Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Felix, the wedding is next week!” Elodie effectively reminded him.

“I know,” Felix said. He shut his laptop and kicked his chair away from the desk, rolling towards the window in his home office. “Are you sure you can’t come with me?”

“I won’t be back in Europe until next month,” Elodie said. “I’ve been chasing this artifact for almost a year. As much as I’d love to pretend to be your girlfriend and laugh at rich people for a week, you know I can’t.”

“I know, it just –” Felix bit back a frustrated groan and busied himself with fiddling with the curtains. “I don’t know who else to ask. It would be so easy if you were there.”

“Well, it didn’t need to be hard in the first place, but then you had to go and lie –”

“I didn’t lie!” Felix protested. There was a disbelieving huff from the other end of the line. “My cousin just insisted on inviting my ‘mysterious partner’ as my plus one, and I didn’t exactly correct her.”

“Right,” Elodie said. “And tell me again why your family thinks you’re dating someone?”

Felix shrunk in on himself. “Because I used my and my nonexistent partner’s anniversary as an excuse to get out of the last family reunion,” he mumbled.

“Pretty sure that counts as lying,” Elodie pointed out. “Can’t you just say you recently broke up?”

“I could, but the pestering about the breakup will be even worse!” Felix said. “My dating history is already a disaster, those gossipy old farts don’t need any more ammunition against me.”

“So you think it’s better to lie,” Elodie said flatly.

“It’s easier!” Felix claimed. “If you came with me I’d have an excuse to slip away from it all – go on walks to talk shit about my family or turn in early to watch a movie. If I show up single I have to answer all these questions and smile at my aunt’s horrible attempts at matchmaking and participate in afterparties.”

“Mon dieu, not the afterparties,” Elodie joked. “Isn't it kind of funny that we survived years of being hunted for sport just to flinch at the mention of mingling.”

Felix felt his shoulder throb dully at the mention of their time in the nightmarish realm. He promptly cleared his throat and looked out of the window into the manor's garden, trying to leave old wounds well alone.

“I thought you called to help me, not tell me how ridiculous I’m being,” Felix said.

“I called to do both, actually,” Elodie said, but thankfully seemed to drop the subject. Then she hummed in thought. “What about Lauren? Can you ask her to go with you?”

“Most of my family already met Lauren and her husband at my birthday party last year,” Felix sighed. “I don’t know any other people who would help me with this kind of thing.”

There was a beat of silence before Elodie spoke. “You could always hire someone.”

Felix paused. “What?”

“You need someone to pretend to be your girlfriend,” Elodie said. “There is a whole profession dedicated to that, you know.”

The cogs in Felix’s head turned slowly, before it suddenly dawned on him.

“Elodie!” he sputtered, scandalized. She expected him to hire a – a –

“What? Rich people hire escorts all the time, I’m sure you could find a nice lady who’s done these kinds of events before.”

“I’m not looking for someone to sleep with!” Felix exclaimed.

“I’m not saying you are,” Elodie huffed in amusement. In Felix’s opinion, she was enjoying his misery way too much. “Who knows, she might be happy about a gig that didn’t involve sex at all. You could just hire someone to hang off your arm and look pretty.”

“And then watch them completely freeze when asked the first question about me?” Felix pointed out. “If anything, I need an actor. They need to be able to memorize my entire life story and improvise on the fly.”

“Then hire an actor,” Elodie said.

“Where the hell am I going to find a freelance actor who is willing to deceive people for money and knows proper ballroom etiquette? And I need them in a week!” Felix ran a hand down his face. This really was hopeless.

“You keep saying ‘them’,” Elodie said. “Does that mean…?”

“The gender of the person is irrelevant – I just need someone to go along with this crazy plan, and I need them fast,” Felix complained. “Sadly, the kind of people who know what a white tie dress code means and the kind of people who are willing to pretend to be someone’s partner for money don’t tend to overlap –”

“Holy shit!” Elodie made a delighted noise, interrupting Felix’s tirade.

“What is it?” Felix asked.

He could practically hear the smirk in her voice.

“I just had the best idea.”

Ace had quieted when they turned off the autobahn and busied himself with taking in the view of the countryside as Felix navigated them towards his family’s obscenely big mansion in the middle of rural southern Germany. Felix expected Ace to panic once he realized how isolated they would be for the week – truly nothing out here to occupy them but endless fields of wheat and fifty different activities with Felix’s relatives – but Ace seemed to be either fascinated by the vast nothingness or just very good at masking his discomfort.

And looking at the soft rays of the afternoon sun dancing over Ace who was sitting close enough to touch, Felix felt a nervousness of an entirely different kind surface.

Back when they were still stuck in the nightmare and running for their lives on the daily, Felix had found himself harboring certain kinds of feelings towards their resident loudmouth gambler. Ace had always been easy with his friendship and affection – no doubt why Elodie suggested him for this job – and there were only so many radiant smiles and late-night talks about their old lives that Felix had been able to take before wanting more. He’d known it to just be a silly crush, nothing he’d wanted to pursue due to his family situation back home, but that didn’t stop him from snort laughing at Ace’s jokes or always returning for him even when the exit gates were open.

And it definitely didn’t stop the excited fluttering his heart was doing over the fact that Ace was here and he was happy and he looked so handsome–

Felix forced his attention back to the road to hide his blatant ogling. “Are you sure you want to do this?” His voice only wavered slightly when he spoke.

Out of the corner of his eye, Felix could see Ace turning to look at him with a lazy smile.

“I should be asking you that, but the steering wheel kind of speaks for itself,” Ace said. “You’re handling that thing like it owes you money.”

Felix quickly loosened his grip and felt a flash of embarrassment as the leather creaked in protest. “Sorry. I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” Ace didn’t sound convinced, which, fair – Felix wouldn’t believe himself, either.

“Just nervous,” Felix said.

“You’re making me feel kinda bad for being excited about this,” Ace said.

Felix whipped his head back to face Ace; he couldn't possibly have heard that right. “What?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this.” Ace grinned. “I love bullshitting my way through rich people’s parties. The food is always great, plus there’s a bunch of entertainment; it usually just takes a few drinks to get the juicy gossip about someone sleeping with their tennis instructor.”

Felix wouldn’t necessarily class that sort of thing as entertainment, but if Ace thought he’d enjoy himself…

“And you’re not bothered about…?” Felix trailed off, needing to bring up the elephant in the room.

Ace cocked his head in question and Felix felt a hot flush of humiliation creeping up his neck. In an awkward display, Felix took one hand off the wheel to gesticulate pointedly between them.

“Felix, c’mon,” Ace huffed. “I’ve held your guts in my hands and had you throw up on me until I caught the plague. I think I can manage some hand-holding.”

Ace still seemed way too nonchalant about the situation, but Felix wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe they could get through this week without either of them freaking out, and without Felix’s stupid heart catching feelings again.

Unlikely, but Felix could hope.

“Good – that’s good. Very good.” Felix stumbled over his words and turned back to stare decidedly down the road.

Ace just kept smiling.

Felix spared a cursory glance around as he parked. The manor’s garden was even bigger than the obscenely big driveway next to it, and it was in pristine shape – no doubt to be used for wedding photos later in the week. Behind the garden was a greenhouse, and further away he could see the enclosure for the tennis court.

And of course, the extravagant mansion stretched beside the attractions, looming over them in all its excessive glory.

“You didn’t tell me we’d be spending time with royalty,” Ace joked. “Is that an actual hedge maze?”

“Now that you mention it, I think my uncle’s wife has some distant royal lineage,” Felix said. “But mostly everyone just has far more money than they know what to do with.”

“Damn, I can tell."

Ace sounded genuinely in awe and uncertainty twisted in Felix’s chest as an unexpected problem made itself known. What if Ace ended up enjoying himself too much, and Felix was left alone to wallow in his own bitterness while Ace preferred to mingle with his filthy rich relatives?

“Any last minute advice before we head into the lion’s den?” Ace asked.

Felix looked up to meet Ace’s encouraging smile and realized that he’d stayed frozen in his seat despite the car now being parked.

“Uhm…” Felix racked his brain for anything worthwhile, trying not to let his insecurity shine through. “My oldest uncle – Bernard, you read the profiles I sent you – has no concept of tact and will ask invasive questions about people’s bowel movements at the dinner table. The bride, Vanessa, has never been told ‘no’ a single time in her life and if she asks you to do a silly dance for her social media post you’re expected to comply, no questions asked.”

Ace merely shrugged. “Good thing I’m a great dancer. Anything else?”

“Most of the guests will probably be speaking German,” Felix explained. “Everyone knows English – some better than others – but I can always translate for you. Though to be honest, you’re probably better off not understanding most of the conversation.”

“I’ll leave it up to your discretion,” Ace said with a smirk. “Should I, uh, be prepared for certain comments?”

Felix frowned. “Comments?”

“You know… being a guy and all?” Ace raised an eyebrow in question, his easy smile faltering just the tiniest amount.

“Oh!” Felix exclaimed. “No, no, nothing like that. Or, well… there will be whispers and Bernard might put his foot in his mouth again, but they, ähm. They know. About me.”

Ace’s curious gaze stayed on Felix and Felix wanted to melt into the car seat from embarrassment. Rather than push the subject, however, Ace merely nodded.

“Okay, good!”

“What about you?” Felix asked. “Will you… does it bother you?”

Ace looked at him funny and then laughed.

“Okay, whoever gave you the idea that I’m straight deserves a raise because that’s some tough shit they’re selling,” Ace chuckled.

Felix felt his brain screaming no no no while his heart pounded with an enthusiastic hell yes!

“But for the record, no, it doesn’t bother me,” Ace said. “I swing both ways and given the situation, I kind of figured you swung at least a little bit this way.”

Ace reached for the door, clearly expecting that to be the end of the conversation, but Felix suddenly needed him to know.

“I do – a lot,” Felix blurted out. Ace paused, waiting for him to continue. “I mean… both. I do both. W-well, at the moment I’m not ‘doing’ anyone, but… guh.”

Felix groaned and barely resisted the urge to slap himself. He should have just dropped it; now he was stuck making a fool of himself before they’d even stepped out of the car.

“And that’s where your fake boyfriend comes into the picture!” Ace slapped his hands together with a grin, blissfully letting Felix’s awkwardness slide. “Now are you ready to get this show on the road?”

Felix managed one last steadying breath before reaching for the door handle. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

He climbed out of the car and it was a relief to finally be able to stretch his legs after the long ride. At the sound of a groan, Felix looked over the hood at the car – only to nearly swallow his tongue at the sight that greeted him.

Ace seemed to have had the same idea about stretching, at least based on the way he raised his arms high above his head with a downright indecent sound. His dress shirt and vest hugged him perfectly – Felix had paid good money to have the whole week’s wardrobe tailored for Ace on such short notice – and the clothing only highlighted his broad shoulders and the cinch of his waist.

A clearing of a throat snapped Felix out of his stupor, and he suddenly noticed his aunt’s thoroughly unamused butler standing nearby and watching their display.

“Welcome, Sir Richter,” the man spoke in German. “Can I get someone to fetch your bags?”

Felix glanced at the overflowing suit bags in the back of the car. “Thank you, that would be lovely.”

“Very well. Feel free to make your way inside, the madam is already awaiting you.” The butler held out his gloved hand for Felix to deposit his car keys in.

With the bag situation taken care of, Felix turned around planning to inform Ace, but it seemed Ace was one step ahead of him. He was already right next to Felix, standing just that much straighter and giving the butler an acknowledging nod to which the man responded with a polite bow of his head.

“Are we ready to go?” Ace asked. He’d smoothly slipped into the act, knowing to avoid introductions and waiting for Felix’s approval to proceed.

Felix couldn't help but be impressed. “Of course." He made an effort to stand a little bit taller, himself; it was easy to put on his play-act to mirror Ace’s. “I heard our host is already waiting for us.”

And then Ace took his arm and sidled up to Felix like he belonged there, looking up at him with a teasing smile. “Then lead the way, darling.”

And Felix knew was in deep, deep shit.

Ace merely pushed by him, his gaze scanning over the room from floor to ceiling. “Wow, nice digs. And look, they even managed to get all our bags up here!”

Ace immediately went to the stack of suitcases and threw one of them up on the bed to start unpacking. Felix, however, stayed rooted at his spot by the door.

“You okay?” Ace asked. “I know the decor is probably making your architect’s soul cry, but I didn’t think it was that bad.” He shot Felix a grin.

“It’s not that,” Felix said. Though now he was going to have a hard time ignoring the obnoxious red and gold decals on the wallpaper. “There… uhm, there is only one bed.”

Ace looked at him funny and Felix shuffled his feet and pointedly averted his eyes.

“Right,” Ace said levelly. “Because they think we’re a couple. Wasn’t that the whole point?”

Felix didn’t bother sharing that in all his time spent fretting about this week, he’d never managed to think this far ahead.

“I know you don’t like these people very much, but at least they’re not some religious nutjobs,” Ace said, then lightened with a joke, “I really doubt they were expecting us to wait until marriage.”

And he was right; of course they wouldn’t. Felix’s relatives were expecting him and Ace to have shared a bed for years, sleeping next to each other and waking up together and tumbling into bed with heated kisses –

Felix cleared his throat. “I’ll take the couch. Sorry.”

“Oh no, you’re not,” Ace rounded the bed as soon as Felix stepped in the direction of said couch. “All the way up here you were complaining about needing to rest, so you’re gonna rest.”

“I’m not really that tired –”

“The murderous look you shot everyone the last half an hour says otherwise." Ace pushed Felix back towards the bed. “Just lie down for two seconds. We can figure out the rest later.”

Felix hovered by the bed and Ace – seeming confident that Felix wouldn’t try to escape to the couch again – returned to unpacking his bag.

“So this is your mom’s side of the family?” Ace asked while emptying the contents of his suitcase.

“Yes,” Felix said. He reluctantly laid on top of the covers and idly watched as Ace folded a sweater into place. “We’ve never been that close. I don’t think they approved of my mother marrying my father and abandoning the Hoffmann name.”

Ace nodded, continuing unpacking in a flurry that suggested he was used to making himself at home in all kinds of situations.

“That sucks,” Ace said. “But they seem to like you well enough. That whole thing wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be.”

Felix snorted. The fake smiles and awkward hugs he’d had to endure during introductions were far from fond. And the groom's side of the family hadn't even arrived yet – Felix had no idea if they'd be just as bad or somehow even worse.

“They’re just nice because you’re here,” Felix said bluntly. “Honestly, I don’t even know why I was invited in the first place.”

“Come on, you’re the bride’s cousin just like the rest of them.”

“And I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve talked to her,” Felix huffed. “I spent most of our childhoods following my father around while the rest of my cousins played together.”

The memory wasn’t a good one. It was no secret that Felix was a socially inept child and he'd hated the big family gatherings at the Hoffmann’s. It didn’t help that he was the oldest of his cousins and was already in school by the time they’d just learned to talk.

“What about your dad’s side?” Ace asked. “Surely, they have to be better?”

Felix smiled sadly. “They were. My father was an only child so it was just us and my grandparents. We used to visit them a lot, before…”

Before his father was taken from them.

Ace seemed to sense the shift in Felix's mood, as he looked up from his suitcase with an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Felix said. “Those years have mostly blurred together. My father’s disappearance, my grandparents’ passing, and then my mother’s… I think my aunt feels obligated to invite me to these things, since they’re all the family I have left.”

“I don’t know about that,” Ace said. “I think you’re forgetting your other family.”

Felix frowned in confusion.

“Oh, I see,” Ace said, now grinning. “It doesn’t matter if it’s not by blood? And all those times you stumbled to the campfire and bled all over us while we patched you up didn’t count, hmm?”

Felix chuckled. “I don’t know if I would describe that as family. Perhaps friendship out of necessity?”

“Mm, maybe,” Ace said. “Doesn’t change the fact that you’ve got people looking out for you – even if they’re across the world. Don’t let these stuck-up pricks bring you down.”

Warmth bloomed in Felix’s chest. Apart from Elodie and now Ace, he hadn't had much contact with the other survivors – but maybe the bond they shared didn't require forced small talk and yearly Christmas cards.

“You're right.” Felix smiled. "Thank you."

Ace merely grinned and waved his hand in dismissal before going back to unpacking. “Don’t mention it.”

They settled into a comfortable silence. Ace finished unpacking while Felix relaxed into the half a dozen throw pillows on the bed and finally felt his body start to unwind as he studied the room.

Gaudy wallpaper aside, the room was pretty cozy – at least compared to the rest of the extravagant mansion. The king-sized bed took up most of the space, with a sofa at the foot of it – that in retrospect was way too small for a grown man to sleep on – facing a set of drawers and a wall-mounted television. Beside the bed, Ace was doing an admirable job filling one of the full-size closets with his many outfits of the week. On the far wall was a floor-to-ceiling mirror that Felix would no doubt be fretting in front of every morning, and next to it was a door that presumably led to an en suite bathroom.

Thankfully, Felix couldn't hear any annoying small talk or grating laughter from the other occupants of the manor. It seemed like their room was relatively isolated and Felix thanked his luck that he wouldn't be sharing a wall with Bernard's snoring or one of his cousins' screaming children.

Felix realized that he hadn't stayed overnight at the estate since he was a child. From that time, he could only remember how utterly dull the guest room had been, but now that he was older, he could appreciate the comforts that it provided.

In the midst of Felix’s mental tour of the room, Ace popped into his field of vision with a towel slung over his shoulder.

“You need the bathroom?” Ace asked. “I was gonna take a much needed shower, if you don’t mind. I probably reek of economy-class plane."

It was strange to think that Ace had only arrived in Germany that morning. And even with the time difference and long cross-Atlantic flight weighing on him, somehow Felix was the one out of the two of them who was already exhausted.

“No, I’m good. Take your time," Felix said.

The door closed behind Ace and soon enough, Felix heard the sound of the shower running, along with a soft humming of a melody he didn’t recognize.

Ace seemed to be in good spirits and Felix couldn’t help but be grateful for his presence. The Argentine had charmed the pants off Felix’s difficult relatives, even making his normally sour aunt laugh in delight over some joke or another. Ace also didn't seem bothered by any bumps in the road: not Felix's awkwardness, or the bed situation, or the impending sense of doom that they'd be spending the whole week with these people.

No, Ace had proved himself more than equipped to handle the task he was given; even listening to Felix wallowing over his past and freaking out over nothing. And with his help, Felix was starting to believe that he'd actually get through this week without losing his sanity.

The edges of reality started going fuzzy and Felix didn't fight the exhaustion that was creeping in after the stressful day. All his worries of the last few weeks slowly faded into the background as he listened to the reassuring sound of the running water and Ace’s quiet singing.

"I was gonna wake you up in a few minutes," Ace explained. He walked over to the other side of the room, where sure enough, an ironing board was set up. "Not enough to be fashionably late, but still letting you sleep as long as possible. You really seemed like you needed a nap."

Felix couldn’t exactly protest the assessment; after the stress of reuniting with his family, his mind had desperately needed the rest. And seeing as Ace had already prepared his outfit, there really wasn’t as much of a hurry as Felix had initially feared.

"Where on earth did you find a clothes iron?" Felix asked instead.

