Somehow they had managed to stay in the same position for the entire night, pressed together and not shifting from the position until the golden rays of sunshine filtered in through the windows. Victor hadn't realized how tense he was again, this time from holding onto Benji as tightly as he could for as long as possible. But he knew he couldn't do that, as much as he wanted to. He buried his face in Benji's hair for a moment, appreciating the softness and the fact that it still smelled slightly of spice.

Sighing, Victor tried his best to be quiet as he removed himself from Benji, albeit reluctantly, lying on his back and reaching for his phone. He watched the rhythmic rising and falling of Benji's back as he slept for a moment before opening up his Instagram and going to his inbox, where he had gone countless times before and will probably continue until one of them dies.

Dear Simon,

I can't believe I graduated yesterday. This whole experience has been so surreal, that I still sometimes forget that I'm finally a free man. Well, for the next few months at least.

Anyway, first off, I wanted to thank you so much for the years that you've kept in contact with me, your guidance and support has always been so helpful. If it weren't for you, I would probably still be a sad, repressed gay kid who kept myself in the closet, living the life I wasn't meant to live. Even though I'm sure you've heard it a thousand times, thank you for helping me in the project of becoming myself and for being my gay Sherpa (and also for just being my friend). 😇❤️

The real order of business, though, is that I found out some unexpected news. Benji decided to apply to some music schools abroad, and he got into a really prestigious one in London. I'm so proud of him for that. But he seems worried about the whole ordeal and about going away to be on his own. I want to support him as much as I can, but I'm going to miss him a lot, too. I don't want to stand between him and his dreams, but I'm afraid of what will happen when we're apart. Have you and Bram ever had to deal with being long-distance? It sounds like something that requires a lot of work. I just hope that we can get through this together.

Thanks for reading. Hoping you and Bram and the rest of the gang are doing well. Let me know when Benji and I can come visit ya'll, or when you'll be in town.

Love,
Victor

Victor put his phone aside, trying his best not to make any noise. It was still too early to be up and about, but Victor found the prospect of sleeping to be a futile ordeal at this point.

Slithering out of his bed one inch at a time, Victor glanced repeatedly over at Benji to ensure that he hadn't disturbed him with his moving around. When he saw he was in the clear, Victor threw on a t-shirt and some jeans; he didn't care how he looked today. Once he was dressed, he kissed Benji on the forehead before tip-toeing out the door and closing the door behind him; he bit his lip in concentration as he tried to turn the doorknob without letting it click too loudly. He hoped he was successful in not waking Benji, because he knew his boyfriend needed the extra sleep more than he let on.

He padded down the hallway to see his mom already awake, sitting at the kitchen table reading a coupon catalogue. The apartment was a bit of a mess from the previous night, but it was too early to address that.

"Mornin', Mami, " Victor greeted her, covering his mouth as he yawned. "You're up early."

"G'mornin', papi, " Isabel replied, looking up from her catalogue with a smile. "We partied til like 4 in the morning so I was too buzzed to sleep properly. I didn't know Veronica had moves like that... But it seems like you and Benji had a lot on your minds."

Shaking his head, Victor wondered how his mom had so much energy at her age. He pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. "Actually I wanted to talk to you about that..."

Isabel furrowed her brows, looking at him over the top of her glasses. "What's wrong, mi amor ?"

"Uhh, well it's not really that something's wrong, because it's actually good news. Benji got into a really great music school, but it's in London. I'm happy for him but I hope we can make the long distance thing work," Victor explained, playing with the hem of his shirt and letting his leg bounce up and down.

Victor gave a tight-lipped smile as Isabel seemed to study him. She took one of his hands in her own. " Mijo, first off, that's amazing. And I know it seems like it might be hard. I mean, look at your father and I. We're still separated after two years but maybe if we had the chance to be apart for a bit when we were younger, we would have figured out who were sooner, and could have saved us all from that mess. As I've said, sometimes you need time to be apart and to grow on your own. But if your love is strong enough and if God wills it, it will happen. You just need to be patient."

