Brian and Michael handed their menus over to the waiter after putting in their orders at their local Thai restaurant.

"So, was what's-his-face pissed that you didn't bring him with us tonight?" Michael asked before taking a sip of his Pepsi.

Brian scoffed. "First of all, you know his name is Justin, so cut the crap, and no, he wasn't pissed. He invited his fag hag over for dinner."

"He's inviting people over to your loft now, like he owns the joint?" Michael said with a scowl.

"I told him to invite her over," Brian said. "There's no reason why he should sit at home by himself while-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Michael said, holding his hands up. "Excuse me... Home? Suddenly, your loft is his home now?"

Brian sighed, trying his damndest to refrain from yelling at the other man and getting thrown out of one of his favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh. "Well that depends: how long are you staying in town?"

Michael suddenly became very interested in the design on the tablecloth. "I told you... for a few days."

"Uh-huh... and how many is a few?"

Michael chewed on his bottom lip. "I..."

Brian reached across the table and lifted Michael's chin, so he would have to look him in the eye. "You...?"

"Alright... I'm not going back to Portland," Michael finally said. "Shit."

Brian tried not to look too smug. "I know."

"How? Did Ma tell you?"

"No, I figured it out all by my little self," Brian mocked. "I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came back home for good. And how did your mom find out?"

Michael went back to looking down at the table cloth, clearly ashamed of himself. "I tried to go to sleep last night after you dropped me off, but I just laid there. So I took Ma's car-"

"You mean that big-ass land barge she hardly ever drives?" Brian asked, referring to Debbie's 1978 Lincoln Continental that lived in the alley behind her house. "The Pimp Mobile?"

Michael snickered as he recalled all the shit that he and Brian had talked about that car over the years. "Yeah, I was surprised it even started... Anyway, I drove around for a little while, and I ended up at Babylon. I met this really cute guy, and long story short-"

"Hell of a time to spare me the details," Brian said.

"Long story short," Michael continued, "I brought him home, and Ma heard us as she was coming in after getting home from work. She banged on the door until I answered it. After the trick left, she interrogated me for over an hour while I cried like a little fucking baby."

"She should have been a cop," Brian cracked.

Michael sighed. "I told her how I wasn't happy in Portland, because I couldn't find a job and David was so busy setting up his practice and spending time with his son... and on Sunday night, I told David that I wasn't happy, and he said, ‘Well then, go home, Michael. Go home'.

"I spent the next couple of days packing and arranging for my stuff to get shipped back, and now I'm right back here where I started. Hell, I'm even lower than where I started; I don't even have my own apartment."

"Or a job," Brian added.

Michael covered his eyes with his hands. "Ugh... before I know it, I'll be waiting tables at the diner."

"Hey, that's better than mowing lawns or picking up dog shit at the animal shelter."

The two men exchanged a smile, since they had each done all three of those jobs during summer breaks in high school. "That's true," Michael said.

Their food arrived shortly after, and Michael regaled Brian with Captain Astro's latest adventures until it was time for them to head to Babylon.

Once they got inside the club, they quickly found Ted and Emmett standing near the bar. Upon seeing Brian, both Ted and Emmett began to clap.

"Hey, the king is back to rule over his loyal subjects!" Ted said.

Michael looked back at Brian with a puzzled expression. "Huh?"

"I haven't been here since the night before the transplant," Brian said before ordering a double Jack Daniels at the bar.

"Yeah, it's been..." Emmett paused to count on his fingers. "Eleven whole days!"

Ted laughed. "I bet the floor of the backroom has never been so clean!"

"You wouldn't know- you only get the guts to go back there once a year, maybe," Brian yelled to Ted over the music.

Ted looked away sheepishly before taking a sip of his beer.

"So where's that adorable little blonde of yours?" Emmett asked Brian.

"Who cares?" Michael yelled. "Let's go upstairs so we have a better view of the stage."

Michael led Ted and Emmett up to the second-level balcony, but Brian chose to stay downstairs and enjoy his drink without Michael's mouth ruining his buzz. He ordered a second drink after quickly draining the first one, realizing how much he missed drinking at Babylon.

The "Pecs of Death" contest began shortly after with Sheeba, the Queen of Babylon, hosting. Many of the contestants were the same shirtless gym bunnies that always signed up for these kinds of competitions. He had already fucked several of them before, but Brian noticed one new face. He tossed back his third drink while the contestants flexed, and laughed when Sheeba cracked some pretty funny jokes directed at the men on stage. He turned down a few offers to go to the backroom.

After ordering his fourth drink, Brian watched the judging portion of the contest. New Face, who had some very nice pecs, came in second place.

"Oh... I guess I better go console the first loser," Brian said out loud to himself before sitting his empty glass on the bar and making his way towards the stage.

********************

Brian and New Face came stumbling into the loft sometime after midnight. They made their way over to the bedroom, stripping each other of their clothes along the way.

Brian told New Face to wait at the bottom of the stairs before going up. "Hey, Sunshine!" he yelled as he smacked Justin on his ass a few times. "Come on, wake your lazy ass up and join the party!"

