"Well, well, well, least I'm 100% sure I'm not living with a dyke now." Brian laughed. "So, when are you going to see Mr. Wonderful again?"
"He's taking me out to dinner tonight." Daphne seemed to be off in her own little world. "I think this guy is definitely boyfriend material."
"So I guess he's gonna be sleeping over if this works out, huh?" Brian made a show of groaning. "You two had better keep it down, hearing straight sex in the next room could make me lose my hard on permanently." Daphne laughed.
"Never going to happen. You have a perma-hard on like no one else I know." She said. "So, speaking of your cock, who was last night's victim? He must have already left by the time I got home."
"No victim." Brian said with a sly smile. "It was dyke night. I gave Justin a ride home, but we said goodbye before he got out of the car."
"Didn't want to fuck you, huh?" Daphne grinned, assuming that her over-sexed friend got shot down.
"No." Brian replied with a little grin on his face. "He invited me up but I said no." He became even more amused as he watched realization of what he just said dawn on his friend's face.
"You, Brian Kinney, turned down an invitation into that little cutie's bed?" Daphne asked incredulously. She had never seen Brian turn down a hot guy before.
"Why is that so shocking?" He asked, putting up his best innocent front. He knew it wasn't going to get him anywhere, Daphne knew him too well for that, but it was worth at least a try.
"Don't act so innocent. I know you too well. You're a man whore, Bri."
"Gee, thanks." Brian shoved his tongue against his cheek. "Ever think that I might want more from this kid that just a fuck?" He watched Daphne's face for several seconds as she processed what he was telling her. He couldn't wait to hear what she had to say.
"Jesus! You really do like this kid!" Daphne was shocked. When she found out that he let the blond spend the night at the apartment, she knew that he wasn't some run of the mill trick, but she had never imagined that Brian would like him that much.
"Stop the presses." Brian said dryly as he rolled his eyes.
"Stop the fucking act, Bri. This is a totally new thing for you. You haven't had a boyfriend since..." Daphne stopped. In the shocked state she was in, she had forgotten that talking about Brian's ex was forbidden territory.
"You can say his name, Daph. Jamie." Brian knew that his being able to talk about it would shock his roommate. He had always kept talking about his one relationship in the off-limits category, but now that he was possibly on the verge of having another relationship, he figured he might as well find a way to talk about the guy who soured him on relationships in the first place.
"Ok, you haven't had a boyfriend since Jamie. So what's the deal with this kid?" Daphne asked, overcoming her shock.
"I donno. I like him, I guess." The look on Brian's face told her that he would never tell her anything again if what he was saying left that room.
"Well, well, well..." Daphne looked at him and tried to decide what else to say about his revelation. She would normally have teased him relentlessly, but she knew that if she did he would close up and stop telling her anything other than it was her day to take out the trash. "What are you going to do about it?"
"That's where I'm fucked. I have no idea what to do. Sex is easy, I'm awesome at that part, it's the relationship shit that I'm clueless about." Brian took a big gulp from his coffee and waited for words of wisdom from his roommate.
"Take it slow." Daphne advised. "Don't base it on fucking, that's where most relationships go wrong. Get to know him. Let him know you." Brian wasn't sure how to react to what Daphne was telling him. He was very cautious when it came to opening up to someone for fear of getting hurt and since Jamie left him, he hadn't opened up entirely to anyone.
"No fucking?" He asked, refusing to go into the part about opening up right away.
"I didn't say no fucking, I said don't base it on fucking. If you do that, it'll only work as long as you're both happy with having a superficial relationship." Daphne pondered a moment. "And I have a feeling that little Justin wouldn't be happy with that for very long and you'd both end up getting hurt."
"So I have to do all the sentimental bullshit like telling him about my childhood and my dreams and goals?" Brian sneered.
"Not all at once." Daphne chuckled. Her friend was such a smart guy, yet so clueless about any human interaction that went beyond fucking that it stunned her sometimes. "Take it slow, but actually take the time to get to know each other. Ask him about himself, answer him with something sincere instead of sarcasm when he asks about you. Stuff like that."
"I'll try." Brian said shaking his head. He wasn't so sure he was ready for what he was getting into. Complete honesty didn't come easy to him at all. He looked at the clock. "Grr, I have to go. The Catholic Church calls."
