Arias had a long day at work, which wasn't uncommon given how much time and effort he was always putting into it. He'd been up since well before dawn to get the first few batches done and he hadn't stopped moving since. Between an already busy day and one of the girls calling out sick, he hadn't had time to sit down since well before noon. His lunch consisted of two minutes of shoving the ugly muffins he couldn’t sell into his mouth. He hadn't had a bathroom break. Hadn't been able to sit.

Had closed forty five minutes late, and had to clean up by himself.

He was tired.

And while he very much loved his boyfriend, he hadn't been able to respond to nearly any of his texts, and it was hard enough to drag himself up the stairs after today.

Nick usually wound up at his place before the end of the day and they'd been making plans to go out and see a movie—but Arias, disappointed, had to cancel when he realized he could barely keep his eyes open. He wasn't even sure he wanted to stay up late enough to cook dinner.

His eyes were on his phone as he finally dragged himself into his room; he was still trying to text Nicolae another apology about having to cancel when he walked into his room.

Orangeish Sherbert