"I asked one of the maids," Ace said. "Really nice girl – though she didn’t wanna let me do any work by myself, at first. Her English was amazing so we chatted for a while before she had to get back to work. One thing she insisted on was that we have to try the garden salad at dinner, since they just picked the veggies from the greenhouse earlier today and everything is as fresh as can be."

Felix fought back a smile as Ace recounted his conversation with the hired help who he already seemed to be making friends with. Felix knew that the housekeeping would have happily done the ironing for them, but Ace had managed to reason that she no doubt had her hands full while he'd only been 'doing fuck all the whole afternoon.' It only served to remind Felix that though Ace effortlessly fit into this kind of atmosphere, he still came from an entirely different life where things weren’t just handed to him.

Afterwards, Felix excused himself to the bathroom to get changed – making sure to spray some extra cologne to mask the fact that he didn't have time to shower.

Five minutes to six, both of them were successfully dressed for dinner, and Felix's panic over being late had given way for nervousness over going back into the lion's den. He stood in front of the mirror fretting with his hair and tie, trying desperately to calm his rapidly beating heart and praying that his nervous sweating wasn't already soaking through the suit.

Until Ace stepped into his space.

"Come on, stop that," Ace chastised, slapping Felix’s hands away. "You look great."

Ace straightened Felix's tie with practiced ease and suddenly Felix wanted to crawl out of his skin for an entirely different reason. God, Ace was close enough that Felix could smell the guest room’s expensive shampoo on him –

And then Ace patted Felix's chest and looked up at him with a smirk.

"Let's go get 'em."

His confidence was contagious, and Felix found himself nodding with more determination than he expected. "Okay."

Satisfied, Ace headed out of the room and Felix took a steadying breath before following him.

At dinner, Ace continued to be perfect.

He effortlessly picked up the right silverware and complimented the wine and the chef – paying special attention to the freshness of the vegetables – and causing delighted comments about his taste from Felix's family. With some relief, Felix found that he barely needed to talk, as Ace did it enough for both of them.

Inevitably, the topic of how they met came up. Ace glanced at Felix and after receiving a nod of approval, he launched into what sounded like a well-rehearsed version of what they had agreed upon beforehand.

In their faked version, Ace was from Italy and had worked as a bartender in a prestigious hotel in Milan that Felix was staying at during one of his business trips. After Felix had kept coming back for more than the great wine and Ace started looking forward to seeing his favorite customer, numbers were exchanged and it wasn't long until Felix returned to Italy for another visit.

Felix had wanted to use Ace's real history – only altering how they met for obvious reasons – but Ace had protested. He had joked and smiled about loving to craft spectacular stories, but now that Felix watched him effortlessly lie about the things that made Ace Ace, an overwhelming sense of wrongness settled in his gut.

"What else do you do besides serving drinks?" one of Felix's cousins asked – because of course, the idea of someone making a modest living out of bartending was completely unheard of in present company.

"Oh, I do a bit of everything," Ace said. "I've taken the investing approach to building a résumé; not putting all of my eggs in one basket and whatnot."

Expectant gazes landed on Ace while he did what Felix had come to recognize as "bullshitting long enough to come up with a good lie."

"I'm trained in being a sommelier, blackjack dealer and event host, but I never shied away from new challenges whenever word spread and I was offered," Ace explained smoothly. "I was actually a butler for a Spanish family for a couple summers – though not nearly as good as your butler." He shot aunt Agnes a look and she smiled proudly.

The conversation drifted to Agnes' extensive vetting process for hiring help, but Felix's attention stayed on Ace's patient half-smile while he listened to the woman ramble. Somehow, Felix knew there was some truth to Ace's story – being on the other side of the casino table aside, working for a family not unlike Felix's would explain Ace's fluency with the servicefolk.

After two hours of wining and dining that weren't nearly as bad as Felix had feared, they bid their goodnights and headed for their room with a pleasant buzz of good food and several glasses of wine. Felix chuckled at Ace's slightly slurred chatter but then earned an amused snort as he accidentally opened the door to a broom closet instead of their room.

By the time they made it down the correct hallway, Ace was leaning on Felix for support while he laughed at the story of how child Felix sneaked a pigeon into the mansion and for two hours it did nothing but flop around in panic and shit all over the expensive decor until his uncle managed to shoo it out of the window.

"You should have seen Agnes' face when mother told her." Felix chuckled at the memory while twisting the doorknob of what was hopefully the right room. "She looked like she had eaten a mouthful of particularly sour lemons. I was sure –"

He screeched to a halt as he spotted the lone bed in the room. Somehow, he had managed to forget all about this dilemma over dinner.

"You were sure she was gonna issue a district-wide ban on pigeons or something?" Ace continued effortlessly from Felix’s silence. "Explains why we didn't see any on our way here, I guess."

Ace dislodged himself from Felix's side and went to rummage through his closet. Felix's side felt cold with the loss of Ace’s heat and he had no idea what to make of that.

"Uhm… the bed," Felix managed.

"Hm?" Ace asked, re-emerging from the wardrobe. "Oh. You’re still not over that, huh?”

“Sorry – again. The couch...”

“Oh, don't you start,” Ace protested. “That is a ‘barely big enough to fit someone’s ass’-sized couch, not a German Giant -sized couch.”

Okay, fair; Felix had noticed that unfortunate fact before, but he was still willing to try. Now, he could only eye the offending couch with a glare.

“Come on, Felix,” Ace huffed. “This bed is big enough to easily fit five people. We’re barely even going to be breathing the same air.”

“I can ask for another room,” Felix tried.

“Yeah, that won’t be suspicious at all,” Ace drawled. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m not taking this seriously, but is it really such a big deal?”

“I don’t know,” Felix said, kicking the carpet with his shoe. “Friends don’t share a bed.”

“I’ve done it hundreds of times,” Ace said. “What are you worried about?”

“...I don’t know. It’s been a while since I slept next to anyone.”

Ace looked at him suspiciously. “Do you kick in your sleep or something?”

“No,” Felix huffed. “I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

Ace's eyebrows drew together in confusion. “What on earth makes you think I would be uncomfortable?”

“You’re already forced to be so close to me, pretending in front of the others. I want to give you space."

“Space? Do you know me?” Ace asked, now in clear amusement. “My personal space bubble is pretty much nonexistent. I’ve shared a room with strangers in shady hostels around the world and crashed with three other people on a single-person bed when we were too drunk to drive home.”

Felix bit the inside of his cheek. Those instances didn’t really sound like the same thing as this one, especially considering Felix’s unfortunate... more-than-friendly feelings towards Ace.

“I swear, I’m not uncomfortable – and I don’t want you to be, either,” Ace added, his demeanor softening. “If you need the space, I can sleep on the floor. Might as well put all these three hundred pillows to use –”

“No,” Felix interrupted. He'd tried to be considerate for Ace’s sake, but the last thing he wanted was for Ace to think he was repulsed by the idea. “No, you don’t have to do that. If you’re sure, then we can share.”

"Then we'll do that tonight and see how it goes," Ace agreed with an ease Felix still wasn't used to. "No need to overthink it."

As it turned out, that was much easier said than done. After they got changed (and Felix had a minor freakout in the privacy of the bathroom over Ace seeing his well-worn, ugly flannel pajamas), Felix returned to the room and almost defiantly climbed into bed before he could change his mind.

At Ace's suggestion, they ended up building a wall of pillows in the middle – at least there was no shortage of them – though Felix had an inkling it was more for his comfort than Ace's.

With the lights off, a sturdy pillow wall and a meter and half of distance between them, Felix still had to ask.

"Are you sure about this? I can –"

"Go to sleep, Felix."

“I – alright,” Felix relented. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Because of his earlier nap, sleep didn't come easy for Felix. He turned this way and that and counted backwards from a hundred but nothing seemed to work. It didn't help that he could feel Ace shifting even across the massive bed and found himself wondering whether Ace was just as hyper-aware of their proximity.

It wasn't until Ace fell asleep that the tension in the room seemed to dissolve. Felix switched from counting sheep to counting Ace's deep breaths, and eventually it was the soft rhythm of his friend's snoring that finally lulled Felix to sleep.

Looking up and seeing a bottom-down view of Ace's sleeping face only confirmed Felix's fears. He lifted his head from the makeshift pillow – which turned out to be Ace's chest – and was mortified to find a spot of drool soaking the fabric of Ace’s T-shirt. Fortunately Ace was still snoring softly, sprawled out with his limbs going this way and that and with one arm wrapped loosely around Felix's shoulders. The sight would have been endearing if Felix wasn’t so busy freaking out.

Felix glanced around to assess the situation further. To his displeasure, he noticed that though Ace appeared to be a restless sleeper, he had managed to stay on his own side of the bed, proving that Felix had been the one to initiate this… embarrassing act of clinginess. Based on the pillows scattered all around the bed, it became clear that the pillow wall had been no match for Felix. In his sleep, he had somehow managed to cross the entire king-sized bed and work his way through the formidable obstacle of five to seven extra-large pillows.

Just to be close to Ace.

With the fight-or-flight instinct rapidly kicking in, Felix hurried to dislodge himself from Ace. Unfortunately, because they were so ridiculously tangled up together (even Felix's legs were clinging around Ace's!), Ace stirred when Felix unsuccessfully attempted to squirm his way out from around him.

Felix froze, still half on top of Ace, while Ace looked right at him and slowly blinked awake. Felix was very aware of the compromising position but he could do nothing but hold his breath and stare at Ace like a deer caught in the headlights.

Then, finally, Ace gave a lazy smile. "Mornin'."

Ace's voice was rough with sleep and his hair was mussed up in an unfairly attractive way, and for a second Felix feared he was going to go into cardiac arrest.

"I'm so sorry!" Felix nearly choked on his own spit as he pushed away and scrambled to his own side of the bed. "I just woke up, I have no idea how this happened –"

"I do," Ace interrupted, then smirked knowingly. "I think I've figured out your secret."

Felix paled. Of course Ace would know about his feelings, Felix was practically throwing himself into his arms in his sleep like some particularly clingy octopus –

"You're a sleep cuddler!" Ace finished with a victorious smile. "No wonder you were so hesitant to share."

"Ähm… yes," Felix lied. Usually he preferred his space when sleeping, but he was not going to admit that to Ace. "Sorry," he added again, just in case.

"Pfft, don't be sorry," Ace said, sitting up and stretching. "I slept like a baby. Thanks for keeping me warm," he shot Felix a wink.

"I'm –" Felix stammered and bolted out of bed, nearly tripping on the sheets in his haste. "I need to brush my teeth."

“Hey, Felix?”

Felix stopped on the threshold to the bathroom, forcing himself to push through the embarrassment and look back at Ace.

“Yes?”

Rather than comment on his incredible awkwardness, however, Ace merely gave Felix a cursory once-over before offering a sleepy grin. “Nice jammies.”

Felix sputtered something unintelligible and promptly escaped to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him more forcefully than necessary.

Felix turned on the sink and for a minute merely leaned over it, resting his forehead against the cool glass of the bathroom mirror and allowing himself a quiet meltdown.

Now that the immediate danger was over, Felix's pounding heart gave way for the stupid giddiness that always accompanied being near Ace. Though Felix's rational side knew that nothing had happened and that sleep-spooning his unsuspecting friend was bad, another, childish part of him was quick to gush about how happy Ace had looked and how nice it had felt to be held by him.

But it was wrong. Even if Felix had wanted this – god knows he had daydreamed about cuddling up to Ace more times than was healthy, in the last few years – that wasn't his decision to make. And he shouldn't have taken advantage.

Realizing the tap was still running and he had wasted a horrible amount of water, Felix hurried to brush his teeth before hopping into a much overdue shower.

After using up yet more water in a hot shower and spending way too long styling his hair and outfit – mentally patting himself on the back for having had the foresight to hang an outfit in the bathroom in preparation for today – Felix finally returned to the bedroom with a carefully crafted apology ready on his tongue.

Ace perked up as soon as Felix stepped into view. “Good to go?”

Ace had apparently already gotten dressed in his absence. In addition to a simple button-up and tasteful chinos, he was wearing the linen jacket Felix had picked out for him, no doubt to protect himself from the morning chill. It only made Felix extra grateful that he didn't need to have this conversation in his stupid pajamas; it was unfair how Ace could just roll out of bed and look so effortlessly handsome.

“Yes,” Felix said. “Sorry for hogging the bathroom.”

“No worries. I’ll just brush my teeth and we can head out.”

Ace made for the bathroom, keeping the door open while he picked up his toothbrush and the toothpaste. Felix hovered awkwardly nearby before deciding this was a good of a time as any to bring up the subject.

"I’m sorry for… earlier," Felix started.

Predictably, Ace waved off his concerns with nothing but a flourish of his toothbrush. “C’mon, it’s all good. Who doesn’t like a friendly cuddle to start the morning?”

"It’s not ‘all good’,” Felix protested. “Even though I didn’t do it on purpose, it was still inappropriate and you don't have to pretend otherwise."

"I'm telling you, it's fine," Ace said. "It's not like I wasn't hugging you back. Come to think of it, after hanging off of you for all of yesterday, I don't blame our bodies for getting shit confused. It's not a big deal – I really don't mind."

Ace started brushing his teeth and Felix realized that his words pinpointed the exact problem with the situation. Ace didn't mind, but he didn't want this, either – not like Felix.

Felix nodded sharply. "Right. Good."

It was the furthest thing from good.

“I didn’t know you played,” Felix said.

"I don't," Ace said. "But I used to date a professional tennis player back in the day. I think she was even in the Olympics one year."

Felix blinked stupidly; that was complete news to him. It only served to prove that though they had been friends for years, there was still so much of Ace's history he didn't know. Such as, apparently, his affinity for sports and past relationships with professional athletes.

"That's impressive," Felix said.

"Oh yeah, she wasn't humble about it either," Ace chuckled. "But she taught me pretty well – kicking my ass every time, mind you – and even after we broke up, I still kept playing whenever I got the chance."

Felix smiled. Even if he had never really understood the appeal of tennis, he'd happily go along with something that Ace so obviously enjoyed.

"I'm gonna be rusty as hell though, but I thought it'd be fun," Ace continued.

"You'll be better than me, at least," Felix said. "I haven't played since my teens."

"Maybe I can pass on some of my top secret tennis knowledge to you."

"Starting with 'how to not miss 90 percent of your shots' would be nice."

"Oh, absolutely!" Ace grinned. "With my masterful mentorship program, you're only going to be missing 89 percent of the time."

Felix chuckled. It was a relief to hear that Ace wouldn't be holding Felix's poor tennis skills against him, at least.

“So, tell me about our competition," Ace prompted. "We're playing your aunt and her boyfriend, right?"

"Yes," Felix said. "They play fairly regularly, I've heard. They'll be tough to beat."

"Hmm," Ace said. "How old is the boyfriend again?”

“Nico?” Felix considered the strange question. “I'm not sure. Maybe mid-thirties?”

“What about your aunt?”

“Ugh.” Felix should know this, but he never bothered to memorize details about his relatives. “I remember her fiftieth birthday. Fifty-three, maybe?”

Ace nodded. "Right."

There was a beat of silence that Felix expected Ace to fill. However, when he glanced at the man, Ace was looking resolutely at the ground with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Ehm… I can look up her age in the family records after the game?" Felix suggested, needing to break the tense silence.

"What? No, that's not – well," Ace said. "That's only kind of relevant to what I was thinking about."

"There's something else on your mind, then?" Felix asked.

"Yeah, but… you know what, nevermind. It was dumb."

"Dumber than me spending fifteen minutes picking which sunglasses to wear for tennis?" Felix prodded.

That got a smile out of Ace. "Hey now, sunglasses are an important fashion statement." He paused. “I guess I was just wondering if you were expected to show up to this wedding with some young, pretty thing hanging off your arm too."

And just like that, it hit Felix. Ace wasn't asking about Agnes and Nico because of their tennis game; he was asking because he was insecure about his and Felix's age difference. Like some of Felix's idiot relatives would look at them and think that Ace was the one who didn't deserve to be with Felix.

And he could not have been more wrong.

“I was supposed to show up with someone who understands and cares about me, which I did," Felix said.

"Right." Ace smiled, but he didn't look convinced.

"...And looking great in a suit and charming everyone within the first hour is just a bonus."

Ace finally gave a full, somewhat dorky grin. “Flatterer.”

As it turned out, Ace actually was pretty good at tennis. Though he was no athlete, he clearly had game sense, in the way he could keep chatting away with Felix every chance he got and still manage to return serves before Felix even caught sight of the ball.

Even though Felix liked to think of himself as being in decent shape, there was no doubt that tennis still was not his game. He missed some embarrassingly easy shots and clearly dragged their team down, but Ace picked up his slack and in the end, they managed to hold their own pretty well – at least against a couple that owned a tennis court and actually used it regularly.

During a break in the match, Felix eagerly gulped down the water that the pool boy came by with. Despite being obviously winded, Ace accepted his own drink from the boy with a heartfelt thank you, and Felix's rapidly beating heart suddenly skipped a few beats.

Unfortunately, that was when his aunt decided it was time to make small talk.

“You're quite good,” Agnes told Ace.

Felix felt absurdly pleased; Agnes was usually too self-absorbed to compliment anyone, but she had clearly taken a liking to Ace ever since day one.

“Thanks!" Ace's bright smile didn't show the slightest hint of exhaustion. "You're not too bad yourself. Where did you learn to play?”

"I've played from when I was a child, but only started learning more seriously a few years ago," Agnes said.

“Me and Agnes actually met at a tennis course,” Nico chimed in.

Ace gave Felix a grin full of glee – 'so she's the one banging the tennis instructor?', he could practically hear the gossiping they would be doing after the game.

"Well, isn't that romantic!" Ace said out loud. "This game does have a way of bringing people together."

“Indeed. It's just a shame that Felix is holding you back,” Agnes said, giving Felix a teasing smile.

In return, Felix could only muster a blank and slightly confused stare; for all his years knowing the woman, he had thought that a sense of humor was something she simply did not possess. Maybe Ace just had a way of bringing it out of people.

Ace chuckled and squeezed Felix's knee in an appropriately fond yet patronizing manner. “He's still a beginner."

Felix gulped down some more water to hide both his reddening cheeks and tentative smile. He never remembered spending time with Agnes and her boyfriend being this easy.

“You should take him on a course too. Then we could meet up again to play," Nico said.

Ace's bright smile faltered for just a moment, and just like that, the reality of the situation set back in.

“That sounds great," Ace managed with a strained smile.

Because though Felix's family had no idea, this week was the last time they would ever see Ace.

“Most of them just pick their outfits based on the amount of zeroes on the price tag,” Felix agreed. He sipped his wine and looked down his nose at the obscene sparkle of 24-karat gold and diamond in Agnes’ necklace. “At least some of us have fashion sense.”

“Oh, you are such a snob,” Ace grinned up at him with wine-stained lips. “But I have a counter argument: the fedora incident."

"Hey," Felix protested the offense to his favorite hat. “I seem to remember you borrowing it more than a few times.”

“I didn’t borrow it, I stole it and tried to get rid of it so I’d never have to see it again,” Ace argued. “Damn Entity just kept bringing it back.”

“As she should.” Felix hid his smirk behind the rim of his glass. “Regardless, I don’t think a man who wears leopard print with purple sequins is in any place to give fashion advice."

