Standing in the kitchen carefully chopping vegetables for dinner, Leo hummed gently to fill the silence of the apartment. As he transferred them into a tray for grilling a noise from elsewhere in the apartment gave him cause for concern. Walking round to see what it was, a small heather envelope behind the door stopped him in his tracks. Quickly picking it up and turning his back on the door, Leo opened it and upon seeing its contents immediately threw it in the bin before returning to making dinner.

Plating up the food as the door clicked open, Leo almost found himself smiling as two strong arms slid around his waist “Perfect timing as always darling.” Chuckling softly, he teased “Oh I’m darling tonight am I? Today really does just keep getting better.”

“This is the thanks I get for making dinner? Ravi dear what happened to you?” Leo pouted. Stealing a kiss before getting two wine glasses out of the cupboard, Ravi smiled “I am grateful hyung, I just wish sometimes you would act like that more often.” Following Ravi over to the table and putting the plates down Leo nodded “You’re right, I should make more of an effort… if I were to lose you I’d rather know I did everything I could to make you happy than know I could have done more.”

Reaching across the table to take the elders hand, Ravi was almost in tears “Oh hyung, you being yourself is all I ask for. Days like this are always nice but I know it’s hard for you to do all the lovey dovey stuff and I couldn’t ask you to force it.” Unable to help smiling, Leo continued eating his dinner while carefully running his foot up the youngers leg. Winking playfully as Ravi began turning pink, as soon as the plates were clear the floor became littered with clothes leading towards the bedroom.

Lying in Leo’s arms trying to catch his breath Ravi mumbled “You know you’ve set a standard now, you have to make this much effort on all our anniversaries.” Chuckling softly Leo joked “If they all end like this then that’s more than enough incentive.”

“Hyung you’re so dirty!” Ravi gasped giving the elder a nudge. Biting his lip as he pulled Ravi closer he growled “Isn’t that what made it so fun?” taking the opportunity to steal a kiss Ravi winked “I’ll leave that one up to your imagination.”

Pulling on his boxers before heading out to tidy up the mess they’d created, Ravi threw their clothes back into the room as he headed back to the table. As he balanced the plates and glasses, Ravi almost ran into the kitchen trying desperately not the drop anything. Turning the tap on so he could wash the dishes, he opened the bin to drop in the fat left on the plates but stopped when he saw a piece of heather sticking out of the what should have been empty bin.

Rebalancing the plate in hand to get a better look, he plucked the piece of card out and sat it on the counter before doing what he was going to. After the dishes had been washed Ravi took another look at the card before walking back into their bedroom. Sliding under the duvet and instantly being met by Leo’s arms Ravi asked rather bluntly “Hyung, why was there a wedding invitation in the bin?”

Instantly tensing up, Leo pushed the younger away and rolled over very clearly not wanting to talk about it. Finding himself getting more concerned as Leo refused to breathe a word, Ravi was nearly in tears as he tried to fall asleep.

Though going for days with little to nothing out of Leo wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary, the fact he wouldn’t even look at him was slowly breaking Ravi’s heart. Finding himself getting snippy whenever Leo refused to acknowledge his existence let alone answer him, he decided that he was going to get answers one way or another. Waiting until Leo left to do the weekly food shop, Ravi took the elders laptop and booted it up. Finding a network of files that were way too organized for any explanation, he spend about ten minutes trying to grasp the system Leo had in place for it when he found a folder titled “The dumbest mistake you’ve ever made!” curiosity now peaked Ravi tentatively clicked on it.

Once Leo had returned and put everything away he was about to head into their room but catching the look in Ravi’s eye’s knew that was a bad idea. Sitting down on the sofa while Ravi glared at him, he began to understand what others felt when he glazed over. “Tell me the truth.” Ravi eventually muttered.

Admittedly surprised to see this side of him, Leo couldn’t find words as he realised what it must be like living with him. Deciding that a week was long enough Ravi continued “You’re not getting away with this anymore hyung, tell me why you got the invite.”

Remaining silent and glancing across at his keys on the other end of the table, Leo tried to stand up and leave. Lunging at him fists curled, Ravi knocked him back to the sofa and tried to punch him but couldn’t bring himself to hurt him and instead began sobbing uncontrollably “Hyung I know, I know about her! Why couldn’t you just be honest with me?”

Unable to bear seeing Ravi like this, Leo held him close hoping to calm him down “I know I should have been honest with you, but I was scared if you knew I’d dated a girl no matter how briefly it would scare you away. I didn’t mention her because you were so perfect I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. I know it was cowardly and I can’t excuse it, please Ravi I beg you forgive me?”

Almost laughing as relief swept over him Ravi clung onto Leo’s ribs tightly as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks “Jesus Leo I thought you were cheating on me, don’t ever do that again.” feeling like he’d been stabbed in the heart Leo gasped “I could never, you mean everything to me how could you think that?” surprised by how hurt Leo seemed to be by the comment Ravi wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand “Well can you blame me after the way you acted, I asked you an innocent question and you spent a week acting like I didn’t exist! You wouldn’t even look at me, it felt like you were pulling away… like you didn’t love me anymore.”

Trying not to jump as he suddenly found Leo’s tongue in his mouth, he couldn’t help blushing as the elder pulled away cupping his face “Ravi I could never stop loving you, every fibre of my being belongs to you and always will. I know a cowardly liar like me doesn’t deserve someone as amazing as you and I’m grateful for every day we have together… please, tell me I haven’t lost you?”

“Oh hyung… there’s no denying you were a beautiful liar and though every cell in my body wants to be furious with you, your intentions weren’t malicious even if they weren’t exactly right either. This time I’ll forgive you if you promise not to hide things from me or lie to me again.”

“I swear I won’t! I couldn’t bear to see you that hurt again, especially when it’s my fault!” Leo mumbled as tears pooled in his eyes. Taking the elders hand, Ravi smiled “I know you don’t like to act all mushy but you have to talk to me, if you don’t communicate with me we won’t make it to our next anniversary…” trailing off so he didn’t have to think about that, he was glad that Leo jumped in “I promised you I would make more of an effort to make us work and I will stand by it. I should have done it already but I want to change for the better to be there person you deserve.”