Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I barely crossed the threshold when Georgia, my lovely assistant, ran to me to tell me about
an important order we just received.
“Sir, you won’t believe this!” she said with excitement. Her blonde curly hair jumped up and
down as she approached me. I always thought she was more Marilyn Monroe than Marilyn
herself, but she never believed me and told me to respect the fashion icon.
“Georgia, slow down, you could kill yourself in those heels,” I warned her. I never understood
how women could walk in those every single day, but they somehow did and it was one of the
many things I admired them for.
“Oh, sir, you shouldn’t be worrying about me when you have an order of this kind. You have
an opportunity that happens once in a lifetime and you should take a hold of it while it lasts.”
She handed me a handwritten letter, which looked very nice and neat. It looked as if it was
written by someone a few classes above me, rich as well apparently.
I sat down on a nearby chair behind my desk, where I usually received orders from people
passing my shop, and read the letters one by one, noticing how beautiful this handwriting
actually was.

Dear mr. Anderson,
The suits on display in your shop grabbed my attention while passing by and, I must
admit, I was thoroughly impressed by your work. I thought, what a coincidence, because I,
by chance, am looking for a new suit and, judging by what I saw, you seem like someone
who won’t disappoint me when I put this in your hands. I don’t have any special
requirements when it comes to either fabric or style, therefore I hope I won’t be
disappointed. I trust you with this mr. Anderson, make it a good one. I’ll stop by in five
days from now.
Sincerely, T. D. Hutchcraft

I kept reading it over and over, as if I was hypnotized. Georgia must’ve got worried about me,
because I suddenly recognised the sound of snapping fingers in front of my eyes.
“Sir? Are you feeling good?”
I shook my head to make sure I was fully awakened and ready to function the whole day until
the very late hours.
“Yes, Georgia. I am, indeed, feeling better than ever,” I stated while standing up. Her eyes lit
up again and a smile found its way onto her lips.
“Now, if you don’t mind, we have work to do. We can’t keep our first important customer
waiting, can we?”
“Of course not, sir. I’ll get the fabrics and we can immediately start.”
While she was looking for the right fabrics I looked out of the window and smiled to myself.
Yesterday, I couldn’t even imagine sewing suits for any other people than my regular
customers, which were mostly just ordinary people, and here I was with an order from mr.
Hutchcraft who seemed to be very important and also a member of the higher class. If I
haven’t pinched myself while reading the letter I would’ve still thought this was only a
dream.
“There you go sir, I picked the best ones I could find,” Georgia said behind me proudly, while
setting the fabrics down onto my work table.
“Thank you, I’m sure these are perfect for what I have in mind.” I smiled at her and she
turned around to leave and do what she had to, when I suddenly remembered one more
thing.
“Hey, Georgia, could I ask for one more thing while you’re still here?”
“Of course, what do you need, sir?” Her smile hasn’t left her face as always. Even in
situations when I would already explode with anger, she was smiling and handling
everything with ease. What a great woman she was, always kind and helpful no matter what
was going on in her life. If only there were more people like her.
“May I ask you for the best and prettiest silk we have?”

Chapter Text

The soft light from the candle kept me awake while finishing the last stitches on the tie. I was especially proud of this one, I loved the design and I could even consider it one of my best works. 
I put all my tools back to their original place and stretched after long hours of sitting down in the same spot. The whole suit was finished, including the shirt, which was made by Georgia and, of course, the tie. I put it onto a hanger, to prevent it from creasing. I stepped back, the candle from the table now in my hand, to admire the full look of it. I was usually very critical of things I’ve made and I was never completely pleased with the results, but this was different. I was genuinely proud and felt good about it. 
“Well, now we just have to wait for mr. Hutchcraft. He’ll be the real judge here, am I right?” I asked only to get no response. I sometimes forgot I was alone, mainly because I always had Georgia by my side to encourage me and help me. 
I sighed and walked around the shop. I enjoyed the time alone with only myself and nobody else around, but I must admit that these loveless nights sometimes seemed too long even for me. The people I’ve known for years told me how great it was to have someone else in your life, but I never felt this way. I found myself being more than happy alone. Truth is I actually have nothing to compare it with. I’ve never had any kind of relationship. I’ve been busy running this place, because the bills don’t pay themselves and I don’t have anyone who would do it instead of me. I was already past thirty and only now I slowly came to the realisation that I never really found time for myself and my own personal life.
I stopped by the half empty bookshelf and observed all the books, paying attention to the neatly carved letters on the side of each of them. It were the details that took my breath away.  Most of them were given to me by my parents who were especially supportive of this business of mine. These were very helpful books to me when I first started out. They included bunch of very interesting designs, sewing techniques and variety of different tips and tricks. I also bought a few myself when I earned my first money, but I haven’t bought any new ones for a couple of years. I simply liked to come back to stuff I haven’t tried and get better at things I wasn’t good at. I picked out one of the books and went through a few pages, smiling when I remembered how I used to learn from them. Maybe I should update my collection to keep up with the new trends of the fifties. While some people still remained loyal and faithful towards the forties, many found the beginning of fifties as a fresh start after recovering from war and therefore preferred the latest trends, as if to leave behind anything and everything that could be even the slightest reminder of what war has done to them. 
The yawn that made me close my eyes and interrupt looking at pictures of sewing some fabrics together reminded me of how late it was and how tired I felt. At this point it was pointless to go back home and come back in a few hours, so I decided to just sleep here today. I put a small couch in the back of the store for situations like this. I simply knew myself well enough to count with nights when I’m so lost in work I forget about time and stay up, sometimes even until sunrise. Yes, that happened a few times as well.
I adjusted myself on the not so comfortable pillow and pulled a blanket onto my body. I kept looking at the melting candle for a few more minutes before the calm atmosphere combined with the dim light sent me to sleep.
The door of the shop got slammed shut and the ringing of the bell above almost gave me a headache. I would put it down, and I actually did it once, but then customers would come in and none of us would notice when we were deep in our work. 
I sat up on the couch, my eyes hurting and watering. My brain was telling me to get some more sleep, but who am I to lose time like this? This place won’t work on it’s own!
I heard someone come inside. At first I thought it was just Georgia, but the sounds of the footsteps weren’t the typical sound of high heels. Who would come here so early? 
“Hello?” a man’s voice echoed through the empty entry room. I didn’t recognise it as someone of my regular customers. If this was someone new I had to make myself presentable enough to make a good first impression. I wouldn’t want to lose a customer because of my poor appearance.
“Uhm, excuse me? Is someone here?” I heard the man call again.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I shouted to let him know I’m here while quickly combing my hair back. I didn’t have a mirror here in the back, so I only hoped I didn’t look as stupid as I felt.
I came out, fixing my shirt as it got creased a bit during my few hours of sleep on the hard couch. I looked up to see who was standing on the other side of the counter and what, well who, I saw felt like a dream. A tall man in what looked like a very expensive suit, with an earring in his left ear, which shocked me at first, but not as much as the absent tie which was, obviously, nowhere to be seen. His look screamed elegant, but rebellious at the same time. I must admit, his outer appearance attracted me in some way. I mean, a well dressed man is a well dressed man and you don’t see that very often in the streets.
“Good morning, sir. How can I help you?” I smiled and tried to approach him in a polite way. I was, of course, always polite towards people, no matter who they were to me, but this kind of politeness came onto the surface only when I was addressing people from higher class. I was always told they judged others more than ordinary people and therefore I tried to present myself in the best possible way.
“Good morning, I should have an order here,” his deep voice sounded even better than he looked and I’m telling you he looked absolutely stunning.
“Sure, what is your name? Or the name the order was placed under?”
“Hutchcraft.”
I nearly knocked over the small bottle of ink next to my hand when I heard him say the word. This was mr. Hutchcraft personally in front of me. A wave of excitement washed over me and I was suddenly fully awake. 
“Oh absolutely, excuse me for a moment, I’ll be right here.”
I didn’t wait for his response or any other kind of reaction and quickly ran to the room I previously came out of to get his suit. My heart was beating like crazy and I prayed that he will like what I made.
I thought it couldn’t get worse, but then my head started spinning and I was surprised I made it back to the main room in the shop. 
“Here it is. The suit itself is made from cotton, specifically gabardine, and the tie is obviously silk. The best materials I was able to find,” I talked excitedly about the fabrics. Adam, no one cares about this stuff, just give him the suit already. I hanged it so he could observe it properly. For a few minutes he was quite, touching it and looking at every detail. I would lie if I said it didn’t make me even more nervous than before.
“Mr. Anderson, I must say you really impressed me. I appreciate the hard work you put into it and I apologise if you had to stay up all night because of this,” he said and looked at me with visible sympathy in his eyes.
“Thank you very much, sir. You don’t have to feel sorry for me in any way. It’s normal for me at this point. I want to provide the best service for my customers and if it includes giving up only a few hours of my sleep then I’m willing to do it.”
“I see you take your work very seriously. I hope people are the same way towards you.”
I silently laughed at his last words. Truth was many people valued my work and sometimes offered to pay extra money for it, but some were doing their best to throw me down and make me feel miserable or disappointed. 
“Allow me to invite you for a cup of coffee, if you have spare time of course. You look like you could use some of the caffeine today.” He raised his eyebrows and looked at me. I was a bit shocked by his offer, this never happened to me before.
“Sir, that’s not necessary. I honestly appreciate your kind gesture, but I must politely decline. I’m sure you have better places to be at than somewhere with me,” I answered him, hoping he won’t take it to heart, because I didn’t want to come off as rude or ungrateful. 
“Please, call me Theo, and I insist. If not today then any other free day of yours. I’m more than happy to change my schedule anytime.”
“Well, who am I to refuse you. Thank you, si-Theo,” I quickly corrected myself. He smiled, visibly pleased with me calling him the way he preferred.
“I thank you for this lovely suit. I’ll make sure to stop by every time I’m somewhere around. Have a nice day.” He left a bunch of money next to the cash register, took his stuff and left. I was still mesmerized by what just happened. I didn’t even want to count the amount of money he paid me, mostly because I knew I would ran to him immediately after finding out. It looked like it was too much and I would feel obligated to give back at least half of it.
The door opened again and I looked up to see Georgia coming in. She sensed something was going on and didn’t hesitate to run to me. 
“Sir, what happened? You don’t look very good, did you spent the whole night up again? Oh sir, you can’t do stuff like this!” She bursted out, worrying her head off and the day barely started.
“Georgia, calm down, I’m feeling better than ever, really,” I assured her.
“Mr. Hutchcraft stopped by to take the suit.”
“That’s amazing! Was he happy about it? Oh what kind of question is that? I’m sure he was more than happy! You’re one of the best tailors around here!” She smiled and waited for my answer like a little curious kid.
“Yes, Georgia. He seemed very pleased with it. He also invited me for a coffee,” I informed her. At first I didn’t want to mention it, but the words somehow escaped my mouth. Her eyes lit up and I knew she would mock me the whole day about it.
“Now that is some great news, I hope you accepted his invitation. When are you supposed to meet?”
“We haven’t decided when exactly, he said he’ll stop by some day.”
“Oh my God I’ll get to meet him as well? This is awesome! I can’t wait!” She ran happily to the back to change into her work clothes, while still expressing her excitement. Yeah Georgia, me too.

