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art by Quinn222

I like the places, the way you're lacing them with me.

I dig the spaces, 'cause there's a grace there I can see.

~ Superdrag

Toronto was gorgeous in the summer. He had so rarely been there in the summer months. His memory of Toronto consisted of a long slide of cold, frost and misery. But, in the summer, it was a veritable garden of beauty with the sun twinkling in the air and flowers busting out of pots everywhere along the streets. And, just outside the city, you could feel it-- there was something about the Canadian roadside, thick with brush that wasn't cut back as often as in the States, that gave the entire country a feeling of freedom.

Randy stood beside the hotel window, curtains wide, surveying the city they'd once been obliged to call home for most of the year. He turned to study Gale, curled up in the bed, smooth skin covering taut muscles, gorgeous, lean and pretty much plundered after the prior night's activities. He didn't really know why it surprised him that Gale was such an enthusiastic bed partner. After all, he'd been on the receiving end of intensely passionate kisses when they'd been acting together. But, there had been that nagging concern that maybe once Gale figured out what being with another guy was really like, he'd back away.

He should have known better, Gale was anything but a coward. After all, he'd had the guts to play Brian Kinney for God's sake. After that first scary night, Gale had committed himself to a full exploration of love between men--with the smallest amount of freak-out that one could expect from a guy who was just coming out in his forties.

Gale had balls.

And now they were going to come out as a couple. After a year of living apart, seeing one another on the weekends, trying out the relationship for size, they'd decided to do the most dangerous thing imaginable--move in together. Randy had lived with a few guys over the years and it always ended in disaster. The last one having moved out in a pissy stink when Randy left him in the middle of the night to go to Gale. Well, he supposed he couldn't really blame the guy. If Gale took off in the middle of the night to be with someone else, he thought he'd probably freak out, too. And that just proved that he hadn't really loved the other guys; that Gale had been the one for longer than either of them had really been aware.

The Queer As Folk ten year reunion had been put off until the eleventh year due to scheduling problems with the cast. Hal had been in Argentina filming some kind of jungle comedy. Scott had supporting roles in three different films, playing character parts in the way that only he could. Thea had been busy with another baby--Randy had lost track of how many she had now. Michelle had been available but only because she had a pretty regular schedule starring in a hospital drama on NBC. Bobby had been busy with Peter.

And Peter had been busy developing a production company committed to promoting the creation of films portraying gays in a realistic and uncensored way. He'd been inspired and moved by Cowlip's fierce dedication to keeping Queer As Folk cutting edge, revealing things about parts of the gay community that many would have preferred they'd kept hidden. Peter carried on their tradition with his own company, started a few years ago, after Cowan's death.

So, they'd put it off for a year and now they were here in Toronto, all together for the first time in way too many years. Randy knew that the other cast members were somewhere in the hotel and part of him wanted to go out to find them immediately. He'd missed them. But there was another part of him that wanted to stay in the room and watch Gale sleep forever.

The last year had been quiet. They'd taken a break from their respective careers to focus on this thing between them. They deserved a break, anyway; they'd both worked pretty much non-stop since the end of Queer As Folk. At first, the press had hounded them relentlessly wondering why they had both backed out of projects at the last minute and speculating on the time they spent together. But they'd kept ruthlessly silent and after a few weeks, the press attention had blown over, moving on to a scandal more worthy of national attention--the latest girl rocker getting knocked up by her bodyguard.

Randy knew that it was possible that the other cast members had an inkling of a possible relationship between them, but then again, they'd heard all the rumors during the years that they filmed and knew those had been false. They'd probably just thought that he and Gale had struck up their friendship again. After all, they'd been really close once. Not lovers close, but close.

Randy turned away from Gale to study the skyline again. He thought about the house they'd picked out and would close on next week. Yeah, the true nature of their relationship would definitely hit the press when the newspapers published that in the public records section. Randy didn't know if he was excited by the idea or scared.

He wasn't used to being in a closet of any kind and had only tried to be low key with Gale because of the delicate nature of coming out. He knew what kind of scrutiny Gale would be under when the press caught up with him, the kinds of questions they would ask--"Why did you lie to the viewing public for all of these years regarding your sexuality? Were you afraid that it would affect your career? Do you have anything to say to your female fans?"

The questioning of Gale's integrity was a given and the prying into his emotional soft-spots a painful probability. It was really a no-win situation and completely unfair. Randy had always thought that living in the closet must be the hardest thing for someone in the public eye, but what does someone do when they didn't even know they'd been in the closet until suddenly they are out?

He'd known that was not the sort of pressure that a new relationship could withstand. So they'd waited. And even now it was questionable whether they would survive the crucible of the press. He pushed that from his mind, though, returning to the room and the reunion. It would be good to see them all again.

And, Gale, joker that he was, had a plan. A plan that Randy was entirely willing to play out just to see the looks on their faces.

Dressed in jeans that emphasized his slim hips, and a white, flowing shirt with open cuffs and collar, Gale looked hot. Randy bit his lip and refrained from touching. And, God, wasn't that a familiar feeling? Eleven years could melt away in a heartbeat sometimes.

He took another sip of his wine and watched as Peter hugged and kissed Scott on the lips, probably slipping him a little tongue. Scott laughed and kissed him back. It wasn't as if they hadn't kissed one another like that a hundred times. Scott's new wife looked a little uncomfortable, though, and Randy stifled a laugh, turning back to Gale.

