Donny absent-mindedly stroked his beard as he sipped his second coffee of the morning, listening to Toby rattle off the list of friends and citizens wanting their time and attention for the day...

 

"Jake says his date last night went 'A. May. Zing.'  He specifically asked me to break it up into three words just like that for emphasis."  He paused for a reaction from his boss and when none was immediately forthcoming he looked up only to see that his boss was staring at him as he stroked his heavy, deep red beard...

 

"Um... Movie theater Jake or veterinarian Jake?" Donny asked as he quickly shifted his gaze away from his assistant to the window of their tiny Cap Hill office, watching neighbors passing by as they headed to their various errands on Broadway.

 

"Movie theater Jake.  We haven't heard back from veterinarian Jake."

 

Donny appeared to be searching for an explanation as to why that could be as he continued to sip his coffee and look out the window, nodding an occasional greeting to those how happened to notice him sitting there as they passed by. 

 

Toby continued on with the list of demands for their time that day but as was usually the case, his mind couldn't help but admire his boss and wonder how such a seemingly perfect guy could manage to avoid personal entanglements of any kind.  Men and women both got their drawers in a bunch over Donny's 6 foot 5' football player frame (which he religiously kept packed full of muscle since his high school football days) his unruly mane of dark copper-red hair and matching full beard, his fair skin (which turned the most adorable shade of pink after an hour in the sun) hazel green eyes that seemed to miss absolutely no detail... Yes, the outer package was indeed "one formidable slab of massive 'daddy' meat" as he overheard a bar patron at Neighbors once put it, but Donny was so much more than giant arms and huge pecs and anyone that spoke to him for more than a minute could see it.  One would expect a hot, massive tank of a man like Donny to have at least some kind of attitude or chip on his shoulder, but in the two years Toby had been working for the man, he had yet to see any evidence of it.  Donny was, in the simplest of terms, an overgrown boy scout that simply reeked of kindness. The evidence of his compassion was everywhere from the house in Queen Anne full of rescue animals to plaques covering the office walls thanking him for sponsoring everything from the local pee-wee football team to the Cap Hill GLBTQIA Community Center.  Hell, half the people he was listing on the day's agenda wouldn't even see a bill from their office.  It was simply not logical that someone who was equally hot and nice as fuck could possibly remain unattached and yet, there he was, Seattle's hottest bachelor without a single prospect in his life and there just had to be some really good reason why...

 

"...and last but certainly not least on the list, Carla at VCA called to say that their sink is doing that rattling thing when they turn on the hot water."

 

Donny formulated the morning's plan as he downed the remainder of his Starbucks, removing the cardboard insulating band and handing it to Toby as he always did before tossing the cup in the trash.  Toby filed it away in his desk with the others where eventually they would be collected and taken back to the store to be re-used.  Donny was absolutely adamant about re-using anything that qualified including grocery bags, dry cleaning hangers, Amazon boxes... you name it. It was just another one of those quirks Donny himself thought nothing about (like always wiping his bench down and re-racking his weights) but everyone else thought was totally endearing.

 

"All right kid here's the plan..."

 

"How many times I gotta tell you not to call me 'kid' you old fuck ?"

 

Donny almost laughed out loud but caught himself and instead drummed up his best tight-lipped, "stern daddy" face.  He placed his huge hands on either side of Toby's reception desk, leaned his massive bulk in and looked his young assistant right in the eye.  "You can't even buy beer yet." he snidely retorted with a wicked smile.

 

"No... but I can buy Depends and Geritol which I should probably keep in stock here for you with the rest of our supplies."

 

