Daniel couldn't believe his eyes, no, correction, he didn't believe his eyes when he walked into the living room and saw the sight before him. Lewicki was sitting on the couch and leaning back with a blissful expression on his face, his pants were wide open with one of his hands deep inside of them. Daniel watched slack jawed and a bit terrified as his assistant shamelessly worked himself in such an inappropriate place. Not only was it terrifying him that he was seeing such a thing, but he was terrified by how it was making him feel, how it was making his body react. It was an obvious fact that Daniel didn't have many sexual encounters, so it was hard for him to keep himself from getting aroused around any kind of sexual behavior. After a few more seconds he closed his eyes, scrunching them really tight, and called out, "Lewicki! Oh my god! What on earth made you think doing that right there would be a good idea?" He waited for an answer, waited for Lewicki to freak out, but the expected response never came. A second later he felt a tap on his shoulder. Opening his eyes Daniel saw that Lewicki was no longer on the couch, but was beside him, he looked wide eyed back and forth between Lewicki and the spot where he was thought he had been.

"Doc, what's wrong?" Max asked.

Daniel stuttered, "I-I-I..." he shook his head, "I thought..." he gestured to the couch, "Weren't you just sitting there?"

Max's forehead creased, "No... Why? Doc... are you having another episode?"

Daniel just stared at him in disbelief, completely humiliated even though his assistant had no idea what he had just hallucinated. He began to back away, muttering, "N-nothing... No, I'm fine." Lewicki could tell he obviously wasn't fine and went to say something else but Daniel had already turned and went back upstairs.

Doctor Pierce had gone straight to his room, shutting the door, and began to pace, a hand held up to his forehead. He had just hallucinated his assistant and good friend, masturbating. What the hell was that all about? Apparently his subconscious was trying to tell him something, but what? Ok, he knew, but he wanted to deny it. He didn't want to be sexually attracted to Lewicki; he would have no idea how to go about initiating anything. And when did it even begin anyway? He just knew he was going to feel completely awkward around Max from now on.

"He has romantic feelings for you," Natalie's voice suddenly rang out, "You've seen the signs, that's why your body is letting itself react like this."

He looked at her, shaking his head and pointing a finger at her as he paced, "No, n-n-no, don't say that. I refuse to believe that. There's no way he has 'feelings' for me."

"And why's that?"

He gave an incredulous look, "Because! Because I'm crazy! He could do so much better!" He could already hear Natalie saying that was just his fear talking, but before she could actually say it there was a knock on the door.

Of course it was Lewicki, it had to be. "Doc, are you sure you're ok?" he asked through the door. The doorknob began to turn.

Daniel panicked just a bit; he didn't want Max to see him this way. Sure he had seen him having horrible episodes, but he didn't want him to know what this one was about. He wouldn't know what to say. His heart pounded in his head as the door began to open, "Nothing's wrong! I said I was fine! Don't you ever know when to just leave me alone?" he snapped.

Lewicki had walked through the door by then, looking concerned, and a bit hurt by the last part, but he shrugged it off as Pierce just being embarrassed. He went to stand in front of Daniel, trying to catch his eyes with his own but the doctor kept avoiding them, "I'm here because I care... If I didn't I wouldn't have even come up here. You're my friend and I want to help you."

Daniel had frozen, his gaze downcast, at the soothing and calming tone of Max's voice, taking in what he had to say. It was touching, it really was, but he still had an edge of nervousness keeping him from spilling everything. He shook his head at the last part and pushed past Lewicki, moving to the other side of the room, rubbing at his forehead, "N-n-n-no, you can't help me with this. This is beyond the kind of help you'd be willing to give." He realized what he said and cursed under his breath.

Nothing sexual crossed Max's mind, but he did have a suspicion. He looked at Pierce with a questioning expression, "What? Like do something illegal? Because you're damn sure right about that. But, really, I'm here for you. You know that."

Daniel closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, pinching the bridge of his nose, "No, nothing illegal. Something..." he really had to gear himself up for this, "something... physical..." He opened his eyes, hiding the rest of his face with his hand, leaning against a bookshelf.

Lewicki stared at him, oblivious to what the professor was trying to say. He shook his head with a raise of his shoulders, "Uh... Like hit someone? Because I'm not exactly a violent person."

Now Daniel was beyond frustrated, he let his hand fall and groaned, "Nooo!" He rolled his eyes and began to wave his hands around in a gesture for him to keep guessing. Since his assistant was prying he might as well go along with it, it probably wasn't something he should keep bottled up anyway, and pushing him away certainly didn't work.

Max's face contorted, "I'm really not following you, doc."

Daniel sighed, apparently he wasn't that great of a guesser, now he knew he had to tell him exactly what he wanted, and he was beyond scared, "I..." he started, extremely hesitant, "I want you to help me..."

Max's eyes widened, thinking he knew where this was going, "Are you saying you want me to assist you in suicide?!" He gave him an incredulous look, "Because, if so, there's no way in hell. I love you too much to let you die, especially like that."

Daniel froze, Max loved him? That was unexpected. He could feel his heart stop, a bit of hope flowing through him, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions, there were various forms of love. He stuttered, looking at his assistant in astonishment, "Y-you love me...?"

