Chapter 5

One year later

Brian was just heading over to the booth at the back of the diner where he saw his friends sitting together, obviously talking about something or other.

They had started having these Sunday breakfasts about ten months ago after Michael had complained that they hardly saw each other anymore which really wasn't true as far as Brian was concerned. They still saw each other for Sunday dinners at Debbie's every week. But yeah, each of them had their own lives, their own partners now and they didn't nearly spend as much time together anymore as they used to. So Michael had suggested that they had these Sunday breakfasts, just the four of them, the original gang as he called them, no partners or tricks allowed.

So far Brian was still working on finding a way out of this arrangement, but hadn't been successful yet. The times he had just refused to show up, Michael had shown up at his loft right after and had driven him crazy with his constant whining. So crazy that Brian had in the end decided that showing up for half an hour or hour to have breakfast with him and Emmett and Ted was just easier. As he came closer, lamenting his fate some more, he could hear Ted's voice.

“I would do him...”

“Oh, honey, I would let him do me,” Emmett replied in his typical Emmett fashion, his voice way too high-pitched and excited for a man that had been in a serious relationship with Drew Boyd for more than two years now.

“Does Drewsie know you're thinking about other men fucking you?” Brian drawled as he arrived at the booth and sat down next to Michael, who was smiling way too excitedly at him.

“Oh, you would want to do him as well,” Emmett said, looking at Brian directly. “Hell, I am sure Drewsie would love to do him. He's just soooooo cute and dreamy.”

“I don't get it. What's the big deal? He looks like a high school boy and must be one spoiled rich kid,” Michael added to the conversation, clearly knowing who they were talking about.

Brian couldn't be bothered to show enough interest to ask who they were talking about, instead waved at Debbie. When she came over and left a big kiss on his cheek, he ordered some coffee and an egg white omelette.

“You guys stop. That poor man! Can you imagine what he must be going through right now? Coming out is hard for the best of us... you,” she corrected herself when Brian gave her a look that said 'Really?', but then went right on.

“And a man in his position. God, I don't even want to imagine the media circus that's gonna come down on him now,” she finished.

“And just think about his wife and daughter,” Ted threw in, which only made Michael roll his eyes at him.

“Why did he get married anyway if he's gay? What a coward,” he spat which caused Brian, Ted and Emmett to raise their eyebrows at him in confusion. They could all still remember how Michael had pretended to be straight when he had worked at the Big Q, too scared to come out and admit who he was.

“Tracey,” Emmett therefore coughed out, before he buried his face in the magazine again that was lying in front of him on the table and was obviously the topic of conversation.

When Debbie came back a few minutes later, bringing Brian's breakfast, she picked up the conversation again. “Did you know he went to school in Pittsburgh? That posh boarding school up north.”

“St. James,” Brian muttered without thinking about it.

“Yeah, exactly. That's the one. Thanks, honey!”

“What do you know about boarding schools in Pittsburgh?” Michael asked, giving Brian a confused look.

Brian just rolled his eyes, then snarked. “Some of us do read a local newspaper every once in a while and some of us have businesses that require them to meet with people that actually attended that school and others like it.”

Before Michael could reply anything, Emmett picked up the magazine and waved the cover in front of Brian. “So what's your take on this?”

Brian threw a lazy glance at the magazine, ready to reply something snarky when his breath stopped and the words died in his throat.

It wasn't the headline that said 'European prince caught in gay sex scandal in New York' that caused his reaction, but the picture that went along with it. He immediately recognised the prince in question only that he didn't know him as a prince, but just knew him as Justin. An artist in New York that he had been fucking for more than three years.

“Brian? Would you do him or not?” Emmett asked, confused when Brian didn't reply right away.

“Of course he wouldn't, right, Brian?” Michael immediately replied instead. “He's not even close to Brian's type.”

“I have to go,” was all Brian got out, before he left his breakfast untouched and headed for the door with a final mumbled, “Have to head to work.”

Ted frowned, looking after Brian in confusion.

“Doesn't he know that it's Sunday?” Emmett asked, his voice as confused as Ted felt.

