Adam had just awkwardly left Russell in his office when he passed Timmy walking into the lobby.

They both stopped short, looking to one another with a strange sort of knowing. Finally Adam tilted his head to the side with a soft smile.

"Hey, Timmy. I think Russell might have been looking for you."

"Oh, really?" As if he was somehow surprised in the least by this. "Well, I suppose I'm here now."

Adam rolled his tongue in his cheek, thinking. "Hey, uhm...listen, he's been acting really weird. I mean, weird for Russell. I'm going to say this as a friend. Because I care about both of you."

"Oh, here we go."

"No, seriously...Tim, I'm not always great with words, I mean, you know that. But here's what I do know...it was fate that that minister was in the hospital right when Jen and I needed him."

When Adam failed to continue, Timmy urged him on with a gesture of his hand. "Yes?"

"Well, you needed him too, right? Fate. I mean yeah, you wouldn't have needed to get married at all if Russell hadn't screwed up, but what were the chances of it working out, huh? For all of us? In the same night Jeff and Audrey have a baby, me and Jen finally get married, you get to stay in the country...and I dunno, what if Russell doing what he did, you losing your work visa, and that minister being in the hospital that night was all some bizarre twist of fate? What if there was some bigger reason for all of that happening?"

Adam placed a hand to Timmy's arm with a nod and a friendly smile. "Just a thought, Tim." He turned to walk away. "He's in his office, you should go talk to him."

Timmy stood in silent contemplation for a moment before continuing slowly towards Russell's door. Nobody was outside to stop him, and he hesitated before knocking. There was no reply.

"...Hello?"

Nothing.

"Russell...it's Timmy..."

He heard a faint scrambling from inside the office, and then nothing. He took the initiative in opening the door slowly and saw Russell sitting at his desk, as if busy as work. Something was wrong with this picture.

Russell looked up casually from his desk, then back down, scribbling on some random sheet of paper. "Oh, hey."

Timmy waited, and after receiving nothing further from Russell, furrowed his brow and spoke, trying to keep an even keel to his voice. "Really? That's all you're going to say to me? 'Oh, hey'?"

"Mm, well, seems we're mere acquaintances these days, don't say much to one another, 'oh, hey' seems about right. Anything else I can do for you, Mr. Patel, as you can see I have quite a bit of backlog and-"

"Okay, cut the crap."

Russell was caught a bit off guard and choked back a little, nodding. "Okay. Well, then, Mr. Patel, if we're going to use that kind of language, I'll have to kindly ask you to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere, I came here to speak to you and I intend to do just that. I owe you an apology."

Russell seemed to mellow a little at this, dropping the fake writing act and crumpling the paper in front of him, tossing it casually over his shoulder. He let himself investigate Timmy, dressed casually, looking tired and soft around the edges. He felt the pangs of want for him and shoved them down. He looked down at his desk and spoke softly.

"Sooo...where've you been hanging out these days?"

"I was just...around. I had to think. I've been doing a lot of thinking. Yes, I know I keep saying that. I guess I'd like to know what's been on your mind, as well. So...here I am. Let's converse. I'm sorry I left, I told you I wouldn't and it was wrong of me. The fault is all mine, this time. Shall we try again?"

Russell looked to Timmy. He stood up carefully and walked several steps hesitantly forward.

"I want to know where you were." Russell shrugged. "I guess that's a little uber creep after the whole tracking your every move thing but, uh...I guess I just wanna know what the better option was."

Timmy nodded, letting out a deep breath. "I guess honesty is a good place to start. Uhm, I wasn't really sure what to do, I let my nerves get the better of me. I met a young lady in a bar, I know that's not the most sophisticated response given the situation, but..."

"You had sex with her?"

Timmy paused a moment, then gave a nod. "Well, yes."

Russell scoffed. "Really. You...had sex with her?"

"I...yes."

Russell was walking closer, growing tenser with each step. "Yeah, uhm...you...had sex with her? You...left me...to pick up some random skank..." He was in Timmy's face, now. "...To have SEX with her?!"

Timmy threw up his arms and turned around in exasperation before facing Russell again.

"Are you serious right now, Russell? Are we seriously having this conversation right now? I came to apologize! I had something of utmost importance to tell you and this is what you're choosing to say to me right now?"

Russell furrowed his brow. "How could you?"

Timmy was done. Gloves off.