"A fedora, Felix.” Ace leaned closer, dead serious as he stared into Felix’s eyes like that would drive his point home. “A fedora that you wore with ripped jeans – it was like a 14-year-old picked your outfit."

Felix snorted. "If we're talking about childish outfits, I'd like to remind you of the reindeer glasses which –"

Ace’s smile suddenly faltered and he squeezed Felix's wrist. "Watch out, incoming."

Felix glanced to his side and sure enough, Bernard was making a beeline towards them from the bar. Ace's warmth left Felix's side as he leaned to place his drink on the table, and it was only then that Felix realized how close they had been huddled together on the couch.

When Bernard plopped himself down on the opposite couch with the coordination of someone who had clearly had one too many drinks, Felix already knew to steady himself for a wholly unpleasant few minutes.

“Felix, my boy,” Bernard started with a drunken leer. Felix could almost smell the brandy in his breath even over the table. "Why are you hiding over here? Aren't you enjoying the party?"

"I am," Felix lied. "We were just taking a short break."

"Right, right," Bernard said in a way that let Felix know he was not even listening. "Well, now that you're here, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Ähm… yes?" Felix said.

Bernard leaned forward on the sofa and Felix tried not to sink deeper into his seat just to get away. “I've always wondered. How does this whole thing between two men… work?”

Bernard looked between Ace and Felix expectantly and Felix’s jaw clenched in annoyance.

“I’m not sure I follow,” Felix responded as calmly as he could manage.

He felt Ace’s eyes studying him, but the gambler didn't ask and Felix sure as hell wasn't going to translate any of this conversation. While Bernard was racking his inebriated brain for a response, Ace reached for his drink on the table – choosing water over the wine and giving Felix the rising urge to steal Ace’s wine glass and down the remaining alcohol in one go.

“I mean, how do you…” Bernard trailed off, doing a hand gesture Felix wasn't even sure he wanted to know the meaning of. “The parts don't… fit.”

Felix was a line of tension from head to toe, his nails digging into his slacks. "I don’t understand the question."

"Do you take turns?" Bernard continued. “Come on boy, humor your old uncle Bern –”

“Oh, no!” Ace suddenly exclaimed from beside Felix. The very next second, Felix noticed the wetness seeping into the sleeve of his suit.

“God, I’m such a klutz!” Ace said, depositing his now empty glass on the table. There was water all over the front of his shirt and Felix’s sleeve, and he feebly attempted to wipe at it with his pocket square. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

Ace glanced up at Felix with a look, and Felix finally got the hint.

“It’s alright,” Felix said with a gentle smile. “Let’s go change into something dry.”

He rose from the couch and pulled Ace to his feet.

“So sorry about that.” Ace offered a charmingly fake smile at Bernard.

“It is O-K,” Bernard stammered.

Felix was eager to start leading Ace away from the party, but naturally, Bernard had to call out after them.

“Find me when you get back, Felix!” Bernard hollered with a much too smug grin.

And that was when a little demon took hold of Felix.

“Actually,” Felix started. He wrapped an arm around Ace’s waist and pulled him close, earning a delighted squeak from his companion. "I think we will be a while."

Ace threw his head back and laughed, a beautiful and unrestrained sound that made Felix's cheeks flush from more than the wine, before looking over his shoulder at a thoroughly confused Bernard.

Felix watched with both horror and pride as Ace shot his annoying uncle a cheeky wink. “Don’t wait up,” Ace said before tugging on Felix's soaked sleeve.

And though Felix should have been frustrated after the dreadful party and uncomfortable exchange, he could not stop smiling as he led them out of the room with his arm around Ace and felt Ace's body trembling with barely restrained laughter at the scandalized looks from the other guests.

There really was nobody better suited to the job of helping Felix through this week.

They had gotten to their room – Ace hanging off of Felix's arm all the way there – while they shared silly looks and tried not to burst out laughing where someone else could see them.

But as soon as the door had closed behind them, Ace had started cackling and Felix couldn't help but join in. The next few minutes had been a blur of smug chatter and hanging their shirts to dry while silently coming to the agreement to slip into something more comfortable and spend the rest of the night hiding from Felix's relatives.

"Man, am I glad to be out of that suit," Ace kept talking, oblivious to Felix's dilemma. "Don't get me wrong, I fucking love the wardrobe you picked out for me – especially the lack of fedoras – but it feels like now I can finally breathe."

Felix heard the bed creak and bounce as Ace no doubt threw himself onto it. The TV clicked on and Felix glanced at it to see Ace surf through the channels: feebly trying to find something that wasn't in German, if he had to guess.

"You alright there?" Ace asked, making Felix snap out of it and turn to face him.

Which turned out to be a big mistake.

Ace had changed into a pastel pink sweater and blue linen shorts: a combination that should have been another outfit Felix would want to poke fun at, but instead seemed so comfortable. Warm brown eyes and a knowing smile were directed at Felix as Ace held out the remote in invitation, and Felix wanted nothing more than to curl up against Ace's side and bury his face in pastel pink before drifting off to some low-budget German movie dub.

"Not that I mind the view, but you've been fondling those sweatpants an awfully long time," Ace smirked. "Do you two need some time alone?"

Felix looked down to where he was still clutching the pants, having stood there rooted in place in just his boxers for a good minute.

"Sorry," Felix apologized. He hurried to step into the pants and shuffled onto his side of the bed.

Ace gave a half-shrug. "I don't blame you, my brain's pretty fried after today too."

There was a beat of silence and aborted German sentences from the TV as Ace flicked through the channels. Finally, he groaned in annoyance and seemed to give up.

"God, there's nothing on. Do these people not know about streaming?" With a huff, Ace dropped the remote in Felix's lap. "You pick."

Felix settled for the first thing that seemed even remotely interesting, which happened to be a documentary about the Amazon jungle. Predictably, the voice-over was in German, and Felix didn't hesitate to turn the volume down since it felt rude to watch something only one of them understood.

A few minutes of silence followed as they settled against the numerous cushions that had been perfectly rearranged onto the bed while they were away. And in the comfort of their room, with nobody but Ace for company and only the muted sounds of the TV instead of the obnoxious chatter downstairs, Felix felt like he could finally start to unwind.

Ace's eyes remained firmly on the screen and he was oddly quiet. It seemed like the eventful day had drained some of the gambler's endless social battery as well, since he apparently didn’t feel the need to disturb the companionable silence in the room.

And Felix was loath to ruin that, but there was something he wanted to ask. "How did you know?"

"Hm?" Ace tilted his head to meet Felix’s eyes.

"How did you know to rescue me from Bernard?"

Ace’s lips pulled up into a fond smile. "Maybe because you were smiling and cracking jokes with me one second, and the next you were tensing up and looking like you wanted to spontaneously combust rather than be there."

Felix returned the smile; even if Ace hadn't been able to understand the conversation, there were few people who could read Felix as well as him.

"Thank you," Felix said.

"Of course."

"And thank you for using water and not the red wine," Felix added with a small smirk.

Ace laughed. "Hey, I wasn't about to ruin two perfectly good suits just to prove a point!"

They turned back to the screen and for a moment merely watched as a group of colorful frogs leapt between trees of the jungle.

"I've always wondered," Ace started conversationally. From the teasing tone in his voice, Felix already knew that silence was probably no longer on the menu. "How many weeks of shitting in the woods do you think nature documentarians can take before they start to regret their life choices?"

Felix snorted out an ugly laugh – and would fully blame the alcohol and exhaustion for laughing at such juvenile humor, if anyone asked – which made Ace’s face light up with a grin.

They spent the rest of the night with Felix giggling somewhat hysterically at Ace's monotone narrations of "the host studies the mushrooms intently, already planning a massive hallucinogenic trip as soon as filming is over" and "here we see the cameraman lingering on the two mating snakes, needing footage to spice up those lonely jungle nights spent with his right hand".

And when their eyelids started to grow heavy and words became slurred with sleep, Felix managed to turn the TV off and crawl under the covers while Ace shut the lights and shoved half a bed's worth of throw pillows onto the floor. After that, the day's tennis and wine did their part and Felix was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Ace drove just as recklessly as Felix had anticipated, pushing their golf cart to its limits when speeding down the hills and driving off the designated paths. And even though Felix clutched the handlebar for dear life whenever the car tilted dangerously to the side, more often than not he found himself laughing right alongside Ace's excited whooping.

Between the driving, Ace made a running commentary about Felix's and the others' game. Mostly, said commentary consisted of praising Felix even through terrible plays – like when Felix hit a stray branch that rocketed his ball in the complete opposite direction of where it was supposed to go.

"Wow, you actually managed to hit that thin branch! Nice precision aim," Ace grinned, effectively preventing Felix’s embarrassment.

If Felix had expected Ace to mostly lounge around in the cart while he and the others played, he could not have been more wrong. Despite Ace admitting that golf had never interested him, he made an incredible effort to learn; asking Felix about the different clubs and rules and etiquette, seeming genuinely interested in the answer.

"What's this club called?"

"What do those white pillars mean?"

"What about the red ones?"

"What's a mulligan?"

"What does handicap mean?"

"How do you even know where the damn hole is?"

And he learned. When Felix's next ball bounced out of bounds, Ace was immediately tossing him another one from the golf bag.

"That was just a practice shot," Ace said with a wink.

And in no time, Felix was asking for the wood-three and five-iron and Ace effortlessly handed the right club to him. He also knew to avoid the green with the cart, fixed divots in the fairway when Felix duffed, and stopped talking as soon as someone was focusing on their shot nearby.

He also made bets – because of course he did, it was Ace.

"I bet you ten bucks – err, euros – that it's going in the bunker," Ace murmured when Günther was lining up his shot.

Felix smiled. "I don't have any cash on me."

"Fine, a backrub or something then," Ace shot back.

Felix didn’t even have to think twice. "Deal."

Günther narrowly avoided the bunker and Felix had never been so disappointed to win one of Ace's bets.

But when Ace shrugged and faced him with a grin while gesturing for Felix to turn around, he realized that maybe it was for the best. This way, Felix only had to deal with the embarrassment of strong hands working into his tense shoulders through the shirt, instead of getting free rein to the firm muscles of Ace's back and the sweat he could see pooling in the nape of his tanned neck.

While waiting for their turn between holes, Ace and Felix mostly made chit-chat with the groom and his best man. They only caught glimpses of Bernard's group behind them. Said group’s game appeared to be going much slower, and based on the amount of beer cans Felix could spot in his least favorite uncle's golf cart, he wasn’t exactly surprised.

Through talking with Alexander, they also got confirmation that he did seem to be genuinely infatuated with Vanessa. He joked that even though she had become somewhat of a bridezilla with the wedding so close, she was normally a sweetheart. Not only that, but her social media career was apparently quite successful, having a large following and putting in a lot of work into editing her photos and videos.

It definitely made Felix feel a little bad for assuming that his cousin was just doing it all for attention – and especially for thinking she was marrying for money and not genuine love. Of course, he would rather die than confess any of that to his future cousin-in-law.

The hours rolled by surprisingly fast and soon enough, Ace was driving them up to the 18th green. Right as Felix stepped out of the cart with his putter in hand, he suddenly had an idea.

"Do you want to make the final putt?" Felix asked Ace.

"Wha – me?" Ace exclaimed, clearly confused. "I barely even knew what a putter was three hours ago, I sure as hell don't know how to use one."

"Would you like me to teach you?" Felix asked.

"I –" Ace hesitated, glancing at Alexander.

"Go ahead," the groom encouraged. "We don't mind. Right, Günther?"

Günther merely grunted and waved his hand in a "go ahead" motion.

"Oh, what the hell," Ace grinned. "Do your worst, coach."

They waited for the others to finish their putts before Felix went over some of the basics with Ace. He demonstrated his grip and helped Ace line up the shot, with Ace staying quiet and uncharacteristically focused the entire time. Felix could see that Ace's body was tense and his grip ended up all wrong, but he didn't have the heart to correct him –

Ace's putt was about 30 degrees too far to the right and had enough force to almost make the ball roll off the green entirely.

Ace winced and looked up at Felix with a strained grin. "Oops."

Felix gave an encouraging smile. "Practice shot," he reminded.

That got a chuckle out of Ace. "You're right. Let me try that again."

Ever the trooper, Ace walked over to prepare for his next putt. But this time, when Felix saw him repeating the same mistakes, he had to intervene.

"Sorry," Felix said. "Can I…?"

"Of course!" Ace said. "In case you didn't notice, I desperately need the help."

Felix nodded and stepped behind Ace to get a better feel for his putting stance. He corrected Ace's grip and instructed him how to place his feet, showing him how to keep his wrists locked to control the momentum.

And it wasn't until he was guiding Ace to making practice swings, with one of his hands on Ace's wrist and the other on his hip, that Felix realized just how intimate the position was. He was plastered to Ace's back practically from head to toe, leaned over Ace's shoulder to murmur advice.

If the roles were reversed, Felix would probably have passed out from both giddy excitement and utter mortification.

As it stood now, Felix merely cleared his throat and took half a step back so the position wasn't quite so indecent. "Now give it a try."

Ace gave an acknowledging nod – making Felix thank his luck for the lack of a flirty comment – and shuffled into position by the ball. Felix kept the hand firm on Ace's hip, needing to steady both himself and Ace's swing.

Ace's shoulders moved and with the familiar clack of metal hitting composite rubber, Felix watched as the ball went in a perfectly straight line towards the hole, only coming about half a meter short.

"Nice job!" Alexander said.

"Perfectly lined," the best man agreed. "Just a little short."

"Well, it's an improvement, right?" Ace turned to face Felix, his questioning eyes searching Felix's for approval.

Approval which Felix was all too happy to give.

"You did great," Felix said. "Now just repeat it and we'll finish the round with a bogey."

Ace smirked and sauntered over to the ball. "Will the third time be the charm? Place your bets, gentlemen!"

The group chuckled before allowing Ace silence to focus. Felix was surprisingly tense while he waited for the stroke; objectively, it wasn't the hardest putt to make, but he had seen many experienced players choke on even shorter ones. With Ace's lack of experience it could go either way, but Felix so badly wanted him to succeed –

And with a clank and whirr, the ball tumbled into the hole.

The groom whooped and Ace turned to Felix with the brightest, most brilliant smile Felix had ever seen. It made the air leave his lungs and his heart skip a beat, and he wanted nothing more than to close the few steps of distance between them and pull Ace into his arms to kiss his smiling lips –

"Good game!" the best man said, snapping Felix out of it. "Nice putt, man."

The other players proceeded to shake hands amongst themselves and with Ace. Meanwhile, Felix was left reeling from his thoughts.

He had wanted to kiss Ace. Hell, he probably would have kissed Ace, had the others not intervened.

Would Ace have let him?

Felix was in a daze as the party shook his hand and started gathering their things. He barely registered the best man and Ace making plans to return to the country club for a drink while they waited for Bernard's group.

A firm hand landed on his shoulder and Felix looked up to see Alexander.

"Sorry, I –" Felix rushed out in German, embarrassed over holding the group back. 

"That's alright," Alexander assured, his hand falling away as he turned to look at Ace laughing with the best man. "Why haven't you taken him golfing before?"

"Ah." Felix scrambled to think of an appropriate lie. "I didn't think he would like it."

"Hmm," Alexander said. "I’ve learned that asking someone how they feel is better than just assuming.”

Felix's palms were starting to feel sweaty and he just nodded mutely. It was like Alexander knew about their situation, about how Felix constantly studied Ace to give him even the slightest clue to what the other was thinking –

"Regardless, I think he'd enjoy anything as long as it was with you," Alexander said.

Felix frowned and tilted his head in question. That was along the lines of what Ace had implied earlier, but how did Alexander sound so certain?

"The way you look at each other reminds me so much of me and Vanessa," Alexander clarified. "Last night, she was saying that she's never seen you smile this much."

Felix flushed at the knowledge that not only were his relatives gossiping about him, but his little crush might not be as discreet as he had thought. "Ah… really?"

Alexander grinned and nudged him in the side. "Just make sure to invite us to the wedding."

While Felix was busy choking on his own tongue, Alexander merely laughed and slapped him on the back before returning to the others.

At the incessant beeping that was Ace abusing their golf cart’s horn, Felix finally rejoined the group. While they drove back to the country club, he listened to Ace crack jokes about Felix’s expert golf tutelage and tried to ignore his own nagging thoughts about how it was starting to seem like they might be selling the whole couple thing a little too well.

And thus Felix was now stuck by the pool, fighting both the butterflies in his gut and the racing thoughts in his head, desperately trying not to sneak glances at a shirtless Ace stretching out in the sun chair next to him.

He knew it was stupid. He had seen Ace shirtless plenty of times before, such as last night when they had changed out of their suits right next to each other, not to mention countless times at the campfire when Felix had pulled off the gaudy fabric of Ace's shirts to patch up a gnarly stab wound or hook-shaped hole underneath.

But after his revelation at the golf course, Felix couldn’t help but see Ace in an entirely different light. He had always found Ace attractive, but it had been nothing more than a silly crush – something to occupy his mind and at most daydream of between trials or business meetings.

Now, his crush had become something tangible. Felix no longer wanted just Ace; he wanted what they pretended to have together, the easy companionship and laughter and soft intimacy even in the middle of a golf game.

And after half a week of Ace happily staying by Felix's side and calling him darling with a teasing glint in his eye, it didn't feel like an unattainable fantasy anymore.

Ace was, of course, oblivious to Felix’s inner turmoil and merely kept lounging in his sun chair by the pool while Felix stared a hole into the book he was pretending to read. 

Felix could already feel his self-control slipping and would vehemently deny it if asked, but as the minutes ticked by he found himself looking. Looking at the way Ace soaked in the afternoon warmth like a cat, periodically stretching his arms above his head with a soft, happy sigh. At the way his cheeks glowed with a day in the sun, and at how he looked so warm and so soft, unabashedly enjoying the scorching weather and with miles of tanned skin and salt and pepper body hair on display.

And Felix couldn't think of anything but how much he wanted to curl up against Ace and doze off together right then and there. He would definitely wake up sunburnt, but getting to share a cozy afternoon nap with Ace would be well worth it.

Felix shook the thought from his head and looked back down at his book before he ended up doing something stupid.

The shade of the parasol cast shadows onto the pages of Ming dynasty architecture. Contrary to Ace, Felix was sitting in the shade and clad much more modestly in a light t-shirt and canvas shorts. Despite the precautions, he could already feel the tingling on his nose that signified a beginning sunburn. When Felix had said as much earlier, Ace had handed him his panama hat to protect his face further – protesting loudly when Felix had instead suggested he wear his own fedora.

Felix adjusted Ace's hat with a smile before finally immersing himself in his book.

Eventually, even Ace appeared to tire of the heat – at least enough to brave the pool.

After a day spent in the sun, the no doubt heated pool water still made Ace hiss from shock and breathe through his teeth until his body adjusted to the temperature. Felix's book was all but forgotten as he watched Ace swim a lap around the pool, his movements fluid and much more elegant than the doggy paddle that was Felix's swim style.

The sun reflected off Ace's wet skin and Felix couldn't tear his eyes away from the hypnotizing sight. He was definitely staring rather intently when Ace pushed himself out of the pool, droplets of water cascading over pebbled nipples and down his chest while he walked closer –

“– don’t you think?”

Felix only processed the end of Ace’s question. Belatedly, he looked up to realize that Ace was addressing him.

