"I know you're the owner of a successful company, but I didn't think your house would be so... posh. Talk about living the bougie lifestyle."

"It's not that big."

"Yeah? How many rooms does it have?"

"Not counting the living room, bathrooms, or basement- three."

"Like I said. Bougie."

Lance got out of the car, looking around with an inquisitive expression on his face. His attention was pulled to the lit up pool that could be seen in the distance. Glowing ripples were reflected off of long glass panels enclosing a spacious balcony.

With the Bale household being so far from the city, crowded buildings were revealed via a bundle of lights in the jungle of dying trees that surrounded the property. Small specks of orange and yellow enhanced a bleak view of spindly branches.

Dim landscape fixtures lit up the stone pathway leading to the front door. Dark cracks marred a few of the pale rocks, and it immediately made Lance realize that this was the one place where Mr. Bale didn't exist.

He was a people pleaser. An extrovert. Someone who wanted to be included. Someone who presented themselves as perfect.

But this place—it was lonely.

Isolated.

Cracked stones took away a certain picturesque facade. It left behind a semblance of the real Alessandro.

Someone who couldn't truly hide a smudged foundation that lingered beneath all of the sparkling glitz and glamor.

Lance saw the metaphorical and physical shedding of Mr. Bale when Alessandro ran his hands through his hair. It was done quickly and in a wild fashion; and the action caused brunet curls to fall over his forehead. Somehow, letting his hair down made him look younger.

It also put a spotlight on the clear fatigue that befell his features.

"Just be careful on your way in. The cat might get a little excited because she doesn't really see other people."

That type of warning wasn't unexpected—because unlike Mr. Bale, Alessandro liked to be by himself.

*

As soon as he moved to unlock the door, raspy meows could be heard on the other side. Once it was opened, the murky eyed Calico was spotted sitting by the coat rack. Her tail swished around lazily, and her head was tilted to the side. One of her black and orange ears twitched.

She was openly curious about a familiar face which didn't belong to her owner.

"Is that..." Lance parted his lips in astonishment. "Rain?"

"In all of her glory."

"I'm surprised you actually kept her." He reached down to pet the feline.

A pink nose sniffed at the pale skin of his fingers before Rain offered a few licks. She nudged Lance's hand as a means of asking for pets. He obliged with a fond smile.

"Whether or not we were still together, she was still our baby." Alessandro turned to close the door. "I've been taking care of her as best as I can. She kind of does the same for me."

After hanging up their coats, both men walked further inside. Rain trailed behind them.

Since the house was still a bit dark, aquatic blue could be seen dancing along the walls. The vibrant color was brought in from the glass wall down the hall.

Overhead lights were flicked on. Sudden illumination revealed the simple layout of his living room.

A long flat screen television sat atop a wooden entertainment center. A matching bookcase stood at its left. A skinny display case for video games was at its right. Two navy colored couches were facing the recently cleaned coffee table. A warm box of pizza was placed down on the pristine surface.

"Go ahead and get comfortable. If you want, you can start eating too. I just need to change."

"Take your time."

Alessandro started making his way down the hall. He smiled down at Rain as she bumped her head against his legs. He almost tripped but didn't really mind. She followed alongside him until they reached the bedroom.

Once inside, he pulled off his clothes with a sigh. They were tossed into the hamper by the door. Business casual wear was swapped with a dark green A-shirt and black joggers. Dress socks were traded in for brown moccasins.

A set of pills were taken before the Bales exited the room together.

Green eyes pulled toward the floor. A radiant smile finally fell into a neutral expression. Straight posture drooped. An air of confidence was immediately swapped for that of comfort.

He walked in on Lance skimming through a collection of vinyls on the upper level of the bookcase. Approaching footsteps got his attention.

Instead of moving to the living room, Alessandro made his way into the kitchen. "Wine?"

"What do you have?"

"White, red, blackberry, and black cherry."

"Black cherry's fine."

"How much?"

"Enough to ignore the fact that part of me wants to hightail it out of here."

Alessandro got two glasses. One was filled to about three quarters its capacity. The other was filled less than half way. The glass with more wine was given to Lance. He accepted it with a slight furrow of his eyebrows.

"I just took medication. My doctor advised me to not mix it with heavy alcohol. I'm allowed to drink, just in moderation."

