He's irresistible, up close and personal
Now inescapable, I can hardly breathe
More than just physical, deeper than spiritual
His ways are powerful, irresistible to me

--“Irresistible,” Jessica Simpson (2001)

Monday, July 9

Brian Kinney parked his 1968 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR in the driveway of his new step-mother’s mansion in the wealthy Fox Chapel suburb of Pittsburgh. He was staying at the house while his father and new step-mother were on their honeymoon in France, and he would be moving back to the dorms at Carnegie Mellon University before beginning his senior year the following month.

Brian swaggered into the house and went upstairs to his step-brother’s room, finding one Brandon Greene watching hardcore male-on-male porn in his bed. Brian’s father, Jack, and Brandon’s mother, Elaine, had gotten married the previous evening, much to the chagrin of their sons. Brian hated Elaine and Brandon hated Jack. The two weren’t all that crazy about their own parents, either.

The twenty-one-year-old gay men had been best friends since meeting during their freshman year of high school, soon after Elaine had divorced her second husband and moved herself and her son from upstate New York to Pittsburgh. The fact that they were so similar was the only thing keeping them from getting together romantically. They were the same height, had the same build, and went on to major in Business Administration at CMU. They were also both sexually dominant and emotionally damaged from growing up with parents who hated each other. Neither had ever had a real boyfriend or been in love, mostly because they were too in love with themselves to allow anyone else in.

“Drew Boyd,” Brian proudly announced, ignoring the fact that Brandon was currently being sucked off by one of his admirers.

Brandon looked confused. “Who?”

“The captain of the football team, dumbass,” Brian said.

“Oh, yeah. The tight end, right?”

Brian chuckled. “He may be that on the field, but I made him a wide receiver last night. Rented a room at the Omni and fucked him till dawn.”

Brandon’s suck buddy, Emmett Honeycutt, released the cock in his mouth with an audible pop. “Drew’s really hot. I didn’t know he was a fag.”

Brandon scowled at Emmett. “Did I tell you to stop?”

“Sorry, Honey,” Emmett said before returning to his task.

“He’s deep in the closet and had never been touched by a man before, but that didn’t matter,” Brian told the back of Emmett’s bobbing head. “I can make any man bend over for me - gay, straight, or undecided.”

Brandon let out a moan, enjoying what the talented boy was doing to his favorite organ. “Oh… shit, you’re good at this. Go add the name to the log, Bro. I’ll be done here in a few. Oh, fuck yeah... ”

Brian watched the live performance in front of him for a few more seconds before going to his own room across the hall.

“Why do I continue to mess around with that fruitcake?” Brandon wondered about Emmett, pacing in front of Brian’s desk after having excused the fruitcake from the premises.

“Because he has a mouth like a Hoover?” Brian guessed. “I only spent one night with him a few years back, but Jesus… One of the best blowjobs I’ve ever received, and I know blowjobs.”

Brandon nodded. “If giving blowjobs was an Olympic sport, you would be an excellent judge. Emmett Honeycutt is the Michael Phelps of cocksucking. I must admit that I’m addicted to that boy’s mouth, but I can hardly stand him when he’s not sucking me off. He’s way too nelly and embarrasses the shit out of me when we’re in public together. He won’t leave me the fuck alone. Every time I turn around, there he is. He’s practically stalking me. It’s not my fault he’s in love with my cock, but he needs a new hobby.”

“Honeycutt is a colorful character, it’s no wonder he wants to be an actor. Maybe you need to find another cock for him to fall in love with and he’ll stop stalking yours,” Brian suggested.

“Great idea. Too bad you already fucked him and you have that silly ‘no repeats’ rule. You are aware that you would have more sex if you fucked guys more than once, right?”

Brian glared at him. “I don’t tell you how to trick, so don’t tell me how, Brother.”

“Touche,” Brandon said as he walked around Brian’s desk to look at what he had up on his laptop screen.

Brian quickly clicked onto another tab so Brandon could not see what he was working on, which was a journal entry titled “The Tight End” he created in Google Docs.

“Those damned ‘Trick Chronicles’ of yours. Who the fuck keeps a diary anymore, besides tween girls?” Brandon cracked.

Brian had kept a private detailed journal chronicling his sexcapades ever since losing his virginity at the tender age of fourteen. Several of his sexual triumphs were men whom he had pursued for days, weeks, or months, in some cases. He often went after extremely attractive men who, on the surface, looked unobtainable: closeted, in a relationship, married with children, or even openly homophobic. Virgins, or at least men who had never been fucked by a man before, were Brian’s specialty. He would take out easy targets at school and clubs in Pittsburgh’s gay village in order to satisfy his libido, in the meantime.

Brian’s successful conquering of the tight end, for instance, was the result of almost an entire year of meticulous planning to break down the walls of the gorgeous young man who had slept with every Carnegie Mellon cheerleader and a large chunk of the female student body to repress his homosexuality. To get the big oaf into the sack, Brian went to every home football game and made sure that Drew always saw him. He paid Drew compliments on his athletic ability, pretended to actually enjoy football, and even took the man to a couple of Steelers’ games. They had stayed friends since the football season ended, hanging out often with Brian biding his time until the right moment presented itself.

Brian had invited Drew to his dad’s wedding reception held the previous day at the Omni William Penn Hotel, promising him a night of great food, lots of liquor, and horny daughters of Jack and Elaine’s friends. After Drew had downed a bunch of free beer, Brian went in for the kill, grabbing the man at the urinal and shoving him into a stall. Drew had protested briefly when Brian tried to kiss him, claiming he wasn’t a fag.

“Yeah, right,” Brian had said before locking lips with the sexy athlete, who began kissing him back once Brian wrapped his hand around the man’s monstrous cock.  

Now that he’d had him, Brian never planned to talk to Drew again.

“Talk all the shit you want, but we both know you’re desperate to read what’s in my Trick Chronicles,” Brian said. “Football boy’s entry is quite juicy, much like his delectable ass. Now that he’s come to terms with his taste for cock, I’m sure he’ll be easy pickings for you.”

Brandon rolled his eyes, although his step-brother was right about him wanting to read Brian’s journal entries and wanting to fuck Drew himself. Despite him and Brian never having fucked, Brandon knew there had to be stuff in Brian’s journal about him.

“So, Emmett told me something very interesting about your best friend, Michael.”

Brian barked out a laugh. “That little twerp and I have never been friends, thank you. Emmett is your stalker and Michael is mine, except I would never fuck Michael. He’s not bad to look at, but he’s just so painfully nerdy and his mother is so far up his ass, I doubt that even the head of my cock would fit up there. I have standards, unlike you.”

“It turns out that the painfully nerdy twerp and his meddlesome mother are the reason why David broke off our three-times-weekly arrangement last month,” Brandon said, his voice full of hatred for the twerp.

“David dumped you…” Brian paused and pointed at Brandon’s beautiful body. “...for Michael No-fucking-votny?”

“That’s what Emmett said. He and Michael are friends, from when they were both in drama club back in high school. Emmett went with him to see the new Ant-Man movie on Friday, and Michael was going on and on about a guy he’s been dating named David. Emmett soon realized that Michael was talking about my David.”

“How would they have even met?” Brian asked. “Michael’s eighteen and David’s like, what, forty?”

“Twenty-three.”

Brian shrugged. “Close enough.”

“Debbie’s chiropractor is David’s father and the two of them set their boys up. Dr. Cameron has never liked me, for some unfathomable reason. I’m a delight, who wouldn’t like me?”

Brian looked at Brandon blankly. Brandon had perfected the art of fooling everyone to believe that he was a sweet little angel, mostly because he always hid in Brian’s dark shadow. Ask anyone who knew both of them and they would say that Brandon was a classy gentleman while Brian was a Hellspawn. Brian knew the truth about his step-brother, however. If it was possible, Brandon was even more of a shithead than Brian was.

“David is following in his daddy’s footsteps to take over his practice, so all Debbie can see are dollar signs,” Brandon continued. “I wasn’t with David because of his earning potential, I was with him because he has a tight ass and no gag reflex.”

“That’s all that really matters, right?” Brian asked with a wink.

“Of course. I got to fuck that tight ass despite him naturally being a top. Michael’s sad now, because David went to Ethiopia with his father last week to do some volunteer work. He’s supposed to meet David at the Camerons’ cabin up near the National Forest the weekend before school starts, where he plans to give David his cherry. After your football player today, you should be one fuck behind me, right?”

Brian looked at the lists, which he was currently storing on a Google Doc within his Trick Chronicles file, of boys each one had fucked during their sexual careers. Several names were on both of their lists, since there were only so many fags in Pittsburgh. Some of the entries weren’t even names, just descriptions like “Skinny Guy from Oakmont,” “Blond that Smelled Like Baby Powder,” or “Guy with the Ass Tattoo.” It’s easy to forget or miss names when you meet someone in a club or on Grindr.

“Yep. By the time our senior year is over, I guarantee that I’ll be at least five ahead. The only reason you’re winning now is because I was out of commission for damned near two weeks. Football boy was my grand return to the game.”

“Yeah, crabs must be a bitch,” Brandon said, scratching his balls just thinking about it.

Brian frowned. “Please, don’t remind me.”

“Well, I know exactly who you can fuck next to tie us up.”

“It was the last trick you suggested to me who gave me the crabs, so I’ll pass on any of your recommendations, thank you.”

Brandon smiled. “I assure you that this one is as pure as the driven snow: Michael No-fucking-votny.”

Brian looked at his step-brother in horror. “What?! Hell no! That little twerp has been obsessed with me since I gave him golf lessons at the country club when he was like, twelve. If I fuck him, he’ll never leave me alone. He’d probably show up at my door in a Vera Wang the next day.”

“Come on, Bro, do me a solid!” Brandon said as he tried his best to look desperate for Brian’s help. “What better way for me to get back at David for dumping me for a nerdy virgin than to ruin that virgin before he comes back from Ethiopia?”

“Why don’t you just fuck Michael yourself?”

“Because if David finds out I fucked his new boyfriend, he’ll never speak to me again. If he finds out that you fucked Michael, well… he won’t be surprised, because you fuck everything that has a pulse and a dick.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Why should I even care about you and your wannabe masseuse with a medical degree? He’s a boring, smug asshole. You’re better off without him.”

“It’ll be fun!” Brandon claimed. “It’s been way too long since the two of us teamed up in the name of ass. Michael’s exactly your type: untouched, young, dumb, a huge fan of yours. Think of how tight-”

Brian held up his hand to shut his brother up. “I wouldn’t fuck Michael Novotny with your dick. Getting him into bed wouldn’t a challenge, at all, so I’m not even going to waste a condom on him. Besides, I’m gonna be too busy charming the pants off of another virgin to mess with anyone else.”

Brian clicked on another open tab in his browser and turned his laptop toward Brandon.

“Now, this is a real challenge.”

“Aww, what a cute little twinkie,” Brandon cooed as he looked at the Facebook profile picture of a young man named Justin Taylor. “Too bad he lives in Philadelphia and is in a relationship with a ‘Daphne Chanders.’ They look nauseatingly adorable together. What is that banner picture, a prom photo?’’

“He’ll be a freshman at our school this fall,” Brian said as he scrolled down through Justin’s posts. “Your gaydar has always been terrible. There’s no way in hell that boy is straight. No self-respecting straight guy posts this many selfies on social media, not even gym rats.”

“How do you know he’s a virgin? For all you know, he plows little Daphne there every day. Maybe he fucks guys, too.”

Brian pointed at the computer screen. “Look at this disgusting thing he posted last month.”

Brandon looked at the post.

Brian and Brandon both laughed at the absurdity of such a concept.

“Of course he would have no problem waiting for marriage to fuck a female,” Brian continued. “It seems the girlfriend is spending her summer doing work for Habitat for Humanity. As far as Justin being from Philly, here’s what he posted three days ago: ‘Packing up to move to Pittsburgh tomorrow. Thanks again, Debra “Debbie” Novotny, for letting me stay with you until school starts.’ He arrived at her house last night.”

Brandon snarled in disgust. “Ugh, he’s gonna be staying with our crazy neighbor and her homewrecking son? How does he even know them?”

“I talked to my mother this morning, and she can never say ‘hello’ without having to catch me up with the country club gossip. She’s just glad none of it is about her anymore, now that my alcoholic, philandering father is married to your homewrecking whore of a mother. My parents’ divorce is ancient history in that group. Justin’s mother is actually from Pittsburgh, and she and Debbie went to high school together.

“Mommy Taylor wanted her baby boy to come out here early to get acclimated to the city. Mommy and Daddy are selling their home in Philly and will be moving out here in a few weeks. Guess who the new president of our school is? None other than Daddy Taylor.”

“No shit?” Brandon said in surprise.

Brian smiled widely. “Could you imagine if I fucked the new president’s son before school starts? The boy who brags about his virginity all over Facebook? He would be my greatest accomplishment, my magnum opus, my most glorious Trick Chronicles entry.”

Brandon looked closely at selfie on Justin’s page. The boy looked so young and innocent, Brandon would bet that he didn’t even watch porn. “Nah, you’ll never be able to fuck him. I mean, you’re good, you’re very good, but…”

Brian stood up and stared at his step-brother, nose-to-nose. “Is that a challenge I hear? A bet?”

“I bet you that you can’t get that twink into bed before the end of the week. Let’s add fucking Michael in that timeframe, too. You could probably get that twerp to bend over for you without having to say nothing more than ‘Let’s fuck.’”

Brian puckered his lips, thinking about it. “If I win, what do I get?”

Brandon loosened the belt on his silk robe and let the garment drop to the floor, revealing his naked body. “Everything you’ve always wanted since we were fourteen. One night only, sunset to sunrise. My ass will be yours.”

“And if I’m not able to fuck Justin and Michael in seven days?” Brian asked, openly checking out his hunky step-brother. “What, I’ll have to give my ass to you?”

“If I win, you’re going to tell my mother the truth about your father, that he only married her for her money. They’ll be home from their honeymoon Sunday evening, and you’ll have a sit-down with my mother the next day if you’re unable to complete your parts of the bet before midnight Sunday. Plus, you will still have to pop Michael’s cherry before David comes back from Ethiopia.”

Brian sat back down in his chair and pondered those terms. It was true he had wanted to fuck Brandon since the first time he saw the lad at Shady Side Academy seven years ago, but so did every fag and straight woman who met the gorgeous young man. Just like Brian, Brandon had never given his ass to anyone. The thought of being the first to go where no man had gone before gave Brian an instant hard-on.

However intriguing the prize, the consequences to losing the bet may be too much for Brian to reconcile. His father lost a lot of money in the divorce settlement with Brian’s mother, Joan, three years prior, due to having no prenuptial agreement and having cheated on Joan with Elaine. Jack turned to gambling in an attempt to make some of that money back, only to lose more. The thrice-divorced Elaine seemingly had no idea how broke her new husband really was. There was also the fact that Brian had zero interest in Michael Novotny, virgin ass or not.

Brandon could see that his step-brother was having trouble coming to a decision. He decided to help him by turning around, displaying his well-sculpted backside. “Are you really having to think about this? That little blond twink will be putty in your hands in no time. Besides, you hate your father and you have a trust fund to fall back on, no matter what happens to him. You’ve fucked worse-looking guys than Michael over the years, you can spend a night with him.”

