Gentlemen's Agreement

Part 2

“The surgery itself shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes, to an hour, tops. The surgeon will make a 4-5 inch incision in your lower abdomen, reach down into the scrotum, retrieve the testicle, and remove it. He’ll then immediately replace a prosthetic in the scrotal sac, and you’re all done. You’ll spend one, maybe two nights in the hospital, then do the rest of your recovery at home.” Dr Sharma gave his condensed version of Brian’s pending procedure.

Brian was having a hard time processing everything all at once. He only came in for his routine checkup, only to be informed that the dull ache he felt in his groin wasn’t due to the unusual amount of sexual activity he, and both of his new husbands had been having. It was due to testicular cancer. “I’ve got a business to run, and I just got married. How long am I going to be laid up, doc?” he asked.

“That depends on you. It takes some men longer to mourn the loss of a testicle than others. Physically, you should be up, and about within 2-3 weeks. For the first couple of weeks we will, of course, advise no heavy lifting or driving. The main thing you need to remember is that with your one remaining testicle, sexually, you’ll still be the same man that you always were before your surgery, and if not, we can help you with replacement testosterone.” Dr. Sharma tried to sound optimistic.

“How reassuring,” Brian said sarcastically.

“Then there’s the after treatments,” Dr. Sharma added.

“What after treatments?” Brian’s eyes widened. “I’m not going to lose my hair, am I?”

“After treatment may include chemotherapy, which is prone to hair loss. Then there’s radiation therapy. For you, we can go with radiation therapy,” Dr. Sharma said.

“Which means?” Brian asked.

“The radiation will shrink, and render any remaining cancer cells unable to reproduce, and spread. The body then gets rid of them, just like any other body waste. Unfortunately some tissue surrounding the field of radiation will also be affected. However, the injured tissue will eventually heal itself,” Dr. Sharma assured him.

“It sounds painful,” Brian said.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it painful. There may be some nausea, some diarrhea, frequent urination…..”

“Thanks. I get the picture, doc.” Brian stopped him.

While Dr. Sharma continued to assure Brian that the type of cancer he had was fairly common, and highly treatable. However, in Brian’s mind testicular cancer, was still cancer, the disease that killed his father. What if once inside, the doctors found that it had already spread? What if the highly treatable cancer was found to be beyond treatment? In a matter of moments, Brian’s life had taken a drastic turn, and accelerated twofold. Suddenly there were a thousand things that needed to be done, stat. More blood tests, EKG, hospital admission paperwork, surgical consents, insurance forms, loose ends that needed to be tied up at work, appointments with clients had to be rearranged, and husbands had to be told.

As cliché as it sounded, this couldn’t have come at a worst time. Tony was close to sealing the deal on the apartments above, and adjacent to Brian’s loft. Indeed, they were already interviewing contractors to begin the three apartments’ renovation. Brian and Tony were aiming for a completion date of June 6th, the day Justin was to graduate from PIFA. The multimillion dollar, Liberty Avenue version of Camelot was just one of his graduation presents, along with a three week stay at The Four Seasons Hotel, in Las Vegas. The belated honeymoon, unbeknownst to Justin had been booked to begin on the weekend, following his graduation. Yes, this was the worst time in the world for Brian to get sick. Speaking of sick, what the hell was so urgent with Mikey?

“Today is Friday. If we can get you checked into he hospital on Sunday. Your case can be first on Monday morning’s schedule. Don’t worry, Brian, everything is going to be fine.” Dr. Sharma finalized the plan of care.

 

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It was nearing the end of the day when the sound of the shopkeeper bell at Michael’s comic book store announced Brian’s arrival. “Where have you been? What took you so long?” Michael demanded.

An exhausted Brian walked over to the counter, then leaned over and gave his best friend a kiss. “It’s been a rough day,” he said. “What’s the emergency, Mikey?”

“Maybe you should sit down,” Michael suggested.

Brian smiled to himself. Within the last 8hrs he had not only been informed that he had cancer, but that he was going to be castrated within the next three days. “I think I can handle whatever it is you have to tell me standing up,” he said.

“It’s about Tony,” Michael said.

“What about Tony?” Brian asked.

“I saw Tony’s car parked in David’s driveway this morning,” Michael said.

“What?” Brian suddenly decided that he needed that seat after all.

“I said I saw Tony’s car….”

“I heard you!” Brian redirected his question. “Why were you outside of David’s house this morning?”

“That’s not the point,” Michael insisted. “Why was TONY at David’s house this morning? I thought he left Babylon with you and Justin last night.”

“He did,” Brian said.

“So why was he with David this morning?” Michael insisted.

Brian quickly scanned his memory for any indication of deceit from Tony earlier that morning. Anthony Massey wasn’t particularly a morning person when it came to sex. Hence, it wasn’t unusual for the workaholic to rise, shower, and be out of the door before everyone else, especially when Tony had to go back to his place, and change before his workday started. Brian reminded himself that Tony had made it very clear that whatever he and David once had was long over. His commitment was to their marriage, which led Brian to the question……“Why are you telling me this Michael?”

