Justin looked down at the sketch he was holding in his lap. He had never drawn a portrait of Brian looking so happy. Justin smiled. The previous night had made both of them happy, happier than they had ever been together. Dancing together at Babylon, stirring up gossip, all of it had been immensely fun for the two.
Suddenly, stirring Justin from his happy thoughts, his cell phone rang. "Hello?" He answered, hoping that it was Brian calling like he had promised to.
"Hey, Sunshine." Brian's voice came through, and Justin could tell that the older man was smiling.
"Hey. I was hoping it was going to be you."
"Sitting by the phone anxiously awaiting my call?" Brian teased.
"Always." Justin teased back. "I was just doing some sketching."
"On your computer?"
"No, by hand. I've been working on my coordination a lot lately." Justin was very proud of the fact that his hand was almost back to normal and it didn't tire him out to sketch anymore.
"Congratulations." Justin could hear a mixture of relief and pride in Brian's voice. "Do you still use your computer at all?"
"Well, I've been working on some graphic design stuff on it." Justin explained. "I'm thinking of taking some advertising art classes this year."
"Really? Would that be because you have someone in your life who would be willing and able to help you in the advertising department?" Brian was really in a playful mood and Justin was beginning to wonder what it was that caused the mood.
"Perhaps." Justin replied cryptically. "So, what'd you do tonight?"
"Dinner with the Munchers and my son. And then I went to Woody's with the boys. You'll be happy to know that you were the hot topic of conversation."
"Oh yah?"
"Yah, seems our performance at Babylon last night set the queer community abuzz." Brian was chuckling. He always loved being the center of attention.
"I think we're starting to confuse people." Justin laughed. "We're the ultimate in on and off."
"Let's try and stay on this time, though." Brian's voice became a little more serious.
"Sounds good to me." Justin agreed. "Guess you'd better get to sleep. Work tomorrow."
"Ok, mom." Brian teased. "Do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?"
"Like a date?"
"Something like that." Brian groaned.
"Of course." Justin smiled. "I'll call you at the office tomorrow and we'll make plans."
"Okay. Nightie night, Sunshine."
"Night, Bri."
~Click~
Justin leaned back against his pillows and smiled. Everything seemed right with the world. As he drifted off to sleep he thought back to a time when he thought that things wouldn't work out with Brian and he almost laughed. He was really starting to believe that no matter what happened he and Brian would find their way back to each other... they always had so far.
***
"Brian, Michael is on line 2." Cynthia buzzed.
"Tell him I'm busy." Brian growled. His day was going from bad to worse with every campaign that was given to him for approval and he had a million mistakes to fix before they were presented at various points later in the week.
"He said it's urgent." Cynthia said, amusement in her voice.
"Fine. Put him through." Brian picked up the phone. "You have thirty seconds, Mikey."
"Hey, Brian!" Michael sounded cheerful.
"I said thirty seconds." Brian rubbed his temples.
"Well, what I was calling for was to see if you wanted to meet me at the diner for dinner. Just the two of us. We haven't done that in too long." Michael sounded one part hopeful, one part whiney.
"This was what you interrupted my very important work for?? This is what was urgent?" Brian was very obviously angry.
"Sorry, Bri. I just figured that if I didn't talk to you now, you'd already have plans with Boy Wonder for tonight." Michael was now very, very whiney.
"Well, you're already too late. He and I made plans last night." Brian's anger was now becoming just irritation.
"Oh." Michael said with disappointment. "Well, I guess I'll talk to you later then."
"Bye, Mikey." Brian didn't have time to try and make Michael feel better. He hung up the phone and got back to work. When Cynthia brought him some papers he had requested, he said. "No phone calls. Except Justin."
"Justin?" Cynthia raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, Justin." Brian shook his head. "Maybe if you're a really nice assistant, I'll fill you in on all the gossip once I get these shitty things to resemble actual ad campaigns."
"Right, boss." Cynthia saluted teasingly and retreated from the office.
Two hours later, Brian was still reworking one of the campaigns and his stress level was very, very high. Suddenly, Cynthia knocked on the door. "Brian, you have a visitor."
"Cynthia!" Brian barked. "I said no calls except Justin! That means visitors too!" Brian pushed his fingers through his hair.
"Well, then I did nothing wrong." Cynthia pushed the door open further and Justin walked in. "Justin Taylor is here to see you." With that, Cynthia left and closed the door.
"I'll only stay a minute." Justin said, looking sheepish. "I called earlier and Cynthia said that you were in a mood and that you were really busy. So I brought you some lunch. Brown rice and steamed vegetables from that place you like."
Brian smiled slightly and stood from his desk. He walked around and took the paper bag from Justin, placing it on his desk. "Thank you, baby. I didn't mean to be a bitch." He slipped his arms around Justin and pulled him into a hug.
