True Test of Friendship

Brian was awakened at seven in the morning by the sound of breaking glass. As he came into full consciousness the next sound he heard was Justin swearing from the kitchen. He deduced that the young man had broken something and decided to get up and help him clean it up. He slipped on a pair of pants and slid into some sandals since he knew there was broken glass all over the floor in the kitchen. As he headed in that direction he noticed Justin holding his hand under some water in the sink. When he got closer he saw the water running clear into Justin’s hand and turning red as it washed down the drain.

“Are you okay?” Brian asked as he made his way over.

“I cut my hand on the glass.” Justin indicated the glass on the floor. Brian moved Justin’s hand out from under the water so he could take a better look at the cut.

“Shit, that’s deep. We should take you to urgent care.” Brian grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Justin’s hand. They couldn’t find an urgent care center that would take Brian’s insurance so they ended up having to go to the emergency room. Three hours and four stitches later and Justin was back in the loft, hand wrapped in a bandage. The doctor told him to change the bandage once a day and to come back in a week to have the stitches removed. Brian hadn’t thought the cut was that deep, but he saw no point in taking chances.

“Are you still gonna go out tonight?” Justin asked as they sat on the couch.

“Meeting Mikey and Ben at the diner for dinner, then probably going to Babylon,” Brian answered. His eyes were glued to the TV though the sound was not on. The captioning was going by at the bottom of the screen rather quickly. Brian was one of the few people Justin knew who could read and listen at the same time and know exactly what was going on in both instances.

“I think I’m just gonna stay home tonight. Order takeout or something.”

“You sure?” Brian said, finally looking at Justin.

“Yeah. I don’t want to get any sympathy from Deb about my hand until I need it to get out of work.” He smirked and Brian lightly slapped his thigh. 

Brian got up after a few minutes and showered, then stopped to kiss Justin on the cheek before heading out the door to meet Michael and Ben. He decided it was a nice enough night that he’d just walk to the diner, then maybe he’d just go home after dinner. Knowing that Justin was sitting at home alone made his desire to drink and dance and drug the night away lessen considerably. He was amazed that it was happening more often than not, lately.

The three friends sat in the diner eating and having a good time. They talked about work and news and hot guys. Michael would occasionally steal one of the french fries that Brian didn’t order and therefore was not eating. Debbie always managed to put food on his plate that he didn’t want but Michael was always willing to eat it for him. Ben looked down at his watch after they’d been there for a while.

“Shit, we’ve already been here three hours,” he said with a soft chuckle.

“We better get going,” Michael said. “Hunter went to a movie with some friends and he should be home soon.”

“Where’d you guys park?” Brian asked as he took enough money out of his wallet to cover all three meals.

“Just down the street,” Michael answered. They all stood and started to walk out the door. When they got outside Brian stopped to light a cigarette. His desire to go clubbing had died completely so he thought he’d just go home. “See you later,” Michael said as they headed to their car.

“I’ll walk with you guys,” Brian said, taking a drag off his cigarette. None of them were surprised when Ben took the cigarette from Brian and took a drag before handing it back.  It’d become a regular thing when they were together.

“Don’t you have some partying to get to?” Ben asked with a smirk.

“Nah. I think I’m just gonna go home. Justin cut his hand and had to get stitches and he’s sitting at the loft all by himself....” He trailed off as he took a drag off his cigarette.

“Aw, how sweet.” Michael chuckled and Brian stuck his tongue out at him. None of them noticed that they passed right by a dark alley on their way to the car.

“Stop right there,” a gravelly voice said after they had just passed the alley. Brian turned thinking it was one of his tricks and he froze when he saw the barrel of a gun. Michael and Ben both turned as well. Michael’s eyes went wide and his hands immediately went into the air.

“Just stay calm,” another voice said. “Give us your money and your jewelry.”

“Alright...” Brian said. Ben and Michael remained still as Brian reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He then removed his Rolex which he’d been wearing instead of his usual bracelet and handed both over. He could always cancel the cards and he only had about a hundred in cash in his wallet. Michael then slowly reached into his back pocket, pulling his wallet out and handing it over.

“And the ring,” the man with the gun said.

“But it’s my....” Michael started.

“Just give it to the man, Michael,” Ben said. “We can always get another one.”

“Yeah, listen to him, Michael,” the other man said.

Michael nodded and took the ring off, holding it out.

The one with the gun looked at Ben. “Now you, big man.”

Ben started to reach for his wallet but unlike Brian and Michael, he carried it in the inside pocket of his jacket rather than his back pocket. As soon as he started to reach for it, both assailants panicked. The one with the gun fired without thinking before they both took off running. Brian started to go after them until he realized that Ben was on the ground beside him. Michael stood there in complete shock. There was a red spot starting to form and grow on the front of Ben’s shirt.

