Somewhere Over The Rainbow

For several years, I have wanted to do a Queer as Folk crossover between the UK & US series. I had a scenario in mind, but never got it down. This is not it. However, I did take the Weekend Challenge prompt (which is the first sentence in the fic) from 1_million_words and got Stuart, Vince, Nathan, Michael, and Brian together for a little ficlet.



“And that meant they knew something was up,” Stuart said, laughing.

Ah, America. Another city large enough to have a gay bar. This city seemed to be mainly industrial, full of blue-collar type people outside the gay district. Inside the gay district, it seemed to be the same men in the same fashions dancing to the same techno beats that we’d heard from San Francisco to Chicago to New York.

And every last one of those men were attracted to Stuart. The bastard. He’d find himself a quiet corner and wait and soon he’d acquire a legion of followers that he could choose from.

Sorry, boys, but he’ll be going home with me.

Still, I had to mill around and let it play out, hear Stuart tell the same stories, the ones that made all the hangers-on laugh.

“And then what happened?” asked a young man with bright eyes that reminded me of a young Nathan Maloney.

“We asked them to join in, of course.” This was followed by laughter from the gents at the table. I had had enough. I walked over to the bar and ordered a drink.

“Put it on my tab,” said the man beside me.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re English,” he declared, sounding surprised.

“All my life.”

“From the land of ‘Doctor Who.’”

I smiled. Who knew that I would find a kindred spirit in Pittsburgh of all places? “You watch?”

“Of course,” he replied and then delivered his Dalek imitation, “Exterminate, exterminate.”

I laughed politely and extended my hand. “Vincent Tyler.”

He shook my hand, introducing himself as Michael Novotny.

“Are you from here?”

“All my life,” he said, echoing my earlier statement. He nodded toward Stuart. “Is he yours?”

“It’s complicated,” I said.

“We have more in common than an appreciation of British sci-fi. Mine’s over there.” Michael pointed toward a skinny man in a leather jacket, holding court in the opposite corner of the bar.

“Maybe they should meet.”

“They’re too alike. Hunters on the prowl for their next conquest.”

“Why does he keep looking over at Stuart?”

“Oh, he’s not looking at your companion. He’s looking at Justin. Don’t let your friend take him home or you’ll never be rid of him.”

“It’s Nathan Maloney all over again.”

“Vince! Bring me a beer!” Stuart yelled.

I signaled for the bartender. I could barely hear Michael’s voice over the noise when he asked quietly, “What’s it like?”

“You mean, you two… haven’t?”

“It’s…”

“Complicated, I know. What’s it like? Weird, at first, and a little scary. Now, I don’t know, it’s just us. There’s still a lot to put up with, but it’s worth it.”

“Vince!” Stuart bellowed. That was the voice he had when he had tired of a place.

“Coming!” I yelled at him, taking a bottle of beer from the bartender. “Good luck,” I said to Michael.

I walked over to the table to rejoin Stuart and the others. “Who was that?” Stuart asked.

“Me. Four years ago.”