On Tuesday, while I was busy packing with Emmett’s help, I got a phone call from Carnegie Melon. I was invited to accept an award of sorts. I was so shocked, it took me a minute to say I would be there. I hadn’t expected to be involved in Brian's visit to the university.

I wasn’t ready to step all over my pride and ask Brian if he was involved in this award, because I hadn’t talked to him since I had hang up on him on Saturday night.

“Who’s coming to get you?” Emmett asked later, while we shared take-out in my desolately bare living room.

“Brian, I think.”

“B-Bri-an?”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s been invited by Carnegie to talk about their best student since he has recently purchased a painting from him. And that’s why they called me earlier. They want me there to give me an award.”

“Act surprise.” He winked.

“I’ll do my best.” I checked my phone by instinct, wondering why Brian hadn’t said anything for so many days. “So…hypothetically…”

Emmett quirked a brow, smiling indulgently.

“If you hang up on your boyfriend, and he doesn’t say anything for three days straight…is it a matter of too much pride or is he too upset?”

“I thought you weren’t such a queen if the poor man hung up on you. He’s a busy man.”

“I hung up on him,” I admitted. “It was the night I had the fight with Mom. I was at Michael’s. I didn’t want to talk to Brian right then.”

Emmett gasped. “And he didn’t call back?”

“I had shut off my phone.”

“Are you an idiot?”

I scowled. “You’re not helping.”

“Did you try calling him?”

“Well…no.” I shrugged.

“You are an idiot,” Emmett groaned, slapping the phone into my hand. “Do it now.”

I was afraid to call Brian, knowing he would be super upset.

After five rings, the call connected. “Call you back in an hour,” Brian said in a hushed voice. There was rumor in the background.

“Sure.”

“So? What was that?” Emmett demanded when I put the phone down on the floor.

“He was busy. He said he’d call me later.”

“And he answered, even though he was busy. He looooves you.”

I grinned. “Yeah, I was an idiot,” I admitted in a small voice.

We continued packing, until my whole life was in boxes in the entry hallway.

Brian's hour had come and gone. It was night and I was eating leftovers while watching a random movie on my laptop.

The sound of keys in the lock made me freeze, then I was running downstairs. I tripped over something on the stairs, and landed hard on my knees right in front of Brian.

“Right where I wanted you,” he joked, but his voice sounded cool.

I stood up slowly, rubbing my knees. I had no idea it could hurt so badly to fall on your knees.

Brian took a step closer. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. I was a tool.”

“A proud idiot, I’d say,” Brian whispered into my hair. “Come here. Let me see your knees.”

“I’m fine.”

He still installed me on the couch, bringing two frozen bags of vegetables from the kitchen. He sat next to me, taking my legs over his lap, keeping the frozen bags over my knees.

“Blake has a plan.”

I looked up at Brian's face. His features were barely visible in the dim light coming from the moon. If I wasn’t afraid he was going to bodily restrain me from moving, I would go switch the light on.

There was a knock on my door. I startled, but Brian called out, “Come in!”

A moment later, light flooded the room. Ben was standing in the hallway with Brian's bag.

“Leave it by the stairs. Thank you, Ben.”

“What happened to you, Picasso?” Ben walked closer.

“He threw himself on his knees when I came in.”

“I fell,” I muttered, blushing horribly.

“So did I.” Brian grinned cheekily.

It took me a moment to realize what he meant. I grinned back.

“If you’d point me in your friend’s house direction before I barf…”

I glanced at Ben. “What? Oh. You mean, Michael?”

“Yes.”

After giving him the address, we were left alone. I refused to let Brian carry me upstairs, even though my legs felt stiff from the abuse they had suffered. I took the stairs one at a time.

“I’ll tell you some other time what happened on Saturday.”

“I already know. Your friends are gossip machines.”

“But how could you know? Only Michael and Debbie know what happened.” I wasn’t aware Ben had Michael’s number, and even if he did, they weren’t yet that close.

“Let’s just say I borrowed Emmett’s number from Drew’s phone and found out Michael’s number. I was afraid I had killed him for a second, because he stopped breathing when I explained who was on the phone.”

“I can’t believe it!” I cried out. “They didn’t say a thing.”

