Flint & Beats Talk it out
Flint stood there for a moment, frozen in shock, as he watched the best friend, that he had always believed to be completely straight, kiss a guy that he knew was at least bisexual. He knew that Beats was not drunk - apart from a glass of champagne for the toasts, the wedding had been teetotal. He also was not struggling to get away, so the kiss had to be consensual - indeed as he watched, it seemed to be Beats that was deepening it. Then Beats looked up, and saw him. In that moment, Flint saw his face change from joy to misery; saw his skin pale and his eyes grow wide. He was pulling away from Elliot… "Flint! Please, I didn't… Let me…"
Before he could say anymore, Flint turned tail and started to run; he had to get away, had to hide and come to terms with the new truth. He obviously didn't know Beats anything like as well as he had thought. All the time that they had spent together, from their Dalton days to being college roommates, Beats had never been honest with him. They had gone out together more than once in search of girls - why had he never mentioned that he liked guys? By the evidence of his own eyes, he had to be bisexual at the very least. Did be not trust him enough to be honest with him about something so personal when he had bared every inch of his soul to him? 'And not just my soul,' he thought, 'he has seen more of my body than any girl ever has.' Not that it bothered him - he wasn't the least bit homophobic. If anything, a nagging doubt in the back of his head was more bothered about that fact that he wasn't the one being kissed… He could not deal with this now; he just had to run and ignore it all for a couple of hours. This was Trent's big day, and he didn't want his own drama to ruin it for him…
In the moment that he saw him standing there, eyes wide open, his jaw slack, his eyes moist and filled with such a look of hurt and betrayal, Beats had been consumed by an immense feeling of guilt. He should have had the necessary conversation with his best friend by now; he had planned to, instead of letting it come to this. He had pulled away from Elliot, stammered out a few words, but then Flint turned and ran. His initial reaction was to just stand and watch, blinking back his own tears as his best friend vanished, but then Elliot spoke.
"Go! Go after him! I am not going to be the cause of you falling out with your best friend. Beats! For goodness sake, snap out of this! Go and talk to him, now, before it is too late!"
Beats knew that Elliot was right, and when he pushed him, he did start to run, desperate to catch up with the person that he would trust with his life. 'But not with the truth about yourself,' said an inner voice. He ran, nearly tripping over his own feet at the first turn, and then as he ran on blindly, nearly slamming straight into Brittany and Santana.
"Watch it, you idiot!" barked Santana; but then she saw his face; his tear stained face. "Beats? Is everything ok?"
"Flint. I need Flint. He ran off - did you see him?"
"He went over there," said Brittany, pointing down a narrow path that lead to a walled section of the grounds. "He was crying too; you need to go and hug him, make it better."
"It might be too late for that, I'm afraid," Beats sobbed.
"It will be unless you go now," said Santana, her voice filled with concern. "Go on, find him - and good luck!" As Beats ran off again, she realised that she had not even asked what had happened to set the two Warblers off in tears. She was getting soft in her old age… She shrugged, and then continued to walk through the garden with Brittany at her side - and then they heard the sound of someone else crying.
"What is going on, Santana?" said Brittany, her face growing concerned. "Why are there so many sad people today, when they should all be happy because Trent and Rory have got married?"
"I don't know," Santana replied. Then they turned the corner and came across Elliot sitting on a low wall, swiping at the tears that were falling down his cheeks. Suddenly Santana guessed what was going on, but at first it just seemed impossible - after all, the two ex-Warblers were straight. Then again, Beats and Elliot were very friendly towards each other when they worked together - Michelle had remarked on it to her. And come to think of it, it had been a long time since it had been Beats and Flint coming to the diner together to work their shifts… She walked over, and sat down at Elliot's side, Brittany sitting on the other, causing the young man to start. "Oh, Elliot, it isn't easy when you find yourself caught between two friends - I am guessing that is why the other two are charging round the grounds in tears?"
"You don't know the half of it," said Elliot. "It's a mess, and I just hope that Beats can sort it, because if he can't, then I will never forgive myself for destroying their friendship." Fresh tears began to flow, and Brittany leaned over and pulled Elliot into a hug. Santana meanwhile was hoping Beats had been successful and had found his best friend…
Beats kept running towards the archway in the high wall that separated the two parts of the formal gardens. His heart was aching in his chest, not through the exertion of running, but for the fact that he was losing hope of finding Flint, and worst still, of him forgiving him. He could hardly see where he was going as his eyes had misted over with his tears, and his breath appeared to be coming in a series of aching sobs. If he had lost him, then it would be the end of his relationship with Elliot. The latter would not want him, and he would chose to be alone for the rest of his life, a constant reminder of the fact that he had betrayed his best friend. He ran through the arch and was about to hurtle on when he had a hunch; a memory from a game of hide and seek that had got rather out of hand amongst the Warblers in his freshman year at Dalton. It had been Flint's idea to 'hide' by the door to that classroom, pressed against the wall… He spun round, and sure enough, slumped by the wall, his feet drawn in in an attempt to make himself as small as possible was Flint. His heart broke all over again as he saw that his friends body was shaking as he continued to sob his heart out. He had done this to him; he had broken his best friend. He had been through so much in the last few months with his mother, and now he had piled on more hurt and pushed him over the edge. Beats took a breath, and then walked over to sit down beside him. He did so in the knowledge that he would accept anything that his friend handed out to him, whether it was with his tongue, or his fists. He deserved everything that he got.
