Assignment - Part 7:
Two Sides of the Coin
Justin pulled into the darkened garage of the Federal Building, smiling when he spotted the tall man getting off his bike a few spots over. Honking his horn to get Brian’s attention, Justin parked in the available parking spot and got out of the car.
“Agent Taylor, fancy meeting you here,” Brian joked, returning Justin’s smile.
“You got called in too?” the blond asked.
“Yeah.”
The two made their way toward the door leading into the building.
“Any idea what this is about?” Justin asked as they made their way through the lobby and the security check.
Brian was about to respond when he suddenly stopped.
Justin followed his gaze and saw a very well built man standing a few feet away waiting for an elevator.
“It’s about fucking time you got back to this part of the world,” Brian said as they neared the stranger.
The man smiled and shook Brian’s hand. “Did you actually miss me?”
“Fuck no,” Brian shook his head. “I just got sick of Mikey asking me every fucking day when you were coming back.”
“Don’t worry, I already called him,” the man assured Brian.
“Well, that’s a relief.” Brian finally seemed to remember that Justin was standing next to him. He glanced at the blond, then back at the other man. “Uh, Justin this is Ben Bruckner. He was stuck in fucking Tibet for the last four months.” He then turned to the older man. “This is Justin Taylor.”
Justin smiled politely as he shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said as the three of them boarded the elevator.
“Were you called in for this too?” Justin asked, talking to Ben.
“Oh, no, I am definitely taking a nice long vacation,” the man replied.
“Good luck with that,” Brian quipped.
Ben chuckled. “Well, I’m gonna try anyway. Just going to report to the boss before…”
“Sneaking off to fuck your boyfriend?” Brian finished for him.
Ben shot a nervous glance in Justin’s direction that both men had noticed.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Brian spoke, “Justin’s the newest member of our Gay and Lesbian Agents Club.”
Justin smiled at the man, to assure him that his secret, like theirs, would be kept secret.
The elevator had stopped and the doors slid open.
“Well, why don’t we meet later? Maybe at Babylon or Woody’s,” Ben said.
“Whatever,” Brian replied, shrugging his shoulders, as they watched Ben walk toward Lindsay’s office.
When Ben had disappeared from their sight, Justin turned to
Brian, smirking. Finally the brunet noticed the look.
“What?” he asked as the two turned toward the conference room.
“You fucked him,” Justin simply stated, and not even a scandalous look on the other man’s face could convince him otherwise.
Brian pretended to be offended.
“I recall you telling me that you’ve never fucked another agent before me,” Justin reminded his lover, not able to contain the self-satisfied grin on his face.
The taller man rolled his eyes. “I lied.”
Justin snickered. “Well, I want all the details. When, where, how many times, what positions you used. Everything.”
Brian stopped and looked around. There was nobody near them to overhear. “We were on a mission in Miami. On a stakeout in this hotel room.” He grumbled. “It just happened.”
“As these things usually do,” Justin mocked.
Brian glared at him. “It only happened once.” When Justin cast a look of disbelief in his direction, he grimaced. “Well, twice. And that was it.” He resumed walking toward the conference room, doing his best to ignore Justin’s laughter behind him.
~~~***~~~***~~~
About fourteen hours later the two men stood in the entrance of Babylon, assaulted by the loud music and hundreds of gyrating, sweating bodies on the dance floor.
Brian scanned the crowd, spotting his friends at the bar. For a moment he considered taking the other agent home and fucking all night instead, but it was already too late. His best friend had spotted him and was waving like a madman to get his attention.
Letting out a loud sigh that got lost in the overpowering beat of the song, Brian led the way toward the bar.
“You made it,” Michael grinned from ear to ear, his smile faltering slightly when he spotted Justin behind Brian. “You want a drink?”
“Sure,” Brian responded. Turning to Justin he asked, “You want anything?”
“A beer,” the blond responded.
Brian turned to the bartender, blocking out the obvious pout on his best friend’s face and called for two beers.
“Big crowd tonight,” Ben said.
Brian nodded, aware of the fact that Justin had been body snatched by the queen in bright pink pants and orange shirt. “Everybody’s celebrating your triumphant return,” he replied.
“That’s right,” Michael said, leaning into Ben’s wide chest. “Hopefully we won’t have to have a going away party anytime soon.”