Brian smiled mysteriously. “So your friend was kind enough to catch me up with what had upset you so badly that you would hang up on me.”

“I was afraid I’d break down if I talked to you in that moment,” I admitted.

“I’m sorry to hear you had to fight with your mother. She looked like a nice, sensible woman.”

“She is…most of the time.”

Brian pulled me into his arms. “Let’s sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow.”

“What’s the plan?”

“I’ll tell you over breakfast.”

#

In the morning, only when I arrived in the kitchen, I remembered about Brian’s visit. He was at the kitchen table with Michael and Ben.

I had to rub the sleep out of my eyes to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

Michael was grinning from ear to ear, which proved he had a night to remember. It was then when I became aware of slight pain in my knees, and looked down to seen them an angry red, but thankfully not swollen due to Brian’s insistence I kept the frozen bags on them.

“Good morning!” Brian grinned broadly. “Coffee? Doughnut?”

I noticed my favorite doughnuts in town sitting on a plate on the table.

“Oh, my God!” I grabbed a chocolate one, throwing myself on the chair next to Brian. “Thanks, Mike.”

“It was Ben’s idea to bring doughnuts. I was all for stopping by the diner to get pancakes.”

I turned my attention to Ben, trying to remember if I had ever stopped him on the way out of town at the doughnut house. It was a possibility. When he winked, he cemented my thought.

“How are your knees?” Brian touched one of them gingerly under the table.

“They hurt a little, but I can walk. I can’t believe I tripped like that.”

“If you’d have cracked your head, the headlines would have said you died upon shock of seeing the President in your house.”

Sadly, Ben’s attempt at a joke brought a tense silence in my small kitchen. Michael leaned to whisper in his ear, keeping his eyes on me.

It proved Ben had selective hearing when it came to what happened in the backseat of the Caddy. He had been there when I told Brian about the story behind Rage.

I intertwined my fingers with Brian's on my thigh. “You said you’d tell me over breakfast about the plan.”

Brian squeezed my hand, taking a gulp from his coffee.

“We’re going to show up together at the university and take it from there. Blake suggested we should act naturally.”

I choked on my bite. I wasn’t expecting for him to come out so soon. In my hometown.

Brian thumped on my back, staring at me worried.

I stole his coffee, talking several gulps to wash away the doughnut. I regretted it a moment later, having forgotten he liked the whole sugar on earth in his coffee.

“I have to dress up,” I finally said.

“I won’t bother with anything fancy. I’ll wear a shirt and dress pants,” Brian explained.

“No tie? Good. But I can’t wear a t-shirt like I had planned. All my dress shirts are rumpled and in one of those boxes.” I pointed to said boxes.

“Lucky I took two shirts with me. You can have the blue one.”

I smiled, returning to my food. I stole at look at Michael, and was happy to finally see him happy. We had waited forever for him to find someone after several failed relationships.

We went upstairs to get dressed, while Michael said he had to go the store. He made me promise we would see each other before I left.

When we made it outside the building, a while later, I stopped at the front door, staring at the Caddy.

“Come on.” Brian took a deep breath, pulling me after him by the hand. If anyone saw us, it wouldn’t matter. The whole world would know soon enough.

“Hello!” Drew turned from the passenger seat to wave at me, then he nodded curtly at Brian.

It never ceased to amaze me how close friends they were, but they still respected him.

During the short ride, I tuned out the radio talk between Ben and Drew and the whole security team. Brian kept an arm around my shoulders, looking out the window.

When we rolled to a stop in front of the stairs leading to my previous school, I felt a panic attack approaching.

Brian kissed me wetly. “Stay strong. I’m right here with you.”

“I should be the one saying that,” I said nervously.

“Don’t look at the cameras. Focus on my hand.”

The back door opened. Brian stepped out, stopping near Drew. I took a shaky breath, then got out as well. The shouts and flashes from the cameras reminded me of the last time this happened while we were away in Europe.

Then Brian's warm hand enclosed mine, squeezing tightly. He strolled confidently toward the entrance.

