As soon as Ian entered his bedroom after a long day at work, he wanted to collapse on his bed. A weight had settled on his shoulders during the last few days, growing heavier and heavier the more time he spent apart from Vincent. It killed him to put so much space between them, but he wanted to get Vincent on his side. Space typically made him happy.

With a sigh, Ian stopped near his bed, unbuttoning his shirt slowly. He had been alone for two years. It was torture feeling like that all over again. Just as he slipped the shirt off his shoulders, he heard a light knock before his door opened. He looked over his shoulder, surprise striking him when he saw Vincent step into his room. However, he kept his face straight.

On the other hand, Vincent’s face went through ten different expressions as he stared at Ian. His eyes trailed over Ian’s body, focusing on his bare, built chest. He then quickly looked away, his face growing red.

“What are you doing up so late?” Ian asked him as he tossed his shirt to the side. It was midnight. He should’ve been sleeping by now like he usually was when Ian got home from the office.

“I wanted to talk to you, and you suddenly started getting home around midnight all the time,” Vincent replied, sounding confused and a little annoyed. He took a few steps toward Ian, but he kept a few feet of distance between them. “According to the guards, I need your permission to go out for walks around the villa.”

Ian held Vincent’s gaze, wondering what to say. He still wasn’t completely sure if Vincent would try to make a break for it or not. However, he did ask Ian for permission instead of just doing whatever he wanted. Ian decided to reward that respect.

“You can walk around the villa, Vincent,” he said. It was odd using another man’s name when he was looking at the body of his husband, but he would do anything he could to get Eton back. If that meant playing this game, he would assume the role. Maybe this was true, maybe it wasn't.  It didn't matter anyway, he would do anything.

Vincent looked surprised that Ian gave in so easily. He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his head as he shifted on the spot. It seemed like there was something else that he wanted to say.

“Did you need anything else?” Ian asked.

Vincent drew in a deep breath through his nose before looking Ian in the eyes.

“I want Josh to be placed back with me. I don’t know what you did with him, but I want him back,” Vincent said in a firm voice, narrowing his eyes in seriousness.

Ian’s jaw tightened. It seemed like Vincent was particularly close to Josh. He couldn’t help but feel jealous when he saw Vincent and Josh chatting so cheerfully. Maybe he was the one who enacted this distance, but he couldn’t remember a time when Vincent talked to him like that. There was always so much tension.

It wasn’t fair that another man made Vincent smile and laugh. That was Ian’s job, but he couldn’t even do that. It pained him, so he made Josh take a temporary vacation to put some space between him and Vincent. Ian didn’t want them to get too close. However, he didn’t want Vincent to hate him for sending Josh away.

Josh did a good job protecting Vincent, and Ian doubted that Josh would ever jeopardize himself by trying to get with Vincent. He just had to hope that Vincent didn’t get too attached to Josh and end up forgetting about him. He didn’t know if he would ever be able to recover from something like that happening. Eton was his, which meant that Vincent had to be his too.

“Fine,” Ian replied, watching Vincent’s face automatically light up. He wasn’t finished yet. He stepped closer to Vincent, closing the distance. “But remember that my guards are only supposed to be guards. They’re not meant to be friends.”

“I know. He still does his job. It’s just nice to talk to someone,” Vincent replied with a light shrug.

Why couldn’t Vincent talk to him instead? Ian tightened every muscle in his face to keep his look of sadness from breaking through. He wished that Vincent felt comfortable enough to talk to him when he was lonely. He kept his distance so that Vincent wouldn’t feel pressured. Was that backfiring?

“I get that, but you can talk to me when you feel lonely or need someone to talk to,” Ian sighed, wanting to reach out to Vincent. He almost felt pathetic trying to win over Vincent’s attention, but he didn’t want to lose it to anyone else.

After the hell that he had experienced during the last two years, it would crush him to see Vincent warming up to another man instead of him. It was torture watching their love slowly crumble. Things were so perfect between them, even with all the drama from Ian’s business. Then, everything was ruined, and Ian was still struggling to hold onto what hope he had left.

