Something had changed.

Something was wrong with Lofty, Dylan was absolutely sure of it.

The ED doctor had noticed the change in Lofty's behaviour a couple of weeks after he and the curly haired nurse had patched up their differences and become friends.

For a while, the two had been getting on pretty well. They had become quite close in the short period of time, and had finally begun to understand and accept each other's ways. Dylan had become a lot more tolerable to Lofty's unrelenting clumsiness and enthusiasm, he had even begun to find it 'sweet' in some cases, though he'd never say it.

Just a couple of weeks ago the pair had even taken their odd friendship to the next level.

They had shared a soufflé.

On Dylan's boat.

Dylan didn't invite people to his boat. And he definitely didn't share soufflés with anybody. Well, except for Dervla.

They had enjoyed a pleasant night on the small boat, chatting and finding out about the other's life while they dined on their cheesy soufflé. Ben had even commented at the end of the night on how he had enjoyed it and they should do it again.

So why was Lofty acting so strange now?

He was unusually quiet, more distracted, and particularly jumpy when Dylan was around. It almost seemed as if he was avoiding the older man any chance he could.

Dylan couldn't understand why. He hadn't done something to offend the curly haired nurse, had he? Surely not. And if so, why hadn't Lofty said anything to him?

Dylan pondered over this as he walked to work one morning. It was early December, and the winter weather had set in. As he walked through the park, he noticed the dew on the grass had begun to frost over, crunching softly under his feet.

It reminded him of a conversation he and Lofty had had a few weeks ago about ice skating. Lofty had been staggered to find out that the older man had never once been ice skating. Dylan hadn't understood why this was such a big deal, but Ben had vowed that he would take him ice skating one day.

And strangely enough, Dylan had actually been looking forward to it.

He didn't often enjoy the company of others, there were very few people he could actually tolerate. But he liked Lofty, now that they were over their differences, and it upset him that Ben wasn't talking to him. Of course he'd never admit to anyone that he missed the staggeringly clumsy, over enthusiastic, bushy haired bundle that was Ben Chiltern. Never. But it still hurt.

So, Dylan made a plan as he walked to work that bitter winter morning. A plan to find out what exactly what he had done to make Lofty avoid him, and find a way to put it right.

Dylan hadn't been able to find Lofty all morning. He had actually considered that the nurse might have not been in having not seen him once around the ED. He had even made a point of asking Robyn if Ben was off sick. The dumpy nurse had told him that Lofty had been busy all morning helping Dr. Knight.

Dylan had nodded and got back to his work, hoping to find the curly haired nurse later on.

He did manage to catch Lofty a little while later. Dylan had just finished up with a patient when he spotted a mop of curly hair stood at the nurse's station. He hurried over, placing his patient's file on the counter before addressing the nurse.

"Lofty."

Said man visibly tensed at the voice, turning away from his own file that he had been filling in to face the doctor. "Dr. Keogh."

That was another thing that had been bugging Dylan. All of a sudden Ben had stopped calling him by his name, only using his professional title when addressing him.

"How are you?" Dylan asked quietly, picking up on Lofty's uneasiness.

"I'm fine, thank you." Lofty nodded awkwardly, picking up his file and pen. "I'm sorry, I really have to get back to my patient."

Dylan watched in a mixture of hurt and confusion as Lofty sped away from him, file clutched tightly to his chest as he slipped into a cubicle.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, the doctor placed his hands on his hips, staring at the cubicle as he tried to figure out what he could have done to upset the nurse.

"Dylan? Are you alright?"

The doctor turned his head towards the voice to find Rita watching him curiously.

"Yes, fine, thank you Rita." He huffed, erasing any emotion from his face and turning away from her, flipping through his patient file to look as if he was busy.

"Alright." He heard the short blonde woman say hesitantly before she walked away.

Dylan attempted a couple more times throughout the day to get Ben to talk to him. He had tried whenever he passed Lofty in the corridor or when he found him in the staffroom on his break, every time being blown off by the nurse.

Quite frankly, Dylan was at his wit's end.

He was not a patient person, and he had given Lofty many opportunities to talk to him and tell him what was wrong.

He had had enough.

Dylan was going to find out what was wrong with Ben even if he had to drag it out of him.

Dylan made his way towards the staffroom at the end of his shift, knowing that Lofty shift had also ended. He was happy to find Lofty already in the staffroom, pulling on his coat.

The bushy haired nurse glanced at him, giving a forced smile before moving to the door. "Goodnight, Doctor Keogh."

"Not so fast," Dylan said, standing in front of the closed door, staring at Lofty who looked like a small child about to be told off.

"Is there something wrong?" Lofty asked, his hands stuffed into his coat pockets.

"Yes, there is. You." Dylan said bluntly.

Lofty blinked. "What?"

"You. You have a problem with me." The doctor said, his hands settling on his hips as he studied the curly haired nurse in front of him.

"I don't have a problem with you." Ben said, not meeting the other man's eyes.

"Really?" Dylan couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice. "Then why have you started avoiding me any chance you get? You're clearly uncomfortable talking to me too."

"I haven't been avoiding you-"

He was silenced as Dylan raised his eyebrows in question.

"Look, I've just been really busy lately. And tired." The nurse said with a shrug but Dylan saw right through it. "I'm sorry if I upset you Doctor Keogh."

