Amnesia

Adam/Brian, Eric/Sonny and Mark


"Brian. Sonny is it really you?" The two men spun around and saw a man about
their age, flashing them a smile. He had dusty, brown hair and hazel eyes. He
was wearing low slung jeans and a Nike T-shirt.

Sonny looked at Brian who shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry," Sonny said "You
obviously know us but we can't bring you to mind."

This was not uncommon for the two brothers; they'd both been in numerous foster
homes so there were quite a few people around that could call them brother. It
was pretty rare for someone to greet them both.

"It's Mark. Mark Counter."

A light came on in Sonny's brain, "You're Brad and Alice's natural son." he
said, and Brian after a puzzled moment clicked also.

He'd forgotten about his foster parents, the Counters. It had been them that
had found him and Sonny in a bed together at 16. Brian had been comforting his
brother after he'd had a nightmare, but Brad Counter would not believe him. He'd
always counted himself lucky he didn't remember much of what happened in the
hour it had taken a social worker to turn up.

He could have bitten his tongue as he said the first thing out of his mouth,
"Your Dad still as homophobic as ever?" Adam held him to a higher standard than
that, and even Sonny winced. Brian was only vaguely surprised when Mark took a
swing at him. His first thought was "How the hell do I explain a black eye to
Adam." He backed up holding a hand up. He'd learnt that fighting in the street
was not a bright move. He really didn't need for Adam to pick him up from a
police station again. "Hey Mark. I'm sorry, that was totally uncalled for.
Truce?"

"You two always did fight." Sonny observed from a safe distance. "The number of
times you had to explain black eyes, bloody noses and bruises in strange place
were legendary." Brian and Mark just looked at him, looked at each other,
laughed and shook hands. The three men went for a drink, then another and then
even more.

Eric was not amused when Sonny arrived home, especially after Sonny admitted to
being dropped off by a very drunk Brian. His plea of "It was only a k," did not
save him from a hard paddling.

Brian was well and truly caught out by Brian. The strapping he received sobered
him up remarkably quickly. The next morning as he mournfully stood up eating his
cornflakes. Adam inquired casually "How did you get the eye."

"Would you believe I have amnesia surrounding last night?" Brian replied
hopefully.