Lee Fallon

A new supply of drugs from Kavinsky in hand, Lee heads back home, his head full of instructions and thoughts, and, at the forefront, a promise he made to Kavinsky that he would be sure to have someone around to watch over him when he started taking the important ones, the ones that should, if things go to plan, get rid of Lee's cancer. He's not entirely sure yet what that will mean, if it will remove the threat entirely or just the tumors. Either way, he'll be happy. No tumors means no liver failure, it means his lungs won't start to fail and fill up with fluid. Even if he just goes into remission, it will mean an entirely new lease on life, which is more than Lee could ever hope for.

He's going to tell Eric tonight. As soon as Eric gets off work, Lee's going to sit him down and tell him everything.

The combination painkillers/anti-nausea meds Kavinsky gave Lee last week have been helping, and the tonic and magic Molly had offered doing even more for making Lee feel better. Still, the chemo's taking a lot of out of him, and though he isn't vomiting much anymore, he still gets tired pretty quickly. The walk over to his old apartment and back wipes him out, so once he's got his medication arranged in the cabinet in the bathroom, Lee lays down for a nap.

When he wakes up he has a sweet message on his phone from Eric, and he's even more excited now that it's later in the afternoon almost time for Eric to get off at the salon and come home to him. He feels like celebrating, the last day of this round of chemo, his PICC line out, the acquisition of magic made drugs that might do even more, so he puts a nice bottle of champagne in the refrigerator to chill, ordering Chinese food to be delivered about the time Eric should be arriving him. He's full of pleasant anticipation for the second time today, and he tries to sit still, but it's so hard. He finally has to put on music and close his eyes, meditate a little so he'll stop jumping at every noise that might be Eric's car pulling up out front or Eric's keys in the lock. Breathing slowly, he calms his mind as much as he can; the energy today feels positive, optimistic, and Lee absolutely can't wait to share it with the love of his life.

From here.

They take the stairs more slowly tonight than the did the first time they'd come here together, not quite in as big of a rush, and certainly more sober. Lee let's them in, but he doesn't move to take off his blazer this time, just goes into the kitchen, setting down the cup of glitter and going into his pantry. He's fitted it with a pretty reasonable system of wine racks, and the bottles of wine take up fifty percent of the space, the other half nearly empty because Lee is terrible about stocking food at home.

He looks through a few bottles until he finds a sweet Vouvray from 2014 that promises to be pretty good. It's not as high in alcohol as he promised Eric, but it will be very easy to drink, and quickly, so not a bad place to start. He pulls a Riesling while he's in there as well, and he takes both to the counter to remove the corks, smelling each cork as he pulls it from the bottle.

Taking down two glasses, he fills them a third of the way with the Vouvray. "Okay, this is just the tasting pour," Lee says, meeting Eric's eyes. "After I show you how to taste it, I'll fill the glass the rest of the way," he assures Eric.

"First things first, hold the glass by the stem, not the bowl, like this," he shows Eric, grabbing the stem of his own glass about half an inch from the bowl, hooking his index finger around it and securing it with his thumb. "Then you smell it," he goes on, tipping his glass close to his nose, taking a heavy inhalation of the wine's bouquet. "And once your nose is full of the smell, you take a little in your mouth. But don't swallow right away," he says, giving Eric a heated little grin. "Roll it around in your mouth for a minute, over your tongue, then swallow." He gives Eric a demonstration, taking a small sip, holding it in his mouth, tasting all the nuances of the flavors, then swallowing.