Freddie’s hands shook as he piped frosting onto his latest batch of cupcakes. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t get them to stop. The frosting went on lopsided, then slouched down the sides. Some of it broke off and plopped onto the kitchen counter. Distressed, Freddie set his piping bag aside and sank into the wooden kitchen chair he’d brought in from the dining room.

He couldn’t work like this, but he couldn’t afford to take time off, either. The work he did was time sensitive. His cupcakes were to be delivered this afternoon no matter how shaken he was.

But they wouldn’t be very good cupcakes at all if he couldn’t even pipe his frosting onto them.

Freddie closed his eyes and rested his head on the counter. His whole body ached, and it wasn’t just because of a string of obscenely early mornings. Now that he’d had time to process the news Luke had shared with him, he’d come to realize how wrong and unfair he’d been.

He’d hurt the man he was falling in love with, and he’d done so without good reason.

Freddie was so ashamed that he couldn’t even bring himself to reach out to Luke. Without a doubt, Luke had already moved on. He hadn’t texted Freddie since their fight, and he hadn’t dropped by out of the blue, either. Reagan Ann had started to ask about him, and it broke Freddie’s heart to put on a cheerful face when he felt like a monster. He was a father, yes, but that didn’t give him license to be a dick.

He needed to apologize, but he didn’t know how to start.

The front door opened. Freddie heard Reagan Ann take off her shoes, then scamper off to her bedroom, giggling. She’d gone out with Aaron that morning on an excursion to the mall in order to give Freddie some time alone to get his baking done. Freddie had passed off his bad mood as a result of too much stress from work, and Aaron had been doing his best to make sure he had uninterrupted time in the kitchen.

“Marco!” Aaron called from the doorway.

“Polo,” Freddie mumbled in reply, raising his voice only enough so Aaron could hear it.

“Well, well, well,” Aaron said with a laugh from the doorway. He was taking off his shoes, too — Freddie heard him lose his balance and hop a few times to regain it. “While Ms. Reagan Ann and I were out this morning, we ran into someone and heard some news I think you’ll be interested in. You sitting down?”

“Yeah,” Freddie said. He would have laughed, but he was too depleted to do anything but feel sorry for himself.

“Well, that’s unexpected, but good.” Aaron laughed. “We met up with Mrs. Bryson. She’s the one who owns the little house with the stained glass detailing you and Reagan Ann went to see when you were looking at rentals. She said that she received your application and just got finished with the credit checks and background checks, and you’re approved. She’s going to be calling you probably today or tomorrow to let you know you were accepted.”

Freddie couldn’t find the strength to pick his head up from the counter. He made a non-committal noise.

“Uh? I thought you’d be a little happier than that... unless you don’t want to leave my humble little house, with its tiny, tiny kitchen. Is that the case?”

Aaron came into the kitchen and stopped in the doorway. Freddie watched him in his peripheral vision. It was a hollow feeling, to know he’d given up so easily, but he was drained. He didn’t have any more fight left.

“Whoa. Okay. Um.” Aaron paused. “Let’s take a step back here and pretend that I didn’t just bombard you with news you’re probably too numb to hear. First, are you okay? And second, what happened?”

“I’m fine.” Freddie lifted his head from the counter and did his best to put on a brave face. “Just... stress.”

“Yeah, that’s not just stress.” Aaron crossed the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Freddie noticed he made sure to stay clear of the cupcakes cooling on metal racks that were already set out. “There’s something else going on, and you should probably let me know what it is before you explode. I’m your brother, and I know that look — I get the same one when something in life has come along and crushed me. You’re not alone, and since you’re not, it’s better that you share the burden. It’ll help you feel better.”

“I broke up with Luke,” Freddie admitted. He reconsidered his words and modified his statement. “Well, I mean, I might as well have broken up with him. I was ambiguous about it, but we haven’t been in contact for almost a week and... I miss him. I really miss him, and I know the mistake was all mine. He’s innocent in this.”

“Uh, why would you do something like that?” Aaron looked gobsmacked. “You two were great together. I was pretty sure you were both really happy with each other.”

“He...” Freddie shook his head. “His sister was the one who burned down my old house and she’d also set fires at two others. When he found out, he came to tell me straight away, and I blew up at him. He’d invited me to a family barbecue where she was in attendance, and I met her. She was the one who went off at Reagan Ann, like I was telling you about before.”

