Thunder.

Eric knew the stakes. He knew that he was taking a huge risk when made the bet, but one hooded look from Vince had convinced him that not only was this a good idea, it was the best fucking idea of his life. He knew that being with him meant an entourage of friends always around, a barrage of girls at every club and restaurant, an ego that bigger than Queens and about a million other negative qualities that any sane man wouldn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. He knew all this and he took the leap because he convinced himself that it would be worth it. What he didn't know what it would hurt like hell when he felt it crashing down around him.

He thinks about that old Garth Brooks song that his mother used to sing sometimes and related to way too much when Vince comes home late, lipstick smeared across his cheek and his collar smelling like Chanel perfume. It's been yet another night alone in the big house in the Hills that he's been sharing with Vince and Vince alone for much of the last year. Too many glasses of scotch and a thunderstorm have left him feeling angry and restless. He's rearing for a fight the minute Vince saunters into the house without a care in the world. Eric's just drunk enough that he doesn't yell. He just looks at his boyfriend and shakes his head in disgust before climbing the stairs to their bedroom alone.

"E!"

Eric shrugs off Vince's call as he shuts the bathroom door in the master suite. He doesn't have the heart to lock him out of the bedroom, but he's not ready to face him. Vince is beautifully complicated, and usually Eric is happy to take it on. It's just been too hard lately, and even Eric is tired of working this hard to make it work. He ignores Vince's knocks on the door as he turns on the water and splashes it on his face. It does little to shake off the stress, but he keeps the water running to drown out Vince. He's just sitting there, on the edge of the tub, staring at the closed door. He could let this go like he has so many other nights or he could go out there and face it like a man. He's not really liking either option at the moment.

With a deep breath and a string of curses under his breath, Eric crosses the room and opens the door. He doesn't come out, just takes a step back and watches Vince lean in the doorway. "What's up, E?"

The question is casual and sickens Eric immediately. "What's up?" he scoffs. Eric hangs his head and rubs the back of his neck. He's too exhausted to be sad. "You think I don't recognize the perfume, Vin?" Eric looks up and meets his eye line. He sees it click in Vince's head as the panic starts to set in. "Yeah, I know."

Vince covers his mouth as Eric brushes past him and heads for the closet. He throws his old battered gym bag on their bed and starts tossing random clothes into it. He makes sure to take nothing that is Vince's, opting for a lot of the old tees and faded jeans that he used to wear before he became a Hollywood power player. "E, you can't go, we have to talk about this," Vince implores as Eric unplugs his phone charger and scrounges around in the top dresser drawer for his wallet. Eric makes it a point not to answer Vince and to ignore the framed photograph of them on his night stand. He just grabs the book he's been reading and adds it to the bag. "Eric, please, just talk to me."

"I'm done talking, Vince," Eric informs him. His voice is soft but completely devoid of any real emotion. "I could have taken it if it was anyone else, but her? Vince, why did it have to be her?" Eric knows that it is a sign of weakness to let Vince see him this vulnerable, but this was literally killing their relationship. "I told myself, it's okay, he loves me. It doesn't matter that he misses girls, I'm enough. I actually believed that, can you believe it? I thought you loved me enough to be faithful. How could I have been so naive? You don't love anyone other than yourself."

They've known each other twenty-five years, and Eric has been mad at Vince plenty. He usually yells at him, curses at him, even took a few shots back in high school when Eric caught Vince making a pass at his cousin. Vince knows how to deal with all that but this cold, angry silence scares him.

Eric waits a moment and then picks up his bag from the bed. "Mandy Moore," Eric mutters, shaking his head. "Mandy fucking Moore. She's married, Vince, you know that right? Hell, we might as well be. You know this and you're still willing to throw it away? I hope she was worth it, Vin, 'cause I'm done."

His exit is anything but dramatic as he slings the gym bag over his shoulder and walks out on Vince. He's halfway down the stairs before he hears Vince call his name, but it's not enough to make him stop. "E, please!" His voice is pathetic but Eric shakes it off. "Please, Eric." It's the wavering last syllable where Eric knows he's crying that gets him to stop. "Please."

Eric turns and looks up the staircase at Vince. He's sitting halfway down, his head in his hands. It takes everything he has not to throw the bag down and run up to him, take him in his arms and forgive him. He loves him even now, knowing what he does and how broken his heart is. "Vin..." His voice trails off. He doesn't know what to say. "Come make me a drink. I'll give you fifteen minutes to explain. If I don't like what I hear, I'm gone."

Vince looks relieved,a beautifully hopeful smile lighting up his face. He takes the stairs two at a time and stops right in front of Eric. He shifts the bag out of E's grasp and sets it aside before resting his hand on Eric's hip and pressing their foreheads together. It's an intimate gesture meant to comfort them but all Eric can smell is Mandy on Vince.

They head into the kitchen,Vince holding Eric by the wrist in case he should try to escape. Vince points to a stool and then pulls an expensive bottle of wine out of the cooler. It's going to take something good to get them through this. Once two goblets are filled with the expensive Bordeaux they'd picked up at a small winery in France last fall, Vince collapses onto the stool next to Eric and rests his head against his fist. "I don't know where to start."

"Try the beginning."

And so Vince tells Eric about running into Mandy at a party for their mutual business manager, the one that Eric actually found for him after Marvin retired with his wife to Napa last year. Eric had a late meeting with another client, something Vince points out. Eric reminds him that he can't shift the blame here and tells him to go on. Too many drinks, a fight between Mandy and Ryan, a few more drinks, an unanswered call to Eric and a few more drinks later, they were making out in a dark corner of the lawn. Vince swears that's all that happened and Eric tells him that it doesn't matter. It almost makes it worse really, though he's not really sure why.

Eric drinks down the rest of his wine and stands up. He leaves the kitchen wordlessly and picks up his bag in the foyer. Vince follows after him, afraid to say anything else that might make him go. "I don't know where to go," Eric confesses. His hand is resting on the door knob but his eyes are looking toward their bedroom door. "I shouldn't have to feel like that in my own house, Vince. I shouldn't have to feel like I can't be here." He looks up at Vince and Vince nearly weeps at how sad Eric looks. "My mom felt like that her entire marriage, Vin. My dad cheated on her for nearly fifteen years until the day he died. She was never strong enough to leave him and I swore to myself I would never live that way. Give me one reason to stay. One last chance. Why do I stay?"

"Because you love me."

It is probably the only reason Vince could have given that would have actually made Eric stay. He nodded slightly before dropping the bag down again. Vince is to him in a matter of moments, wrapping his arms around Eric and promising that this will never happen again. Eric believes him. He wouldn't have given him one last chance if he didn't. The truth is that maybe Eric was never going to leave, he's not really sure, and they're both glad that they don't have to find out.