Brian waited for Brandon to turn back around to look at him. “What about if I have someone else fuck Michael?”

“How would we know that the deed was done? What, are you going to stand in the corner and film it?”

“Michael will probably tell everyone right after it happens, because he’s as big of a gossip queen as his mother.”

Brandon nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m sure one of the guys from your precious Trick Chronicles would do him for you. So, what do you say, you fuck the blond twink and ruin Michael before midnight Sunday in exchange for my ass?”

Brian smiled, telling himself that there was no way he would lose. “You’ve got yourself a bet, Brother.”

The men shook hands.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go introduce myself to the Novotnys’ houseguest. The clock is ticking,” Brian said, getting up and slapping his step-brother’s bare ass before leaving.

I just can't get you out of my head
Boy, your lovin' is all I think about
I just can't get you out of my head
Boy, it's more than I dare to think about

--"Can't Get You Out of My Head," Kylie Minogue (2002)

Debbie and Michael's housekeeper showed Brian to the patio of the historic Novotny estate three houses down from Elaine's. Michael's father, who died in a car accident shortly before Michael was born, came from one of the wealthiest families in Pittsburgh.

"Brian!" Michael said excitedly when the young man walked over.

Brandon's suck buddy Emmett, who was also sitting at the table, gave him a nod.

"Brian, what a surprise," the prim and proper Debbie Novotny said to her visitor. "Would you like to join us for lunch? We're almost done, but Katie could fix you a sandwich."

Brian locked eyes with the blond boy sitting next to Debbie. He was even more beautiful in person, with pristine pale skin and blue eyes you could drown in.

"No, I've eaten already, thanks," Brian said to the lady of the house, although he was still staring at the blond. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your guest?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Debbie said. "Brian, this is Justin Taylor. Justin, this is our neighbor, Brian Kinney."

Brian put his hand out to the beautiful boy. "Hello, Justin Taylor."

Justin slowly shook Brian's hand, failing to verbally greet him or say anything at all.

"Justin is the son of an old friend of mine and will be staying with us for a few weeks," Debbie continued.

Michael eagerly chimed in as he tried to get Brian's attention. "He's gonna be going to our school. He'll be a freshman in the Fine Arts building like me, but he's majoring in art while I'm majoring in music."

Brian was still shaking Justin's hand and staring into those hypnotic eyes. "You don't say. It's great to meet you, young Picasso."

The blond seemed to finally find his words as he pulled his hand out of Brian's grasp. "You, too, Brian."

Brian chatted with the group while they finished their meals. He met eyes with Justin several times, even while one of the others at the table was talking to him. The stud had no doubt that the boy would be moaning under him in less than a week. He was already crafting the journal entry dedicated to the twink in his head.

Debbie went into the house when Michael and Emmett started talking about the Ant-Man movie they had seen a few days before. Justin knew of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise but had only seen a couple of the earlier films. Brian hadn't seen any of them. Still, Michael decided to regale Justin and Brian with what happened in the latest film.

"So then The Wasp said..." the boy chattered away.

Brian looked at Justin, who appeared to be as bored by Michael's rambling synopsis as he was.

"Do you want to take a walk around the garden, Justin? Debbie's rose bushes have won many local awards and have appeared in national magazines."

The blond gratefully smiled at him. "Yes, I'd love to."

"Excuse us, boys," Brian said to Emmett and Michael before he and Justin walked out to the garden.

Justin waited until they were well out of earshot. "Thank you for pulling me out of there."

Brian chuckled as they walked down a row of rose bushes. "No problem."

He looked over at the blond, who was taller than he thought he'd be. Brian himself was a bit over six feet tall and he estimated that Justin was probably around five foot eight, which was around average height for a grown man. From the pictures Brian had seen of the boy online, he imagined him being much shorter than he actually was. He was happy to find that Justin wasn't a shrimp, because Brian had always been a size queen.

Brian hoped that Justin would be above average below the belt.

"Don't get me wrong, I like Michael, but he's a little..." Justin paused, afraid of offending Brian by insulting his neighbor.

"Nerdy?" Brian guessed.

"Yes!" Justin agreed, relieved. "I know that he's really into comic books and all of those superhero movies, but I'm not. I don't even enjoy the comics for the artwork, it's all too juvenile for me. I don't know much about classical music, either. I have no idea what I can actually talk about with him."

"I hear that Olivia Munn is a big comic book fan. She's really hot, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Justin said, his agreement over Brian's assertion lukewarm.

Brian stopped walking and looked at Justin. "Are you gay?"

Justin stared back at Brian with a look of pure fear on his beautiful face. "No! Olivia Munn... yeah, she's really hot."

Brian shook his head and chuckled. "It's okay. I'm gay, Michael's gay, Emmett's obviously gay."

"I'm not gay," Justin insisted. "I have a girlfriend."

"Then why have you been eye-fucking me for the past half hour?"

Justin tried to act outraged but only looked guilty. "I... I haven't! I'm not gay, I swear. I only date girls."

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Brian remarked, biting his bottom lip.

Justin puffed out his chest. "Even if I was into guys, you would have no chance with me, sir."

"Oh, and why is that?" Brian asked, amused but also concerned for the sake of the bet.

"I've heard all about you, Mr. Kinney."

"What have you heard?"

Justin chuckled. "That you've had sex with nearly every gay guy in town. You'll say anything and do anything to get them into bed, only to throw them away like they're garbage after you're done with them."

Brian had to hold back from raging, even though everything the blond was saying was true. "Who told you this?"

Justin was saved from having to divulge his source when Debbie called out for him loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.

"Coming!" he hollered back, taking off back to the house at a run. Brian jogged after him.

Debbie was waiting on the patio with a cordless phone in her hand. "There you are, Sunshine. It's your mother."

"Sunshine," Brian repeated softly, agreeing that the nickname fit the blond beauty perfectly.

Brian walked back into the house without saying another word as Justin took the phone from Debbie. He found Michael and Emmett in the den playing a car racing video game.

"Psst, Emmett," Brian said, motioning for the nelly boy to join him in the hallway.

Emmett paused the game, got up from the couch, and followed Brian into the music room across the hall. He was surprised when Brian grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"What the fuck did you tell him about me?" Brian growled in Emmett's face.

"What? Who?" Emmett asked, terrified of the other boy despite being the same size as him.

"Justin! He said someone told him that I'm a whore."

"I didn't say anything to him about you, I swear!" Emmett said, his voice choked with tears.

Brian let go of his shirt and took a step back. "Then who did? Michael?"

"Oh please, Michael adores you. He would never speak negatively about you to anyone. Justin's from Philly, right? Maybe someone from there who knows the both of you has been bad-mouthing you to him."

Brian searched his brain and came up empty. "I don't know anyone from Philly."

Emmett thought for a moment and snapped his fingers. "Yes, you do: Ted Schmidt."

"Who the fuck is that?"

"I'm sure you've seen him around campus a bunch, he's gonna be a junior. He works in the computer lab at the library. Brown hair, brown eyes, around five ten, kind of shy, sweet little smile?"

"The nerdy guy who always wears a sweater vest?" Brian asked.

"Yes. We've hung out a few times."

"You fucked him?"

Emmett looked down at his Prada sandals and shook his head. "No, ‘hung out' is not code for ‘fucked,' in this case."

"Do you want to?" Brian asked incredulously. "Weren't you just sucking my new step-brother's dick like, an hour ago? Sweater vest guy is nothing next to a stud like Brandon."

"Looks aren't everything, Brian. Ted's actually a nice guy, much nicer than Brandon. He's really smart and great with computers, but of course, he should be, since he's majoring in computer science. He doesn't like you, though."

"He doesn't even know me."

"Every fag on campus knows you," Emmett informed him.

"Why would he go out of his way to warn Justin about me?"

"I'm telling you, Ted really doesn't like you. In fact, not a lot of people do. Your reputation precedes you. People you've probably never personally met don't like you. Still, every fag that knows you either wants to be with you or be you, and I think Ted secretly wishes for both. You're everything he's not, plus your reputation for being awesome in bed is absolutely true."

Brian couldn't help but feel proud. "Too bad he's probably back in Philly for the summer."

Emmett shook his head. "He's doing an internship at some tech company downtown. He has an apartment a few blocks from campus."

"Well, do you think you could arrange a meeting between us so I can confront him?"

"You're not gonna hurt him, are you?" Emmett asked in concern for his friend.

"No, I'm a lover, not a fighter," Brian claimed.

Emmett rubbed his chest. "The bruises I'm probably gonna have later will beg otherwise. If you can get Brandon to go to Babylon tonight, I'll invite Ted. I've been asking that brother of yours to go out dancing with me for weeks, but he keeps saying no. Oh, and if I get Ted to go, you'll have to be nice to me from now on. Deal?"

Brian shook the man's hand, not too happy with the number of deals he was making this early in the day.

No place on Earth made Brian and Brandon feel more at home than at Babylon, the hottest gay dance club in Pittsburgh. The pounding bass coming out of the sound system, the flashing lights, the smell of salty sweat, the gyrating men on the dance floor... It was their own slice of Heaven.

The step-brothers walked into the club shortly before midnight, when things were just getting started. Despite it being a Monday, the place was almost at capacity with what they guessed were students on summer vacation. It didn't matter what day of the week it was or if school was in session, Brian and Brandon spent many a late night at Babylon dancing, drinking, and fucking before dragging their hung-over asses into class the next morning.

Brian found Emmett and the nerd from the library standing by the bar. Emmett's companion was not wearing one of his signature sweater vests, so Brian hardly recognized him. He didn't look too bad, even in the pale yellow polo shirt he was currently wearing that did not complement his coloring.

"Brandon!" Emmett called out over the song that was currently playing, "Perfect Illusion" by Lady Gaga.

"Christ," Brian heard his step-brother say beside him. "What the fuck is he doing here?"

Brian stayed silent as they walked over to the young men waiting for them.

"Hi, Baby!" Emmett yelled as he threw his arms around Brandon and planted a long kiss on his lips, as if he hadn't just seen him earlier that same day. "You all know each other from school, right?"

Brian, Brandon, and Ted all nodded.

The next song to play was "Outside" by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, which made Emmett scream like a girl.

"That's my song!" the boy said before dragging Brandon out to the dance floor.

Brian looked over the crowd at his step-brother, who looked like he wanted to be doing anything but dancing with Emmett. Brandon locked eyes with him and mouthed help me. Brian stuck his tongue out at him and then glanced over at Ted, who looked terrified to be without Emmett by his side.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked.

Ted looked over his shoulder to make sure Brian was actually speaking to him. "Me?"

Brian didn't wait for a response before taking Ted's hand and escorting him to the dance floor. They awkwardly swayed to the beat of the music for a minute before Brian decided to cut to the chase. "You know Justin Taylor, right? Cute little blond twink from Philly?"

"Yeah, his family and mine go to the same country club," Ted answered.  

Brian pulled Ted closer and said into his ear, "Who the fuck do you think you are to be shit-talking me to him?"

"What?" Ted said in surprise. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Are you gonna stand here and pretend like you didn't warn him about getting involved with me?"

"I swear, Brian, I've never said anything to Justin about you. Shit, I haven't said a word to him since we saw each other at the club last year when I was home during summer break. It was nothing but small talk. We're friends on Facebook, but I don't even follow him anymore because he was cluttering up my feed with uninteresting shit."

Brian stared down into Ted's eyes, seeing nothing on his face that would indicate deceit.  

"Alright," Brian said. "Here's what you're going to do, Theodore. Our mutual friend will be attending CMU this fall and is already in town. You're going to reach out to him and have a little chat."

"How am I supposed to arrange that? Like I said, I'm not really friends with the kid."

Brian shrugged. "I don't care. Message him on Facebook and invite him to coffee or something. Tell him what good friends the two of us are and that I'm a great guy."

"And why would I go out of my way to help you?" Ted asked in a contemptuous tone. "I really don't even know you, minus a few deplorable things I've heard through the gay grapevine. I'm sure all you want to do is hump and dump Justin exactly like all the other poor bastards dumb enough to fall for you. Why would I lead that kid down the same path?"

"What if I told you that your friend Emmett has a little crush on you?" Brian said with a smile.

Ted's mouth dropped open. "He...? No."

"Yes, he told me himself earlier today. He's too shy to make the first move."

Ted looked around and found Emmett hanging on an obviously disinterested Brandon about ten feet away from them. "What about Brandon? Emmett said that they're not exclusive, but..."

"Trust me, my brother would happily approve of you taking Emmett off his hands. Go over there and ask him to dance."

Brian later discovered Ted and Emmett making out on one of the couches in the seating area off the bar. He cleared his throat to get their attention and handed a Cosmopolitan to Emmett and a Bud Light to Ted.

"Well, how nice to see my two friends getting along," Brian said.

The two boys clinked their beverages together, smiling at each other.

Brian sat down next to Ted. "Remember what we talked about?"

Ted nodded. "I'll send him a message in the morning."

"You two crazy kids have a lovely evening," Brian said as he went to find someone to occupy the rest of his evening.

Baby boy you stay on my mind
Fulfill my fantasies
I think about you all the time
I see you in my dreams

--"Baby Boy," Beyonce (2003)

Tuesday, July 10

Brian was sitting on the sunporch the following afternoon with a cup of coffee and his laptop when he received a private message on Facebook from Ted Schmidt.

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: Hey. I treated Justin to lunch at the Walnut Grill (you owe me $38, btw).

Brian rolled his eyes before typing out his reply.

Brian Kinney: What did you tell him about me?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: I lied my ass off and told him you were a terrific guy, how I'd trust you with my life and would step in front of a bullet for you.

Brian waited for a minute to see if Ted had anything to add.

Brian Kinney: And??? What did he say?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: He said that he's not gay and had no idea why I was telling him all of that.

Brian Kinney: Do you actually think he's straight?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: A blond boy that fucking pretty?? No way! He says he has a girlfriend who's in India volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. They've been dating for a year, went to prom together, blah, blah, blah...

Brian Kinney: Either she's blind or she's his beard.

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: Duh.

Brian Kinney: Do you think your high praise of me worked?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: I think so, I can be very persuasive ;)

"You'd better fucking hope so," Brian said out loud.  

Brian Kinney: What would your new boyfriend say about you winking at another man?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: LOL, I'll have to check with Emmett to see if emoji flirting is off limits. I'm having dinner with him tonight.

Brian Kinney: So, you and Emmett fucked last night?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: I'm not usually one for locker room gossip, but... WOW!! That mouth, that ass... It was the best night of my life.

Brian chuckled before opening a Google Hangouts conversation with Brandon, who hadn't come home yet from wherever he had gone after departing Babylon with a trick sometime around 2 AM. No matter where Brandon was, he was never more than an arm's reach away from his smartphone.

Brian Kinney: Hey Bro, it appears that your stalker has found a new dick to occupy his mouth and ass, thanks to yours truly playing matchmaker. Maybe he'll leave you alone, as long as the librarian can keep him satisfied.

Brandon sent a reply a minute later.

Brandon Green: The computer nerd? Really??

