Chapter one – There's always a reason.
Tino seated himself quietly in the seat he had been asked to take while waiting for his name to be called for his interview. Most, if not all, companies or offices had waiting rooms in which to wait, but the exception being Bonnefoy Publications. He had seen internships advertised as part of a recent expansion at the company for various roles, and being fresh out of college Tino didn't really care which one he landed if he was successful. Bonnefoy was the publishing company of several magazines and newspapers covering a variety of topics.
Tino sat on a large gold bench at the foot of a grand marble staircase leading to the front doors of the Bonnefoy offices. The front desk to the right of him was made of marble and glass. Elegant designs and sculptures were carved into the front of it, giving the place a truly regal feeling. The polished floors gleamed under the light of the large chandelier that adorned the high ceiling, causing the gold lettering reading 'Bonnefoy' to call out to Tino, inviting him to join the Publications. Just looking at those letters on the floor sent Tinos' stomach in knots.
He had studied English language and journalism at college and it was his dream to work for a publication company and perhaps one day become an editor himself.
After looking around in awe for a little while longer, Tino flashed a smile at the female seated next to him on the bench. Along with the floor, Tinos' braces shone in the light from the chandelier causing her to give him a funny look. Just as Tino was about to introduce himself his name was called and his head whipped around to see a man in a suit holding a clip board now stood a few steps up from the bottom. "Tino Väinämöinen?" he called again. Red eyes scanned the room, looking for the owner of the name he had called.
"Oh, well that's me! Hello sir, I'm Tino. Can I just say I'm delighted to be here today in this beautiful building?" Tino babbled a little excitedly as he approached the white haired male who had read out his name, who simply gave him a baffled look, eyeing his ensemble. A fuchsia pink patterned sweater vest clung to him over a lilac shirt. A navy blue blazer clashed with a tie to match. Tight fitting white trousers hugged his somewhat chubby legs, and finally, shiny black polished shoes completed his… high fashion outfit.
The male before him took in his appearance for a second, his red eyes scanning the mish-mash of colours, before holding the clip board a little higher as if shielding himself.
"Oh… I'm sorry. It appears we have made a mistake." He paused, pretending to flip through the pages of the clip board and sighed, "It looks like all of our available places for internship have been filled. I'm terribly sorry. Good day to you." No quicker than he had arrived, he turned on his heel and began to stride back up the staircase.
"What? But wait! I could at least tell you a little bit about myself!" Tino shouted after him. After receiving no acknowledgement, he began to follow the white haired man up the stairs. He grabbed hold of his arm in an attempt to get him to listen, but this just frustrated him even more.
"How do you expect me to take you for an interview, if there is no job to interview you for?"
"But I just thought… I mean, I did a lot of research! I know a lot about this company and I-"
The large doors at the top of the staircase slammed shut in Tinos' face, the force of it blowing his hair from his face and leaving him stood in shock. Disheartened and very confused, he stepped quickly back down the stairs with all the dignity he could muster. The woman on the bench simply smiled smugly behind his back as he passed. But she wasn't the only one watching him leave. Unbeknownst to Tino, someone else had been watching him for a while since he'd arrived.
"And he sent me away! Just like that!" Tino sighed as he flopped down in a chair at the kitchen table, snatching a gingerbread cookie from the plate that sat in the centre.
The small apartment in which he lived in was very colourful and quite messy, with red walls here and green walls there with all kinds of paintings and pictures hammered into them, patterned furniture and books scattered everywhere. But it was also very small. It consisted of two bedrooms, a single bathroom and joint kitchen area and living room. He shared with his best friend, Lukas and his younger brother, Emil.
Although they were brothers, Lukas was more of a father figure to Emil, and had taken care of him since he was very young. They had escaped a rather abusive home shortly after their mother died and left their drunken father behind. Tino had offered to help care for Emil as Lukas had become extremely stressed and even dropped out of college to be there for him. Lukas and Tino met in college and the two were roommates on the same English Lit course. When Lukas dropped out Tino moved in with him and the rest was history.
Lukas was handsome, tall and slender, and very intelligent seeing as though he had dropped out of college after only a year of studying. He ran various businesses online and owned his own little bookstore just underneath their apartment. He enjoyed painting and drawing mythical creatures, so most of the books he owned contained information or stories about them. A lot of the paintings and furniture that he owned related to his Norwegian heritage. He was quite an odd character and a little misunderstood as some days he was quite literally away with the faeries.
