Anything Goes - Part 3:

Old and New

“Well, this seems familiar,” Emmett said.  He, Ted, and Michael were watching the couple in the middle of the dance floor.

He moved his body in rhythm with Justin’s, losing himself in the music, in the pulsing beat and bright lights surrounding them.  He just followed Justin’s moves.  That’s how it always worked with them on the dance floor.  Surprisingly, Brian never minded it.  Truth be told, if he could control himself enough not to pounce on Justin while the blonde moved seductively to the music and just stand back to enjoy the show, he would.  But…he couldn’t.  In fact, he could not keep his hands off his lover on or off the dance floor.  The newness of it all still hadn’t worn off and Brian wouldn’t have it any other way.  He and Justin.  In the middle of Babylon.  The envy of every single man in the club.

“Drink?” he asked, needing a break.

“Tired?”

The little shit knew him too well. 

“Thirsty.”  He’d be damned if he’d admit it, though.

Justin grinned, giving him the ‘yeah, right’ look before they moved through the crowd, joining their friends at the bar.

“Enjoying the show, boys?”  Brian wrapped his arm around Justin’s shoulder, downing a shot of Jim Beam.

“The hottest show in town,” Emmett responded wickedly.

Justin looked up at Brian.  “You were right.  We should have been charging admission.”

“You could always do it on my website,” Ted chimed in.

Brian rolled his eyes.  “I told you not to put ideas in his head.”

“That ass could pay for college,” Ted replied despite his better judgment.

“That ass is mine,” Brian shot back, half-jokingly slapping his lover’s bubble butt.  Justin grinned widely back at him before devouring Brian’s mouth in his.

“And everybody else’s in this place.”

All four of them turned their attention to the brunette downing his third drink.

“Is there something you’d like to share with the group, Mikey?”  Brian was not amused in the least by his best friend’s comment.

Michael stared back at them, almost surprised that he said it out loud.  “Well, I just meant that with all the guys you two have fucked…”

“Michael,” Brian stopped him, his voice carrying a warning.  Best friend or not, he wasn’t about to let Michael say whatever it was he was planning on saying, especially since Michael was less than coherent at the moment.

Justin put his drink down, watching Brian intently, and ad exec prepared himself for the teen to blow up right there and then, in the middle of Babylon.  And from the look of things, the odds were not in Michael’s favor.  But instead of moving in on Michael, Justin took a step back and gazed up at Brian.  “We came here to dance.”  The artist turned, making his way through the crowd onto the dance floor.

Brian emptied his glass.  “Well, boys, some of us have places to go, cute little blonde boys to corrupt.” 

“Before somebody else does,” Ted added.

Brian scowled at him as he put his glass down.  Then his lips curved on the sides.  “And you can continue standing here and wishing it was you.”  He cast one last glance at his best friend before walking off in the same direction Justin did just moments before.

“Now this is new,” Emmett said as three of them focused their attention on the same couple reunited on the dance floor.

~~~***~~~***~~~

Brian fought the urge to slam the door in Michael’s face and instead let the man in.  “Even Justin knows better than to wake me up before noon on a Saturday morning,” he said, shutting the door and going into the kitchen in need of massive doses of caffeine.

“I have to open the store at ten.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Michael sat down on a stool behind the kitchen counter.  “I wanted to talk to you.”

“About?”

“Justin,” Michael simply said.

Brian put the coffee pot down and stared back at his friend.  “You can’t be serious.”

Michael squirmed in his seat under Brian’s intense stare.  “I just don’t understand!”

Brian shook his head in disbelief, pushing himself off the counter.  “You know what I don’t understand?  I don’t understand how you can be so goddamn two-faced.”

Michael’s eyes grew wide.  “I am not two-faced!”

“You pretend to be best buds when Justin’s around, but as soon as he turns away you can’t stab him in the back fast enough.”

“That’s not true!” Michael insisted.  “I do like Justin, even if he is the brother I never knew I never wanted, but that’s not the point.  I just don’t understand.”

Brian sighed.  He knew exactly what was coming next.  Still, he asked.  “Don’t understand what?”

“He cheated on you, Brian.  Lied and cheated.”

Brian counted to ten, trying to keep from lashing out at his friend.  Instead of arguing his point, he decided to take a different approach.  He exhaled noisily, leaning back on the counter.  “You remember when Mel cheated on Lindsay?  Everybody was quick to add their five cents, saying how poor Melanie must have had a good reason to do what she did.  That Lindsay pushed her to it.  All that other shit.”  Brian was the first one to say all that crap, pointing it out to Lindsay as well as everybody else.

It took Michael a moment to understand what Brian was trying to tell him.  Finally, he nodded.  No other explanation was needed.  “You still haven’t told me how you guys got back together.”

Brian gave him a lopsided grin as he walked around the counter, taking a seat next to the brunette.  “Nice try.”

Michael responded with a smile.

“Now, since you woke me up in this ungodly hour, you’re taking me out for breakfast.”  Brian stood up, heading to the bedroom to get dressed.