Brian Kinney: You're welcome.

Brandon Green: Any luck with your twink yet?

Brian Kinney: I'm working on it. It's all about finesse with boys like him.

Brandon Green: The clock is ticking, loser.

Brian Kinney: Blow me.

Brandon Green: You wish.

Brian Kinney: Oh, you will.

Brian then went back to his chat with Ted.

Brian Kinney: Did Justin say who it was that told him about my bad rep?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: I swore on my mom's life that I wouldn't tell.

Brian Kinney: Ted, Buddy, remember how I helped you get with Emmett last night?

Theodore "Ted" Schmidt: Alright... he said it was the woman he's staying with, Debbie something. She's not a fan of yours.

Brian looked over in the direction of the Novotny home.

"That nosey fucking bitch."

"Well, well, well, to what do we owe the pleasure of two surprise visits from Brian Kinney?" Debbie asked after opening her front door.

Brian smiled and shrugged. "I had so much fun over here yesterday that I decided to come over again today."

Debbie stepped aside so he could come in. "This wouldn't have anything to do with my houseguest, would it?"

"As a matter of fact, it does," Brian confirmed.

"Leave that kid alone, Brian," Debbie said, dropping the happy hostess act. "He's a sweet boy and does not need to be corrupted by the likes of you."

Brian put his hands over his heart, feigning distress at her words. "Debbie, I have nothing but innocent intentions when it comes to young Mr. Taylor. He's new in town and needs to make some friends before school starts. Besides, he's not even gay."

Debbie snorted. "You and I both know that isn't true."

"Which part?"

"None of it," she answered.

Brian's ears perked up when he heard a piano being played from another room. "Is that Michael? I haven't heard him play in years."

"Yes, he's in the middle of a session with his new teacher. He has to stay sharp over the summer in order to compete with the other music majors at CMU."

Brian headed toward the family's music room. "Mind if I sit in?"

"You'll have to ask his teacher whether he's comfortable with it," Debbie said before turning down the hall toward the kitchen.

Brian walked into the music room where Michael and a beefy-looking man were sitting on the piano bench with their backs to the door. Michael was playing Beethoven's "Für Elise."

The teacher stopped Michael. "You're dragging at the start of the F Major section."

"Oh, sorry," Michael said.

"It's okay. Here, let me play it for you."

The teacher began to play the part that Michael was struggling with. Brian noticed Michael leaning closer to his teacher, tilting his head slightly toward his brawny shoulder.  

The teacher turned his head to look at Michael, his cheek grazing the young brunet's forehead. "Do you hear the difference?"

"Uh-huh," Michael nearly whispered.

The teacher leaned back slightly and licked his lips. "Would you like to play it again for me?"

Before Michael could answer, the teacher noticed Brian standing behind them in his peripheral vision. "Oh, I didn't know we had an audience."

"I didn't mean to interrupt," Brian said, recognizing the teacher as a former student from Carnegie Mellon and from Babylon. Brian was pretty sure he'd fucked him at some point in the past, telling himself to check his list of conquests when he got back home.

"No, it's okay. You're Brian Kinney, right?" the teacher asked as he stood up from the bench.

Brian walked closer and stuck his hand out. "Yes. I'm sorry, I'm horrible with names."

"This is Ben Brucker," Michael said while the two of them shook hands. "He's giving me music lessons over the summer."

Brian noticed that the nerdy boy was looking at Ben with a gleam in his eye. No one would blame him - Ben was absolutely gorgeous.

"He just graduated from CMU with a Bachelor's in Instrumental Performance," Michael bragged on Ben's behalf. "That's the degree I'm going for. He knows how to play fourteen different instruments. I can only play ten."

Ben smiled at Michael. "I'm sure you'll catch up to me in no time. You're an excellent musician."

Michael looked away, visibly blushing. "I'm okay, but compared to you..."

"Well, don't let me stop you from continuing with your lesson," Brian said, feeling nauseous from watching the two flirt.

"Actually, our hour is over," Ben said after looking at his watch. "I'll see you tomorrow at two, Michael. Be sure to practice your horn techniques before then."

"I'll remind him to do so," Brian said as Ben walked out of the room.

Both Brian and Michael stared at Ben's ass as he retreated. Michael sighed after hearing the front door open and close.

"So, he's nice," Brian said, sitting in the spot on the piano bench that Ben had vacated.

"Yeah," Michael answered dreamily.

Brian hadn't taken a piano lesson in years, but he remembered how to play a few simple songs. "He's really attractive, too," he said as he played the opening notes to "The Entertainer."

Michael nodded as he watched Brian's fingers tickle the ivories. He began playing along on the lower-note keys.

"Have you ever thought about asking him out?" Brian asked after they finished the song.

"No!" Michael said a little too forcefully. "I'm promised to someone."

"Promised to someone?" Brian repeated. "What is this, the forties and that ‘someone' is off fighting in the war?"

Michael chuckled. "No, he's volunteering at a clinic in Ethiopia for the next month. His name is David Cameron. We've only been on two dates, but I really like him. He's going to be a doctor."

Brian nodded slowly. "Well, how about you date Ben in the meantime? David can't expect you to wait for him. Don't sit here and pretend like you're not into Ben."

"Alright, you caught me," Michael said, like it wasn't obvious. "I've only known him for a couple weeks, but he's so..."

"Have you ever seen him or talked to him outside of your music lessons?"

Michael shook his head.

Brian picked up a smartphone from the top of the piano, which he assumed was Michael's by the Captain America phone case.

"What are you doing?" Michael asked.

Brian stayed quiet as he tapped on Michael's Facebook icon, typed in "Benjamin Bruckner" and found the music teacher's profile. He then found a picture that Ben had posted, which was also his profile image.

"Holy pecs, Batman! Look at that sexy beast," Brian said before showing the screen to Michael.

"Wow," Michael said, his eyes bugged out.

"He doesn't skip very many days at the gym," Brian remarked before sending a friend request to Ben on Michael's behalf. He then handed the phone back to Michael. "Now you'll just have to wait for him to friend you. By the way, you really should put a lock on your phone, with a pin and/or your fingerprint, because otherwise, any schmuck that picks up your phone can hack into your shit."

Brian got up to leave.

"What do I do if Ben does friend me back?" Michael asked nervously as he stared at his phone screen.

Brian turned back around and saw Justin outside in the pool area through the window. "Send him a message, say hi. Talk to him like a normal person, don't talk about superheroes."

Brian went outside and watched as Justin dove into the pool. The blond swam the length of the pool, did a flip turn, and swam back to the other side. He came up for air and found Brian staring down at him.

"You're quite a swimmer," Brian remarked.

"I was on my junior high and high school swim teams."

"Are you going to be on CMU's team this year?"

Justin shook his head. "I'll be too focused on my art."

"That's a shame," Brian said before stripping off his shirt and tossing it onto a lounge chair nearby. He next kicked off his Gucci flip-flops and dropped his board shorts and boxer briefs.

"What are you doing?" Justin asked, his eyes zeroing in on Brian's cock.

"It's a beautiful day for a swim and I don't have my trunks with me," he answered before lowering himself into the water. "I'm sure you saw plenty of naked guys in the locker room at school."

Justin backed away a few feet from the naked man.

"So, what are your plans for the summer, other than not practice for the swim team?" Brian asked.

"I'll probably go to the museums. This is the birthplace of Andy Warhol, you know," the blond said.

Brian feigned surprise. "I had no idea."

Justin smiled. "Of course you'd know that, you live here. Were you born here, too?"

"Yep. Did you choose CMU because Warhol went there?"

"I applied to a few schools around the state that had good art programs, including CMU.  My father wanted me to go to Penn because he used to be the dean of Wharton, the business school. He graduated from there. I was all set to go to Penn, but then my father announced earlier in the year that we were moving to Pittsburgh. He's going to be the new president of CMU this fall."

"Is that right?" Brian said, pretending like he didn't already know that.

"He wants me to be a business major, but I was free to do with my college fund as I wanted, since my maternal grandfather was the one who contributed most of the money to it in the first place. I told Dad I was majoring in art or I wouldn't go to college at all."

"You put your foot down and showed Daddy who's boss," Brian said with a wink. "I'm a business administration major by choice. I plan to get my MBA after finishing my senior year."

"And then what, you'll rule the world?" Justin asked sarcastically.

"That's right," Brian answered confidently. "Or, at least, my father's advertising agency. Are you going to follow Warhol to New York City after you graduate?"

Justin smiled. "That's the dream."

"I'm sure you'll be a big success. You're very talented."

"How do you know?" Justin asked curiously.

"You can find anything on the internet these days, have you heard of this thing called Google? It's pretty neat. I saw a bunch of paintings and sketches you put up on your Facebook page and some more on your high school's website. The watercolor painting you submitted for your school's expo last spring was amazing."

"Thanks, but it was actually acrylic," Justin said.

"I'm an idiot when it comes to art, despite living in Warhol's hometown," Brian admitted.

"You don't really have to know anything about art to be able to appreciate it."

Brian paddled closer to Justin. "How about you and I go to the Warhol Museum tomorrow and you can teach me about art?"

"I... I don't know," Justin said uneasily.

Brian could see that the blond's lunch with Ted wasn't as effective as he'd hoped it would be.

"I'm just trying to be friendly," Brian assured him, turning on the charm. "I imagine it has to be a little scary being in an unfamiliar city without any family or close friends around. At least I won't bore you with superhero talk if we hang out."

"Pick me up at one tomorrow?" Justin said as he climbed out of the pool.

"I'll be here," Brian said, smiling wide as he checked out the boy's shapely ass in his navy blue swim trunks.

Justin grabbed the one towel on the patio surrounding the pool and headed back toward the house.

"Uh... would you mind grabbing me a towel?" Brian said to the retreating blond.

"It's warm out, you can air dry," Justin said over his shoulder as he wrapped the towel around his dripping trunks.

Brian was climbing out of the pool when Michael ran outside holding his phone.

"Brian, he-" Michael yelled before seeing that Brian was in the buff. "Oh."

The naked young man looked down at his dripping body and then back up at Michael. "You were saying?"

"Um, Ben accepted the friend request. I said ‘hi' and he said ‘hi' back. What do I say now?"

"Ask him if he has dinner plans tonight," Brian suggested, using his shirt to dry himself off.

"No... no, I couldn't" Michael stammered. "My mother would kill me if she found out I was seeing someone other than David."

"Why would she care?"

"Ben isn't like us, you know?"

Brian shook his head. "No, I don't know. Judging by his muscles, I'm guessing he eats just like the rest of us."

"I mean, he's not rich. In fact, aside from doing some private music instruction here and there, he's unemployed. He's hoping to get a job teaching music at a school somewhere in the area, but no one has contacted him yet. He went to CMU on scholarships and grants, otherwise, he couldn't have afforded it."

"And because of this, your mother hates him," Brian surmised.

"No, but she would hate him if I started dating him. David is on his way to becoming a chiropractor. He could easily bring home a hundred thousand a year and he comes from a wealthy family. School teachers don't make much money, at least not compared to a doctor."

"What does your mother hope you'll do with your music degree if Ben's earning potential isn't all that great?"

"She thinks I'm going to be a film score composer or some shit. With my family's money, I won't have to work a day in my life if I don't want to. Music is the only thing that really interests me, besides comics. I'd like to create my own comic book, but I can't draw for shit."

Brian looked down at Justin's wet footprints on the patio. "Maybe you and Justin could make comic books together, with you writing and him illustrating."

"Pfft, yeah right. I'm more likely to become Hans Zimmer than Stan Lee, but I doubt that'll happen, either."

"Anything can happen, kid." Brian grabbed the phone out of Michael's hand and started typing a message to Ben. "Seriously, put a lock on this thing. Maybe you and your hunky teacher can team up and compose a film score together someday, for the twentieth Avengers movie or something."

Michael tried to look at his phone screen. "What are you typing?"

Brian elbowed Michael out of the way and waited a few seconds before giving the phone back. "Congrats, you have a date tonight."

Michael looked at the conversation.

Michael Novotny: Hi, Ben.

Benjamin "Ben" Bruckner: Hi, Michael. Is there something wrong?

Michael Novotny: I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me tonight, my treat.

Benjamin "Ben" Bruckner: I'd love to! What time should I pick you up?

Michael gasped. "He... It's this easy to get a date?"

"For me, it usually is," Brian said as he put his shorts back on.

Of course, all of Brian's dates came with the assumption that there would be sex at some point, otherwise, he wouldn't waste his time or money...

"Tell him to pick you up at six."

Michael followed Brian back into the house.

"Okay, where should we go? Probably not anywhere too nice, because I wouldn't want him to feel uncomfortable if it's somewhere he wouldn't be able to afford himself. But then, I don't want to suggest McDonald's or somewhere really cheap, so he doesn't feel like I'm putting him down for not having a lot of money."

"Take him to the Union Grill over by the CMU campus," Brian suggested. "The prices are reasonable and they have healthy menu options that he'll appreciate."

They walked out onto the front porch, where Michael frantically typed out an answer on his phone. He then threw his arms around Brian's neck. "Thank you so much! I couldn't have done this without you."

Brian, uncomfortable with the nerdy boy touching him, lightly patted him on his back. "No problem. I love playing matchmaker."

Michael finally released Brian several seconds later. "Oh shit, what am I gonna wear?"

The boy ran back into the house.

Brian walked down the pathway leading to the street and found Brandon walking the only boy he'd ever loved, his black Labrador Retriever named Rocco.

"You and the nerd certainly looked chummy. Did you fuck him?" Brandon asked.

"No, but I've decided who will," Brian said as he followed along with Rocco and his master. "It turns out that Michael has a crush on his music instructor. I just arranged a dinner date with them this evening."

Brandon chuckled while Rocco sniffed a bush. "That's an interesting turn of events, someone like Michael having two suitors. What do you know about this music instructor? Is he hot?"

"You remember Ben Bruckner from school and Babylon? If memory serves me, we've both fucked him."

Brian found Ben's Facebook page on his phone and showed Brandon his profile picture.

"Oh yeah, we have. Christ, he's sexy as hell. You said you were going to call him ‘The Hulk' in your Trick Chronicles entry."

"That's right," Brian said, recalling his time in the sack with The Hulk, almost three years prior. "My, how he grew... Anyway, Michael is quite infatuated. Although Ben bottomed for the both of us, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to stick his monstrous cock into Michael's tight little ass. Michael is very ripe for the picking and I certainly don't see him topping."

"No way, he's a bottom, for sure. Well done, Bro."

"I also learned another interesting fact, concerning the Novotnys. When I first met Justin yesterday, he informed me that someone has been bad-mouthing me to him, telling him all about my ‘fuck ‘em, then leave ‘em' reputation. I did some digging and learned that none other than Debbie Novotny got ahold of the kid's ear before I had the chance to even introduce myself to him. I'm redoubling my efforts to destroy her son, for you and for me."

"Ooh, the plot thickens," Brandon said with a smile. "How do plan to rehabilitate yourself with your twink?"

"I'm taking him to the Warhol tomorrow. I'm sure seeing all of that artwork will make him feel nice and horny, as if he'd been watching porn for a couple of hours. He'll also see what a charming bastard I am and he'll forget all about what Debbie said. All too easy, really."

