"Are you a secret serial killer in your spare time, Mickelson?"

Seth's dark hair was sticking all messy over his face emulating someone who got caught up in a brutal storm. He could also feel his own loose black shirt clinging on to his soaked back.

"Why do you say that?" Seth asked Brad in between amused chuckles.

"Man the way you were punching that bag? It was quite frightening if you asked me." A muscle twitched at the corner of Dr. Brad's left eye. "Remind me never to piss you off in this lifetime."

Seth laughed. "Believe it or not, I'm a pacifist by nature." He staggered from the leather punching bag heading toward a mirror not so far away from his prior position. Seth gawked into his reflection with faraway eyes.

People come from a long way don't they?

Snorting, Brad wiped off thick droplets of sweat rolling down his face in a frictionless grace. "Yeah, yeah a pacifist." He paused to breathe from his grueling exercise on the treadmill.

"Since when do you use the hospital gym?"

The question was meant for Brad but just the voice behind it erupted some kind of tingling sensations inside Seth. It was pathetic, really.

"Since I found myself a new working out partner." Brad responded.

Leonardo who had somehow appeared from completely nowhere eyed Brad incredulously. "Okay? But I don't see anyone else in here with you." A frown appeared on the man's face as he performed a quick scan of the place.

For some weird reason Seth's nerves scattered all over the place as he listened to the two men's exchange. How stupid was he to accept Dr. Bravucci's offer to have a drink? Nothing good would come out of it. He felt like his brain was working on excess caffeine, so many thoughts to process at once. Maybe he should just break a run for it? No one would judge him for that.

"Seth is right there you moron."

In the grip of silent panic, Seth's eyes widened. "Uhh...hey, um Dr. Bravucci?" He was stumbling on his words like a pure idiot, very smooth.

"Actually, I was looking for you." Leonardo uttered, his gaze now imprisoned on Seth. "Dr. Stevens told me I'd find you here, are you ready?"

"I really need to take a quick shower though." Seth almost grimaced as he felt sweat trickling down his back. Flinging the soggy shirt off his body, "You don't mind waiting, do you?"

Leonardo's eyes shamelessly followed a sheen of sweat covering Seth's bare chest. His body was glistening in the auburn gym lighting. Dr. Bravucci dared his eyes not to follow where that streak of liquid was disappearing to, that would've been chaotic if he sprouted a hard-on.

Damn the guy is fine.

A throat being cleared however startled Leonardo. "What?" He asked an amused Seth who was watching him the whole time.

"I said do you mind waiting for me whilst I shower?" 

"N-no. Of course not." Since when does Leonardo Bravucci stutter? The whole scene was under Brad's scrutiny. A free comical entertainment for the neurosurgeon.

"I won't take long, promise." With that being said, Seth disappeared into the shower stalls.

Dr. Bravucci's eyes however remained trained on Seth's inked back. It was an alpha roaring lion. Leonardo couldn't tear off his eyes from that work of art, somehow the ferocity and fear being instilled by the beast was quite dazzling to stare at.

"What's your deal Leo?" Brad sounded low-key aggressive as soon as Seth was completely out of earshot, his face scrunched into a cynical expression.

Leonardo however was genuinely confused. "What do you mean?"

"You sure as hell know what I mean! What are you trying to achieve? Why him?"

"Firstly, you do understand this has absolutely nothing to do with you, right?"

"Leo—" Of course Dr. Bravucci was going to cut him off.

"I'm trying to make things right here. I made a mistake and I'm trying to rectify my error."

"Seth doesn't deserve any of your shit man."

"My God you're such a dad, Brad. I'm not going to hurt him!" Dr. Bravucci's voice rose above the sanctified silence which resulted in a faint echo. "I mean it."

"I swear to God I will kill you."

"All done!" Seth announced, stealing both men's attention. The guy literally broke the Guinness record for the world's shortest shower.

On the other hand, Leonardo knew Brad was damn serious. After his ex Kelvin he'd changed drastically into an infamous heartbreaker. Chase was not the only one who had cried before.

"We should get going then." Dr. Bravucci said to Seth, his cold glare daring Brad to say shit.