Ben smiled at his boyfriend, then looked up at Brian, exchanging a knowing look. There was so much that Michael didn’t know, could never know. Something that the two most important men in his life could never tell him. And it had to stay that way.
“Well, come on, let’s dance,” Michael said, taking Ben’s hand.
“Brian?” Ben asked the taller man.
Brian shook his head. “Knock yourself out,” he called after the couple. Now it was time to free Justin from the tight grip of the evil witch drinking cosmos and spouting Southern wisdoms. “Emmett, would you leave the man alone? He’s had a long day.” Before his friend could respond, Brian pulled Justin away from Emmett and Ted and toward the center of the dance floor.
“Yes, I’d love to,” Justin gushed mockingly when Brian found an empty spot in the midst of the crowded club.
Justin’s hands on Brian’s hips, the two men began moving their bodies to the beat of the music.
~~~***~~~***~~~
A little over three hours later the whole gang barged into the almost empty diner, sweaty, blushed, and hungry.
“Well, don’t you boys look happy and ready to fuck,” Debbie said as they settled in the two booths – Ben, Michael, Ted, and Emmett in one and Brian and Justin took the other one.
“Ma!” Michael whined.
The rest of them laughed.
“Sunshine!” the waitress exclaimed when her eyes fell on the blond. She immediately had the man in a bear hug, much to Justin’s surprise and Brian’s amusement. “Haven’t seen you around here for a while. How are you doing, honey?” She finally let go of Justin.
“Trying to breathe,” Justin mumbled.
Brian could only snicker at the other man’s facial expression.
“What was that, sweetie?”
Justin smiled as he looked up at Debbie. “Fine,” he replied. “Just you know, busy.”
“Brian behaving himself?” she asked.
Brian glared when he heard the other man snort.
“You know Brian,” Justin responded.
Debbie shook her head disapprovingly. “Unfortunately I do.”
“Hey,” Brian decided to butt in, since he was the topic of the conversation. “I’m sitting right here, patiently waiting to have my order taken.”
“Sure, sure,” Debbie said, finally pulling out her notepad. “So, what will it be?” Much to Brian’s dismay, she was talking to Justin.
Brian looked up when he saw two younger men walk through the door.
The men passed by their booth and settled down in the one next to them. One of the men, however, looked over at Justin.
“Hey, I saw you getting out of that black Porsche outside. Is it yours?”
Brian noticed the immediate change in the blond’s posture, his back straight, shoulders firm.
“Yes,” Justin replied.
“Cool ride,” the man said. “She’s a real beauty.”
“Thanks,” was the blond’s response as he dropped his gaze to his hands, finding something incredibly interesting in the stained old table.
The rest of the time Justin remained quiet, speaking up only when asked a question and even then his responses were one or two words long. Brian watched him intently while they ate their dinner, wondering what had caused the sudden change in the man’s demeanor.
~~~***~~~***~~~
A little over an hour later the two finally made it back to the loft. Brian locked the door behind them, then walked over to the couch and tossed his jacket on it.
“You want a drink?” he asked Justin who remained standing near the kitchen.
Justin shook his head, but Brian was already taking out two glasses from the cabinet and pouring Jim Beam into both.
“Everything alright?” he asked as he handed one glass to the blond.
“Yeah,” Justin replied. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You tell me. You’re the one who lost your ability to speak as soon as your car was mentioned.”
Justin’s gaze dropped to the drink in his hand. “I’m fine,” he mumbled, moving away from Brian.
“You know, it is a nice car,” Brian pointed out, knowing now that he hadn’t imagined it. “Expensive.” He watched Justin intently.
The blond placed the still full glass on the kitchen counter and met his eyes. “My dad gave it to me,” he finally said.
Immediately Brian regretted bringing it up. He knew that the topic of Craig Taylor was a sore subject for Justin, even though the young CIA agent would never admit to that fact.
“Oh,” was all Brian was able to muster.
“It was a gift for my eighteenth birthday.”
“Nice gift.”
He saw a ghost of a smile cross Justin’s features. “At the time I thought it was his peace offering.”
“Peace offering?”
Justin raised his head. Sighed. “I came out to my parents a few months before that. My dad and I…well, to say we didn’t get along after that would be an understatement. Anyway, I thought…” He shrugged. “I guess I thought it was a sign that he had finally accepted it. Accepted me.” He dropped his gaze to his hands and laughed bitterly. “Stupid.”