All he wanted was a happy life with his husband. After years of believing that he would never find love, he finally felt what it was like to truly be connected to someone, to fully trust someone. It was the greatest thing that he had ever felt, and he didn’t want to lose that under any circumstance.

Vincent frowned as he nodded. He looked slightly guilty as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just haven’t seen you that much,” he murmured, lowering his eyes.

Ian sighed, not wanting Vincent to feel bad. He was glad that Vincent felt comfortable around Josh, but there had to be a boundary. With everything going on with the spies and De Leon, Ian needed Josh to be on his A-game and nothing less than that.

“I wanted to give you your space,” Ian said. Maybe he needed to start closing back in, though. He wanted Vincent to know that he was there for him. “But I don’t want you to feel lonely.”

Vincent shrugged, staring down at his feet.

“It was just unexpected,” he replied.

Ian wished that Vincent would just say what was on his mind. He could tell that Vincent held back his true thoughts a lot, and it was hard for Ian to know how he actually felt. How could they get anywhere if they weren’t honest with each other?

Vincent still needed some coaxing, and Ian was willing to push some of his own boundaries to make Vincent more comfortable around him. The more Vincent loosened up and let Ian come closer, the bigger the possibility that Eton could break through. An idea then popped up in Ian’s mind.

“Come here,” Ian said, reaching out to grab Vincent’s hand. He led Vincent over to his nightstand, reaching into the drawer and pulling out Eton’s phone. For a moment, Ian paused as he stared down at his husband’s phone, brushing his thumb over the screen.

Eton was notorious for being on his phone, taking photos of them and sending Ian dirty or funny texts throughout the day. During the first few months of Eton being in the coma, Ian went through all of his photos and their old texts, trying to hold onto him in any way that he could. Once those few months passed, it became too painful to look at the photos any longer.

Ian turned on the phone, tapping around to make some changes before placing the phone in Vincent’s hand.

“I want you to have this. It’s Eton’s phone,” he said. “Call me when you want to do something outside of the villa or if you just want to talk.”

Vincent’s eyes widened in shock at first. Then, an excited look broke across his face as he inspected the phone.

“Really?” he asked. “I can use this?”

Ian smiled a little when he saw how excited Vincent was to use it. Maybe he should’ve done this earlier.

“You can use it. Only my number is in the contacts,” Ian told him before showing Vincent where the contacts app was. “You’ll tap here. Then, click that phone icon. It’ll call me.”

Vincent actually leaned toward Ian, letting him show him how the phone worked and what to click on when he needed to text or call.

“I can’t believe something like this actually exists,” Vincent said.

Whenever Vincent said odd things like that, Ian wondered how deeply engrained this made-up persona was in Eton’s brain. He had never heard of people forgetting that certain technology existed or believing that they were from a different time. It was odd.

“It’s an easy way for you to communicate with me,” Ian replied, hoping that Vincent actually used the phone to talk to him. Maybe it could help Vincent feel more comfortable opening up to Ian since they didn’t have to be together to talk. “Why don’t you practice a text message?”

Vincent’s finger hovered over the screen as his eyes narrowed in thought. He glanced over all the apps, trying to find the one for the messenger.

Ian couldn’t help but chuckle lightly and nudge Vincent’s hand over until his finger was right over the app.

“This one,” he said, pressing Vincent’s finger down. To his surprise, Vincent didn’t try to pull away. He was hardly even tense as their shoulders and arms brushed. Ian decided to continue on, guiding Vincent’s hand to type out a short text message. “Hit send.”

Vincent tapped on the button, his head jerking up when he heard Ian’s phone ding.

“Woah,” he murmured in awe. A smile of disbelief crossed his face. “The technology of this time is incredible.”

Ian didn’t try to analyze Vincent’s words. He was just glad that Vincent was happy and smiling right now. It was such a rare sight, and Ian missed seeing that glowing smile. It lit up his entire world, shattering any darkness that dared to come near.