The new information piqued Lance's interest because his eyebrows raised in response. 

Alessandro wasn't sure if the other man was being polite-- or if he just didn't care-- but that specific conversation dropped there.

They made their way over to the couches. A half empty bottle of wine was set atop a coaster near the pizza box. It was opened, and a steaming plain pie was uncovered. A plastic pizza saver was moved to the side. Two slices were placed onto a stack of paper plates, the pile being used to keep the initial plate from folding in on itself. Both slices were passed over to Lance. He accepted them without a word.

Alessandro shifted his attention back to the pizza to retrieve his own food.

He only took half of a slice.

"Are you not eating more? I don't think I saw you have more than just a coffee today."

"No. Don't have much of an appetite. My, uh- my meds do that to me too."

He sat back in his seat. Rain took her place in the cat bed on the cushion beside him.

Silence made a home in the environment once again.

Both men ate while looking at random spots in the room. Alessandro did so more because of his fatigue, rather than looking for an escape from such an awkward atmosphere. Lance, on the other hand, found refuge in his wine glass. It clinked against the coffee table five times before either of them decided to say anything.

"You did well today," Alessandro commented. "I'm glad that you got along with the other models. And the other staff members too."

"It wasn't too hard."

"Still, I know being around a bunch of new people in a new environment is uncomfortable. Especially with this being your first time at a big agency. We don't always do crowded group photo shoots like we did today. But because of the arrival of a new season, we had to do the big catalog for that. Your other shoots will probably just be you, or with a few other people. Probably three max."

"Are you always present at the shoots?" Lance took a bite of his pizza.

"No- I only go when the head of the photography department asks me to. I usually flock to wherever I'm needed in other departments. So don't worry, I won't always be crashing your shoots. The cameraman just likes to get my opinion on things in person sometimes. He usually just drops the photo sets off to me, and I look them over by myself."

"What do you usually do when you're not called by other people?"

"Planning, really. Stephan does a lot of my bookkeeping, but I'm the one who has to go over final designs, fabric shipments, times for shoots, what model is scheduled when, and things like that. It's kind of hard though, because my days are usually just me going all over the place. I'm only really left to my own devices for, like, three hours. Not counting lunch."

Lance hummed in response.

When he finished off his pizza, he set the plate down next to his half-empty glass. He sat back as well. Bluish gray eyes skimmed over a few more random spots before settling on Rain.

"How old is she again?"

"She'll be twelve in December. Old girl is really getting up there in years."

He nodded. "...You've done good. On her behalf, I mean."

Alessandro wanted to smile at the compliment. For some reason, it felt wrong to do so. He settled on pursing his lips instead. "How- how has your family been?"

"All right, I guess," Lance answered with a shrug, not acknowledging the sudden need for a change in topic. "My parents have been living it up over in Los Angeles. Our relationship is... a relationship. My sister's good though. Angelika got engaged recently."

"Boyfriend?"

"Trans girlfriend."

"Oh, good for her," Alessandro replied. "I hope things go well for them."

"What about you? I'm surprised you're not settled with the other Bales. You guys were always a packaged deal."

"Things changed. After I started college, my parents moved back to Italy. Leo was still living in the states for awhile before he moved over there too. He works at a restaurant with my folks, and he's married with two kids."

"Never thought he'd be the one to get hitched first."

"Yeah." Alessandro let out an airy chuckle. "Did you go through with university like you wanted to?"

"I almost didn't. After... the breakup." Lance looked off to the side. "I wasn't in a good head space for awhile. But my folks- if you remember, they had all the money and stuff growing up , so they paid for my schooling. I was expected to go either way. I thought it'd help distract me from things. And it did, thankfully. Graduated with a degree in art with painting and drawing as my concentration."

"And you started modeling because..."

"You can only make it as an artist if people buy your shit. Modeling was just something I did for fun. But I got into it seriously because of someone I used to dorm with. He started art school after me- I was a junior when he was a freshman. He had a concentration in photography and worked for the school's fashion magazine. I started getting more serious with modeling after doing a fashion showcase in my roommate's fifth year. I had graduated already by then but was a familiar face. We built up my portfolio using his expertise, or lack thereof, behind the camera. I'll admit that he wasn't the best at his craft, but it helped me in the end."

"I see..."

