"Yeah, sure." Brian rolled his eyes. The only reason he was sitting at the bar in Woody’s instead of spending time with Justin was because Michael had practically begged, saying that it had been days since they had seen each other. It was true. Brian had been making excuses all week to avoid seeing Michael in favor of spending time with Justin. When he apologized for making plans with his best friend, Justin just laughed and told him to come over as soon as he could get away from Michael.
"I did miss this while I was with Anthony." Michael smiled. "It feels like old times again."
"Mikey, you only dated Anthony, if that’s what it was, for like 4 days!" Brian laughed. "How did you have time to miss this?"
"It seemed like a lifetime." Michael said dramatically.
"Right." Brian shook his head and wondered how long it would be necessary for him to stay in order to keep Michael off his ass for a few days.
"Anyways, those two were trouble." Michael ordered another beer and Brian groaned inwardly, thinking he’d have to stay for at least one more beer. "I’m glad you listened to me about Justin."
"Why do you care, Michael? Why is it so important to you that I not see him anymore?" Brian asked. He wasn’t sure whether he really wanted to hear Michael’s answer, sure that he would bad mouth Justin, but he braced himself to hear it.
"He’s a manipulator, Brian. He’s just like Anthony." Michael whined. "Don’t tell me you still want him! You’ve already had him!"
"What if I do want him?" Brian countered. “What’s it to you?”
"Then I’m doing you a favor by telling you now that he’s bad for you." Michael replied firmly. "It’s better this way, I promise."
"So you don’t care that he might just make me happy?"
"How would he make you happy? What makes you happy is to fuck everything that moves." Michael sounded so sure of himself. "In the end, you’ll see that."
Brian couldn’t believe that the person he thought knew him better than anyone else, the person who he’d let everything out to, knew nothing about him at all. He wanted to scream at him that Justin was exactly what he needed, exactly what got rid of the emptiness. Instead, he stared hard into his beer bottle. He knew that if he looked up at Michael he would lost his composure, so he kept his eyes trained down.
"Do you really want another Jamie?" Michael asked.
Brian turned and stared hard at his friend in disbelief. "Listen, Mikey, I have to get going. I still have a ton of stuff to finish up for school this week."
"Since when has school taken up so much time?" Michael asked angrily.
"Since I’m graduating in a few months and I want to be able to get a killer job when I’m done. I don’t want to be working at the store forever." Brian felt anger boiling on the surface and needed to get away from Michael before he exploded.
"Can we hang out tomorrow?" Michael whined.
"Fine. I’ll pick you up from work and we can go to the diner for dinner. But I’ll have a lot of things to do tomorrow night too, so no partying." Brian didn’t like lying to his friend, but reminded himself that Michael brought it on himself.
"Ok." Michael still didn’t seem impressed, but agreed. "See you at five then?"
"Yah, five." Brian said. He leaned down and kissed Michael on the cheek, only because it had become habit, and walked swiftly out of the bar. He was anxious to get over to Justin’s apartment and forget all about the beginning of the evening.
***
Anthony walked into the apartment and found Justin sitting at the kitchen table sketching. "Hey, J." He walked over and kissed the top of Justin’s head. "Where’s loverboy?"
"He’s out with Michael." Justin replied looking up from his sketch. "He’ll be over later. You going out tonight?"
"Want the place to yourself so you and Kinney can satisfy your carnal desires?" Anthony teased. Ever since Brian and Justin had started spending almost every day together, Anthony had teased his friend mercilessly. He could see that it was making his friend happy, and he translated a little bit of jealousy into teasing.
"What if we do? You can’t be the only one getting laid on a regular basis, you know." Justin chuckled and took a gulp of the glass of milk on the table.
"Maybe I should stick around and watch... bet it’s hot..." Anthony grabbed a Coke out of the fridge and sat down across from Justin.
"You just want a shot at seeing Brian naked." Justin raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe I just want to see you naked?" Anthony kept his tone light and teasing even though he was starting to think about Justin in a sexual way more and more.
"Well, why didn’t you tell me that before Brian?" Justin laughed. "If you had, we’d be fucking right now."
"Well, dammit." Anthony laughed. "Now that you’re practically a married man, my chance is lost." He told himself that the entire conversation was entirely teasing, but decided to change the subject because talking about fucking Justin was getting to him. "So, are you and Brian still keeping things a secret?”
Justin nodded. "One more week and then we’re putting it out in the open."
"How’s that going for you?"
"I donno." Justin shrugged. "I wish he and I could go out dancing and out for dinner and stuff instead of spending every night in, but soon we can do those things. I feel like I’ve really gotten to know him."