“Huh?” Felix said stupidly.

Ace offered a lopsided smile. “I said, that was refreshing. If the weather’s gonna stay like this –"

"Mamaaaaa!!!"

The unmistakable scream of a child's beginning tantrum made Felix flinch and Ace pause mid-sentence, both turning to look at the source of the noise.

While Felix had been busy ogling Ace, a woman and a girl had joined them at the other side of the pool. The duo looked vaguely familiar; another of Felix’s cousins must have arrived during their time on the golf course, because Felix could distantly recognize them as said cousin's daughter and wife.

The child was currently stomping her tiny foot on the tiled ground in clear anger while her mother made herself comfortable in the lounge chair, her cocktail glass clinking against the numerous rings and bracelets she wore. Felix couldn't help but silently judge the display; what kind of person wore jewelry to the pool, anyway?

"Come on, mom! I want to go swimming!" the girl whined.

"I am in full make-up! Just go by yourself."

Felix huffed out a sigh; it looked like their quiet afternoon was over.

"Hey, kid!" Ace suddenly hollered, making the girl perk up. "Wanna see a cannonball?"

The girl tilted her head in confusion, but Ace didn't wait for an answer. He took off in a sprint back to the pool and jumped in with a massive splash.

Ace surfaced with an expectant grin, making the girl squeal in delight and Felix to make a sound that was not far off.

Embarrassed, Felix resolutely buried his nose back in the book.

It was difficult to read with the sounds of splashing, excited giggling and exaggerated sea monster noises in the background, but Felix was no longer annoyed that the silence had been disturbed.

Because as if his feelings for Ace weren’t already too much to handle, he now had to live with the knowledge that on top of everything else, Ace was apparently good with children, too.

They spent another hour by the pool. Ace had a water fight with the girl, said girl’s mother looked on in amusement while enjoying her cocktail hour in peace, and Felix even managed to get some reading done in between making heart eyes at Ace patiently entertaining the bored child.

After some time, Ace even managed to coax Felix to dip his toes into the pool – only to splash him with a massive wave as soon as he was in range. 

And thus Felix stood by his aunt’s pool in stunned silence, with his clothes drenched and blinking chlorine from his eyes, and with his cousin's child – and even her mother – snickering at his look that must have resembled something akin to a wet Golden Retriever.

But when Felix gave a pointed look to Ace, already expecting a grin and a teasing comment, he received no such thing. Instead, Ace's attention was fixed on Felix's midsection, his mouth slack in surprise.

Mortified, Felix realized why; his white t-shirt and thin summer shorts, wet with pool water, practically clung to the front of his body. It didn’t leave much up for imagination and Felix hurried to straighten out the clothes to spare any unfortunate soul from the sight.

"Are you happy with yourself?" Felix scolded, tugging on his shirt to wring out some of the water.

"Buh."

Ace's unintelligible reply made Felix look back up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Shit – uh, shoot," Ace said, casting an apologetic look to where the girl had already rejoined her mother. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you so… wet."

Felix rolled his eyes. "Right. I'm going to go change now."

Surprisingly, Ace didn’t get up to join him like all the other times Felix had retired to their room. 

"Yeah, I'll, uh –" Ace said, casting a hurried glance around. "I'll join you later. I need to cool off – I mean, I wanted to swim a couple more laps before I go."

"Okay…" Felix said. Ace didn’t sound very convincing, but Felix was too tired and now also far too soaked to argue. "I will see you later, then. If you don't mind."

"No, no, go ahead!" Ace exclaimed. "I'll be right up – err, there. I'll be right there."

Giving Ace one last, skeptical look, Felix gathered his things and left the pool.

On his way up to the guest room, he ran into one of the maids and suddenly had the idea to ask for refreshments to be delivered to their room. Maybe the heat was getting to Ace, and that’s why he was acting so strange.

By the time Felix walked out of the guest room's bathroom, shower-fresh and in blissfully dry clothes, both Ace and the drinks had already arrived.

"Hey!" Ace greeted him cheerfully. "All recovered from the tropical German heat?"

Ace appeared to have made it through half of his glass of sparkling water, so Felix grabbed the other one.

"Yes," Felix said, scratching at his sunburnt nose, "Though I need to remember the sunscreen tomorrow. I look like Rudolph."

"Nah, it's not that bad," Ace reassured. Then, his smile slowly pulled up into a mischievous grin. "Though with my reindeer glasses… hmm, yeah, I could see it."

Felix chuckled and took a sip from his drink. Ace already seemed to be back to normal, cracking jokes every other sentence and whatnot.

"Thanks for the bubbles, by the way," Ace said. "I always forget to drink enough water."

"You're welcome," Felix said. "I thought you looked a little thirsty back there."

Ace promptly choked on his water and Felix hovered anxiously nearby while he coughed.

"Are you alright?" Felix asked, one hand on Ace's shoulder.

"Super," Ace croaked out. "Just tried to inhale it like an idiot. Anyway, I'll go wash up so we're not late for dinner."

Ace headed for the bathroom and Felix finished his own drink in a calmer manner, having learned from his friend's mistake. It was a relief to see Ace back to his usual self, so Felix chalked up his strange behavior at the pool as nothing more than dehydration.

…And if Felix got his revenge for the splashing by wearing his fedora to dinner that night, well, it may have been well deserved.

Upon catching him staring, Ace merely smirked and shot Felix a wink over the gold-trimmed rim of the dainty – and probably ludicrously expensive – porcelain tea cup.

Felix huffed in amusement and reached for his forgotten cup of coffee. It was a relief that Ace was also aware of the ridiculousness of the event; twenty-something people sweltering in the summer heat and being offered nothing but hot beverages and an assortment of greasy pastries, just to satisfy the bride-to-be's fairytale wedding fantasy. 

At least they had managed to snag a table furthest away from the rest of the party: courtesy of Ace's quick thinking and sharp elbows. Felix truly didn't think he would have survived this week without Ace in his corner, always ready to navigate the absurd situations they found themselves in and offer moral support –

“Wanna see how many quiches I can fit in my mouth?” Ace asked completely unprompted.

– Even if said moral support occasionally had a unique way of manifesting itself.

Felix only paused and gave his companion a strange look. “What?”

Ace didn’t bother explaining. He seemed satisfied to have Felix’s eyes on him as he picked up a mini-quiche from the cake tray and deposited it into his mouth.

“One,” Ace said.

Confused, Felix watched Ace reach for the next pie.

“Two.” Ace struggled to get the pie in and the word out.

Still, he bravely reached for another one, and Felix couldn’t look away – it was like watching a trainwreck happening right before his eyes.

“Th – thwee.”

Ace was no longer able to even close his mouth. He looked so damn goofy, with his cheeks bulging like a hamster's, that Felix couldn’t help but laugh.

Ace looked to be smiling too – as much as someone could smile with their face stuffed with pie – and reached for yet another from the impressive stack still on the tray.

“Come on, stop it,” Felix said through his chuckles, grabbing Ace’s hand before it could reach his mouth. “You’ve proved your point.”

When Ace got a mischievous glint in his eye and brought the pie towards Felix instead, Felix's face flamed hot but he obediently took a bite from the offered food. The pie itself was nothing special, just another pretentious Quiche Lorraine that was more crust than filling, but having Ace feed it to him instantly made it one of the best dishes Felix could remember experiencing.

…And then Ace proceeded to steal the other half of the quiche and stuff into his own mouth and Felix nearly choked on his laugh.

Victorious, Ace held up four of his fingers, clearly proud of his efforts.

"Oh come on, that was three and a half at most," Felix argued.

When Ace shrugged and finally started chewing through the pies with some difficulty, Felix shook his head in amusement and looked back to the party.

Thankfully, nobody seemed to be paying Felix and Ace any mind. Vanessa was busy taking selfies instead of actually engaging with her guests while aunt Agnes was yelling at the gardener to set up a canopy. Despite the party only having started, Bernard already looked to be swaying from one too many Irish coffees and Günther had apparently managed to sweat through every layer of his three-piece-suit.

Felix sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Just a few hours more, and then there would be no more group activities scheduled for today.

"Tired?" Ace – mouth now mostly empty – asked.

"Tired of these stupid people and this stupid heat," Felix grumbled under his breath. "I hate summer weddings."

"Hmm, yeah," Ace said. "I'm kinda glad the inside of the manor is so chilly. It's pretty refreshing after a day in the sun – plus I have a personal heater to keep me warm during the night."

Ace winked at him and Felix's annoyance faded into the background. His face felt warm from more than the sun and he feebly averted his eyes, pretending to enjoy the lukewarm coffee. He thought back to how this morning, Ace had seemed almost reluctant to let him go when Felix once again woke up in his arms.

"Thank you for being so understanding," Felix said. "I still don't know what came over me."

And why I keep doing it every single night, was left unsaid.

"Actually – about that…" Ace trailed off. "I have a confession to make.”

Felix looked back from the dreadfully boring garden party to meet Ace's sheepish smile instead.

"Yes?" Felix asked, hoping he didn't sound too eager at the prospect of a confession.

Ace glanced at the other guests before leaning over the table and lowering his voice.

"That first night, when you ended up using me as your – mind you, extremely comfortable – pillow?" Ace murmured with a lopsided grin. "I, well, I sort-of-may-have had a hand in making that happen."

From everything Felix had been fearing (and hoping) to hear, that definitely wasn't it. "What?"

"You were shivering!” Ace exclaimed. “I swear, your teeth were clattering so loud it woke me up. No wonder your family is so filthy rich, they probably save thousands by skimping on the heating in their supermansion –"

"Ace."

"Right. So, as I was saying, you were freezing your ass off, and being the good samaritan I am –"

Felix snorted and Ace gave him a sharp look, though he was still smiling.

"I had to check on you, you know?” Ace prattled on. “Can't have my friend and employer of the week catch pneumonia or something, right?"

"Right…?"

"Well, anyway, the pillow wall was obviously in the way. But even though it wasn't easy – I swear, those things are half lead or something – I managed to clear a way to you. And when I reached out to check on you, just touching your shoulder to see if you had either hypothermia or a fever, you kind of, uh. Confiscated my hand."

Felix groaned and felt a wave of embarrassment run through him. "Oh, god."

"No, no!” Ace hurried to clarify. “It was natural, really, seeing as you were freezing and all and my hand was really warm. You were gripping it pretty tight and when I finally managed to wiggle free you made this… well, the sound made it clear you weren't pleased with the loss."

Felix barely resisted the urge to crawl under the patio table to hide from the world. "I am so sorry."

"Not for long," Ace grimaced. "See, I realized that you gravitated towards any heat source. If I'd touch you and pull away, you'd do this sleepy shuffle trying to chase my hand."

Ace made a valiant effort to imitate the movement, and despite the lingering embarrassment Felix found himself huffing out a surprised laugh.

"And maybe I used this to my advantage and sort of… coaxed your sleeping, gorgeous self over to my side of the bed," Ace said. "Just to be able to better keep you warm, of course!"

Felix blinked. Oh. Oh.

Ace had been the one to initiate their – by now, nightly routine of – sleep-cuddling? 

Uncertainty still gnawed at the edges of Felix’s mind but he felt some of his confidence returning at the knowledge that for once, he wasn’t the only one who was keeping embarrassing secrets.

The corner of Felix's mouth quirked up and he raised an eyebrow in challenge, causing Ace to throw his hands up dramatically.

"Okay, fine!” Ace exclaimed. “When you immediately wrapped yourself around me and gave a happy sigh, I wasn't strong enough to resist a little friendly spooning. And, damn it, I can't remember when I've last slept as well as I've done this week."

Ace was now fidgeting with the tea cup and he looked almost bashful after the confession. All this time, Felix had been blaming himself for overstepping, only to find out that not only had Ace initiated the nightly affection, but was admitting to enjoying it just as much as Felix.

"Thank you for telling me," Felix said earnestly. "I honestly had no idea that was how it happened."

"Yeah, well, I felt kinda shitty when you were so obviously worked up over it,” Ace shrugged. “For what it's worth, I'm sorry for not coming clean earlier."

"That's alright." Felix paused. "Ehm… can we – I mean, would it still be fine if…? Tonight?"

Instantly, Ace perked up and grinned brightly. "Hell yeah, I'm not giving that shit up. Better than any weighted blanket, I swear; six out of five stars, you'll have to pry me away from your ugly PJ's by force."

Giddiness bubbled in Felix's chest and he snorted out an unattractive laugh. "I knew you hated the pajamas."

The rest of the party went by in a blur while they kept up the playful back-and-forth. The newly assembled canopy offered some much-needed shade and Felix gratefully accepted the glasses of cold sangria they were eventually offered. He tuned out most of his relatives’ chatter in favor of listening to Ace insult his sleepwear and rave about the mediocre food and make bets on how many more drinks Bernard could have before toppling over in his chair.

And, for once, Felix didn’t have to fret about whether or not he would end up on Ace’s side of the bed that night.

Felix walked further into the garden before answering. Fortunately, Elodie wasn't hanging up; she knew firsthand that sometimes Felix needed time to work up the nerve to answer a phone call – even if it was from a close friend.

As soon as he picked up, however, she didn't even bother with a greeting.

"Finally!" Elodie's huff carried through the phone's speaker. "Monsieur, you'd better tell me everything."

"Ehm – what?"

"Felix! It has been four days of your irritating relatives and you haven't called to complain once!" Elodie chastised. "Not even a text threatening to do violence against Bernard!"

With a start, Felix realized that she was absolutely right. Time had simply flown; even the times he had been annoyed, Ace had been right there to distract him.

"I was getting worried!" Elodie continued. "Who knows if your aunt had fattened you up and put you in a cauldron already!"

Felix huffed out a surprised chuckle. During the years, he had often referred to Agnes as a witch – among other not-so-flattering remarks – and rather than scrunch up her nose at him, Elodie usually just egged him on.

"I'm afraid I haven't been made into a stew just yet," Felix said, then added cheekily, "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Oh, shame," Elodie mock sighed. "So? How are things going with Mr. knight-in-shining-armor?"

Felix sputtered. "Elodie.”

Still, she wasn’t exactly wrong. Ace had, indeed, swooped in in the nick of time and saved Felix from the grim fate of dealing with his relatives solo.

“You didn’t have to put it like that,” Felix said.

“I did, and I will continue to do so until you answer my question,” Elodie said. “It’s only fair after you’ve ignored your best friend for nearly a week –”

“Yes, alright – fine,” Felix relented.

He paused to consider the last few days. Surprisingly, nothing jumped out from the memories. Normally, an event like this would make him want to rip his own hair out and leave him complaining for months afterwards.

But this time… "Things have actually been pretty good, for once,” Felix said.

Elodie hummed. "Give me the details; what did your aunt say when you arrived? Has anyone punched Bernard yet? How many of your relatives has Ace flirted with?"

Felix sighed and leaned against a lamp post in the garden.

This call would be longer than he thought.

Felix spent some time recounting the events of the week to an extremely curious Elodie. She chuckled along with his explanations of Ace speeding in the golf cart and how Bernard got a taste of his own medicine during the cocktail party. Felix found himself smiling through the conversation and realized that most of his recollection of the week was a positive one.

However, he carefully left out certain parts of the story; like the ones where he had been struck with the urge to kiss Ace, spent every night cuddled up to him, and kept falling for him more and more each day.

"– And that's the most of it, I suppose," Felix concluded. "I really can't thank you enough for making me ask Ace to come."

"Oh, Felix admitting that I was right about something? I might need to get that on paper and frame it!"

"Don't worry, I won't make a habit of it," Felix chucked. "But truly, it's been great to have him here. Strangely enough, Ace seems to have enjoyed it too."

"Big surprise," Elodie huffed. Before Felix could ask what she meant, however, she continued, "So? Are you going to tell him?"

Felix frowned. "Tell him what?"

"That you're in love with him, idiot.”

Felix stopped breathing for a good few seconds. How on earth did she know about his crush, he was so careful to leave out all the embarrassing little details of how handsome Ace looked and how safe he made Felix feel –

Felix tried for a laugh that ended up somewhat hysterical. "Did you inhale some magical artifact dust again?"

There was a frustrated groan from the other end of the line before Felix only heard a muted curse of "Mon dieu, quel crétin" as Elodie seemed to take a moment to marvel at his stupidity. Soon after, however, she placed the phone back to her ear to admonish him.

"Chéri," Elodie started pointedly.

Felix tried not to squirm at the tone of her voice. He knew firsthand how determined Elodie got when she had her mind set on something, and now she seemed to have sniffed out the fact that Felix was lying.

"If it wasn't glaringly, painfully obvious how you felt about Ace before," Elodie stressed. "It certainly is now that you've spent the last hour gushing about how amazing he is."

Felix reflexively glanced at his watch. Surely, it could not have been that long –

Forty-eight minutes. He had been talking her ear off about the week – well, realistically, mostly about Ace – for nearly an hour.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away –" he started.

"Oh, don't you dare apologize," Elodie interrupted, though her tone was kind. "That was why I called: to hear how you are doing. And I'm relieved that you're having fun. Really."

The warmth behind her words made Felix smile even through his embarrassment. It was true that he had not been doing all that well lately; with the work stress and the painful breakup with his girlfriend two years ago, this wedding had been the very last thing he thought he had needed.

But it had turned out to be exactly what he had needed. Stepping away from his day-to-day life to play tennis and talk shit about his relatives and sleep curled up next to the person he hadn't realized how much he had missed in his life? All of it had done wonders for Felix's mood.

"I can hear you zoning out," Elodie remarked. 

There was no judgment in her voice; just an observation made by a close friend who had long since learned all of Felix's quirks.

"Sorry," Felix still apologized, as on reflex. "It seems I have a lot to think about."

"I bet," she said, then, "Just promise me you'll consider it. This week is the perfect chance to tell him how you feel."

Before Felix could protest, Elodie was making obnoxious kissy sounds into the phone and hung up with a "Love you!"

And Felix was left alone with his thoughts, staring at his phone like he could will the answers out of it.

Because he had absolutely no idea what to do.

Not sure how to respond, Felix silently took a seat on the opposite bench of the swing.

“You guys are tight, huh?” Ace asked.

“I suppose,” Felix said. Then he huffed. “There’s really nothing quite like getting murdered on the regular to reconnect with your childhood friend.”

“I’m sorry she couldn’t be here,” Ace said. Felix looked at him in confusion. “Oh come on, I know I wasn’t your first choice. You even said as much when you called me.”

“I did?” Felix asked. He didn’t remember much of anything from their phone call: only tripping over his words and the way his palms had sweated from clutching his phone too hard.

“Maybe not in those exact words, but…” Ace shrugged.

Felix made a sound of protest.

“Hey, it’s okay – I get it,” Ace said. “I’d be far from my first choice, either. I’m still glad to be here – hell, even if you called your entire phone book before me, I still would’ve come.”

“You’re wrong,” Felix blurted out, making Ace perk up. “Yes, I asked Elodie first and she was the one to think of you, not me. But now that we’re here, there’s…” Felix hesitated. He shouldn’t reveal too much, but at the same time he wanted to be honest. “There’s nobody else I would rather have by my side.”

Ace rewarded him with the most genuine smile Felix had ever seen – one that made his entire face soften, the laugh lines catching on the rays and shadows of the setting sun. The air felt loaded with something, and Felix held his breath and waited –

“I always thought you and Elodie were an item, you know,” Ace said, effectively killing the mood.