“I just thought you might be interested in knowing that your boyfriend is cheating on you,” Michael said.

“Husband,” Brian said.

“What?”

“Tony is not my boyfriend, he’s my husband, and so is Justin,” Brian reminded him.

“That’s even worse! You’re not going to let him get away with this are you?” Michael instigated.

“Get away with what?” Brian asked.

“With fucking David!” Michael said.

“Who said he was fucking David?” Brian took Tony’s defense.

“Why else would he be at David’s house that early in the morning?” Michael wanted to know.

“The bigger question is why were YOU there?” Brian wondered out loud.

“Just forget I said anything! I should have known you wouldn’t give a shit,” Michael took offense.

“No, Michael, I don’t give a shit, and do you want to know why? Because I still know who I am, that’s why. I’m a gay man who likes to fuck, and occasionally I like to fuck more than one person, preferably at the same time. So if Tony wants to stop off at David’s for a quick morning delight, that’s his business. It’s certainly not yours,” Brian said.

“And you call yourself married?” Michael chuckled.

“I’m about as married as you are,” Brian said.

“I don’t think so,” Michael begged to differ.

“I may not have had the church ceremony, but at least I’m not trying to fool myself into believing that I only want to be with one man for the rest of my life. That’s really it, isn’t it, Michael? You still have the hotts for David,” Brian suspected.

“You’re crazy.” Michael frowned.

“Am I?” Brian smiled. “You had the handsome doctor, with the million dollar home, but you didn’t have the balls to keep him. Instead you settled for an HIV positive man, that you can NEVER fuck bareback, and it’s killing you. Isn’t it?”

“I love Ben,” Michael said.

“Maybe so, but you and I both know that Ben wasn’t your first choice,” Brian reminded him.

“I tried to stay with David, but I’m not like you, Brian. I couldn’t fit in with his highbrow friends in Portland,” Michael confessed. “I couldn’t find a job. I’m too stupid to go back to school. All I did was sit around the house, and watch tv, and feel sorry for myself, and wait for David to come home, so I could complain about how miserable I was. Finally he came home one night, and told me to go home, Michael, just go home.”

Brian watched in silence, as the tears welled in his best friend’s eyes.

“That not the worst part,” Michael continued. “When I came back to Pittsburgh, I thought David loved me enough to come after me. I waited for him to show up, and beg me to come back and try again. Last night, when he showed up at Babylon, I was sure that he had finally come back for me.”

“Would you have left Ben for David?” Brian asked.

“I don’t know, but that’s not the point.” Michael wiped away a tear that had trailed down his cheek. “How could David have gotten over me so quickly, Brian? How could he humiliate me by walking past me through that whole crowd of people, with all of my friends watching, and go straight to Tony?”

Brian walked around the counter, and wrapped his arms around his friend. “I’m sorry, Michael,” he said.

 

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Justin continued to rehearse his lines in his head, as he arranged the dinner plates on the table. Tonight he would tell both of his princes that their princess had accepted a 2yr fellowship in Chicago to study with Sam Auerbach, at Chicago’s Art Institute. Hundreds of students had applied, but Justin Taylor had been hand selected by professor Dailey himself. It was an honor, and an opportunity of a lifetime that no young artist could pass up. At least that’s what Justin told himself.

Tony closed his cell phone, and placed it back inside his suit jacket pocket. “That was Brian. He’s going to be late,” he said.

“Late?” Justin looked up from his place settings.

Tony strolled over to the kitchen, and dipped his finger into the jambalaya on the stove. “Michael has some kind of emergency, and Brian has to stay with him,” he said.

“Emergency, what kind of emergency?” Justin wanted to know.

“He didn’t say. Umm, this is good, princess.” Tony sampled the night’s offering.

Justin flung his potholder across the kitchen countertop. “I rushed to the grocery store after school, then I spent all afternoon cooking…. I specifically told Brian that dinner would be served promptly at six o’clock!”

“It’s jambalaya, princess. It’ll keep, in fact it’s even better the second day.” Tony scooped out two bowlfuls, and placed them on the table. “Sit down,” he said.

Justin slid into the chair across from Tony, and looked down at the bowl in front of him. Maybe it was just as well that Brian wasn’t there. Between the two, Tony was the most reasonable one. With any luck the elder statesman of the Royal Trio would take Justin’s side, and assist him in convincing the more volatile Brian that 2yrs would fly by quickly. Justin could stay with Mary, at Tony’s estate in Chicago, and jet back to Pittsburgh on weekends to be with his princes. Yes, that would definitely work. Justin took a deep breath. He was about to speak when he looked up to find Tony’s brown eyes fixed on him.

“Isn’t this nice?” Tony smiled. “It’s been a long time since it was just the two of us.”

“Yes, it has.” Justin forced a nervous smile, and took a long swallow of water to soothe his dry throat.

“Oh, and by the way, that 2yr fellowship in Chicago, with Sam Auerbach. YOU CAN FORGET IT! Pass the salt, please.” Tony placed his napkin across his lap.


NEXT TIME: Gentlemen’s Agreement, pt 3
 

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