"How could I? How could I? Yes, God forbid I enjoy the company of a woman from time to time. How dare I spend some time with somebody other than a miserable little troll who treats me like a piece of dog shit he scraped off the bottom of his patent leather shoes he purchased from the boys' department! You with your whore of the day calendar, oh yes, you say you love me and you think I could love you back, but the only person who could ever love you charges by the hour!"

Russell stared at Timmy, jaw gaped. Timmy realized in this moment the cruelty of his tirade and was on the verge of an apology when Russell fought back.

"Oh, yeah? Yeah? Well, fuck you! Fuck you and the boat you rode in on! You know what, you made me a promise, you said a whole bunch of shit you didn't mean. You act like you're so sophisticated and so full of moral decency and you leave me to go sack some cheap bimbo? Listen here pal, you've got some nerve even showing up here after what you did to me. I have every right to never even speak to you again. I have every right to call up the proper authorities and tell them this marriage is a sham and have you deported tomorrow!"

"You wouldn't do that."

"Why the hell wouldn't I?"

"Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me!" Timmy swearing was a serious thing. Russell knew this and was taken off guard by it. "You really think I'm about to buy that after all you've spewed at me these last few days? 'Ohhh, Timmy, I love you, I want to be with you, I've wanted to screw your brains out for blah blah blah blah blah-de-blah because I'm a psychotic closet homosexual', you really think you can back out of it now?!"

"When the hell did I-!" Russell mocked Timmy now, complete with over-exaggerated accent. "'Pip pip cheerio, I'm Timmy and you're creeping me out, oh oops you just gave me a blow job and I liked it!'"

"You didn't leave me much choice!"

"What, did I tie you to the bed? You wanted it! You liked it!"

Timmy stomped and spun around in frustration.

Russell grabbed Timmy's shoulders, forcing them face to face. "I was blowing up your phone! I was scared! You just left, you were there and then you were gone, what the hell happened?!"

"You were scared?! I was scared! Do you understand how fast all of this has happened? One day everything was normal and then suddenly everything was insane! Do you really think I wanted to spend the night having sex with some random woman I picked up in a bar, imagining I was having sex with you?!"

"Then why don't you just have sex with me?!"

The intensity of Timmy's kiss took Russell by surprise, and it took him a moment to return it in full force.

The men were instinctively moving back towards the desk and Russell was pinned a moment later, Timmy acting on sudden impulse. They attacked with an angry brute energy. They needed to get this out of their systems.

Breaking lips with heavy breaths they tore at clothes, kicked off shoes, unzipped pants and grabbed at exposed skin with itchy, wanting fingers. No more hesitating, no more talk.

Clothes gone, strewn in ransacked piles, they collapsed to the floor, where Russell pinned Timmy down and stripped him of his glasses, staring into his eyes. For a moment there was clarity, a feeling of skin on skin and acknowledgement of what was happening. And then, hesitation - this was still foreign territory.

Finally Russell grabbed Timmy's legs firmly and mounted. He led his fingers slowly along Timmy's cock.

"Trust me...it's okay..." He locked eyes. "You want it," he hissed out through his teeth, and allowed a finger to enter Timmy, who lurched sharply in response. He worked this for awhile until he felt Timmy start to relax just a little.

Russell hesitated briefly, then crawled over a ways and in a mild panic flew through the pile of clothes until he reached his suit pants, and pulled something from the pocket, a small bottle of lube. In a different situation Timmy would have been prepared to make a crack about this, about how obvious it was that he kept this so conveniently on the ready, but a moment later Russell was prepared and mounting him. He positioned himself and entered slowly, very slowly...

Timmy growled low in response; his eyes closed hard and he ground his nails against the floor as the pain hit, and finding this monumentally dissatisfying, pierced them firmly into Russell's hips.

Something snapped in Russell's brain. Where once there had been a hot, intense passion, he was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. His voice eked out softly: "Timmy."

Timmy's eyes opened to look at Russell.

"Okay?"

"...Yes."

Russell went to work slowly at first, getting a feel for what he was doing, eliciting soft moans from Timmy. As soon as he had found a steady rhythm, they worked together, deeply feeling one another. Timmy placed a hand firmly over his mouth to keep himself quiet.