And Ace might as well have thrown a bucket of ice water in Felix’s face from the way the comment made him sputter. “What!?”

“You know, after I heard things didn’t work out with your ex-girlfriend," Ace explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But even before we escaped the Entity, with how you two acted around each other.”

“No, we –” Felix took a breath, orienting himself after the mental whiplash. “We used to date, a long time ago – in the Pariahs. But we were young and it didn’t last long, and the breakup… I think that’s what eventually caused the whole group to fall apart.”

Felix glanced at Ace to see if he had already overshared. Ace however seemed happy to listen, his head tilted in curiosity.

“So when Elodie arrived in the realm, I just wanted to make things right. I didn’t want any rift between us that would make our new group fall apart, too,” Felix explained. “But it’s amazing what time can do; when we spoke, it was like we were thirteen again, two outcast kids finally finding someone like-minded.”

Felix smiled at the memory.

“Regaining her friendship was like finding a piece of me I didn’t know was missing,” Felix said. “I’m happy to have her back in my life, but that's all there is to it. Anything more would end in disaster – we learned that lesson the first time,” Felix chuckled.

“Huh,” Ace said. “I guess I just assumed. She always seemed like the only one you could let your walls down around.”

"Not the only one," Felix blurted out. Embarrassment flashed hot on his face, but since he had already shared so much… “I've always found it easy to be with you."

Rather than accept his compliment with a smile, Ace winced and muttered an, "Aw, shit."

The defeat in his body language made Felix instantly steel himself for rejection. Ace seemed to realize this, because there was a moment of panic on his face before he hurried to continue.

"No, I didn't – I mean, me too!" Ace rambled, gesturing wildly with his hands. "I always liked being with you. You're probably one of my favorite people, actually."

Felix's brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of Ace's reaction. “But…?”

"But, well," Ace said sheepishly. "I used to be really fucking jealous of you, too."

"What? Why?" Felix wondered out loud. Why on Earth would Ace be jealous of someone as awkward and antisocial and whiny –

"Come on, you have it all!" Ace exclaimed. "The looks, the brains, the money and fame. You own a house and your own company, not to mention your boring family reunions take place in a goddamn mansion."

Felix had never really thought of his life that way. And he definitely hadn't realized that a free spirit like Ace would ever want to settle down and have something similar.

"When we escaped, you were going back to your friends and family and a life," Ace continued. "And I was going back to shitty motels and a lifetime of running away."

Felix's face softened in sympathy. "Ace…"

"I tried to get back into it, you know?" Ace interrupted, a manic energy to him. "Alternating casino games and swindling some unsuspecting tourist and hopping between towns before anyone caught on. But it just wasn't the same."

Ace sighed and turned his energy back to picking at the flower in his hands.

"Sure, I hated the Entity. I hated what it did to us, and how I had to watch all of you suffer," Ace said. "But it wasn't the worst time in my life – not by a long shot, and that's just fucking sad."

The lump forming in Felix's throat agreed with the sentiment, but for different reasons. Though Ace usually only told tales of great poker wins or amusing anecdotes of his travels, Felix had gotten those brief glimpses into a life that was far from glamorous. He knew Ace came from a poor upbringing and had done questionable things in order to survive, but for it all to be worse than their time at the Entity's hands? 

It only made Felix want to wrap Ace in a tight hug and shed a few silent tears into his soft gray hair.

"So as happy as I was to be out of that hellhole, I was also bitter. Because all of you got to go home, and I…" Ace faltered. "I, well, got to keep drifting around aimlessly and doing fuck all with my life, having lost the only friends I'd had in decades."

"You didn't lose us," Felix said. Ace stopped fidgeting with the rose long enough to meet his eyes. "You told me that the survivors were – and still are – my family. We are yours, too."

Ace grimaced. "Yeah. I guess every family needs a Bernard."

Felix almost physically recoiled at the comparison. "You are not a Bernard," he stressed. "You are…"

Felix paused, considering his options. He still had at least some level of contempt for nearly everyone in his family, but…

"You're an Alexander," Felix decided. "Making everyone feel welcome and bringing a smile to people's faces even when they should be having a miserable time. A Bernard could never do that."

This conversation was absurd, talking about Felix's relatives like they were objects, but Ace's lips were finally forming a hesitant smile.

"Yeah?" Ace asked.

"Yes," Felix said. "You were always the glue holding us together and keeping us from spiraling into hopelessness. And after…"

With a start, Felix realized what had happened; as much as he had treasured Ace's friendship and the light that he had brought into the endless darkness of the realm, Felix had taken it for granted and not bothered to keep in touch after they escaped. Ace had been there when Felix needed him during the worst time in his life, but after they were out, Ace had needed Felix.

And Felix had abandoned him.

"I'm – god, I'm so sorry," Felix said. "I should have reached out to you. I didn't realize that you were struggling."

He fought the urge to reach out right now, to place a hand on Ace's knee and hopefully get rid of the nervous energy in Ace's body.

"You don't really have anything to apologize for, but…" Ace scratched at his neck. "Thanks; it means a lot. That you didn't want to get rid of me."

Felix's chest felt heavy with guilt and he briefly wondered how Ace could ever think that lowly about himself. But then again, Felix was no stranger to rejection sensitivity; and with absolutely no contact from his part until he needed Ace for something again, was it any wonder that Ace felt that way?

"Never." Felix stressed the word. "I've always been grateful for your friendship and am honored to have you in my life."

Ace regarded him curiously, and Felix could only swallow and look down at his feet.

"And I realize I've been terrible at showing it," Felix said.

"Hey, that's not fair," Ace said. "I could've just as easily picked up the phone. Probably would've disturbed you in some ultra important business meeting and made Lauren wanna strangle me, but omelets and cracked eggs and all that."

Ace's tone was jovial but Felix realized that was exactly the problem. The last time they saw each other, Felix was supposed to be returning home to a girlfriend and baby and stressful career. Meanwhile, Ace had, in his own words, had nothing. It made sense that he didn't want to intrude and Felix was kicking himself for only realizing it now.

"No," Felix decided. "I messed up. I'll do better from now; I promise."

He couldn't bring himself to look at Ace, staring resolutely down at the floor.

The swing moved as the balance shifted, and suddenly Ace’s shoes were right there next to Felix's. A hand landed on his head and ran gently through his hair and surprised, Felix finally looked up.

Ace was smiling at him, his expression unguarded in a way that had Felix's heart doing happy leaps in his chest. Ace's calloused fingers lightly massaged Felix's scalp where he was petting his hair and Felix would have melted under the attention if he wasn't busy holding his breath and wondering if Ace was going to kiss him right then and there.

Instead, Ace held up the rose – its outer layers of wilted petals removed and now in pristine condition – and placed it in Felix’s breast pocket. Felix didn’t dare move.

“There,” Ace said, patting Felix on the chest before both of his hands left him. “We should probably be getting back.”

Felix swallowed and managed a nod. “Of course.”

The atmosphere was strange as he followed Ace back to the manor. Something had shifted between them; Ace's step seemed lighter than before, even as something hung heavy and unsaid between them.

Felix only hoped that they could figure it out before the week was over.

The hired photographer seemed way too enthusiastic about her profession. She must have taken hundreds of pictures; some of which featured the whole family, some only the wedding party, not to mention the obscene amount of photos that made no sense to Felix and seemed to consist of utterly random assortments of guests.

Still, he smiled through the group photos and tried to ignore Günther literally breathing down his neck from where he was standing on a bench behind Felix. Ace was a comforting presence next to him – and quite possibly the only reason Felix didn't elbow his uncle in the gut in irritation – even if Felix knew that their height difference was far from ideal for a good picture composition.

During the times they were not in pictures, Felix and Ace were expected to linger nearby. There wasn't really anything to do but obey and stand there twiddling their thumbs, but Ace made a running commentary of everyone’s unimaginative poses and fake smiles and that made the boredom a little more bearable.

"Look at 'em," Ace said. He nodded to where a few of the children were having their picture taken. "Reminds me of class photo day: that shit was always utter chaos. They should at least bribe the kids with candy or something."

The photographer and one of Felix's cousins were feebly trying to get the understimulated children to sit still. Felix smiled at the sight; no matter their parents' status or name, kids would always be kids.

And then Ace asked "How's your kid doing?" and Felix's whole world crumbled around him.

Felix swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and tried to breathe through the resurfacing memories. He dreaded having this conversation as the wounds had not yet healed, but it was only natural that Ace would ask. After all, the last time they had seen each other, Felix was returning home to Germany both excited and terrified of becoming a father.

"My child never made it into this world," Felix said.

His voice was barely above a whisper and his eyes were already misting. But when Felix braved a look at Ace, there was nothing but sadness and understanding in his big expressive eyes.

“Oh, god," Ace said, his face softening in sympathy. "I'm sorry. That's awful."

Felix nodded, not trusting his voice to stay steady. He looked back to the group of children bickering and squirming in front of the camera, his heart clenching painfully at the family he never got to have.

Ace stayed silent – giving him space to speak – and before he knew it, the words were spilling out of Felix's mouth.

"It was a boy," Felix said, his voice cracking. "We were going to name him Janos, for... after…"

"After your dad," Ace finished. "Shit, Felix, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," Felix lied. He blinked wetness from his eyes and could tell Ace wasn't convinced. "A lot of people have gone through the same thing. Statistically –"

Felix's sentence cut off as Ace suddenly pulled him into a hug.

Warm arms wrapped around him and Felix allowed himself the comfort of relaxing into the familiar touch. Even though Ace was shorter than him, Felix had never felt as safe as he did in Ace's arms – both in the guest room bed and now – offering sympathy as soon as Felix had told him about his hurt.

“It’s okay to not be okay,” Ace said. “Doesn't matter what the statistics say. That's a horrible thing to go through and you need to give yourself time to grieve.”

Felix hugged him tight and buried his face in salt and pepper hair. “Thank you.”

They stayed like that for a long time, and suddenly Felix didn't mind that the photos were going so slowly.

It was a good half an hour before they were next needed. Though Felix managed to collect himself relatively quickly, Ace stayed closer to his side than he had before in quiet solidarity.

When Ace began updating him on the latest gossip of their shared friends, Felix was almost relieved. It had definitely been good to talk about his loss with someone, but they still had two days of wedding festivities to go through and dwelling on Felix's grief would only make it awful for them both.

"– and of course it's Ash, calling me from the middle of bumfuck nowhere, Florida," Ace told with a grin. "Asshole's asking for bail because he got arrested for wrestling a gator or something –"

"We will now photograph the guests individually!" the photographer's voice carried over all other chatter in the garden. "Over this way, please!"

Felix noticed that Vanessa and the main wedding party had already taken their leave. His aunt and her boyfriend were the first to step up to the photoshoot, Agnes even managing a smile for the camera as she leaned into her partner.

"Come on," Felix said, nudging Ace's arm. "Just one more picture."

"Wait, what?" Ace asked, clearly confused. "Vanessa and Alex already left. Shouldn’t this be about them?"

“In a normal family, I would say yes,” Felix huffed. “But when certain people want to make an event all about themselves, it’s easier to give everyone a minute in the spotlight.”

He glanced pointedly at Bernard, who had already elbowed his way to the frontlines to be next in line.

“Huh. It’s been a while since I got my picture taken – the last one was probably a mugshot." Ace grinned in a way that left Felix guessing whether he was joking or not. "I'll need to bring out the best smile. Ooh, should we do matching poses? Finger guns is always a classic, but I don’t know if that’d go over well in this crowd –” Ace rambled on.

When their turn finally came, Ace excitedly bounced over to the photographer with Felix in tow.

“Do you want a picture by the fountain or the hedge?” the photographer asked.

“Fountain or flowers?” Felix translated for Ace.

“Let’s do flowers!” Ace said. “Uh, if that’s okay with you, of course.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Perfect,” the photographer interrupted. “If you stand there, please.” Her accent was strong as she gestured to the tall rose hedge.

Felix and Ace took their spots and stood next to each other facing the camera.

The woman behind the lens clearly wasn’t satisfied, as she made a shooing motion and gave Felix a sharp look. “Move closer to him.”

Felix reluctantly did as instructed. He wondered if he looked as tense as he felt; he'd always hated being in the spotlight like this.

The shutter clicked. “Put arm around each other.”

Ace’s arm wrapped around Felix’s waist, and his own awkwardly settled around the man’s shoulders.

Click.

“You, blonde – smile, this is not a funeral.”

God, Felix had forgotten just how much he despised being photographed. He forced a smile nonetheless.

Click.

“Now look at each other, not the camera.”

Felix had the sudden urge to throw the nearest object at the photographer.

But then Ace turned around in his arms, a dazzling smile on his face, and the urge for violence passed.

Click click click.

Well, whatever stupidly smitten expression was on Felix's face, the photographer seemed to like it.

“Now the portraits. Move closer.”

Ace obeyed easily enough, and Felix was struck by a sudden nervousness over having him so close. What if everyone noticed the tension between them and realized they were faking it, calling Felix out on his lies and kicking Ace out of the wedding –

Ace tugged on Felix’s jacket and effectively pulled him out of his thoughts. “Look.”

And then Ace scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue in the most ridiculous expression Felix had ever seen him make, and Felix snorted out a surprised laugh.

Click click.

Surely, that had to be a thoroughly unflattering picture of them both. But Ace was now grinning up at him and even Felix was smiling, and hopefully they could look back on this photo fondly –

“Now the kiss,” the photographer commanded.

Felix recoiled and turned to look at the woman, scandalized. “The what!?” he sputtered.

“The kiss,” the photographer deadpanned. “Come on, you have handsome man in your arms, are you not going to kiss him?”

Felix looked down at said handsome man, about to ask for moral support on the ridiculousness of the notion, but Ace was only following the exchange curiously.

Smiling, Ace stood up on his tiptoes to whisper in Felix’s ear – masking it as kissing him on the cheek.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Ace murmured low enough for nobody else to hear. His beard brushed pleasantly against Felix’s cheek and Felix tried not to shiver from the sensation. “But don’t hold back on my behalf.”

Felix ignored the click click as Ace pulled back and stared at Felix’s dumb face to see what he decided to do. And Felix had seen that look before: on the golf course and after the garden party, when Felix had been struck by the urge to do the very thing that the photographer was asking of them but had chickened out last second. 

But now Ace was giving him permission, like he knew exactly what Felix had been thinking about and had wanted it too –

Fuck it.

Felix lifted a trembling hand to cup Ace’s cheek – mindful not to obstruct the camera’s view – and paused to gauge Ace’s reaction. But Ace’s smile only grew wider the closer Felix inched to him, and before he had a chance to second-guess himself, Felix was leaning down to claim smiling lips in a kiss.

The furious clicking of the shutter was drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in Felix’s ears. The kiss was barely more than a chaste press of lips but it was everything to Felix; the slightly chapped skin of Ace's lips, the warm hand coming up to rest on Felix’s chest, Ace’s soft hum against him, it was a culmination of everything that Felix had wanted these last few days.

But all too quickly, the clicking stopped and Ace pulled away from Felix, and the moment was gone.

“Thank you. I got some good pictures at the end,” the photographer said, browsing through her camera. “I will edit them and the bride will send them to you.”

“Great, thanks!” Ace spoke up – which was a good thing, because Felix wasn’t quite sure he could manage to form words just yet.

With that, they were finally dismissed and Ace pulled him away from the group.

The walk back to the manor was silent and undeniably awkward. Felix wasn’t sure if he should bring up the kiss or not; this was definitely opening a huge can of worms Felix wasn't sure either of them were ready for. But even so, this was Ace, who had shown nothing but kindness even when faced with the darkest parts of Felix's life –

"When we get that last picture, we should send it to all the survivors without any context," Ace said out of the blue.

Surprised, Felix huffed out a chuckle. He could vividly imagine his phone blowing up with excited emoji spam from Cheryl and a litany of confused English cursing from David.

"Oh, I see," Ace grinned. “The renowned Mr. Richter of Richter & Golder has a mischievous streak.”

“Maybe.” Felix smirked the tiniest amount. "I was just imagining David's face when he received the photo."

"Ha! He’d probably punch me through the phone before giving his congratulations," Ace chuckled. "I think Jane would just straight up call you to offer her condolences."

"Right after the Lyras demanded my intentions with you, I assume."

"Pfft, like that's anything close to the shovel talk I'd get from Elodie," Ace shot back.

"Oh, god," Felix groaned. "She would gloat for years about being the world's best matchmaker."

"Hey, better that than stab me in my sleep with some priceless artifact!"

They shared a chuckle and continued with anecdotes of their friends throughout the walk back to the manor. Between the jokes and laughter, Felix caught sight of a soft smile on Ace's face and he suspected they were thinking of the exact same thing.

If something were to happen between them, all their friends would only be happy for them.

Felix was in the middle of trying to eat his dessert in peace when some distant relative he didn't have any recollection of plopped herself down in a vacant seat at their table.

"Ehm… can I help you?" Felix asked the unknown woman.

"Oh my." She glanced between Felix and Ace, clearly surprised. "Felix, my dear! I heard, but I didn't think – well, I guess I had to see it to believe it!"

She laughed; Felix didn't. Luckily for him, Agnes appeared in record time to shoo her back to the right table and Felix wasn't exactly surprised to see that the woman stumbled and swayed on her way there.

The evening only went downhill from there.

Like every single party and get-together before it, the rehearsal dinner dragged on for much too long. Desserts had been finished what felt like hours ago and Felix had already heard every speech and all the cringe-worthy jokes that they entailed several times.

The main wedding party was currently huddled together at the bride and groom’s table, going over the revised schedule for the reception for what had to be the fifth time that evening.

Felix sighed louder than was probably appropriate and stared blankly at his empty champagne glass.

“So…” Ace started. “Did you know there’s an open bar tab for the guests tonight?”

Felix didn’t need to be told twice.

Five minutes later, they were standing on the sidelines of the room while waiting for the event to continue, Ace with a glass of wine and Felix nursing a generous four fingers of scotch to try to take the edge off his growing annoyance.

"Now that we're here..." Ace started. "What did that woman say?”

Felix stopped glaring at the room long enough to acknowledge Ace. “Hmm?”

“Back at the table,” Ace clarified. “You looked really uncomfortable."

Felix wasn't even surprised anymore that Ace would have noticed that. He wasn't exactly being subtle.

Felix sighed and took a sip of liquid courage. “I suppose I never told you how I came out.”

“Not really something that pops up in everyday conversation,” Ace joked. “But you don't have to talk about it. I know it's probably not a fond memory."

Felix considered the words. Somehow, not telling Ace felt wrong. If everyone in this room – most of whom Felix barely knew and didn’t even like – were privy to the information while the only person Felix truly cared about was left guessing, he wanted to change that.

“I still want to tell you,” Felix decided.

Ace smiled. “Then I’m all ears.”

And so, even though he had never found his experience particularly noteworthy compared to other stories of its kind, Felix talked.

The whole thing had started when he and Lauren were attending a fundraising gala. It was for the benefit of a community center for marginalized youth, an organization that Felix had previously given a generous donation to and which their studio would be designing the building for as a non-profit project.