Chapter Text

A few days have passed by and I absolutely forgot about Theo’s invitation. So I don’t have to lie when I say his appearance in the shop surprised me. I immediately noticed he was wearing the suit I made for him. It put a smile on my face, as now I was sure he genuinely liked it and it wasn’t just an act to make me feel good.
“It’s great to see you again,” he greeted me. The teal colour looked very nice on him. I was glad I chose this one instead of something basic and ordinary, because he wasn’t ordinary.
“I can say the same thing,” I responded, real happiness in my eyes, unlike when I’m talking to other people. Don’t get me wrong, I like this job and most of the people here are very nice, but after the whole day I have to force myself to look at least a bit cheerful. 
My eyes went up and down his body, not because I was checking him out, even if I probably was, but because I felt like something was missing. I couldn’t quiet place my finger on what it was, but then the realisation hit me. He didn’t have the tie. I felt a cold sweat on my forehead. Have I messed it up? Why wasn’t he wearing it? Maybe he didn’t like the design I picked? 
“Is everything okay? I can come back later if you’re busy at the moment,” he said with a worried expression on his face and gestured towards the door as a sign of thinking about leaving the shop.
“No, I’m sorry, I just noticed you’re not wearing the tie and thought if I messed it up. I can fix it if something’s wrong with it. For free of course.”
Theo frowned as if he didn’t know what I was talking about, but then it apparently clicked in his brain, since he silently laughed and broke the eye contact between us. He looked at the ground and one would say he seemed even a bit embarrassed.
“Oh no, nothing’s wrong with it. I like it, the pattern is interesting and I’m sure it would complete this suit just perfectly, but ,unfortunately, I’m not a very ‘tie’ type of person if you know what I mean.”
“Well, if you’d prefer a bow tie I can make one with the same pattern. I should still have some of the silk I used.” I turned around to go check if the fabric was still present in the box with silk fabrics, but Theo’s hand grabbed my elbow and stopped me mid-turn.
“Adam, it’s fine, I meant that I don’t wear ties neither bow ties at all.” 
The gesture was another thing that surprised me, right after he used my first name. It wasn’t as if people didn’t know it, it was on my name tag and also on the door right next to information on where to contact me, but no one used it, not even Georgia. It was nice to hear it from him if I’m being honest.
“I understand.” He let go of my arm and we just stared at each other in silence. The place he touched was still tingly and it felt very unusual. Strange even.
“So, if you’re not here because of a complaint about my work, what can I help you with?” I interrupted the awkward atmosphere between the two of us.
“I’m here due to the invitation I proposed to you the last time I was here.”
“Oh right, sorry, I seem to have forgotten about it. I’ve been especially busy these past days. We got many new customers and one doesn’t get a chance like that twice, so I had to work during the nights again.” I complained a bit about work to him before I could stop myself. I simply felt comfortable enough to talk to him without being afraid what he would think of me. He wasn’t judging me, he was listening carefully and processing everything I was saying.
“Well, the reason may be that I didn’t hesitate and I spread the word about a very talented young tailor downtown who made this magnificent suit.”
I was in a complete and utter disbelief. He couldn’t have done that, could he? When he closed the door behind himself the previous time I could physically feel how he forgot about some poor tailor from a small shop, but he didn’t.
“I don’t know how to react, you just shocked me,” I laughed nervously. I may have even blushed a little, but that was probably caused by the delightment only.
“Perhaps going out for a coffee would be more than an appropriate reaction.” He smiled and waited for me to get together and finally answer.
“That would be awesome.” 
He was going to say something, but Georgia appeared all of a sudden and after swiftly introducing herself she started asking him various questions.
“He also mentioned that you invited him for a coffee, did he say yes already? He can be quiet hard to get sometimes, but I promise he’s a very nice man. Intelligent as well,” she rambled about me to Theo.
“Georgia, please, it’s just one coffee and a satisfied customer, let him be.”
“It’s alright, don’t worry about me. And yes, we were actually thinking about going out right now.” He looked at me and winked.
“Oh I’m sorry, I’m standing in your way. Go ahead and have fun, not too much of course.” She laughed and pushed me away from the counter. It was a common gesture she did when wanting to let me know she was taking the place under her control. 
“I still have work to do, we can go sometime later maybe?” I stuttered due to becoming slightly nervous.
“I promise it’s all going to be fine. You’re always here, no fun, nothing. For once, please, go out and enjoy your life while you still can. You never know when it’s coming to an end.” Sadness made the way into her voice which became shaky as she was finishing talking. Her parents didn’t survive the war and they were only a few years older than me. Georgia was very young and she could have had a great future, but since losing her parents she had to start working to make money for living on her own. When we met I didn’t hesitate and gave her the job she needed so desperately. 
“Thank you.” I gave her a sympathizing smile.
“So, where are you taking me?” I asked Theo as soon I exited the shop, putting my blazer on.
“You don’t like surprises, do you? I can assure you that we’re going somewhere nice, you don’t have to worry.” 
I knew what he said was supposed to calm me down in some way, but I was much more nervous. I felt like a fragile flower that could break with any slightly stronger blow of a wind. 
Theo suddenly stopped and watched my expression slowly changing to amazed. This was a very luxurious coffee shop, I couldn’t afford having a coffee here, but what was I supposed to say? Sorry, but I’m too poor to afford this, I should get back to work.
“Theo, this was a great opportunity to go out and get to know you, but I’m afraid we’ll have to part ways here,” I informed him with a sad look. 
“Why? Is everything okay? I apologise if I overstepped a certain line.”
“No, I just can’t afford this type of stuff. Sorry, but I should go back, Georgia probably needs help anyway.”
As I was turning around he grabbed me like before in the shop. 
“Stay, please. I invited you, therefore I pay,” he said gently.
“You barely know me and you want to pay for my coffee?”
“That’s the whole point of going out with someone, isn’t it?” 
“Yes, but...I’ll make you another suit for free, without a tie this time.”
“If you insist, I’ll gladly accept this offer.”
“We have a deal.” We shook hands as a sign of making a deal and went inside.
                              •
It all went much better than I expected at first. We got a very nice table by the windows with a view on the street. Theo turned out to be a tea person, more than a coffee one. I learned he works at a jewelry shop, well owns it to be exact, and while he might seem rich, he told me the sales went down in the past few months and he was worried he’ll have to find another job and abandon the prestige position of a boss. 
“So, you and Georgia are...together?” He asked while gesturing with his hand between me and imaginary person next to me.
“No, we only work together. She’s very young and I think she already has someone anyway. It wouldn’t surprise me.”
“That’s funny, one would say you’re a married couple when taking a closer look. You’re a great team.”
“We’re anything but married couple, she’s like a mum to me sometimes.” I laughed at the memories of Georgia nagging me about working until late hours. She said I need a rest too, but the work won’t finish itself! 
“You could just hire more people to get the job done. You would have more time for yourself and a bigger part of the job would get done each day.”
“Good thought, but no. I don’t like too much people, because there’s a bigger chance of conflicts in the workplace and I also like to be in control of what’s done and how’s it done,” I explained. I was just too responsible on my own to let other people do it instead of me.
“I see. You won’t give up the control over things, am I right?” He leaned back on his seat while crossing his arms and giving me the look when he knew he was right, but needed to hear it from me.
“You could put it like that, yes.”
“Well, I think it’s time to go. I’ll walk you back to the shop.” He got up and paid for both of us before I could say anything. This man is going to be the end of me. He held the door open for me and I smiled at him as a silent thank you.
                              •
“And I went to church like that, because I knew my parents wouldn’t be angry if I said I went to church. The best thing was that nobody noticed the girl with me was actually my boy best friend!” We both laughed at the story Theo was telling me. He started opening up about his childhood and I got to know that his parents were nowhere near being rich and the jewelry shop was only his hard work. He wasn’t one of those rich kids as I thought in the beginning and I felt almost as if I should apologize for ever thinking something like that, but I didn’t say a word.
We were slowly coming closer to my shop and I realised we’ll have to say goodbye soon. The thought alone made me feel sad already. What if he forgets about me and never comes back? Was this just a one time thing? I was willing to accept that his views on this may have been different than mine, yet deep down it still hurt. 
Theo seemed to notice my mood got somehow lower than a few minutes ago. We’ve known each other for a few days and he could already read me as an open book.
“Adam, is everything okay?” We stopped, since we reached the shop. He tried to make eye contact with me, but I avoided his gaze and looked at the ground.
“Will we ever meet again? Be honest, please,” I finally spoke after gaining the confidence. I didn’t mean to come off as clingy or annoying even.
“If I wanted to get rid of you I wouldn’t take you out for a coffee. Of course I’ll come for you again.” He took my hand in his to get my attention and kissed it softly. I was so taken aback by his gesture that I didn’t even answer him when he said his goodbye and left me standing there, completely alone. I watched him walk away, knowing he’ll be back sooner than I expect.
Suddenly, before I had the chance to turn around, Georgia ran out and hugged me tightly.
“I’m so happy for you,” she mumbled into my shoulder. I smiled and hugged her back. All of this felt right and perfect and I felt truly happy after a long time.