Aaron rubbed his jaw. “... Shit.”

“I lost it,” Freddie admitted. He sank back onto the counter. “I told him to get out, and that I couldn’t deal with what had happened. He knew there was something off about her, but he hadn’t done anything about it. I blamed him for not taking the initiative. At the time, I thought that if he’d just done something, he could have set her right and stopped her... but that was unfair of me. He told me as much, but I wasn’t hearing it. I was too stubborn.”

“You were in shock,” Aaron said sympathetically. “I’m not going to stand here and tell you that you’re right and that you don’t deserve to feel guilty, but at the same time, you just went through a traumatic life event. You’re entitled to fly off the wall a little. Do you have plans to get back in touch with him to apologize?”

“I can’t think of how to do it.” Freddie closed his eyes and sighed. “This isn’t something I can send him an apology text over, and I’m terrified that if I call, he’s not going to answer.”

“Well, maybe that will happen, but you won’t know unless you try”

“I don’t want to mess this up anymore,” Freddie mumbled into his arms. “I’m falling in love with him, Aaron. I’ve got it bad.”

“Poor broken thing,” Aaron said with a sigh. He moved from the counter to stand behind Freddie and patted his back. “And look, your cupcakes are all sloppy, too. Have you had any water to drink today?”

“Yes.”

“Any food?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Freddie didn’t want to explain himself, but he didn’t think he had a choice. Right now, Aaron was the only one there for him, and he wouldn’t insult the one person he still had on his side. “I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

“That’s the anxiety talking,” Aaron said. He was already on his way across the kitchen. “I’m going to make you some buttered toast. Toast is easy enough to get down, and butter isn’t offensive. It’ll help you out. You can’t starve yourself. Not only have you been working yourself to the bone, but you’ve been emotionally drained lately. You need to keep up your strength.”

Freddie didn’t argue. He kept his head on the counter, taking a moment to wallow in his mistakes. For now, he’d be selfish with his emotions. When he’d licked his wounds and pitied himself enough, he’d step back up and take responsibility, the same as he’d always done.

“And you’re going to drink some more water,” Aaron added. Ice clinked into a glass, rattling free from the ice dispenser on the door of the fridge. “You need to stay hydrated. You don’t want to throw in dehydration headaches to the list of what’s wrong with you right now.”

Freddie listened to the water hit the ice. The ice crackled.

“Then, when you’ve got something in your stomach and you’ve had a bit more water, we’ll revisit getting those cupcakes done. You need them for later this afternoon, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll help out. I’m no artist, but if you can take care of the precision stuff, I can put those silver balls wherever you need them.”

“Dragées,” Freddie said. “They’re called dragées.”

“Sure. Whatever they’re called, I’ll get it done. And whatever other little decorations you need to do, I’ll do them, too. Or, I can put the cupcakes in their boxes. I’ve seen you do that often enough that I think I can do it without messing everything up.”

Freddie lifted his head from the counter right when Aaron set the glass of ice water down beside him. He picked up the glass and drank from it. The bread, he figured, was toasting.

“Then, once we’ve got your delivery emergency taken care of, we’ll deal with your Luke emergency.”

“Why are you helping me like this?” Freddie asked. He looked at Aaron curiously. They’d always had a close relationship, but Aaron was going above and beyond to make sure he was happy and sane. “Taking care of Reagan Ann, coaching me through my troubles... you have a life, too.”

Aaron offered him a sad smile that broke Freddie’s heart. “I’ve been lonely for a while, Freddie. If I can get you just a sliver of the happiness I want? Well... it makes me feel a little less lonely.” He laughed it off and waved a hand dismissively. “But that’s enough real talk. What you’ve got going on is real enough for the both of us. Let’s get into gear and get started. We’ve got a whole day ahead of us, and the more time we waste, the less we have to invest in your recovery.”

The toaster popped. Aaron went to tend to it, and Freddie watched mutely from where he sat. Aaron really was a remarkable man, and knowing that he was hurting on the inside, too? It allowed Freddie to put everything in perspective.

One day, everything would turn out fine for them. There would be happiness, even if it didn’t feel like it for now. Life would get better as long as they kept working toward it, and after what Aaron had said, Freddie felt strong enough to keep going. He would make things right, and then he’d find a way to make them right for Aaron, too.

It wasn’t the end of the world — it was simply another beginning, and he intended to find out exactly where that new beginning would lead.