With themes of acceptance and inclusion being a hot topic of the evening, a reporter had asked how Richter & Golder did their part in furthering a diverse workplace. After Lauren had gone through her no doubt memorized speech of gender equality and the company's extensive no discrimination policy, Felix had found himself blurting out “And I’m bisexual.”

He really hadn’t anticipated that it would be a big deal. It was his own clumsy way of leading through example: reasoning that empty words meant little, but that having one CEO who didn’t feel the need to hide that part of themselves would help create an air of acceptance in the office. 

But the next thing Felix knew, it had become a thing, with interviews scheduled and even an appearance on the news and people within the field calling him a role model.

Of course, it wasn’t all positive. A few clients stopped responding to both Felix’s and Lauren’s calls and one of their subcontractors resigned, not to mention certain media outlets calling the whole thing a publicity stunt. But now Felix’s orientation was out there, so to speak, and naturally his nosy relatives with too much spare time on their hands were among the first to catch wind of it.

And here Felix was, two years later and still dealing with the fallout of accidentally outing himself.

Ace whistled lowly as Felix finished his story. "Whew. That sounds like a rollercoaster."

Felix gave a half-shrug. "It is what it is. I just think it's good that my family finally sees me with a man, after all the gossip."

Ace hummed and looked over to said family.

"And…" Felix continued. "It's good for me too. I've never actually had the chance to… date someone like this, before."

Ace turned back to face him, his face softening from something – pity, Felix realized with a start.

"Oh, God," Ace winced. "Shit, Felix. I had no idea. I’m sorry."

Shame settled heavy in Felix’s gut. His pathetic excuse of a dating history had always been a touchy subject, but he hadn’t thought that Ace would judge him for it.

"I should have maybe made more time to try to find someone, but after the breakup –” Felix tried to explain himself.

“No, that’s not –” Ace interrupted, before taking a deep breath. “I wasn’t making fun of your love life, Jesus. When and how you decide to date is up to you.”

Felix frowned. “Then what…?”

"I’m sorry you have to date me!" Ace exclaimed.

The sound was loud enough for both men to snap their attention back to the rest of the party, but everyone seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations.

“I mean it,” Ace said, lowering his voice. "Your first relationship with a guy shouldn't be this... this pretend bullshit with someone like me."

Now, Felix was thoroughly confused; he thought the week had been going pretty well. "Why not?"

"Because you deserve so much better, for starters" Ace said, rather heatedly; like he truly believed it. "I mean, I tried to give you that, at least as much as I could. I wish you'd really met someone on a business trip; someone who actually had something going for them, other than a mountain of debt and a lifetime of running away," he rambled on.

Something in Felix's brain finally clicked in place. He had suspected there was more to Ace's exaggerated story about their first meeting than simply lying for the hell of it. And just like that day on the tennis court – or after the garden party, or really any day now that Felix was thinking back on it – he realized that Ace felt that he wasn't enough; not young enough, or rich enough, or good enough.

And that remained one of the most ridiculous ideas Felix had ever heard.

"But here we are and you'll just have to settle for this fake thing with Ace from Milano," Ace finished with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Felix had come to hate Ace’s fake smile. Now that he’d caught glimpses of who he really was under the mask of endless wit and constant smooth-talking, Felix would never be able to go back to the casual friendship they had before.

"That’s a shame,” Felix said. “Because I'm actually not a big fan of fake-Ace.”

Ace’s brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"He’s definitely charming and fun company,” Felix said. “But I much prefer the real Ace that I've gotten to know over the last few years and only grown more fond of for each day that passed."

Ace stayed silent for a moment, observing Felix’s expression – like he was searching for a lie but couldn’t find it.

Finally, a hesitant smile bloomed on Ace’s face. "Yeah?” he asked.

Felix swallowed, trying to tamper both the anticipation and dread clawing their way up his throat. He knew that this was a make it or break it situation. But with Elodie's advice still echoing in his ears and the feel of Ace’s lips fresh on his mind – God, he’d never be able to forget that kiss – Felix only hesitated briefly before taking the plunge.

"He's everything to me," Felix said, looking straight into Ace's eyes and hoping he conveyed all that that entailed. "I just don't know if he feels the same way about me as fake-Ace does."

"Well," Ace cleared his throat and averted his eyes. "As much as I love seeing how fake-Felix's fake smile says 'yes tell me more' while his eyes say 'I swear to God if you talk about your acid reflux one more time'..."

Felix snorted inelegantly at the rather apt description.

"I much prefer the awkward Felix who randomly spaces out and is self-conscious about his PJ's and snort laughs at my terrible jokes," Ace finished, beaming up at him.

Felix couldn’t help but mirror the expression. It all felt so natural, sharing these thoughts that he had never had the courage to voice before. He hesitantly reached to brush his fingers across Ace's – which was ridiculous, because they had held hands many times in the past week – but this time the meaning behind the gesture was different.

Ace readily clasped their hands together, a gentle smile on his face – so different from his usual fake laugh and exaggerated coos of ”oh darling."

"No! I want Bernard's speech to be after Johann's, not before! Everyone sit back down!" Vanessa’s voice boomed through the room.

Felix sighed and Ace chuckled, their hands falling back to their sides as they watched the bride’s beginning tantrum.

"Back to business, I assume?" Ace asked.

"Unfortunately," Felix muttered, downing the rest of his whiskey in one go.

"Alright, fake-Ace and fake-Felix can handle this one," Ace said. "After that, it's all us."

Ace shot him a wink and sauntered back to their table, leaving Felix dumbfounded.

This damn rehearsal dinner couldn’t end soon enough.

So when the guests were finally dismissed for the night, they only exchanged relieved looks before hurrying to depart back to the manor.

But it wasn’t until the guest room door closed behind them that Felix realized he had no idea how to proceed from here.

During the week, it hadn’t been unusual for Felix to freeze and stand awkwardly by the door while Ace went about their usual bedtime routine. What was unusual was that Ace didn't immediately start running his mouth and scattering his suit pieces all over the guest room.

No, Ace was only regarding Felix curiously as they both stood rooted at their spots in complete silence. It was ridiculous how used Felix had become to following Ace's lead – while it may have looked like Felix was the man with the plan and Ace was merely along for the ride, it was always Ace who steered them away from the crowd, who was on top of their schedule, and who seemed to know when to whisper gossip in Felix's ear to make him hold back snickers in the middle of breakfast service.

So now, without Ace to guide him, Felix just lingered awkwardly by the foot of the bed and stared at an equally impassive Ace looking back at him.

Ace eventually cleared his throat. "Sorry, I, uh – I made this kinda awkward, huh?" he shot Felix a shaky grin.

With a start, Felix realized that Ace was just as nervous as he was; and maybe he had been so every time they got back here, but had just been able to hide it.

An elated chuckle escaped Felix’s lips and Ace's grin grew wide and bright.

"Oh, sure, go ahead and laugh," Ace teased. "What conversation starters were you thinking about in that pretty head of yours then, hmm? Aside from the obvious 'ähm'.”

Felix huffed before considering the question. More than anything, he had just wanted to see if Ace still wanted this – and, really, what he had been waiting for was...

"I was waiting to see if you would kiss me," Felix admitted.

Ace perked up. "Now that's an idea I can get behind."

Felix barely had time to react before Ace strode up to him with confident steps and then finally, finally, he was kissing Felix.

And as much as Felix enjoyed their first kiss, it was nothing compared to this.

This time, he didn’t have to worry about nosy relatives or annoying photographers seeing them. Felix was able to tune out everything that wasn’t Ace’s body pressing comfortingly against his own or the faint taste of wine on his lips.

Ace hummed against Felix’s mouth, a deep and satisfied sound that made butterflies dance in Felix’s gut, his hands reaching up to grab Felix by the lapels of his jacket while Felix’s settled onto Ace’s hips.

It felt so right, being this impossibly close to Ace and kissing his smiling lips. Ace’s goatee scratched pleasantly against Felix’s clean-shaven chin and Felix tilted his head into the kiss, desperate to feel more of it. He could stay right here for hours, sleep be damned if he just got to kiss Ace and hold him like he had been dying to the whole damn week –

And then Ace pulled away from the kiss and yanked Felix downward.

Felix blinked in confusion, reorienting himself to the room before then realizing Ace was pulling him to sit on the sofa; finally finding a good use for the damn thing.

Felix went willingly – ignoring the fact that the style-before-function couch was one of the most uncomfortable he’d ever had the displeasure of sitting on – and scooted close enough to Ace that their thighs were pressing together. This time it was Felix who leaned in to make their lips meet, earning another happy moan from Ace that made his heart soar.

Everything was so warm and soft and so perfect. In that moment, Felix wanted nothing more than to pull Ace into his arms and shield him from Entities and debt collectors alike, but at the same time he wanted to curl his tall and gangly self up in Ace's lap and let Ace's sharp wit and warm laugh protect Felix from both grating relatives and the noise in his own head.

Pulling apart, Ace’s forehead came to rest against Felix’s while they caught their breaths. Felix felt lightheaded and it wasn’t only because of the lack of oxygen or the three glasses of whiskey in his system; it was because in this very moment he was so painfully, breathtakingly happy.

Ace chuckled into their shared breathing space. "Damn, if you're trying to bribe me with kisses to get out of paying for the week, it's really effective."

The happy little daydream shattered as Ace’s words sank in, pure horror flashing through Felix’s system.

Felix recoiled from their embrace. "I would never –!” he exclaimed, bolting off the sofa.

Panic spread on Ace's face and he hurried to continue, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! God, I know you’d never do that; it was just a joke. A really unfunny one, I might add.”

Seeing Ace so obviously perturbed, Felix sat back down next to him. Ace looked at him hopefully but didn't come back into his space.

“Are you sure?” Felix said. “If you truly fear that I’m trying to buy you –”

“Jesus, Felix, no!” Ace exclaimed, clearly appalled by the suggestion. Good. "This has nothing to do with the job. Well, it has everything to do with this week, but it's not because of the money – ugh."

Ace stopped his rambling long enough to take a breath and run a hand down his face.

"What I'm saying is… I know it's hard to believe with my amazing acting performance in the last five days," Ace started, forcing a wry smile. "But I'm not really good at this kind of thing."

Ah; second-guessing himself, something Felix could wholeheartedly relate to. He offered a small smile and placed his hand on top of Ace's in solidarity.

"Then that makes two of us," Felix said.

Something in Ace’s expression instantly relaxed. "So you use shitty jokes to cover up emotional vulnerability too?"

"I’m much more likely to get an anxiety attack over hand-holding.”

Ace chuckled and intertwined their fingers. "You seem to be doing alright to me," he murmured.

Ace's eyelids lowered and Felix's nerves fizzled out into nothingness as the easy companionship was restored between them.

… Until Ace's eyes got a mischievous glint and the damn butterflies in Felix’s stomach were back to fluttering full force.

"Kiss and make up?" Ace asked.

With a chuckle, Felix leaned in and tugged on Ace's hand to meet him in the middle. This kiss was only an innocent press of lips, but Felix could tell how much it meant to Ace; he practically felt the nervous energy seep out from the seams as Ace leaned into him with a soft hum.

“Wow,” Ace commented, like a simple kiss had inspired awe in him. Then, the teasing smile was back on his face as he lifted up a hand to caress Felix's cheek. "I never would’ve thought I'd end up actually charming you during this week, but I sure as hell ain't complaining."

This time, Felix knew for sure that Ace was merely joking. But even so, there was something about the statement that didn't sit right with him; something Felix needed Ace to know.

"This isn't just because of this week," Felix said. "I'm… I've been wanting this for a long time."

Ace's hand stilled and he gave Felix a knowing look.

"I don't…! That isn't why I asked you here," Felix said. "I promise, I didn't plan this. I thought – well, I didn't think, and I was desperate – but I didn't expect anything would come of this. We'd merely act our parts and go our separate ways again. I'm sorry, I probably should have been honest about my feelings from the start."

"Don't you dare be sorry," Ace said, stealing another quick peck. "I've had an amazing time."

"Me too. I really can’t express how grateful I am to you." Felix smiled. "And no matter what happens after this, I'll still pay you in full. This doesn't change that."

Rather than the relief or agreement Felix expected to see, Ace cringed.

"Yeah, about that..." Ace trailed off.

And just like that, Felix was right back to panic-mode.

Had he not offered Ace enough money? He had made sure to send the contract to Elodie beforehand and she assured it was more than generous. But what if Ace had gotten more than he bargained for this week? The golfing and rude comments and Felix's constant breakdowns weren't in the contract, but Felix had made sure to include a clause that all activities were optional and that he never wanted Ace to feel uncomfortable –

"I was never gonna accept the money," Ace said.

Felix’s train of thought screeched to a halt. "What?"

“Yeah,” Ace smiled, somewhat ruefully. "I get why you’d be surprised. But I knew even before booking my flight to Germany that there was no way in hell I was gonna let you pay me."

Felix frowned; he'd taken all the necessary precautions to make sure that the payment did happen, with the official paperwork and everything.

"But the contract –" Felix tried.

"I went along with it to humor you,” Ace said. “The account I gave you? It's a dud. Your check was always gonna bounce."

Felix struggled to wrap his head around the entire thing. "But why?"

"Because I'm not gonna let you pay me to live my fucking dream life," Ace huffed. "This week has been one of the best of my life. All these crazy events, the fantastic food – and, you know, the custom-tailored wardrobe that you spent way too much money on for me would be have been enough to convince me regardless –"

"It didn't cost that much," Felix mumbled.

"– but none of that mattered as long as I got to do it all with you," Ace finished. "I thought I was dreaming when I got your call, and I knew I'd fucking knock this gig out of the park. You wanna know why?"

Felix swallowed. "Why?"

Ace looked at him – really looked at him, staring unwavering right into Felix's soul. "Because I never had to pretend to love you.”

The air left Felix's lungs and he was glad they were seated because otherwise his legs would probably have given out underneath him.

He swore his heart stopped beating for a few seconds, because surely, Ace didn't mean – Felix couldn't possibly be understanding that right, because it sounded like –

Ace's eyes widened in realization and that was how Felix knew that he was right.

Ace loved him.

Ace loved him now and had loved him even before all this – way before Felix had gotten his head out of his ass long enough to realize his own feelings went deeper than friendship.

"Shit – fuck," Ace cursed, his face twisting in a wince. "That was too much, wasn't it? Goddamn foot-in-mouth syndrome. I should really just call it a night, before I end up spilling state secrets or something –"

Ace only made a surprised "mmph!" when Felix decided that the best course of action was to shut up his nervous rambling with a kiss.

Ace quickly collected his bearings and returned the kiss, clutching at Felix's shirt like he was trying to ground himself in the unfamiliar situation. And Felix understood.

Because Ace was that anchor for Felix. During this week and even in the Entity’s realm, Ace was an unstoppable force, braving every situation with a smile on his face and always coming out on top.

But like everyone, Ace was only human; being faced with a new situation and a budding – hopefully – relationship made him nervous. And when he was nervous, he apparently blurted out the first things that came to mind.

Felix didn't know if he loved Ace yet. But seeing this side of him only made him aware of the fact that he had been well on his way there for quite some time. And Felix hoped he could convey that in the way he gently traced along Ace's jaw with his thumb and hummed, a low and happy sound deep from his throat, against Ace's lips.

Felix was the one to pull away, though he kept Ace close by the hand cradling his head. "Now we can call it a night," Felix murmured.

Felix could feel the way Ace's cheeks pulled up in a grin. "You can just say you want your damn cuddles, you know."

Felix chuckled and finally released their embrace to start locating his sleepwear. "I still can't believe you made me believe I barged through the pillow wall on my own."

"I mean,” Ace said, shrugging out of his shirt. “I'd say I'm sorry, but it got me here, so…"

Their evening routines went by in comfortable chatter and a couple stolen, toothpaste-flavored kisses.

And then they were under the covers, curled up together closer than they’d been any previous night, and Felix was happy to take advantage of the situation by leaning in for a goodnight kiss.

“Sleep well,” Felix said.

“As if I’m gonna be able to, with all this goddamn serotonin,” Ace chuckled. “I might need a few double espressos tomorrow morning.”

“You say that, but I think in five minutes you’ll be snoring happily like every other night.”

“Maybe,” Ace grinned. His features were illuminated beautifully by the lights from the garden and the moon streaming in through the window, and Felix could see exactly when his radiant smile fell. “You, uh – you’re sure about…”

When he wasn’t continuing, Felix prodded “About…?”

Ace looked at him for a long time, then huffed and shook his head. “Nothing.”

Great; now Felix definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep. “Please tell me,” he murmured, gently caressing over Ace’s back.

"I just…” Ace relented. “Before this week, I swore to myself I wouldn't do anything to ruin our friendship. But at the same time… this sure as hell doesn't feel like ruining anything to me."

And Felix found that he had felt much of the same way, before all this. But now that all the layers of what they should and shouldn't do had been peeled away over the course of the week, Felix was left only with the certainty that he wanted to be with Ace and he knew they could be good for each other.

Felix smiled and wrapped his arms tighter around Ace. "It's not ruining something," he agreed. "It's starting something new."

When Ace smiled in relief and leaned up to kiss him again, Felix knew they'd be alright. Not only did they seem to be on much of the same page when it came to their feelings for each other, they also had all of tomorrow to sort out this new and exciting chapter of their lives.

“Morning," Ace murmured.

Felix wondered if Ace could feel the way his heart was doing somersaults in his chest. “Good morning," he simply said.

They continued to gaze into each other's eyes in the soft morning light. Any lingering reservations Felix may have had about Ace coming to regret this – especially once the effects of the alcohol wore off – were silenced by the look of unfiltered adoration in Ace's eyes. 

"Did last night really happen?" Ace asked. His voice was quiet, like saying it out loud would break the spell between them.

Felix exhaled a sigh of relief. "God, I hope so.”

He was aware that he sounded a little desperate, but he really didn’t care; especially not once Ace's hesitant smile grew into a grin upon hearing the words.

"You sure it wasn't just a really good dream?" Ace asked. "Maybe a shared hallucination – the desserts could've had a little extra something, you never know!"

Felix blinked and tried to get his brain to boot up properly, having trouble following Ace's nonsensical rambling this early in the morning.

"– But, geez, I should not be allowed to talk about feelings when I've been drinking," Ace kept going. "That's apparently how you end up confessing your undying love to someone you've only kissed for the first time that same day. That's not moving too fast, that's moving lightyears ahead and, honestly, probably some kind of clinginess world record –"

"I don't recall you talking this much in the mornings," Felix grumbled.

That finally gave Ace pause. Felix smiled down at him to hopefully make it clear that he wasn't upset in any way.

"Well, to be fair," Ace continued, a confident grin back in place. "The other mornings weren't prefaced by making out with and drunk-confessing to the guy you've been pining over for years."

Years. Ace had been wanting this for years and hadn't said anything, and Felix –

"Ähm." Felix cleared his throat. "I don't think anything you said was nearly as embarrassing as me freaking out over a simple joke and almost ruining everything.”

"Oh, pssht." Ace waved his hand. "That was also completely, one-hundred-and-ten-percent my fault."

Felix frowned at the incorrect mathematics but decided to let it go. "And I am one hundred percent sure that you did nothing wrong."

"Well – hm," Ace considered. Then, he tilted his head with a mischievous glint in his eye. "I guess I should've realized that the King of Awkwardness might have a pretty high tolerance for bumbling fake-boyfriends making a fool out of themselves."

