“I hate these monkey suits,” Eric muttered.
“Yeah, me too. At least now I can put on a tie without strangling myself.” Wes smiled at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
Eric smiled back. Funny, he had never before noticed those tiny lines starting to appear on Wes’s face. Smile lines. Not that those first faint traces of the passing years made his partner any less attractive, it was more the opposite. Still, they meant Wes was no longer the boy Eric had had such a crush on in school, or even the young man he had fallen in love with as an adult. And that wasn’t the only thing that had changed lately.
Wes raised a hand to wave. Turning, Eric saw a middle-aged couple and a younger couple with a small child waving back from the crowd of assorted Bio-Lab executives and employees, business associates, police officers, Silver Guardians, relatives, and friends gathered on the Collins mansion grounds on this fine summer day to celebrate the wedding of Alan Collins and Lina Munroe. “Cousins. I think,” Wes said. “Excuse me, gotta say hello.”
Eric watched him make his way across the lawn, stopping once to shake hands with a woman in a gray dress, and then greeting his relatives. Yes, Wes had changed. He would never be a hard-headed businessman and he still yawned in meetings, but he knew what was going on in the company and he knew how to charm the people he had to deal with. Whereas Eric himself lacked the charm but had the ‘hard-headed’ part down cold. He smiled a little. It seemed they made a good team in every way.
And yet... and yet... what about the most important side of their partnership? Something had gone off track between them. They still acted the same way. Still spent as much time together. Still treated each other the same way and made love the same way. But there was a very soft and subtle coolness there, a distance that had never existed before. Some vital spark was - not gone, but had dimmed. A few times he had caught Wes watching him with a sort of - regret - and knew the same thing was in his own eyes right now.
In the months since their discussion, Wes had never mentioned moving in again. In fact he hadn’t talked about what he planned to do about living arrangements at all, and Eric had been reluctant to ask. Afraid to ask was more accurate, Eric had to admit, when it would be a painful topic for both of them. Wes must feel resentful, at least a little. Eric himself felt guilty, and more than a little.
Had it been a mistake to turn Wes down out of fear that everyone would find out about them and their relationship? A part of Eric had the uneasy feeling that it had been. Another, stronger, part said no, it had been the only possible choice, and showed him its proof - the names his father had called him before he even knew what they meant, the taunting in school until he learned to hide his nature, the foster parents who gave him back to the orphanage like a defective product before he learned never to tell and never to trust, the crude jokes his Army buddies told that he learned to laugh at while boiling with anger inside. Wes had no idea; he had grown up privileged and pampered. He could say things had changed all he liked, but one thing never changed - human nature.
Eric was startled out of bitter thoughts by the realization that Wes was headed in his direction, relatives in tow. Reluctantly, he straightened up and tried to put a halfway pleasant expression on his face. Wouldn’t do to scare the guests.
“Hey, Eric, want you to meet some of my family.” Wes turned back to the others. “Folks, this is Eric Myers. Eric, this is my cousin Paul, his wife Sarah, their daughter Michelle, her husband Harry. And Annie, of course,” he added, ruffling the little girl’s hair.
They went through the usual handshakes and remarks about the ceremony, the reception, the trip here, how happy Mr. Collins looked, how radiant Lina was. Just as Eric was wondering how much longer before he could gracefully escape, he spotted two young men approaching, one of them with a noticeable resemblance to Cousin Paul and his daughter. Looked like he’d be stuck with meeting them, too.
“Wes, do you remember our son Roger?” Paul asked.
“Well, sure. But he probably won’t remember me.” Wes grinned at the new arrivals. “Roger? The last time I saw you, you were like ten years old.”
“I’ve grown a little since then.” Roger had the same smile as Wes, Eric noticed, and the same dark blond hair.
“Yeah. When was that, almost fifteen years ago?”
“Sounds about right.” Roger turned to hold out a hand to the darker young man with him. “I’d like you to meet my partner, Kevin. Kev, this is my second or third or something cousin, Wes Collins.”
“Partner, huh?” Wes asked.
“Yeah, we met in college. Been living together ever since.” Both Roger and Kevin seemed to watch for a reaction. Eric took a quick glance at the parents, sister, and brother-in-law. All still smiling away.