Brian sighed. Moving closer, he placed his glass on the counter next to Justin’s. “Did you know? About who he was?”
The blond shook his head and looked up. “A couple of months after my birthday I came home to find a realtor looking around. That’s when my mom told me that they were getting a divorce. I couldn’t believe it at first. I thought it was my fault.”
“Your fault?”
“They fought. Constantly. About me. Mom supported me. Dad, of course, didn’t.”
Brian nodded, silently telling him to go on.
“About a week after we moved to our new place, she sat me down and told me,” Justin said. “I didn’t believe her at first. But then we started getting visitors.”
“Visitors?”
Justin nodded. “The FBI, the CIA, the NSA. Everybody was looking for my father. Trying to find out if we knew anything. That’s when I realized that my dad did a little more than just lie on his taxes. And that’s why mom left him. She found out what he did.”
“She’s lucky he let her go. He could have killed her,” Brian voiced his concern.
But Justin only shook his head. “He wouldn’t. He loved her. Anyway, I didn’t really know the extent of what he did. I could only imagine. But nothing I imagined came even close to what I found out. About a year after I was recruited I pulled everything we had on him…” he shook his head as if trying to clear his mind. “I couldn’t believe it was the same person I knew.”
“You still love him,” Brian stated, hating that he sounded accusatory. It was not his intent at all.
Justin met his eyes. “I love the man that I knew. The man that taught me how to ride a bike and took me to Disney World. You know?”
Brian shrugged. “The only thing my old man did was use me as a punching bag.”
“Well, at least he wasn’t the head of a terrorist group,” Justin pointed out.
Brian never thought of it that way. “Yeah, I guess dear old Jack scored some points after all.”
He heard Justin laugh softly and reached out to cup the blond’s face, knowing exactly what was bothering the young man. “You’re not him,” he said, his voice soft, quiet, but firm. He wanted to make sure Justin understood. “You’re not like him.”
Justin leaned into the touch. “Sometimes I wonder,” he said quietly.
“You’re not.” Brian moved closer, holding Justin’s face between the palms of his hands. “You said it yourself. We all make choices. He made his choice and you made yours.”
His response was a tiny smile on his lover’s face. “I’m impressed,” the blond said. “You remembered something I told you.”
Brian only leaned in to cover Justin’s mouth with his own. They had wasted enough time talking.
The two made their way toward the bedroom, shedding their clothes along the way. By the time they reached the bed, both men were naked.
Pushing Justin down on the bed, Brian climbed on top of him, his mouth immediately seeking his lover’s while his hands slid down the blond’s torso, stopping only when they reached the final destination – Justin’s cock.
Squeezing it gently, Brian pulled on the head of the already throbbing shaft, smiling when he heard the other man moan. Kissing Justin one more time, Brian moved down, his tongue tracing a straight line down to the man’s pubes. Positioning himself between Justin’s legs, Brian dipped his head down, taking Justin’s cock in his mouth.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Justin opened his eyes, resigned to the fact that he was not going to get any sleep tonight. He looked over to his side, watching the other man sleep peacefully next to him after a couple of hours of vigorous activities.
He, on the other hand, could not find peace in the middle of the night, his mind working overtime. It came to him as the two men collapsed on the bed once again earlier that evening, unable to do much more than breathe. Justin finally looked over at Brian then, finding himself completely entranced by how beautiful the other man looked – his eyes closed, his mouth slightly open.
That was the moment when he felt his whole life turn upside down in an instant – his job, his beliefs, his everything. Because for the first time in his entire life Justin realized that the funny feeling in his stomach every time he saw Brian wasn’t just a sexual attraction. It was something more.
Justin stopped himself before he gave this new feeling a name. It wasn’t an option. Being in love with Brian was not part of the deal. This was an assignment. Just another part of his job.
Somehow along the way of getting close to Brian, he let Brian get close to him.
He knew it had to stop. It wasn’t even a choice. He had to distance himself from the other man if he had any hopes of completing this mission successfully.
Glancing once more at the sleeping form of his lover, Justin slowly got up. Picking up his clothes off the floor, he tiptoed toward the door. Doing his best not to make any noise, he left the loft and Brian behind.
Go to Part 8