I was proud of my legs for not betraying me, as I walked along Brian, trying not to look around. Drew caught up with me, walking close to my side, while Ben was on Brian’s other side. I could bet there were snipers on the building, and the security guard we just passed was clearly part of Brian’s security. The old man who had been guard since forever had never looked younger or so in shape, I thought, amused.

In the entry hallway we were welcomed by the dean. The shock on his face was visible. It took him a minute to gather himself and speak.

Brian dropped my hand for a moment to shake hands with the dean, before placing his hand on the small of my back.

“Thank you for inviting me, Dean Thompson. I took liberties and brought the artist with me.”

I tried to smile, as I met the dean’s wide eyes. “Hello, Dean Thompson. Thank you,” I said, my voice shaking horribly.

The dean nodded several times, before waving to a hallway. It led to the ceremony hall of what I could remember.

“Relax,” Brian whispered, leaning into my side.

I stiffened further when we approached the big room. We had to cross the whole room to get to the stage.

It took me a moment to realize we weren’t in the room I initially thought. It was the one next to it. It led to the backstage. No unwanted interaction until later.

“Tonight – alone in our home.”

I peeked at Brian. His eyes glinted with mischief. But he had done. He relaxed me.

“I wasn’t expecting…” the dean stumbled over words. “We had something different planned.”

“Please proceed according to your agenda,” Brian said.

The dean disappeared on the stage. I looked around to see Ben and Drew a few feet away, hands over their earpieces, whispering in their collars. Then I looked at Brian to find him watching me.

“No regrets?” I whispered.

“None. I’d retire happily at thirty-seven.”

Ben cleared his throat, while I stared confused at Brian. I thought he was closer to forty, but my information might have been wrong. He never told me his actual age.

“Forty-one. Whatever.” Brian glared at Ben over his shoulder.

I grinned, looking away, knowing if Brian caught me he would be upset. All I knew was that age was a sensitive subject for him. Though, he had aged like fine wine, and I planned on showing him that for the rest of our lives.

I became aware of the dean’s voice talking about my academic studies and the shows I had during college, then how my career path led me to paint a life-changing portrait.

Someone from the staff rolled an easel past us toward the stage. Whatever it held was covered by a dark cloth.

“You didn’t,” I shouted when I figured he had brought the portrait.

“Of course, I did. I had to show the world how talented my man is.”

If my face got any hotter it would catch fire.

“Please, welcome the artist himself: Justin Taylor!”

“That’s you.” Brian pushed me toward the curtains.

I had never been good at this. One reason I chose this career. Talking to people was not my thing.

“Hello,” I said into the microphone at the center of the stage. “I wasn’t sure where this career would take me when I chose it. All I’ve ever known was that I wanted to paint.”

The dean made a hand gesture telling me to keep talking, so I summed up my career from the moment I left college to the moment I was offered to paint a portrait for a very important person. That’s when Dean Thompson interfered.

“Shall we bring the important person on the stage?” he asked, just as the curtains opened and Brian strolled to us.

If I didn’t faint or barf during this, I would call it a success.

Brian stopped near the easel, accepting the mike from the dean.

“Hello everyone,” he said warmly. “It was a chance encounter that I crossed paths with a painting of Mr. Taylor’s. It was love at first sight. I can’t tell exactly what attracted me to it, but then I searched his work and discovered what a talented young man he is.” Brian smiled brightly. “Maybe it was the idea of living in the same era with a contemporary artist of such talent and one of my whims – to have my portrait done.”

I ducked my head, as Brian pulled the cloth off the portrait. I peeked at it, as the crowd gasped. I had forgotten how beautiful the painting had turned.

Brian stepped closer to me, still smiling. I could feel my whole body shaking. This was it.

“During the hours spent together working on this masterpiece, I found something more important than my whim achieved.” Brian curled his fingers around mines, holding eye-contact. “I discovered what a wonderful, intelligent, funny man Justin is.” Brian turned to the crowd, who had stopped breathing apparently. Or maybe that was just me not breathing. “I fell in love with him.”

I squeezed Brian's hand, breathing through my nose. It wasn’t the time to faint. The whole world would think Brian was dating a sissy.

One – two – three minutes of silence. Then the questions exploded. More photos were taken.

Brian whispered to me to smile as he kissed my forehead.