Anything Goes - Part 7:
The Living Arrangements
Justin moaned as Brian’s hand cupped his stiff cock, rubbing it through the material of his pants. “I should…God,” he muttered in between kisses. Finally, pulling away, he licked his lips which were swollen from hours of love-making.
“I could just turn this thing around. We’ll be back at the loft in twenty minutes, tops,” Brian said, sitting up in the driver’s seat of the Jeep.
Justin smiled. “As tempting as it sounds, I can’t. I’ve spent almost every night for the last two weeks at your place.”
“So?”
“So mom’s not too happy about it. She’s been giving me all these sighs and disappointed looks.”
“So you decided to play the good son and spend the night at home,” Brian scoffed.
“Pretty much,” Justin nodded, leaning over to kiss his lover one last time before getting out.
After watching the Jeep pull away from the curb, Justin walked inside, closing the door and climbing the stairs. He came to a complete stop when his eyes settled on two people in the middle of the livingroom; his mother and an almost naked Paul stared back at him.
“Justin,” Jennifer exclaimed, blushing, quickly wrapping herself in a robe. “I thought you’d be spending the night at Brian’s.”
Picking his jaw up off the floor, Justin finally found his voice. “I thought I’d stay home tonight. I guess I really…REALLY shouldn’t have.”
~~~***~~~***~~~
Having an early meeting, Brian decided to stop by the diner for a quick breakfast before the rest of the gang showed up. To his surprise, he found a blonde-haired, blue-eyed stud sitting at their usual booth, rustling through newspapers.
“I thought you were off today,” he said after giving his boyfriend a morning kiss.
“I am,” the teen replied, yawning.
Just then Brian noticed that Justin was wearing the same clothes he wore the night before. “Let me guess, your mommy didn’t remember to do the laundry,” he mocked, sliding in the booth across from the teen.
“My mommy was too busy getting it on with the doctor last night to remember ANYTHING,” Justin replied, visibly shuddering at the thought.
Despite his honest attempt not to laugh, Brian chuckled. “I told you to stay over.” He knew Justin didn’t find the situation nearly as funny as he did.
“I’m glad this is so amusing for you. I, on the other hand, am scarred for life,” Justin said in his best dramatic voice. “It will probably be enough to turn me off of sex for a VERY LONG time.”
Brian snickered. “Well, we can’t let that happen, can we?” he said, sliding his foot along Justin’s ankle under the table. The teen just rolled his eyes, returning his attention to the papers in front of him. “What’s all this?” Brian asked, ignoring Justin’s disinterest.
Justin gazed up at him, hesitating for a moment. He put the paper down, running the palms of his hands over it. “After I…caught the late show at the Taylor residence, I came here.”
Brian sat up straight, not really sure what to think of that revelation. “You’ve been here all night?” When Justin nodded, Brian found himself even more confused. “You could have come back to the loft.”
Justin shrugged, looking away for a moment. “It’s fine. I needed to think.”
“About?”
The artist sighed. “I’m going to be twenty in a few months and I haven’t lived on my own yet.”
Brian narrowed his eyes, waiting for what was to come next, not entirely sure he liked where this conversation was going.
“So, I’m looking for a place,” Justin finally blurted out, glancing back up at him.
Ok, he DEFINITELY did not like where the conversation was going. This wasn’t part of the plan. The plan was for Justin to get tired of going back and forth between Jennifer’s and the loft and move back in with him.
“Except, all these places are way too expensive,” Justin added.
“Well, there is a solution to this problem,” Brian said quickly, seeing an opportunity to show the teen the error of his ways.
“There is?” Justin looked up from the paper.
Brian arched his eyebrow, nodding slightly. He knew they were on the same page when Justin’s eyes grew wide.
“No.”
Ok, maybe they were NOT on the same page. Maybe they were on totally different chapters or completely different books altogether.
“What?”
Justin sighed, leaning back in the booth. “I thought we agreed that you were going to stop trying to take care of me.”
“We did? I don’t recall,” Brian pretended to think about it.
“That day at my mom’s.”
“The only thing I remember is fucking your brains out,” Brian replied, tongue in cheek. It was easier to focus on that part, avoiding the other events that took place on the day in question.
Justin rolled his eyes at the comment, leaning forward on the table, his expression serious. “I don’t think my needing to move out of mom’s place is a good reason for me to move back in with you. It’s wrong. For both of us. It’s just too soon.”
Brian studied the man sitting across from him, realizing that Justin had made up his mind and he had absolutely no say in this. The young man in front of him wasn’t the same kid who would hang onto his every word. Who would give up everything to pick up crumbs from his table and be in his bed. No. Justin was a man now.
