The vows we never said(mxm) ✔

The fault in his DNA

When he thought about it, the porn magazine incident was too funny. His uncle Mariano had given it to him after he'd succeeded in making sure his cousin did not run away to go see a concert by a boy band in Sydney.

A porn magazine was supposed to be entertaining to a boy whose hormones ran amok. It was, but not the way his uncle had intended. The first thing Patrick had done was show Charlie the magazine. Charlie only frowned but got sucked into paging it with his friend. They'd spent the afternoon laughing instead. Patrick just found it funny instead of arousing.

Page by page, Charlie giggled and turned pink. And of course Patrick teased him with words like tomato; red koala. Charlie hit him with the magazine and continued laughing. When Koala couldn't laugh anymore without fainting, they lay on Charlie's bed looking at the ceiling. It was probably then that Patrick knew where his interests lay.

He never made those interests known. And so he went on dates and dates either arranged by his dad or his uncle. Every week papa found someone else suitable. Patrick put a stop to it by "committing" to a relationship with Anna.

Ah...Anna, his fake girlfriend. He'd pulled it off well and Anna had only been too willing to pretend she was dating Patrick del Castillo. She had her own agenda too. She was secretly dating someone else.

Everything seemed fine until the letter, the catalyst to his most painful decision. He could still remember the words that felt like glass shards in his heart. He could still remember how the little piece of paper felt like in his hands; taking the flight of stairs to his dad's study; opening the door and saying those words that changed his life.

Nurse Spencer had interrupted those thoughts and now Patrick was sitting at his desk just looking at the patient file. He took a deep breath and opened it slowly. He noticed that his heartbeat was increasing and his hand was trembling. It was rather funny; his brain was reacting to something he already knew as if he didn't know.

There in black and white were the words "42 CAG repeats". He didn't need to read the report. Charlie had the Huntington gene and he was symptomatic. The diagnosis was certain.

Patrick should have hated Charlie and so when the word "karma" drifted around the bad side of his brain, for a second he wondered if he did. He didn't have to wonder for long. Charlie could do any atrocious thing imaginable and Patrick would still...he would still love him.

After all, Charlie had broken his heart and here he was, unable to come to terms with Charlie's diagnosis. Even after twisting the knife in his heart, Charlie couldn't evoke any wrath in Patrick.

The decision to come back to Warlington had been suggested by his father and though Patrick wholeheartedly wanted to come back, he'd made the old man think it was because of him. Patrick had a reason for wanting to come back. Despite the close-knit community's intrusiveness, he missed Warlington. He missed the people too.

And then of course there was Charlie.

Charlie was a dreamer and a hard-worker. He wanted to see the world and see his name on buildings. Even though Charlie was shy, Patrick thought he would do it. He didn't think Charlie would be in Warlington, but he'd hoped he was.

He was. He still hated Patrick and he was sick.

Patrick picked up the receiver on his desk and dialed a number on the telephone. He knew he was going above and beyond but his heart just didn't care.

"Hi," the person on the other side of the line said briefly. "I'm kind of busy so if you could call at..."

"It's Dr....it's Patrick. I have your results. Can you come in as soon as possible?"

There was a long pause. "You can tell me now."

"I can't do it over the phone. You have to come in. I'll be in my office the whole day today. I..."

"I have to go," Charlie cut Patrick off. He hung up too, but not before Charlie heard the words, "We are going to miss you Charles."

It sounded like a girl.

Patrick was just about to replace the receiver when his mobile phone rang in the desk drawer. The caller id identified the caller as Fabiola del Castillo, Patrick's only sister.

"Hey," he said as he answered.

"Hey Ricky," she said. "Want to grab lunch?"

"Sure thing. What are you thinking?"

"Steve & the blue bottle," she said.

"On my way," he said and hung up.

*