"Falling in love?"
"I think so." Justin laughed. "Maybe I’ve been falling in love with him since that first night, when me and Jonny broke up."
"I hope Michael gets a clue and lets you two do your thing." Anthony said. "You deserve a chance, J."
"Thanks, Ant." Justin reached over and hugged his friend. "I love you, Ant."
"Love you too, J." Anthony hugged Justin back. "If Kinney hurts you, I’ll beat him up."
~Knock, Knock~
"I’ll get it!" Justin pulled out of the embrace with Anthony and hurried to the door. He swung it open and launched himself into Brian’s arms. "Hey, baby."
"Miss me?" Brian asked, smiling. Seeing Justin washed away all the anger he had been feeling towards Michael.
"Of course." Justin smiled, taking Brian’s hand and leading him into the apartment. "Me and Ant were just hanging out."
"Hey, Anthony." Brian said with a grin. "Not trying to steal my boyfriend, are you?"
"Always!" Anthony chuckled. He honestly liked Brian. "If I could steal him from you, you’d be gone by now."
"Well, then, I guess I’d better sweep him off his feet on a regular basis so you never get a chance to swoop in and take him from me." Brian turned to Justin and grinned mischievously. Suddenly he grabbed Justin by the waist and lifted him into his arms. As he made his way towards the bedroom he said, "Goodnight, Anthony!"
"Night, Ant." Justin laughed.
"Have fun, you two." Anthony said with a laugh as Brian and Justin disappeared into Justin’s room and closed the door.
Brian dropped Justin on the bed and dived in next to him. Justin laughed and snuggled up to Brian. "Soooo, whatcha wanna do?" Justin asked.
"Will you show me your art?" Brian asked. He had been curious about seeing Justin’s art, other than the things on the bedroom wall, but hadn’t wanted to ask.
"You really want to see it?" Justin was surprised.
"Of course I wanna see it. When you’re not with me, you spend all your time on your art. I think I should see the other important thing in your life." Brian teased.
"On one condition." Justin challenged.
"Anything for you. Especially if you want sexual favors." Brian grinned.
"I want you to pose for me?" Justin asked cautiously. He didn’t think Brian would want to, but he had been sketching him since the night they met and wanted desperately to do a portrait of Brian.
"Nude?" Brian asked raising an eyebrow, grinning.
"Probably not." Justin grinned, pinching Brian’s side. "With you lying in front of me naked, looking all sexy, I don’t think I’d be able to concentrate. The painting would look like a first grader did it."
"Aww, cute! I could put it on my fridge!" Brian teased. "I’ll pose for you, full clothed, as long as you show me some of your art."
"Deal." Justin stuck out his hand to shake on it, but Brian had other ideas.
"Seal it with a kiss." He said, pulling Justin closer to him and pressing his lips to the blond’s firmly.
"Mmmm... Much better than shaking on it." Justin smiled after the kiss was over and then got up and grabbed his large leather portfolio. "This is the stuff I’ve been working on lately, and the stuff that I’m submitting to the Spring Art Show."
"Ok." Brian smiled and sat up, crossing his legs underneath him.
Justin pulled out a painting that looked like a silhouette of two men under a street lamp with fog pooling around their ankles. "This is one of my favorite paintings ever. I did it when I was seventeen."
"This is beautiful." Brian was amazed at the skill Justin possessed. "I’m so glad I asked to see your art."
"Yah?" Justin asked.
"Yah. Now I know I’ll have a rich, famous artist to grow old with." Brian grinned playfully and Justin
felt his heart swell. When he first met Brian he hadn’t expected to find a playful side, but now was pleasantly surprised when he did.
"Hey, maybe we could start our own business, a marketing company. You could do all the business and the ideas, and I could be the artist." Justin smiled as he returned the first painting to his portfolio and pulled out another one.
"Never know." Brian grinned. "Now, let the art show continue." He enjoyed his time with Justin and surprised himself by wanting more than just sex. He liked just hanging out and spending time with Justin just as much.
"Ok." Justin looked at the next painting for a minute before turning it around to show Brian. The painting was of a woman’s hand holding the hand of a small child. Justin loved this painting because he did it when his mom finally accepted the fact that he was gay.
"Talk to me." Brian said softly.
"What?" Justin asked, confused.
"This one means something to you. What is it?"
"My mom. Last year, when I introduced her to Jonny for the first time she finally told me that no matter who I choose to be with and who I love, she loves me." Justin felt a little choked up. "I came home and I painted this."
"It’s beautiful, Justin." Brian said. "Even more so because it’s so important to you." Deciding that since the little art showing was meant to be fun, Brian decided to lighten the mood. "Any drawings of my dick?" Justin blushed. "There are!"
