"So?"

"So what?"

"Ohhhh no! Don't you ‘so what' me, mister! How did you do?"

Daniel pulled his car keys out of his bag and continued walking towards his car in silence. Molly stopped a few feet away and he continued on to the passenger side. Silence could only mean one thing. She sighed, wondering how to go about dealing with the disappointment of a bad grade. A bad grade that would definitely hurt his grade point average. Something he really didn't need since three out of the four college scouts that wanted to recruit him stressed the importance of good grades over baseball.

Before she could launch into a speech filled with the ever awkward ‘you'll do better next time' and ‘it's just one test', Daniel turned back towards her with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"You bastard!" She cried, jumping into his arms. "You passed?" He nodded. "I can't believe you made me think you had failed. After all the studying we did to prepare!"

"Oh, ye of little faith," he teased, kissing her forehead gently.

"I have complete faith in you," she whispered sincerely. "So what did you get? How did you do?"

"See for yourself." He passed over the paper and she gasped.

"I don't believe it."

"What?"

"I hate you."

"Why?"

"I just...don't believe this shit!"

"What is it?!" He asked frantically.

Molly looked up at him through slitted eyes. "You made better than me, you freak!"

Daniel began laughing and soon had to lean back against the car to keep from falling down in his near-hysterical fit. Finally he noticed Molly's mock pout and pulled her towards him and into his arms. "How bad's the damage?"

"Only four points, but still!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you." He kissed her forehead once again. "One." Then her chin. "Two." Then her nose. "Three."

Just as he neared her lips, she moved forward to meet him. Lost in the moment. Lost in the heated kiss. They had no recollection of where they were or what was happening outside of the being that was Molly and Daniel fused together. "Four," she whispered against his now bright red lips. "All better."

"Good." They kissed again quickly as he held the car door open for her and Molly wondered just when she had gone from being annoyed by this type of thing, to needing and loving it desperately. "So how about we go out and celebrate?" Daniel began as soon as they left the school parking lot.

"Can't. Have to do some work."

"I thought you were off tonight."

"I am. I meant school work." She began picking at an invisible spot on her jeans. Anything to avoid looking at him. Luckily he didn't notice or at least he chose to ignore it.

"Yeah? Well...maybe we could study together."

"Daniel...I don't think-"

"Wait. Is this about the whole ‘we spend too much time together' thing again? I mean...I know I was at your house all weekend, but you were sick the entire time. That hardly counts as hangout time."

"Daniel!" She put a hand on his thigh to capture his attention. As soon as she did, she felt the muscles in his legs tense and bunch beneath her finger. She bit her lip. Visions of her fingers trailing up his naked body...feeling the play of the sinewy muscles beneath her fingertips...

"Molly?!"

"What?" She asked, feeling somewhat dazed by the impromptu day dream.

"I asked if you were okay. You spaced out again."

"Oh...sorry."

"You've been doing that all week. What's the matter?"

Got an hour or three? "Nothing," she said, quite convincingly.

"Yeah right. I might not know you inside and out yet but I do know when you're putting things off."

Damn him and his ability to read her so well! "Really. I'm just...tired. Probably still a little worn out from that virus."

As they were idling at a red light, he looked her up and down, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. When he put his arm across the back of her seat and relaxed, she knew that she had won the battle if not the war. "So you'll rest tonight."

This brought a frown to her face. Though she was sure that the comment had been just that. A casual observation. The words held an underlying sadness. And she felt it too. It wasn't as if he were going all dependant on her. She wanted to be with him just as much if not more. But something kept telling her to distance herself. Not to let things go any further than they already had. The feeling had been eating at her all week and Daniel had dealt with every odd, unexplained mood she had gone through, without complaint and without any major fights.

"Your parents home yet?"

"Nah," he said, pulling up to the curb outside of the townhouse. "Dad's still in business meetings and mom has been shopping her heart out in, and I quote, ‘the most faaaaaabulous little boutiques in Beverly Hills'. I wanted so bad to laugh when she said that too. Sounded JUST like Em." Molly giggled at the thought of comparing his mother to Emmett and leaned over, pecking Daniel on the neck. "What was that for?"

She shrugged. "Cuz I love you."

Daniel's face froze and he closed his eyes slowly. Little by little, a soft smile appeared on his face. His skin seemed to be glowing and his eyes opened again to reveal that they were indeed shining. "D...Do you realize, that's the first time you've ever said that to me?"

Molly nodded, still a little unsure of what his reaction meant. At least, until she heard his very loud shout. A mixture between a cry for victory and a generally happy woot. She covered her ears and shrieked as he began to kiss her madly, quickly, fiercely, passionately,...lovingly.

