For god's sake! He was only human, after all. Humans made mistakes—wasn't that what everyone always said? One mistake—one—and he was history.

The way Ethan saw it, Brian had made a thousand mistakes. Whether Justin agreed or not, the way Ethan saw it, every time Brian slept with anyone who wasn't Justin—that was a horrible, horrible mistake. How could anyone ever want something that wasn't Justin? Doing it once—that was a momentary lapse of judgment—you know what the doctors all say about the minds of young people. About how they're still maturing and so their common sense doesn't always kick in when it should, and all. Doing it once was reasonable, it was a mistake. It should never have happened.

But doing it more than once… Ethan corrected what he had previously thought. Brian Kinney had not made a thousand mistakes. Brian Kinney was just stupid. Maybe you could look at Ethan like he had Justin on a pedestal or something, but everything he thought about Justin was true—he was beautiful, he was talented, and he had one of the kindest hearts this side of Gandhi. How Brian could ever want to fuck anyone else when Justin wanted him was just unfathomable to Ethan. What Ethan had done—that wasn't choosing someone else over Justin. That was simply needing Justin so entirely at every waking moment. And when he couldn't have him… he…

Made a mistake. That's all. He was only human!

But Ethan knew, as people always do, that he was lying to himself. He hadn't done it because he missed Justin. He hadn't done it because he was horny and alone. He'd done it… because he'd wanted to see if he could get away with it. If he could get away with being like Brian. If Brian could fuck with half of gay Pittsburgh every week, and Justin would still go back to him, then why couldn't Ethan fuck one guy—one stupid guy who didn't even matter?

Somehow, even before he did it, Ethan knew that he could never be like Brian. Not in the way you're thinking—though, it does take a certain kind of person to be Pittsburgh's hottest gay somebody. No—Ethan meant that he knew he could never mean the same thing to Justin as Brian did. No matter how many times Justin said he loved Ethan, as long as Brian was there, Ethan could never really quite believe it.

Jesus Christ. Brian fucking Kinney was apparently a god. But Ethan was only human.

A/N: I always had a soft spot for Ethan. At the same time, though, I absolutely hate him. It's a complicated relationship we have, Mr. Gold and I. At any rate, I just felt like writing this because it's my first day back at school (bleh) and so I needed something to cheer me up. And that Justin/Ethan breakup is my favorite. Well, not my favorite scene, but definitely up there. "I NEVER forgave Brian! I didn't have to. Because he never promised me anything. You did." I love it. I don't even know why. Well, yes I do. Because it'd 307. Which leads to 308. Which means… dun da duh daaaa! The reunification scene. Yusss.