Fantasy Season 5

One, Two, Three, Four

The body of Victor Antonio Grassi, the courageous man who was battling AIDS himself , yet selflessly gave his life defending gay teens who were being attacked by an angry mob was laid to rest with all the liturgies of a martyred saint. The fallen hero's funeral was attended by civil rights and gay activist leaders from across the country who had been closely following the story of Pittsburgh's first gay prom. The riot at The Plaza's Gazebo Restaurant gained national attention when an outraged public demanded a federal investigation against the office of mayor James Stockwell, and his Pittsburgh Police Department. Among those unable to attend Vic's funeral was the prom's organizer Brian Kinney, and millionaire entrepreneur Anthony Massey, owner of The Plaza luxury hotel chains, and Pittsburgh's now historical gay landmark, The Gazebo Restaurant. Tony and Brian's injuries had proven to be more extensive than originally diagnosed. Along with three fractured ribs, and one punctured lung, Tony also sustained a lacerated spleen that required removal. Brian's fractured left orbital included a concussion, and an elevated blood pressure that kept him in the hospital for closer observation.

Tony replaced the cover on his lunch entree, and pushed his over bed table away. "I don't want this shit." he frowned.

"Stop complaining, and drink your lunch. It looks delicious." Brian munched down on his roast beef sandwich.

"Why don't you drink it?" Tony suggested.

"No thanks, I'm not into broths, and green Jello. Here, you can have half of my sandwich." Brian extended his hand to offer the other half of his sandwich to Tony, then abruptly pulled it away. "Oops, I forgot you can't have solid food yet." he teased.

"Bastard." Tony growled.

"I'm glad to see the two of you getting along so well." Justin smiled as he entered the room. The young man walked over to Tony, and gently placed his hand on his bandaged midsection. "How are you feeling?" He brushed a kiss across Tony's lips.

"He's hungry." Brian answered for him, then took another huge bite of his sandwich.

Tony ignored his obnoxious roommate. "I'm feeling much better now princess." he smiled.

Justin then turned to Brian, and kissed him as well. "And how about you, are you ready to come home?" he asked.

"I'm ready for him to go home!" Tony interjected.

"You're just pissed off because I'm getting sprung today, and you're not." Brian pushed his over bed table away, and climbed out of bed.

"When will you be able to go home, Tony?" Justin asked.

"I'll be out in a few days, princess." Tony said.

"It takes longer for the elderly to heal." Brian took the cheap shot.

"I've got your "elderly" resting on my left thigh." Tony fired back.

"Stop it, both of you!" Justin frowned.

"Tell him to stop, he started it!" Tony whined.

Brian did as he was told, and stopped taunting his roommate long enough to request a favor. "Justin, my discharge meds are ready. Will you go downstairs to the pharmacy, and pick them up for me while I'm getting dressed?" he asked.

Justin looked from one man to the other. "Is it safe to leave the two of you alone?" he asked.

Brian raised his right hand. "I promise not to harm a single gray hair on his head." he swore.

"Bitch." Tony sneered.

Justin waved, and spoke to hospital staff as he made his way back down the hall to the elevators. The comely little blonde had become quite a celebrity on the medical-surgical floor of Sacred Mary Hospital as he held vigil over the two men news agencies were now referring to as "courageous warriors for tolerance". After seeing the two of them fighting side by side during the riot at the Gazebo Restaurant Justin had come to the conclusion that Vic had been right. Indeed Tony, and Brian were like two valiant princes. Could the wise old queen's other observation be on target as well? Was there something that Justin hadn't noticed, some kind of connection between Brian and Tony that Justin had missed that was bringing these two alpha males together? Justin stepped inside the elevator, and pressed the button that would take him to the first floor pharmacy. A devilish grin began to spread across the young man's face as he pondered the delicious fantasy of having both of the men that he loved tucked safely away in his bed, while he nursed them back to health.

Brian waited until Justin was out of the room before he began putting on his street clothes. "I heard you were being discharged tomorrow morning." He casually mentioned to Tony.

"Who told you that?" Tony asked.

Brian tucked his shirttail into his jeans. "I have tricks in high places." he said.

Tony attempted to adjust his pillows. "Of course you do." he winced in pain.

Brian walked over to Tony's bed, and moved one of the pillows to his lower back. "So you were just going to skip town without telling anybody that you were leaving." he inferred.

"I thought that would be best." Tony said.

"Best for who?" Brian asked.

"Everyone."

"Everyone, meaning Justin?"

Tony didn't answer.

"Whatever happened to discretion?" Brian suggested.

"Discretion only works with tricks Precious, and you know you would be more to me than just another trick." Tony said.

Brian walked over to the hospital window overlooking the now quiet emergency room entrance. "So where does that leave us?" he asked.

"There is no us." Tony informed him. "There's only you and Justin."

That wasn't the answer Brian wanted to hear. He turned from the window, and looked back over at Tony. "Justin loves us both." he said.

"But not together." Tony said. "It would break his heart if he ever found out about us."

"You don't know that." Brian begged to differ.

"Maybe not, but which one of us is going to tell him?" Tony laid out the impossible task.

Brian couldn't answer. While he was now certain that Justin did love them both, that didn't necessarily mean that he was ready for one big happy threesome. Tony was right. Such a betrayal by both of the men that Justin loved would surely devastate him.

"I've spoken to my lawyer Kenneth Davenport." Tony continued. "The account for your agency has already been set up for you. As founder, and CEO you have complete control, and I have every confidence that you're going to blow Vanguard right out of the market."