"You look great."

Gale smiled his goofy, slightly fucked-up smile. He'd been nervous earlier and had lit up to calm down. "Thanks. You're not too shabby yourself."

Randy ducked his head. He didn't know what it was about Gale that could still make him shy sometimes. Maybe it was the way Gale looked at him like he wasn't sure if he should kiss him or fuck him first. Really, Randy never cared either way--it was always good.

"Keep looking at me like that and everyone will know before we tell them."

"Well, then stop being so hot."

Randy laughed. "I'll try."

"You better. I've thought about doing this since the first night."

"You're fucked in the head."

"Muhahahaa! You should know that by now." Gale made a kooky face to accompany his insane laugh, then he sobered to survey the room. "Looks like everyone is here."

Randy nodded.

Gale smiled in obvious anticipation and said, "Let's drop the bomb, then," and strolled the few feet to join the knot of hugging and kissing cast members. A few seconds later, Randy insinuated himself between Michelle and Thea, accepting joyful cooing and touching. They always treated him like a kid, even now. He really didn't mind, it was nice to be coddled by women sometimes.

Gale started it. "Remember when Hal broke his arm trying to pull that stupid Superman stunt off the--"

"Babylon toilets," Hal finished, rolling his eyes and laughing at himself. "I'm sure everyone remembers it. But, hey, before you get all cocky about that, what about the time that you tripped--"

It didn't take much for it to devolve into 'remember when's and laughter.

Randy threw in a few of his own, but waited until just the right moment, when things were winding down, to say, "Hey, Gale, remember that time you called me in the middle of the night, drunk off your ass, to profess your undying love for me?"

There was a stunned silence for a moment until Gale laughed and said, "Oh yeah, that was fucking hysterical, man."

Everyone chuckled a little in confusion, brows furrowed and strange looks passing between them.

Randy lifted his glass, "To drunken Gale phone calls in the middle of the night!"

"Here, here!" Thea responded and they all drank to that, even though they were obviously bewildered.

"Hey, Randy!" Gale started, grinning like a crazy man. "Remember that time last year when I called you in the middle of the night, drunk off my ass, to profess my undying love for you and then you left your boyfriend sleeping in his bed to come over and get it on with me?"

Randy cracked up. "Yeah, that was so funny!"

Thea looked at Hal who looked at Peter who was staring at Michelle with a look of open-mouthed shock.

"And, oh God, you know what's even funnier?" Randy asked the group.

They all shook their heads and Thea said, too brightly, "No? What?"

"That time last week when Gale and I bought a house together. Absolutely hilarious!"

That did it. Pandemonium broke out and he was subjected alternately to thumps on the back, shoves of annoyance and kisses and laughter. He couldn't make out who was saying what, just garbled pieces of sentences assaulted his ears:

"I always knew--"

"--when did you--"

"Why didn't you tell--"

"How long?"

"--you jerks!"

And of course someone had to ask it: "Who's the bottom?"

Then he was in Gale's arms and kissing him hard. He heard the cheers in the background and pulled away grinning.

Finally, Hal's voice broke through, "Well, it's about fucking time!"

Gale said, "Oh, that reminds me of something else that's funny." He reached into his pocket and pulled out some crumpled photos of a stray dog that he'd been unable to resist. Randy had reluctantly agreed that they could take it in and so now they really were a couple--complete with house and dog. Amazingly breeder of them.

Gale passed the photos around saying, "That's our dog. We named him Hal! Thought you'd appreciate that."

Hal rolled his eyes. "Fuck you, buddy."

"Sorry, that position has been filled."

Hal laughed and pulled Gale in for a good back-slapping, manly hug. Randy heard him whisper, "I'm really happy for you guys."

Peter put his arm around Bobby and raised his glass. "To Gale and Randy!"

"To Gale and Randy!" rang throughout the room.

"I'll drink to that," Gale chimed and downed the rest of his wine.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of laughter and a few tears when the 'remember when's turned on their lost friends, Sharon and Cowen. It didn't seem fair that they'd missed this moment and, it seemed to Randy, that it was most unfair that they'd never know that he and Gale had finally found each other.

Gale's arm went around his neck. "There, there, now. Don't go morbid on me."

Randy turned in to press a kiss to his neck. "Not morbid, just sad. They'll never know that we--"

"Sure they will. They do." Gale kissed his forehead and whispered, "Come on, let's think on the happy things and later, when we're alone, we can do some naughty, dirty things to make Sharon proud."

Randy laughed and nodded. Gale was right, that would be the best way to honor the dead.

Hugs and kisses were exchanged so many times that Randy lost count, but finally they were alone in their hotel room again. Gale spread out in the bed, smoking a joint and Randy looking out the window, pondering the skyline. It was all out in the open now, or would be by Wednesday of next week. Randy could breathe again, despite knowing the hell the press would put them through. It was cramped in the closet. They needed some room to breathe.

He thought about the Canadian roadside and the brush flowing freely alongside the cars. It would be good to stay awhile.

"Toronto's nice in the summer."

Gale hummed his agreement. "Wanna stay a few days?"

Smiling out the window, he said, "That's just what I was thinking."

"I know."

Randy turned and crawled into bed with his lover.

Yeah. This was the feeling of freedom.



THE END