***
"All she wanted to do was cuddle! When she asked me back to her place I thought for sure that the outfit had worked and that she wanted me! Gawd! If I wanted to cuddle, I could cuddle with you, my big gay teddy bear." Lindsay ranted. She and Justin were sitting on his couch watching Disney's Hercules and eating Ritz crackers.
"Gee, thanks." Justin rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just ask her to fuck you already? If I hear much more about it, I'm gonna fuck you myself."
"Someone's in a mood this morning." Lindsay pouted. "I thought you'd be in a great mood since you left with Brian last night." She had seen the two of them walk towards the door together and figured that her friend had gone home with the gorgeous senior.
"He drove me home." He said shooting her a look. "He kissed me and that was it. I invited him up and he made up some excuse about going to church with his mom this morning."
"Why do you think it was an excuse?"
"Brian Kinney in church? Picture it and then ask me that question again." Justin said shaking his head. Lindsay paused a moment and laughed.
"You're right. He would have the Priest in the confessional for an hour, probably give the poor guy a heart attack." Lindsay smiled. "But he kissed you, that's a good sign." Justin shrugged. "Why don't you call him up and see if he wants to get together."
"I don't have his phone number. Plus, I don't think Brian's big on dating. From what I've heard about him, a date is too much time for him to spend with one person unless that time is spent rolling around naked in bed." Justin laid his head on Lindsay's shoulder. "And, I mean, he's different with me than I've heard he is with other guys, but I just don't want to get my hopes up."
"I don't know what to tell you, Justin. I have absolutely no idea what goes on in a gay man's head." Lindsay wrapped her arm around him. The door opened and Anthony walked in. He'd left to drive Michael home before Justin woke up that morning.
"Where ya' been?" Justin asked. He looked at the clock and noticed that it was after noon. He'd been up since nine, so Anthony had been gone for over three hours at least.
"Michael thought we needed to talk." Anthony rolled his eyes. "He insisted we go out to his favorite spot, said he wanted to share it with me, and then he proceeded to tell me how he's never felt this close to anyone in his life and that he thinks that I'm, get this, the one!" Anthony walked over and squeezed onto the couch with Lindsay and Justin. "How do you break up with some guy who thinks he's in love with you after two days? He'll probably stalk me or something."
"Told ya so." Justin said, avoiding looking at his friend.
"Shut up, Mr. Know-It-All." Anthony groaned. "I need to get Michael off my back, like now."
"Tell him you'll meet him at Babylon and make sure he sees you leaving with someone else." Lindsay suggested. Justin and Anthony both looked at her, shocked.
"When the hell did you get so cold and heartless?" Justin asked when he finally found his voice again. He'd never heard anything like that come out of his ever-the-romantic friend's mouth.
"Think about it," Lindsay began. "Picking up some guy to bring back here to fuck isn't exactly a new thing for you. If the two of you haven't set any rules for your relationship you haven't given him any reason to think you'd stop, right?"
"You know, Linds, I think you may have the right idea. Not only will it get him to back off me, but he'll hate me too much to stalk me." A smile spread across Anthony's face. He stood and picked Lindsay up off the couch. "You're a genius!" He said, kissing her cheek.
"Why can't you give me any good advice?" Justin asked, pouting.
"I don't know how to get guys, but I've spent quite a lot of time getting rid of them." Lindsay said with a bit of an evil grin showing.
"What's the problem?" Anthony asked. He hadn't heard anything about Justin's new dilemma with Brian.
"Brian drove him home last night, gave him a kiss, didn't want to come up, said something about going to church, and called it a night." Lindsay reviewed for him, looking at Justin to see if he missed anything.
"I asked him to come up and he said he had to be up early today to go to church. Then he kissed me." Justin's confusion was making him miserable.
"Damn!" Anthony shook his head. "This is Brian Kinney were talking about here?" Justin nodded. "And he turned down a chance to fuck, but it wasn't a flat out shut down, and then he kissed you?"
"That's about the long and short." Justin nodded. "You look about as confused as I feel." Anthony just stared at him as he pondered Justin's situation.
"Sounds like he likes you." Anthony said. "Maybe he does like you but he's not sure how to deal with that. I mean, the guy's one of the biggest studs on campus, he's probably not used to actually being interested in more than fucking from a guy."
"I guess Michael didn't say anything, huh?" Lindsay asked.