"Awww... I love the bitch in you." Justin smiled and hugged Brian back. Brian realized how mean he had been to Mikey and made a decision.
"Baby, would you mind if we went for dinner tomorrow instead?" Brian felt a little bad about asking to cancel on Justin, but wanted to make sure that Mikey was all right.
"Not at all. Gunna work late?" Justin asked, leaning back and looking into Brian's eyes.
"Actually, Michael called this morning. I think he's a bit insecure now that you and I are back together." Brian ran his hand up and down Justin's back.
"Sure, Bri." Justin said, though he felt a little jealous at Brian spending the evening with Michael instead of himself. "But you better make it up to me tomorrow." He teased, taking a little nibble at Brian's neck.
"I promise." Brian leaned down and kissed the younger man.
"Now, you get back to work. And call the florist to send Cynthia some flowers." Justin winked. "Gotta keep her happy. She’s a damn good assistant. And call me later."
"Of course." Brian smiled. "Thanks for lunch."
"Anytime!" Justin held onto Brian's hand for as long as he could as he slowly backed away, and their fingers slowly slipped apart. "Later."
"Later." Brian smiled as Justin closed the door. As he munched on his steamed broccoli and cauliflower, he called Mikey's comic book store. When Michael answered, Brian said, "Hey, loser." He said in an endearing way.
"Thought you were busy." Michael was obviously still angry about the earlier phone call.
"Well, I rescheduled some stuff. So how about dinner tonight, just me and you, at the diner?" Brian suggested, laying on the charm to make Michael feel better.
"Really? What about Boy Wonder?"
"He and I are gunna have dinner tomorrow." Brian said. "So I'm all yours tonight."
"Great!" Michael was suddenly happy and excited. Brian had a mental picture of Michael doing a cheesy victory dance around the store. "What time?"
"Seven-thirty?" Brian suggested.
"I'll meet you there."
***
"Boss." Cynthia said, stepping into his office. "I'm heading home. It's five o'clock."
"Alright, Cynthia. I'm going to take off too. There's nothing more I can do with this mess that those idiots call a campaign tonight." Brian stood and stretched before grabbing his jacket and slipping it on.
"Seeing Justin tonight?" Cynthia asked. With that, a smile spread across Brian's face.
"Yes, I think I will." He hurried out of the office and into his jeep. When he pulled up in front of Deb's, he was thrilled that he had decided to leave work early. He could take Justin over to the loft and they could have some playtime together before he had to meet Michael for dinner.
"Brian, what are you doing here?" Justin asked when he opened the door. He had been sitting in the living room watching Trading Spaces when the doorbell rang.
"Get your coat." Brian said after kissing Justin swiftly. "I wanna have some quality time with you before I have dinner with Mikey." Justin hurriedly grabbed his coat and they were off to the loft for playtime.
In the Jeep, Justin was all over Brian, attacking his neck, biting and kissing. "I'm so glad you came and got me." He mumbled against the soft skin of Brian's neck.
"Mmm... Me too." Brian said as he pressed his foot harder on the gas, eager to get Justin back to the loft and into bed.
***
"You're gunna be late." Justin said, lifting his mouth off Brian's dick. The two had gotten so caught up in their playful foreplay that time had passed quickly.
"Mikey can wait." Brian groaned, pushing Justin's head down gently, urging him to go back to what he was doing.
Justin happily went back to what he was doing, causing Brian to arch his back and curl his toes into the mattress. When Justin started humming, Brian moaned out loud. "Fuuuuuuuck!! I love when you do that!"
"I know..." Justin stopped the job he was doing on Brian's dick and began kissing his hard stomach and up to his nipples. "You have the sexiest body." Brian didn't respond, he just closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensations that Justin's mouth on his body was causing.
... Meanwhile....
"Where the fuck is he?" Michael impatiently looked at his watch again. 7:45. "Why can't he be on time... Just once..." Michael was pacing and he stepped out onto the street.
"WATCH OUT!!!" A voice called out to him. He turned towards the voice and saw the look of horror on the man standing across the street's face. The man was pointing. When Michael turned to where the man was pointing he only had a moment to see the City Bus coming at him before he was struck.
"Someone call an ambulance!" The man called, running over to where Michael lay, already in a pool of his own blood.
"What happened?" Debbie asked, running from the diner after hearing a commotion outside.
"Deb..." The man kneeling next to Michael's body stood and ran over to her. "You don't want to..." Before he could finish telling her not to look, she saw who was lying on the ground and fell to her knees wracked with sobs.
... Meanwhile...
"Come on, you have to go meet Michael. He'll hate me forever if he finds out I'm the reason you're late." Justin threw some clothes at Brian and rushed him along.
