy before his mother.

"They said you were gone forever," his mother said. "But I didn't believe it, I just couldn't stop looking for you, but you were no where to be found."

"You looked for me?" Jet asked.

"You're my son. I don't care what anybody had to say. I've been looking for you from the day I lost you," she said.

She really was the most incredible woman he knew. But Jet's curiosity was the most pressing matter at the moment.

"What happened that day?" He asked. "When you all disappeared."

"Sometimes I'm glad you weren't there when it happened," her face turned grave.

"What happened?" Jet asked again.

She led Jet to sit down and did the same to the other men. "We all woke up far away from you, tied up, we were kidnapped as we understood it. The mafia do know how to get a job done, and it was our lives on the line. I'm glad you weren't a part of that."

Jet held his breath. "You can't mean–"

"You don't know this but we Carreras have always been linked to the mafia. You know your father and his stupid ego. He'd been at it again, crossing the higher ups because of that stubborn streak he can't seem to control. This time though, they decided to come for his family, just to teach him a lesson. The only way they didn't get you was because you weren't asleep with us that night..."

"Is everyone alright?" Jet panicked. He knew there were less people in the house, a lot of people he didn't recognize but he wanted to know about the others.

And this also meant that Riley had been right too, technically, he was linked to the mafia in a sense.

"You must be worried but they are not here because most of them have gone away to start their own lives," she said and Jet was reminded of how much time had passed.

"Your father came through in time and they let us go," she said and took his hands in hers.

"I'm really sorry you had to go through that," said Jet. His father hadn't always been a constant figure in his life but he always managed to fuck things up consistently.

"He's going to be happy that you're back," she said. "Your father."

He could fuck right off. "Happy?" Jet asked in disbelief. "I don't even have any memory of him smiling. It won't change a thing for him," he said bitterly.

"No. If there's one thing Antonio Carrera cares about in this world, it's his son. You," she said.

Jet shook his head. "He's never cared for anyone but himself," he said, a little irritated.

"That is not true, he got depressed when he learned that you were missing. And you know your father, he'd rather die than admit it. He disappeared with no word for about a year, because he knew it was his fault. When he got back, he was in really bad shape. He's going to want to talk to you, you both have some patching up to do."

"I'm not interested," said Jet.

"I know you are," she smiled. "I still see that kindness you've always had. But no matter," his mother said. "We don't have to talk about that now. You're back, we have to celebrate."

"Mama..." Jet complained.

"Oh no you don't," she said. "I'll take care of my little boy the way I want to." She shook her head. "I'm so happy."

To the other men, she ushered. "Come with me," she clapped her hands. "We're having a feast."

༻༺

"I got you something," said Riley.

"You did?" Asked Alexander.

"Yeah," he replied sheepishly.

Alexander was already touched before he even knew what it was.

"You know you don't have to right? It's not even my birthday. You guys are just stubborn and will not listen," he said.

"We missed out on that, so we picked a day. Today, deal with it," Riley said while folding his arms. "Are all thirty four year olds this difficult? Jeez."

Alexander's chuckle made him smile even when he didn't want to. He earned a swat to his bottom for that. Riley made a cheeky face at him.

"Look at you stalling because you're so flustered," Alexander knew him so well.

"I'm not stalling," Riley said defensively. "But this isn't your birthday present, that's stored for later," Riley smirked. "It's not what you are thinking."

Alexander's pulse quickened before he understood the other man was doing it on purpose.

Riley got a black box out and went to open it.

"If you're proposing it's already a yes, you know that," said Alexander.

"Rings don't come in boxes this big you idiot," said Riley.

It was an extremely thin silver chain that wouldn't get past his collarbone. "Jet said you didn't like gold, so I got you diamonds."

Alexander snorted at Riley's playfulness.

"Okay, clearly silver but also because I think you'll look amazing in it," said Riley.

"Put it on me," said Alexander.

As soon as he did, his hand was ceased and immediately he was pulled in for a smoldering passionate kiss.

"Thank you. I love it," said Alexander, touching it. "And I love you."

"You know I really can't think when you kiss me like that," Riley complained. "But I love you too."

Alexander leaned in again and Riley put his fingers to his lips.

"We won't get anywhere if we continue," said Riley. His finger was suddenly engulfed in the warm, wet mouth.

"Alexander!" He scolded.

Alexander let his finger go. "Fine."

They both got up and Riley took his hand in his. He turned when he heard a small sound escape his lips.

"Oh my God," he looked at Alexander, bewildered.

"What?" Alexander asked like he knew nothing.

"You're..." Riley looked down at the hand he'd taken in his. "You're blushing. Do you like it that much?"

Alexander turned away from him and blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about. Let's go."

Riley laughed. "Fuck, you're so cute."

"I am not," said Alexander. But he made no move to take his hand away.

"Right," said Riley while laying a kiss to the back of his hand. "Happy birthday darling."