"Oh Molly...I love you. IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou!" He whispered between kisses.

"Oh yeah?" She smirked, pulling back a few inches to look into his bright green eyes. "How much?"

He answered her with a leer as he pulled her back to him.

***

"Oh...yeah. That feels good."

"Hmm... You feel good."

"Ohhhh! Not...so bad...yourself."

"Tell me what you want."

"You fucking KNOW...ahhhhh...what I want."

"Hmm...I dunno. It's been a while," Brian murmured as he nipped at the skin just below Justin's ear. "Maybe I don't remember."

Justin snorted softly as he struggled to keep some semblance of rational thought. "Well...they do say the memory...is the first thing to go." He smiled innocently as Brian abruptly pulled back to gape at him.

"Why you little shit!" He pulled the throw pillow from beneath Justin's head and hit his chest with it.

Justin sat up, with Brian still straddling his hips. Making as if he was going to wrap his arms around Brian's waist, he grabbed the other throw pillow from the other end of the sofa and stealthily hit Brian in the back of the head.

"You are sooo gonna get it now," Brian warned.

Justin smirked up at him, a look of renewed and intensified hunger flashing in his eyes. "Promise?"

Words were no longer needed as Brian began pulling Justin's tshirt over his head. Justin struggled to unbutton Brian's dress shirt with one hand, as the other was still tangled in the sleeve of his own shirt.

Pants proved to be an even more difficult matter since neither man wanted to move from where they were and they couldn't seem to bear a separation of lips. Denim and silk melded together, rubbing harshly against one another as their legs became entangled. The material did little to disguise the sensation of two impressive erections pressing hotly against one another. Fighting their own war of dominance.

"Justin..." Brian whispered reverently. Justin mewled softly in response, as Brian broke away from his mouth long enough to pay homage to his neck and chest with his lips and tongue and teeth. Justin was quite sure Brian intended to brand him in some way as his mouth burned fiery trails along his collarbone.

Finally, Justin reached for the front of Brian's pants. He had been denied this addiction for too long. It was time to fall off the wagon.

The minute his fingers were wrapped around the thick red member, Brian hissed a few curses and threw his head back in abandon. If his reaction was anything to go by, Justin was now convinced that Brian had indeed missed out on the night life of Tokyo.

Just as Justin's tongue had begun it's descent upon the head of Brian's leaking cock, a loud cough alerted him to another presence in the room. Frozen in a somewhat comical position, Justin bit his lip and let his hands drop.

Brian, who was still blissfully unaware of their unexpected company, looked down to see what the problem was. "What?" He asked, when he noticed Justin turning a particularly beautiful shade of crimson.

"Didn't mean to interrupt!" Molly called out cheerfully.

Brian's head whipped around and he smirked at the pair standing by the door. From what Justin could see, the teens looked as though they were trying to decide whether to laugh or blush and run away. He desperately wished that they would choose the latter.

He watched as Brian carefully placed himself back in his pants, the hard-on fast fading, and jump up to greet his sister. "Hey kid," he said, catching her in a bone crushing bear hug.

"Hey Bri," she giggled as he held her in the air for a moment. "Good trip?"

"Boring as hell actually."

"Get me anything?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes and bringing out her best doe-eyes.

"Geez! That was the second thing out of your brother's mouth too! What is it with you two? You'd think I was Daddy Warbucks the way you carry on, sometimes."

"Leapin Lizards!" Daniel called out randomly, nearly matching Carol Burnett's Ms. Hannigan voice perfectly.

Molly looked at him out of the corner of her eye and patted his arm gently as if she were reassuring a mental patient.

Justin rolled his eyes but laughed remembering that he and Daniel had actually caught half of the original Annie on television that past weekend.

"Anyway..." Brian began, trying to ignore Hobbs altogether. "Yes. I got you something."

Molly grinned and clasped her hands under her chin, beaming up at Brian as she was want to do. "Thaaaaaaaank yooooooooooou," she drawled sweetly.

Brian shook his head, hiding a smile. "I'll leave it in your room." He fished his wallet out handed over two twenties to the girl. "Now scram!"

Molly looked from the money that now rested in her upturned palm, to Justin, to Brian and back to the money. "Why are you two always trying to get rid of me?"

"Not always Mol," Justin called out from where he was still perched on the sofa. "Just when there's much sex to be had."