And for a time they stayed like this, one unit grinding on the floor, losing sense of time in this moment and feeling nothing but the sensations of one another's bodies as the intensity and speed of what they were doing built, Russell letting loose finally with a sound of release and collapsing with a shake. Timmy allowed Russell's hand to finish him off without much thought and for a moment they laid there, breathless and lost. Russell rolled from Timmy and laid apart from him aside from a hand on his arm, resting gently as if there by accident.

Neither man spoke for several minutes. No kissing, no signs of affection. Confused. Timmy stood finally on shaky legs and initiated the act of getting dressed.

Neither man spoke as they dressed themselves. At one point, Timmy struggled in finding his glasses, and Russell wordlessly handed them to him with no other exchange between them. When they were both clothed they walked and sat awkwardly on either side of the room, trying to act as if nothing had just happened. Russell at his desk, Timmy on the sofa, neither looking at one another.

Finally Timmy spoke, very softly, voice unsure of itself.

"If there's nothing further, I should be going."

"Didn't you, uh...want...talk about something?"

"Uhh...not...can't...remember."

These fragmented sentences weren't getting them anywhere, and Timmy stood, prepared to leave.

"Wait-"

Timmy turned hesitantly.

"You...you can't just leave every time it gets..." Russell searched for the right word, "...intense."

Timmy swallowed hard. His voice was practically a whisper. "What just happened here was..." He stopped himself. "You're at work. This is a place of work. Go home after work, I'll meet you there."

With this, Timmy left, and Russell found himself alone again.

And freak out mode set it.

"Oh my god, what just happened?" Russell cupped his face in his hands. "Ohhhh fuck, what was that?"

It's what you wanted.

"That doesn't mean I'm used to the idea! Oh my god, I just...ohhh, my god!"

You made love to him. You love him. There's nothing wrong with that.

"Yeah, but...it's...it's weird! And when did I start talking to myself?!"

He's coming over tonight. Everything is okay.

"Everything is okay. Then why doesn't it feel okay?"

It's new. It's different. You'll get used to it. You've been hiding a lot of things about yourself for a long time. Sometimes it takes awhile to figure out who you really are.

Russell grew calm somehow with this thought. He really didn't know who he was. He had spent most of his life directionless, relying on his parents, on cheap frivolities, on passing pleasures and money. He wasn't young. Whenever something good happened in his life, it seemed fleeting. For some reason, this wasn't so fleeting. Maybe he was less scared of being with a man, and more scared of truly being in love with somebody. Sex wasn't scary. Commitment was scary.

And he was figuring out who he was.

They'd talk tonight.

Timmy had stood in front of Russell's door for about five minutes now. He'd raised his hand to knock several times, and several times had reconsidered. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say, he just knew that he couldn't take himself entering into another silent treatment, and he knew he could if he allowed himself. He felt guilty. He knew that he had treated Russell unfairly. Still, it had been well deserved, he told himself. Russell had done more than enough to warrant a few outbursts on Timmy's part. The reunion hadn't gone as expected. They'd behaved irrationally. They'd allowed some kind of angry, primal lust to take over and nothing had been resolved. What if the same thing happened again? What if nothing ever was resolved between the two of them, and it was forever these stupid mind games? Damn it, what was he standing here for, tormenting himself? Either knock on the door or walk away.

He turned to walk away.

And the door opened.

Russell and Timmy stood staring at one another. Neither one wanted to be the first to speak.

Instead, Russell settled on walking back inside the apartment, leaving the door open in invitation, expecting Timmy to follow him inside. Timmy hesitated, but followed. He closed the door behind him, and grabbed Russell firmly by the arm.

"Let me speak."

Russell whipped back to look at Timmy.

"Now, you listen here, Russell Dunbar. I'm sorry. I mean this sincerely, I shouldn't have done or said what I did, nor should you. Not just these last couple of days, but the past few years. There's a lot we need to work through. It's going to take time. Patience. Probably a shrink."

Russell nearly retreated at this, and Timmy pulled him back. "I'm sorry, I digress. As far as today's events, I..." There was a silent glance between them, a biting of lips, a mutual understanding that it not be spoken of in this moment. "Listen, Russell. I've come to a realization, and I need to just say this before I change my mind."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Something suddenly felt light between them, as if a million tons had been lifted. Russell's chest heaved a visible sigh of relief.