Lukas glanced over his reading glasses at Tino from across the table where he sat reading a book. His face usually remained expressionless, or that's what it may seem like to people who didn't know him as well as Tino did. He came across as a man of not to many words to most people, but he simply chose to just keep out of other people business and focus on his own friends and family. His eyes displayed a hint of sympathy, so Tino knew he was in the mood to listen to his sob story of being rejected at his life goal. Lukas picked up his coffee mug and took a sip before asking Tino about his unsuccessful interview.
"But you got a letter did you not? Stating that there was a job offer and today's interview would determine whether or not you got the job?"
"Yes exactly!" Tino threw his hands up in exasperation.
"So how come they turned you away without even giving you a chance at an interview?"
"I don't know… he just took one look at me and turned his nose up. I could see the way he looked at me. Maybe I was too pushy? I did ramble a lot when I first greeted him; I really need to stop doing that." Running his hands through his hair Tino exhaled a long sigh and stared at Lukas.
He simply raised an eyebrow in return. "… What are you staring at?"
"You. You're so thin and gorgeous. I bet they'd have snapped you up in a heartbeat! Without an interview too!"
Lukas' cheeks caught a pink tinge at the complement, but he simply brushed it off and returned to his book. "Shut up. You're not bad yourself. I definitely know of someone who thinks that you're perfect, and he should be here any minute to lend Emil that video game and have dinner with us."
Tino perked up a little. "What do you mean? If you're talking about Marcus-"
"Tell him Emmie." Lukas raised his voice a little so Emil could hear him from the living room.
Emil came wandering away from the television and he too sat down at the table. Emil had become very close to Tino, and had developed a habit of calling him Auntie Tino, something that used to be an inside joke between Lukas and Tino before it stuck somewhat like a nickname.
"We overheard Marcus on the phone yesterday talking to someone. "He's the one." is what he said to the person on the other end. He totally wants to marry you."
"…What? You think so? I mean… that could mean anything! We haven't even been dating that long!" Tino said a little breathlessly.
Emil grinned a large grin and wiggled his eyebrows at Tino.
"Do I look okay?" Tino walked over to the mirror and began to fix his hair. Lukas chuckled a little to himself.
"You look just fine."
He spent a few moments fussing with his hair in the mirror and checking for any food that might have gotten stuck in his braces. His palms were a little sweaty at the thought of if what Lukas and Emil had said was true. Sure, Tino liked Marcus and they got on well, but they hadn't even been dating for more than a year. Would he even accept?
The doorbell rang and startled Tino a little before he ran to get it. He peered through the netting that covered the glass window on the front of their little green door and saw the distinct outline of his boyfriend. He swung the door open and greeted Marcus with a bright smile on his face.
Tino was fashionable is his own unique way but was quite the opposite from his boyfriend who stood on his doorstep; with one hand in the pocket of his jean jacket, the other swung loosely by his side clutching a video game.
"Hey Tino." came the reply as Marcus stepped through the door, wiping his feet on the mat before entering fully. Lukas had a strict rule that one must wipe his or her feet thoroughly before treading through his house, and anyone who failed to do so was automatically on Lukas' bad list. And ending up on the bad list was something best avoided at all costs.
Tino paused for a moment to catch his breath that was hitched in his throat before closing the door and followed Marcus over to the table where he was greeting Emil and handing the video game over. He stood behind Marcus just catching the last part of their conversation.
"So can I really keep it? You don't mind?"
"Yeah sure, I beat it a long time ago, so it's not much use to me now." Marcus said with a grin and a shrug of the shoulders.
"Thanks." Emil flashed a grin in return before heading to his room to play the new game.
"Hey Tino, can I speak to you for a second in private?" Marcus turned to Tino.
"Er, yeah sure. That's fine." Tino said nervously, unsure how he would respond if Marcus did actually get down on one knee.
Lukas took this as his que to leave and began to get up from the table only to be interrupted by Marcus.
"It's okay Lukas, we'll take this outside."
Tino followed Marcus outside, glancing over his shoulder at Lukas and receiving a rare grin and a thumbs up from him.
Once outside he gently closed the door behind himself and looked up at Marcus. There was something about the way he was acting today that didn't seem quite right to Tino. Marcus was usually bubbly and lively and it was normally a ritual of his to greet Tino with a kiss and a squeeze of his ass.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Tino asked, trying to sounds as casual as he could muster, leaning on the balcony railing.
There was a long pause after Tino had spoken. The tension was thick in the air, and just as Tino had guessed, something was wrong, but he wasn't expecting what was coming.
"Tino, I… I'm in love with somebody else." Marcus said lowly, not looking Tino in the eye.