"Yeah. Lots of sex. Gay sex. Me. And your brother. Fucking."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Ya know, as gross a thought as that should be to me, I think I've developed an immunity to it." Then she noticed Daniel slowly backing up towards the front door looking only slightly pale. "But...I guess Daniel isn't ready for hearing the full on Brian/Justin sex-o-rama soundtrack. So I'll thank you for the unnecessary but very much appreciated cash," she leaned up to kiss Brian's cheek, "and we'll be off."

"Byee!" Justin yelled. "Call if you're gonna be late!"

"Yeah right!" Molly yelled back.

After hearing the front door bang shut and then the lock turned, Brian turned back to see Justin, already beautifully naked and sprawled out upon the steps leading towards the top floor. Justin stared up at him hotly and licked his still kiss-swollen lips in anticipation.

Kneeling astride Justin, a knee on either side of his hips, Brian wondered just what sort of difficulty rating was given for sex on stairs.

***

Babylon. They had been headed towards Babylon. He knew that. They were going to celebrate passing Barnes' poetry exam. How they ended up in the driveway of his home was completely beyond his comprehension.

Molly, who was staring out of her window quietly, looked more than a little bit daunted by the sudden change of plans. "Did...you want to change or something?" she asked, finally turning towards him.

He shook his head and shrugged. "I'm not really sure why..."

But at the same time, it had been in the back of his mind all week. The reason they were there. It all went back to what Chelsea had asked him at the party.

Has she met your family yet?

It was a simple enough question. Perfectly harmless to the innocent bystander. But history, as it usually did, told an entirely different story.

They had dated for nearly four months before Daniel had finally been bullied into bringing Chelsea home to meet the parents. This, of course, was during one of their little travel breaks, when they came home and decided to completely butt into his life. As if a month of controlling his every move would make up for eleven months of neglecting him altogether.

Chelsea had been completely adored by his parents - mind you, that was only after they had done a thorough background check on her and her family. She was a ‘dear girl' according to his mother. And his father had noticed right away that she would be ‘the perfect type to settle down with'. That was just what every boy needed to hear at the tender age of seventeen. And if that hadn't been enough to top things off, he found out that his brother approved of her too.

At one time, that might have meant something. But after finding Chris ‘approving' of Chelsea in the pool house, he had been pretty adamant about ending things.

This was all to his mother's chagrin, as she had been so looking forward to being in-laws with such a lovely couple as the Judge and Mrs. King.

Now...Now there was Molly. And though he wanted to believe in her one optimistic theory that love would prevail, he had to be realistic enough to realize if he wanted to be with Molly, there was a very good chance of a civil war coming into play within the Hobbs family.

"So...are we going in?" she asked, looking at him curiously.

He sighed and looked through the windshield at the two-story brick mansion that served as his family's home. House was a more appropriate word. Justin and Molly...theirs was a home. What could he possibly accomplish by taking her in there?

She smiled, warming to the idea after a few minutes of thought. "C'mon," she shook his arm playfully. "I wanna see your room."

This finally got a smile out of him. Molly was a hopeless snoop sometimes. In the best way possible though. She was always looking for ways to learn more about people. About how their minds worked. That, along with her poetic soul, would someday make her one of the best writers imaginable. And seeing his room, according to her way of thinking, would be like visiting the core of Daniel Hobbes' universe.

"Okay. You can see my room. On one condition." She looked up at him expectantly. "You can't laugh."

A tight-lipped smile lit up her face and she rolled her eyes. "Daniel...there is a six-foot poster of a gay super hero on my wall. Believe me when I say I won't laugh."

He looked at her for all of five seconds before cracking a smile and nodding. "Okay. Come on."

***

"Justin!"

"Brian!"

"Oh...oh god...JUSTIN!"

"Briiiiiian!"

"So fuckin...hot."

"Harder! Fuck me harder!"

"Mmm...oh..."

"Yes! Brian...oh...I'm...I'm gonna.."

"Do it. Yeah, baby. Cum for me!"

"Ahhhh....ugh! Brian...Brian!

"Justin!"

"Justin?" came a third voice.

"Hmmm...Huh?" Brian paused, looking down at the panting figure beneath him. "Did you...hear...?"

"Justin? You here?"

"FUCK!" Justin growled. "Novotny...I swear I'm gonna kick your ass," he muttered, from where he was pinned under Brian's suddenly limp figure. "Get up." Brian rolled over onto his side, now lying between Justin and the back of the sofa. Justin reached for his abandoned boxers that were draped over a lampshade and tugged them on just as Michael made his way upstairs and into the living room.

"Good grief! Can't you two even make it to the bedroom?" He cried, noticing Brian's state of undress.