Chapter Text

It was a nice sunny Saturday and I was in the shop again. We had plenty of work to do, so we decided to work one more day in the week to make sure everything gets done in time.
“Georgia, could you please check which date is the order for mr. Dright due?” 
“It’s until Monday, sir,” Georgia shouted back from behind the counter where we had the notebook with orders. 
“Alright, we should probably finish it next. Bring the pants here, please.”
I was just finishing the last stitches on one pair of pants and I already had to start another. Georgia had plenty of white shirts waiting on her desk which was right next to mine. It had been a busy week and what’s a better way to end it than with equally busy weekend?
The bell above the door signalized someone has come in. 
“We’re closed until Monday,” I yelled from the back. 
“But my order can’t wait. It’s very special,” a familiar voice responded. I frowned and stopped sewing, because I couldn’t quiet recognise it. Georgia looked up from her work and smiled at me. Then it hit me. I got up from my seat and ran to the front counter.
“Theo! What are you doing here?” My eyes sparkled with happiness.
“I needed to see you and since I don’t know where you live this was the only place I could go to. Looks like I got lucky today.” He winked at me and leaned against the counter. 
“Well, I wanted to go somewhere with you, but I can see you’re busy.”
“I am, but I’m not planning on working during the night, so I’ll be free in the afternoon.” I smiled in hopes of wiping the disappointment off of his face.
“Great, I’ll be here. Good luck with your work.” He winked at me once again and disappeared in the street. I sighed and just wished I could spend more time with him.
“Sir, I’m honestly very happy about this beginning love of yours, but I would appreciate some help here, if you want to get this done in time,” Georgia’s voice woke me up from my daydreaming.
“I’m coming.”
                                   •
“Finally,” I said mostly to myself when I was finished with everything and stretched my whole body. This few hours felt like an eternity, but now they were over and it felt amazing.
“I envy you, I still have two shirts left,” Georgia sighed and stretched as well.
“I can help you, it’s no problem.”
“It’s fine, you’ve done your part, go out with your loverboy.”
“He’s not my loverboy!” I defended myself.
“Of course not,” she laughed.
“Go and have fun, I can handle this.”
“Okay, but don’t forget to lock the door when you leave. I’ll leave you the keys,” I informed her while hurrying to put all the stuff in its place. I was excited for what was going to happen today, even if I didn’t know what exactly it was.
I said goodbye to Georgia, still feeling a bit guilty for leaving her alone, and went out looking for Theo. I don’t believe in miracles, but I felt like my life was turning into one, because when I opened the door I immediately bumped into Theo. 
“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you,” I apologised as I was rubbing my forehead.
“It’s okay, I’m a tough guy, I will survive this horrible, life threatening injury,” he laughed it off. We stood there for a few seconds, just taking in each others appearance and enjoying that we were finally together.
“Where are you planning on taking me?” I asked to interrupt this slightly awkward moment between us.
“Come and see.” He took my hand and pulled me away from the doorstep. 
                                   •
We headed to the park and walked around for a while before taking one of the turns and leaving the place. We talked about various things and got to know each other even more. It turned out that I was two years older than him, which surprised me, due to him being taller and generally looking a bit older than me. 
After walking through different streets, some of which I’ve never heard about before, we stopped in front of a small building. It looked like some kind of a bar, but more decent and clean than the ones I’ve already been to in my whole life. 
“Have you ever been to a music bar before?” Theo asked as he saw I was a little confused.
“Uhm, not really, but I guess they play music there, right?”
“Live concerts, sweetheart. I’m sure you will like it. Let’s go.” He grabbed my hand again, but this time instead of pulling me out on the street he pulled me inside the bar. The lights were slightly dim, just enough so you could still see what you were doing, and there was only one bright light, shining directly on a spot on the small stage. 
I was too busy observing the place that I didn’t register Theo leaving my side and coming back after a few minutes with two beers in his hands. He handed me one and we both leaned against the bar and waited for the concert to begin.
“And here we go,” Theo whispered in my ear and hugged my waist. I almost choked on my beer and turned around.
“What are you doing? There are people, someone might see us!” I panicked and tried to wriggle out of his grip.
“Adam, don’t panic, it’s all fine here. Just trust me.”
He was much stronger than me, so I gave up after failing to make him let go of me. The lights got even darker and people stepped closer to the stage. I saw someone step up on it and tried to focus properly on the silhouette. Something was very odd about this person, but I didn’t know what. They started singing and then it all made sense. This was a man, dressed as a woman, with a wig, looking better than some actual women. And what was the best thing about this? Nobody cared! Everything clicked in my brain and I turned around to look at Theo. He smiled at me and then continued looking at the stage. I relaxed and decided to lean against him. He tightened his grip and I put my beer away, so I could put my hands over his. We slowly swayed from side to side to the rhythm of the music together and I really prayed to not wake up and find out it was all just a dream.
A few more people got up there and sang their songs and then a band came up and the bar was filled with soft, instrumental only, music. It became more of a background noise while people talked and drank. Theo let go of me and I was really missing his touch. He finished his beer and looked me deep in the eyes.
“I would like to take you somewhere while we still have time.”
“No objections on my side.”
“Perfect.”
We walked out of there and I followed Theo through the empty streets. After a few minutes we reached a part of the town I’ve never been to, only heard some people talk about it, and stopped in front of a big house.
“This is all yours?” I asked him amazed by what I saw. My small apartment was nothing compared to this. It wasn’t a huge mansion, just a regular house, but for me it was paradise.
“Of course, why would I take you to a stranger’s house? Come on.” He ushered me inside and I was very impressed with the interior. Walls covered in pastel coloured wallpapers, each room had a unique one, but they were all equally beautiful.
“Would you like some tea?” He woke me up from my trance with his question, taking his blazer off at the same time.
“Yes, please.”
He went to the kitchen and I stepped further into the living room. A piano in the corner grabbed my attention. I remembered when my father used to play piano in the evenings sometimes. I was never a huge music enthusiast, but I enjoyed it and especially piano. He taught me one song and I still don’t know the name of it, but when I got older he told me I always loved this one as a kid and that’s why he taught me specifically this song.
I sat behind the piano, my blazer already thrown over the sofa. The dust on top was telling me it hadn’t been used in a long time. I played the first few notes carefully, just to get into it, but then all my memories came back to me and I easily played the whole song.
“That was beautiful.” I heard Theo’s voice behind me. I turned around on the chair to see him standing in the doorway with two cups of tea in his hands.
“Thank you.” I blushed at the praise.
“Didn’t know you could play the piano. You never fail to amaze me I must admit.” He set the two cups on the nearby table and sat next to me.
“My dad taught me just this one song, it’s all I know. Can you play it or is it just some kind of decoration here?”
“Well, I don’t really play anymore, but yes, I can play a few songs.” He rolled up his sleeves and played something I’ve never heard before. The melody was very nice and I almost fell asleep. Everything was so calm and I felt safe with him. 
“You’re amazing, you know that?” I said after he stopped. 
“Well, you’re not so bad yourself either.”
“Oh shut up.” I poked him in his side and we both laughed.
We calmed down and looked into each others eyes. At this point we both knew the same thing was crossing our minds and so we didn’t hesitate and leaned in. Our lips connected halfway and he grabbed my waist to pull me closer. I grabbed the back of his neck and we moved together like we were made for each other since the very beginning of our lives. After a while we still didn’t have enough of ourselves and he pushed me onto my back. We disconnected and I looked deep into his eyes as he was leaning over me. I pulled him to myself once more, for a shorter time than before and we were both trying our best to catch our breaths back.
“Wow,” he said after some time, still not breaking eye contact.
“Same here.” I smiled at him and he lay down on my chest. We closed our eyes and stayed like that for a few minutes.
“I think we should drink the tea before it gets ice cold,” I reminded him.
“Oh I almost forgot about it.” He got off the top of me and helped me sit up. We drank the tea, talking about music some more, before I looked at the clock and realised it was almost eight. 
“Wow is it so late already? Time really does fly.”
“Will you stay the night?” His question astonished me.
“Theo, I don’t mean to be rude, I really enjoyed this day, it was amazing, but I think we still have time for this. I haven’t been in a serious relationship for a very long time and I don’t want to rush things,” I told him with a sad expression. This was all new to me and I was still like a scared puppy in an unknown territory, far away from its mother. 
“I understand, you’re right. May I at least invite you for lunch tomorrow?”
“You can cook?” I asked him, pleasantly surprised.
“I can and no I won’t poison you. You don’t have to worry if that’s what concerns you.”
“Oh I doubt you would ever have the heart to poison me.”
“Of course I wouldn’t. You stole my heart, Anderson.”
“You stole mine first. I had to take something in return.” I couldn’t resist and hugged him one last time.
“Should I go with you?” 
“Well, I don’t really know this part of town, so maybe I would appreciate some help with getting out of here. Just give me the directions and I’ll try to not get lost.”
“Just go straight and turn left on the nearest turn and you’re in the park.”
“Thank you, for today as well.” 
“Anything for you.” He smiled and leaned down to give me a small peck on the lips. I swear I could feel myself melting right then and there.
“Tomorrow then.” He opened the door for me and I stepped out.
“See you.” I waved at him from the fence around his house and he stood in the doorway until I walked far away from him. 
I decided to pass the shop on my way home, just to check if Georgia locked everything properly. I was only a few metres away from it when suddenly there was a huge explosion and the whole building started burning.
“Oh no. No no no no no!” I shouted, looking at my lovely shop going down in flames. My mind was full of mixed emotions and I started crying. What the hell happened? Who did this? One of my first thoughts was what if Georgia was still inside, but I was sure she went home already, because I’ve been gone for hours. 
I ran there as quickly as I could. There was no way I could save anything from there. The whole place was on fire and I couldn’t possibly get inside. Years of hard work just got destroyed right in front of my eyes and there was nothing I could do about it. I fell to my knees, hopeless and emotionally devastated.

Chapter Text

I knocked on the only door where I knew I would find comfort. It was hard to pick myself up and come here, but I couldn’t stay there and watch the shop burn anymore. 

“Sir! What are you doing here? What happened?” Georgia opened the door in her nightgown and I felt bad for waking her up. I fell into her arms and she barely caught me. I instantly broke down and cried into her shoulder while she whispered things, I couldn’t properly focus on, into my ear.

“Alright, come on, let’s get you on the couch.” She helped me stand up and walk to her living room, which was connected to kitchen, as this was a small apartment similar to mine.

“I’m going to get you a glass of water okay? Stay here.” 

While she was gone I managed to calm down a little and wipe away my tears. How can such an amazing day turn into a nightmare in a matter of seconds?

Georgia came back with a glass of cold water and I took a few gulps before I started explaining what happened, trying my best not to collapse again.

