"Equality for all! All we need is love! You can't deny us our ri - OW!" a brunette man winced as the sharp edge of a board connected with his head.
"Sorry," replied the blonde who was holding the board replied, looking slightly sheepish.
"It's fine," the brunette said, still rubbing his head, then smirking, "Just watch where you're swinging that, alright?"
The blonde rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, it's my first time at one of these, so I'm not really used to the sign carrying and the huge crowds." He looked around, almost in awe at the men and women toting rainbow flags and screaming different phrases.
"Oh. So are you gay yourself, or one of those 'straight but not narrow' guys?" The brunette looked at him curiously.
"Gay. You?"
"No," sounding rather abrupt, "But my brother, Kurt, is. I think he's wandering around here somewhere… I'm Julian."
"Logan. Nice to meet you. Maybe I'll see you around?" The statement came out as a question, but, somehow, Julian had a feeling that he would see Logan again.
Six Months Later
"Derek… My chest still hurts and I'm so damn tired… Do you think I can I use this as an excuse to leave early?" Julian asked sarcastically.
"You know Jules, it's not very healthy to constantly be in pain. Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor about that?"
"Stop overreacting, D. I'm fine," Julian stressed the last word, but the look on his face implied that he wasn't very sure of it himself.
Derek noticed immediately and replied, "Jules, I've known you since the beginning of college. You. Are. Not. Fine. Go see a doctor. I'll cover for you."
Julian grumbled, "Fine. Let me just finish this note."
"No. You're going now." With that, Derek grabbed the pen and paper out of Julian's hands, and thrust his coat into his arms instead. He pushed him out of the room and closed the door, only to hear Julian pounding on it two seconds later. "I NEED MY KEYS, ASSHAT."
"Hi, do you have an appointment?" The receptionist asked in a flirty tone, looking him over, almost predatorily.
Julian felt uncomfortable, but decided to use her flirting to his advantage, "No, I actually don't, but I'm a very busy man, and I simply must see the doctor. You can fit me in, right?" He said this as sensually as he could, but considering that he was talking about a doctor's appointment, it wasn't very sexy at all.
Thankfully though, the receptionist seemed very easily swayed, and clicked a few buttons on her computer before saying breathily, "Yeah, you'll be the next one called."
Just as she promised, a nurse poked her head out of the door after a few minutes, and called, "Julian Larson?"
Julian stood up quickly and was shepherded into the small exam room. While he waited for the doctor to come in, he looked around at the posters of smiling people lining the room. Someone may have thought they would cheer people up, but to Julian, they were just cheesy and insincere.
The door slowly turned and he heard the sound of the doctor laughing as he said goodbye to his last patient. Turning around, he smiled at the man in front of him, "Hello! I'm Doctor Saturo."
"Hi, I'm Julian Larson," he said awkwardly.
"So, what seems to be the problem?" Saturo said kindly.
"Well, I've been having pains in my chest for a while now, and I don't think this has anything to do with it, but my arms have some swelling, too. Stupid coworker forced me to come here and check it out," Julian grumbled, but gestured to the limb.
"Let's see," Saturo gently felt at his arm, and his eyes shot up in shock. He looked confused for one second, then concerned the next. He felt the area once more before saying, "you seem to have very large swelling there, Julian. That along with your chest pain makes me think… Well, I'm not an expert in this but… I think it may be Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of cancer." Julian's eyebrows shot up in shock while Saturo went on, "I- I know this is a huge shock, but there's no way for me to be completely sure. You need to get this checked by an oncologist, and I have the name of a wonderful oncologist in the area. I suggest that you see him as soon as possible."
Julian just stared at him blankly, "C-cancer? You're sure?"
"Like I said, I'm not an expert in cancers, but just by touching your arm, it's obvious that there is swelling there, and it seems to be a cancer tumor."
For the longest time, the doctor talked about the danger of lumps and tumors, before he finally gave Julian a consoling pat on the back, and led him to the receptionist. Saturo whispered something to her, and she looked up at him with eyes so full of pity that he wanted to slap her. He didn't need pity. After all, the doctor said he wasn't certain. Surely, he couldn't have cancer. That only happened to weak, old people. Not him. He was a lawyer for godsakes, one of the best in the country, and there was just no way that he could have cancer.
Nonetheless, he accepted the name and address of the oncologist from the receptionist, and walked out.