"Yeah Mikey. We're just so wacky. Sex on a couch. What a new concept!"

"Besides that...this is MY home. If you're just so offended by the idea of US having sex on MY couch, you can just take YOUR emergency key and move along," Justin said pointedly. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"We're going to Babylon. Don't suppose you'd want to come? To Babylon that is," he smirked.

"Some other time, Mikey."

Justin looked back at Brian. His arm was thrown across his eyes and the rest of him was still glistening with sweat. He felt himself beginning to harden...again. "Yeah. Brian's jet lagged. I have an early class to teach tomorrow. Why don't we go out tomorrow night?" He suggested, ushering Michael back towards the front door.

"Yeah...sure. Um, and we need to work on some new promotional designs for Rage, so...maybe we can do that this weekend?"

"I'm there. Just call me later, ok?"

Michael looked over Justin's shoulder at Brian and then smiled conspiratorially. "So..asked him to move in yet?" He whispered.

Justin's entire body stiffened and he glared at Michael, pushing him physically towards the door. "BYE Mikey!" He knew the man had only meant to tease him, but obviously he had never really noticed how good his best friend's hearing really was.

Sure enough, as soon as he turned back, Brian was standing not five feet from him, one threatening eyebrow raised and his arms folded across his chest. "What was that?"

"Its Michael's idea of a joke."

"Justin...you would tell me if..."

"If what?"

Brian frowned, looking unsure of what to say, or not liking what he was going to have to say. "You aren't, like...wanting more or something. Are you?"

Justin looked at the far wall, the couch, the chair, the lamp, the television, the books in the bookcase...anywhere but at his lover. "Not...no."

"No?"

"No, not really. It's just that...well, Michael said that-"

"Michael said? Fuck, Justin! You of all people should know to ignore him. Especially when he's in a relationship. Suddenly he thinks he's Dr Ruth or Dear Abby or some shit."

Justin gritted his teeth, torn between wanting to speak his mind and wanting to hold things together. Two things that he knew could not happen simultaneously.

"Besides, we know how something like that would play out."

"That's it!" Justin exploded. "Brian, I know what kind of shit we put each other through when we were really together. It was ridiculous. But we've had like five or six years to grow up."

"So you're saying we should what? Try to be together because we might be able to make it this time?"

"No. I'm not saying that."

"Doesn't sound that way to me."

"Well it wouldn't, would it? I mean, you only hear what you wanna hear anyway, right?"

Brian's mask was now in place and he was fighting with the unfair advantage of no readable emotions. Something Justin had never really mastered. "Fine. I'm listening. You have my full undivided attention. Say what you need to say."

He was being called out. Though he had never wanted it to come out this way, he knew this was going to be his only chance. "Alright," he sidestepped Brian and found a perch on the arm of the couch. Brian stood across the room, but he could swear that he could still feel the man's breath upon his skin. "Brian, we're already together. I mean...we fuck all the time. The tricks mean nothing, I get that, but I'm ready to move beyond it all. I'm tired of trolling for guys. Cruising for a cheap imitation of the real thing," he made sure the meet Brian's eyes on the last words, showing him with his eyes that he meant every bit of it.

"So what? What would moving beyond it all entail?" he took a small step towards Justin, but the younger man was smarter than to think it was an encouraging sign. "No more tricks? Moving in together? Commitment ceremony in Vermont and a house with a white picket fence and a dog? Or...maybe a cat?"

"You're being unfair. Not to mention melodramatic."

"I'm melodramatic? Excuse me, but I bow to the queen of all drama queens!"

Now he was beginning to avoid the issue. Justin knew he should take the opening and run with it. Pretend like nothing had really been said. Laugh it off and live to see another day. But now that he was wound up, he wasn't sure he COULD stop.

"Brian, I love what we have. And you know I love you. I don't want to mess things up, but I just want there to be some possibility of maybe...an us. A real ‘US'."

"You've been reading too many Harlequin romances," Brian scoffed, trying yet another joke to derail the entire conversation.

It was as good as Justin was going to get, he realized suddenly. Brian wasn't storming out. He wasn't throwing angry words in his face...much. He was trying to slow the whole thing down. Trying to keep things from reaching Def Con 1.

Justin nodded and stood up to embrace the man that was now towering over him. "Okay. I can take a hint, Kinney. I'll shut up."

"Thank god for small favors!" His ass received a firm pop and he glared down at Justin menacingly. "Right. That's it!"

Justin was off like a shot and Brian chased after him as he bounded up the stairs and towards his bedroom, laughing excitedly all the way.

To Be Continued...