She was quiet, more quiet than I’ve ever seen her, but honestly, I think everyone would act the same way in our situation. After a while she stood up and paced around the room. I knew she was close to tears, but none escaped her eyes and she tried to hold herself together as best as she could. 

“Right now, we should be lucky we weren’t there and we’re still alive and not harmed, at least in the physical way. We’ll get some sleep, calm down and go to the police right in the morning.” She made the final decision for both of us. 

“I’m sorry for waking you up,” I apologised, tears in my eyes once again.

“Don’t be okay? I would be more upset if you didn’t tell me at all,” she sat down next me on the couch and hugged me one more time.

“How was your night with Theo?” I knew the question was meant to distract me and I honestly welcomed it.

“It was amazing, one of the best nights of my life.”

“I’m glad you had fun,” she smiled and got up to get me some blankets and pillows.

“If anything happens I’ll be in the next room okay?” She gave me one last look to make sure I was doing well enough to be left alone and then disappeared in her room.

I lay there, looking at the dark blue ceiling for an hour or so thinking about the events of this day. It all happened so quickly, there was nothing you could do, it wasn’t your fault. I kept reminding myself of those facts, before the exhaustion from crying kicked in and sent me to sleep.

                                   •

“So, you’re telling me that you just came here and it exploded?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And if you weren’t expecting it, how come you didn’t get hurt?”

“It’s like I said, I went to visit my friend and as I was coming back home and passing the shop on my way it just exploded, but I was still far enough to not get seriously injured,” I explained to the police officer for what seemed like the hundredth time. 

He was processing everything for a few minutes, lookin at me, down at his notebook and files and then back at me.

“When something like this happens it’s usually done by angry customers, but you said you didn’t have anyone like that, so the only option here is vandalism and, unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that.”

“Sir, please, we have to find the one who did this!” I begged him for help.

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing else I can do. Have a nice day and good luck with your business.” He got up from the chair and left the room.

“What are we going to do?” asked Georgia. 

“I have no idea.” 

“Let’s go home.”

“I’m actually invited to Theo’s place for lunch. I’ll come back for dinner okay?” 

“Of course, at least you’ll clear your head.” She gently caressed my cheek and made sure I looked good for Theo. The dark circles under my eyes couldn’t be hidden, unfortunately. 

“Thank you, for everything,” I told her while she was combing my hair.

“We’re in this together, we help each other no matter what, okay?” 

I nodded my head and she smiled at me.

                                   •

“Thank God you’re finally here, I missed y-Adam? What happened?” His smile quickly disappeared when he saw how big of a mess I was.

“May I come in? I don’t want to talk about this on the doorstep of your house.”

“Of course, come in.” He stepped to the side to allow me to walk in. I took my blazer off and held it in my hands, but Theo quickly snatched it from me and hanged it on a coat hanger in the hall. 

“You can go to the living room, I’ll make some tea.” He swiftly went to the kitchen to make the tea for both of us, while I went to sit on the sofa in his living room. I took a look at the piano in the corner and memories from last night came back to me. I was the type of person that liked to keep the past in the past where it belonged, but now, for the first time in my life, I wished I could go back and repeat the moment.

Theo came to the room, set the two cups with tea on the table and sat down close to me.

“Alright, talk, I want to know everything.” He put his arm around me and I moved even closer and lay my head on his shoulder. 

I talked him through everything, how I went home, decided to check the shop, the explosion, Georgia and also the police officer. A few tears escaped my eyes and my voice got more and more shaky with each sentence. By the time I finished talking my whole body was shaking and I burst out crying. He stroked my arm the whole time, but then he took me in his arms while I was sobbing.

“I’m very sorry Adam, at least nobody got hurt, I can’t even imagine what I would do if you were there at the moment it happened or if Georgia was there. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, but if there’s any way I can help the two of you, I’ll do it,” he said when I calmed down a little and I knew he really meant it. 

“Help me catch the one who did it.” I pulled away from him and looked him in the eyes, my hands still around his waist while his remained around my shoulders.

“And when we find them, what will you do?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“I don’t really know yet, but I want to know who did it. Even if I won’t get a chance to talk to them, I at least want the name and maybe a reason as well.” 

“As you wish darling. I’m with you, I’ll always be.” He smiled and I smiled back, this time genuinely. 

I couldn’t resist when I had him right here and so I gently touched his cheek and leaned in to kiss him. He kissed me back and it was full of true love, not a single fake move or feeling, just pure love. 

It got passionate rather quickly and this time I took some of my control back. I pushed him back and leaned over, my legs around his hips. My breathing was heavier and faster with each second and I was getting hot. Suddenly Theo pulled away and interrupted what we had going on.

“Adam, I don’t think this is a good time for this. We should wait.” He looked into my eyes which were probably full of lust and excitement.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.” I moved back from his hips so he could sit up.

“It’s like you said yesterday, let’s not rush things. It ruins relationships.” He hugged me and we stayed in that position for a few minutes, mostly because I needed to cool down a bit.

“The tea is cold already, isn’t it?” I laughed after we separated.

“And I forgot about it again.” Theo laughed as well.

“Well, let’s hope that at least our lunch is still warm. Come on.” He helped me to get up and led me to the kitchen.

The table was already set for the both of us, everything was very nice and neat. The pattern on the plates was in the top left corner and everything else just seemed somehow perfect. 

“Is everything this way just to create the impression that everything is nice or are you a natural perfectionist?” I asked him, still thinking which one is actually the truth.

“A natural perfectionist, sometimes even too much.”

We ate the lunch Theo cooked in silence and I must admit it was delicious. He really was a great cook. 

I helped him clean the kitchen and we moved to the living room like before. We just enjoyed each other’s presence, because after what happened we realised that we needed to cherish these moments more. 

                                   •

“Well, thank you for everything. I appreciate it, I really do.”

“I told you I’ll do my best to help you, this is how a relationship works.” 

“I don’t really want to leave,” I confessed and leaned against the doorframe.

“I know, but Georgia will be worried. Besides, I’m sure she worked hard on the dinner.”

“You’re right, I should go.” I hugged him and left his house. On my way to Georgia’s place I thought about everything all over again. I wanted to find the one who did it, no matter at what cost.

                                   •

3rd person POV

Theo moved away from the door and closed them after Adam left. He went to the living room, only one thought on his mind. He picked up the phone, dialing the one number repeating itself in his head all over again. 

“Derek here,” a deep voice sounded from the other side of the line.

“Listen, you seriously need to back off,” he said angrily to the person who called himself Derek.

“Ah yes, Theo Hutchcraft. You should’ve thought about that earlier, now you have to pay for it.”

“I will, but you need to leave Adam out of this. He’s innocent.”

“The price needs to be paid, Theo. You know how this works.”

“You overstepped a certain line, this wasn’t part of our deal.” Theo raised the tone of his voice, which was probably a mistake.

“You paying me back was also a part of our deal and you didn’t do it, do you think you’re the only one who can break the rules?” Derek shouted back at him.

“See you, Hutchcraft.” 

The call ended and Theo sighed. He picked up the vase next to the piano and smashed it against the wall, the anger he so desperately tried to push down making its way out onto the surface. He needed to protect Adam and make sure he won’t find out about any of this, because that would be another big mistake in his life.

