Michael sat in front of the comic book store, pencil tapping the top of a blank sheet of paper. The words just weren't flowing. He couldn't pull together a single thought, not when there was something else on his mind. Something that bothered Michael terribly, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Michael leaned over, picking up the telephone and calling Brian's loft. He let the phone line ring seven times before hanging up.
"You stupid ass," Michael said. "What the hell are you doing going back to work right after you get out of the hospital?"
Michael picked the phone back up. cradling it in his hand for a moment before dialing the agency. Again, Brian's phone rang, clicking a machine on after the fourth ring. Michael didn't wait for the tone, hanging up the phone.
"Where the hell are you, Brian?" Michael said. He couldn't even begin to think. Maybe something was wrong. Maybe Brian was back in the hospital. Michael shook his head, trying to snap himself out of it. He was just being paranoid.
But, Michael did paranoid well. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was really wrong. Standing from his seat behind the counter Michael rounded to the front of the store, turning the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED, grabbed his coat and exited the shop.
Brian sat in the hospital hallway, in the same seat he had sat in two and a half years ago when Justin got bashed. Two years, six months and seventeen days to be exact, be who was counting? He rested his head back against the wall, eyes shut, seeming to be in a deep thought, but in reality, hardly thinking of anything. All of a sudden, his invincibility seemed like a thing of the past. It seemed as if it never existed at all.
"Brian?" Michael said, noticing him from down the hall. Brian didn't hear him, his mind completely tuned off. "Brian?" Michael said again, walking closer. "Bri... what is it? Are you OK?"
"Jesus, Mikey." Brian snapped out of it. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Looking for you," Michael took a seat beside his best friend.
Brian stood, Michael's eyes following him with curiosity and worry. "Yeah well... you shouldn't have bothered."
Michael was silent for a moment, turning in his seat, leaning forward, arms resting in his thighs. He watched Brian run his fingers through his hair. "What?" Michael said. Brian didn't respond. "Brian... What?" Still nothing. "Will you open your mouth and talk to me. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Brian said "Would you mind your own fucking business already?! Shit, Michael."
"Well excuse me for giving a shit," Michael said. "I called your Goddamn loft, I called your Goddamn office... Christ, Brian, I thought something happened to you!"
"Yeah, well I'm fine." Brian said. "They wanted to give me my test results."
"So your results came in. Why couldn't they just tell you over the phone?"
"Because they enjoy being pains in my ass." Brian replied. "Now you can sit here as long as you want, but I'm going home."
Michael watched Brian walk away. He observed the way his best friend walked, no different than any other time, but there was definitely something. Something that Brian hadn't said, something that was very obviously bothering him.
"Brian!" Michael called. "Hold up, I'll come with you."
Brian didn't stop. He didn't even slow down, but did turn his head to see Michael's pace quicken so that he could catch up.
"How'd you get here?" Brian asked.
"I took a cab." Michael said. "I figured if I tipped the guy enough..."
"Nough said." Brian shook his head.
Michael crunched up his face in disgust. "Not that kind of tip. Asshole."
Brian laughed. Now that was the Brian Kinney that Michael knew and loved. "Come on, I'll give you a lift back to the store."
Back to the store, back to his world of Superman and Rage, a storyline that Michael couldn't plot out if his life depended on it. Well at least with the kids in school, Michael's customers were at a minimum during the day, leaving him time to write a little and with his lunch break.... "Shit!" Michael exclaimed very suddenly. "Lunch."
"Don't get your cock in a knot," Brian said. "I'll have you at the diner before Debbie has a chance to put the lemon bars on the counter." He laughed.
"Not... I promised Ben I'd meet him... Shit!"
"Right..." Brian said. "Lunch with Ben." He was silent for a moment. "I'll bring you to the store and you can go meet him. It's still early."
Michael looked over at Brian who now drove in silence. He wasn't sure what to make of it. The fact that Brian still didn't seem so keen on Michael dating Ben, or something else completely. Maybe a mixture of the two. Either way, the ride back to Liberty Avenue was a silent one.