Brandon looked over at his handsome step-brother. He had always resented him for how fast men fell at his feet, practically begging to suck his huge cock or take it up their ass with Brian hardly needing to say a word. Brandon himself had more than his own share of admirers, but it seemed he was always taking Brian's sloppy seconds, Emmett and The Hulk included. Everything came so easy to the stud. It also irked Brandon at how quickly it seemed Brian was winning their bet.

It was then that Brandon decided he was going to turn the tables.

With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride
You're toxic, I'm slippin' under
With a taste of a poison paradise
I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic?

--"Toxic," Britney Spears (2004)

Debbie opened her front door and was surprised to find Brandon standing on her porch.

"Well, well, well. First we get a visit from Brian, now you. I can't recall the last time either of you boys rang my doorbell, and now that a certain blond boy is staying at my house, you both come calling."

"It's nice to see you, too, Mrs. Novotny," Brandon said, turning the charm up to eleven. "I'm not here to see the blond boy, though; Brian has already called dibs on that one. I'm here to see Michael."

Debbie scanned Brandon from head to toe. The handsome young man was decked out in a blue Ralph Lauren polo shirt, black True Religion shorts that were cut right above his knees, and black Ferragamo loafers worth more than most people made in a week. He looked delectable, she had to admit to herself.

"What do you want with my son?" she asked wearily.

Brandon smiled innocently. "Well, Mrs. Novotny-"

"Your mother is one of my best friends, you know you can call me Debbie," she said, annoyed by the formality.

"Debbie," Brandon repeated. "Michael is starting college next month and we both know what a big step that is in a young person's life. I remember being very nervous when I started my freshman year at CMU, even with Brian there with me in the same classes. I didn't know any upperclassmen who could help me along in those first few weeks. I thought I'd be a good neighbor and volunteer to help out Michael and, you know, give him some tips and help calm his nerves."

"Oh," Debbie said before stepping aside so Brandon could come in. "That's very a nice thing for you to offer, Brandon, thank you. I think Michael's up in his room, practicing his trumpet."

Debbie walked with Brandon up the massive staircase.

"How is your mother enjoying Saint-Tropez?" she asked.

"Probably as much as she enjoyed it when she went on her honeymoon after her last wedding."

"Well, I'm sure I'll hear all about it the next time I see her at the club," Debbie said before pointing to a door down the hall, which had a picture of The Flash taped to it. "That's Michael's room."

"Thanks," Brandon said, waiting for Debbie to retreat before he knocked.

"Come in!" he heard hollered from inside the room.

Brandon opened the door and stood quietly in the doorframe. He found Michael sitting on his bed, predictably reading a comic book. Several seconds passed before Michael looked up to see who had knocked.

"Oh, Brandon," Michael said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Brandon stared at Michael. He could hardly believe that this geeky little twerp was his competition for David Cameron's affections. The brunet looked like an overgrown preschooler, dressed in a Batman t-shirt and jean shorts. What could the aspiring doctor ever see in a child like Michael?

"Hi, Michael," Brandon finally said. "How are you?"

"Uh, fine," Michael said uneasily. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Brandon walked into the room and shut the door behind him. "My step-brother mentioned that he came over here for a visit and I thought to myself, ‘Self, it's been a long time since you've gone over to the Novotny house and said hello to your friend Michael.'"

Michael closed the pages of his comic book. "Friend? Since when are we friends?"

"Michael," Brandon said as if he were offended. "We've been neighbors for years. Our mothers play bridge together almost every week at the club. Remember how we used to hang out when we were younger?"

"I don't remember us ever ‘hanging out.' I do remember how you used to make fun of me, calling me names like ‘dweeb,' ‘dork,' ‘shrimp'..."

"Oh, that was just good-natured ribbing," Brandon said as he sat down on the edge of Michael's bed.

"Well, you really hurt my feelings. I've always been self conscious about my looks and you made me feel worse."

Brandon reached over and put his hand on Michael's knee. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I promise. Teenage boys can be real assholes, you know? I'm all grown up now, if you haven't noticed."

Michael checked Brandon out, much like his mother had downstairs. "Yeah, you have grown up, physically at least."

Brandon swallowed the acid building in his throat. "And to tell you the truth, I think I only made fun of you because, well... I had a little crush on you back then."

Michael's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"Yeah," Brandon said, pretending to be bashful. "I've always thought you were cute. In fact, you were the first boy I was ever attracted to... okay, you and Zac Efron."

Michael could only sit there with his mouth hanging open.

"So, um..." Brandon said as he scooted closer to Michael, his hand still on the boy's leg. "Did you have any plans for tonight? I'd really like to take you to dinner so we can... catch up."

Michael exhaled a shaky breath, not believing his luck that day. "Uh, I'd love to, but..."

Brandon moved his hand further up Michael's leg. "But...?"

"I sort of have a date," Michael admitted.

"A date?" Brandon repeated. "Little Mikey has a date? Who's the lucky fella?"

"Oh..." Michael said, looking down at Brandon's hand and biting his bottom lip. "Probably no one you know."

"Well, whoever he is, he's a lucky guy. Maybe you will get lucky tonight, yourself," Brandon said, giving Michael's thigh a squeeze.

Michael laughed nervously. "I doubt it, I mean, I've... shit."

Brandon stared into Michael's eyes. "What?"

"I've never even kissed a guy before."

Brandon feigned surprise. "Really? Like, not even a peck?"

Michael shamefully shook his head. "I don't know if I even know how to do it correctly."

"Have you ever been on a date before?"

"Yeah, with this cute guy named David Cameron," Michael said, smiling wistfully.

"Hmm," Brandon said, forcing his face to remain neutral.

"We've been on two dates. He tried to kiss me goodnight on the second date, but I just didn't feel ready. He's very understanding."

Brandon recalled how Emmett told him of Michael's plan to have sex with David later in the summer. "Don't you want things to go further with him?"

Michael sighed. "I really do. He's like, really, really hot. My mother wants things to work out between us, because David is in medical school, at Pitt. I have my family's money, of course, but Ma wants me to end up with someone who will make a good living, you know? She doesn't want me to be with some random guy off the streets who'll drain me of my money."

"What's stopping you from giving yourself to him?"

"David's kinda dull," Michael admitted. "We really don't have anything in common. He goes on and on about medical school and golf. He spent like, a half hour talking about Tiger Woods' comeback on our first date."

"I'm guessing you're not into sports?"

"Not at all. My mother put me in golf and tennis lessons over the years, but I'm hopeless. The only things I'm coordinated with is musical instruments."

Brandon saw a trumpet sitting on Michael's nightstand. "It takes a special technique to blow into that thing and make the right notes, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, you have to use your lips and tongue just right while pressing the correct valves. I can play the flute and clarinet, too, which require their own techniques."

Brandon walked over and picked up the brass instrument. "Here, play something for me."

"What do you want to hear?"

"Whatever you've been practicing lately," Brandon said as pointed to a chair in the corner of the room, which had a music stand with sheet music in front of it.

Michael proceeded to play Trumpet Concerto in D Major by Telemann. Brandon thought it sounded like a cat being tortured, but to his untrained ear, it sounded in tune.

He politely applauded when Michael was finally finished a couple of minutes later, secretly glad the assault on his ears was over. "Bravo!"

Michael smiled widely. "Thanks."

"If you can play that thing, you can definitely kiss a boy."

"Maybe, but who knows if I'll be any good. I don't want to suck at it and not even realize it."

Brandon patted the bed. "Come here."

Michael sat his trumpet on the floor and slowly approached Brandon. He sat down beside him uneasily, like he was afraid that Brandon was going to bite.

"Close your eyes and wet your lips," Brandon instructed.

"Are you gonna kiss me?" Michael asked, as if Brandon were planning something horrible.

"Would you rather try kissing on a date, not knowing what you're doing or if you're any good, or here with someone who knows what they're doing and will tell you the truth?"

Michael thought for a moment. "I guess here is okay. I never thought my first kiss would be with you, of all people."

"Well, who did you hope it'd be with, my step-brother?" Brandon challenged.

Michael turned beet red. "Well..."

"It's no secret that you have a crush on Brian. Don't feel bad, everybody wants him. I'm guilty of having feelings for him myself."

"Eww, your parents are married now. He's you're family."

"I know that... besides, just because I find him attractive, that doesn't mean I want anything physical to happen with him," Brandon lied.

Honestly, no matter how their bet ended, Brandon would win.

"Anyway, let's forget about Brian for a minute. Now, close your eyes."

Michael closed his eyes and licked his lips, as Brandon had previously instructed.

"You don't want to just press your top and bottom lips against mine. One of us will either have their top or bottom lip between the other's lips, like the four lips are stacked. Then, you'll want to gently suck against their lips, but you don't want to make a bunch of excessive smoochy noises while you're doing it, that's not sexy."

Michael nodded.

"Keep your eyes closed the whole time. There's nothing worse than opening your eyes in the middle of a kiss and seeing their eyes open, too. That'll kill the mood real quick."

Brandon put aside his hatred for the boy in front of him long enough to do this unthinkable deed. He leaned forward and pursed his lips, pressing them gently against's Michael's. He waited for the boy to react. Michael soon locked lips with Brandon, positioning his lips so that Brandon's bottom lip was slightly between his own.

Brandon pulled away a few seconds later with a light smacking noise. "There, now was that so scary?"

"No," Michael said, smiling sweetly. "It was easy. Was it okay?"

"Yeah, that was fine. Now, let's do that again, only this time I'm going to use my tongue. I'll show you the best way to start a French kiss. You want to go slow and be subtle at first, because you don't know if the person you're kissing is wanting to use their tongue while they're kissing you. Once they seem to be up for it, you basically want to tickle the tip of their tongue with yours and then rub your tongues together. Don't go overboard, because you don't want them to think they're making out with a slobbering dog.

" If the kiss gets deeper, it'll be as if your tongues are dancing. You may want to nibble on their lips and tongue a bit, very gently - the last thing you want to do is hurt them or draw blood. You'll want to break apart every once in a while, taking little pecks in between the tongue stuff and the nibbling. You should also reverse the way your head is tilted a few times, too. Soon you'll find that you and the person you're kissing develop your own little way of doing it, to where you're both enjoying it."

Michael nodded. "Okay."

"Eyes closed," Brandon ordered.

Michael dutifully closed his eyes, pursing his lips slightly in preparation to kiss Brandon again.

Brandon felt himself gag a bit, reminding himself how the little twerp had stolen David away from him. He remembered why he was doing it and pushed away his disgust, telling himself he had plenty of mouthwash at home, plus enough drugs to forget it had ever happened.

The older boy then locked lips with Michael again, reaching up with his right hand to gently grip the back of Michael's neck. The brunet responded by opening his mouth a bit more, which allowed Brandon to slide the tip of his tongue between Michael's lips. He was met with Michael's tongue, which was more eager than Brandon had expected. Michael stuck his tongue out more and gently ran it along Brandon's bottom lip. Brandon's cock betrayed him by perking up a bit. It responded even more when Michael gently sucked the tip of Brandon's tongue.

Angered by the erection tightening his pants, Brandon began kissing Michael more aggressively. He forced his tongue deeper into Michael's mouth, licking the boy's tongue as if it were a tasty popsicle. Michael moaned and gripped Brandon's left bicep, clearly enjoying what was happening. Brandon then sucked Michael's bottom lip into his mouth, nibbling on it before releasing him a few seconds later.

Brandon opened his eyes to find that Michael still had his closed. The kid's tongue was sticking out slightly, as if he were trying to taste the air.

"That was cool," Michael said, his eyes still closed.

"Not bad," Brandon said as he adjusted himself.

Michael finally opened his eyes. "Did... did you like it?"

Brandon shrugged. "It was alright. Maybe you can practice on your date tonight. Who's it with, exactly?"

"My music teacher, his name is Ben Bruckner," Michael said dreamily. "He's the hottest guy I've ever seen and he's such a brilliant musician. He'd sent my mother a demo video of him playing various instruments, when he applied to be my private teacher. He can play the piano like I could only dream... he would make Chopin weep."

"That's nice," Brandon said, bored of the conversation already. "Maybe he has experience kissing, too."

Michael giggled. "My mother didn't hire him to teach me how to kiss. In fact, she'd flip out if she knew we were going out to dinner tonight."

"Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest," Brandon said, licking his lips sensuously.

Michael smiled wide.

Brandon took Rocco out for his evening walk as the sun was going down. He intentionally kept their walking area to within sight of the Novotny home, hoping to catch Michael returning from his date.

Around 8 PM, a gray Toyota Corolla, appearing to be at least a ten-year-old model, made its way down the street. Among the newer BMWs, Mercedes, and Porches, and the classic cars such as Brian's Shelby Mustang that normally traveled around the wealthy neighborhood, the Corolla stood out like a very sore thumb.

Brandon hid in a shadowed area as he watched the Corolla stop in front of the Novotny home. The car's windows were down, so Brandon could see well into the interior. Sure enough, it was Michael coming home from his date with Ben. Since they were dating in secret, Brandon wasn't surprised that it appeared the two were saying their goodbyes in the car instead of at the door.

Michael and Ben chatted for several seconds, both of them smiling and appearing to have had a great time on their date. Ben reached over and caressed Michael's cheek, staring into the younger man's eyes as if he was the most amazing thing in the world. Michael took the hint and started to lean across the center console toward Ben, who met him halfway. They shared what looked like a passionate kiss, which lasted for nearly a solid minute.

Brandon patted himself on the back for teaching Michael how to properly make out.

When Michael finally opened the passenger door to get out of the car, Brandon turned around to walk further down the darkened sidewalk, so hopefully, Michael wouldn't catch him snooping.

He and Rocco soon made their way back home. Brandon then went upstairs into Brian's room, not bothering to knock.

Brian was typing something on his laptop, staring at the screen intently as if he hadn't noticed that his step-brother had barged in. A colorful glass pipe and a lighter were sitting on the desk next to the computer.

"Whatcha doin', Bro?" Brandon asked.

"Working on my journal entry for Justin," Brian answered. He switched to another open tab before Brandon was able to walk around the desk and see the screen.

"Fun," Brandon droned. "I just saw our friend Mikey come home from his big date."

Brian opened a chat window with Michael on Facebook. "I wonder how it went."

"The goodnight kiss looked very promising," Brandon happily informed him. "Looks like you won't have to dip into that particular ass after all. We both know that The Hulk is a very horny beast, so it's only a matter of time before they get it on."

Brian found that he was already Facebook friends with Michael. He imagined the kid must have sent him a friend request long ago and he probably accepted it out of pity.

He typed out a message to Michael.

Brian Kinney: Hey Michael, are you home from your date yet? I can hardly wait to hear what happened.

Brian saw that Michael was typing a reply. Brandon took a hit from the pipe while they waited for him to send his message.

Michael Novotny: I just got home a few minutes ago. It was so amazing! :D

Brian Kinney: Really? I'm glad to hear that! Give me details.

Michael Novotny: We talked about all kinds of stuff, like how he thinks I'm going to like my classes at CMU and the different instructors. I didn't even mention superheroes once!

