This is Brian's journey roughly two years after the end of the series. He and Justin have been living in New York City where he has just opened a new branch for Kinnetik. He knows he is going to have to make some major changes in is life and deal with a past that has haunted and shaped the man he knows he is. He is finally ready to face his demons and become the man he wants to be.

This story has many of the old gang we love and lots of new characters too.

Please be warned: There are scenes of violence, drama, angst, mental illness, drug use, non-consent, rape, Brian and Justin with other characters, addiction, discussion of Brian and Lindsay's past, Brian and Cynthia's past, hetero sex, Brian in a brief sexual interlude with a woman for non sexual reasons.

If any of this is a trigger for you, please don't read. If you like your QAF to be strictly canon, this is not for you.

Brian Kinney is a successful 33-year-old advertising executive from Pittsburgh, who is spending a week in Manhattan in hopes of landing the most important client of his career. Justin Taylor is a 21-year-old struggling artist living in Chelsea who hopes to make it big. What happens when the sexy ad man meets the beautiful blonde Picasso?

Brian Kinney needs a last minute date to join him at a client’s wedding, so he grabs the first available guy he sees - a naive, sheltered, and unsophisticated blond boy that he saves from a mental hospital. A boy who’s got a very unusual past. This is the story of their adventure together. Oh, and Justin doesn’t like wearing shoes for some reason . . .

*Reader's Choice Award, Favorite Friendship: Brian/Justin and Justin/Animals*

Justin has grown up in a very different household than seen in canon. He is living on the streets when he is found by the Liberty Diner gang and is rescued - malnourished, exhausted and ill - and taken home by Brian. Can Justin be brought out of this hell he's been resigned to by his hateful father? Can Brian find the one thing that will make Justin whole again?

This story is based on a prior fic - 'Smolder' - by LovelessSouls.  All credit for the haunting story premise goes to the original author, as well as my thanks for letting me repost the first two chapters of that story.

Present day, post-episode 5.13. Justin has returned to Pittsburgh to build a life and future with Brian. When Daphne asks Justin for a favor, he agrees without realizing the effect it will later have on him, Brian, and their entire family’s lives.

Did you ever wish you could go back in time and change just one thing you’d done - just one - thinking that you could change your whole life for the better? Well, Brian Kinney did. He was sure that all his problems stemmed from that first time he broke his first rule about sex - never let a trick stay the whole night. If he had never let Justin Taylor insinuate himself into his life, he would still be the top Stud of Liberty Avenue, free from the heartache and headaches of a relationship, with his friendships and family intact. At least that was what Brian was thinking the night after Justin left him and went to live with the stepford fags, Michael & Ben. But, every action has some direct or indirect consequence and Brian may not necessarily like the results that he gets when he wishes he could go back in time and change his life. This story begins after Episode 5.07 but flashes back to episode 1.02 & 1.03.

Flip a coin... any coin! But what happens when two sides of the same coin meet? Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor are about to find out. And what happens when the two aloof men find themselves breaking all of their self-imposed rules? Guaranteed mayhem!    

Justin Taylor is a former marine, discharged after three tours in Iraq. He’s struggling to find his feet in the civilian world he has returned to and decides to go in search of the unknown man whose photo he believes was his good luck charm during the war. His search takes him to Pittsburgh where he meets Brian Kinney, who’s busy dealing with his own demons. Together the two men might be able to heal each other. Inspired by the movie/book of the same name.

Ad man Brian Kinney meets talented young artist Justin Taylor at the gallery where the younger man lives...and works. Sparks fly leaving both men shocked and uncertain about their newfound working relationship. How will they ever be able to get any work done?

Justin has been back from New York for a week and in that time the "family" just wouldn't leave him and Brian alone to enjoy their reunion. There have been countless calls demanding Brian produce Sunshine, unannounced visits and several walk-ins performed by Michael, of course.

On one such evening, as Brian and Justin are in the middle of foreplay, Michael barges in and without regard to what he interrupted demands that they join him and the guys for a night out at Woody's. When Emmett suggests a "couple's pool game," Brian and Justin have to decide if the stakes are too high -- Freedom from Family vs. Learning to Share. Who will win the Tawdry Tournament?

Brian and Justin live in different worlds. Brian is still based out of Pittsburgh, while Justin is in New York. Yet, they still have a great deal in common. Both are successful...both are respected in their fields...both are wealthy...both feel like they should feel on top the world….and...both feel like there is something missing in their life. It’s been five years since they have seen each other. Will a chance meeting bring them together, or will they remain as far apart as ever?

Summary:

POST SERIES AU chronicling the highs and lows of Brian and Justin's attempt to keep their long distance romance going. Will they find out that they are stronger together or more productive apart?