"Have a good night." Seth smiled in Dr. Brad's direction as he followed Leonardo out of the building. Bradley smiled back but he couldn't stop himself from worrying about the kid. 

. . .

When Seth agreed to have a drink with Dr. Bravucci he wasn't expecting to have it inside the man's penthouse. It wasn't the luxurious and obviously expensive furnishings that made Leonardo's penthouse so exciting to Seth, it was actually how handcrafted everything inside seemed to be.

"Make yourself feel at home." The Italian man had said.

How could Seth feel at home when all he did was fear that his feet would taint the impeccably slick floor? So far Leonardo had only shown him the balcony, his contemporary kitchen ripped straight from a home decor magazine and the nicely stocked bar with a flat screen airing Champions League highlights.

The lounging area only was far much bigger than his whole shared apartment. The penthouse was stacked on top of a literal five star hotel. Seth could see a glimpse of a pristine indoor pool from the angle he was standing.

Maybe one day if he saved up every cent he earned he would purchase something this fancy for his mom. What was the use anyway? For years she had been completely out of it, suffering from psychogenic amnesia. It wasn't easy for Seth to come up with the decision to put her into a group home whilst he was in medical school. Sometimes he felt as if he'd taken the easy way out and abandoned her.

"It's quite a view huh?"

"Yeah," Seth's voice came out as a mere whisper. Without his glasses the stars seemed bigger, brighter and blurred in the most intoxicating way. "It is beautiful."

Seth turned to look at a freshly showered Leonardo who had joined him at the balcony in a pair of lounge pants and a simple white tee. The night scent was divine from the balcony.

"Have you ever watched the stars through a telescope?" Leonardo asked conversely.

"No, you have a freaking telescope?" It was more of a shriek once Seth discovered the brass and silver instrument wrapped around Leonardo's fingers.

Dr. Bravucci laughed at Seth's unfiltered enthusiasm, he liked that. Seth wanted to hear that sound all over again, there was this unusual serenity in the man's laughter.

"Here, let me show you something really exciting."

Leonardo was now standing closely behind Seth making him breathe deeply into his body wash. "I want you to find a trapezoid and when you do, try to join the four points together..." Leonardo  instructed.

"Okay, wait, I think I see something!" Seth was reduced to a mere child on Christmas morning excited to open new gifts from Santa.

"You do?"

Peeping into the telescope hole, Seth recognized a trapezium cluster, presumably what Leonardo wanted to show him. "The Orion's belt, oh my God is that it?"

"It took me longer to figure out, I'm impressed."

"It was easy for me because you gave me a hint." Seth muttered still awed.

From a telescope the sequin-silver stars were scattered all over the beryl sky. He couldn't find the correct word to describe the beauty. Doing this with Leonardo strangely felt intimate and—romantic.

"I think Rigel is you." Leonardo whispered close to Seth's ear. His lips accidentally on purpose brushing Seth's lobe with each and every word he was saying causing the resident's grip on the telescope to tighten.

What was Leonardo doing?

"Which one is Rigel?" Seth breathed, connecting his inquisitive moss eyes with Leonardo's dark ones.

Never in a million years would Seth have thought onyx eyes bored color but Leonardo's eyes reflected a colorful intricacy. One more move their lips would touch considering how close they were. Already Seth could feel Leonardo's warm breath caressing his undeniably flushed face.

"Rigel is located below the belt at the bottom right. It's the brightest."

Seth was now back on the telescope, peeking through as he tried to find Rigel. "So enticing," He gasped as soon as he found the shimmering brightest star. "Thank you for showing me this."

"Come on, I'll prepare us something to eat, are you not starving?"

"You are such a walking cliché of an Italian man." Seth was full on laughing.

Leonardo failed to get the joke but he smiled anyway. "A cliché Italian man?"

"You drive a Maserati, wear Giorgio, cuss colorfully, watch soccer and you cook too? If that's not a cliché I don't know what is."

Leonardo's brows twitched in realization. "Looks like someone's been keeping tabs on me. Bet you even know the type of underwear I wear."

Seth's face heated up at the last statement. "You wish! It's all out there, I didn't even have to research about it." he shrugged followed by a sheepish look which made Leonardo grin.