Thinking on her words, Victor nodded. "Patience was never my strong suit."

"Sometimes, God tests us to force us to examine ourselves. Maybe he's just telling you that it's time to work on what skill again," Isabel said gently, running her thumb along Victor's knuckles. "Plus, you two will be so busy you probably wouldn't have time to see each other as much even if you went to the same college."

Victor didn't know if there was truly anyone out there looking out for him, but he took comfort with the idea that maybe, the universe itself would make things happen. All he could do was trust that things would work out. At least he would still have his family and Mia and Felix and new potential college friends to look out for him. Maybe he could manage it.

The realization about Time - that hit him differently. He hadn't even thought of the difference in time zones.

Withdrawing his phone from his pocket, Victor checked the world clock. It was 7 am, which meant that it was noon in London. Okay, five hours. That wasn't so bad.

But what if he doesn't have time to talk to you then? What if he has other plans?

His hand tensed, and Isabel felt it. "Hey, what are you typing so furiously on that thing?"

Snatching his phone from his hand, Isabel held it before her and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Hey, give it back!" Victor exclaimed, but Isabel held her finger up.

"You needed the calculator to do twelve minus seven?" she deadpanned. "I thought you got an A in calculus. How did you pull that off?"

"Mom! " Victor replied, smacking himself in the forehead. "I just wanted to figure out the time difference between here and London and I'm tired so my brain isn't working right now!"

"How are you tired? You slept seven hours!"

"I don't know but I'm still-"

They were interrupted by Benji popping in from the hallway, dressed in a fresh one of his signature band tees and ripped jeans, courtesy of the nook in Victor's closet devoted to a little stack of clothes for him to wear.

"Mornin'," Benji said, holding his hand up in greeting. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

A duet of "G'morning"s came from Isabel and Victor as Benji leaned down to kiss his boyfriend before sliding over to sit next to him at the table.

"Not at all, mijito. Victor was just telling me the good news," Isabel replied, her voice warm. "Congratulations! We should do something to celebrate."

Blushing a bit at Isabel calling him mijito, Benji smiled a bit to himself. He was just finally getting used to how welcoming she and Armando had been and how they treated him like their own son. But he also didn't want for them to make such a big deal of this whole thing. Isabel was already taking this better than Benji's own mother, he realized.

"Actually..." Victor cut in, taking Benji by the hand, "we were gonna do something later to celebrate, just the two of us. Hope that's all right."

"Ah, I see. All right. Have fun you two!" Isabel said, giving Victor's phone back to him. "I'm gonna make some breakfast now so I hope you boys are hungry. Oh, and it looks like you got a message from Simon. You better answer it quickly! I want to know if I can let him borrow you two for a few days."

When Isabel folded her catalogue, removed her glasses and got up to make them breakfast, Benji whispered a small "thank you" to Victor.

"It's all good, " Victor whispered back.

"What did you wanna do tonight?" Benji asked, eyeing Victor's phone.

"Mm... You know that Japanese place by the mall? The one that you always sigh about because it's too expensive?" Victor said with a sly grin as he wiggled his eyebrows. "Let's go there. Obviously, it's my treat."

"Victor... you don't need to-"

"No, I want to. Seriously. One fancy meal won't break the bank," Victor reassured him, kissing the back of Benji's hand, his heart fluttering.

"Benji, just take the... what is it the kids call it these days? The W?" Isabel interjected, making it obvious that she was eavesdropping.

Covering their faces with their hands, Victor and Benji couldn't help but laugh, their faces reddening. Sometimes they really needed to be more aware of their surroundings.

"Okay, okay. It's a date, then," Benji said with a small smile and a roll of his eyes. "Now that that's out of the way, what did Simon say? Oh, that rhymed. Must be my inner poet coming out again."

Chuckling, Victor shook his head and opened the message from Simon. "I told him about you studying in London and asked him about how to handle long-distance and such. And also when he's free for a visit, of course."