~~~***~~~***~~~

About fifteen minutes later Brian and Michael walked through the doors of the diner, hazel eyes immediately finding a pair of blue ones.

Justin blinked as if trying to figure out whether he imagined Brian walking toward him.  A smile crept on his face.  “I figured you’d be passed out in your bed for another three or four hours,” he said when the older man neared him.

“That was the plan,” Brian said after placing a peck on his lover’s full lips.  “Until Mr. Early Bird over there,” he pointed at Michael who slid into a nearby booth, “decided to have a chat.”

Justin snickered, casting a glance at the pouting brunette.  “And he’s still alive?”

“Yeah, well, he’s paying for it now.  Literally,” Brian said, tongue in cheek.  His gaze fell on the sketches scattered on the counter.  “What’s all this?”

“I’m trying to choose the ones for tonight’s show,” Justin explained.

“I thought you already did.”

Justin hesitated for a moment.  “They asked me to donate a couple more.”

Brian snorted a laugh, shaking his head.  “Unbelievable.  Gotta hand it to the fuckers, they’re smart.  They realize that they can make big money off of you and they’re taking full advantage of that fact.”

Justin sighed, waiting for Brian’s rant to come to an end.  “It’s not like that.”

“Really?”

“It’s for charity.  And I get free exposure,” the artist said calmly.

“Yeah, ‘free’ being the operative word.”  Sometimes it amazed Brian just how naïve Justin could be at times.

Justin put his hand over Brian’s, trying to get the exec’s attention.  When Brian’s hazel eyes finally focused on the blonde, Justin moved closer.  “Look, so they get a couple of bucks.  So what?  I get a possibility of someone important seeing my work.  And if not, I still get to show my work to lots of people.  And that’s more than I ever hoped for.”

Brian carefully studied the beautiful face before him.  He knew it wasn’t just some line Justin was feeding him.  He truly believed it.  And that got to Brian more than any line ever could.  His features softening, he put his hand on the back of Justin’s neck, pulling the blonde’s face closer to him. 

“Break it up and eat something.”

They finally pulled apart and turned to Debbie.

“Gee, Deb, you always know how to ruin a mood,” Brian shot at her.

“You’ll thank me when you have enough energy to fuck like bunnies later.  So, how about some actual food?”

“Can’t,” Justin said, jumping off the stool.  “My ride’s here.”

They all turned to see a white car parked in front of the diner.

“Your ride?” Brian asked, miserably failing at faking disinterest.  “You finally found somebody else to chauffeur you around town.”  He watched Justin scramble to put all the sketches away.

“Yeah, this guy I met at GLC.  The board asked him to donate more stuff as well, so we’re going to be putting it up all day today.”

“Hmmm, he must be good if they think they can make money off of him,” Brian noted.

“Very,” Justin smiled.  “I gotta go.”  He was in the process of walking out the door when he paused and looked back at Brian.  “You’re coming tonight, right?”

“Would I miss a showing of my dick from all the different angles?” he smiled mischievously, which earned him a wide-face grin from the artist.  Justin kissed his boyfriend one last time and, waving to Debbie, ran out the door.