"I hope he didn't wear a superhero shirt, either. Ask him about the snogging," Brandon said before taking another pipe hit.

Brian snorted out a laugh.

Brian Kinney: Great job! No need to scare him away this early with talks of Batman and such. So... did you kiss him goodnight?

Michael Novotny: Yes!!! It was... aaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Brian and Brandon both chuckled at the boy's response.

"Jesus, he sounds like a twelve-year-old girl," Brandon remarked. "I can imagine him sitting in his bedroom, listening to One Direction and squealing."

Brian's laughter stopped after he read Michael's next message.

Michael Novotny: Be sure to thank your brother for me ;P

Brian looked over at Brandon in surprise. "Thank you for what?"

Brandon scratched his head and looked away in shame. "Well... I might have gone over to the Novotny house earlier today and... gave young Michael a kissing lesson."

Brian stood up and pulled the pipe out of Brandon's hand. "I don't recall us agreeing to you taking part in Michael's deflowering. I thought this was my task."

"I'm not taking part in it. We kept our clothes on. All I did was help further things along with him and Ben, by teaching the boy how to kiss. You really should be thanking me for nudging him into someone else's bed instead of yours."

Brian took several heavy breaths, resisting the urge to punch his step-brother in his filthy mouth.

"What's the matter?" Brandon asked in a mocking tone. "Are you jealous that I kissed wittle Mikey?"

Brian scoffed. "Fuck no. I don't care who you kiss or fuck, but I do care when you put your lips where they don't belong and blatantly interfere with our bet."

They both looked over when the "new message" notification chimed on Brian's laptop.

Michael Novotny: Where did you go?

"Jesus, he's so needy," Brandon said.

Brian pointed toward his open doorway. "Get the fuck out of my room and stay away from Michael."

"You need to smoke some more, you're so tense," Brandon said as he walked away.

"Shut the door," Brian ordered.

Brandon silently bowed before closing Brian's door.

Brian answered Michael's impatient message.

Brian Kinney: I was talking to Brandon. Is Ben a better kisser than he is?

Michael Novotny: They're both really good, but I felt more when I was kissing Ben :P

Brian Kinney: Was that "thing" you felt in your pants?

Michael Novotny: Brian!!! God, you're so bad :D

Brian Kinney: Indeed, I am. Are you going to be seeing Ben again soon?

Michael Novotny: Our next music lesson is tomorrow at 2. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight, thinking about him.

Brian was out of good weed and needed to start getting ready for another night at Babylon. Thinking about his own date with Justin the next afternoon was making his cock beg for some release.

He wrapped up his chat with Michael and got into the shower. Unable to wait for finding the right mouth or ass at Babylon, he went ahead and rubbed one out, not bothering to hold back the moan his orgasm produced.

"Justin!" he yelled out as his cum splattered the shower wall.

Baby, when you left I lost a part of me
It's still so hard to believe
Come back baby please
‘Cause we belong together

--"We Belong Together," Mariah Carey (2005)

Wednesday, July 11

Brian and Justin arrived at the Andy Warhol Museum around 1:30 the following afternoon. Brian hadn't been to the museum for several years and had forgotten just how big the place was. The museum was housed in a seven-story building in downtown Pittsburgh. They could easily spend the entire afternoon looking at the various exhibits.

Justin wanted to first go to a thirty-minute short film that played on a continuous loop about Warhol's life. The blond was practically an expert on Warhol but he always wanted to learn more. During the film, Brian mostly watched Justin watching the film out of his peripheral. The boy was mesmerized by it.

"I was so born in the wrong era," Justin said quietly toward the end of the film. "I wish I could have been a Warhol superstar."

And the boy still claims to be straight... Brian thought to himself. Yeah, and I'm Leonardo Di-fucking-Caprio.

As the two walked around the museum, Brian saw how important Warhol was to the world of advertising in the 60's. Nearly everyone was familiar with the iconic Campbell's Soup can paintings, but Brian either forgot about or hadn't seen some Warhol's other commercial "pop art" pieces, including his black and gray Coca-Cola painting and Brillo Soap Pads Box sculptures.

"Artwork in advertising is just as important as slogans and jingles, maybe even more so," Justin said. "People often remember what they see before they remember what they hear or read."

Brian nodded, having already been thinking the same thing.

"You said you wanted to go into advertising, right?"

"Yeah," Brian confirmed. "At school, I'm concentrating in marketing, minoring in technical writing. I don't want to just sell shit to people, I want to sell them shit that they don't even know they want. I want to create brilliant ads that will do just that and be the best at it."

"You want to be a real-life Don Draper, don't you?" the blond asked.

Brian smiled. "Yeah, it'd be cool to drink whiskey in my office all day and tell defenseless copywriters what to do."

"You already have the sleeping around part down, except with men, not women," Justin casually mentioned before walking on to look at another painting.

Brian groaned and followed after the blond, realizing that Ted's intervention on his behalf didn't do him any good.

"You know, you really should tell me who has been feeding you this ugly information, so that I can confront them."

"Not a chance," Justin answered with a mischievous grin.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear. People often have their own agendas when they decide to gossip about other people."

In the case of Debbie blabbing to Justin about him, Brian knew why she would do it. Debbie and Brian's mother, Joan, had never gotten along, with each woman participating in petty gossip in their country club circle about the other. Joan had found it very scandalous when Debbie, a pretty and outgoing twenty-year-old waitress from a lower-middle class family, married into the wealthy Novotny family shortly after meeting John Michael Novotny when she waited on him in the diner where she worked. Although she was married to a successful businessman and had two young children, Joan was jealous of Debbie for having landed Pittsburgh's most eligible bachelor, as were all of her friends.

It was said that Joan made up a rumor that then-pregnant Debbie cut the brake lines in her husband's car, causing his fatal crash, not even a year into their marriage so she could have John's son, the only heir to the family's fortune, all to herself. There were also rumors that John was gay and that he wasn't even Michael's real father, possibly started by Joan, too.

Debbie called Joan "The Nun" for her drab clothing and church-going. Joan called Debbie "Bozo" for her dyed and permed red hair, heavy makeup, and loud clothing choices.

Two decades later, Debbie, who had become quite the gossip queen herself over the years, made it her business when the Kinney marriage broke apart. She'd run her mouth for years about Jack's rumored infidelities to anyone who was interested and found it hilarious when Jack finally left Joan for a younger, richer, and more attractive woman. The fact that Debbie was good friends with Jack's new wife - Brandon's mother Elaine - only added fuel to the fire.

Now that Joan and Jack Kinney's marriage was ancient history, it appeared that Debbie had moved on to gossiping about Joan's gay bed-hopping son, which was really no surprise.

"So, you haven't been systematically sleeping your way around the greater Pittsburgh area for the past, oh, seven years?" Justin asked.

Brian decided to stop trying to convince the blond otherwise. "And what if I have? What's so bad about that? Even your idol, Andy Warhol, liked casual sex with lots of different men. Do you know why? Sex is great, especially gay sex. Have you ever had sex?"

"No," Justin admitted.

"Who are you to judge something you've never experienced?"

"I just think that sex should be about love, not just getting your rocks off."

Brian stepped in front of him, forcing Justin to look up into his eyes. "What the fuck is love, anyway? Do you think you're in love with your so-called girlfriend?"

"I don't know," Justin said with a shrug. "I'm only eighteen. I don't think teenagers are mature enough to know what love is. I think I ought to get some life experience before I profess my love to someone, you know? Meet new people, learn some things they don't teach you in school. Daphne wants to wait until she's married and I respect her for that."

"What's so special about this Daphne?" Brian asked, continuing on around the exhibit.

"I've known her since elementary school. She's my best friend... my only true friend, really."

"Does she know that you like dick?" Brian boldly asked.

"I don't!" Justin said, realizing he was speaking rather loudly. "I told you, I'm not gay."

"Uh-huh. Do you want to fuck her?"

"Will you watch your language?" Justin asked as he looked around the room, seeing that a couple of people were looking at them.

"That's a ‘no,'" Brian said, smirking. "Do you know how I know you're gay? You're an eighteen-year-old boy and you don't want to fuck a woman."

Justin angrily walked out of the room and found the staircase to take him to the next level of the building. Brian followed after him and they finished their tour through the museum in silence.  

Brandon walked into the clubhouse of the Fox Chapel Golf Club, one of the most exclusive private country clubs in Pittsburgh with one of the highest membership rates. Although he didn't plan to play any golf that day, he was still dressed as if he were in a pair of light-weight khaki pants and a green polo shirt, so he wouldn't look out of place.

He went into one of the lounges where he knew Bridge Club met on Wednesday afternoons. He didn't have to see her face to be able to pick out Debbie sitting at one of the tables, as her outfit that day was very bright and her curly red hair was hard to miss.

"Debbie?" Brandon said as he approached the table.

The woman looked up, surprised to see him there. "Brandon, hello."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your game," he said before looking around the table at the other players. "Good afternoon, ladies."

The other women said their hellos to the attractive young man.

"I'm actually here to chat with Debbie for a moment," he announced, to cut out the chit-chat about his mother's recent wedding and her honeymoon.

Debbie excused herself from the table and walked over to an empty couch with Brandon a few feet away. "Is something wrong, Honey?"

They both took a seat.

"Uh..." Brandon began, pretending like what he was about to say was difficult for him. "I found out something that may be tough for you to hear."

"What's wrong?" Debbie asked. "Is your mother okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Brandon assured her. "It's actually about Michael. We were talking yesterday when I was over at your house, and he told me about his budding relationship with a guy named David."

Debbie beamed. "Yes, David is a very fine young man. He's going places."

The only place that Brandon planned for David to go was on his hands and knees, lubed ass up in the air...

"I'm sure he is... only there might be a rival for Michael's affections," Brandon said.

Debbie tilted her head in confusion as she waited for him to continue.

"It seems that there's something going on between Michael and his music teacher."

Debbie's eyes opened wide. "Ben? That's just crazy!"

"Trust me, I know, but they seem very interested in each other. Michael really misses David and Ben's-"

"Poor!" Debbie nearly yelled. "I had no idea that Ben was even gay. Maybe I need to take my gaydar to the shop for repairs. Why are the cutest guys always gay? I mean, look at you, and Matt Bomer, and Neil Patrick Harris, and Anderson Cooper... fuck, who isn't gay?"

Brandon rolled in his lips for a moment, trying not to laugh. "I was going to say that Ben is distracting Michael. Luckily, David will be back from his trip to Africa in a few weeks, but if this guy Ben has his way, Michael will have moved on by the time David comes home."

Debbie stood up. "Over my dead body, he will."

Brandon watched as Debbie left without stopping to tell her friends that she needed to leave. He then looked down at his Bvlgari watch, figuring that Ben and Michael's trumpet lesson was just getting heated. It was only about a five-minute drive from the club to the Novotny home.

He wasn't afraid to admit to himself that he did want Brian to win their bet. He wouldn't have made the bet with his ass as the grand prize if he wasn't willing to pay up. He had fantasized many, many times about what it would be like to get fucked by Brian Kinney, but that didn't necessarily mean he wanted things to be as easy as it seemed to be going so far for the stud.

Michael was very eager to lose his virginity, as evidenced by how quickly Brandon had him in a liplock the previous day and how quickly he had fallen for Ben. Yes, the music teacher was drop dead gorgeous, but Brandon really couldn't understand the attraction when Michael had a guy like David on deck, who was much better husband material.

If Brandon was successful in his plan of destroying the courtship of Michael and Ben, he knew that the only way Brian could win that part of the bet would be if he fucked Michael himself, the last thing that his step-brother wanted to do. It was unlikely at this point, with only four days left in the bet, that Brian could find anyone else to get Michael into bed.

Brandon only wished that he could watch Brian stoop to the lowest of lows by fucking the little twerp.

He chuckled. "Sorry, Bro."

S.O.S. please someone help me
It's not healthy for me to feel this
Y.O.U. are making this hard
You got me tossin' and turnin', I can't sleep at night

--"SOS," Rihanna (2006)

Debbie parked her Mercedes in the driveway outside of her home, next to Ben's old Camry. She curled her lips at the sight of the car, thinking that it was the perfect vehicle for a bum like him. She couldn't fathom how she could let someone like him into her house to teach her impressionable son. She guessed that it had to be the bulging biceps, the chiseled jaw, and the alluring baby blue eyes, the same things that would tempt her poor little gay son Michael.

She walked through the front door and took quiet steps into the foyer. She knew that Michael was supposed to be doing trumpet instruction today, so she listened to hear sounds of the brass horn. Not hearing any noises at all in the big house, Debbie walked straight to the music room and threw open the door.

"Michael!" Debbie yelled, effectively breaking the kiss between her son and Ben.

"Ma!" Michael yelled in surprise. "I thought you were out playing cards."

The two young men had been sitting on the chaise lounge that was placed a few feet away from the piano. Michael's trumpet was nowhere to be seen.

"Mrs. Novotny," Ben said, standing up.

"How dare you treat me with such disrespect?" Debbie yelled at him. "I pay you to give my son music lessons, not to force yourself on him!"

"Ben did not force himself on me, I wanted him!" Michael said, tears beginning to pool in his eyes.

Debbie ignored her son and continued to yell at Ben. "You would be living in that piece of shit parked in my driveway if it weren't for me!"

"Uh, that's not entirely accurate, but-" Ben said.

"Ma!" Michael said, trying to get her attention.

She finally turned toward him. "Go to your room, Michael!"

"I'm eighteen, Ma, you can't tell me who I can and cannot date!" Michael charged.

"You live in my house! When you're under my roof, you still say ‘Mother, may I!'"

"I have nothing but respect for you, Ma'am," Ben began to say, "but aren't you being a little hypocritical here? I would think that you, of all people, would be understanding of my situation."

Debbie was taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, it was only like, two decades ago that you were in my shoes. Michael told me how-"

"What the fuck are you doing, sharing private family details with a stranger? Talking about me behind my back, my own son?" Debbie asked Michael.

"Everyone knows that you were a waitress before you met Dad," Michael yelled. "The people at the country club still call you white trash behind your back. They say you only married him for his money. They laugh at you!"

Debbie looked between Michael and Ben, not knowing how to respond.

"You're fired!" she finally said to Ben. "You are to never come into this house again, and you are to never, and I mean never, contact my son again. Do you understand?"

Michael opened his mouth to reply, but instead, only a choked sob came out. He looked at Ben sadly before running out of the room.

Debbie and Ben heard Michael slam his bedroom door closed. Then they stood there staring at each other for several seconds.

"Get out!" Debbie yelled, pointing toward the doorway.

Ben shook his head in disgust before walking out.

After Brian and Justin had left the Warhol and were back in Brian's car, Brian decided he needed to do something to salvage the day.

"So... do you want to go to the mall?"

Justin leered at him. "Why?"

"I don't know," Brian said, feeling like an idiot. "We could get a pretzel or something."

"Pretzels? What are we, five?"

Brian sighed. "Look, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or whatever. I'd really like for us to be friends."

"Why? We don't seem to have much in common."

"Well, we're going to be attending the same college next month-"

"You're three years ahead of me and we're in separate schools on the campus, our paths will never cross," Justin pointed out. "I don't have anything in common with anyone I've met here so far in Pittsburgh."