"I...I love you, and I want to make this work. When we're apart, when we're angry at one another, I mean angrier than usual, not on speaking terms, it...it irritates me somehow, it feels wrong, I need you around. It's inexplicable, but I mean this sincerely. When I was with that woman last night, there was this very strange disconnect I couldn't understand, but then it began to make sense to me. Please, Russell, let's discuss this, I'm the one asking now for you to just please hear me out."

"Okay. So, what changed?"

"I suppose I did. And maybe you did, a little."

Russell nodded. He brushed his hair gently away from his face, as if trying to look coy. "Can I kiss you now?"

Timmy nodded and Russell leaned in for a kiss. When he went a little too hard Timmy broke it.

"Whoa, steady, this is how it always starts, I need a little more dialogue first. Sit."

Russell looked mildly frustrated as they made their way to the sofa and he layed down, kicking his feet up onto Timmy's lap.

Russell sighed. "So, this marriage thing, then..."

"Well..." began Timmy, "despite the fact that I have no choice but to remain married to you or I'll be deported...let's give this a go, shall we? I mean, that is to say...I suppose we've been practically married for a good long while, as it were, anyway."

Russell allowed himself to smile a broad smile that showed his true emotions.

"But," continued Timmy, "We have to lay some groundwork here. We didn't exactly enter into this marriage the way one normally would. So we have to figure out how we're doing this. I hate to say this, but I'm not sure we can make this work if we attempt any kind of exclusivity."

"Oh..." Russell hadn't really been thinking about this. His smile dropped. "Oh, man. Like, not bang any girls?"

Timmy raised his eyebrows. "Yes, that. The very thing you got angry at me for."

Russell sneered. "Oh, crap."

"I suppose then we'll come back to that one?"

"Uh, yeah, let's."

"Our parents."

"Bang our parents?!"

"We've changed topics!"

Russell closed his eyes and hit his head back hard. "I'm sorry, I've got kind of a one track mind right now-"

"Always."

"-you can't really blame me, at the moment."

They exchanged another knowing look, and Timmy quickly diverted.

"Yes, granted. However, what I meant was, what will we tell our parents?"

"Well, I've thought about that...I mean hey, as little as they actually talk to me, I could avoid it for who knows how long."

"Are they homophobic?"

Russell hissed out through his teeth. "See, up until I kissed you, I'm pretty sure *I* was homophobic."

"Yes, willingly kissing a man is probably a fairly good way of breaking such a trait." He cleared his throat. "Never mind the other activities."

Russell spoke quickly, "Y'know, at some point we're gonna have to talk about-"

"Not yet."

"Okay."

"Back to parents."

"Yeeeah, well," continued Russell, not missing a beat. "My dad, he's uh...well, you know how macho he is. I've never been enough of a man for him, like, remember how much work we did on Liz to impress him, imagine what we'd have to do to you. Hey, dad, here's my new girlfriend, she has a dick but look how pretty she is! Yeah. My mom...well, she loves you. Like seriously, she talks about you."

Timmy half smiled. "Pray tell, what does she say?"

"She says you're really smart, that you're going places and uh- okay, she kind of called it."

"Called it?"

"She jokes every time she talks to me that I should just break the tension and have sex with you already. Except she's probably joking. I think."

Timmy leaned back on the sofa, placing a hand behind his head. "Yes, well, I suppose she'll be thrilled then that she won that little wager, ay?"

"Mm. She says you're good for me." Russell sighed. "Of course she probably only says that because you convinced her to cut me off. Living the peasant life."

"Sir- Russell. I did nothing of the- oh, never mind."

"What about your parents, they seem nice."

Timmy sighed a deep sigh. "They love you," he said flatly. "Because you manipulated them to."

"What? How?"

Timmy gave Russell a steady glare. "Are you quite serious? You showed up to dinner uninvited. You Wikipedia'd my native land in order to appear sensitive to my culture, you-"

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that. As far as a relationship however, I really don't know how I'll approach this topic. They expect me to marry a nice young Indian girl of my family's choosing, not an American albino man old enough to be my father."

Russell grimaced. "Dude! I'm not old enough to be your father!" He paused. "How old are you, anyway...?"

"I'm 29. You're nearing 50. You could easily be my father."

Russell's eyes went wide for a moment. "Wait, dude, seriously?"

"You date girls my age all the time! You think 16 is legal!"

Russell looked dazed and confused so Timmy decided to continue on the previous train of thought.