Brian waited until the white car pulled away from the curb before getting in the booth with Michael.  “I hope you have enough cash, ‘cause I’m hungry,” he smirked at his friend.

~~~***~~~***~~~

Later that night Brian stood in the doorway of the Gay and Lesbian center, surprised to see so many people at the show.  The room was packed with queers, dykes, and their loving supportive family members.  It was all completely ridiculous and he had a couple dozen derisive remarks ready.  The problem was, he was here as well.  Looking around the room, searching for his partner, like a loving, supportive boyfriend.  What surprised Brian was that he didn’t mind it as much as he thought he would.

“You’re here!”

He turned in the direction of the oh-so familiar voice that always pulled at something in him.  “I told you I would be.”  He understood why Justin might have doubted his coming here tonight.  He wasn’t exactly known for showing up when he was supposed to. 

Justin smiled widely.  Pressing himself against Brian’s slender form, he kissed the older man. 

“Can you believe how many people are here?”  Justin asked excitedly when he pulled away.

“And they’re all here to see your work,” Brian said, not even trying to hide how proud he was of his little blonde artist. 

But Justin scoffed.  “There are like twenty other artists showing tonight.”

“Nobody’s as good as you, though,” Brian countered.

Justin kissed him again.  “Can you say ‘biased’?” he murmured against Brian’s ear.

Brian leaned back far enough to see Justin’s eyes.  “Can you say ‘critical’?”  Even though his voice was mocking, his face remained serious. 

Knowing which direction this conversation was heading, Justin quickly gave in, pulling his lover for another kiss instead.

Just as Brian’s brain considered all the different excuses they’d give their family and friends before making their hasty exit, they heard someone clear her throat next to them.  Reluctantly, the two pulled apart only to be greeted by Jennifer’s fake smile.

“Hi, honey,” she said to her son.

“Mom.”  Justin pulled away from Brian completely, straightening his shirt with his hands.  “Hi.”

“Hello…Jennifer,” Brian said, hoping the mother of his lover would not notice the ramifications of having Justin standing only inches away from him. 

“Brian,” she nodded at him, her waspy manners fully engaged at the moment.  “We haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yes, a while,” Brian repeated, sneaking a look at Justin.  This was the first time the two saw each other since he and Justin got back together, since Justin made the big announcement to his mother over the phone.  A part of him wished he could have seen Jennifer’s reaction.  He wasn’t exactly sure how that went, but he imagined some head spinning and hair ripping was involved. 

Justin cleared his throat.  “Molly, you remember Brian?” he asked, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Yeah, hi, Brian.”  The girl smiled almost as wide as Justin did when he saw him.  She adored Brian, and he knew it.  Well, being a hit with two Taylors out of three wasn’t that bad.  “Mom said you guys are a couple again.”

He smiled back at her, putting on his charm he used for clients or straight women, or little girls who were blood relatives of the guy he fucked on regular basis.  “Yeah, we are.”  He felt Justin’s hand slip into his, and forced himself to look up at another blonde female standing in front of him.  To her credit, Jennifer’s smile hadn’t wavered through the whole encounter. 

“Well, we came here to see Justin’s work, so why don’t we do just that,” she said softly, turning to Molly.  “Nice to see you, Brian.”

“Yes, you too,” he nodded. 

Jennifer already started walking away from the two of them, when she suddenly turned around.  “There aren’t any sketches of…you know…well…” She looked at Justin nervously. 

Brian was barely able to bite back a laugh.  “Parts of my anatomy?” 

Her gaze moved to him.  “Yes, that.”

“No, mom,” Justin replied, quickly turning a nice shade of red.

She sighed, visibly relieved.  “Ok.” 

As soon as she was out of the earshot, Brian turned to Justin.  “Oh, really.  I’m surprised you even found anything that did NOT contain my dick.”

“Yeah, what a shock.”

“Those are your best works,” Brian gave him a sly smile. 

“Says the biased one,” Justin rolled his eyes as he began walking away.

“I’m surprised the board didn’t require those pictures.  I mean, it would definitely sell then,” Brian went on, following the blonde through the crowd.

~~~***~~~***~~~

After leaving Justin to mingle with some apparently important in the art industry people, Brian headed straight for the bar.  After a couple of drinks he decided that since he was already here, he might as well get some culture, so he went around the room, looking at different works of art.  Justin was right.  The selection was very good this year.  But he was happy to notice that he was right as well.  Nothing on these walls could even compare to Justin’s art.  Nothing. 

A couple of hours and a dozen paintings of fruit bowls later he went in search of his talented boy.  He saw Justin standing by the wall where his work was featured, talking animatedly with some guy.  He stopped, watching the teen describe something with his hands, riveted by how alive, how vibrant Justin looked.

Suddenly, the blonde saw him, his smile spreading wide immediately, as he waved to Brian.  Brian smiled back as he resumed walking over to Justin.

“Hey, there you are,” Justin said when Brian neared him. 

The ad exec wrapped his arm around the smaller man’s waist before turning to Justin’s companion.  He could have sworn he’d seen this man before.  Had he fucked him before?  Very possible.  But the other man didn’t seem to recognize him, and it was rare that a trick wouldn’t remember him.  He studied the other man’s features, his light brown hair, grey eyes, square jaw…He froze.

“This is…”

“Caleb,” he said before Justin could finish the introduction.

“Do you know each other?” Justin asked, confused and a little alarmed.

Brian felt everything spinning around.  He thought it was a dream.  It was supposed to be a dream.  That’s what Mysterious Marilyn said.  It would all seem like a dream.  And it did.  He hadn’t even thought about it since that night at Woody’s when he last saw the crazy psychic.  He barely even remembered any of it.  It was a dream.  Except…how could a man from his dream be real?  How could he be standing in front of him right now? 

“Brian?” Justin inquired again, snapping the older man out of his thoughts.

“Hmmm?  Oh, the…brochure,” Brian held up the pamphlet that listed all the featured artists.

“Oh, right,” Justin said, relief evident in his voice.

“It’s nice to meet you.”  Caleb held out his hand. 