Chapter Text

Theo’s POV

I was pacing up and down in my office, my hands visibly shaking from stress and the anger inside kept me going, no matter how scared I was. This wasn’t just about money anymore, this was a game where people’s lives were the dice and Derek and I were the players rolling it. No matter how much you prayed, how much you tried, someone was always in danger. 
The door opened and a man in a powder blue suit stepped in. He held the door open and right behind him walked in Derek. If you thought this man was his only bodyguard, you thought wrong. Another man, almost identical to the first one, stayed outside, probably just in case if something went wrong he would just run inside and save the whole situation, like a true sidekick, loyal to the main hero of the story, which in this case was more of a villain.
“Theo, good to see you again.” He outstretched his hand to me and I shook it, purely out of politeness. In my head, I was already cutting it off and throwing it out on the street. It would most likely cause panic and raise many questions in people who were just casually passing by, but I couldn’t care less about that.
“I’m glad you’re calm now, your anger during our last call was very inappropriate and you know I don’t accept this behaviour.” 
“Yes sir, I’m aware of that and I’ll make sure this won’t happen again.” Right now, I was cutting his head off, unfortunately, only in my dreams.
“You better do.” He sat himself down in my chair. And this man was giving me lectures on my behaviour.
“Well, you wanted to talk about our deal, I’m waiting.” Derek tapped on his watch as a sign that the clock was ticking and I was running out of time, if I haven’t ran out already.
“I offer everything I have in this building, you can take everything you want and do anything you please with it. The loan will be paid and you will leave me and Adam alone,” I said, trying to sound rough and convincing. I needed to win this.
Derek seemed to be thinking about it. It was a good deal for someone who would’ve been in the business for a short amount of time, but Derek wasn’t that person. He knew what he wanted and it was hard to talk him out of it.
“No, I don’t think that’s going to work.” He stood up and walked around the whole office.
“You know, Theo, I remember when I came into this place eight years ago and you were a poor seller behind the counter. I saw the potential in you, I knew you had something inside, something very special and I believed in you from that very first moment. I invested in this and put you into a high position. Of course, I also thought about what if one day you will turn against me, because even though I had very high expectations, something deep down was telling me to not put so much faith in you, because one day I may regret it. That’s why you’re still under me and not already above. You wouldn’t need me then, of course, and I won’t fall down because of people like you.” He turned around from the window and stepped very close to me, his look cutting deep into my skin.
“So, no. I don’t want the stuff you made or bought from others, I want everything I put into this back, because you haven’t been a very good boy these past months, were you?” He purred into my ear and I shivered. He was an expert at making others uncomfortable and getting what he wanted.
“No, sir.”
“Brilliant, I’m pleased with you boy, I may let you work here again after you give me the place back.” He tapped me on the shoulder and grinned.
“I’m going to leave now,I have better places to be at. I’m sure I made myself crystal clear, it’s all or nothing Theo. See you next week.” His servant opened the door, so his precious ass could leave and the two huge gorillas followed him.
My world was falling apart and so was Adam’s. Actually, his world already fell apart, he lost almost everything and it was my fault. I should’ve never brought him into this. I was putting him in danger and he didn’t deserve it. 
After pitying myself more than enough I decided to go and check how Adam was doing. He gave me Georgia’s address, since he was spending most of his time there these days.
“You can go home, Evelyn. No need to stay here anymore,” I said on my way out. She was one of the sellers here, who was still behind the cash register. 
“I’m sorry for this whole situation, sir. I guess there isn’t anything I can do to help you, is there?”
“No, unfortunately not, but I can assure you I’ll do everything I can to keep this position, believe me,” I stated proudly, even when I knew I already lost this fight.
“You know I do. Have a good day, sir.” She put on her thin coat and left. The shop was now fully empty, except for me, like most of the days. We used to have bunch of customers, but for some reason they stopped coming. I never found out why, but maybe it had to do something with Derek.
The past few months have been worse and worse as the time progressed. At first, he just showed up a few times here and there was nothing wrong with that, of course, but then I saw him talking to some of the customers and they never came back after that. That was the moment where this war started between us. The sales went down, I started losing a bunch of money every single month and Derek didn’t like that, but he was the reason why this happened in the first place. I felt like the only regret he had when it came to me, was that I suddenly held more power than before and he got scared. He was afraid I would take his place one day, except that this was never my intention. His place disgusted me and I would bet my whole life on the fact that people around him thought the same. It was all they were, simply a bunch of liars.
I locked the front door, as if that would prevent thieves from stealing something. I mean, the glass windows weren’t unbreakable and it was rather easy to get inside and out before the police arrived. 
I just shook my head at thinking about this amazing system and left to see the only light in this dark tunnel I was currently going through-Adam.
                                   •
“I’ll get it,” I heard Adam’s voice from the inside after I knocked on the door.
“Theo!” He threw himself around me and squeezed me as hard as he could.
“Adam, you’re choking me,” I gasped.
“Oh, sorry.” He let me go and invited me inside. 
The place looked very nice in my opinion. Smaller than my house, as I could expect, but still cozy and comfortable.
“How was work? Everything alright?” he asked with a concerned look. I knew he cared about my job and now that he didn’t have his own anymore, he asked me about it all the time.
“Great actually, I think I’m slowly getting the sales up and I’m sure I’ll be on the top in no time.” I tried to seem happy and confident.
“That’s amazing! I’m happy for you! Would you like a cup of tea? Maybe you can wait with us for our special visitor, I’m sure you’d want to meet him as well.” Adam joyfully ran to the kitchen and apparently expected me to follow him, but the mention of another person, a visitor, sort of stunned me and I remained standing in the hall, as if I was paralysed.
“Theo? Are you okay?” Adam reappeared in front of me.
“Yes, sorry. Work has been pretty tough and I’m tired.” I quickly made up an excuse.
“Oh, right. If you want to take a rest you can go home. I appreciate you stopped by.” He was leaning in to hug me and say goodbye, but as much as I wanted to lay down and clear my head, I also wanted to meet this person Adam was talking about. I had a strange feeling about this situation.
“I want to stay, don’t worry about me,” I reassured him.
Adam smiled and went to the kitchen again, this time with me right behind.
“Hi Georgia,” I greeted her.
“Good afternoon, sir.”
“You can call me Theo. I think at this point we’re not strangers anymore.”
“Sure, I wouldn’t allow just any stranger to date this amazing man right here.”
“I really appreciate that you’re taking care of him while I’m gone.”
“It’s no problem, I owe him for everything he’s done for me.” She turned around carrying two cups of tea for us.
We both thanked her and slowly sipped the liquid, which was still quite hot, but if Adam and I shared one thing, it was impatience.
“So, this visitor of yours, is it a friend or someone like that?” I asked, setting my cup down.
“Oh, no, he’s not.” Adam took one more sip before setting the cup on the table as well.
“Remember how I said I want to catch the one who did it? Well, since the police won’t step into this case, I decided to contact someone else.”
“Not from the police?”
“No, a private detective.”
If I’d been drinking that tea now, I would probably choke on it. A private detective? 
“Adam, isn’t that a bit too much? I mean, it really could’ve just been some people who for some reason picked your shop. Maybe they didn’t even care about which building they blow away. You just happened to be around.”
“You said you’ll help me with this Theo! You promised to do everything you can, so stop making me feel bad, because trust me, I’m very close to losing it!” He yelled and for the first time since we got together, I was very intimidated by him.
“You know I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just worried about you. What if this person is some kind of a criminal? I don’t want you to get hurt, you have to understand that!”
“I’m not a child! I know when to step back and I can assure you I will!”
“Can the both of you please shut up? Someone knocked on the door, so behave for at least a few minutes. You can solve your relationship issues later,” Georgia yelled at us. We both went silent and glared at each other from time to time.
A man with a hat came inside and immediately took it off. He looked only a few years older than me, pretty handsome I must say. A hint of jealousy made its way into me, because I realised this man was going to work with my Adam, but I was also becoming very afraid about how far they’re going to go with this. Because no matter what, at some point they’ll get to me and I will be in serious trouble.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Richard Diamond and I’m a private detective,” he spoke in an especially deep voice. Adam’s expression read I win Theo and you can’t stop me now and that was the thing that scared me the most. I couldn’t stop him.

Chapter Text

I’ve been sitting here for the past half an hour and so far mr. Diamond here was only getting on my nerves. The wave of fear that hit me at the beginning was now gone, mostly for the fact that this guy looked like he couldn’t do much harm. 
“Great. Just for your information, I charge about eighty pounds a day plus expenses.” When I heard it I knew Adam was going to rethink this. He couldn’t afford it.
“Sure, Theo will take care of that, am I right?” Everyone looked at me and expected me to agree with Adam’s statement. My bank account was screaming for me to fill it up with something, but I obviously couldn’t say that, after I told Adam the business was heading in the right direction.
“No problem,” I answered quickly to not increase any suspicions and then thought about what an idiot I was. I was completely ruined.
“I would like to start by going back to the crime scene. The police still won’t have it cleaned up and we can look for anything that could lead us to this person.”
“Of course, we can go right now. Theo, do you mind joining us?”
I froze for a second, thinking about what should be my next step. I couldn’t be sure that Derek didn’t leave anything behind that could lead people directly to him, but what if it could lead them to me?
“You’ll have to excuse me. I just remembered I have something important to do and it can’t wait until tomorrow. But I wish you good luck, maybe I’ll stop by later.” I got up from my sitting spot and slowly backed away towards the door as I was talking. Nobody really paid attention to me, except Adam, who followed me outside and stopped me before I could leave.
“What’s wrong with you? I thought you wanted to help me and stand by my side no matter what.” He was whispering, but it was more like a whisper screaming.
“I have work to do. Unless like you, I haven’t lost my job and therefore, I still have to keep doing it. The place doesn’t run itself,” I quoted what he used to say all the time.
“I thought you were done for today.” He crossed his arms and I could almost see the two confused question marks in his eyes.
“Yes, I’m done at the shop, but I have some paperwork to do at home. You can come later and we can have some time for ourselves, okay?” I made up another excuse and tried to sugarcoat it a little bit. Maybe this will work on him.
“I like the sound of that. See you later.” He looked around and when he made sure the coast was clear, he leaned closer and gave me a little kiss on the cheek. It was a sweet gesture, but it didn’t make me feel much better, quite the opposite I have to say. I felt bad for lying to him. My life has become a big boiling pot of lies and it was only a matter of time when it boiled over. I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever, one day I’ll have to tell him the truth, but it won’t be today nor tomorrow or any other in the close future. Maybe he will give up and understand he can’t do anything about this situation. Maybe became the key word in this story.
                                   •
Adam’s POV

“I think we should be going, if we don’t want to risk meeting the police there, even though I doubt they’ll do anything about this in the next few days,” said mr. Diamond after we finished our conversation about everything we knew so far. We had to get together all the known facts, so we could make the first step, which was going back to the shop.
“No objections on my side. Georgia, will you come with us?”
“I’m sure you two will handle this just perfectly without me.”
We both said our goodbyes and headed to the crime scene. I hated to call my shop, well, rather what was left of it, like that, but it was a crime scene in this case. I still had memories from that night replaying over and over in my head and it was making me sick. I felt like this was just a nightmare and I hoped to wake up soon and go to work like I used to.
“Sir, are you alright?” Mr. Diamond asked after he noticed I spaced out for a while.
“I’ll be alright when we find out who did this and my life gets back together. It all barely started and I’m tired of it already.”
“I can imagine how you feel, but I can promise you we will find who you’re looking for.” He tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a bit of hope and confidence back.
As soon as we reached our final destination I stopped to look at the ruins from the distance. It broke my heart again and I was fighting back tears. On our way here I promised myself to stay strong, but now I realised it won’t be so easy. We just came here and I was losing it again. 
I took a deep breath and caught up with Diamond, who was almost there. We suddenly noticed a few other people in uniform standing there and as we came closer we recognised the police.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen, but you can’t go in there. This is a crime scene and a police investigation is going on.” One of them stopped us.
“I’m Richard Diamond, private detective and this is my client and also the owner of this place. We’re investigating this case together and we need to look for some evidence here.”
“I won’t repeat myself again, you can’t step into this area,” the man said once again, but this time in a harsher, more demanding tone.
“I see. Well, if you find something I would appreciate if you reached out to me, I’ll leave you the number to my office.” He started searching through his pockets for a piece of paper I assumed, but the man quickly stopped him.
“No need for that, we already had someone to give us their contact and ask for the same thing as you. They’re the only one who will get these informations.”
“And who would that be?”
“I can’t tell you that. Now, please, leave.” He gestured for us to leave and after taking one look at Diamond, who just shook his head, I could tell we had no other choice than to obey and walk away. When we were far enough from them, Diamond stopped me and spoke to me.
“We’ll come back tomorrow, early in the morning. The place will be empty and we’ll look for anything that could help us.”
“I understand.”
“Tomorrow, at six, we’ll meet here. I know it’s early, but we can’t afford to take any risks right now. We have to take every chance.”
“You can count on me, I’ll be here”
“Great, see you then.” He went his way and waved at me. I waved back and thought about where should I go now. I remembered Theo’s invitation to his house and decided to go there and maybe even spend the night. It was closer to my shop than from Georgia’s place and I could use some comfort from him now. I turned in the opposite direction and hoped I won’t get lost. I was afraid to go this way alone again, mostly because of memories from the day I went there the last time, but after all, what wouldn’t I do for Theo?
I walked through all the dark empty alleys, doing what else than thinking as always. The sun was going down and the sky was painted in pink. The only thing it was missing could only be a silver lining, but that would be too fancy for this world. Everything looked beautiful. It wasn’t anything special that would make me lose my mind, but I would bet anything on the fact that someone would’ve tried to remember as many details as they possibly could to make this scenery into a painting. It was weird how some things seemed meaningless to one, but fascinating to the other.
For the third time I was standing in front of the doors that at first seemed unimportant, but to me this few steps towards meant so much it was unbelievable. I could still turn around and go back or I could stay. Many things depended on one little choice and how I decided would have the power to change everything. Fascinating, wasn’t it?
I knocked on the door, choice already made. Now I had to wait until another one came and the cycle started again.
“For a second I thought you wouldn’t come tonight,” Theo greeted me, a smile on his face as always. He seemed like such a happy person. Nothing serious going on in his life, just living the dream which others only dreamed of every night and prayed for it to become reality once. Maybe this was why I wanted to come. I found comfort in his life, comfort that I personally didn't have and he could provide it to me, because he was perfect. 
“I must admit, me too. This whole day seems like a waste of what could’ve been a good day, lived to its fullest.”
“You’re having some deep thoughts there, Adam. Come inside, I’ll make some tea that hopefully won’t go cold this time.”
“Yeah, hopefully.” I sadly looked at the ground and avoided any kind of contact with him. 
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Everything is wrong, can’t you see that? Oh yes, I forgot you’re living the best life ever and you have no idea! People would kill to have this amazing life of yours!” I exploded with anger. I didn’t know where it came from, but I couldn’t stop it. Everything felt as if it was too much, all at once, falling apart and I couldn’t handle it anymore. The ground was spinning underneath my legs, faster and faster each passing second and I was losing balance. I felt Theo catch me into his arms and saying things I couldn’t recognise. Then it just stopped. The world felt peaceful again and the sky was still coloured in the meaningless pink, before it slipped away, covered in a dark curtain. 

