Chapter 5 - Unexpected Surgery
The New Year brought new changes for Dave and Leroy. Leroy's family was over more, his mother was coming around according to his siblings and his father. Saying she has asked about him a lot, but he decided he wasn't going to put much thought into it. Leroy wanted to wait until he sees her and to make sure she isn't vulgar towards Dave or him before he will believe it.
His birthday was coming up, and he wondered what Dave had planned. A week before his birthday, he finally couldn't take it, Dave had said nothing, and he wanted to know if they were doing something so he could plan. He walked up behind Dave in the kitchen and hugged him from behind and kissed his neck just behind his ear. "Honey, what do you have planned, I know you have something."
"Don't have a clue what you are talking about Hon." Dave smiled.
"Come on, you know I don't like surprises, just tell me if you are planning anything big."
"It's not me this year, actually I'm not even going to be with you most of your birthday this year. Your brothers have asked if I minded if they take you out for the day."
"My brothers, really." Leroy was surprised. "Where are they taking me?"
"I'm not going to tell you, you will just have to find out on your birthday." Dave turned to Leroy. "I love you, Leroy."
Leroy looked disappointed, and Dave laughed. "I love you too, Babe." He kissed Dave on his lips and walked off to the other room.
*
Leroy was sitting in his family room, he was tired, Dave and he had had sex most of the night, it's one of the few times a year Leroy gets to be a bottom. It's Leroy's birthday wish Dave granted him every year to be dominated by him. And boy does he dominate, from tying Leroy down and using a strap-on to keep going. He will even punish Leroy if Leroy comes without permission. Leroy smiled, thinking about last night.
Anytime someone asks, Leroy always says they share top and bottom positions because Dave is a little self-conscious about being labeled the woman in the relationship. Like Leroy's brother Chris, if they don't understand or know other gay men, they just don't understand it's not polite to call them the woman. Some guys like to only bottom or top, and some don't care. It really doesn't bother Leroy to be the top most of the time, he does enjoy it, but occasionally he does love to be dominated by Dave.
Leroy was drinking coffee, waiting for his brothers to show up. His brothers finally called him a few days earlier and asked if they could take him out for the day. They wanted to take Leroy out like he did them on their birthdays, when they were younger. Leroy said, how could he refuse an offer like that. To get to spend his birthday with his family is a gift in itself.
The day before Leroy's birthday, Dave called Jeff and asked while they were together if he could watch Leroy. Dave informed Jeff he has been worried about Leroy lately because he has been losing his balance. Dave asked him not to let Leroy know, just to watch and make sure it wasn't just him overthinking the situation. Jeff said no problem he would assess Leroy.
The brothers all showed up, knocked, and walked in. They were about to call out to Leroy when they saw him sitting in the family room. Dave was coming down the hall when they came in. They all greeted one another and sat down for a bit talking. "Dave, you could come if you would like," Aaron stated.
"No, it's a brother thing, I don't see Jason with you. You guys have fun, whatever you have planned."
"We would've told you, but we're trying to surprise Leroy. He always took each of us out on our birthday, it's about time we took him out, before he gets too old." Jeff responded, and everyone laughed. "We should be back by dinner time."
First, they took Leroy to breakfast, then to the natural history museum. They all knew Leroy loved museums, but he could never get anyone to go with him. Leroy was walking around like a little kid in a candy store smiling up a storm. He walked through, looking, and reading everything. The guys were getting more pleasure out of watching their big brother than they were from looking at anything themselves.
Jeff was watching Leroy and did notice the unbalance issues. It didn't happen all the time, but every once in a while, Leroy would start to take a step, and he would have to step sideways to stay upright. Jeff stepped away from the group to call a friend of his, which was an intern for a neurosurgeon. Jeff was an intern too, but just in a general doctor's office, he would do rounds at the hospital but nothing surgical related. Jeff waited patiently for his friend to call back after he talked with the doctor about Leroy.