Felix chuckled, playing along. "If I was the king of awkwardness, I would definitely pardon you."

Ace grinned and bowed his head. "Thank you, your majesty."

"I mean it.” Felix brought their foreheads together. “You never have to apologize for sharing your feelings."

"Well, you still haven't run for the hills, so…" Ace said, bumping his nose against Felix's. "Maybe I'll agree with that."

Their eyes closed and they basked silently in the closeness of the early morning. Felix struggled to find the words he wanted to say; he cared for Ace so much, but he wondered if Ace was upset with him for not being able to say those three words back just yet.

But Ace was merely nuzzling closer, seeming more than content with the situation.

"And based on the thoroughly exhaustive hold you have around me, I'm not going anywhere, either." Ace's breath brushed over Felix's face, his tone teasing.

And Felix realized that he had – maybe unconsciously – tightened his arms around Ace and lifted his leg over Ace's calves to envelop him even further.

"Sorry," Felix apologized. He moved to extract himself from the embrace, but Ace merely tugged him closer by his sleep shirt.

"I didn't say that was a bad thing," Ace murmured, his voice rough with something that made Felix's stomach do an excited leap. "Just that maybe all this morning cuddling could use a little morning kissing."

Felix didn't need to be told twice.

They both leaned in and as soon as their lips met, Felix's entire body tingled with the realization that they got to just kiss whenever they wanted now.

Unfortunately, Ace pulled away much faster than Felix would have liked and he made a quiet sound of protest.

"Sorry," Ace apologized. "Morning breath."

"I don't care," Felix said.

Ace smiled and pulled Felix back in to kiss him again – properly this time. Felix's lips moved firmly over Ace's and he could hear as much as feel Ace's soft, satisfied hum against his lips and vibrating through Ace's body.

Felix felt so good. Everything was quiet and warm and soft, the rustling of the sheets and Ace's beard rubbing against Felix's morning stubble the only sounds in the stillness of the room.

Of course, that was exactly when an ear-splitting scream echoed through the hallway and they flinched and parted.

"Ah, looks like our dearest bride-to-be is awake," Ace joked.

"We should start getting ready," Felix reluctantly noted.

"Normally I'd protest, but I really don't wanna piss her off right now."

They got themselves ready while Felix tried to reorient himself to the harsh reality of the rest of the world. After the warm comfort of hiding under the covers with the man he adored, attending his cousin’s wedding was the very last thing he wanted to be doing. He had half a mind to fake being sick so he and Ace could stay in their room all day.

Felix pushed the childish idea from his head. They had come this far in the week already, and avoiding the main event would only bring more questions and scrutiny from his relatives. It was a miracle that they’d survived the week without any larger incidents –

“You okay?” Ace asked.

He was looking at Felix knowingly, and Felix knew that if he asked, Ace would go along with his plan – no questions asked.

Felix smiled. “Just busy trying to talk myself out of skipping the wedding entirely.”

“Ha!” Ace laughed. “Do you think it’s too late to sneak out? We could tie a rope from the sheets and escape through the window.”

Felix chuckled and shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to have to explain to Agnes why we tore her favorite vintage bedding. I’m sorry, I know we have to go, it’s just –”

“Hey,” Ace said, placing a hand on Felix’s shoulder. “It’s okay; I’ll be right there with you.”

Warmth seeped into Felix’s skin from the contact and he brought up his hand to gently squeeze Ace’s wrist.

“I know.” Felix managed a hesitant smile. “And that’s all I could ask.”

“You’ve got this – we’ve got this,” Ace stressed. “It’s just one more day, and then we’re free as birds and never have to listen to a single boring wedding toast from your drunk uncles ever again.”

The reminder that this was the last day should have made Felix feel relieved, but instead a strange melancholy twisted deep in his gut. “Just one more day,” Felix agreed.

Ace grinned. “Then let’s get this show on the road!”

With that, they finished getting ready while Felix tried his best to ignore the occasional German cursing and screaming echoing through the mansion. Before heading out, Felix took one last, steadying breath and steeled himself for the exhausting ceremony he knew was in store for them.

This was going to be a long day.

Unsurprisingly, the ceremony ended up being delayed – no doubt due to a hair crisis of the bride or something of equally "critical" importance. But Felix tuned out all of Agnes' shouting at the photographer and the service folk stumbling about making last-minute preparations. Having Ace by his side, holding his hand and pressed up against Felix's side much closer than any of the previous days made up for any annoyance Felix might have felt towards his family or the forty-minute delay.

When Vanessa finally walked down the aisle – in a different wedding dress than in yesterday's photos, making Felix wonder just how many of them she'd purchased – he had to admit that she looked absolutely stunning. Felix could see the joy and pure love in Alexander's eyes when he watched his wife-to-be walk up to him, both of them with matching, soft smiles on their faces that spoke of just how smitten they were with each other.

Because Felix knew it was the same way he and Ace looked at each other.

Ace stayed surprisingly quiet and non-fidgety during the entirety of the lengthy ceremony. Most of the details also flew over Felix's head, but not because of a language barrier. No, Felix was zoned out due to an entirely different – and somewhat unexpected – train of thought that had come from seeing his cousin and her fiancé standing at the altar.

He simply couldn't stop imagining getting married to Ace.

Yes, it was way too soon to be thinking about that; but with a week's worth of living and breathing nothing but wedding-related things, it felt only natural for Felix's mind to wander there.

Felix didn't think his and Ace's hypothetical wedding would be anywhere near as extravagant as this one, but would rather be one unique to them. He could almost see it playing out in front of him: an autumn wedding in a small chapel, with all their friends there, Zarina taking photos and Adam officiating them, Ash cracking jokes with Ace and being the worst best man ever, while Elodie performed her role as Felix's admirably – maybe even insisting on walking him down the aisle or something equally ridiculous.

Ace would meet Felix by the altar and he'd wear a dazzling smile and a suit that matched Felix's own but had that personal flair of Ace. Maybe they could read parts of their vows in their native languages, and Elodie would need to stock up on tissues because Felix would definitely not make it through the ceremony without tearing up.

They would ask Claudette to do the flower arrangements and hire Kate to play guitar at the reception. Plenty of the kids would bicker for a role in the preparations and Ace would give them some meaningless task to appease them. Meanwhile, Felix would insist on handing the rings to someone responsible like Cheryl and wouldn't trust anyone but Yun-jin with actual wedding planner duties.

After the wedding, they'd take a day to recharge and see their friends off before heading to their honeymoon. Maybe they'd even go to Milan, to honor this week and the circumstances that led them together, and then they'd check into the hotel with the same last name...

Felix's hand was tugged and he snapped out of his thoughts long enough to follow Ace's lead in standing up with the rest of the guests. Applause filled the church and Ace shot Felix a cheeky smile before letting go of their joined hands to join in on the clapping.

Felix dumbly copied him and finally looked in the direction of the altar, noticing that he had daydreamed through most of the ceremony. Vanessa and Alexander were smiling brightly and waving to their audience like some sort of movie stars, all the while several photographers frantically took their pictures from different directions.

The wedding march started playing as the applause died down, and then the happy couple were strutting by their guests and into the limo waiting outside.

Others started flocking to the door but Felix hung back, not wanting to find himself in the middle of the crowd.

"What did you think of the ceremony?" Ace asked.

Felix glanced at Agnes who was just passing their seats. "Oh, it was great," he lied. "The vows were beautiful."

Ace looked rather unimpressed. "Really."

"Yes. You can really tell how much they love each other."

"Oh, I agree," Ace said. "I'm just surprised you got all that from staring emptily at the back of Bernard's bald spot for the last thirty minutes."

Felix flushed. "I, ehm, may have zoned out a bit."

"Hey, whatever you were thinking about, it was probably much more interesting." Ace grinned. "You were smiling the entire time."

Felix didn't want to lie again, so he merely cleared his throat. "Lots to think about, with these types of events."

Ace smiled quizzically but didn't ask further questions.

They were among the last ones to arrive at the reception, which suited Felix just fine. Most of the guests were already seated so he and Ace shook hands with the newlyweds and exchanged their pleasantries before Felix steered them to the gift table.

Felix had already made a generous donation to the couple’s honeymoon fund beforehand, but he had also brought a gift: an expensive espresso machine, similar to one at his office that both he and Lauren swore by.

Ace seemed a little rueful to let the machine go after Felix had sung its praises earlier, but when Felix suggested "You should come by my office to try it sometime", Ace perked right back up and suddenly couldn’t seem to get rid of the thing soon enough.

The dinner and speeches went by without any hiccups and Felix had to admit that the rehearsal dinner might have helped in that regard. The familiarity with the program also helped soothe his own nerves, and he was able to focus on the food and Ace and chatting politely with the rest of their table.

And then the time for dancing came and Ace politely extended his hand and asked “May I have this dance?” and effectively threw a wrench in the comforting predictability of it all.

“I, ehm,” Felix started. “I’m not the best dancer.”

“Wow, really?” Ace smirked. “And here I thought you were a professional. You mean all Germans don't tap dance in their wooden shoes and lederhosen every weekend?”

The woman seated next to Ace giggled and Felix’s neck flushed hot. At this point, he was almost certain that it would be more embarrassing to stay at their table and have Ace continue to heckle him to dance than it was to just bite the bullet and do it.

“Fine,” Felix relented, taking Ace’s hand and leading him to the dance floor. “But I won't accept any complaints when I inevitably crush your toes.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart.”

The dancing was horrible.

Felix tried so hard to focus on remembering the steps and not trampling on Ace’s feet that he couldn’t even enjoy the happy smile Ace sported or the closeness of their bodies. He was rigid as he silently counted the beat in his head and stared at the other couples to copy their movements, trying not to bump into them in the process.

But Ace clearly loved it, so Felix grit his teeth and promised himself just a few more songs, because there was very little Felix would ever deny Ace –

"Can I lead the next one?" Ace asked.

Felix nearly tripped over his own feet from surprise, his wide eyes meeting Ace’s for the first time since they started dancing.

“It’s okay if you want to, but I thought it might help you loosen up a little,” Ace explained with a patient smile, easily adapting to Felix’s misstep. “You wouldn’t have to focus so hard.”

Embarrassment bloomed on Felix’s cheeks. He had led on autopilot, not realizing that he was dancing with a man – one who was trained in ballroom etiquette and certainly knew how to lead.

“Of course. Sorry.” Felix hurried to lift his hand from Ace's waist to his shoulder.

“No harm done.” Ace adjusted to the new position before smirking up at Felix. “Now strap in and follow my lead, beautiful.”

It took a couple songs to get used to letting Ace lead. But in the end, Felix realized how nice it was; even if he was much more clumsy than Ace had been before, it felt comforting to just follow.

Everyone except Ace always seemed to rely on Felix for something. Maybe that was why it was such a relief to know that whenever Felix fell short – be it in socializing with his difficult relatives, entertaining his cousin's child or playing a sport Felix was terrible at – Ace was always there to cover for him without thinking any less of him.

Felix was falling hard for this man and found he didn't mind that fact in the slightest.

Seeing Felix's dopey smile, Ace quirked an eyebrow in question – and how amazing was that, Felix thought, that Ace could not only read him but that Felix had learned to pick up on Ace’s subtle expressions as well. 

Affection curled pleasantly in Felix's chest and had him leaning in, only half consciously, like Ace was an irresistible pull.

"Can I…?" Felix whispered.

Ace smiled, wide and beautiful, and his flawless choreography was ruined as he leaned up and closed the distance between them.

Warmth radiated from Ace's lips and seemed to seep into every corner of Felix's body. His hand on Ace's shoulder moved up to settle on his neck while they kissed, and Felix knew that people must have been staring but he didn't give a damn, not when Ace made him feel like this.

"Trust me when I say," Ace murmured when pulling away. "That you can do that any time."

Later in the evening – after they'd both had too much wine – Ace managed to coax Felix into somewhat enjoying the corny, ridiculous party games that for some reason seemed to be a staple of any wedding celebration.

Their table ended up coming second place in a quiz where Felix found himself yelling out answers about the history of the Hoffman manor a little too loudly – courtesy of the aforementioned wine – before the guests gathered to watch the groom retrieve the bride's garter. Ace nearly howled with laughter at the obvious skit of Alexander emerging from underneath Vanessa's third wedding dress first with a pocket knife and then with a digital camera in his mouth, before finally managing to surface with the garter.

After that, a projector was booted up and Agnes and the groom's mother presented a slide show together. Most of the pictures were from the Vanessa's and Alexander's childhoods – making Ace coo and pinch Felix's cheek when one came up of a twelve-year-old Felix showing his drawing of a house to an unimpressed toddler Vanessa – but the last slides were reserved for the pictures that had been taken of the wedding party and guests yesterday.

And Felix swore he had a small heart attack when his and Ace's photo was projected onto the wall of the venue.

The picture was one taken only moments before their first kiss. They were standing in front of the rose hedge in their white suits, Felix's hair and Ace's watch glinting gold as they caught the sunlight. Felix had an arm around Ace and his head was bowed in a laugh, while Ace's smile was full of fondness as he watched Felix laugh.

It made Felix shuffle his chair that much closer to Ace’s. Ace smiled brightly and leaned his head on Felix's shoulder in a tipsy display of affection, and they enjoyed the rest of the slideshow in closeness.

And then Ace's warmth was robbed from Felix as volunteers were asked for another game and Ace instantly sat up in his chair. Ace proceeded to down the rest of his merlot in one go and shot Felix a manic grin before getting up to join a few others on the empty dance floor.

The maid of honor announced the rules of the game and Felix nearly choked on his tongue; the game consisted of an assortment of male guests and Alexander lining up in a row while the blindfolded bride fondled her way through their butts in search of her husband's.

Ace, however, didn't seem bothered in the slightest by the embarrassing activity. He eagerly took his spot next to Alexander, elbowing the man and saying something that made the groom throw his head back and laugh. The participants were shushed by a bridesmaid before Vanessa was led to the start of the line, a necktie secured over her eyes. Chuckles were heard from around the room as the bride proceeded to grope butt after butt; until she reached Ace's and seemed to linger. Ace was clearly holding back laughter as Vanessa kept squeezing his ass through his slacks and slurring "yes, very cute, very nice" in German, and Felix watched on in both horror and fascination.

And as Vanessa moved on and finally settled on the groom's brother in her tush endeavors and caused an eruption of laughter and wolf whistles, Felix only glared down at his n:th drink while trying to tell himself that he wasn't jealous that someone Ace barely knew got to touch his body in that way before Felix.

"Well, that was something," Ace said jovially, slumping back into his seat. "Been a while since anyone's appreciated my ass that thoroughly."

Felix grit his teeth and squeezed the wine glass to stop himself from blurting out something embarrassing like "that should have been me" or "you seemed to enjoy yourself" or "I want to appreciate your ass every day."

"Felix…?" Ace leaned closer, but upon inspecting his expression, a sly grin replaced his frown. "You're not jealous, are you?"

Don't pout don't pout don't pout – 

"No," Felix lied, his bottom lip sticking out.

"Oh, honey," Ace cooed obnoxiously. "You know you're the only one for me, right? I only have eyes for yoouu."

Ace poked him in the cheek with the coordination of someone eho was clearly a little tipsy. And though Felix knew Ace was only teasing, it still made him huff out a chuckle and snap out of his sulking.

"Sorry," Felix said, clasping Ace's hand. "I know it was just a game."

"Well, then, in the nature of the game…" Ace grinned and leaned in, until his breath ghosted over Felix's ear. "You wouldn't have to settle for just touching."

Felix's breath caught in his throat. Ace's voice was rough with promise and the tickle of his beard made goosebumps rise on Felix's skin as his blood rushed away from his face and south. Ace leaned back far enough to lift their still joined hands up and place a kiss on a dumbfounded Felix's knuckles, all the while looking up through dark lashes that fanned his reddened cheeks, flushed from the wine and heat...

And as fun as they’d had tonight, dancing and drinking and playing games, Felix suddenly needed the wedding to be over, now.

But that didn't stop Felix from crawling half on top of Ace and kissing the laugh off his lips.

Ace gasped in surprise but quickly got the memo, his hands snaking through Felix’s hair before finally finding his neck and holding on.

What started as an uncoordinated press of lips rapidly turned into something much less innocent, the temperature of the room seeming to rise right alongside the now heated kisses.

"Fuck. I‘ve been wanting to do this the whole week," Ace murmured when they were panting for breath. "You're so fucking hot."

His tongue flicked teasingly over Felix's bottom lip and Felix shivered.

"You too," Felix shot back lamely. He buried his face in Ace's neck. "And you've been wearing the clothes I picked out for you for a week," he stressed, kissing at the skin.

"Well, shit, I'll wear them as much as you want if it gets you going like this," Ace groaned as Felix's lips trailed down his throat. "I can't get over that day at the pool, when I splashed you and your shirt fucking clung to your abs and the wet pants meant I could see the outline of your – fuck." Ace moaned and his fingers tugged lightly on Felix's hair.

Ace’s words sunk in, making Felix pause. Ace didn't have a sun stroke that day; he was busy looking at Felix and getting aroused.

"You enjoyed that? Really?" Felix asked.

"Are you kidding me? You'd win any wet t-shirt contest in a heartbeat. You're so hot and amazing and just…" Ace paused to think, and something in his expression sobered as he looked at Felix like he was his entire world. "You're Felix."

There was so much weight behind the simple statement. It made butterflies dance in Felix's gut and prompted him to reclaim Ace's lips in a sloppy kiss. Ace moaned into it and pawed at him desperately, spreading his legs to make room for Felix to settle between them.

Their drunken kissing quickly turned to a full-blown make out session, but Felix simply couldn't get enough. Arbitrary things like sleep or oxygen were second place when compared to finally having Ace underneath him. Ace tasted like wine and the sun and Felix eagerly drank it up like a man parched, his lips exploring Ace's and his clumsy hands mapping out Ace's body through the thin layers of the suit.

Felix shifted down onto his elbows, needing to be even closer to Ace. Most of his blood has already rushed south and he was thrilled to notice Ace was in a similar predicament, his hardness pressing against Felix’s hip as he settled between his legs.

Felix slipped one of his hands around Ace's back and lower, groaning as he finally got his hand on Ace's ass. He kneaded and squeezed one cheek and Ace gasped against his lips and ground up against Felix, and it would be so easy to just slot their hips together and give in to the passion and the need and… 

And then Felix had a moment of clarity.

Not like this.

It took every ounce of willpower for Felix’s drunk and horny body to reluctantly peel itself away from Ace. Ace looked beautifully wrecked underneath him; disheveled and panting, his lips glistening with spit and eyes alight with desire even as he looked at Felix in question.

“Sorry,” Felix apologized. “We should probably not do more tonight.”

Confusion flashed on Ace's face and Felix almost regretted his decision, but then the words seemed to register and Ace just smiled that same soft smile that Felix had come to love so much.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ace agreed. “I really wanna be sober for this.”

Felix exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Though I wouldn’t mind some more of that kissing,” Ace smirked.

Felix chuckled. “Let’s at least change out of the suits first.”

“I thought you said you didn’t want me naked.” Ace was leering and his left eye spasmed with something Felix belatedly realized was probably supposed to be a wink.