“Yeah,” Brian reluctantly shook the other man’s hand.  All he wanted at the moment was to run like hell out of here.  Away from this guy he had never met before, yet whom he  knew so well.  Away from the look of growing concern on Justin’s face. 

“Have you sold anything?” Justin asked Caleb, trying to turn the conversation away from Brian.

“Yeah, a few.  You?” 

Justin smiled.  “Same.”

“Isn’t it great?”  Caleb smiled, daring to look up at the taller man.

Brian tried to hide his scowl.  “Yeah, great,” he mumbled.  “I need a cigarette,” he said to Justin, and before the blonde could respond, he made his way toward the exit.

~~~***~~~***~~~

“Is something wrong?” Caleb asked as the two of them watched Brian practically run away from them.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Justin said quietly, concerned.  He could still feel the tremors in the exec’s body right before Brian bolted out of there.  The look of anxiety, almost panic, on his face.  “Too bad Mark couldn’t be here,” Justin said, deciding to change the subject from his boyfriend to Caleb’s.

“Yeah, he couldn’t get out of work.  He’s coming by tomorrow to help me take it all down though.”

“Great.  I’ll get to meet him,” Justin replied enthusiastically.

“Shouldn’t you be near your wall asking people to buy your pictures it instead of bothering other artists?”

They both turned to see another couple standing behind them. 

“I thought you guys left already,” Caleb said, smiling at the two young men.

“We walked around, looked at some pictures,” the one with light brown hair said. 

“Then there’s the free booze,” the brunette added.

Caleb rolled his eyes, turning back to Justin.  “Justin, these are my friends, Nicholas,” he pointed to the first one that spoke.  “And Kevin.”

“Hi,” Justin greeted them with a wide smile. 

“This is your work?”  Nicholas pointed to the sketches on the wall behind them.

“Yes,” Justin said, humbly.  He always felt nervous when somebody new saw his art.

“It’s great,” Nicholas smiled, turning around.  “Isn’t it great, Kev?”

The brunette scowled at them.  “Yeah, great.  I need a drink.”  And just like Brian, he was gone.

Nicholas frowned as he watched Kevin retreat.  “You’ll have to forgive him.  He’s a little on the cranky side today.”

“Today?” Caleb snickered, earning a glare from his friend. 

“Sounds like my boyfriend,” Justin said, sighing.  Sounded exactly like his boyfriend. 

“They should compare notes,” Nicholas replied. 

Justin smiled sadly.  “Actually, I think I should go find him.”  He knew that something wasn’t right with Brian.  Something hadn’t been right from the beginning.

“It was nice to meet you,” Nicholas smiled at him. 

“You too.  I’ll call you tomorrow?” he asked Caleb.  After the other man nodded, he made a hasty exit in search of his cranky boyfriend.

“You really know how to find them, Caleb,” Nicholas said as the two watched the blonde make his way through the crowd.

Caleb sighed.

~~~***~~~***~~~

Justin found Brian sitting on a bench just outside the building, smoking a cigarette.  He stood in the doorway, watching the older man for a few minutes.  Brian seemed to be lost in thought and from the expression on the exec’s face, it wasn’t anything happy.  Slowly, Justin made his way over to the bench, sitting next to his lover.

“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.

“What do you mean?” Brian asked without looking at him.

“You just bolted out of there like something was chasing you.  What’s wrong?”

Brian leaned back.  “Just because I don’t want to make nice with your newest bestest  bud you think something’s wrong?”

Justin exhaled noisily, leaning back on the bench as well.  He studied the other man’s face closely, realizing that this was not just Brian being Brian.  There was something else.  “What do you want me to think?”

“You know what I want?”  Brian finally looked at him, before leaning in, his mouth mere inches away from Justin’s ear.  “I want to take you back to the loft and try out that new dildo,” he murmured.   

Justin turned his face to Brian’s, their foreheads touching.  He wanted to scream for Brian to open up to him.  To finally say what was on his mind.  But as he looked into his lover’s eyes, he saw a plea to let it go.  To just do what Brian asked, what Brian needed.

“Ok,” Justin said softly.  “I’ll go tell everybody we’re leaving.”

Justin felt the other man’s body relax next to him.  “Ok.”  Brian’s voice was barely audible.

Reluctantly, Justin stood up, heading back inside.  He stopped in the doorway, looking back at where Brian still sat, smoking.  He was acting the same way he did that morning in the diner, when he just hugged Justin, his whole body shaking.  Something was wrong.  That much Justin knew.  And he hated that once again Brian had shut down, shut him out completely.  But even with his lack of practice in Brianese, Justin knew that his lover needed him right now, even if he didn’t say it.  And that was all that mattered at the moment.

Go to Part 4

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