Chapter Text

“Adam? Oh wake up please, don’t do this to me,” a broken sad voice spoke to me. I opened my eyes only to see everything around me was blurry. I couldn’t recognise the person holding me at first, but after a while my brain got back together and I saw Theo, tears rolling down his face.
“Theo.” I reached out to wipe the tears with my thumb.
“Oh my God Adam, you’re alive! I was afraid you died!” He brought me closer to him and hugged me. The tears were soaking into my shirt and I felt bad for making him worry his head off. 
I barely remembered what happened, but where I was now was definitely not where I was at the time I passed out. The soft covers and warmth revealed I was actually in Theo’s bed.
“How are you feeling?” He wiped his tears and sat back, a bit further away from me.
“I think I’m definitely better than when I came here.”
“That’s good, I’m glad you’re okay.” He smiled, but it wasn’t happy. It was rather sad and I suddenly remembered yelling at him about some stupid stuff, which included him having a perfect life. 
“Theo, I’m...I’m very sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it, I don’t even know where it came from,” I started apologising, but he quickly stopped me with a kiss. I was gently pushed onto my back and he interlocked our hands. I felt his heart beating quicker and quicker each second. He slowly unbuttoned my shirt and his lips moved away to kiss my heated skin. 
“Theo, are you sure?” I asked after I caught my breath back, which wasn’t exactly the easiest when I had the most handsome man right here kissing down my entire chest.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my entire life. I love you Adam.” I made eye contact with him and his eyes sparkled with happiness. I felt as if a volcano exploded inside of me. 
“I love you too.” I brought him up to me again and we kissed passionately once more. The time seemed to stop and it was just us. Just two people falling in love more and more each day.
                                   •
Theo’s arm was around my waist, holding me close to his naked body. I was still replaying the events of earlier all over again in my head and I felt so energized and hopeful. I was motivated enough to forget about the whole investigation and just move on, leaving this chapter of my life behind and never coming back to it. And maybe I should. Maybe I should just tell Diamond that I changed my mind. After all, what were the chances that we could actually find the person we were looking for? It was like the man at the police station said, this could’ve been anyone passing by that night and choosing my shop for no specific reason. Everything was lost, my years of hard work have disappeared, but I couldn’t turn back time and change what happened. I could move on and start again, this time maybe in a bigger shop or even another city! This was a new opportunity, a chance for a fresh start.
“Can’t sleep?” 
“Too many thoughts going around in my head.”
“Regret?” Theo sat up, worry in his gaze like before.
“Oh no, I could never regret that! That was one of the best moments of my life!” I sat up as well and looked him deep into his eyes to show I really meant what I said.
“So, what is it then?” 
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. Should I tell him what I was planning on doing? I could tell he was clearly concerned about the stuff going on in my mind, especially after what happened when I came here. 
“I was thinking about the investigation.” I leaned against the headboard and decided to just talk about it, mostly because I knew how secrets could ruin relationships and I didn’t want to ruin this only because of my stupid head, not now.
“What about it?”
“I’m thinking about ditching it and moving on. After giving this situation a second thought I realised that maybe leaving it behind and moving on would be the best option here.”
Theo was looking at me with raised eyebrows for a few minutes, visibly processing what I just said.
“Well, it’s your decision, I can’t tell you what to do.”
“You actually sort of did, you know?” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but I did and now I had to look at Theo’s shocked face once again.
“So we’re having a serious talk here, huh?” He leaned back against his arms and bit his lip, purely from being nervous I assumed.
“I wanted to talk about this, but not right at this moment.”
“When else would you want to talk about it?”
“Since you brought it up, fine, we’ll talk now.” There was a minute of silence between us before he started the conversation again.
“I haven’t been the best partner to you and I’m sorry for that. I’ve been under pressure and after what happened I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Theo, I understand tha-“
“I lied to you.” 
My heart skipped a beat and I didn’t bother to finish what I wanted to say. He did what? 
“Before I turn into an angry volcano would you mind explaining it?” 
“I lied about things going well in the shop. It’s not good, it’s getting worse each day and I don’t know what to do anymore. I didn’t want to talk about it because I knew you expected me to help you with paying Diamond and this entire case. I didn’t want to disappoint you.” He looked away from me and I could see tears forming in his eyes. 
“You really thought I would be mad at you just for not having enough money? Theo, I could never do that.”
“I’m sorry for not supporting you Adam. I’m so sorry.” He covered his face and broke down. 
“Hey, it’s okay. We’re good, I’m not angry.” I quickly shifted closer and hugged him. He cried for a couple more minutes before I managed to calm him down and only a few sobs escaped him once in a while.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” I asked while still brushing my hand through his hair. He just shook his head and I decided to tell him my final decision.
“I have a meeting with Diamond at six, I’ll tell him I don’t want to continue the investigation.”
“But what will you do? You don’t have the one who did it, you don’t have a job...what do you want to do next?”
He was right. What did I want to do? If I wanted to open a new shop I needed money, which neither of us had right now. 
We were just sitting there on the bed, looking at each other, not knowing the answer to our current problems. His mind was definitely trying to figure it out, so was mine, but not a word left any of us. I suddenly got an idea. Probably not the best one, but it could be the starting point.
“What if I helped you at your shop?” I told him what I came up with. His expression changed from what should we do now to are you out of your mind? 
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 
“Why?” I crossed my arms and looked at him questioningly.
“You think I can’t handle it?”
“No, it’s not that. I meant, are you sure? I don’t want to hold you back in a place that could go to hell any time from now on. I’m not going to slow you down.”
“First of all, I need money if I want to start all over again, nothing is for free and if we can manage to get your business back together it will be a win for both of us. Just think about it.”
He kept looking at me for a few more minutes, considering whether this is even going to work.
“I have to admit you have a good point. I guess we can try. After all, what can we lose?”
“As long as we don’t lose each other we’re good.”
He laughed and leaned in to kiss me, muttering I love you at least a hundred times.
                                   •
“I almost started to take into consideration the possibility that you won’t show up today.” Diamond said while looking at his pocket watch. I was a few minutes late, as getting out of the warm bed and leaving Theo turned out to be one of the hardest things to do.
“I apologise, had some business to take care of.”
“Apology accepted, we should go now.” He was prepared to get to work, but I stopped him and handed him money for one day spent with me on the case.
“I decided to let it be. I want to move on and start again, I don’t need to know who did and why.” He took the money from me and I put my hands in the pockets of my thin jacket.
“Are you sure about this?” 
“Completely,” I said confidently.
“Well, thank you. It was pleasure meeting you. I wish you good luck with your business.” We shook hands and I watched him turn his back to me and leave. 
I felt like I made the right decision, but somewhere deep inside I was still anxious about it. What if it wasn’t just a coincidence and this person will look for me again? What if this time they hurt me or people I care about? 
I knew I was overthinking too much, but at this point I couldn’t be sure about anything. I had to focus on the present. I promised Theo to help him and I wanted to move forward, not backwards. I couldn’t live without having a proper job and therefore I had to put myself together and do what was right. Be a good partner, friend and most importantly a tailor, because if it wasn’t for that small shop downtown, I’d probably never meet the love of my life.