"You've been here for three days. You've only met me, Michael, and Emmett."

"True. It will be nice knowing a few people on campus, if I ever needed something you could help with," he admitted.

Brian was driving in the direction of Interstate 279, which would take them out to Ross Park Mall. They listened to a local pop station on the radio during the drive, and they were both singing along to "Roar" by Katy Perry as Brian pulled into the mall's parking lot.

"...Louder, louder than a lion, ‘cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar!" the boys sang as Brian pulled into a parking spot.

Brian allowed Justin to sing the "oh, oh, oh," part as he looked over at the boy, once again having zero doubt that the blond did not like pussy.

"And you're gonna hear me roar!" Justin repeated before Brian shut off the ignition, which also switched off the radio.

"God, I love her," Justin said as they got out of the car.

Brian waited for him to say more, maybe to talk about Ms. Perry's luscious tits or her pouty lips that were made for sucking cock, but he failed to elaborate.

"Is there anything in particular that you like about her?"

"She has a lot of great songs, they're so catchy. I really love how she dresses, so fun and colorful."

"Uh-huh," Brian said.

The two were walking toward an entrance to the mall complex when Justin asked, "Alright, where are these fucking pretzels you were talking about?"

Brian chuckled. "Follow me."

He had intentionally parked near an entrance that had an Auntie Anne's pretzel stand close by, so they didn't have far to walk. They decided to split an order of cinnamon sugar pretzel nuggets. Brian paid for them and found a small table to sit at.

"With your figure, I'm surprised you'd eat something like this," Justin said.

Brian chewed and swallowed the delicious nugget in his mouth. "My figure?"

"Yeah," Justin said, indicating Brian's lean, toned body with a sweep of his hand. "You look like you don't eat much of anything."

Brian's phone vibrated. He looked at the screen and saw that Michael had sent him a Facebook message. He swiped the notification away to ignore it.

"I don't eat carbs or sugar after seven," Brian answered, as if that was all he had to contribute to his physique. "Unless there's booze in it."

"Sure, that's it," Justin said incredulously. "Me, I eat whatever I want, whenever I want it."

Brian made a point to check out Justin's tight twinkie body. "Obviously, you're as big as a house," he said sarcastically.

"I'm just gifted with a fast metabolism," Justin explained with a shrug.

They finished their nuggets before Brian announced that he wanted to do some shopping.

"I need a new jacket for school," he said.

They walked down the walkway toward the Burberry store, where Brian liked buying outerwear. To get to that store, they had to walk by a Victoria Secret. The store, just like the others in the mall, had large windows to allow people to look inside the store at the merchandise. Brian glanced over and saw several mannequin torsos clad in lacy and colorful bras through the windows. He then glanced over at Justin, noticing that the boy didn't even attempt to look in the windows at the mannequins. Brian thought that if Justin was going to deny he was gay, he at least needed to play straight, which he wasn't doing in the least.

Brian sighed, wanting to say something once again, but did not. He would let the boy come out on his own... hopefully no later than Sunday evening.

Justin followed Brian into the Burberry store. He was used to shopping at stores like American Eagle and The Gap, so he felt out of place at an upscale store like this.

Brian, however, was in his element. He walked over to a rack of jackets and started rifling through them.

"Did you have to wear a uniform to your high school?" Brian asked.

"Yep. I'm not going to miss having to wear a blazer and tie every day, but that also means I don't have a whole lot to choose from in my closet."

Brian's phone vibrated again, showing that Michael was still sending him Facebook messages. Brian ignored them.

"We can hit a few other stores after this, so you can get some new stuff."

Justin shook his head sadly. "I really don't have much spending money, especially not for clothes. My mom was going to take me shopping before school starts."

Brian looked over at the boy, trying to hold back his amusement. "Your mom still buys your clothes?"

"Well..." the blond said uneasily. "She knows how crazy I can get when I start grabbing clothes off the racks. We're not poor or anything, but she just doesn't see the point in me buying a bunch of clothes when I'm still growing. I grew about four inches last year alone."

Brian pulled a black leather biker jacket off the rack and held it up to Justin's chest. "This would look so hot on you."

Justin looked down at jacket. "No... "

Brian took the jacket off the hanger and held it out for Justin to try on. "Here, let me see. A size 38 should fit you, even if you grow another inch or so."

Justin decided to humor Brian and put the jacket on. Brian directed him over to a mirror so he could check himself out.

The jacket had diamond-patterned panels on the shoulders and elbows. There was a button-snap at the collar, silver zippers at the wrists, zippered pockets on the chest and at the hips, and two adjustable buckles on the sides.

It was a sexy jacket and Justin looked sexy in it.

"Damn," Brian said. "You look great."

Justin smiled at his reflection before he dared to look at the price tag on the right wrist.

"It's two thousand, five hundred, and ninety-five dollars!" he shouted.

Brian didn't seem fazed by the cost. "Do you want it?"

"No!" he claimed.

"Yeah, you do. I want you to have it. Consider it a ‘Welcome to Pittsburgh' gift."

Justin started taking the jacket off. "I couldn't let you buy this for me. It's way too much. I don't want you to buy anything for me."

"I already bought you pretzel nuggets."

"Those were like, four bucks," Justin said, exasperated. "This is like buying me a new computer, a really fucking nice computer."

"Do you need a new computer?"

Before Justin could answer, a saleswoman walked over to the two young men. "Could I help you gentleman with something?"

"Yes, Ma'am, we'll take this," Brian answered as he held the jacket out to her.

"No, we won't," Justin corrected.

"I can hold this for you up front while you decide," the woman said as she took the jacket, eager to make the sale on such an expensive item. She recognized Brian from previous visits and knew he was good for it.

"Thank you," Brian said to her before going back to find a jacket for himself.

"I can't let you buy something so expensive for me," Justin said.

Brian ignored him while he tried on a different black jacket, this one made of mixed fabrics, including lambskin and wool.

Justin grabbed the wrist of the jacket and looked at the price tag. "This one's almost half the price as the one you picked out for me."

"I don't look at price tags, I just buy what I like," Brian said as he looked at himself in the mirror.

Justin scoffed. "Well, that must be nice."

Brian nodded as he modeled the jacket, turning so Justin could see it from all sides. "What do you think?"

The blond finally looked at what Brian had picked out. "It's really nice."

"How does it look on me?" the young man asked.

"Really good," Justin admitted. "You'd look good in anything."

Brian smiled. "Great, I'll buy it."

The two walked up to the saleswoman who had helped them before. Brian took off the jacket he was wearing and passed it over to her.

"We'll take this one and the biker jacket."

"Brian..." Justin said, still not wanting the older boy to spend that kind of money on him.

"Say ‘thank you' and take it," Brian ordered.

Justin sighed. "Thank you."

The guys walked out of the store a few minutes later carrying their garment bags. They went to a few other stores, including H&M, Aéropostale, and Armani Exchange.

Brian was a little annoyed that Justin was acting like such a brat after he bought him the jacket. Justin was back to ignoring him, answering with one or two words when Brian asked him a question about whether something would look good on him. This certainly wasn't the first time that Brian had bought a gift for a trick while attempting to woo him, not even the first leather jacket he'd bought. The other guys had all been very grateful for what Brian had given them, unlike the snotty little twink he was currently trying to bed.

Justin bought himself a few discounted t-shirts while Brian dropped several hundred more on shirts and pants for himself. Justin refused to let Brian buy him anything else.

The boys carried their bags out to the car and got in. Brian noticed Justin perk up when he turned the engine over and "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani was on the radio.

Brian started singing along softly when the chorus came up.

"A few times I've been around that track, so it's not just gonna happen like that. Cause I ain't no hollaback girl..."

Justin joined in. "I ain't no hollaback girl."

They sang along loudly when the best part of the song hit, filling in the censored profanity.

"Let me hear you say this shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S! This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"

Brian looked over at Justin and smiled. Justin gave him his full-watt Sunshine smile in return.

He got those lips like sugar cane
Good things come for boys who wait
He's a one-stop shop with a real big (uh)
He's a sweet-talking, sugar coated candyman

--"Candyman," Christina Aguilera (2007)

Michael rang the doorbell outside of the Greene/Kinney home. He wiped his tear-soaked cheeks with his t-shirt sleeve as he waited for someone to answer.

The housekeeper had left for the day, so Brandon was at the house alone. He answered the door and noticed that Michael looked upset to see him standing on the other side.

"Oh, Brandon, it's you," Michael said.

Brandon chuckled. "Yeah, I live here."

"I know, it's just... I'm looking for Brian. He's not answering the messages I've been sending him."

"Prince Kinney is out," Brandon said, knowing that he was on his date with the twink. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Michael thought about it for a moment before he began backing away. "Um, no... I'll just wait for Brian to get back to me."

Brandon stepped over the threshold and grabbed the front of Michael's Deadpool shirt, pulling the kid toward him. "Wait a minute... after what I did for you yesterday, what, you can't talk to me today? Didn't you have a date last night?"

Michael walked into the foyer. "Yeah, the date was great, really great."

"Then what's the problem?"

Michael's tears began anew. "It's my mother, she..."

Brandon brought Michael into the den with him, where he had been previously watching videos on Youtube, killing time before Michael either messaged him or came over to the house. He'd almost been offended to hear that the boy wanted to talk to Brian instead of him.

He listened while Michael told him about the confrontation he and Ben had with Debbie, after the woman had caught them making out. He had to hold back from smiling, hearing how perfectly his plan to get Debbie to banish Ben from the Novotny home had worked.

"Now I don't know if I'm ever gonna see him again," Michael concluded, wiping his face with a tissue that Brandon had handed to him. "Who would blame him if he ran as far away from me as he could? My mother is a controlling cunt who won't let me have my own life, just because she doesn't have one of her own. It's not my fault she can't find a man."

Brandon scooted closer to Michael and put his arm around his shoulders. "Well, your mother does have a point, you know. Ben has no money or career prospects, at this point. You don't know how long it'll be before he gets a job or if he'll ever make a decent living. If you two get together, you'll have to pay for everything. Your mother is just trying to be practical, to preserve your family's money."

"Maybe, but like Ben pointed out, she came from virtually nothing before she met my dad," Michael said.

"Everyone knows that your mother only married him for his money," Brandon said, repeating what he'd heard about Debbie from within the country club social circle.

Michael pulled back and scowled. "My parents loved each other. Our house is practically a shrine to my father, because my mother misses him so much. You don't know shit."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Brandon said, trying to smooth things over. "My family moved to Pittsburgh when I was fourteen, so I only know what I've heard about your family from other people since then."

"Well, people talk a lot of shit about things they know nothing about," Michael angrily spat out.

Brandon nodded. "I know, people can be real assholes."

"I just... I don't know what I'm gonna do now," Michael said, covering his face with his hands. "I tried messaging Ben, but he's also ignoring me. I sent another friend of mine a message, just to make sure that my Facebook Messenger app wasn't broken. I ended up talking to him for several minutes about the new Avengers movie..."

Brandon thought about what he should do next, knowing that Brian could walk into the house at any minute. He certainly did not want to talk about comic book movies with the kid.

He couldn't think of what he should say, so instead, he planted a kiss on Michael to shut him up.

Michael returned his kiss for a few seconds before he broke away.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Brandon locked lips with him again, answering his question.

Even though Michael was mourning Ben, he was still a horny gay boy. He was soon using the tips that Brandon had taught him and began kissing the older boy back, grabbing a fistful of Brandon's soft dirty blond hair at the back of his head while gripping his firm bicep with the other hand.

Brandon's hands seemed to be everywhere - on Michael's neck, in his hair, up his shirt... Before the boy knew what was going on, Brandon had popped the button on Michael's jean shorts.

"Wh... wait," Michael said in between kisses.

"Why?" Brandon asked before he unzipped Michael's fly.

"Be... because... I..." Michael stuttered.

Brandon reached into the waistband of Michael's boxers and grabbed his cock, which had become very interested in what Brandon had been doing thus far.

"Because you what?" Brandon raspily whispered.

At the feeling of someone else's hand on his little friend, Michael lost the ability to speak. All he could do was return more of Brandon's kisses and hump against his hand as the man started stroking.

Brandon knew he needed to wrap this up before Brian got home, so he got down on his knees in front of Michael. The boy hardly noticed when Brandon pulled down his pants and underwear, leaving him bare-assed on Elaine's buttery soft leather sofa.

Michael sat there quivering like a leaf on a tree as Brandon gave him an expert blow job. The noises the boy was making made Brandon want to stop and tell him to shut the fuck up, but he doubled his efforts in order for it to be over as quickly as possible. It only took a minute for Michael to cum down Brandon's throat, screaming like he was being murdered.

Once he was done, Brandon sat back down on the couch next to Michael. He took a big sip of the raspberry iced tea he had sitting on the end table to wash down Michael's load.

"That... that was..." Michael panted as he tried to catch his breath. "That was amazing."

"Yeah, I know. I'd love to sit here and talk some more about Ben and your mother, but you need to run along now."

Michael looked over at him, his eyes heavy as if he'd just woken up from a long nap. "What?"

Brandon stood up and hauled the boy to his feet. He then fixed Michael's clothing for him.

"I said that you need to go. It's getting late in the day and I have plans that don't involve you. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Michael opened and closed his mouth a few times, thinking about what to say. Finally, he slowly headed toward the door.

"Uh... thank you," he quietly mumbled, remembering his manners.

Brian pulled his Mustang into the Novotny's long curving driveway. "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars was playing on the radio.

They both sang along as the song finished.

"Yeah, you make me feel like I've been locked out of heaven for too long, for too long. Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah, ooh! Oh yeah yeah, oh yeah yeah yeah yeah, ooh!"

Brian shut off the car and Justin looked at him curiously.

"Michael has been blowing my phone up, so I'll go in and see what he wants."

"I was under the impression that you guys weren't friends," Justin said as he gathered his shopping bags from the backseat.

"We're not... he's more like my biggest fan," Brian answered.

The two boys walked into the house. Brian headed toward the music room, intending to look for Michael, when the boy in question appeared in the foyer.

"Oh, thank God, Brian! I need to talk to you!" Michael cried out.

Brian sighed dramatically. "What, you can't decide if you want a ballgown or a mermaid train for your wedding dress?"

Justin snorted out a laugh, meeting eyes with Brian one more time before heading up to his room.

"Just don't go strapless, your shoulders are a little too broad and you'll look boxy," Brian cracked.

Michael groaned in annoyance before grabbing Brian by his hand and dragging him down the hall to the den. Michael shut the door and indicated for Brian to take a seat.

"What happened?" Brian asked after he plopped down on the couch.

Michael burst into tears as he told the story again of what had happened with Ben and his mother.

"I just can't believe she would be such a bitch!" Michael said, his voice filled with anger for Debbie. "And to me, her only son! I always thought that she wanted me to be happy, but no, she only wants me to be happy when she has something to do with it. If it's something she doesn't want for me, she won't allow it."

Brian wasn't surprised that Debbie would be so hateful toward Ben, since Debbie was known to be quite selfish. It was actually nice to see that Michael's eyes were now open, when it came to his mother.

