Love Through The Years

Part 4 – 2002

 

 

Queer As Folk

Brian / Justin

By HannahKelli & Ro

 

Brian ambled over to the door when he heard the knock. He slid open the door and saw Jennifer Taylor. “Hi, mom.” He said teasingly as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

 

“Hi, Brian.” Jennifer said with a smile. “I brought the pictures that Justin needs for his assignment. Every family photo that I could find.” She held up the fairly large shoebox.

 

Justin walked out of the bedroom having just dressed after his shower. “Hi, mom.” He said with a smile. “Did you bring those pictures for me?”

 

“Here you go, honey.” Jennifer said with a smile holding out the box to her son. As soon as the box was in Justin’s hands, she looked at her watch. “I have to be going.” She kissed Justin’s cheek and then Brian’s. “Bye, guys.”

 

“Byebye, Mom!” Brian said as she walked out of the loft. Justin sat down in the middle of the living room and separated the pictures into two piles. He handed one to Brian, who looked at him strangely.

 

“Help me find a family photo. There should be some from the family gatherings.” Justin said as he meticulously separated his pile into two separate piles, ones that had family in them and ones that didn’t.

 

Brian started looking through the pictures, chuckling at some of the pictures that there were of Justin when he was a little kid. He was an absolutely adorable child, with his shaggy white blond hair and wide blue eyes. There was something strangely familiar about the pictures, Brian felt as if he had seen him as a child before. Moments later, he came across a picture that explained the familiarity of Justin as a child.

 

“What the fuck is this?” Brian asked looking at the picture.

 

“What the fuck is what?” Justin asked as he continued to look through pictures.

 

“This.” Brian said handing the picture to Justin. Justin looked at it and handed it back.

 

“I’ve only seen that once before.” Justin said. “My mom met that boy at the park when I was little. He stopped coming by a few days after she took that picture.” The picture was of a skinny, young teenage boy smiling down at young Justin while the baby gripped his finger. “Look at this one. I lost my mom at the mall right after this was taken.” Justin handed a picture of himself with the Easter Bunny to Brian, who was still fascinated with the picture of Justin and the young boy. He turned the picture over and gasped.

 

“Look at this. It’s me, Justin.” Brian said handing the picture to Justin.

 

“You’re kidding me.” Justin took a closer look and flipped the picture over. Written there, in his mother’s handwriting, was “Brian Kinney and Justin, 1983.” Brian was meanwhile looking at the picture of Justin with the Easter Bunny.

 

“I found you that day.” He said softly. “Crying and holding a fucking teddy bear.”

 

Justin blushed. He thought for a few moments and dug through the pictures hoping that the one he was hoping to find was in the pile. When he found it, he handed it to Brian. “This is when I was twelve. My first Christmas with my folks and Daphne’s. We were going to the park to play before my mom took it. You were there. So was Lindsay.” Justin said softly. He hadn’t remembered meeting Brian and Lindsay that day until just now.

 

Brian stood and went to the kitchen to pour himself a drink. “This is so fucking weird.”

 

“Yeah.” Justin thought for a second. “What was it Daph was telling me? She read a book about this couple who kept meeting by chance while they were growing up. It was something about fate. I don’t believe in fate though.”

 

Brian sat down on the floor next to Justin. “Do you realize that the first time I met you, I was thirteen and you were one?” Justin smiled and snuggled into Brian’s chest.

 

“What did you think of me as a baby?” He asked.

 

“You were the cutest baby I’d ever seen.” Brian said honestly. Justin blushed.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah.” Brian lost himself in the memory. “You were so blond and pale and you had these big sparkly blue eyes. She let me hold you, you know?”

 

“Really?” Justin asked again. He was curious to hear all about their first real meeting.

 

“Yes, really.”

 

“Tell me everything you remember about that day.”

 

Brian thought for a moment and Justin watched several different emotions play on his face. “I remember your mom was really nice to me.” Justin smiled. “I had just left the house after Jack had one of his fits. It was nice to see an adult who was nice.” Brian paused for a second. “And she loved you. That’s what I remember best. She really, really loved you.”

 

“What about this day?” Justin held up the Easter bunny picture.

 

“I was with Mikey. We were looking for a birthday present for Deb.” Brian tried to remember. “And then we saw you. You were crying and you looked so scared. We asked you where your mom was,” Brian chuckled, “and you said she was over in the lingerie department. We were going to look for her but then she found us.” Justin smiled. “You were cute then too.”

 

“What about this one?” Justin asked holding up the Christmas picture. Brian laughed.

 

“Me and Lindsay were walking to her parents house. You little shits hit me with a snowball. And then me and Linds got into a snow fight with you.” Brian’s eyes clouded over a little. “And then I thought you were dying.”

 

“Dying?”

 

“You had an asthma attack.” Brian said. “Scared the shit out of me. Mikey had asthma too, but he’d never had an attack like that.”

 

“It wasn’t a big deal. I grew out of it.” Justin shrugged, remembering that the night they were talking about he had been taken to the hospital because his attack was so bad.

 

“Can you believe we met each other before we actually met each other?” Brian asked and he and Justin got more comfortable on the floor to look at the rest of the pictures.

 

“Yeah, that’s a little weird.”

 

“It’s fucked.” Brian corrected his young lover.

 

“Does it really bother you that much?” Justin asked looking Brian in the eyes.

 

“A little. It’s just really weird.” Brian took a deep breath. “Let’s look at the rest of the pictures.”

 

As they looked through the pictures, Justin blushed. There were a lot of pictures of him when he was just a little boy. “This is so embarrassing.” He commented.

 

“You were cute.”

 

“You really think so?” Justin asked.

 

“Yeah. I remember thinking how cute you were.”

 

“Oh! This is my favorite.” Justin held up a picture of himself holding Molly right after she was born. Brian looked at the little girl and thought of Gus, wishing babies could stay that innocent.

 

“Too bad they can’t stay that small.”

 

“Yeah.” Justin agreed. “I had fun helping my mom and Craig raise her though.”

 

“Craig?” Brian asked raising an eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, my dad.”

 

“Since when do you call him Craig?”

 

“Since he’s not in my life.” Justin said. Brian ruffled his hair.

 

“I’m proud of you.” Brian said. He leaned down and kissed Justin softly. “I’m glad I finally met you for real.”

 

“What’s that mean?” Justin asked.

 

“Well, I met you all those times fleetingly. I’m glad I met you and you stuck around.” Brian smiled. He pulled Justin close. “Time for a break?”

 

“Definitely.” Justin followed Brian into the bedroom and they fell onto the bed together. “I love you.”

 

“Me, too.” Brian replied as he started nipping at Justin’s neck.

 

“Say it?” Justin asked.

 

“Justin, you know I do.” Brian said giving Justin puppy dog eyes. “Is that good enough?”

 

“For now.” Justin said as he started undressing Brian. “For now.” He repeated with a smile.

 

THE END