Chapter Text

Theo’s POV

It has been a few days since Adam offered to help me at the shop and so far everything was going great. I had no idea how his presence affected it, but the sales went up and it seemed like we were going in the right direction. The shop wasn’t as empty as it used to be and I felt better with each day spent with Adam by my side. 
“Hey, is this the paperwork you asked for? Evelyn mentioned something about it and told me to bring it to you,” Adam said, holding a bunch of papers in his hands. 
“Oh c’mon, I just finished these, give me a break.” I groaned from frustration. I really hated filling in huge stacks of papers every day, but I knew nobody else would’ve done it for me, so I just had to somehow get through it on my own.
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. Maybe just make it up to you later.” He smirked and left the office. He knew how to make my mood better.
During all the paperwork I suddenly remembered I had to go to the bank later as well. I still had a few hours left before they would be closed, but I knew I’d have to leave before the shop got closed. Well, everything was going great so far and leaving it up to Adam only for a short amount of time maybe wasn’t such a bad idea. He was responsible and I knew I could count on him. 
I made a mental note to talk to him later and buried myself in papers once again.
                                   •
After the clock in the corner reminded me of the time I quickly ran down to talk to Adam about putting him in charge of this place for some time.
“Are you sure about it?” He asked nervously.
“There’s no one else I trust more than you, I know you won’t let me down.”
“I promise I’ll do my best.” He took the keys from me and patted me on the shoulder.
“Thank you.” I turned away from him, prepared to leave, when I suddenly remembered one more thing.
“Should I expect you at my house when I come back?”
“Of course, I have to finally try out the new spare key.” He winked at me and I had difficulties with hiding my excitement. 
Summer was slowly coming to an end and the sun was setting down earlier than I was used to. It was my favourite season and I was sad it was ending, but colder weather meant more cozy nights inside with Adam and that definitely sounded pleasing enough to cheer me up a little.
The bank was all the way across the town and various worries started filling my head. My mind went to the beginning of previous week and I recalled my conversation with Derek. He said he will be back this week and I didn’t know what should I tell Adam when a strange man would come inside asking for my shop. It was either the truth or some more lies, which most likely would be useless, as Derek can tell him the truth if he decides to. This day was almost over and he hasn’t showed up, so I figured he’ll come tomorrow. I had time to make something up until then or even lie to Adam some more this evening, just so he wouldn’t be shocked when Derek declines his diamond ring offer and heads to my office. 
The situation sounded comical when I imagined it at that moment, but it was a serious issue and I quickly had to think about a way to solve it.
                                   •
Adam’s POV

“Thank you for your purchase and have a nice day,” I said to the customers who just bought some jewelry. Everything was going great and life seemed so much better all of a sudden. I wasn’t afraid anymore and my relationship with Theo was getting better each day. He made me feel things I’ve never felt before and I was a very lucky man.
“Are we done for today?” Evelyn asked, cutting my train of thoughts.
“Yes, that’s it for today. You can go home, I’ll take care of everything.”
“Oh so Theo puts you in charge for once and you’re all bossy?” 
“What?” I asked surprised. She never acted towards me like this.
“You should go away already, this ain’t a place for you to be at.” She took her stuff and quickly left.
I didn’t know what was her problem, but I just shrugged it off and started locking everything that Theo mentioned while giving me very specific instructions. 
I heard the bell above the door ring. It reminded me of the one in my old shop and the memory made me smile.
“I’m sorry, but we’re already closing.” 
“I’m just looking for Theo, is he in here?” the man who came in asked. When I looked closely I could spot two men, probably double the size of me, standing outside, watching the scene through the huge glass windows.
“He left already. Is there anything I can help you with?”
The man laughed and circled around the shop. Who did the think he was?
“Excuse me, but are you one of his relatives? Why are you here?”
“You ask too many questions, don’t you think?”
I only raised my eyebrows at his odd behaviour and as I was going to politely ask him to leave, he spoke again.
“Gentlemen, why don’t you help mr. Anderson keep his mouth shut?”
“What are you talking about? How do you know my name?”
Before I could say anything more the two men from outside stormed in and put a cloth into my mouth to prevent me from talking again. I tried to wriggle out of their grip, but I had no chance to escape, not from these two gorillas. 
“By the shock in your face I can only assume that Theo still hasn’t told you about his past, am I right?”
The confusion in me grew bigger with every sentence he said and I finally wanted some answers.
“So, why don’t we start at the beginning?” He took a chair and sat down while clasping his hands together and smirking at me. This wasn’t good. I was scared and I didn’t know what to do. Theo where are you?
                                   •
Theo’s POV

I finally came home after a few hours spent at the bank. The people there are absolutely irresponsible and have no idea what are they doing.
“Hey love, I’m home.” I threw my keys into a small bowl and hanged my coat. 
“Sorry I’m late, the workers there are terrible. I’m thinking about transferring into that other bank. What do you think?” I started making some tea as usually, when I noticed the house was quiet. I wasn’t getting any answers and nobody was running to me, hugging me from behind and telling me how much they loved me.
“Adam?” I called out, no answer coming back.
“I swear if you’re hiding in the bedroom-“ I went to check the room, but no one was waiting for me in there.
“Adam?” I raised the tone of my voice, panic raising in me.
“Oh no, this isn’t happening.” 
I quickly ran to the phone to call Georgia. Maybe he changed his mind and wanted to just go there and be alone for once. We were spending every day together, it wouldn’t surprise me. 
“Hello,” Georgia’s sweet voice answered me.
“Hey Georgia, is Adam with you?”
“No, I thought he was going home with you. Is everything okay? Did something happen?”
“Everything’s all right. He’s probably on his way already, I’m just overthinking.” I tried to hide my nervousness by smiling even if she couldn’t see me.
“Gosh Theo, don’t do this to me! You’re making me worried.”
“Everything’s good, don’t you worry. Sorry for disturbing you.”
“It’s fine, let me know if he gets hurt or does something stupid.”
“Of course, goodnight.”
She hanged the phone and I was seriously panicking now. I didn’t know where should I go, where should I look for him? The last place I saw him was at the shop, maybe I should go there at first. I grabbed my jacket and keys again and quickly ran to the shop.
                                   •
“You really didn’t disappoint this time.” Derek didn’t even bother to look at me once I angrily slammed the door behind me.
“I told you to leave him out of this!” I yelled at him. I gave Adam apologising look, but behind his eyes there was only fire and angst.
“And I had a certain deal with you. I’m taking this place back and there’s nothing you can do.” He stood up from the chair he was sitting on and signalised to his two bodyguards to untie Adam. 
“You two will be gone by tomorrow, I don’t want to see your pathetic faces ever again!” 
I didn’t hesitate and ran to Adam as soon as the door closed behind Derek.
“Adam I’m so sorry, please, let me explain.”
“You had your chance before Derek took the matters into his hands, because you’re a coward who simply can’t admit the truth!” He pushed me away from himself and walked further away from where I was standing.
“You’re right about that, I shouldn’t have kept this from you and I regret that I did.” I wanted to ask him for a second chance, but I didn’t deserve it. His life was ruined because of me.
“I’ll never forgive you for this, I don’t think I should even give you a chance to fix this, but I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you.” 
He silently laughed and there was a minute of silence between us. I didn’t really sense anger anymore, but I could hear his mind working.
“You destroyed my life, do you realise that? I know Derek was the one who blew my shop away and I can’t help but imagine you in his place. It feels like you were the one who did it, the man I was looking for, responsible for all of this was in front of me the whole time and I had no idea,” he said with a shaky voice. I could feel my world cracking and falling apart, but I had no right to break down, when I was the reason why it all happened.
“I loved you, Theo, I really did, but now I can’t just let it go and live happily ever after.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“I had complete trust in you! I gave you everything I could and you took everything and didn’t give it back!”
“Adam, would you please calm down?”
“Oh you expect me to calm down? After I just found out you’ve been lying to me and working with a damn mafia your whole life?”
“It wasn’t my whole life okay? And it was the worst decision I’ve ever made and I tried to keep you out of it, I really did!” I yelled back at him, trying to defend myself as best as I could. Blood was boiling in my veins and I was sure there was steam coming out of my ears. I felt like an angry bull, ready to kill everyone who got close to me.
“I’ve had enough.” I was going to walk out of the shop, not really sure about my next step, but I had an idea where I could pay a visit to first.
“Where are you going?” Adam called out a bit calmer now. Somewhere in his voice I registered concern, but that was most likely only my mind playing tricks on me.
“I’m going to do what I should’ve done a long time time ago.”
I heard him talking about something, but I didn’t pay attention to it. I was pissed off and high on adrenaline. I hurt the person I loved the most and I lost almost everything. There was nothing I could fight for anymore, but I wanted a revenge. Like Derek always said, it was all or nothing and right now I decided to go for all.

Chapter Text

Anger was bubbling inside of me, acting as a fuel on my way to Derek’s residence. I didn’t have any plan, but it wasn’t stopping me. I was doing this for Adam. The man, I loved. 
It didn’t take too long before I reached the building in which Derek was supposed to be. I looked inside the area, through the front gate, just in case he had someone watching over the place. After all those years I knew a trick or two and something wasn’t right here. He always had people here, why not now?
I didn’t want to lose any time, so I carefully climbed over, hoping no one will notice, and searched for the nearest entrance. 
This place was located near the docks, which I assumed also belonged to Derek. Therefore, not many people lived near and if anything happened, it was most likely that no one would even notice. 
I made my way up the stairs and prayed that the door will be unlocked. When I found out it was, I thought about how Derek seemed to entirely ditch the security. He used to have a lot of men protecting him, but I just got inside the building without any struggle and nobody came to stop me. There wasn’t anyone who could be a threat to him anymore, since he was basically the head of the whole town now, but he was still taking a huge risk in my opinion. On the other side, so was I.
I stepped into what looked like an office and immediately noticed the gun on the desk. One would even say it was waiting for me, but that couldn’t be right. 
Nevertheless, I took it, just in case things would get out of hand. After all, self defense was not a crime, was it?
I suddenly heard some voices, coming closer and closer. I swiftly got under the mentioned desk and prepared for anything that could happen.
“I bet they’re having a big argument right now. We achieved what we wanted to, I told you it was a great plan.” One of the two men said.
“Hey, haven’t I left my gun here?” The other asked.
“See? You left it in the car, I told you!”
“Great, so we went all the way up here for nothing.” 
“Let’s check the car, you know Derek is an impatient bastard.”
The two left and I let out the breath I was holding. Little did they know I had their toy.
At least I had confirmed that Derek was indeed here and I wasn’t wasting time and risking my life for some stupid sidekicks.
I opened the door, leading to the bigger, main room and spotted Derek down there, explaining something to his men.
Was I really going to do this? The adrenaline was replaced by a sign of fear and I wasn’t so brave anymore. Everything that I was planning on doing flashed through my head and I wanted to change my mind.
“I told you I left it right here!” The door from outside opened and the two gorillas from before came inside. Their gaze fell on me and I was screwed.
“That idiot stole my gun!” the bigger and angrier gorilla yelled and threw himself at me, before I could react. The second one followed him and they grabbed me and pulled me up on my feet.
“Hey boss! Look who came to visit us.” They tried to grab Derek’s attention. He turned around and looked up at me.
“Theo! We haven’t seen each other in a while. Come down here to have a little chat.”
I was pushed forward and fell down on my knees. I quickly got up to avoid getting kicked and went down to Derek.
“You’re the last person I expected here, what do you need, boy?” he asked with a chuckle. I didn’t plan on answering him, so I just pierced him with my gaze.
“I asked you a question, answer me!” He slapped me and I felt as if my head flew to the other side of the room.
“Alright, I’ve had enough of you. Richard.” He stepped back and gestured something with his hands. I had no idea what he wanted this Richard to do, but I understood when a gun was placed next to my head.
“I think my expectations were set too high for you, Theo.” 
I closed my eyes and prepared for what was coming. At first I thought this wasn’t fair, but in the end I kind of deserved it. 
A gunshot sounded through the whole place and my very last thoughts were I love you Adam and I’m sorry. 
“What the fuck?” I heard Derek say. He sounded very surprised, but I didn’t blame him for it. I was right there with him, because I wasn’t the one who got shot. It was Richard.
His dead body was laying on the ground behind me in a pool of his own blood. I looked around, searching for the shooter, but I didn’t find him until I looked up. Adam was standing there, gun in his hands and he was trembling with fear. He looked so terrified and shocked by what he just did. 
“Adam!” I shouted and ran to him. Nobody was stopping me and even if they were I wouldn’t let them.
“Oh my,” he muttered.
“Hey hey, it’s good, we’re good, calm down.”
“I killed him! It’s not good!” He started crying and I took him into my arms. All the people down were looking at us. I knew they would come for us, sooner or later, but the only thing that mattered to me now was Adam.
                                   •
Flashback, Adam’s POV