"What about you?" Brian asked.

"I have quite a few things on the table." Tony said. "First I'm going home to convalesce. My plane will be here in the morning to fly me back to Chicago. I have to get the Gazebo repaired, and catch up on some other stuff that I've been neglecting."

"Tony.."

"Brian please." Tony stopped him. "Don't make this any harder than it already is."

"What are you going to tell Justin?" Brian asked.

"I'm not going to tell Justin anything." Tony said. "I'm going to make myself increasingly unavailable, and bow out of his life as gently as I can."

"He's not going to let you go." Brian said.

"Yes he will." Tony disagreed. "But that's where you come in Brian."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I'm going to need your help to do this right." Tony explained. "Justin loves you. I know he'll stay with you, and I'm counting on you to keep him here. I'm counting on you to be the lover that he deserves. I'm counting on you to make Justin forget about me."

"Ok, we're all set. Let's go." Justin re-entered the room holding a small white bag of pills the pharmacist had given him. He tucked it snuggly inside of Brian's travel bag before walking over to Tony for a departing kiss. The unsuspecting young man playfully darted his tongue forward, prompting his lover to respond in kind. "Hummmm." Justin sighed softly.

Tony closed his eyes, and brushed his hand through Justin's hair, then down along the side of his face, embedding in his memory forever the silky feel of the golden tresses, and the smoothness of Justin's skin. Dear god, would he ever be able to forget the softness of these lips, or the sweet sound of Justin's voice? Tony opened his eyes to find Justin's pools of blue now staring at him. Had he held their kiss just a bit too long, and inadvertently given away his intentions?

"I'll see you tomorrow Tony?" Justin asked.

"Sure princess." Tony forced a smile. The stoic lion was in trouble. Tony could feel himself beginning to crumble. With his last ounce of courage he looked past Justin's shoulder at Brian. "I'll see you around Brian." he said

Brian had been observing the final interaction between Justin, and Tony from across the room. Now with moments ticking away, the pride of Babylon desperately searched the deepest brown eyes he'd ever seen for an answer. Surely the wisdom he had found in them could come up with a small miracle, a last minute reprieve that would allow Brian to keep both the boy that he loved, and the man he had come to adore. Finally with no hope within sight, Brian shaded his own erupting emotions with Christian Dior sunglasses, and came to Tony's rescue. "Let's go baby." He called to Justin.

Justin grabbed Brian's bag and filed out of the room, leaving a triumphant Brian to close the door behind them, and declare a silent victory. The battle of the alpha-males was officially over. Tony had conceded, but somehow Brian didn't feel like the winner. Indeed it was a hollow victory, for in his effort to secure Justin's heart, Brian had inadvertently lost his own to a man who called him "Precious".

That was over two months ago. Now with the media blitz, and the camera glares gone, life on Liberty Avenue was slowly retuning to normal. Ted continued his struggle to beat crystal-meth in a twelve step program with the help of his old flame Blake. Their rekindled closeness however did not sit too well with Emmett who chose to dissolve his relationship with Ted, and focus his attention on the catering business he, and Vic had started shortly prior to Vic's death. Michael and Ben were unofficially back together. The two had decided to take things more slowly this time, especially with Hunter, Ben's teenage foster son now in the picture. On the other hand Debbie, and detective Horvath's relationship appeared to flourish. During the most trying times following Vic's death Debbie had found Carl's strong shoulder to be the perfect leaning post for her to cry on. As for Brian, except for a small scar that was easily hidden by an updated haircut, the recent events appeared to have had little to no effect on him. Armed with several thousand dollars of his own money, and Anthony Massey's Midas Touch, Brian was busy overseeing the renovation of a dilapidated bath house that he had chosen to be the office space for his new advertising agency. Yes, life on Liberty Avenue was returning back to normal for everyone. Everyone except Justin.

Justin gently pried himself from Brian's embrace, and carefully rolled out of bed. The full moon glowing through the picture window provided a luminous path through the darkness of the loft that guided him to Brian's desk. Justin took a seat, and pulled out his laptop from his book bag on the floor nearby. He quickly muted the sound as not to awaken his sleeping lover with the Window's internet connection intro. For the thousandth time the young man scanned his late night e-mails. Again there was no message from Tony.

Tony's sudden early morning departure from Sacred Mary Hospital without as much as a goodbye was enough to spark Justin's curiosity. When Tony stopped taking Justin's calls, and his e-mails began to be brief, and far between Justin became even more suspicious. There had never been a time when Tony was too busy for his princess. However given his recent extended convalescence, Tony's explanation that he was busy catching up on business did make perfect sense.

Brian stretched his arm across to Justin's empty side of the bed. "Baby, what are you doing up?" He raised his head from the pillow. "Come back to bed." he said.

Justin turned off his laptop, and made his way back to his lover's embrace. Brian yawned, and kissed his baby on the top of his head before quickly falling back to sleep. Justin snuggled close to Brian's chest, and ran his finger across the black Tahitian pearl suspended in the middle of a leather choker, and flanked by a gold bead on each side. The one of a kind gift Justin had given his lover laid in the hollow of Brian's throat. "One, two, three, four." Justin silently counted the distinguishing ripples in the precious nacre that made no two pearls exactly alike. Yes, it made perfect sense that Tony was too busy to call. What didn't make sense was how Tony's choker was now around Brian's neck.

NEXT WEEK: Mona Lisa

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