Flint had heard his running feet approaching; part of him had considered getting up and diving into the nearby stand of bushes to avoid the moment when they had to deal with it, whatever 'it' was. He didn't move though; he knew that it was pointless to delay the inevitable; it had to happen, and he owed Beats enough to know that he had to listen to him as he explained what he had just seen. Also, the bushes were thorny… When the steps did stop, he braced himself for the moment. He felt his best friend sit down next to him, not speaking, just catching his breath after an unplanned sprint through the gardens.
"I'm sorry Flint. I am so sorry that you had to find out like this. I should have told you everything a long time ago, but I was scared that if I did, you wouldn't understand, and I would lose you…"
"You wouldn't have! If you are gay, then it doesn't matter to me; as long as you had been honest, I would not have cared…"
"I'm not gay, Flint. Yeah, I was kissing Elliot, and I will want to kiss him again; and maybe more will happen. The thing is, I am not in love with a guy. I am in love with a personality. Elliot is so much fun, and he is full of love, and he makes me laugh. The fact that he is a guy is not the issue for me. I am in love with his soul, not the body he carries it in."
"Ok…but I don't get it. He is a man, Beats."
"If his soul, his spirit was in a woman's body, I would love her."
"So, you aren't gay, you're bi then…"
"If you want to be gender specific, then yeah, I guess I am bi. Myself, I prefer to describe it as being pansexual. I am open to a relationship with any soul that I love. The anatomy of the person involved is not an issue for me."
"I still don't get it, but I guess I am prepared to find out more, because you are my best friend - or at least, I thought that you were…"
"I am Flint! You're mine!"
"Then why didn't you tell me? Why did I have to find this out by accident? If I hadn't caught you, would you even be telling me now?"
"Probably not. The fact is that I have wanted to tell you this so many times. I nearly did when we were in Antarctica, but then Kurt and Blaine died, and you were so fragile; then there was the trial. I tried to summon up the courage all of last summer, and I had made up my mind to sit you down and tell you after Niff's wedding…"
"Then Wes died."
"Exactly; not a good time. Then the way that you reacted to my new job at first…"
"…meant it wasn't the best time to tell me again."
"But we got through all of that, and I resolved that once school was over for the year, I would do it - but then came Auntgate…"
"And you didn't want to burden me when I was a complete mess."
"Exactly; but I should have done, I should have said something, because of what was happening with Elliot. The attraction had started by the end of April, for me at least. We started to hang out together at work a lot."
"Of course. I get it now. All those times that I went to the diner on my own because you were tired, or had something on, he was always on a day off; he probably passed me on the train."
"He did, and I know that I should have said something before it even got to that. I am so sorry…"
Flint sighed, and turned to look at his best friend for the first time since he had arrived. When he saw what a mess he looked; his hair sticking up at all angles through the fingers that he had locked in it, his skin pale, his eyes red and raw from the tears that still were coursing down his cheeks, his heart ached. "We don't learn, do we? This is like you becoming the Preppy Boy. You didn't tell me, and we ended up in this sort of situation then - and my initial reaction then was the same as now. So, let's stop all of this here and now. You should have told me, but I totally get why you didn't. You were trying to protect me from any more stress; didn't want to hurt me; and you were scared that I might not like what I was going to hear, and that you would lose me. I'm right, aren't I?"
Beats looked right up at him, and said quietly "Pretty much, but it is no excuse…"
"No, it isn't, but what is done is done. I've had my freak out now, and though I am not sure that I completely get the whole concept behind pansexuality, I am not going to reject you just because you like girls, guys and every shade in-between. You are my best friend, and you have always been there for me when my life is full of crisis. I would never have been able to deal with my mom if you hadn't been there to take my hand…."
"You wouldn't have had to deal with her at all if you hadn't decided to become a stripper to protect me…"
"True - but like I have told you, I like what we do. I like the fact that you and me can together reduce a room full of people into a braying crowd. I am not ashamed of it, and if it made my mom realise that she need to back off, then so much the better! I am always going to be around, Beats, so lets make a deal here and now - No more secrets! No more trying to protect me from things. Just tell me the truth in future, ok? Starting now."
