Walkinginto the gym Sunday morning, Patrick found Daryl sitting by himself in thelobby dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of delectable blue runningshorts. He was going to have to makesure that Daryl took the treadmill in front of him, not wanting to miss achance of gazing at Daryl's cute ass.
"Hey...you made it." Patrick greeted.
"I'msurprised not to find you dressed in a sport's bra." Daryl joked.
"Exerciseis usually beneath royalty but since I can't be a queen every day I bring mymore boring self here three times a week." Patrick chuckled.
"I don't know why... I saw the set up you hadback at the house."
"Yes...but it's a little hard to get motivated just by your lonesome. If you have not noticed there's lot ofmotivation here." Patrick said, pointingto a few of the naked men in the locker room.
"Inoticed." Daryl replied... his dimpledcheeks blushing.
"Ofcourse since I have you with me this time you have to let me show you off tothe others."
"What?" Daryl asked confused.
"Iwould be amiss if I didn't do my best to spread the good cheer of envy andjealousy amongst the other men."
"You'reterrible," Daryl chuckled.
"Justpromise me you will play along."
"Themost I can promise is to keep my mouth shut."
"Thatwould be perfect... they'll think you're a total moron then. Nothing makes a gym bunny more jealous than a queen dating a man who is not onlyhotter then they are but also dumber."
"Why?" Daryl asked confused.
"It'spart of the myth of the gay food chain. All you have to know is Hot equals Dumb... partly because any person witha real nine to five job doesn't have the time or the energy it takes to get aperfectly sculpted body but also because dumb people are automatically assumedto be easier to get into bed with. It'ssad but in some gay circles being a slut is seen as a plus."
"So...let me see if I understand this. Youwant me to pretend to be a dumb slutty jock whose has spent the last severalhours having wild sex with you?"
"Andyou got it on the first try." Patricklaughed, coming to a sudden halt when he saw a tear run down Daryl's face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." Daryl said as he reached over and touchedPatrick's face.
"Somethingis defiantly up." Patrick pressed.
"Youremind me so much of my brother Steven. He liked playing dress up too. David would have loved your dresses."
"I'msure I would have liked his as well."
"Noyou wouldn't have... think Amish but with even blander colors."
"Hey,I would have you know I have a nun's outfit stored away somewhere." Patrick replied.
"Imiss him so much Steven. He was morethan the last member of my family. Hewas my other half... wild and carefree like you are."
"Ifyou think I'm wild then I better not let some of my stranger friends get nearyou," Patrick laughed.
"Ithink I could handle them... after six years in the ER I've seen mosteverything. I'm not as saintly as peoplethink I am."
"Hangaround me long enough and you will find yourself with a pair of horns and atail."
"Nowthat will be interesting," Daryl chuckled.
"Comeon... take that bland t-shirt of yours off. No point having a six pack if you let no one see it," Patrick said,quickly having to correct himself. "Makethat an eight pack."
AfterPatrick had his fun showing Daryl off, he spent the next two hours showing himhow to use the different pieces of exercise equipment, returning to the lockerroom surprised and a tad jealous of his guest.
"Istill can't believe you got the body you have without spending a single day ata real gym."
"Whatcan I say... good genes." Daryl laughed.
"Somepeople have all the good luck," Patricksighed, leading Daryl to the steam room. "Now this should feel like home to you."
"Almost," Daryl nodded. "Sorry about earlier Steven, I should have cooled the house down beforeyou arrived."
"Nota problem," Patrick laughed. He had notbeen the one who had to enter that sauna.
LeadingDaryl to an unoccupied bench, Patrick leaned against the slick wet walls. Hiseyes glaring at any of the occupants who dared even glanced in their direction.
"Ican't believe I'm out of the house."
"We'resurprised too." Patrick said before hecould stop himself.
"We?"
"Usat the hospital." Patrick quickly said.
"Well,now you can tell them I'm more of a clay figurine then I am of stone."
"Whydid you come... it must not have been easy."
"Itwasn't, but I missed you."
"Butit's only been two days."
"Imissed being with you." Darylcorrected. "I don't know what it isabout you, Steven, but I feel normal around you."
"Normalhow?" Patrick asked, hating himself for not being able to tell Daryl who hereally was.
"Normal in that I canpretend that my brother never died when I am with you."
"Ithurts that much?"
"It'smade me the man I am today." Daryl replied. "But maybe I can become someone else with you."
"Areyou asked me to go steady?" Patrick asked surprised.
"Steady?"Daryl asked confused.
"Date...you want to date me?"
"Hahahaha...back home they call it courtship and it's completely arranged by our parents."Daryl laughed.
"Well..." Patrick said in a deep Southern accent." "Are you courting me kind sir."
"Iguess I am," Daryl said as if surprised by his own words.