"And then..." Michael said, suddenly sounding nervous about what he was about to say. "And then..."

Brian looked at Michael impatiently. "And then what?"

Michael bit his bottom lip before he spoke. "I was really upset about what had happened with Ma and Ben... and you weren't answering my messages..."

"What happened?" Brian asked.

"I went over to your house to look for you, and Brandon answered the door... God, I'm so ashamed."

Hearing his step-brother's name, Brian tried to hold back the anger building in his chest. "What the fuck happened, Michael?"

"He took advantage of me," Michael whispered.

"How? Did he force himself on you?"

Michael thought about that last sentence. "He didn't really... force anything. I certainly didn't tell him to stop."

"You had sex with him?"

"No..." Michael answered, still looking unsure about what had exactly happened. "He..."

Michael waved his hand toward himself, indicating to Brian that he wanted him to come closer.

Brian rolled his eyes before leaning toward Michael.

Michael then whispered into Brian's ear, "He started touching my dick, then he pulled down my pants, then he got down on his knees and... performed oral sex on me until I... ejaculated into his mouth."

Brian sat up straight and looked into Michael's eyes. "He gave you a blow job?"

"If that's what you call it," Michael said, as if the common term for fellatio was repulsive. "I mean, I've seen it done in porn, but I've certainly never done it before or had it done to me. Then, right after he was done, he told me to leave. I had to come straight home and take a shower. I feel like I've cheated on Ben and we're not even a real couple. I mean, we've only been on one date, but... I'm falling in love with him."

Brian ignored that last bit of information. "Did you not enjoy what Brandon did?"

"No!" Michael yelled.

Brian narrowed his eyes, clearly not believing him.

"Well..." Michael said, looking away. "Okay, it felt really good, obviously, since I did have an orgasm. On one hand, I don't want that to happen with Brandon again, since all I want is to be with Ben, but on the other hand, I'm thinking maybe I should look at Brandon as a... tutor. He taught me how to kiss, which helped me out a lot when I was kissing Ben last night. I don't want to be really bad at sex, if I'm ever lucky enough to have sex with Ben. I know that Brandon has a lot experience in that department... and he is really cute."

"No," Brian said. "I mean, yeah, Brandon is experienced, but when you do finally have sex, it really ought to be with someone you love."

The young stud could hardly believe the words were coming out of his mouth, but there they were. He realized that he was repeating what Justin had told him earlier that day.

"Did you lose your virginity to someone you loved?" Michael asked.

Brian recalled his first time, which had been with a sexy golf instructor named Devin at the club when he was fourteen. He lusted after Devin for a few weeks and finally worked up the guts one day to corner the naked man in the showers. Devin brought him home that afternoon and begged for Brian to stick his cock - which was already very impressively sized for his age - up his ass. Brian didn't tell him that he was a virgin and it didn't seem to make any difference, since he had a natural talent for topping from the start.

Their dalliance continued for the rest of the summer until Devin left for his senior year at Harvard. Brian could hardly believe that he was now the same age that Devin had been, since the guy had seemed so old at the time. Brian found out through Facebook that Devin went on to become a lawyer, marry a woman, and have two kids. He wondered if Mrs. Devin knew what a hungry bottom her husband was.

"No, I didn't love him," Brian admitted before lying his ass off. "If I could go back, I would have waited until I met and fell in love with someone. It would have been more special."

Michael sunk back into the couch cushions, deep in thought. "How am I going to fix things with Ben? I'm pretty sure he likes me, but my mother may have ruined it. He won't answer my Facebook messages. I don't even have his phone number."

"If he really does like you, what your mother did today won't matter. You're not a little kid anymore, so your mother has no say in who you date."

"Not as long as I live in her house, she says."

"You're eighteen now, which means that you're legally an adult. Wouldn't you have inherited this house when your father died, since you were his only living heir?"

"Yeah..."

"Then this is your house, not hers," Brian pointed out.

"Yeah, this is my fucking house!" Michael said, as if he had just realized it. "Everything I inherited from my father, including this house and all of his money, is under my control. My mother can't tell me shit. She just won't accept the fact that I'm a grown ass man. Hell, I could cut her off and kick her out of here, if I wanted to."

Brian looked at the "grown ass man" sitting beside him, who was clad in a Star Wars t-shirt and black cargo shorts. He had a thin mustache on his upper lip, which probably took him a month to grow.

"Maybe you don't need to go that far. You just need to march up to her and show her who's boss. Tell her, ‘Mother, if I want to date Ben, dammit, I'm gonna date Ben and if you don't like it, you can kiss my ass.'"

Michael considered that for a few seconds. "Or... maybe I just continue seeing Ben behind her back?"

Brian shrugged. "Yeah, that works, too."

As if the house were in the Old South, a bell rang out from the kitchen.

"Ooh, dinner's ready!" Michael said, hopping up from the couch. "Do you want to stay and eat with us? I don't know what we're having, but I'm sure it'll be good. Katie's a great cook."

"No, I'll have to pass," Brian said as he stood. "Let me think of a plan for you and Ben to reunite. I'll send you a message once I come up with something."

He would have enjoyed sharing dinner with Justin in the fancy Novotny dining room, but he had to go and kick his meddlesome step-brother's ass.

Michael wrapped Brian in a hug, surprising the older boy.

"Thank you," the kid said against his shoulder.

Brian awkwardly patted Michael on his back. "Yeah... sure."

You're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down

--"Hot N Cold," Katy Perry (2008)

Brian dumped his shopping bags on his bed before stomping across the hall to Brandon's room. He found the young man lying in bed in a pair of black Versace boxer briefs, playing Minecraft on his tablet.

"Ah, the prince returns to the palace," Brandon said when he looked up to find Brian hovering over him.

"I ought to fucking kill you," Brian snarled.

Brandon sat up and put on an innocent face. "Why, what'd I do?"

"You know exactly what you did. You can probably still taste Michael's cum."

"Ugh, don't remind me, he tasted like old pennies," Brandon said, making smacking noises with his mouth.

"What the fuck?" Brian asked. "You said last night that you'd leave Michael alone, and then not twenty-four hours later, you're sucking his dick!"

"You told me to leave him alone, but I didn't say that I would," Brandon said, smiling at how sneaky and brilliant he was. "Besides, the boy came over here crying like a baby, what kind of asshole would I be if I turned him away?"

"He was just crying on my shoulder, too, and I had no inclination to put my mouth anywhere on his pasty-white body and taste his ‘old pennies' cum. You crossed the line today, playing with Michael like he's your puppet. This little bet of ours is off."

"Oh, come on. All I'm doing is making it a little more interesting, nothing sinister."

"No, what you're doing is directly interfering," Brian said. "How many bets have I made with you over the years? Countless. How many times have I cheated? Never, because I have integrity and like to win fair. I thought you did, too, before this. When you sucked Michael's dick, you sucked all the fun out of this bet. It's over."

Brandon smiled. "I'm guessing things aren't going so well with your twink?"

"My wanting to call off the bet has nothing to do with Justin. Things are actually going quite well with him and I'm still gonna fuck him before the end of the week. Bet or no bet, his ass is mine."

Brandon chuckled while Brian stared daggers into him.

"You didn't have anything to do with Deb barging in on Michael and Ben today, did you? That has your scent all over it."

Brandon shrugged. "I might have had a chat with Mrs. Novotny at the club earlier..."

"Fuck!" Brian yelled. "Why did you even ask me to help you ruin Michael? You obviously don't need me, because you're doing a bang-up job on your own. I don't understand what it is you're even trying to do here. You claim that you don't want David to find out that you're messing with Michael, but you were kissing him yesterday and sucking his dick today, despite claiming that the boy repulses you. It seems like you're trying to also keep him away from Ben, who probably wants to fuck him, which was the whole point of this from the start. You should have known that having Deb ban Ben from seeing Michael would only draw them closer together, since it's natural for people to want what they can't have. And why go so far as to drive a wedge between Deb and Michael? That wasn't part of the plan.

"As you've continued to interfere in our bet, you've only made me not want anything to do with it. There's no way in hell I'm fucking Michael myself. I thought you wanted someone other than David to deflower him. Seriously, what the fuck is it that you're trying to do here, Brandon? Everything you've done so far is a contradiction."

Brandon stood up and stretched his arms out. "It's all for fun, Bro. I like fucking with people, so there doesn't have to be a reason or a plan. We do things for the hell of it all the time. That's what our various past bets were all about - entertainment. Why did we go to that gross straight bar last year, to see who could pick up a guy first? For fun."

"I won that bet, if you recall," Brian said. "I found the one bi-curious guy in the joint and fucked him in the bathroom. You had to wash my car by hand every day in the dorm parking lot for a week."

Brandon continued, pushing that humiliation to the back of his mind. "Why are you so upset that things are strained between Debbie and Michael? I thought you hated her, since she was the one who told your twink about your playboy reputation. I'm doing you a favor, driving that wedge between them."

Brian thought about it. "Well... maybe, but Deb probably would have found out about Ben and Michael without your involvement anyway."

"Whatever," Brandon said as he walked over to his closet. "I'm going to pretend like this conversation didn't happen and the bet is still on. Did you want to go to that greasy spoon diner on Liberty before going to Babylon? Emmett invited us, if you can manage to eat while watching him and Ted make out across the table. Should I wear Armani or Ralph Lauren this evening?"

Brian got in Brandon's face. "Stay the fuck out of my way."

He went back to his own room without another word, slamming his door as an exclamation point.

Brandon was standing on the catwalk above the dance floor of Babylon, scoping out the night's offerings. He was also keeping an eye out for Brian, who hadn't shown up at the diner or arrived at the club yet.

Emmett and Ted were standing close by, stuck to each other like velcro.

"Do you see anything you like?" Emmett called out to Brandon over the music.

Brandon shook his head. "Nothing but zeroes."

"There are plenty of cuties down there, you're just being picky."

"I see several hot guys," Ted agreed.

"Ooh, look at that one," Emmett said, pointing at someone on the left side of the floor. "See Mr. Six Pack in front of the go-go platform, in the white t-shirt? He is dee-licious."

Brandon scanned the crowd until his eyes locked onto the guy he recognized as Michael's music teacher Ben, a.k.a. The Hulk.

"Yeah, I see him," Brandon said as he stared at Ben, who was dancing along to "This Is What You Came For" by Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna.

"Doesn't he go to our school?" Ted asked.

"He just graduated," Brandon said.

Ted nodded. "I remember him now. I saw him play cello in the Spring orchestra performance, they pointed out the graduating seniors."

"You like orchestra music?" Emmett asked his new lover.

"I love classical music and opera. I learned Italian just so I'd know what Pavarotti was singing about."

The nelly young man nuzzled his boyfriend. "I still have so much to learn about you, I love it!"

Brandon headed toward the stairs before he had to hear any more banal chit-chat from Temmett. He walked down to the main floor and shoved his way through the crowd over to Ben, who was still shaking his "dee-licious" ass to the beat of the music.

"How's it going?" Brandon asked Ben.

Although he was dancing as if he were having the best night of his life, the look on the hunky music teacher's face said otherwise. He was obviously torn up about what had happened at the Novotny home earlier in the day.

"Fine," he answered. "You go to CMU, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Brandon said as he stepped closer to the man.

Ben took a step back. "I'm really not in the mood to dance with anyone."

Brandon swept his hand around them. "You're surrounded by dozens of dancing fags. Did you think you'd be the only one here tonight wanting to dance with someone? Like the song says, this is what you came for."

"I'm sorry," Ben said, finally cracking a tiny smile. "I was in a bad mood before I came here and I was hoping I'd feel better once I started dancing, but..."

The next song to play was "Till The World Ends" by Britney Spears. The dancing boys around them cheered for their queen.

"Oh, I love this song," Brandon said before holding out his hand, palm up, to Ben. "Would you dance with me, kind sir?"

Ben chuckled. "Sure."

The two young men danced together through the first verse and chorus. Ben kept his hands to himself, but Brandon took the opportunity to run his hands down Ben's sides and around to his sculpted ass. He then started grinding his crotch into Ben's thigh.

"Did you forget about that night we spent together, about two years ago?" Brandon said into Ben's ear.

Ben looked into Brandon's eyes curiously. "Remind me."

"Well..." Brandon said before taking Ben's right hand and putting it over his hard cock. "I found you at Woody's. You were talking to some other guy at the bar and I sent you an Old Fashioned, because I figured that was more your style than the Tequila Sunrise he had bought you."

"Oh, yeah," Ben said, recalling the evening they had shared as he rubbed Brandon's erection through his jeans. "I was pretty wasted that night, so that's probably why I didn't recognize you."

"I'm not surprised you don't remember my face, since I was behind you most of the time," Brandon said with a smile.

Ben was recalling more details. "You drive a black Dodge Viper."

"I did then. My dad got me a red Porsche Carrera for my birthday a couple of months ago."

Ben nodded, impressed with both the car and what Brandon had in his pants.

"Do you want to see it?" Brandon asked.

Ben smiled wide. "Are you talking about your new car?"

"Maybe I'll show that to you later," Brandon answered before he turned to walk toward the backroom. He glanced over his shoulder a few moments later to make sure Ben was following him.

He was.

Brian was smoking from his bong and watching an episode of Breaking Bad on Netflix when saw that he had received a Facebook friend request from Justin Taylor.

He smiled as he accepted the request. Justin sent him a message about a minute later.

Justin Taylor: Hi... I didn't know if you'd still be up.

Brian looked down at his crotch.

"Not at the moment, but..." he said out loud before typing a reply.

Brian Kinney: I'm a night owl.

Justin Taylor: Me, too. My mom is always yelling at me for staying up too late.

Brian sighed, wanting to steer the topic of discussion far away from unsexy and juvenile topics like arguments with their mothers. Brian could top any complaint that Justin might have with ones about dear Joanie. His father didn't call her "The Warden" for nothing.

Brian Kinney: I hope you had a nice time today. I did.

Justin Taylor: I did, too. I've always wanted to go to the Warhol, thank you for taking me.

Brian Kinney: I hope you like your new jacket. If you don't I can return it.

Justin Taylor: I do like it. I've never had a real leather jacket before, it's really nice. I'm sorry if I acted ungrateful earlier. I wasn't expecting you to buy me something so expensive.

Brian Kinney: You really do look great in it, I was happy to buy it for you.

Justin Taylor: Thank you :D

Brian knew that he needed to find a way to see Justin again and step his game up.

Brian Kinney: So... did you have any plans tomorrow?

Justin Taylor: I was hoping you'd come up with something for us to do.

Brian found himself smiling like a fool, happy that the blond wanted to see him again. It was an odd feeling.

The brunet opened a new tab and searched for art studios in the Pittsburgh area. He came across something that he knew Justin would enjoy.

Brian Kinney: There is a place where we can go to paint pottery, if you're into that sort of thing.

Justin Taylor: I'm an artist, of course I would like to go! I hope you plan to feed me at some point, too. I'm a hungry, growing boy.

Brian Kinney: I'll pick you up at 11, we'll get lunch first. I wouldn't want you to paint on an empty stomach.

Justin Taylor: I'll be ready!

"Oh, I'll certainly be ready for you, sweet little Sunshine," Brian said as he stared at the picture that Justin had chosen as his profile image.

