The Art of Life and Love: The Third Trial

  Why hello all! Welcome to the third year, 2012 in our series: The Art of Life and Love: The Third Trial. As the title suggests, this will be a year of struggles for our good pals, Dillon and Tony. They have grown into two exceptional young men since the start of my er- Dillon's story. Of course, neither of them are perfect. Both have had their fair of challenges and failures, but they've had successes and triumphs galore as well. One thing remains true throughout it all, however. Regardless of the trial, they would conquer it to make it through to the light at the end of the tunnel. 

  The past year had been a turbulent one. Many things happened, some good, some bad. Dillon turned eighteen at the end of 2011. Before that though, he passed his driver's exam, bought a car that Tony promptly pimped out, and had a blast with his friends over the summer. At one point, Tony and he even snuck away to Wildwood for a weekend. At the end of that summer, they had their week long Wildwood trip and grew even closer as a couple. Tony, Dillon, and his folks grew closer as a family as well. It made him so happy that Tony had gotten so close and at midnight on Christmas eve, the two of them finally took the plunge and made love.

  So as noted, many wonderful things had happened to Dillon. On the flip side, there were many unfortunate things that strained their relationship as well. Early that summer, he broke his right arm and had to get a cast up to right below his elbow. That had made the rest of his summer a chore and if he wanted to swim at all, he had to wrap a trash bag around it. Not only did he suffer the pain of a broken arm, he also discovered a very troubling addiction to Tramadol, the pain killer he was prescribed. While he dealt with that on and off, he had to deal with the agony of the worst betrayal one could imagine. Tony had laid with his "friend" Ethan's love interest behind Dillon's back, but he found out. 

  Though it had almost destroyed them, with some tears and emotional talks, they pushed through. Not even an indiscretion such as Tony's could separate them. That shouldn't fool anyone, however. Dillon was dead serious that if it happened again, there would be no forgiveness to be had. Their intimacy had taken a hit for a while after too and Dillon checked his phone at random sometimes out of distrust, but they eventually found their way back to each other. On the same day that they found their way back to one another, they even fulfilled their dearest wish and went all the way. It was fantastic and Dillon couldn't believe how much closer together it brought them. Well, if he went by how affectionate and downright bashful Tony had been, anyway.

  Tony himself had had quite the year as well. Over the course of the year, he grew closer and closer to his brother, Ethan. Dillon doesn't yet know that Tony lied about Ethan's true relation to him. It wasn't as if he wanted to lie about it, but he had his reasons. You see, Ethan was an addict and had been addicted to heroin before the start of our story. At the end of the day, he saw it as his job to keep Dillon safe and away from such influences, so he hid Ethan's existence until he was clean for a year. It was a risk to have him around sure, but one Tony deemed worthy. A year later, he knew it was the right choice to give him a chance. Ethan made it to a year clean and he had started to think about how he should introduce him to Dillon. Near the end of the previous year, Tony also finally admitted out loud to him that he had a brother in the first place. 

  Not only did he get his brother back and grow a lot as a person, but Tony also narrowed his field of view at work. His old schedule combined with Dillon's meant that they didn't see one another all too often. The solution had been simple. All Tony did was focus more on classic cars and bikes, and his workload lightened because of it. Besides, the classics were more fun to work on anyway and he got a lot more time with Dillon. It wasn't easy to forget how much more per job he would earn as well. 

  The upcoming year had a lot in store, just like any other. It would be quite the task to make it through in one piece. It will require a certain grit, stamina, and love that both men will need to keep in their back pockets if they want to be successful. If they weren't careful, they'd find the smallest of hurdles in life would trip them up. Probably the most important thing they had to work on if they wanted to weather the storm was communication. Tony in particular struggles in that area, although Dillon has his failures there too. 

  A concept like communication was too important to ignore. Gradually over the past year, it seemed that Tony had learned a lot on the topic, but he still had a way to go. It was clearly difficult for him to articulate in words at times and even to this day, Tony would still sometimes refuse to be straightforward. It was sort of ironic how in recent times, Tony's communication and honesty generally increased, while Dillon's had actually decreased. Considerably. That was a major problem and he acknowledged it, though the power of addiction was great. If he wanted any hope of a happy end, then he needed to push past his fear and shame to tell Tony about his addiction. There was much that Dillon voluntarily didn't share. Transparency should be the first thing he worked on.

  The first thing that Tony should focus on should be trust. No matter how many times he was told he was loved, or if he did something he thought was wrong, he was always so hard on himself. He didn't trust Dillon's word that he was an awesome person, but even in that area, he had improved. There was guilt that still weighed on Tony's heart over his unfaithfulness, no matter how many times he repeated to himself that he had moved on from it. If he could trust that Dillon forgave and trusted him again, he could get past that guilt and save a lot of mental energy. Before his betrayal of Dillon's trust, he had also had an issue with his attraction to women. After his betrayal however, he worked hard to earn Dillon's trust back and hadn't even thought about anybody else but him since. 

  So basically, our two friends have grown in some ways and regressed in others. You see, that's the thing about being human. Nothing and nobody in this universe is perfect, but we all try our best. We have our moments where we succeed and become better people. We also have our moments where we stumble down a troublesome path that we must find our way back from. If we work hard and take the lessons we learn in life to heart, we can grow more than we devolve. It's also important for us to face forward. Of course, if history is not acknowledged, it will be doomed to repeat itself, but in general, face forward to the future and don't look back and risk getting stuck in the past.

  The future is a scary thing. It scares everyone, since it's unknown. Dillon and Tony's future as they went into 2012 for example, scared the shit out of both of them. They couldn't even begin to imagine the trials and challenges they would face this upcoming year. The mere prospect loomed over them constantly and the shadow of the unknown made their hearts uneasy. That uneasiness, if they share it with one another and lean on each other, will be of no consequence. Anything the world throws at them, if they rely on the strength of their bond, will fail to make contact every time.