"I wonder if he upgraded his apartment again. Really not wanting to borrow someone's bed again, that was super awkward," Benji said with a grin. "Can you read it out loud?"

Eyeing his mother and then shrugging, Victor read what Simon had written in response:

"Dear Victor,

First of all, congratulations on finally graduating! I know it might seem really exciting and scary at the same time, you'll find that being an adult and being out on your own is actually really great. And I'm really happy I was able to be there for you to help you along the way. Bram and I are thrilled to have watched you grow into a capable young man (wow that makes me sound so old when I say it but it's true). As your adopted dads, we're honored to know you!

Also, congrats to Benji for getting the opportunity to study abroad! I wish I had done that, because I've heard it's a really worthwhile experience. Getting a chance to see the world when you're young is a really valuable way to learn more about the world and about your place in it, so I hope Benji makes the most of it!"

At this point Victor paused, glancing at Benji with a sparkle in his eyes as he poked his boyfriend in the shoulder. Benji wiped the corners of his own eyes and nudged Victor to continue, a small smile tugging at his lips. Victor continued.

"As for advice on handling long-distance, and this is coming from Kim, whose partner lives in Japan now, is this: try to set specific times to be in touch, and communicate as much as possible when you have downtime! I know it might be difficult at first, but scheduling really helps. Checking in daily and sending each other little things that remind you of the other, like pictures of dogs wearing clothes and memes, will help you stay connected. If you let things go without speaking regularly and don't update each other about your lives, you run the risk of becoming strangers to each other. Hope that helps. ❤️

I'd be happy to host you and Benji at Bram's and my new address (yep, we moved again) in the coming week. How does next Friday sound? If that's fine, I'll see you then. And pack for a week! I'll send you the new address details later. 💁🏻

Love,
Simon"

" That Simon is a wise young man," Isabel said as-a-matter-of-factly. She set a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon on the table before sitting down. Victor already had his browser open to look for bus tickets to go to New York. Isabel swatted at him. "You can handle the travel arrangements after you eat. It's gonna get cold."

Grumbling, Victor complied, pocketing his phone for the moment. He piled some food on his plate in a mound. As the trio ate, they chatted idly, and Benji thought about how much he would miss just doing something as simple as eating a meal with people he cared about.

Once they had eaten and cleaned up, Benji and Victor plopped down on the couch on their phones, ready to get down to business to book their travel and arrange their work schedule at Brasstown. Because Benji had worked there long enough to be promoted to general manager (and to have full control of scheduling shifts now that Sarah was the franchise owner), he was able to rearrange their shifts to give them the week off for when they went to New York.

Finally, Victor sent a follow-up message to Simon to confirm that they would be there on Friday, and they were all set.

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing video games together, and Victor had finally gotten to the point where he and Benji were almost evenly matched at Smash Bros. Benji had taught his boyfriend well. Pilar joined them a bit later, and the three of them and kicked both of their asses. Victor and Benji both forked over 20 bucks to the queen.

When evening fell upon the town, casting down its dark blanket, Victor and Benji decided to get ready for their date. They showered (together, in order to save water, obviously; they may have gotten a bit side-tracked thanks to each other's lips), and swapped their around-the-house clothes for something a bit more sophisticated.

Victor opted for business-casual, donning a crisp burgundy button-up and rolling up his sleeves to the elbow. He tucked his shirt into a pair of black slacks, finishing off the look with black and burgundy Air Jordans. After fixing up his hair, he put on some cologne and was ready to go.

Meanwhile, Benji chose something a bit edgier but just as elegant: a soft, fitted black shirt that showed off just the right amount of muscle tone with the top two buttons undone, tight black jeans with zippers and buckled up the sides, and black boots with a bit of a heel and platform so he and Victor could see eye-to-eye. He slicked his hair back with a bit of gel and finger-gunned in the mirror, making Victor burst out laughing.

With a quick "Benedición, Mami" to Isabel, Victor and Benji slipped out the door, swinging their laced hands back and forth.