It was Toby's sense of humor that struck him first when the two met at the LGBTQIA Center's annual gala.  Only just 17 and tossed out on the streets by his homophobic father without a dime to his name, Donny couldn't think of anyone with less to laugh about and yet that's exactly what they did the entire night long.  Toby was resilient as fuck and simply could not be brought down by anyone or anything, a quality Donny envied and knew he needed more of.  The next day, the center found him a temporary housing placement with a couple that offered the boy the use of their carriage house rent-free until their house sold and Donny offered him the front desk at "Don of All Trades", a position recently vacated by his sister-in-law due to his brother taking a promotion and being relocated.  In the two years since, Toby far surpassed the duties of answering the phones, taking messages and making coffee runs.  The teenager was smart as a whip, numbers-savvy, and a social media marketing genius.  His business transformed from "chaotic nightmare" to streamlined and highly organized with every message, receipt, transaction and donation Excel spreadsheet accounted for. Worthless ads in local papers were replaced with an Instagram stream with over 70k followers all eagerly awaiting the next "here I am at work and just happen to be shirtless and in a tool belt" selfie that Toby knew was worth every bit of the red-faced embarrassment his hunky boss claimed.  Between the beefcake posts and the matchmaking success stories promoting the #matchedbydonnie and #donofalltrades hashtags, Toby had managed to quadruple his bottom line in just two years.  In addition to his management and promotional duties, he also started taking some of the more routine maintenance calls and his skills wrenching on cars added roadside emergencies to their ever-growing list of services.  Donny wondered as he stared at the fair-haired, blue-eyed boy how he ever managed to get along without him...

 

"Well, I can see where this day is going." Donny dryly retorted as he picked up Toby's message slips and organized them in his hand.  "Ok smartass, why don't you head over to the Egyptian real quick, and do Jake's post date follow up interview for me.  I'll head over to VCA and find out what's up with our veterinarian friend.  Meet me there in about 20 and then you can show me how well you've mastered the "shaky pipes" trick I taught you.  Sound good?"

 

"Fine by me."  Toby looked at his boss as he continued to shuffle through the messages in his hand for no apparent good reason...  "Donny, can I ask you a question?"

 

"For the tenth time this week Toby, no you can not have a raise."  The forthcoming laughter he expected never came.  Donny was forced to stop pretending to busy himself and looked at his young employee whom he found was looking right back at him with very inquisitive blue eyes....

 

"What is it Toby?"  

 

"Donny I been with you here at work for two years.  We eat lunch together.  We eat dinner together.  We work out together.  We have beers after late-night calls together.  I've seen you get hit on and blow off people nicely literally everywhere we go.  Muscle bros at the gym.  Cute waitresses at the diner.  Horny housewives with clogged bathtubs.  Hot guys with dead truck batteries.  I manage your 'Gram and seen the messages you get.  Tons of quality people would be thrilled to get a minute of your attention dude.  What gives Donny?  Why the fuck don't you date?  As far as I can tell... you don't even hook up.  

 

Toby couldn't tell if the look on Donny's face was anger, annoyance, some combination of the two or something different entirely.  Eventually, his boss exhaled, perhaps in frustration, perhaps in resignation...  Donny was almost impossible to read sometimes and this was certainly one of those times.

 

"Look, Toby... I don't want to get into it."

 

"Ah... so there is an 'it'?"

 

Donny slammed the stack of messages onto Toby's desk.  "There is no 'it' that concerns you little boy.  Why are you all of a sudden so fucking interested in my life?"

 

Toby stood up from behind his desk and tried his best to look his boss in the eye but the difference between his 5'9" and Donny's 6'4" made the attempt somewhat lame...

 

"Because Donny, after two years with you, as far as I can tell, I'm your only friend.   I've never seen you reach out or bring anyone into your circle other than me and I just don't get it.  You're nice as fuck.  You're hot.  Everyone would give a small body part to be with you. You don't think it's weird that you bring people together for a living and you can't find anyone for yourself?

 

"I don't WANT anyone for myself kid!"

 

"Why not OLD MAN?"

 

Donny paused for a second and finally smiled as he backed away from Toby.  He grabbed a handful of Swedish fish from the bowl Toby always kept filled on his desk and sat back down on the chair as he looked out the window and gnawed the head off the first gummy victim...

 

"Tobs, you know how sometimes you see actors interviewed and you hear them admit that they never watch their own movies?" Donny asked as he chewed away, the muscles in his jaw and neck working far harder than they should for such a tiny piece of candy... "I love helping people find love Tobs, I really do.  Nothing makes me happier than knowing I had a hand in two people finding each other but for me?  I don't want it, and even if I did... I couldn't hook myself up with someone any more than a surgeon could operate on himself.  

 

Toby had never felt sorry for his boss a single day in their personal or professional relationship but suddenly found himself pitying the beautiful giant of a man as he slowly chewed the last of his candy fish and stared out the window watching the Broadway street pedestrians scurry as the typical Seattle rain begain to fall...