"That. That too."

"What?"

"Doctor Keogh. You no longer call me Dylan."

Lofty looked guilty at the accusation. "It's nothing personal, it's just Rita has been going on to me about being more professional…"

Another lie. Hurt coursed through the doctor.

Dylan decided to just go for it. He cared about Ben and he wanted to fix this.

"Look, Lofty. If I have upset you or offended you in any way, you can say. I should apologise if I have done you wrong." He said as sincerely as he could.

Lofty finally met his eyes. "You haven't upset me, or offended me. Really, you haven't. I'm sorry for acting so strange, I just have a lot on my plate right now."

"Right." Dylan said. "And now the truth."

"That is the truth."

Dylan raised an eyebrow. Lofty bit his lip.

"Look, I really need to go, I'm late for something." The nurse said awkwardly, walking around the other man and pulling the door open.

Dylan felt another pang of hurt gush through him as he was blown off again, and before he realised what he was doing, pulled Lofty back and shut the door, trapping the nurse between himself and the wood.

Lofty stiffened, pressing himself back against the door as much as he could, his cheeks tingeing pink. Dylan furrowed his eyebrows.

"Ben, this is getting ridiculous. Just tell me what is wrong and we can fix it." He said irritably.

"Nothing's wrong. Honestly!" Lofty defended, laughing nervously, his cheeks even redder than before.

Dylan sighed, taking a step back from the flushed nurse, his hands settling on his hips again.

"Lofty," he began slowly, swallowing. "I understand that I am a hard man to be around, and that I'm a bit odd at times, but I thought we had patched up our differences and… and, well, become friends."

Lofty's eyes softened as he looked to the older man, looking conflicted as he leaned against the staffroom door.

"We are friends Doctor- Dylan." The bushy haired nurse bit his lip before taking a breath. "You're right, I have been avoiding you lately. But it's not because you've done something. I promise it's not."

"Then why-"

"I can't tell you. I don't want you to hate me."

Dylan's eyebrows rose at this, confusion evident on his face. "Why would I hate you?"

Lofty looked up to the older man, worry shining through his puppy-dog like eyes that made Dylan's chest constrict strangely. He decided at that moment that he didn't like it when Lofty was worried, he didn't like seeing him so insecure.

"Okay," Lofty breathed after a moment's silence. "A few weeks ago I realised something. Something pretty big."

"Which was?" Dylan encouraged.

"I realised that… that my feelings for you had changed." Lofty's face was red again, his cheeks and ears practically glowing in the dimly lit staffroom. "And it scared me."

"Changed how?" Dylan asked slowly, wondering why his heart had suddenly picked up his pace.

Lofty face became impossibly redder as he looked down at the floor, his hands fidgeting at his sides.

"Changed to… liking you more than a friend." The words were muttered so quietly, the older man barely heard them.

Dylan blinked as he let the nurse's words sink in. He let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, his heart beating faster in his chest at Lofty's confession. A strange warmth flooded through the doctor's body at that moment, something he hadn't felt in a long time. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what he was feeling, but it was something he wasn't used to, something he had only ever felt with one other person in his life.

Sam.

Dylan swallowed roughly at the realisation.

His heart hammered loudly in his chest.

"Dylan?"

He looked back up and met Lofty's scared eyes and nervous expression, his chest tightening again at the sight. It was almost as if Dylan needed to make that look of vulnerability go away.

"Yes… Well…" he cleared his throat. "That's… That's definitely the reason? It's not because I insulted that awful reality TV show you love? Geordie Shore?"

Lofty stared at him for a moment before letting out a laugh, and Dylan suddenly realised how much he'd missed seeing Lofty's smile.

"No," Ben smiled softly at him. "It's not because of that."

"Oh, well, that's a relief. I had thought I was going to have to sit through hours of that ridiculous show to make it up to you."

Lofty laughed again and Dylan decided right then that it was his favourite sound.

"Er," Lofty said after a moment. "You're not mad then?"

"Of course not." The doctor replied softly.

Ben smiled at hearing this, nodding his head.

"Right, that's good. Thank you for understanding." He bit his lip. "I should probably head home now, Robyn and Max will be wondering where I am."

The curly haired nurse stepped away from the door he had been leaning on, pulling it open before turning to give Dylan another smile.

"See you tomorrow, Dylan."

Dylan stared at him, his heart thudding painfully.

He wanted to speak, to say that he felt the same way, but he couldn't form the words. They were lost somewhere on his tongue, unable to escape his lips.

Lofty turned to leave then and Dylan found himself blurting out one word.

"Quiche."

Ben looked back at him, his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Quiche." Dylan breathed. "I'm making one."

Lofty blinked slowly before a small grin spread across his lips. "I like quiche."

Dylan couldn't help his own smile. "Well, you'll be very welcome to join me. And Dervla of course. It'll be cheesy."

Lofty chuckled softly. "I'd like that."

"So would I." Dylan found himself saying before he could stop himself.

And so they did.

The pair went back to Dylan's boat and baked a quiche together. They shared it with Dervla before curling up on the couch and watching another awful reality show that Ben liked.

Dylan insulted it and Lofty laughed.

It was cheesy.

It was different.

But it was perfect.