"You're too adorable than a man should ever be allowed Mickelson."

Seth scoffed. "The last thing any guy wants to hear is how adorable they are."

"Whatever sails your boat, still adorable though." He winked at the resident.

They somehow grew comfortable with each other's presence as the night progressed. Whilst Leonardo was busy cutting, dicing and chopping assorted vegetables like a pro that he was, Seth kept him company.

Behind those icy black eyes was mirth that no anyone else at the hospital had the pleasure of enjoying, maybe Brad since they were close friends. Seth had already picked one or two traits, Leonardo was a neat freak! Well, let's just say Seth was the complete opposite, his room back at the apartment was the definition of mayhem—socks of all colors thrown around the place and dirty laundry almost covering the whole floor.

"So tell me, why the lion?" Leonardo wanted to know the inspiration behind Seth's tattoo, then he saw him visibly tensing.

"It's just a tattoo, lions are cool you know?" The hesitation gave it off and Leonardo knew when to drop a case.

"Do you have any tats?" Seth proceeded to pry.

Leonardo shook his head immediately. "I can't stand the sight of a needle. I have low tolerance to pain. But maybe one day if I get enough inspiration, I'm not completely off to the idea."

"It wasn't even that bad," Seth explained, waltzing toward Leonardo who was currently serving braised steak and creamed potatoes for dinner. "It was more like this." He started, prickling Leonardo's exposed arm with his barely existing nails.

It became a staring contest.

"Sorry, I just wanted to give you an incite of how it feels. I'm so weird sometimes."

Leonardo didn't say anything. He was lost deep into those whirling pools of never ending green. Even God knew Leonardo was going to kiss Seth anytime from now if he kept looking at him like that. The tension, silence and uncertainty made the mood even ten times fragile.

"I should just shu—" Seth was immediately cut off.

Leonardo's lips were now touching his. He could feel the softness as they started to move, coaxing him to join him. Seth's eyes remained wide open in utter shock. It was getting more and more awkward for Leonardo to continue kissing him considering how Seth was not responding.

Leonardo felt blood draining out of his face. He withdrew his lips torturously slow before rasping, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I was out of line."

"I wasn't expecting that." Seth mumbled. He didn't kiss because kissing came with way more intimacy than sex itself. Kissing to Seth was a foundation to build a relationship. But he'd been wanting to kiss Leonardo so badly for weeks now.

"I should have asked you first. I'm sorry, that was a mistake on my part. Now let's have dinner before it gets cold. Shall we?"

Talk about awkward moments.

Leonardo corkscrewed a Dry Rosé as Seth had suggested. This whole set up was starting to feel like a date. Seth liked to believe it wasn't, two men were just hanging out after working hours, simple as that.

Except for the kissing part.

Neither of them liked small talk so they engaged into soccer discussion instead. There was actually a game between Barcelona and AC Milan and there's no way in hell Leonardo was going to miss that very game. Leonardo had pumped up Seth for this match so he was equally excited about it too. Thank God the awkwardness had dissipated faster than anticipated.

"You haven't touched your food," Leonardo noticed Seth was playing with his dinner, reminding him of Mia whenever she wanted to get away from eating peas.

"Sorry, I'm a little distracted."

"Am I distracting you, Seth?"

"Leonardo—"

"Here, open up for me. Not tasting this masterpiece should be considered a crime itself." Dr. Bravucci forked in a generous slice of steak into Seth's mouth. That small display of affection messed up Seth's brain for a few seconds.

Seth moaned. "Wow you can give Gordon a run for his money." He had taken his time chewing, savoring the feisty rich flavors.

Leonardo's gaze remained locked on Seth, watching him. "Well, I'm flattered."

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Leonardo's gaze was scalding, Seth couldn't decode the emotions hidden in those eyes which made him feel antsy.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Leonardo challenged him.

Sipping on his wine leisurely, Seth uttered a simple. "Yeah."

"Maybe another day."

"You can't just leave me hanging you know?"

A deep sigh escaped Leonardo's lips. "I can't look at you and not want to kiss you, Seth. There it is, out there in the open."

"Leonardo, all you need to do is ask."

"What?"

"You heard me."