“There are other things you can do on it, like play games, but let’s focus on the basics for now,” Ian replied. If Vincent truly was new to this technology, Ian could imagine that things could get overwhelming for him.

“I’m sure I can find something to read to help me understand this device,” Vincent replied, seeming determined to master this. He swiped his finger across the screen, watching the apps slide away. His eyes widened. “Where did they go?”

“You just swiped to a new screen,” Ian said, smirking slightly. He swiped in the opposite direction, bringing the home screen back up. “At some point, I’ll show you how to use the Internet on the phone.”

“What can’t you do on this?” Vincent asked.

“Not much,” Ian replied. He couldn’t imagine growing up in a time with so little technology. He utilized so much of it for work. Without it, he would be even more in the dark than he apparently already was. Spies were under his nose all the time.

“Is there a camera on this one? I remember reading about that in an article,” Vincent asked as a hopeful look appeared on his face. He had certainly done some research on the technology of the time. Besides general history, it seemed to be one of his biggest interests.

“It’s right here,” Ian said, tapping on the camera app. He made the camera flip around to show them as they huddled close together, smiling. For a second, it felt like old times when they would cuddle close in bed and Eton would snap selfies of them. So many memories threatened to come rushing back, but he blocked them to the best of his ability. He didn’t need to feel more heartache.

“That’s amazing,” Vincent murmured in awe as he stared at himself on the screen. His eyes then flickered to Ian on the screen, and he turned his head to meet Ian’s eyes. Their closeness struck him right then, but he didn’t pull away.

Ian felt his heart start to race as they stood there, staring at each other. It was like they were waiting on the other to make a move, but they were both frozen in place. The only thing that Ian could do was drop his eyes down to Vincent’s lips.

Every cell in his body screamed for him to lunge forward and kiss Vincent with everything that he had. He wanted to run his hands over Vincent’s bare skin, tracing every familiar groove of his body. Vincent was so close, but he also felt so out of reach at the same time. As much as he wanted to diminish the rest of the distance between them, Ian didn’t want to set them back again by crossing Vincent’s boundaries.

“You should head to bed,” Ian said, finally looking away from Vincent. He stepped away, despite his body pleading for him to do the opposite. “Let me know if you have any questions about the phone.”

Vincent stared at Ian for a few seconds, nearly looking disappointed. He nodded and then left the room, holding the phone close to his chest.

Ian walked over to his door and shut it, pressing his back to it and sucking in a deep breath. His entire body throbbed as heat ebbed through him. All he wanted to do was drag Vincent back into his room and throw him onto his bed. He was tired of sleeping alone, yearning for his husband’s touch.

Unable to deal with the intense heat any longer, Ian hurried into the bathroom, turning on the cold water and stepping under the spray. He tilted his head back, letting the water pelt down on him and cool his body down. It didn’t fully take away his desire, but the cold water slightly distracted him.

But distractions only lasted for so long. He had been trying to use work as a distraction lately, burying himself in his job and trying not to think about Vincent. At times, it seemed to work, but he wasn’t busy every second of every day. There were moments when nothing held his attention but Vincent.

He wondered if Vincent thought about him a lot during the day. Maybe he thought of him less since he was getting closer to Josh. Ian tensed his jaw, not wanting to be jealous like some insecure teenager, but this was his husband he was talking about. Plus, he just got his husband back from a two-year coma. There was a lot of baggage involved.

Vincent had to be thinking of him, though. He noticed his absence and commented on it. Ian wondered if that applied at night when Vincent was laying in bed all alone. He groaned and rested his forehead on the shower wall, doing everything in his power to cool down as the cold water did nothing against the heat building inside of him.

With each passing second, he realized that was pointless. He wanted his husband in any way that he could have him. He had to hold off on touching Vincent, but that didn’t mean that Ian couldn’t touch himself. What was meant to be a quick cool down turned into something far steamier as his fingers closed around his throbbing flesh.