Justin sat up a bit and squinted into the light. "Brian?"

"Let me introduce you to our new friend," Brian slurred, obviously fucked up. "This is... uh..."

"Kevin," New Face said.

"Yeah, that was it," Brian practically yelled. "Like I'll remember that in the morning..."

"What the hell's going on?" Justin asked in a raspy tone, silently willing Brian to keep his voice down.

He got his answer when Brian dragged Kevin up the stairs and over to the bed. Brian threw the duvet off and pushed Kevin onto the mattress.

"You're wearing way too many clothes, Sonny Boy!" Brian said before he fell on top of the trick, their mouths connecting.

Justin managed to pull himself out of bed, shivering as the cool air hit him. "Brian, what the fuck!"

Brian ignored him as started running his tongue down Kevin's well-muscled chest.

Justin leaned over and slapped Brian on his shoulder. "Brian!"

"What?" Brian yelled.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

He scoffed. "Well, if you can't tell, then obviously I'm a horrible teacher."

Justin's mouth dropped open as he watched Brian get back to his trick. Unable to watch another second of that, Justin pulled on his tennis shoes, grabbed his duffel and messenger bags, and stomped out of the loft.

He yanked the door shut behind himself and felt his head spin with dizziness. He leaned against the brick wall adjacent to the door for several moments, trying not to faint and/or throw up as hot tears ran down his cheeks.

"Why?" Justin choked out. "Damn it, Brian, why?"

The elevator was still at the top floor, so Justin stepped into it a moment later and hit the button to take him downstairs.

****************

Lindsay ran down the stairs as the doorbell continued to ring. "Alright, hold on!" she yelled as she turned the lock and pulled the door open. She was very surprised to find Justin standing on the porch, his eyes red from crying.

"Justin! What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry that it's so late, but-"

"No, come in," Lindsay said as she stepped aside for him to come into the foyer just as Melanie came down the stairs. "Honey, what happened?" she asked before taking Justin's two bags from him and sitting them down on the floor.

"I was by myself at Brian's earlier, asleep, and he brought some guy home from Babylon," Justin answered tearfully. "He started fucking the guy right in front of me."

"That son of a bitch," Melanie muttered.

"How did you get over here?" Lindsay asked.

"I used the pay phone across the street to call a cab," he answered before he put his hand over his mouth. "Oh, I'm going to be sick."

Both women helped him upstairs and into the bathroom, getting him there just in time before he started retching into the toilet.

Melanie crouched next to Justin and put her hand on his sweaty forehead. "My God, Justin, you are burning up. Linds, get the thermometer."

Lindsay reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out a small case holding their ear thermometer. After putting a new disposable filter tip on it, she placed it into Justin's ear. It beeped a couple of seconds later.

She looked at the reading. "104. 2."

"I'm calling an ambulance," Melanie said as she got up to get the phone.

"No, I... I don't want-"

"Justin, you just had a kidney transplant," Melanie admonished. "You need to get to the hospital, now."

Lindsay sat on the bathroom floor with Justin a few moments later, holding a wet wash cloth to his forehead while Melanie called 911.

"Don't call Brian," Justin said weakly. "Please, don't call him. I never want to see him again."

Lindsay nodded in understanding. "Okay, I won't."

********************

Brian woke up the next morning feeling like his head had been put in a vice and squeezed until his eyeballs popped out of his head. He rolled over to put his arm around Justin, but was surprised to find a dark-haired, tanned, muscular man lying in Justin's spot.

"Hey!" Brian yelled as he roughly shook the trick by his shoulder. "Hey! Wake the fuck up!"

The trick opened his eyes. "Huh?"

"Where the fuck is Justin?" Brian asked him.

The trick looked around, a confused look on his face. "Uh... what?"

"I said, where the fuck is Justin?" Brian growled, enunciating each syllable.

"Who's Justin... and who are you?" the trick asked.

Brian groaned. "You have thirty seconds to get the fuck out of here."

The trick threw his clothes on as Brian got up and walked naked around the loft. After seeing that Justin was nowhere to be found, he went back into the bedroom to grab the phone just as the trick was letting himself out.

Brian dialed the only number he could think of to call.

"Hello?" Vic answered.

"Hey, it's Brian. Is Justin over there?"

"Uh... no," Vic said. "I thought he was staying with you."

"Shit... well, I don't know where the fuck he is."

Brian heard Vic asking someone in the background if they knew where Justin was. He then heard Debbie say that she thought he was at Brian's.

Debbie came on the line a few moments later after Vic informed her that it was Brian on the phone, wondering where Justin was. "Brian? Why isn't Sunshine there with you?"

Brian sighed as he tried to recall the previous night's events. "I left him here with his friend... uh, whatever her name is, when I went to Babylon with Michael last night... and I must have drank too much or took too much of something, because I woke up this morning with a trick in my bed and Justin gone." He looked down at the floor in front of the closet. "His stuff is gone, too. I don't even know how I got home last night."

"Shit," Debbie said, obviously peeved. "I fucking told you, didn't I? I told you-"

"Deb!" Brian yelled. "Cuss me out later, after you help me find Justin!"