"ThenI accept your gentle proposal. Now be sokind and kiss me."
Wheredid you learn how to talk like that?" Darylasked after their lips had parted.
"Wheredid you learn how to kiss like that?" Patrick said, covering his hardening cockwith his hands.
Iguess it's like you said... it's like riding a bicycle. Once you know how its all instincts."
"Youmust have had a good teacher then."
"Iguess I did... now your turn. Where in theworld do people talk like that?"
"Itake it you haven't been to Atlanta,or seen `Gone to the Wind' even?"
"What'sthat?"
"Atlanta or the movie?"
"Themovie... I've never been to one."
"Letme guess... it's against your religious beliefs?"
"Yeah..."Daryl said, embarrassed.
"Whatabout TV?"
"Thattoo."
"Butsurely there's a television in the doctor's lounge."
"Youknow there is... but you'll never see it on. It broke two years before I started my residency."
"Sorry,I must have forgotten," Patrick replied before changing the subject. "Well, we are going to have to change that. The last Star Wars movie is coming out nextweek and I have this fantastic Queen Amidala costume I've been dying towear." Patrick said as he stood up toleave for the showers.
"Doesanyone at the hospital know about your taste in women's clothing?
"No...so don't go about telling anyone," Patrick said, panicked. If people at thehospital started making cross dressing jokes to his brother, there would behell to pay.
"Hey...I know how to keep a secret," Daryl said as he turned the shower on full blast...on cold."
"Turnthe fucking water off." The man underthe next nozzle cursed.
"Sorry." Daryl apologized, quickly excusing himself,leaving Patrick to shower alone.
Leavingthe shower, Patrick found Daryl was already dressed, sitting on the benchlooking nervous.
"Don'tlet that man get to you. He was being ajerk."
"No...it was my fault. I'm just used to takingonly cold showers."
"Savingmoney on the gas bill?"
"Yeah...pathetic I know," Daryl said, as he waited for his brother to get dressed.
"Foran ER doctor I would think you would have more backbone." Patrick said as they left the gym.
"Inthe ER I really am the Stone King. I'mjust not used to making mistakes."
"You'reonly human."
"Iknow but after six years of working trauma do you know how many patients ofmine have died under my care?"
"Consideringthe neighborhood I would assume quiet a lot."
"Seven." Daryl said flatly.
Consideringthat, until Mr. Stockton, his brother had not lost a single patient in eightyears of practice, that number at first seemed high. Then Patrick remembered that fatality ratefound in a psychiatrist office was not anywhere near the kind of numbers for inthe ER. "Archangelindeed," he finally responded.
"It'sbecoming an annoyance." Darylgrunted. "My record has become a matterof hospital pride. They took me off thenight shift and cut my number of eighteen hour days. I became a doctor to save lives but because Idid such a good job they're taking that away from me."
"Youcould always go to another hospital."
"Andabandon Memorial?! Do you have any ideawhat would happen to that place if I left?"
"Continueto treat patients as usual," Patrick replied.
"But..." Daryl protested as he stopped by his car.
"Daryl...you are a great doctor but I'm not sure if I believe that being just a great doctor is enough to makeyou happy. If you think that if you saveenough lives, you're going to get yourbrother back... it's not going to happen."
Darylpounded his fist against his car. "Dangit... why not! Why can't things work outthat way? Why can't huge amount of goodwipe out an equal amount of evil?"
"Becausewe are human and therefore not perfect, but a mixture of both good and evil," Patricksaid, struggling for the words he was sure his brother would use. "You're trapped in a black and white worldlike a 1950's television set. You thinkpeople are either all good or all bad. Your problem is that you are under the misconception that you areevil. People, hell, entire governments havetold you what a good person you are, but you refuse to believe it because of asingle event that happened in your past."
"I'msorry... I let my temper get away from me."
"Good...I wish that would happen more often."
"Really?"Daryl asked suspiciously.
"Youcan't really love a person fully if you're not willing to get angry at them attimes."
"That'snot what I've been taught."
"Iknow... but we have plenty of time to teach you some new tricks. You're not an old dog yet."
All of Love in Passing can be found in the yahoo group and I do hope to have the follow up story posted there as well one day. Thanks to all those who've written saying how much they're enjoying the story so far. A special thanks go to those who've gone to Amazon to look up the two books for sale that I've managed to get published, The Centurion and The Academy. Links to both pages are found in the links page on the yahoo group. Half of the new story... The Children of Mir is also now posted on the yahoo group for those who like gay-sci-fi and fantasy stories. It's the first book in what will be a four part series. There are also plenty of other stories to be found... many of them my earlier stuff which shows in the writing but I do hope you enjoy them as well. Take care.
JMH trandar2002@yahoo.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/