Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Other Four-Letter Words

by Michael Ausiello

Nothing else in my life brought me the kind of immeasurable joy—not my job, not my family, not my friends—as sitting across from Kit at Barnes & Noble, passing magazines back and forth to him. It was easy. Comfortable. Fun.

My heart, meanwhile, was now completely full. Even though he hadn’t said a single word to me, it was one of the most intimate nights I had ever spent with Kit. And Kit’s resurgence continued into the afternoon.

And then it hit me: It was privacy he craved more than anything. He just wanted to pee in a bathroom by himself like a normal human being. He was fighting to hang on to what little dignity he had left. I had never been more in love or felt more empathy for another human being than I did in this moment.

“He will go when he is ready to go. And if you’re not present, that means he wanted to spare you that moment.”