“Well, that’s great,” Wes said enthusiastically. He gave Eric a slightly ironic look. “Isn’t that great, Eric? Oh, I’d like you to meet Eric Myers, my - er, co-commander in the Silver Guardians.”
Roger and Kevin were holding hands. In public, where everyone could see. Those Bio-Lab executives a few yards away were staring. Weren’t they? Eric pulled his eyes away, forced a smile to his face, and managed to say something that must have sounded normal. When his cellphone buzzed, it was a relief to mutter, “Excuse me,” and get away from them.
There was only a lingering trace of sunset staining the sky when he managed to find Wes alone again. Not his fault, Eric reminded himself. Between preparing for his role as best man and helping to play host to a horde of relatives, friends, and business acquaintances, Wes hadn’t had much free time for the last week. Still... couldn’t he have made more of an effort?
At least things had died down now. Most of the guests had left; only a couple dozen die-hards were scattered around the gardens in small groups or gathered around Mr. Collins, talking and laughing. Lina had disappeared, probably to change out of her gown.
“Hey,” Wes said as Eric joined him, sitting on a lounge chair at the side of the swimming pool. “How’re you holding up?”
“Okay, I guess.” Looking up, he noticed Roger and Kevin across the lawn, with Roger’s family, obviously waiting their turn to say goodbye to their host. He frowned.
“I didn’t do that on purpose, you know,” Wes said, smiling faintly as Eric glanced at him. ‘‘I didn’t conjure up a gay cousin and his boyfriend just to... well, you know.”
To show me how it’s done? To show me I’m being unreasonable? The words sprang to Eric’s lips but he bit them back. “I didn’t think you did,” he said a little stiffly.
“I’ve been looking for an apartment,” Wes said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. One of those deals with separate entrances. Privacy.”
“Good.” Eric knew he should say more, after Wes had taken the first step. “Um... Want me to take a look with you or anything?”
“I think I can handle it.” Wes shrugged and sighed, looking across the darkening lawn to where Lina had reappeared and joined his father. “Besides, there’s no big rush. Dad and Lina will be on their honeymoon for a month. And it’s not like I have to get out the minute they get back.”
“Yeah, no rush.”
Again they drifted into uneasy silence, until Wes asked, “So - you kind of disappeared when you got that call. Anything wrong?”
“No. Not exactly. It was Dr. Zaskin, in Newtech City.”
“Yeah? I know he called Dad to apologize for not coming to the wedding. Said he couldn’t get away.”
“Right. Said pretty much the same thing to me. Wants us to go down there and give them a hand.”
“What’s the problem?”
“He didn’t want to say over the phone. Just that it involves - illegal aliens.”
They exchanged a significant look. “When do they want us?” Wes asked.
“As soon as possible. Tomorrow, if we can get away.”
“Tomorrow?” Wes cast a glance in the direction of the remaining guests. “Oh, man. I’ve got to see Dad and Lina off, and I’ve got a couple dozen relatives from out of town expecting me to show them around...”
“No problem,” Eric said. “I’ll go check it out.”
“Great. I can come in a few days if you need me.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Eric stood up. “I guess I should do some packing, in case I stay there for a while. If you don’t need me here.”
“No, we’re fine.” Wes’s face was indistinct in the rippling light from the swimming pool as he looked up.
“Umm...” Eric lowered his voice. “You want to come over tonight?”
Wes glanced in the direction of his father again. “I have to stay until everyone leaves, and then make sure things get cleaned up and stuff. I’ll be beat by then. Sorry.”
There was a time when Wes would have said he was never too tired for a night together. Just the inevitable settling down of any long-term relationship? Or something more?
“No problem,” Eric said. “Well... I guess I’ll see ya.”
“Yeah.” Wes got up. “Eric...” He seemed to hesitate, and then stepped closer, reaching out in a gesture that would look like a handshake to any casual observer but felt much more intimate. “Good luck. And call me.”
Reassured - at least for the moment - Eric smiled. “Every day,” he said. “See ya in a few days.”
A few days. Later he would remember that remark, and that moment, and the days and weeks that were to follow them as an ending - and a beginning.