“Said he’s a friend of yours, darl,” Kimberly said to Brian, while smiling up at Andrew like he was Thor himself.
“Yup. He is. Thanks!” Brian knew it was a rough dismissal but she was a bit of a flirt. She threw him a smirk, then returned to work.
“So, this is where Dr. Stagliano saves lives.” Andrew grinned as he looked around. “I’m impressed.”
“I’ll give you the tour.” Brian gestured around. “This is A&E. Done. Michael wants to talk to you first.”
“Great. Another doctor.”
Brian got that Andrew had probably had enough doctors poking at him to last a lifetime, but he’d asked for this. “You said you didn’t want to go your regular doc because James and Troy go there too. And unless you want to explain it all to a stranger, then this is your only option.”
“I know. Thanks for asking your friend.”
“My pleasure. Now, come on.”
Michael was at the desk, writing up charts. He greeted Andrew with a smile and suggested they go into a treatment room.
Michael made sure Andrew was okay with Brian in the room with them, then said, “Getting an STI check is a smart thing, but is there any particular reason? Anything you might be worried about?”
Andrew shifted in his chair. “I had chemo treatment a while back and had a transfusion at one point.”
“How long ago?”
“Eight months since the transfusion. Seven months since chemo ended.”
“All right. Why follow up on it now?”
Brian, standing in the doorway, bit his lip. This was all normal.
“I’m in a new relationship and I want to make sure I’m not a risk to him.”
Michael didn’t even blink at the ‘him.’ “Smart. All right.” He pulled out a request book and wrote it up swiftly, getting all of Andrew’s details. “What about your partner? Has he been tested?”
“A couple of weeks back. All negative.”
Andrew’s relief when Brian had told him his results and that of the patient involved in the needle stick incident were negative had been greater than Brian’s. Brian hadn’t been really worried but apparently Andrew had been.
“Good to hear.” Michael signed the form, tore it off and handed it over. “Results should be back in a couple of days. Call me. Don’t ask Dr. Do Me a Favour there.”
Brian snorted.
Andrew laughed. “I will definitely call you. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“Just keep being smart.” Michael stood and looked at his watch. “Want to take your boyfriend down to pathology, Brian? It’s about time you had a break.”
“Thanks,” Brian said, then gaped at Michael. “What?”
“Sorry, are you not the boyfriend?” The twinkle in his eye said he knew otherwise.
Brian just stared, completely caught in the headlights.
Michael laughed. “Remember what I said about listening to your patients? Congrats. He’s cute.” Then he walked out.
“I guess you just came out at work,” Andrew murmured. “You okay?”
“I didn’t come out. He guessed.” Brian sank into the chair Michael had vacated. His belly felt all twisty. “He seemed okay. Didn’t he seem okay?”
Andrew smiled. “I think he seemed very accepting. And you could ask him not to share.”
“Yeah. He won’t blab. Shit, Andrew. I just came out and I don’t even know as what.” The twisting in his stomach got worse.
“Hey.” Andrew cupped his face and held him still. “It’s okay. You still don’t have to define anything. It’s all you, no one else.”
Brian nodded and repeated that a couple of times until he didn’t feel like he was going to throw up. “Let’s go see Sean.”
“Is he the blowjob tutor?”
“Yeah.”
With a grin, Andrew stood. “Good. I need to thank him.”
Sean was busy with another patient so they waited and Brian boldly took Andrew’s hand in the waiting room. There was no one else around but he felt brave all the same. Andrew gave him the world’s sappiest smile and didn’t even lose it when the door opened and Brian let his hand go.
Sean saw his patient out, then turned to them with a smile. “My brave ladybug is back. With a friend.”
“Ladybug?” Andrew asked, amused.
“Ugh. It’s a thing,” Brian muttered. “Go. Get this over with. I have to go back to work, remember.”
Andrew full on laughed and Sean promised to tell him the story, winking at Brian as he closed the door to the collection room behind them. Brian waited outside, foot tapping, wondering what they were talking about behind the closed door. Was Andrew really going to thank him for giving Brian BJ pointers? Andrew was gearing up to tell their friends he was bisexual, so maybe being open about it with strangers was part of that. He certainly hadn’t startled when Michael caught on. If anyone was a brave ladybug it was Andrew, and Brian felt sick again that he couldn’t yet own up to anything concrete. Well, except that he was inordinately proud of how loud he could make Andrew shout his name while blowing him.
The simple drawing of blood seemed to take longer than usual and at one point there was loud laughter. Brian paced and considered how unethical it would be to barge in and hear what was so funny. Very, was the answer he forced himself to acknowledge. Sean wasn’t a doctor or a nurse, but he was under strict confidentiality rules as well.
Finally, Andrew reappeared. “Sean is finishing up some stuff. He said he’d probably catch you later.”
They walked out and Brian steered them away from A&E. “I’ve got a couple of hours left to go. Do you want to take the car home and come pick me up?”
Andrew gasped. “You’ll let me drive the Jag?”
“You’ve driven it before.” He handed over the keys, letting them go after Andrew tugged on them. “Just watch the garage door. It’s been a bit slow lately. Make sure it’s all the way up—”
Andrew’s finger pressed against his lips, but his eyes looked like he wanted it to be his mouth stopping Brian from talking. “I can drive, remember. And I do live in the house with the slow garage door. It’ll be fine.”
Brian nodded and Andrew released his lips.
At the car, Brian watched as Andrew got behind the wheel, then hurried around to get in the passenger side.
“What—”
He stopped Andrew’s question with his mouth, kissing him like they hadn’t touched in years. Andrew moaned and kissed him back, as hard and as passionately.
“Thank you,” Brian said against his lips.
“For what?”
“For being so patient with me. I know I’m not being reasonable about this sexuality thing and you’re so beautiful and accepting and have everything worked out, I feel horrible.”
Andrew kissed him again, soft and tender. “Don’t. It’s really okay. And I don’t have everything worked out. I’m shit scared of telling any of our friends or family about being bi. I kind of want it to be just you and me in our home with our disaster cat and no one else bothering us. But I want to be able to be honest as well.”
“Maybe we should just get married and do it all once. You coming out as bi, me coming out as . . . I don’t know, gay for Andrew Fitzroy, and our furbaby coming out as split personality, oh, and one more thing, we’re married.”