Alessandro's mood changed. He was stuck on the reason as to why Lance actually pursued college.

He didn't seem to notice though, because he kept talking. Probably because an alcoholic boost left him unable to really filter his words. It also left him with an inability to properly read the room.

"I honestly didn't expect to end up at your company. I found out about it because I saw you on a cover for a magazine about the most influential businessmen. Initially, I was angry. I... really didn't think you deserved it. But you had my respect for being able to build up an empire after coming from almost nothing. When I looked into your business, I saw how you were thriving. Part of me hoped that, all things considered, you'd be able to help me-"

"I'm sorry, Lance."

Bluish gray eyes met tired green ones. They were unblinking.

Alongside a rather uncomfortable spectacle to look at, the intense stare told Lance that Alessandro was being serious.

And honest.

"Sorry..?"

"For hurting you the way I did. For ruining your life. For ruining us."

Lance didn't immediately answer. Instead, he got up from his seat. Light steps were taken around the room. His body looked tense.

Alessandro watched from his spot on the couch. He wanted to intervene but didn't think it was his place to do so.

"...Do you honestly think I can forgive you-"

"I don't want you to. Because I know I don't deserve it." He swallowed. "But I couldn't let any of this continue without saying it. I know I'm ten years too late, but please believe me when I say that I'm so fucking sorry."

Lance bit his bottom lip. He looked down at his fingers as they started fiddling with each other. After a few seconds, the action calmed him down enough for his pacing to stop. He plopped down onto the couch again.

"...You have no idea how much I've imagined this—you legitimately apologizing to me," he said. "I've imagined you on your knees, begging for my forgiveness. I've imagined how I'd tell you I didn't care. That I'd leave you the same broken heap of a mess that I was. But you want to know something fucked up?"

Alessandro didn't answer.

Lance continued anyway. "Somehow the thought of you being in that type of pain- it actually hurt me more than anything."

They both paused for a moment. Lance did so because he actually admitted such a thing aloud. And Alessandro did so because he was genuinely surprised to hear the confession.

"You have no idea how fucking angry I've been at you. It's all I've had for the past decade. Years worth of pent up rage. But even though you broke everything inside of me, somehow you still had a fucking hold on me. It's partially why I went to the Bale company for a modeling job. You weren't the only agency casting models. I just couldn't help myself when I kept seeing your picture in magazines.

"The other reason I actively sought you out was because I'm just- I'm so tired of being angry. I really am. It's not doing me any favors, and I'm tired of feeling this way."

Alessandro took a daring chance by placing a hand on Lance's knee. Both of them were surprised that he didn't push it off.

"I'm not going to ask you to forgive me, Lance. But something that I'd like to happen is for us to fix things-"

"I don't want to fix things, Alessandro. I don't want to fix what we had. That's been shattered and dead for a long fucking time." Lance took a breath. "But I agree that we need to put things behind us. For the sake of both of our careers."

"Are you- are you saying you're okay with building up a new relationship?"

"To an extent, yes. What exactly does that mean? Hell if I know. But I want to make it clear that what we had is gone. What we'll build though- I'm hoping it'll be good. Because believe it or not, I don't just think that you're a shit fucking boyfriend. I also think you're a caring boss, and someone who could be a dependable friend."

Alessandro nodded in understanding. He personally didn't agree with the latter statements, but he did agree that he was a horrible boyfriend.

"I know this doesn't automatically erase the damage done between us, but... thank you. For hearing me out."

"It's a little hard not to. You're pretty persistent after all."

Both men were actually able to share a laugh. Their hands settled atop different areas of a drowsy Calico.

"Suppose that's something that never changed about me," Alessandro added without thinking.

"Maybe not." Lance shrugged again. "But that doesn't mean you're still the same. There are little things about the old you that are in there, yeah. There are a lot of new things too."

"You're pretty different yourself."

"Ten years can change a lot."

"I guess we'll just have to figure each other out again, huh?"

Lance picked up his wine glass. He attempted to hide a small, genuine smile behind it. The cup couldn't hide a quiet snort though. "Guess so, Alessandro."

"...If we're really trying this, can I ask something of you?"

"Depends on what it is."

"For the love of God, call me Mr. Bale at work."

More laughter sprinkled into the warmer atmosphere. "Not a chance."