Brian was brought out of his thoughts when he heard another voice behind them.
“Hey, there.”
“What are you guys doing here?” Justin asked, smiling wide.
Brian followed Justin’s gaze only to see three men walking towards them.
“We decided it was time to check out where you work,” Caleb responded, sliding in the booth next to Justin.
“Hey, Brian,” Nicholas said, turning to the exec.
Before he could even open his mouth to reply, Brian found himself being shoved over to the wall as Nicholas and Kevin got in next to him.
“What’s this?” Caleb asked, pointing to the papers on the table.
“I’m looking for a place to live,” Justin replied.
“What’s wrong with your mom’s place?” Nick asked, taking a sip of Justin’s glass of water.
“Her boyfriend,” Justin said solemnly. “I walked in on them last night.”
All three made a face.
“That can scar a boy for life,” Nicholas said, causing Justin to smile.
“That’s what I said. And I’d like to avoid it happening again,” Justin responded, completely oblivious to a pair of hazel eyes watching him. “The only problem is that I can’t afford a place on my own, so I’d have to find a roommate. And there are some real weirdos out there.”
“What about my place?”
All eyes were suddenly on Nicholas.
“Your place?” Justin asked, sitting up straight.
That DEFINITELY was NOT part of Brian’s plan. It was one thing for Justin to move in with some stranger. It was completely different for the teen to live with someone he had an obvious connection with.
“Yeah. I have a two-bedroom. I use the spare room mostly for storage, but I’m sure we can move stuff out of there in no time,” Nick answered excitedly.
Justin’s smile grew wider. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, why not? How about you come by today during lunch and check it out?”
Moving his eyes from the blonde’s face, Brian studied the other men at the table, immediately noticing two other frowns at the table. Caleb seemed to shrink into a tiny little ball and Kevin was practically growling at the two cheery friends. Well, at least he wasn’t the only one who didn’t think Justin and Nick living together was a good idea.
“That’d be great,” Justin exclaimed, he and Nick nearly jumping for joy, oblivious to the other three men at the table.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Less than a week later Justin found himself carrying boxes up to the third floor of what was now his new apartment. “This is the last one,” he said to his new roommate, putting a big box down on the floor.
“Not a lot of stuff,” Nick noted.
Justin looked around the room. “I left most of the things at my mom’s. I figured that if I hadn’t unpacked them yet, I probably don’t need what’s in them.”
“You never know,” Nick said, taking out two bottles of beer from the fridge and bringing them to the living room.
“I’m starting to think that maybe I should just leave all this stuff in the boxes. Save the time it takes to pack all this shit,’ Justin flopped down on the couch, gulping down his beer.
“Moved around a lot, huh?” Nick asked, sitting down next to him.
A sad smile spread across Justin’s face. “You can say that again. I went from my parents to Brian’s, then Deb’s, then my mom’s, then Brian’s again, and my mom’s. In less than three years.”
Nick made a face. “Ouch.”
“Yeah. I’m just kinda hoping for something a little more permanent some time soon.”
Nicholas moved closer, putting an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “This could be it.”
Justin looked at him, smiling. “I hope so.”
~~~***~~~***~~~
Later that day, while he was unpacking his art supplies, Justin found himself going through his old sketchbook filled with sketches of his lover. He was sure he was being ridiculous, but he felt like Brian was avoiding him. Ever since that day at the diner the ad exec had been distant. He said he was busy. New account. But Justin’s gut was telling him it was more than that.
He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket, trying to decide whether to call his boyfriend again, since he had yet to receive a call back for the three messages he had already left in the last two days.
“I learned that if you’re even considering whether to call him or not,” Nick said, standing in the doorway, “you should call him.”
Justin shook his head, putting the phone away. “I don’t think he wants to talk to me right now.”
“Why not?”
The artist sighed. “Brian has this fucked up idea that he has to take care of me. He asked me to move in with him.”
“He did? What did you say?” Nick asked, enthusiastically.
Justin motioned at the boxes on the floor by the bed. “Obviously ‘no’.”
“Oh,” Nick’s face fell. “Well, that explains it.”
“What?” Justin stared at him, confused.
“I asked Kevin to move in with me last year. When he said no, I felt shattered. Completely rejected.”
“No, but…” He paused, wondering if maybe Nicholas was right. But it couldn’t have been. “No, this is Brian. He has never been rejected, never hears ‘no’ from anybody.”
“Except you,” Nick pointed out. “The one person who matters.”
Justin leaned his head against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut. “Fuck.”