“Do you have your phone on you?” Brian asked after searching his and Ben’s pockets and coming up empty. What a time to leave his cell phone at home. Michael pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Brian. “Fuck! The battery’s dead! Mikey, you need to go get help. I’ll stay here with Ben.” Michael just stood there staring in shock. “Now!” Brian yelled and Michael snapped out of his daze, heading back toward the diner. Brian followed his first impulse and put pressure on the wound, Ben’s blood getting all over his hands.

By the time the paramedics arrived Brian was almost literally covered in blood. The paramedics insisted on checking him out even though he told them he was fine. He made sure to warn the EMT’s that Ben was HIV positive before they got anywhere near him. Brian was forced to ride with for no other reason than the fact that he was covered in HIV positive blood. This made it so that Michael had to follow them to the hospital in his car with Debbie riding along. When Michael and Debbie finally arrived in the hospital, Brian was sitting in the waiting room.

“Are you okay?” Debbie asked.

“It’s all Ben’s,” Brian said, indicating the blood. Debbie had been about to hug him but she stopped. Brian wasn’t in the least bit upset that she had, it was completely understandable.

“Any word?” Michael asked.

“None,” Brian responded. “Look, I was just waiting for you guys to get here. I need to get home and get cleaned up.” His voice was monotone. Both Debbie and Michael nodded. Brian had them call him a cab, then headed to the loft. He took the stairs slowly, needing time to process what happened. He was still in shock over the incident and it hadn’t completely set in yet. He opened the door slowly and wasn’t really paying attention to anything other than making his way to the bathroom.

Justin smiled as he heard the door start to open, thankful that Brian decided to come straight home rather than going to party. The smile faded immediately when he saw that Brian was covered in blood, almost from head to toe. He got up and started to make his way over to the older man.

“Oh my god! Brian, what happened?” He reached out his hand, not realizing it was the cut one, to place it on Brian’s arm. Suddenly, Brian jumped back, his eyes wide.

“Don’t touch me!” Brian yelled. Justin stood back, a look of pain and shock on his face.

“Brian....”

“Ben got shot,” Brian said, finally looking Justin in the eye. “This......it’s Ben’s blood.” He indicated the cut on Justin’s hand. “Don’t touch me.” He then started to head to the bathroom. Justin watched him go, completely in shock. If he’d touched Brian with his cut hand....he didn’t want to think about it. He went to call Debbie or Michael to find out if Ben was okay.

About forty-five minutes later Justin realized that the water in the shower was still running and Brian hadn’t come out yet. He wondered what was taking the older man so long so he got up and headed into the bathroom slowly, not wanting to startle Brian. He thought perhaps he’d catch the older man jacking off in the shower but what he saw instead shocked him. Brian was standing there under steaming hot water, scrubbing his skin until it was bright red. Justin could tell by the look on his face that the water running down Brian’s cheeks was actually tears, not water from the shower, and he watched as Brian continued to scrub and scrub at his skin.

Justin stripped out of his clothing and slowly opened the shower door, coming over to Brian and stilling his hand. The water was near scalding and his skin immediately turned pink with the heat of it. Brian was panting slightly as he looked at Justin. He couldn’t quite look the younger man in the eye, getting only as close as his nose. Part of him felt ashamed that he was reacting the way he was. Ben was a friend. The husband of his best friend. He’d be hurt if he knew Brian was acting this way. But there was another part of his brain that said he was completely justified in his actions.

“It was all over me....” Brian said in way of explanation to Justin.

“I know,” Justin said calmly. Rather than exiting the shower he simply pulled Brian into his arms, holding him for a moment and letting the water run over them. After a couple of minutes, Justin shut the water off and stepped out, grabbing a towel and drying Brian off slowly before getting one for himself. They both remained naked as they made their way into the bedroom, curling up in the center of the bed, Justin’s arms wrapped around Brian, Brian’s head resting on Justin’s chest. Justin reached up and stroked Brian’s hair gently.

“Gonna have to get tested a little more regularly for a while,” Brian said softly, almost a whisper. Justin simply nodded and continued to stroke Brian’s hair.

Though Ben was in the hospital, they were thinking only about themselves at the moment. Brian was scared, that was for sure. He knew that the chances of him getting HIV were slim because he had no open sores for the blood to have gotten into, but he was still worried. And he was worried about Justin. Brian made sure that Justin wouldn’t have to touch his blood covered clothes. He’d put them in three different garbage bags before shoving them into the trash can. Even with the slight possibility that Brian could be HIV positive now, they lay in silence together, both truly believing that everything would turn out alright in the end, regardless of what happened.

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