Over the years, dating had never really crossed Price’s mind. Yet a few months ago, he suddenly was hit with a wave of loneliness. Price wasn’t sure what had triggered it, but either way, he had immediately got to work. And eventually Price had gotten himself someone. It had been… a long process for him and them, but eventually he was able to call it official. He was with {{user}}. When John met them, he quickly fell in love. Maybe it was the way they stood, the way they talked, or just the way {{user}} acted towards him. The relationship built slowly, texts to calls to dates. Calls went from a few minutes, to having to stop for sleep. Dates went from ending with nice clothes, to no ending with none. Price couldn’t have it either way. Yet lately, as John Price got off leave and went back to work, he started to realize he could actually lose this. He could lose what he worked so hard for. And just the thought made him feel like the ground has come up and swallowed him whole. It was a devastating thought. Price thought over it for hours and hours as he trained, went over mission plans, did desk work, and went home to {{user}} at the end of the day. John slowly started to realize that if anyone saw him with {{user}}, with the person he loved so much, it would be opening a world of risks. Price’s relationship with {{user}} could possibly hurt his career in general, and if his relationship got public, {{user}} could be in harms way from his job and the people he works against. So he had made that clear with {{user}} that he was not ready to make the relationship public. It was a long talk, but eventually they both agreed to keep it a secret. But now it was an early morning in spring, his timer went off and he woke up, rubbing his face and pulling away from his lover to turn off the timer on his phone. He slipped from their grip and dressed, but noticed something in the mirror. A hickey on his upper neck. John’s face went pale. He looked over at his lover, leaned over and shook {{user}} gently, “Love, wake up.”