“Uhm, actually, we have this big presentation on Tuesday and there is still a lot to do...,” he lied easily looking after his boss and friend.

The other men finished their breakfast and then headed off to their homes, boyfriends, Sunday plans, whatever, promising to meet later that day at Debbie's weekly Sunday dinner.

Instead of heading home, Ted sent a quick message to Blake, telling him that he would be late as something work related had come up and then headed in the direction of Brian's loft.

Something had been very off about Brian's reaction to seeing that magazine headline and Ted had a feeling that he knew what it was. And even though Brian had seemed fine after their conversation a year ago, he hadn't seemed fine just 20 minutes ago.

Ted frowned when no one answered at the loft and when he tried to call Brian, his call went straight to voicemail.

Remembering how Brian had said that he would have to head to work, Ted wondered if he had really meant it. He decided to check the office, then head home and wait and see if Brian would show up for dinner later that day.

When he entered the office, he was relieved when he saw light on. Apparently, Brian had headed into work just like he had said.

Ted immediately went to his office and entered without knocking.

“What are you doing here?” Ted asked as he found Brian sitting at his desk, looking at something on his computer screen.

It took a couple of seconds for Brian to react which made Ted wonder if the other man had even heard him, but then Brian looked up and met his gaze.

“Working.”

“It's Sunday, Brian.”

“So?” Brian turned his attention back to his screen, not paying any further attention to Ted.

“There isn't anything urgent that needs to be done by tomorrow. Why are you here?” Ted asked, slowly walking closer to the desk.

“To work. It's my company. Can't I come in and work when I want to?” Brian said, clearly getting more and more annoyed by the second by Ted's presence.

“You left the diner in a real hurry,” the other man pointed out, once again wondering if Brian was even paying him any attention at all.

“Forgot something,” Brian muttered, then looked up and met Ted's gaze with an annoyed one of his own. “What are you doing here? Why aren't you on your way home to Blake?”

“You rushed out of the diner in such a hurry... I was worried,” Ted admitted, not surprised when Brian's face closed off in reaction to his admission that he was worried about his friend. “It was that magazine, wasn't it? That story... It's him, right?”

Ted saw how Brian's look changed from one of annoyance to one of surprise and also confirmation that he was right.

On his way to Brian's loft and then the office Ted had wondered what could have caused Brian to rush off like that and the more he had thought about it, the more he knew that he was right. That guy Brian had been fucking in New York was that prince. It all made sense. Debbie had mentioned that he had gone to school in Pittsburgh and Brian had immediately known the name of the school. And he knew that Brian had first fucked the guy in Pittsburgh the night Gus had been born. The article mentioned the guy now living in New York and more importantly the article mentioned that he was married to a woman and had a daughter. It all fit with what Brian had shared with him last year. And more importantly, it would explain Brian's weird reaction.

Not waiting for any further confirmation from Brian, Ted walked over to Brian's side of the desk, not surprised when he saw an online version of the same article that had been in the magazine on Brian's screen.

“Did you know that he is a prince from Europe?”

“He forgot to mention that as well,” Brian just spat, before he closed the website that he had been on.

“Shit...,” Ted just sighed, trying to gauge the enormity of what was going on. “So... he's a European royal...wow...”

“Looks like it,” Brian just muttered. “Not that he ever told me. He told me he was an artist in New York, that his parents were from Europe. Then again, he didn't mention his wife and daughter either, so I guess the joke is on me even more now!”

With that Brian angrily got up from his chair, shutting down his computer.

“Are you okay, Brian?” Ted asked carefully, looking at his friend in obvious concern.

“What's one more lie, right? And what do I care? I haven't cared in a year,” Brian spat, then headed for the door of his office. “Close up behind you, will you?” With that Brian left, leaving Ted to stare after him.

“Shit...,” was all the older man could mutter as he sank down in Brian's chair, trying to make sense of what this all meant.

After a couple of minutes of thinking about the situation, he headed to his own office and turned on his PC there. He googled 'European prince gay scandal' and immediately found the article that he was looking for. And so many more like it. Shit, it looked like now that the story had broken in that magazine it was all anyone could talk about.