Justin reached under the bed and pulled out his sketchbook. It was a beautiful, leather bound sketch book that he kept mostly private. There were sketches of Anthony, Lindsay, Jonny, Chris, and the most recent ones were of Brian. Justin opened the book to where the sketches of Brian started and handed it to his boyfriend.
"These are from the last couple of weeks." Justin said, blushing.
Brian looked through the photos and was stunned. Justin drew him beautifully. The first sketches were of him the night of the party. Brian recognized the background. The next pictures were of himself and Justin playing pool, both looking flirty. After that, there were pictures of two forms entwined on a bed and he knew that it was himself and Justin.
Brian was a little surprised at how much feeling showed through the pictures. It made him realize that
the first night they spent with each other had meant a lot to him. He kept turning the pages. There were drawings of him sleeping, smiling, eating... Brian was amazed.
"Justin, these are..." Brian paused, searching for the right word. "They’re amazing. I can’t believe this is how you see me. They’re beautiful."
"That’s because they’re of you." Justin smiled.
"Can I look at the ones before these?" Brian asked, curious to know what else was in the little private sketch book Justin kept under the bed. When Justin hesitated it made Brian even more curious.
"There are pictures of Chris and Jonny in there." Justin warned. "But you can look if you want." Brian smiled and began paging backwards in the book.
The first picture which wasn’t of him that he found was of Anthony with a big lopsided grin on his face. The next picture was of Lindsay, a thought bubble above her head with a stick figure with a mass of curly hair in it. "Is this Daphne?" Brian chuckled. Justin laughed too.
"Yah. I didn’t know what she looked like except that she had curly hair." He grinned. "Lindsay was all about Daphne til she met Melanie."
"Melanie? New girlfriend?" Brian asked, not really interested.
"Yup. Her English tutor." He tried to imitate Lindsay. "Melanie Marcuss is so beautiful! She has beautiful long hair and a gorgeous body! She’s so smart! She doesn’t want to fuck, she wants to make love!" When Justin stopped, Brian was laughing hysterically.
"I don’t know Lindsay very well, but from what I know that sounds pretty accurate." He said through his laughter.
"She tends to get a little teeny boppery when she has a crush." Justin grinned.
"Is that how she was about Daph?" Justin nodded.
"Don’t tell her! Lindsay would kill me if she found out that I told you. You definitely can’t tell Daph." Justin was still chuckling and didn’t sound very threatening.
"No worries, Sunshine." Brian continued to look through the book. When he saw a drawing of an attractive male face, he took pause. When he saw underneath that it said "Jonny" he felt awful. Justin saw the change in Brian’s demeanor.
"You don’t have to look at the ones of my ex’s." Justin said self consciously. When Brian didn’t respond, Justin looked at him more closely. "You fucked him." It wasn’t a question.
"Justin, I didn’t know..." Brian felt like shit.
"Doesn’t matter." Justin reached out and took Brian’s hand. "I know you’ve been with a lot of guys, I
mean you almost slept with my best friend. Let’s just leave the past in the past, ok?" Brian nodded. He continued to page through the drawings and by the end, he felt like he knew more about Justin than he could have found out any other way.
"You’re an amazing artist, Justin." He said sincerely, looking Justin in the eyes.
"Thank you." Justin smiled.
"I don’t get why you need me to pose though." Brian grinned. "You have sketches of me in every mood, at every angle."
"No pulling out of our deal." Justin warned.
"Hell, no. We sealed it with a kiss, remember?" Brian helped Justin put his art away and they cuddled up on the bed. "Want to watch a movie?"
"A cartoon?" Justin asked, eyes lighting up.
"Which one?" Brian asked curiously.
"Hercules!" Justin exclaimed, jumping from the bed. He pulled the video out of the cabinet under the TV stand. "I’ve seen it a million times, it’s my favorite."
"Well, then, I suppose that’s the one we should watch." Brian smiled as Justin popped the DVD into the machine and climbed back onto the bed. The stayed cuddled together for the entire movie and Brian didn’t think he’d ever been more content.
After the movie was over, Justin rolled over to face Brian. "Want to stay the night?" He asked. Brian smiled and kissed the tip of Justin’s nose.
"You’re not getting rid of me til tomorrow." Brian smiled.
Once they were undressed, they climbed into bed together. They kissed for a while and held each other, but they stopped and just cuddled close. Both of them were exhausted so they communicated without words that they should just go to sleep. Justin turned off the light, cuddled back up against Brian and they fell asleep.
NEXT
HOME