I was so angry and disappointed. My whole life fell apart just because of Theo. I still couldn’t believe the story Derek told me, but he was telling the truth.
I watched Theo leave and I let him. I didn’t want to see him again. I didn’t care about where he was going or what he wanted to do. I was prepared to leave this behind and start my business again like I planned to.
I continued to pace around the room, bunch of thoughts flying around in my mind. Something was telling me to follow him. I was resisting it, because I was pissed off, but the urge was getting stronger and stronger each minute. 
“Damn it.” I took my jacket and ran out, following Theo, being very careful so he wouldn’t notice me.
I was questioning the location when he stopped and climbed over the gate.
“What are you getting yourself into?” I muttered to myself.
After he disappeared from my sight I followed his steps and climbed over the previously mentioned gate as well. 
When he went inside I waited for a few minutes before entering as well. I spotted him only a few metres from me, but before I could get to him the door opened again and I barely managed to hide.
The two men who came inside yelled at Theo and I watched as they grabbed him and then walked down. I couldn't see the scene downstairs from my hiding spot, so I quietly moved to where Theo was before. I suddenly spotted a gun that one of them must’ve lost or forgotten. I didn’t have too much experience, but I’ve shot with guns before. I took it just in case and looked at what was happening under the staircase. 
I saw one of the guys holding a gun against Theo’s head and everything after that happened too fast for me to register. I pulled the trigger and the guy dropped dead on the ground.
My memory in between that was very blurry and cloudy, but after I woke up from the shock I found myself in Theo’s embrace. 

End of flashback, back to Theo’s POV

When I heard the first bullets coming towards us I didn’t hesitate and joined the shooting. I must’ve been very lucky, because besides a few scratches I didn’t get any serious injury. I shot two more of Derek’s men and then it all stopped. I peeked out from our hiding spot and with Adam still in my arms, covering his ears, looked around only to see Derek running away with the rest of his gang.
“Are you okay?” I asked Adam after dropping the gun next to me.
“I don’t know.”
I took his face in my hands and looked at him. His eyes were red from crying and he was still terrified.
“I’m sorry I put you through this. You deserve better.”
He was going to say something, but the police sirens interrupted him. I figured Derek called them and ran away as the bastard he was.
“You need to go.” I helped Adam get up and showed him the back entrance where he could go and sneak out without the police noticing him.
“I’m not leaving you here! I shot someone too!”
“No, you can do better than that. Go and get your life together, maybe we’ll see each other again one day.”
He was panicking and clearly didn’t know what to do. I felt his lips on mine for the last time before he ran down the stairs and left the building. 
“Put your hands above you!” one of the officers shouted and pointed his gun at me in case I decided to shoot them as well.
“Theo Hutchcraft, I arrest you for murder.” 
It all happened so fast. One moment I was a boss of a jewelry shop and the very next I was a criminal and Adam was my partner in crime. No one will ever get to know the second thing though. I will take it to my grave with me and I hoped Adam will too. He was a good man, but I knew he wouldn’t run to the police and accuse himself of murder. 
The last thing I wished for before I was thrown into the car and taken to the station was for Adam to be okay and live the life he deserved, because if it wasn’t for me, he would never fall so deep and even if he ever forgives me I will never forgive myself.

Chapter Text

Some years later, Adam’s POV 

I was nervously standing in front of the police station, awaiting the one person to finally come out after such a long time. I couldn’t believe the moment I was waiting for was here. 
“Adam, look!” Georgia poked me into my hip to grab my attention. I looked up and saw Theo walking out of the building. He was staring all around the place like a confused baby and my heart almost broke into millions of pieces.
“Theo!” I shouted an waved at him. When he finally spotted me on the other side of the street his eyes lit up and he ran towards us.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you came!” 
I took him into my arms and squeezed him so tightly I was almost sure I cut out his breathing for good.
“You’re not getting rid of me so easily, Hutchcraft.” I smiled and a small tear made its way out of my eye. It all felt like the day we first met and went out together, like a dream. All the memories came back to me, including the day when everything went downhill. No, I can’t think about it now.
“Thank you for waiting. I didn’t think you would still be here, I thought you moved on already,” he spoke, his voice being shaky and I could sense he was holding back tears. 
“Not without you. C’mon, I have to show you what you missed.”
He pulled back from me and sent me one last smile before following me and Georgia. 
I hated to see him like this. He didn’t look as he used to, he was rather fragile and hurt. His teary eyes carefully observed every building and every tree around us and his hands kept doing anxious gestures. He wasn’t used to this life anymore. I couldn’t read minds, but I could at least guess his mind looked similar to a kid who was having the whole first day at school experience.
“And since my heart didn’t allow me to just leave this place I decided to keep it going.” I said as we reached his old shop. I, of course, did some renovations to keep it in good shape, but the business stayed the same.
“Woah, are you okay?” 
“I can’t thank you enough Adam. After I took so much from you, you still didn’t give up on me.” He rambled while crying on my shoulder. I had to admit, at first I was angry and many bad things crossed my mind, but I calmed down and started thinking more rationally. I couldn’t change what happened, but I had the power to change what was going to happen and so I overcame the hateful emotions and put my energy into something useful. 
“We all make mistakes, let’s just focus on the future for now. Just promise me you won’t keep anything else from me and we will be honest with each other, no matter how bad things get.”
“I promise.” 
“Good. Come on, you have to see the interior.” I pulled him inside and showed him everything either new or old. He listened to my monologue and I watched him get more and more emotional with each minute. When silence creeped in between the two of us I looked into his deep whiskey eyes and found the courage to finally give him a small kiss. The shop was empty so I had nothing worry about. When we pulled back we kept holding the eye contact, until I heard a silent aww from Georgia, who was standing behind us, observing the scene.
                                   •
“Welcome home,” I said as I opened the door to his house where I lived for the past years. I sold my old apartment and besides putting the earned money into the jewelry store I also invested a part of it into Theo’s house.
He stopped and stared at it with his mouth wide opened in disbelief.
“Adam...I-I don’t...what do you want me to do to repay you?” He shifted his gaze towards me and waited for me to answer his question.
“Just keep loving me and don’t lie again. That’s all I want from you.”
He threw himself at me and gave me a passionate kiss filled with love. I realised we were still on the street, so I carefully turned us around and stumbled inside with him. We eventually had to separate from each other to catch our breaths back and that’s when I remembered I forgot to show him one thing.
“I have something for you.”
“Can it wait?”
“Definitely not. Stay here, I’ll be right back.” I told him and quickly ran upstairs, doing my best to not trip over the fancy carpet.
“Where have I put it? Damn it, where are you?” I ran around the room, muttering curses to myself.
“There you are!” I picked up the item and made my way back to Theo.
“Close your eyes.”
I put the neatly folded suit into his hands and told him to open his eyes. 
“It’s without a tie, just as I promised.”
“No way! I can’t believe you really did this for me!” His eyes mirrored the happiness sparkling inside of him and I loved seeing him like this.
“And I thought we could maybe go to dinner together and you could wear it.”
“I’d love to do that, thank you so much!” He put it aside and started kissing me again.
“But first I have some unfinished business.” 
He put his hands around my waist and led me to the living room. Welcome back home, darling.
                                  •
“Ready?” I asked him, hugging him from behind.
“More than ever.” He smiled at me through the mirror and we shared one last kiss before going outside, where we couldn’t express our love anymore.
After a few minutes of walking we reached one of the best local restaurants and immediately spotted Georgia, waiting at one of the tables with her boyfriend.
“Adam!” She got up and ran to us. I still didn’t get how she could run in such high heels, but she somehow managed to do it.
“I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t come! What took you so long?”
“Um, we had a hard time getting ready. My hair didn’t want to stay in place.” I tried not to blush, but judging by her questioning look I figured I did a terrible job.
“Sure, I absolutely believe that.” She laughed while I kept getting redder with each passing second. I took one look at Theo and saw he was right there with me.
“Come on, I have to introduce you to John.” She turned around and walked us to the table where we previously saw her. 
“Adam, Theo, this is John. John this Adam and that great looking guy behind him is Theo.” 
John stood up and shook hands with both of us.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Georgia told me everything about how you helped her. I really appreciate that.” He said with unusual, but still very attractive deep voice.
“It was no problem for me. She’s a great woman and it would be a bad thing to do if I just left her alone somewhere. She has potential.” 
I kept looking at Georgia who was smiling and looking down, not making eye contact with any of us. She didn’t like when people were talking about her, so I changed the subject and asked John about his life and job. He turned out to be a very nice guy and I knew I didn’t have to worry about Georgia getting her heart broken. 
I felt something touching my hand under the table and flinched in fear. I saw Theo looking at me from the corner of my eye and realised it was him trying to interlace our fingers where no one could see us. He sent me a small smile and took a sip from his wine.
We all laughed together and enjoyed the evening. Our little family was finally complete and I couldn’t be happier at that moment. We went through a lot and still stuck together and helped each other get up, no matter how deep we fell. 
“To better future and may we all meet like this again one day, cheers.” Theo picked up his glass and we repeated his gesture. I looked at him and mouthed a silent I love you.
“I love you too,” I heard him mutter back to me.