Free Exposure by Elizabeth Lister

out and pulled me to him. I slid my hands around him and rested my head against his belly. He smelled so good.
    "Anyway, let's not worry about that yet. Let's just keep having fun. I'm having so much fun, Martin. If it's meant to be we won't be able to stop it."
    He was right.
    His stomach suddenly rumbled. I moved out of the embrace and stood up. "One omelet surprise, coming up."
    After Jeremy ate his western omelet and finished his tea, he changed back into his clothes and I drove him home. He lived in a townhouse in Blossom Park with two roommates who tended to party and were not very tidy.
    He almost fell as we climbed the steps to his front door but he grabbed onto me and I steadied him. I took the opportunity to ask him if his roommates knew he was gay. He told me they did and were cool about it, but that we probably shouldn't "mack" in front of them.
    "I'll try to control myself," I said, rolling my eyes. I stayed close as he opened the door and moved inside. He used the doorframe and the wall of the entry to keep his balance.
    "Jeremy! Que pasa ?" A scruffy looking, bearded young man in sweat pants and a t-shirt lounged on the living room sofa, eating what looked like pizza from a box on the coffee table.
    "Hey, Kurt." Jeremy greeted him. "Charlie still asleep?"
    Kurt nodded. "He had a gig last night. Didn't roll in until three am." He noticed that Jeremy was leaning on the wall. "You okay?"
    Jeremy shrugged. "Just a bit unsteady today." He gestured to me. "Kurt, this is Martin. Martin, Kurt."
    Kurt put down his pizza and came over to greet me and get a better look at Jeremy. He wiped his hand on his pants and held it out to me. We shook briefly. "Nice to meet you." He looked at Jeremy. "You look tired."
    "I'm fine, Kurt," Jeremy said firmly. "But would you mind grabbing my cane for me? It's at the back of my closet."
    Kurt nodded and glanced at me before heading down the hallway. I suddenly felt guilty, like Jeremy's current condition was my fault.
    Kurt returned and Jeremy took the polished wood cane from him gratefully. "Thanks, man."
    It made all the difference. Now he didn't need help as he moved forward into the living room.
    He turned back to look at me. "Wanna see my room?"
    I nodded and followed him down the hall. He turned into a room on the right. It was small and sparsely furnished, but clean and neat. A large rainbow flag hung on the wall over his bed next to a poster from the After Stonewall bookstore. Jeremy's "out and proud" status became stunningly apparent at that moment.
    "It's a lot tidier than the rest of the house," I observed. "Are you going to be okay?"
    He leaned against his dresser and nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm going to call the MS Clinic today and my mom to see about ordering more meds. I'm on her insurance so she handles it for me."
    "How much do they cost?"
    "They're fifteen hundred a month."
    "Jesus. They're not covered by OHIP?"
    "Not yet." He shrugged.
    "I guess I should go. You need to rest."
    "Thanks for everything. I had a really good time. Except for waking up with gimpy legs." He shrugged, grinning shyly.
    "Yeah, that wasn't my favorite part either."
    "What was your favorite part?"
    I grinned. "Not telling. You'll have to find out later. Call me okay? Let me know how things are going."
    He nodded. "Okay."
    I really didn't want to leave, but I needed some space and some time to think about everything. I moved toward him and kissed him softly on the lips. "Bye."
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    Chapter Eight
    Fog
    When I got home I put some beer in the fridge, then sat down on the sofa and turned on the TV. My brain was spinning and I really needed to mellow out a bit. I was still reeling from the revelation of the previous night.
    Why hadn't Jeremy told me about his disease? Sure, we had only been seeing each other a couple of weeks, but he'd called me his boyfriend. I should have known about something so important. We shared so many personal and intimate things it