Beats nodded, and looked straight into Flint's eyes again. Flint smiled back, and held out his arms; Beats dived right into them, and the two of them both held onto the other in a tight hug. More tears were shed, but this time they were happy ones; eventually, as they tears began to stop, they pulled apart again. Beats opened his mouth to speak, but Flint put a finger to his lips. "No more apologies, ok? No need for them. Tell me all about you and Elliot…"
"Remember the day that we all decided to give him the duty manager's job at the diner? That was the day that all of it started if I am being honest. He was crying, and I hugged him - and something just felt so right… We got to chatting a lot more after that, and then, on Memorial Day weekend, we were on our own in the diner; he was lamenting the state of his love life, and I started to join in, and suddenly I was telling him that I was pansexual, and he thought that was so cool… We started to meet up away from work shortly after that, just to talk, but gradually, over time, it started to turn into something more for both of us."
"I take it that you stayed with him on the night that you told me you had missed the last train back to Princeton?"
"We had been talking so long that night that we both lost track of time, and Elliot asked me to stay. And I said yes without a moment's hesitation. We shared a bed, but that was all; it was very chaste. The next morning I realised that I could easily have got the last bus back, if I had wanted to. It made me certain about him… Today was actually the first time that we kissed…"
"And I blundered along and ruined the moment! I am going to have to apologise to Elliot. I am pleased for you, Beats. I have always wanted you to be happy, and if he is the one that will make you happy, then I am all for it. The ironic thing is that it seems that love may be in the air for both of us today, not just you…"
"Really? Tell me more, Mr Wilson…"
"I was looking for you in the garden for two reasons; firstly, Ethan wants to talk to us both about something important; and secondly, I have a date. With a girl…"
"Well, I kind of guessed it would be with a girl. I have always known that you were 100% straight. If you hadn't been, if there had been the tiniest doubt, then Elliot would not have stood a chance!"
Flint blushed, then said "I will take that as a compliment! So, the girl is Rory's new sister-in-law. Her name is Izzy; she is transferring to Princeton next year; she wants to go out with me; and the best of it is, she knows what we do to make money, and she has no problem with it whatsoever…"
"That's great!" said Beats, with a big smile. "I am so pleased for you. Also, if she is Rory's sister-in-law, that will mean…"
"That she is the nice Jewish girl of my mom's dreams! If it works out, of course. I mean, she might decide she doesn't like me when I tell her that I come with a best friend…"
Beats couldn't help but chuckle at that statement. "I think that I will be the least of her worries my friend. You also come with a band of, at times, maddening bird brothers, and the mother from…"
"Don't! She is bad, but if it tell her the whole truth about my mom now, then I will probably never see her again. As for the guys, she will just have to accept them, or the whole deal will be off! I am sure that she will have a wide circle of friends too that I will have to accept, just as I will have to accept that Elliot is going to be a big factor in our lives. Whatever happens, just know this. I will always have a place for you in my heart, because without you, my life would be so dull. You always brought out the more adventurous side of Flint Wilson."
"Same is true for me. Best friends forever."
"For all eternity, as you know… Right, we need to get back to the reception before they send out search parties. We need to find Elliot, so that I can make peace and welcome him as your boyfriend. I need to introduce you to Izzy, and let her know that you will always be a big factor in my future. And then we need to find out what Ethan wants to tell us!" He got to his feet, dusting his trousers off as he did so. He then stretched out a hand to Beats, and helped him up. "We also need to find a restroom so that we can wash our faces, and straighten up your hair, unless you want a lot of awkward questions about where we were and what we were doing…"
"Yeah… Look I'm glad you know about me, but can we keep it between you, me and Elliot for now? This is Trent's big day, and I don't want revelations about my private life to take all the attention away from him on his big day. I will tell them all, but not today."
"No problem. Whenever you are ready; and when you are, I will be right behind you."
They walked back towards the club, the sun now fading slightly as the clouds thickened once more. The gardens were more or less empty now, apart from one lone figure sitting on a bench between the French windows and the main entrance door. They headed in that direction, and as they approached, Elliot looked up, his own face marked with tears. He smiled weakly as he saw them, and stood up. "You two sorted out - friendship back on track?" he asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes, everything is sorted," said Flint, "apart from two things. One, I have to say sorry to you for how I reacted. It was a shock, but it does not excuse what I did."
"It was understandable. We should both have been more honest."
"Secondly, if you ever hurt him, then I will set my mother on you, Mr Gilbert!"
"That is quite a threat," said Beats with a grin. "I mean, she would probably nag you to death." He stepped quickly out of the way of Flint's swatting hand.
"So, you are ok with it, Flint? Me and Beats being together?"
"If he is happy, then I am happy; plus you will be good company for him now that I might be at serious risk of having a girlfriend myself." Elliot looked at him curiously, but said nothing. "So, we head in by the main door, tidy ourselves up and head back into the reception."
"Good plan. I did hear a rumour about there being singing on the cards," said Beats. His two friends nodded, and he placed an arm around each of their shoulders, as they walked back inside.