Felix snorted at the display while pushing himself out of bed. “Sleep clothes, Ace. Then kissing.”

“Fine, fine,” Ace relented, practically flopping out of bed and reaching for the wardrobe.

In the end, their evening routines turned out to be more difficult than they had any right to be. The alcohol made their movements clumsy and Felix ended up with toothpaste all over his dress shirt while Ace somehow managed to empty half of the closet onto the floor in his search for clean underwear. When Ace proceeded to nearly trip on his self-inflicted clothes pile on the floor, Felix laughed so hard he had to lean on the dresser for support and made one of Agnes’ priceless flower vases topple over in the process.

But soon enough, they were hopping under the covers together and immediately curling up against each other. Ace hadn’t bothered with pants and Felix wasn't able to find his pajama shirt, so Ace was clad only in a tee and boxers while Felix sported nothing but his ugly flannel PJ pants and mismatched socks that were still wet from the vase’s contents.

And despite the disastrous state of the room and their outfits, the stale alcohol smell in their breaths, and the slight nausea that was making the room spin more than Felix would have liked, it was absolutely perfect.

"Man,” Ace mumbled, his cheek squished against Felix's chest. “Gonna have one hell of a hangover tomorrow," 

"I had maybe a little more than I should have," Felix agreed.

"Yeah." Ace smirked lazily up at him. "But it was fun to see you let loose."

"I had fun, too." Felix reached up to run his fingers through Ace's hair. "Thanks to you."

Ace's eyes briefly fluttered shut as he leaned into the touch. Like a cat, Felix thought, not for the first time.

Ace leaned closer with a mischievous smile. "So, about that kissing…"

Felix was all too happy to tilt Ace's head up by the hand in his hair and lean in to claim those tempting lips once more.

They kissed lazily, soft and gentle between murmured endearments, until Ace dozed off against him. While Ace snored against Felix's chest, Felix placed a kiss onto soft grey hair and held him close. 

It was a bittersweet feeling: finally having what he wanted right in his arms, yet knowing they had to return to their normal lives tomorrow.

He just didn't want this to end.

Ace was on his back next to Felix, his head lolled to the side and with dark circles under his eyes, but he was looking at Felix with a lazy smirk.

“Hello yourself," Felix murmured.

Felix's hangover was all but forgotten as he and Ace took each other in and exchanged soft smiles over crumpled linen sheets; like they could still scarcely believe that the other was really there.

“You know,” Ace said, rolling over on his side to face Felix. “I could get used to waking up like this.”

Felix smiled in silent agreement. Starting his mornings lazing around in bed with Ace was quickly becoming his favorite part of the day.

“I mean, ideally without the splitting headache and taste of old booze in my mouth.” Ace grinned. “But the rest of this is pretty nice.”

Felix’s head throbbed in sympathy and he grimaced. Indulging in that much alcohol the night before definitely wasn’t his brightest idea, and their two-hour long car ride was sure to be a little unpleasant later today.

“I have to admit, I’ve had better days,” Felix said. “Though strangely, I still wouldn’t change anything about this.”

He gently brushed his knuckles over Ace’s cheek and was rewarded with a sleepy grin.

“Damn, not even two minutes awake and you’re already flirting,” Ace teased. “What have I unleashed?”

Felix’s gaze dropped to Ace’s mouth. “Someone that would very much like a good morning kiss.”

“Well,” Ace smirked and tilted his head up in invitation. “Don’t let me stop you.”

It was so easy to lean in and claim Ace's lips. It still felt bizarre that this was really something that Felix got to do now – that Ace wanted this just as much as he did.

“Mm,” Ace hummed when they pulled apart. “I’ll never get tired of that.”

Felix could feel warmth flush on his cheeks even as a smile tugged on his lips. “Me neither.”

"So…" Ace scooted back to his side of the bed. “Last night –”

“I – ehm, yes, about that.” Felix cleared his throat at the reminder of his indecent behavior. “I’m sorry for how I acted; I got a little carried away.”

“Tsk, that’s my line,” Ace scoffed. “I wasn’t exactly being subtle and you were just reading the signals. Rather well, might I add.”

Ace winked at him and Felix chuckled.

“I’m just glad you had enough self-control for both of us,” Ace said. “This is – it’s kind of a weird situation, but I don’t wanna mess it up by moving too fast.”

"I agree.” Felix smiled while stealing one last kiss before forcing himself out of bed. 

“We should probably start packing up,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to miss your flight.”

Ace’s smile wavered as something unfamiliar flashed across his features. However, that expression left as quickly as it had appeared and Ace was back to grinning smugly when he pushed himself out of bed.

“Oh, I’m a master of packing my bags and disappearing quickly,” Ace said. “Watch and learn.”

Packing up mostly consisted of Ace aggressively cramming his rumpled clothes pile into a suitcase – rather efficiently at that – and Felix hanging his suits in their suit bags much more carefully.

After getting dressed and piling their now-full bags by the door for easy access later, they headed down to see off the newlyweds. Both Felix and Ace had ended up vigorously brushing their teeth and wearing sunglasses in order to mask the lingering effects of yesterday’s alcohol – Ace claiming it was a fashion statement when the butler gave them a knowing look.

They got downstairs only to find that a small crowd had formed in the foyer. Vanessa and Alexander were apparently getting ready to depart for their honeymoon, saying their goodbyes to their families.

Vanessa’s face lit up as soon as she spotted them. "Felix!"

Felix had no time to react before she proceeded to fling herself at him for a hug. He briefly floundered before awkwardly patting his cousin on the back. 

"It was so good to see you!" Vanessa said as they pulled apart. "I'm glad you were able to come." She directed a warm smile to both him and Ace.

Alexander, thankfully, opted for a handshake instead of a hug. "It was great meeting you both," Alexander said in English. "We'll have to stay in touch."

"I would like that," Felix said and actually meant it.

Alexander smirked at Ace. "The next time we meet, I expect you to have your own golf clubs and kick Felix's ass at putting."

Ace barked out a hearty laugh. "Sounds like a plan! And I can always just drive him into a ditch if he plays too well."

Alexander laughed and Vanessa looked on in both amusement and confusion.

It wasn't long before the happy couple left in their limo (of course) for a two-week-long honeymoon in Barbados.

After the bride and groom’s departure, Felix and Ace decided to stay for brunch – even managing to eat a few bites despite the lingering nausea.

Afterwards, most of the guests were preparing to leave. While a few servants were carrying Felix’s and Ace’s luggage to the car, one of the maids stopped by to give Ace a basket of fresh strawberries picked from the garden.

“From all of us,” the girl said, a blush high on her cheeks. “Thank you for your kindness.”

In the few seconds that Ace was stunned into silence, the maid was already scurrying away, but Ace’s bright smile still warmed Felix’s heart.

Once they’d double-checked their room and said their goodbyes, Agnes and Nico walked them to the car.

"It was great to have you here for the week," Agnes told Felix, giving him a handshake and a smile. "I hope you'll come visit us again." She turned to Ace and continued in English. "You are both welcome here."

To his surprise, Felix actually believed her. "Thank you," he said. "We had a lovely time."

"You have a beautiful home and the planning for this week was spectacular," Ace agreed. "It was great meeting you and the rest of the family. Thanks for having me."

"It was our pleasure!" Nico chimed in.

"Such a charmer," Agnes agreed, then turned to Felix. "You should keep him."

Ace laughed and Felix flushed. "I, ehm, I mean only if he wants to…"

"Don't you two worry, I'm not going anywhere," Ace said, lacing his fingers with Felix's. "And I'll do my best to keep your nephew in check."

With Agnes’ chuckle and one last goodbye to their hosts, Felix reluctantly let go of Ace's hand and forced a smile once they got into the car.

Felix wished Ace was telling the truth. He wished Ace didn't have to leave, and that they could stay together in Coburg – or even live together in Felix's house – like all of his relatives thought they’d been doing for over a year.

But Ace's flight was leaving in only a few hours. And once he was gone from Felix’s life, the distance and time would slowly but surely erode their fond memories of this week.

Felix’s jaw set firmly as he started the ignition. He knew that before they reached the airport, he had to do something.

Felix smiled. "Yes, please."

Ace's eyes glinted in the sunlight as he beamed and reached over to feed Felix the berry.

Felix's lip tingled from both the juice of the strawberry and the brush of Ace's finger across his skin. He forced himself to keep his eyes on the road, but the heat spreading over his cheeks probably told Ace everything he needed to know.

"Thank you," Felix said.

Felix caught Ace's wink out of the corner of his eye. "My pleasure."

A new song started playing on the radio and Felix glanced at the clock on the dashboard, confirming his fears: they were only another hour away from the airport.

Felix’s heart clenched pitifully at the reminder that their time was coming to an end. He’d desperately tried to gather enough courage to broach the subject of the future. He simply couldn't let Ace slip through his fingers; not again. If he could just ask Ace –

"So," Ace started. "When we get to Münich and I fly back to the states..."

Felix's entire body sagged in relief. Ace’s seemingly innocuous comment may just have saved their entire relationship.

"Yes?" Felix prompted.

"Once I leave, do you wanna go back to the way things were?" Ace asked.

There were few things in life Felix had ever been as certain about as this.

"No," Felix said. "I want this – more than I've wanted anything in a long time."

He glanced at Ace, only to find him smiling.

"Me too," Ace said.

"I just… don't know where to go from here," Felix confessed.

"Yeah," Ace agreed, and it made Felix feel a little better. "But we'll figure it out."

Felix nodded, not entirely convinced. There was so much to think about; they'd spent this week in a vacuum, sealed off from the rest of the world. How would they manage to slot their lives together once they returned to their day-to-day routines? The typical arrangements of a long-distance relationship alone were difficult to begin with. At the very least, they needed to be on the same page before trying to sort anything out.

Speaking of which…

“Just so we’re clear,” Felix said. “By this, you mean a relationship – right? And you’re sure you want that? With me?”

Ace raised an eyebrow. "What could possibly have given you that idea? The way I've plastered myself to you for the last week, the puppy eyes whenever you so much as look my way, or me spilling my heart about every two days?"

Felix flushed and looked back at the road. "It's not going to be easy.”

He saw Ace tilt his head out of the corner of his eye, so he continued.

"Even if it weren’t for the distance, I’m not the easiest person to be with," Felix said. "I work a lot – often too much. I also don't know how to relax because I'm constantly worrying about something."

“You think that's bad?” Ace replied, his tone much more jovial than Felix had expected for a conversation of this nature. “I never know when to shut up, so I just crack jokes until something sticks.”

“I regularly pull all-nighters,” Felix shot back.

“I snore,” Ace said. “Loudly.”

“I know, I've been sharing a bed with you for a week.” Felix glanced at him with a smile. “And it's not that loud. It actually calms me.”

“Well…” Ace faltered. “I can't be trusted with money because I have no fucking clue what to do with it and always just end up in debt.”

Instantly, Felix realized that this was different from all their other teasing. He knew Ace’s financial situation was a sore subject and that by bringing it up, he was making himself vulnerable for a rejection from Felix.

But rejection was the furthest thing on Felix’s mind as he looked at Ace with a gentle smile. “Fortunately, I'm very good with money. And I have much more than I know what to do with, even if you mess up.”

Ace visibly relaxed. “Gonna try my best not to. Just don't give me a credit card or leave me alone with loose change when there's a slot machine in the vicinity,” he joked.

“Only if you promise to rip my phone from my hands whenever I try to check work emails at midnight.”

Ace grinned. “Deal.”

As Felix kept looking at Ace, at his content smile and eyes full of fondness, he realized that this was really happening. Ace still wanted Felix; wanted a relationship with him, and Felix thanked whatever powers may be out there for bringing Ace back into his life –

And then Felix’s phone chimed loudly between them, making them jolt in their seats before Felix quickly turned his attention back to the road.

“Shit,” Felix said, mentally scolding himself for getting lost in Ace’s eyes and endangering them both.

“I’ll say,” Ace remarked. “Why are your alerts so loud?”

“Because I tend to zone out and don’t notice it otherwise.” Felix glanced at his phone’s lit up screen where it was lying between their seats. “Can you check the message?”

Ace hesitated long enough that Felix almost felt the urge to explain himself and his sudden need to focus on driving.

“Uh, sure,” Ace eventually said and picked up the device. “Oh. It’s from Elodie!”

Felix sighed in relief. Getting a message from the woman shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was definitely much more welcome than some work text asking him to come to the office as soon as he got home.

“What does it say?” Felix asked.

He already had a vague idea: trust Elodie to keep tabs on his schedule and immediately check in on him after a harrowing week with his relatives.

“In all caps, and I quote.” Ace cleared his throat. “‘TELL HIM BEFORE THE FLIGHT OR SO HELP ME I’LL COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND DRAG YOU TO THE AIRPORT MYSELF!’ Followed by a knife, bomb, and three angry face emojis.”

Felix nearly choked on his spit. That was definitely not the wellness check message he’d expected.

“She’s, ähm,” Felix stammered. “She was very insistent that I should tell you about my feelings when we talked on Thursday.”

“Hmm.” Ace only hummed, though his expression thankfully seemed more amused than embarrassed. “Do you think we should update her, before she shows up at the airport to kidnap me or something?”

“Probably,” Felix admitted. “Do you want to respond to her? My lock screen pattern is a house.”

“Of course it is.” Ace grinned and swiped the right symbol in his first attempt while Felix only flushed from being so predictable. “I mean, not just because you’re an architect and your code is a house, but because I could see your fingerprints in the reflection of the screen. These things really aren’t that secure; I was just being polite in not unlocking it earlier.”

Felix blinked in surprise before remembering Ace’s colorful past. He briefly wondered how many arbitrary locks and codes Ace had cracked in his time as a swindler.

“Uh – sorry,” Ace apologized and looked away. “That’s probably not something you wanna hear before even date number one.”

“You should teach me sometime,” Felix blurted, making Ace perk up. “I mean – not lockpicking, per se, but how to keep my belongings secure.”

Ace smiled, wide and bright. “You got it.” He held up the phone. “Now, just how much did you want me to tell Elodie?”

“Anything you want,” Felix said honestly.

“You don’t mind?” Ace asked, seeming surprised. “I mean, this – everything’s still so new, and, you know, I have kind of a reputation…”

“Of course I want to tell her about you,” Felix said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “But you don’t have to unless you want to – though I’m sure she’ll wrangle it out of me sooner or later.”

Ace chuckled. “Yeah, I figured that’s a given; I’ve met the woman, you know.”

Felix smiled as Ace turned his attention to typing out a reply to Elodie. He had a feeling Ace and Elodie would get on splendidly, now more than ever, even outside of the fog. Felix truly couldn’t wait to share the news with her.

While Ace was busy with what seemed like scrolling through emoticons for his message, Felix's mind was already returning to the practicalities. He needed to clear out the Richter manor guest room for Ace, and he had to let Lauren know he'd be busy during the days that Ace was visiting, and…

And he still didn’t even know when Ace was coming back.

“So,” Felix cleared his throat. "Do you know when you’ll be returning to Germany? If you give me the time, I can pick you up at the airport again."

And forcibly arrange my work and meetings and conferences and stupid obligations and entire life to make room for you, he refrained from adding.

“Hmm,” Ace pondered, looking up at the ceiling in thought. “I don't know, I’ll have to check my busy schedule."

Felix nodded stiffly and continued to stare at the road.

He’d always known that Ace loved to travel the world and the last thing Felix wanted was to take that away from him. Ace was probably tired of being joined at the hip with Felix for the past week, and it wasn’t like Felix could expect him to abandon all his obligations at the drop of a hat.

"Probably in a week or so," Ace said.

Felix whipped his head to the side to look at Ace, only to find him smirking. “Wait, what?” Felix exclaimed.

Ace barked out a laugh. "I’m the furthest thing from busy; I was just pulling your leg.” He grinned. “I really can't think of any place I'd rather be. As long as you don't get sick of my mug."

The last bit was said in a joking tone but Felix could see the insecurity hidden underneath.

Felix wanted so badly to kiss Ace at that moment. Fortunately, he now had more self-control and settled for reaching over to clasp his hand instead.

"Never," Felix promised, gently squeezing Ace’s hand to further prove his point. “I can’t see myself ever getting tired of you.”

"Well." Ace cleared his throat and his thumb caressed Felix’s knuckles. "I can maybe push it from seven days to five if you’re gonna keep being a huge sap every chance you get."

A giddy chuckle escaped Felix’s throat. “Really?”

"Sure," Ace said. "I just have to swing by Cali for this gig I promised Jonah. I can probably make it back here by the weekend."

Felix smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Hey,” Ace said, leaning forward until he was in Felix’s field of vision. “You realize I’m actually gonna go through with it, right? If you need more than four or five days far, far away from me – wouldn’t blame you, honestly – then this is your last warning.”

Felix huffed in fond amusement. “I'm sure, Ace. I wouldn't mind even if you never left in the first place.”

Ace blinked, clearly caught off guard by his answer. Felix bit his lip to stop himself from saying more: he was definitely moving too fast for someone who had only been dating their partner for two days.

But after the initial surprise, Ace’s look softened. “Well, damn, you sure know how to make a guy feel welcome,” he teased and leaned further into Felix's space, until his breath was ghosting over Felix’s cheek. “Five days. I promise.”

“Ace, I’m driving,” Felix gently reminded. “Can this wait until the airport?”

“Fine.” Ace sighed dramatically and slumped back into his seat. “Damn you and your gorgeous, responsible self.”

Felix had half a mind to protest, but the sound of his phone vibrating on the console drew his attention. “Is it Elodie?”

Ace picked up the phone with a grin. “Yup. And she definitely won’t be coming to the airport to interrupt anything.”

“Oh?”

“I might have texted her something like ‘Don’t worry, he did tell me. Among other things, winky face’,” Ace grinned. “And she might be a little enthusiastic about that, based on the number of exclamation marks and heart emojis.”

Felix chuckled even as he mentally prepared himself for a long phone call with Elodie this evening.

“Well, since you’ve already charmed my friends and family…” He shot Ace a bashful smirk. “I practically have to keep you around now.”

“Oh, I see how it is,” Ace teased. “You wanna sic me on Elodie and your relatives to get out of the spotlight yourself, hmm?”

“Maybe a little bit,” Felix said. “But really, it’s more like... For the first time, I actually enjoyed a family gathering like this.”

“Aww, pudding,” Ace cooed obnoxiously and placed his hand on Felix’s thigh. “We can go to as many dry cocktail parties as you want to – I promise. As long as I'm with you, I'm gonna have the time of my life.”

Felix put his hand atop Ace’s. “Me too.”

He glanced at Ace’s smiling face, catching the very moment Ace perked up with some new idea.

“I just realized,” Ace smirked. “After next week, I might have to stay in Germany for a while after all.”

“Hmm?”

“Apart from an angry Elodie coming after me if I don’t,” Ace said. “We've been dating for two years, you know. Got a lot of time to make up for.”

Felix smiled. “We do.”

“And I still need to teach you tennis so we can knock your hoity-toity aunt down a peg next time we play.”

Felix’s laugh nearly drowned out Ace's chuckles and just like that, he knew that they would be alright. Even if slotting their lives together would be more difficult than a week of parties and luxury, Felix was confident that they could make it work.

And best of all?

They didn't have to pretend anymore.