Lewicki gaped at him, caught off guard by the question. Now it was his turn to stutter, fumbling with his words; he didn't know if Daniel was weirded out and, if so, he didn't want to weird him out any further, "Uh, um... y-yeah, of course I do. We've known each other for years, you're my best friend; I care about you."

An awkward sound left Daniel's lips, his eyes narrowing, "So... this isn't an I-have-a-crush-on-my-professor kind of thing?"

Max froze, was he joking? He really didn't want to say the wrong thing, so he hesitated. Sputtering, he shook his head, "Uh... W-what if... What if it was?" He internally winced, actually scared of the answer, shocked with himself for even hinting at it.

"Well..." Pierce surprisingly felt a bit calmer now, "It would make what I want to ask you to do a lot easier..."

Lewicki swallowed nervously, wondering what that could possibly mean, "And... if it's nothing illegal, violent, or self-harming, then... what exactly is it?"

Daniel was still a bit embarrassed, but he figured he better just come out and say it. Still not looking his assistant in the eye he took a deep breath and let his words out with a sigh, "I want you to get me off..."

All Lewicki could do was stare at him, for a moment he wondered if he was now the delusional one; there was no way Daniel would say that, to anyone. He licked his suddenly dry lips, "As in..." now he was the one panicking, what if he was mistaken? "Make you come?"

The doctor's heart jumped and heat pooled within his abdomen at the question, not expecting to hear it worded so bluntly. He stared slightly wide-eyed at the other man, not able to say anything but a quiet, "Yes."

Lewicki sucked in a shallow breath, goose bumps covering his skin from the confession. He wasn't sure what to do but his body reacted by taking a step closer to his friend so they were standing face to face, inches apart. His gaze fell to Pierce's parted lips and he spoke almost inaudibly, "I think I can do that..." He wasn't entirely that confident, but he'd try; he wanted this.

The neurologist's heartbeat quickened, this feeling was foreign to him, he even wondered if it was normal for a heart to pound like this; perhaps he should have studied cardiology as well. He returned the longing gaze, trying to hold himself back a little longer, to take it slow, but he just couldn't handle the wait. He swiftly brought his hands up to his assistant's shirt, crumpling it within his fingers, and, before Max knew what was happening, pulled him into an anxious kiss.

Lewicki felt like all the air was taken from him, the movement was so sudden and surprising; he immediately returned the kiss but it took him a while to recover from the shock. No way, this wasn't happening, he thought, he was not hungrily kissing his mentor. Oh, but he was, and he let out a rumbling groan as it finally sunk in.

When the guttural sound reached Daniel's ears the sensation it caused trickled down his spine and straight to his groin, making him moan, his arousal stiffening. His back ended up slamming into the nearby bookcase, not sure if it was because he had pulled Lewicki to him so forcefully or if it was because the other man had moved forward into him on his own, causing the piece of furniture to rattle, at least one book falling to the floor; but he didn't care. It had been a while since he'd gotten so lost in the throes of passion, or at least allowed himself, it was intoxicating, but he couldn't help having one concern. He pulled his lips away, panting, still gripping the fabric desperately, "How do I know this is real?"

Max was thinking the same thing, so he didn't exactly know what to tell him, but he ended up saying what naturally came to mind, "You hired me to keep track of what's real..." He ran a hand through Daniel's hair, looking him dead in the eye, "This is real."

Pierce closed his eyes at that, letting out a relieved sigh before nodding. "I think I've been wanting this for a long time," he admitted.

Those words made Lewicki smile, "Me too," he whispered, massaging the professor's scalp. Now that things had calmed down it felt rather peaceful, but that didn't stop Max from smirking, "Now..." his hands wandered down Daniel's chest, "let's get you off..."

Pierce sucked in a breath at Lewicki's lowering hands, his stomach clenching in anticipation as they drew nearer to his straining erection. A moment later the younger man was cupping him, causing him to shudder and whimper, "Ohh... god..." Being an atheist, he found it humorous that he'd always resort to letting out such an exclamation. The assistant's hand worked him, the palm pressing firmly into the hardness, sending shivers up Daniel's spine and drawing long, deep moans from him; he couldn't believe how amazing it felt. Then, before he realized what was happening, Lewicki was lowering himself down onto his knees and unzipping his trousers, setting the older man's cock free. Not even a second later Daniel felt a warm wetness around his length and his eyes shot open, a surprised gasp sounding from his diaphragm. His gaze fell downward, focusing on the sight of Max's mouth running up and down his fully erect shaft. Never had a mouth felt so good, never had fellatio felt so satisfying; he really had been needing this, subconsciously craving it. It wasn't long before his body was tensing and he neared his climax, he'd already been aroused beyond belief way before Lewicki had walked through the door. With a few more tightly suctioned pulls he was coming hard, moaning out loudly and gripping the bookshelf behind him, "Ohh... Lewicki... Oh my god!"

His eyes were closed in pure, blissful gratification when he suddenly heard someone at the door and his eyes shot open once again to find that Lewicki was not kneeling in front of him, but was now standing in the doorway, staring at him curiously. It was all in his head.