"No, when we weren't fucking like mad fiends, I'm pretty sure he was too busy planning what our house was going to look like and whether we'd have a summer or a winter commitment ceremony." Anthony shuddered. "We never really talked. And we definitely never talked about Brian."
"I guess I'll just have to go crazy waiting to see what Brian does next." Justin sighed. "I just hope he does something soon. If I have to wait much longer, I'm going to lose it completely."
"I know what'll cheer you both up!" Lindsay announced.
"What?" Anthony and Justin asked in unison.
"Let's go out to Liberty and do a little shopping!"
***
"It's going so great with Anthony." Michael gushed as he and Brian picked at a plate of french fries at the Liberty Diner. They went there a lot because when Michael's mom was working, she snuck them free fries. "I think he could really be the guy, Brian."
"How does he feel about it?" Brian asked. He already kind of figured that Anthony wasn't as thrilled about the relationship as Michael. From what he could tell, Anthony was a lot like him and he knew that he would never be able to handle someone getting clingy after only a couple of days. Actually, Brian was pretty sure he couldn't handle someone getting as clingy as Michael ever, and he was almost certain that went for Anthony too.
"He's as happy as I am." Michael said confidently. "I took him out to the river this morning. I've never taken anyone other than you out to my special place. While we were out there we talked and it really seems like he feels the same way about me as I do about him."
Brian doubted it. He estimated that Anthony was probably wracking his brain's right at that moment of a way to get rid of Michael. Brian couldn't really blame him, he knew just how clingy Michael could be. He just hoped that Anthony didn't break his friend's heart.
"Hey! There he is!" Michael jumped out of the booth when he saw Anthony on the other side of the street walking down Liberty with Justin and Lindsay. "I'm going to go say hi. It's only been a couple of hours, but I totally missed him already."
"Jesus, Michael." Brian hissed under his breath as he stood and followed Michael out of the diner. "What are you getting yourself into..."
***
"Michael alert." Justin said as he noticed Michael hurrying out of the diner. He knew that Michael was the last person Anthony wanted to see right at that moment. "He's coming this way, out of the diner."
"Fuck!" Anthony didn't dare look, he would have to talk to Michael if he made eye contact. "Meet me at the car in half an hour." He said before grabbing Lindsay and pulling her into a store. He knew someone who worked there and he knew he could sneak out the back door.
Justin was a little startled but he continued walking, intent on appearing to be going to the used bookstore, as if nothing strange had happened. "Justin! Hey, Justin!" He heard his name being called and was tempted to ignore it and pretend he didn't hear it, but decided that he'd better just talk to the guy.
"Oh, hey, Michael." Justin said as he turned. When he saw Brian, he was surprised. He hadn't seen him when he saw Michael. "Hi, Brian."
"Where did Anthony and Lindsay go?" Michael asked.
"Oh, uhm, Anthony remembered he had to talk to a friend of his at that store so I told him that I was going to go to the bookstore and that I'd see him later." Justin lied poorly.
"Oh." Michael seemed disappointed. "Well, I'm sure he'll want to see me, so I'm going to go in there and find him." With that, Michael hurried into the store in search of Anthony.
"He was going to sneak out the back door right?" Brian asked, having seen right through Justin's lie.
"Yah, most likely." Justin said, almost wanting to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "I think Michael is driving him a little crazy."
"I kinda figured that." Brian said with a smile. "Mikey can be a little... hard to take sometimes."
"Yah, I think Anthony is feeling pretty suffocated." Justin didn't want to betray his friend's trust, so he tried not to say too much.
"We're both understating things, aren't we?" Brian laughed. Justin nodded and laughed along with him.
"He's not in there!" Michael said, pouting as he walked out of the store. "How can he just disappear? A whole person and he just completely disappeared! I'm sure he'll be upset that he missed me."
"Well, we'd better get back to our lunch." Brian said. "Why don't I meet you back in the diner in a sec, Mikey?"
"Fine." Michael pouted as he walked back to the diner. Brian and Justin looked at each other silently until Michael was a safe distance away.
"So..." Justin said, unable to find anything else to say. He wasn't sure where he was at with Brian, if they were even friends.
"Did you maybe want to come over to my apartment tonight and we could watch a movie and maybe order some Chinese or something?" Brian asked. Daphne had advised him that it might be a good idea to invite Justin over so they could just hang out alone.
"Like a date?" Justin asked, shocked.
"Yah, like a date." Brian replied, with a bit of a smile.
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