Ted couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. He had never met him, didn't know him, but he could only imagine what media scrutiny like that had to feel like. Especially when it came to a gay sex scandal. And the guy was obviously gay if he had been fucked by Brian for three years.

Ted read the article, finding out that Prince Justinus, commonly known as Justin, was the heir to the throne of the small European country of Darumor. Ted wasn't sure if he had ever heard of that country before, but according to these articles it really existed and Prince Justinus was supposed to become king one day in the future when his mother, the current queen resigned or retired. Or whatever you called it when a monarch stepped down.

Apparently, Justinus' father had passed away the year before and his mother had become queen and with him as their eldest child, he would be the next king in line once his mother stepped down.

He was 27 now, had married a woman from a family close to the royal family three years ago, apparently the wife Brian had mentioned and they had a daughter that was about to turn two years soon.

The article mentioned that he had been educated at private schools in the US and had attended university here and was now living in New York with his family where he presented Darumor's interests at the United Nations as an ambassador.

The article further mentioned that there had been rumours that he frequented gay bars and clubs in New York and that a former lover of his had shopped around a video that showed the prince in a very compromising position, which was him having sex with another man.

Apparently the journalist who had written the article had seen the video and there was no doubt that the prince was the man who did the fucking in the video.

To illustrate that point, they had included some screenshots which showed his face clearly.

Ted wondered if they might get away claiming that the images and video were fake, that they might get away claiming that someone had doctored the prince's face on top of another man's body.

Once he was done reading the whole article, Ted closed the website and turned off his computer.

He wondered how Brian was doing, knowing that the secret of having a wife and a daughter wasn't the only secret the man had kept from him. Ted could very well remember how hurt Brian had been the previous year after he had found out the truth about the wife and daughter and he could also remember how long it had taken Brian to return to some semblance of normalcy.

Brian had acted like he didn't care, had acted like he had never had feelings for the other man and like nothing that had happened in New York had mattered. He had drunk, fucked and sucked like he always had, but every once in a while Ted had seen the truth and had seen the faraway, sad expression in Brian's eyes when he thought nobody was watching him.

Ted hoped that Brian would be alright after the new revelation of the day. As he wondered if he should go and check on Brian, he decided to wait instead. Brian wouldn't appreciate him getting into his business and showing up at the loft now, checking in on Brian would only make the man angry.

Ted vowed to himself that he would keep an eye on Brian at dinner later and at work over the next days and he hoped that one day rather sooner than later Brian would talk to him about what he had found out today. Though he wouldn't get his hopes up too high.

Once he and Blake made it to Debbie's for dinner later that night, Ted wasn't really surprised any longer when Brian didn't show up. He had expected that much. He just hoped that Brian was okay and not going on a bender as he had at times in the past.

***

Same time at the loft

Brian stared out at the Pittsburgh skyline from his seat on his sofa. He had by now drunk half the bottle of Jim Bean, but still didn't feel any better. Whoever had said that you could find relief at the bottom of a bottle had been a liar. So far he didn't feel any better than he had earlier that day.

When his doorbell rang, Brian sighed and got up, making his way over to the door. He hoped that it was his dealer who he had called earlier, asking him to bring him something, anything really. E, coke, weed, poppers. He honestly didn't care. Just something that would make him forget.

And as he thought that thought, he felt anger rise once more. Why was he even feeling this way? Why did he care? Why was he hurt by yet another lie from Justin? He hadn't spoken to him in a year, hadn't talked to him at all since he had found out about his wife and daughter, so why did he care so much now that he knew that there had been more lies? What did it even matter at this point?

Not wanting to dwell on that for too long, Brian angrily pressed the button of his intercom. “Top floor,” he barked, then pressed the buzzer that would open the door. He pulled back the metal door of his loft and headed towards his fridge to check if he had any food there. He doubted it, but still.

Not surprisingly, his fridge was completely empty apart from some bottles of beer and more hard liquor and he slammed the door shut angrily when he heard the elevator arrive on his floor.

He made his way back to the door and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that it wasn't his dealer who had come up to his loft.

“What are you doing here?”