Another pause while Tino let what he had just heard sink in. He felt like someone had stuck a pin in his heart and deflated it. How could he have been so stupid and thought that someone would want to marry him? When Tino opened his mouth to speak again his throat was dry and his voice came out at nearly a whisper.
"How? I mean… I thought we... well who is it?"
Behind them, Lukas had come to the door and was leaning against the door frame, a mug of coffee curled between his fingers. He was watching them with no idea what was being said, or no idea what emotion was being displayed as he could only see the backs of their heads as they leaned out over the railing.
"Ivan. Look, Tino I'm sorry. I just-"
"No… You don't have to say anything else."
Tino felt his heart breaking completely in two. On top of what happened this morning, this was all just too much for him. He couldn't even cry.
Marcus sighed before shoving his hands into his jeans pockets.
"Good luck, Tino. With everything."
He leant over to kiss Tinos' cheek, but Tino kept his gaze to the ground and moved his head away slightly to keep Marcus from reaching him. Nothing more was said, and Tino didn't look up until he heard Marcus reach the bottom of the stairs.
Francis leaned back in his chair with his head back, his eyes closed and a look of pure bliss on his face. He was startled when the door opened and someone joined him in the room.
"So how do you like your new office?" The man who had joined him was none other than Ludwig, the previous company owner. He's sold his business to the Bonnefoy family in order to take some vacation time before setting up a new business deal back in Germany.
"Oh god, you scared me Ludwig…I, uhh… It's great! Yeah.. really great." Francis said, swallowing thickly.
"Could… could you give me a few minutes? There's something I need to wrap up before, y'know, before I leave tonight?" Francis said whilst fidgeting a little in his chair.
Ludwig gave him a curt node before turning on his heel to leave. But almost straight away after turning around he stopped in his tracks when his gaze fell upon something. He picked up a pair of laced underwear between two fingers which were dangling from one of the decorative vases.
"An interesting way of decorating… Mr Bonnefoy." He gave Francis a suspicious look and raised an eyebrow, causing Francis to fidget even more.
"He knows' you're down there." He hissed through his teeth. There was some shuffling and a zipper being closed before a woman stood up from underneath his desk. She wiped her mouth a little on the back of her hand and handed Francis a pen as though she had been searching for it on the floor, hence why she was under the desk.
Francis cleared his throat before speaking,
"I'd like you to meet my new assistant… Amelia this is-"
Before he could continue he was interrupted.
"Quite alright Francis, I don't need an introduction to your assistant whom I hired myself." Ludwig said with a glare.
"Are you feeling any better?" Emil flopped down on the couch next to Tino, who was curled up stuffing his face with a packet of biscuits.
"Yeah." He mumbled with his mouth full, "'m, fine."
Emil patted his shoulder and stood up again with a huff of annoyance to answer the phone which began to ring.
"Hello?" he said whilst winding the cord casually around his finger. After a few moments he turned around to Tino and held his hand over the receiver,
"It's some guy from Bonnefoy Publications." He said with a slight roll of his eyes and a confused look on his face.
"What? Bonnefoy?" Tino gasped almost choking on his mouthful of biscuit. He quickly swallowed before taking the phone from Emil.
"Yes this is Tino Väinämöinen speaking."
Emil leaned against the wall, still looking rather confused as Tino spoke, getting more and more excited by every second that passed.
"Are you serious? Um, yeah! Yeah I, uh- of course I can start tomorrow! A problem with one of the- okay, okay. What magazine is this for? Icon?"
He shot a look at Emil as he said this for reassurance, and Emil's eyes widened as he nodded at Tino. "Okay, yeah that's fine. I'll be there first thing in the morning. Okay, thank you, Goodbye!"
Tino breathed out and slammed his hands down on the side table.
"Assistant to the Editor in chief! There was a problem with the assistant they hired so I just… I can't believe this!"
"You didn't tell me you wanted to work for Icon though. A fashion magazine? Are you sure?" Emil said a little sceptically.
"Well, this wasn't my first choice… But if I do well here I can go anywhere in the company! This is my gateway!" Tino said, his mind working overtime. He was finding it hard to believe that this wasn't a trick, and that he actually would be the assistant to the Editor in Chief of the country's best selling fashion magazine, and all without an interview. It was surreal and almost too good to be true.
"I will give you one piece of advice, and that's to try and dress fashionably? And I mean from their point of view, not yours." Emil said, and gave Tino an affectionate squeeze on the arm.
Tino simply stared at Emil, slightly insulted, but with the mood he was now in, that didn't last for over a few seconds before of the biggest grins he was capable of spread across his face.