part 21 - rated nc-17

For the first time in a long time Laurie was woken not by an alarm clock and not by a ringing cell phone, but by sunlight filtering through curtains and the weird feeling that someone was staring at him. A few years ago when his apartment building was being fumigated, Laurie had crashed on Mission's couch for a couple of nights, back before Mission bought his house, when he still lived in an apartment with a girlfriend and a cat and a drum kit. The cat would wake him up one of two ways - either by walking on his head, which it did once and learned not to do again because he shoved it hard off the couch, or by sitting on a chair and staring at him. For some reason that always woke him up.

This was like that, except when he opened his eyes and managed to focus (Laurie was not and would never be a morning person), the starer was Parrish, squatting on the floor with a camera. Pointed at him.

"Uh... morning?" Laurie said.

( cut for morning smuttus interruptus )

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total words: 41,764

part 22

"What's Bader Glassman want?" he asked Lea.

"Gunther killed himself."

"What? He's in Toronto or somewhere." As if that made any difference.

"Bader says he's been back a couple of days. He really needs to talk to you." She paused for a minute or half a minute, and in that space of time Laurie shrugged up at Parrish, who was now kneeling next to him on the bed.

"What is it?" Parrish whispered.

"I'm not sure," Laurie whispered back. "What?" he said into the phone, because Lea had started talking again.

"I said when's the last time you had an AIDS test."

"Two months ago. I'm still negative. Why?"

"Gunther was HIV positive."

( cut for more of the phone call )

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total words: 43,445