After one, they decided they would have lunch, Leroy thanked them because he always wanted to come to the museum as an adult but just didn't have the time, he knew it wasn't Dave's cup of tea. They had lunch at a diner and started heading back towards Leroy house, but they had one more birthday stop to do. On the way to the next place, Jeff's friend called again, and Jeff asked Aaron if he could pull over. Jeff stepped out of the car so he could talk to his friend in private.
Jeff's friend told him the surgeon highly recommends a C-scan. If Jeff wanted, they could pull some strings and get Leroy in today or tomorrow. Jeff asked if he could call them back in a few minutes, he really wanted to talk to Leroy about it, and of course, he said it was fine.
Jeff went around to Aaron's side of the car and knocked on the window and asked to talk to him alone. Jeff told Aaron what Dave told him and what he observed at the museum and then asked how they should approach Leroy. Aaron just stated, they tell him he's getting the scan. Aaron told Jeff to call the friend back and get it scheduled for today if possible. They had an hour to get to the hospital, Aaron told Jeff to text Dave to have him meet them there.
"Leroy, we are deviating from our birthday plans for you today, I'm sorry, man, but we need to run up to the hospital for a bit," Jeff informed him.
"No problem, is there an issue or something," Leroy asked.
"Jeff just needs to stop there for a bit, if that's okay," Aaron responded. Aaron and Jeff decided not to tell Leroy and just take him up there, less of a hassle or fight.
"Again, no problem, I've had a wonderful day so far." Leroy smiled.
They drove straight to the hospital, and on the way, they informed Dave where to meet them. They walked straight to the testing area, and Jeff's friend and the neurosurgeon met them outside the scanning room. "Hey Jeff, of course, you know Dr. Blake Harding, he wants to assess your brother before they do the scan." Jeff nodded as Dave rounded the corner to the testing wing. Leroy looked right at him.
"What's going on?" Leroy asked.
"Sorry Leroy, Dave asked me to watch you today, he noticed you were losing your balance a lot lately. I agree there is something wrong, and it's why we are here at the hospital." Leroy just looked at everyone, Pat and Chris didn't know anything.
"Leroy, have you noticed issues with your balance?" Dr. Harding asked.
"Not, really." Leroy started thinking back, he couldn't remember ever losing his balance.
"Headaches?" Dr. Harding asked as Dave was nodding, Leroy wasn't looking at him.
"Yeah, I have had a lot of headaches lately."
"Any stress going on right now?"
"Just the normal issues which have been in my life for a few years now, but nothing out of the ordinary." Leroy responded.
"May I ask what your stress is and how many years?" Dr. Harding asked.
"Three years ago this June, my mother stopped talking with me, which is really the only thing. Other than that, I generally let things roll off my back." Dave again nodded to this statement.
"I take from this man's nods, he's your partner?"
"Yeah, how'd you guess? Other than him nodding or shaking his head to every statement I make." Leroy smiled at Dave. "This is the reason my mother stopped talking to me, she found out our secret."
Dr. Harding told him he would like to do the scan anyway, it may be nothing, but they should check anyway. Leroy okayed the procedure and was taken right in. Once the scan was performed, Leroy was asked to wait in the waiting area so Dr. Harding could look it over.
When Leroy walked into the waiting area, he looked at everyone. "What the fuck was that? I'm fine, I don't know why you think I've got something going on?" He almost shouted at Dave and Jeff. He didn't notice or care; there were other people in the waiting area.
"Leroy, I'm just worried about you, really you have been losing your balance. I'd catch you stepping sideways to regain it, and at first, I didn't think much of it, but then you were doing it more frequently. I love you, I'm just worried. I asked Jeff to watch you and see if he noticed it too, or if it was just me."
"Leroy, you really don't notice you're stepping sideways to keep yourself from falling?" Jeff asked.
"No, really, I haven't."
"Well, then maybe this is nothing, but at least we're getting it checked out," Jeff responded.
Leroy sat down next to Dave, they were sitting in a corner away from most of the people in the waiting room, so when Dr. Harding walked in, he walked over and sat down.