~~~***~~~***~~~
Using his key, Justin unlocked the door, scanning the loft carefully as soon as he walked in.
“Relax, I’m not fucking anybody,” his lover’s voice came from the kitchen.
Justin spun around, smiling nervously.
“You finally used your key,” Brian noted.
“Yeah.” He walked over to the kitchen counter, not taking his eyes off Brian. “Where have you been hiding?”
Brian shrugged. “Been busy.”
Justin searched his lover’s face, but Brian’s expression remained unreadable. “I left you messages.” He hated feeling so insecure right now. For all he knew Brian spent the last week fucking his brains out, not thinking about him once. But as much as that scared him, the possibility that Nick might be right worried him more. He did not want Brian to think he didn’t want to be with him.
“I know,” Brian simply responded, picking up a bottle of beer and walking over to the chaise in the corner, making himself comfortable on it. Justin noted the way Brian’s long, lean body fit into the black leather of their second favorite piece of furniture in the loft. The first one, of course, being the bed.
Taking his jacket off, Justin followed his lover, standing at the foot of the chair. “You could have called.”
“And be coerced into helping you move? No thanks.”
A faint smile crossed Justin’s face as he took a step forward, positioning himself over his lover, and carefully lowered himself down, straddling Brian’s legs, all the while not breaking eye contact with the man.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, silence surrounding them. No other man could affect Justin the way Brian did, especially when they were in such close proximity with each other. It was something incredible, something unexplainable. His body burned, screamed for Brian when he was near and ached for him when he wasn’t. Brian was all he ever wanted. But there were other things in his life as well. Things that he needed to experience on his own. “This is something I have to do,” he said, quietly.
He knew that no further explanation was needed. Brian understood what he was telling him. What he was asking of him.
He held his breath as Brian put the beer bottle down on the floor, raising himself up so they would be face-to-face.
“I know,” Brian breathed against his face, hitting him with a scent that Justin would recognize anywhere, because it was so unmistakably Brian’s.
~~~***~~~***~~~
“Can you, please, tell me why I agreed to this?” Justin whispered in Nick’s ear when his roommate happened to pass by him. Somehow he’d let Emmett talk him into having a housewarming party and now they had a house full of people, finger food, and tacky decorations.
“For the presents?” Nick offered, smiling.
“You’re no help,” Justin pouted when he heard Emmett’s voice behind him, prompting the teen to open the next present. He sighed, reaching for a medium-sized box in the far corner of the table. Opening the card attached to the box, he read it carefully.
“Who is it from?” he heard Debbie ask.
He could barely contain the joy as he scanned the room for his lover, smiling wide when his eyes fell on the man hiding in the farthest corner of the room, nursing a drink. “Brian.”
Everybody in the room turned around, staring at Brian who gave them his best innocent look.
Finally remembering the box in his hands, Justin pulled the lid off, caught off guard by the Power Puff Girls box sitting inside. He stifled a laugh when he saw its contents. He beamed when, looking up, he was greeted by his boyfriend’s mischievous grin.
“Well, what is it?” Emmett asked impatiently.
Justin quickly covered the box, realizing that his mother would probably not appreciate the gift and shoved it under the table.
“Something every gay boy living on his own should have,” Brian replied, saving him just in time. They shared another look, much to the dismay of everybody else in the room. When it became apparent that the pair would not reveal any more, Emmett pointed out that there were more presents to be opened.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Finally, three hours later everybody cleared out.
“I thought they’d never leave,” Justin sighed, flopping down on the couch.
“Didn’t you like all the presents?” Brian mocked, sitting beside him. “Emmett’s Easy Bake Oven sure was a hit.”
They both chuckled.
“Didn’t he get that for Michael’s thirtieth birthday?”
Brian shrugged. “That’s Emmett’s idea of what every queer needs in life.”
Justin’s mouth curved up at the sides, remembering the box still sitting deep under the table. He flashed Brian his brightest smile. “I have a few needs I’d like to have met right now.”
Brian’s eyebrow quirked up in obvious amusement as Justin got up, quickly walking over to the table and pulling his present from underneath it. He took the Power Puff Girls box out of the cardboard gift box, tossing the cardboard on the floor. Opening it up, he peered inside, considering his options for a moment. Taking out a couple of possibilities, he closed the box once again, and with the two objects in his hands moved toward his bedroom. Stopping in the doorway he looked back at his lover who was watching his every move. He held up the cuffs and the new dildo in his hands. “Which one?”
Brian eyed the two objects seriously. “Both,” he concluded, earning another smile from Justin, before both of them headed inside Justin’s new bedroom.
Go to Part 8