CHAPTER 5

"Hey, I know it's not Chinese but I'm back with the food," Brian called as he sat the pizza boxes and soda on the table.

"Awesome, I'm starving," Justin said as he sat propped up against the headboard of the bed with his ankle on some pillows with another ice pack on it.

"How's the ankle?"

"Hurts like crazy. I just took some of that medicine so it's probably a good idea that we decided to stay in," Justin replied as he adjusted his leg to sling it over the side of the bed.

"No beer for you then," Brian smirked as he handed Justin his pizza box and a soda. "So I know you are gay and like photography. I also know a lot of other stuff other than how long you've known Michael," Brian said as he sipped his soda.

"Almost a year, we met in Comic art class at Carnegie Mellon. I took the course because I thought it would be interesting to work with a different medium of art. We hit it off instantly when we had a mutual love of comic book art, and about a week after that I started to realize he was gay. How long have you known Ben, and what made you decide that you wanted to join the Air Force, especially considering when we were younger the military didn't look favorably on homosexuality?"

"That's cool, I've known Ben as long as I've been going to school at the Academy. I knew from the beginning of high school that I wanted to join the service no matter what the view on homosexuality was, and when I was a senior I had decided to enlist in the army when my other scholarships fell through with the major ROTC schools in the area. However, a really good friend of my grandfather's gave me a scholarship form to fill out for the academy and little did I know that at the time I would actually get the appointment."

"Cool, I'm actually working on my art degree. I'm hoping that I can get a contract with a gallery wherever I decide to settle down."

"Well, you know that Denver and Colorado Springs have some really nice art galleries if you want to get into the scene out here. They could really use a touch of new blood."

"That is so cool. It's so nice out here I should really consider it. If not for the work, the people," Justin said smiling.

Brian caught himself before he could spit out his coke. That was an obvious hint that they were definitely hitting it off and he needed to get a breath of fresh air. "I'm going to go grab some more soda. Do you need anything else?"

"No, I'm good, thanks though," Justin said smiling once again as Brian slipped out the door.

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