The next day was no different than any other. Both males arrived at work, greeting one another and went straight to business. Lorenzo had a heavy mountain of files waiting to be checked over for upcoming attire lines. Mercer was stuck transporting them back and forth with each employee. At one point he was running down halls just to get through the stack but before he could overwork himself and go into overdrive, Lorenzo stopped him. As Mercer rushed passed, he spoke up.

“Mercer,” Lorenzo sighed, causing Mercer to jump and drop a few files.

He crouch down to gather the papers. “Yes, Mr. Mathew,” He frowned.

“You need to take a break, the isn’t the damn Olympics its a clothing company,” Lorenzo said firmly.

“I’m so sorry Mr. Mathew but you keep getting the files done so fast. I feel like as soon as they get checked over, they need to go back to where they came from,” He straightened back up holding the now messy file folder. “Mercer, you are my assistant not a messenger boy. I don’t want you to overwork yourself, so if someone needs the files I look over they can come and get them.”

“Yes Mr. Mathew,” Mercer looked down. “I’ll go deliver this and then take my lunch break.”

“Good, now hurry back before you pass out,” Lorenzo nodded at him and went back into his office.

After delivering the file, Mercer walked back into their shared office and collapsed onto the couch with an exhausted sigh.

Without looking up, Lorenzo spoke again. “Find something to eat and get some water in you.”

“Yes sir.” Mercer whispered and grabbed a sandwich and water he packed. He unwrapped the turkey, lettuce and cheese sandwich and took a big bite. After the first bite he took a swig of water to wash down the food.

“Eat slower,” Lorenzo pressed, still not looking up from his work.

“Sorwy,” Mercer replied with a mouthful and a sheepish grin.

Suddenly Lorenzo stood up and walked over to Mercer, placing his hand under the others chin. “Spit it out, its too much,” He ordered.

Mercer did as directed and spit the chunk of food into his hand. He looked up at Lorenzo puppy eyed. Lorenzo tossed the half chewed up bite in the garbage and began to feed Mercer smaller bites tossed small sips of sparkling water, which was his own. Mercer complied, though confused but brushed it off as he continued to get hand fed.

It took quite a while for Mercer to finish his food because of how slow Lorenzo was feeding him, but he finished with no crumbs or choking. By the time it took to finish eating he was already calmed down and ready to get back to work. Mercer picked up his garbage and gave what remained of the sparkling water back to Lorenzo. There was a hint of affection and care emitting from him but as Mercer looked back at him it was gone. Mercer shrugged it off and went back to transporting files, absolutely forgetting what Lorenzo had said; not to do other peoples work when they could do it themselves. But just as he was about to walk out, Lorenzo cleared his throat, reminding Mercer. Mercer snapped back and decided to organized files in the office instead.

The rest of the day went by rather slow, with constant files coming and going. It had become a rather late night for the two, 11 pm before either stopped working and 11:30 before either left. Since it was later than normal, Lorenzo stayed in that night and made a home cooked male. Which was a change because he was so rich that other people made his food for him. But the chef had gone home since it was so late. He ended up making a vegetable pasta with thin noodles, broccoli, carrots, and thinly sliced tomatoes. In 15 minutes his dinner was done as Lorenzo sat alone in his big house, eating his freshly made dinner. Though in Lorenzo’s mind it was a peaceful late night.