"Anyway, speaking of my family, I did speak with Simran very recently and-"

Russell interjected quickly. "I didn't have sex with your sister, I swear! I went to visit her, yeah. I tried, she wouldn't. Kissed her. A little over the shirt action, that's all. If you take me to family reunions it won't be weird. Well, not too weird. Might have felt a little nipple."

Timmy was sneering. "More than I wanted to know!" He tried to continue. "Oh, god. I really don't want to have this in common with my sister. Allow me a moment to try and forget that you made reference to my sister's nipple, please...but anyway, yes, she told me nothing really happened between the two of you. You surely remember that week after you visited her, I made your life a living hell, hers wasn't exactly sunshine and roses either, she came clean. My point is, she approves, for some reason. She, somehow, likes you as well. I don't know how you've won my family over, I somehow had more faith in them."

Russell raised an arm in protest. "Hey! What happened to all this 'oh, Russell, I love you, blah blah' stuff?"

"I'm also a realist, just because I've grown to care for you doesn't mean everyone should be so insane."

Russell accepted this as a backwards compliment and there was a moment of silence.

"...My sister's nipple, really, Russell."

"I'm sorry! At least I didn't mention her tongue!"

"RUSSELL!"

Russell threw his head back with laughter. "Dude, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll stop."

Timmy took a moment to stop fuming, rolled his eyes. "You make it awfully hard sometimes to remind myself why I'm still here."

"Uhh, I'm cute and adorable?"

Timmy looked at Russell with a tilt of his head. "Mm, no, don't think that's quite it."

"Uhm, I'm sweet and charming?"

"You might want to stop guessing."

"Well, listen, there has to be a reason, you're clearly here."

Timmy managed a smirk. "You want to know why?"

"Yeah, I really do. I've been trying to figure that out, dude. I haven't been doing much else."

"Yes, same here. And...well, I guess...you have a good heart. Somewhere. Deep inside. Say, when somebody hurts your feelings, past the biting sarcasm you tend to retreat into a shell as if somebody had just broken your favorite toy. At some point I guess you never really grew up. As if you were still a child."

"You...love me because I'm a child?"

"That didn't come out quite right. I mean to say, you have a certain innocence for which much of your behavior might be forgiven. And something Mrs. Bingham said to me gave me cause for reflection. She said something about the way you looked at me when you proposed marriage..."

Russell laughed nervously. "How did I look at you?"

"She said you looked sincere. When we were standing there in front of the minister...yes, you looked sincere. I've seen that look before. I'd never thought about it, but I've seen it many times. It's the look you give me often, whenever we're out together at some bar or event and I'm tailing you like some kind of puppy. You'll look back at me to make sure I'm still there, and over time it began to make me feel comfortable, and I wasn't sure why, but now I know. That look was one of genuine caring, of protection, of security... on the surface it once seemed demeaning, but on some level I guess I always knew that in fact you needed me more than you were letting on."

Russell slowly nodded.

"So...that's how I've come to understand you truly do love me, Russell. That look. And that's why I'm surrendering now to the fact that I love you in return. So I suppose...thank you for showing me what it's like. Being needed, being wanted. I've never really had somebody show me that before, and it took me awhile to recognize it for what it was."

Smiles.

Timmy nudged Russell's leg gently with his hand. "You know, in all this time, you still haven't told me why you've pursued this. Well, this being me. I'd sort of like to know."

Russell sighed heavily. "I wish I had a reason, Tim. I wish I had more to say. I know that sounds stupid and shallow, I know when you fall for somebody you're supposed to have some long list of reasons why, but I don't know. I've never been good with reasons, you know my beat with women isn't usually more than wham bam, even ones I actually dig, I always manage to scoot just past the reasons into bed and screw that up somehow-" a nervous, confused laugh. "-I really don't know what the hell I'm doing. You're sitting here spouting off all these words, and I suck with words. Maybe give me a little time with the words."

"Fair enough."

"So..." queried Russell, "How do we tell everybody?"

Timmy groaned. "I'm not sure I want to, but I suppose we have to."

"I like PDA."

"Oh, sir, please."

"Keep accidentally calling me sir, it turns me on."

With that Timmy shoved Russell's legs off of his lap to the floor and Russell laughed again. "Wha-a-a-t! Just being honest!"

Timmy gave Russell a gentle smile. "You're an idiot."

"Hey."

"Just being honest."

They kissed. And it felt right.