"I'll just tell him something came up." Brian shrugged. "No big deal."
"To him, it will be a big deal." Justin chuckled as he pulled his pants on. "You're already 20 minutes late..."
"So he can sit at the counter and whine to Deb. When I walk in she'll give me that look that she gives me every time I fuck something up. I'll make up something about being stuck in the office and all will be well again."
"You're gunna lie to him?" Justin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A little white lie never hurt anyone." Brian said as he did the last button on his shirt up. "Will you wait here so I can see you when I get home?"
"Of course." Justin smiled. "I'll find something to eat in your fridge and watch some DVD's." He reached up and kissed Brian on the lips. "Later."
"Later." Brian smiled and walked out of the loft. He hadn't meant to be late to meet Michael, but when he got Justin in bed, time ceased to exist.
...Meanwhile...
Debbie held Michael's hand during the ambulance ride. The paramedics were working on him the whole time, supplying him with oxygen and trying to stop the bleeding. "You have to wake up, Michael. You have to." She kept chanting.
She was terrified of losing her only son. She listened to the paramedics as they tried different ways of keeping Michael alive. Trying to block it out, she leaned down close to Michael’s ear and started talking to him quietly.
“Baby, I know you got it in you to make it through this. You’re my son. You’re strong. We come from a line of people who were fighters, people who looked death in the face and scoffed.” Debbie bit back a sob, and continued speaking. “What would we do without you? You can’t die. You can’t. There are too many people who need you. Think of all your friends who love you and need you.
“Emmett and Ted would never be the same without the third Muskequeer. They need you. And Brian, who may be a shit most of the time, he needs you baby. He always had and he always will. And then there’s Uncle Vic, he loves you so much, baby. And he needs you around. You make him remember when he was young, and that makes him smile.
“And then there’s me, Michael, I need you more than any of them. You’re my baby. My only baby.” Deb brought his hand to her lips and kissed him gently. “So that’s it then, you can’t die, there are too many people here who need you.”
... Meanwhile ....
Brian parked the Jeep across the street from the diner and saw that there were a bunch of people gathered around outside and that the police were there talking to some of them. Brian looked in the crowd for Michael and when he didn't see him, he looked for someone else that he knew.
"Hey, man, what happened here?" Brian asked a guy that he saw regularly at Babylon and Woody's and had danced with a few times.
"Oh shit... Brian..." The guy pushed his hand through his hair. "You have to go to the hospital. They took Michael in. Debbie is with him."
"What happened?" Brian began to panic.
"He walked in front of a bus." The man was shaking his head and looked really worried. "He didn't look good when they took him away in the ambulance."
"Shit." Brian took off without another word and hopped into the Jeep. He reminded himself to stay calm long enough to get to the hospital. As he wove through the busy streets of Pittsburgh, he cursed himself for being late. "Fuck. Mikey, you have to be okay." He almost screamed as he sped up to the hospital and parked illegally.
As he ran inside, he bit back the irrational tears that were threatening to fall from his eyes. When he got to the emergency room desk he tried to calm himself a bit as he said. "Michael Novotny."
"Are you family?" The nurse behind the desk asked. She had a look of worry on her face and sadness in her voice as she asked.
"I'm his brother." Brian said without even thinking about it. Michael WAS like a brother to him.
"Down the hall. Your mother is here…” The lines of sadness on the woman’s face deepened and Brian began to panic once again. Brian hurried through the doors to the corridor the nurse was talking about. He saw Deb sitting in a chair with her head in her hands. She was sobbing uncontrollably.
"Deb." He said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. Hearing his voice, she stood and threw herself into his arms.
"Brian! My baby is gone!" She got out in between her sobs. Brian held onto her, completely stunned. He couldn't believe that Michael was gone. How could it be?
Brian stood there, with a hysterical Debbie Novotny in his arms and tried to process what was happening. He half expected to turn and see his friend walk through the double doors at the entry to the corridor with a grin on his face. But he didn’t.
When Vic arrived and took over holding Deb as she cried, Brian walked back down the hall, through the double doors and outside. As soon as the cool fresh air hit his face, the tears that he had been holding back began to fall. Soon, he was sitting on the steps with his head in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably.
And then it was like he went back in time. And he was sitting in the same corridor where he had just held Debbie, but Mikey was there with him, holding him while he cried over the only other man that he loved. And Brian started to wonder why Michael couldn’t have just held on. Like Justin did. Because he wasn’t sure that he could live without either of them. He could count on one hand the people who meant the world to him. Justin, Michael, Gus, and Lindsay. Brian looked down at his hand and bent one of his fingers down. And the tears started to flow even harder than before. And he wondered if he would make it through without his best friend…
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