Anything that's worth having is sure enough worth fighting for
Quitting's out of the question
When it gets tough, gotta fight some more
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love

--"Fight For This Love," Cheryl Cole (2009)

Thursday, July 12

Brian picked Justin up from the Novotny home at 11 AM sharp. The blond looked adorable in a light blue t-shirt, which perfectly matched his eyes, and pair of baggy navy blue cargo shorts. Brian wished that he would wear some pants that fit him better, to accentuate his bubble butt.

Justin said he was in the mood for some sushi, so Brian drove toward his favorite sushi and hibachi place on Liberty Avenue. He noticed that Justin was staring out the passenger window as they drove down the street.

"Where are we?" Justin asked, looking at the buildings decorated with rainbow flags as they rode past.

"Welcome to Pittsburgh's gay village. What, are you uncomfortable here?"

"No," Justin quickly said.

Even at that time in the early afternoon, there was an assembly of characters out on the street. Drag queens and flamboyantly dressed queers were strutting around, enjoying the summer sun before it got scorching hot later in the day. Woody's didn't open until 1 PM, but there were boys sitting out on the concrete staircase under the awning.

While stopped at a red light, Brian saw Justin looking at a man dressed in a black leather vest and assless leather pants standing at the corner, waiting to cross the street.

"Uh..." Justin said, pointing at the man. "Isn't he like, really hot in that outfit?"

Brian lightly smacked Justin's hand. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to point at people?"

Once they got to the restaurant, the boys split a plate of hibachi chicken. Brian ordered a spicy tuna roll and Justin ordered a yellowtail roll.

They sat in awkward silence for a minute, minus the sounds of the kitchen and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" playing out of the speaker overhead.

"So, um..." Justin said, searching for something to talk about. "Do you have any siblings?"

"I have an older sister, she's a cunt. My step-brother is an asshole."

Justin decided to not press him further about that topic. "Why do you drive such an old car? I'd figure a guy like you would drive a new Beemer or something."

Brian glared at him. "Excuse me, that's a 1968 Mustang Shelby GT500KR. That car is fucking awesome, a pussy little BMW has nothing on it. They didn't name it ‘King of the Road' for nothing. Cobra Jet 428 Police Interceptor V8, 335 horsepower that approaches 410, 440 pound-feet of torque, zero to sixty in 6.5 seconds, top speed of 140 miles per hour, Eleanor exhaust. My old man bought it at an auction for almost two-hundred thousand, the previous owner had restored it to cherry condition. He gave it to me when I turned eighteen and he got himself a ‘69 Boss 429, that's a sexy car, too. Before then, I was driving his 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda."

Justin stared at him blankly. "Are you speaking English?"

"I guess you're not a car guy?"

Justin shook his head. "I don't even have my own car."

"Your parents never gave you a car?"

"I'm supposed to get one when school starts, but most likely my mom will give me her Subaru and she'll get something new. I've hardly even driven since getting my license two years ago."

Brian felt sorry for the lad.

Once they were finished with their meals, they headed over to the pottery painting studio. The boys looked at the big selection of pieces they could choose from to paint, including mugs, plates, bowls, vases, and various figurines. Justin picked a round plate while Brian chose a rectangular serving platter much like the one his sushi roll had been served on.

They were given a brief instruction by one of the studio's employees before being set loose to paint. They flipped through some books to find designs to try. Justin chose a rather complicated-looking mandala design. Brian, who had no artistic skills, decided on a simple design of a peacock feather.

While planning their outing, Brian hadn't considered the fact that sitting down and painting pottery would require him and Justin to talk to each other so much. Making small talk had never been a talent of his. Luckily for him, once Justin began talking, the boy was a chatterbox.

"... and I hate roller coasters, but Daphne loves them. She dragged me onto this monstrosity called ‘Fahrenheit,' which has a drop of more than a hundred feet. By the time we got to the top of the first hill, I was literally crying..."

"... then I finally had to tell him, ‘Look, I don't give a shit about superheroes!' but he didn't seem to care. He took that as an opportunity to give me a history lesson about Iron Man, as if that would make me care about Iron Man, Ant-Man, or any other kind of Man. He even followed me out of the dining room after I got up when he was mid-sentence about how Iron Man got his powers. Here's a clue, Michael..."

"...don't even consider photography to be ‘art,' but I have to take photography classes as a part of my degree program. I mean like, with sculpting, drawing, and painting, you have to use your hands to create something that wasn't there before. Taking a picture, though? What teenage girl hasn't taken a million fish-face selfies and put them on Instagram? That's not art..."

No matter how much the boy talked and how mundane the topic might have been, Brian was listening to every word. He found that he actually enjoyed the sound of Justin's voice and what he had to say.

Most importantly, Justin made Brian laugh without even trying. The blond's roller coaster story, which included Justin pissing his pants and swearing off amusement park rides forever, had Brian in stitches. The story about Michael torturing him over the newest Avengers film had him nodding and chuckling. Justin's complaints about having to take classes that didn't interest him also amused him. He couldn't remember the last time he gave a shit about what a trick had to say to him in the least, let alone kept him engaged and had him laughing.

When they were finished with their pottery pieces, they critiqued their work. Brian's platter was a good effort by a beginning painter while Justin's plate was a true work of art.

"Wow, Sunshine, that wouldn't look out of place at the Warhol," Brian said, truly meaning it.

Justin beamed, enjoying the praise and liking the sound of Debbie's nickname for him coming out of Brian's mouth.

It was a fifteen-minute drive back to Fox Chapel. The boys sang along with Demi Lovato, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift before Justin realized that they were not headed back to Debbie's house.

"Where are we going?" he asked Brian as Ms. Swift sang about how haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.

"Up to an area where we like racing around."

"We, who?"

Brian smiled. "All the Fox Chapel kids whose parents were dumb enough to buy their idiot kid a sports car. I used to smoke my step-brother's Viper all the time. I can't believe he traded it for a fucking base-model Porsche, he should have asked for a ‘Vette for almost half the price and more power."

They stopped in a secluded area about five minutes later. Brian shut the car off, pulled his keys out of the ignition, and handed them to Justin. "Let's see what you got, kid."

Justin looked at the keys in his hand like he'd never seen a key before in his life. "Huh?"

Brian got out of the car and walked around the front to the passenger door. Justin was still sitting there looking confused, so Brian opened the door and motioned for the blond to get out.

Justin finally pulled himself out of the safety of the passenger seat and slowly walked around the massive hood of the green Mustang. He paused as he peered into the car through the open driver's side door.

"Are you sure? I told you I don't have much driving experience," he said to Brian, who had already buckled up in the passenger seat.

"Come on, chicken shit," Brian said impatiently. "It's hot, the A/C eats up gas. I need some wind in my hair."

"I liked you better when you called me ‘Sunshine,'" Justin mumbled as he got into the driver's seat. "Do you even want to see if I have a license?"

Brian held out his hand. Justin took his license out of his wallet and handed it over.

"Cute," Brian said as he looked at Justin's DMV photo. "You're legal, congratulations, let's go."

Justin sighed heavily before buckling his seat belt and putting what he hoped was the correct key into the ignition. He turned the key and jumped when that Cobra Jet 428 Police Interceptor V8 engine that Brian had bragged about came to life.

"Listening to that baby purr," Brian said. "Give it a little gas, make it growl."

Justin revved the engine, smiling involuntarily when the car made more noise.

"Alright, put it in drive, burn some rubber," Brian instructed.

Justin put the car into drive and slowly accelerated, making Brian sneer.

"Come on, kid, you're killing me."

Justin got the car up to thirty miles per hour.

Brian let out a fake snore beside him.

"You've got almost 400 horsies at your fingertips," the older boy said. "Use some more of them."

Justin pressed down harder on the gas pedal, making the speedometer creep up to fifty.

"Getting better," Brian said.

Seeing a bunch of empty road ahead of him, Justin gave the car some more gas. Before he knew it, he was approaching eighty miles per hour. The wind was whipping through his hair, the steering wheel was vibrating in his hands, and the seat was vibrating under his ass.

"Okay... alright... I get it, this is an awesome car," Justin admitted.

"You're damned right!" Brian hollered as he patted the dashboard lovingly. "This ain't your mama's Subaru. Alright, slow down and stop. I'll show you what the King can really do."

Justin stopped the car and put it in park. He and Brian switched places, and he hadn't even gotten his seatbelt fastened before Brian stomped on the gas pedal, spinning the tires, making Justin yelp in surprise.

"The only thing wrong with this car is it's an automatic," Brian said over the roar of the engine. "If I had the manual, I could really do some damage."

Justin watched the speedometer go over 100 mph before he had to look away, wishing he'd told his mom that he loved her the last time they spoke.

"Once I start making good money, I'm gonna buy a house with some land and build a huge garage like Jay Leno has. I'm gonna fill it up with old muscle and pony cars and drive a different one every day: a ‘67 Camaro Z28, a ‘70 Eliminator, a 69' GTO Judge, a ‘69 Charger like the General Lee, and of course I'd have to get a ‘78 Trans Am like the one Bandit drove..."

Brian finally began letting off the gas pedal just as Justin thought they were about to take off from the ground like a jet plane.

Justin was finally able to breathe again once the Mustang came to a full stop.

"Who's Jay Leno? Did you mean Jared Leto?" was the first thing he was able to say, a look of utter terror on his sweet face.

Brian burst out laughing before taking them, normal speed, to the nearest gas station. Even without using the air conditioner, the Mustang sucked down some serious gas.

Back at Debbie's house, Brian pulled through the long driveway and parked in front of the house.

"Well, did you have a good time?" Brian asked Justin, whose pulse was now back down to normal following their joy ride.

"I had a blast," Justin said, smiling. "At least I didn't piss my pants like I did at Hershey Park."

"I'm glad you were able to control your bladder. I wouldn't have been happy having to wipe piss off of my custom leather seat."

Justin got his pottery out of the back seat and walked to the front porch. Brian followed behind him.

"I think I'll give this to Debbie as a thank you gift for letting me stay with her."

"Just make sure you tell Michael that it's for decoration, otherwise he'll eat his macaroni and cheese off of it."

Justin laughed, his Sunshine smile at full wattage.

Brian stared down at the beautiful young man. He couldn't help but reach out and run his fingertips along Justin's jawline. Before he knew what he was doing, he leaned down and pressed his lips up against Justin's pouty pink lips.

Justin froze for a moment before returning Brian's kiss. Since he wasn't pulling away, Brian slipped his tongue inside the boy's mouth. Justin gasped a bit when the tip of his tongue met Brian's.

Brian clasped the back of Justin's head, taking the opportunity to fully explore the boy's lips and tongue with his. Justin raised his arms up to wrap them around Brian's long, lean body.

They were both startled when Justin's plate crashed to the concrete below, ending their kiss.

"Shit," Justin said as he kneeled down to pick up the pieces of his broken plate.

Brian bent down to help him.

"I got it," Justin snapped, picking up the last few large pieces.

Brian tried to open the front door, but it was locked. He rang the doorbell. Justin was holding the pieces of his plate, looking like he was about to cry as he waited for someone to answer the door.

"I'm sorry... about your plate," Brian mumbled.

The Novotny's housekeeper answered the door, nearly being taken off of her feet as Justin rushed inside without another word to Brian.

Brian walked into his room a few minutes later and found Brandon waiting for him at his desk. He was glad that he had put his laptop to sleep and that it was password protected.

"What the fuck do you want?" Brian snarled, remind himself to get a lock to install on the outside of his door.

Brandon chuckled. "I'm guessing that you didn't get laid during your little date or else you'd be in a better mood."

Brian sat the platter that he had painted down on his desk. "Again, what do you want?"

"What the fuck is that thing?" Brandon asked, pointing to the piece of pottery.

Brian ignored the question. "Either state your purpose or leave."

"I've been thinking," Brandon began to say as he stood up.

"Always a dangerous sign," Brian cracked.

"...and I decided that if you want to end our little bet, it's okay with me."

Brian narrowed his eyes. "What? Why, what's changed?"

"Well, I realized that I really haven't been playing fair," Brandon said with a shrug. "You're right, in all of our past bets, you've always played with very sportsmanlike conduct. Anytime I've won before, it's usually been because I cheated one way or another, even if you didn't even know I cheated. If you make a bet with someone, it should be fair."

Brian ran his index finger along the curve of the peacock feather he had painted. He closed his eyes and imagined that the smooth surface was Justin's jawline, which he had just been caressing a few minutes before. He slowly licked his lips before answering his step-brother.

"No... no, I want to finish our bet. I'm going to win, in spite of everything you've done in your attempt to sabotage me. Things are moving slowly with Justin, but I still have three more days to fuck him. Getting Michael and Ben back together will be a breeze."

"Are you sure about that?" Brandon asked with a mischievous grin.

"Yes... why?"

"No reason," Brandon said as he walked around the desk and stood in front of Brian. "But what about us?"

Brian was taken aback. "Us? What about us?"

"You haven't even acknowledged the prize of this bet, if you are successful. Isn't that what this was all about? You, me, my ass, one night? You can't stand there and tell me it's not all you've wanted since we first met. You've wanted me even more since our parents started dating, because then I became off limits. Hell, maybe you want even more than one night."

Brian chuckled, though there was not one inkling of humor in it. "Oh, Brandon... don't kid yourself. Did I once want you, because I felt genuinely attracted to you? Yeah, but then I got to know you. If I ever lost my mind and decided I wanted a boyfriend, you'd be the last guy I'd choose. When, not if, when I win this bet and I get to fuck you, it'll be for bragging rights only, not because I'm quenching some desire I have for you."

Brandon looked at Brian with an expression that could only be described as heartbreak. He then reached up and cupped the back of Brian's head, joining their lips together in a kiss.

Brian pushed Brandon away, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as if Brandon's saliva was poisonous.

"You are pathetic," Brian said before leaving his own room just to get away from his step-brother.

You make me feel like I'm livin' a teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's run away and don't ever look back

--"Teenage Dream," Katy Perry (2010)

Brian was eating a turkey sandwich he'd thrown together for dinner when his phone chimed. He looked at the screen and found a Facebook message from Michael.

Michael Novotny: So???

Brian Kinney: So... what???

Michael Novotny: Have you come up with a plan for me to get back with Ben?

"Fuck," Brian said out loud.

Of course, he hadn't thought of a plan. He hadn't even thought of Michael and Ben at all that day because he was too busy imagining exactly what he was going to do to Justin, once he got the blond into bed.

Brian Kinney: I'll be over in ten minutes.

Brian finished his sandwich and walked down the street to the Novotny house. He rang the doorbell, expecting an eager Michael to answer. Instead, he was greeted by Debbie.

"Hello, Brian," she said, not sounding all that enthused to see him.

"Hello, Debbie," Brian replied in an identical tone. "I'm here to see Michael."

"First, you need to answer some questions for me," the woman said, stepping out onto the porch and closing her front door. "What the fuck did you do to Justin? I know you two spent the day together, despite my best efforts."

Brian held up his hands innocently. "I didn't do anything... that he didn't want me to do."

"All I know is that he ran into the kitchen earlier, carrying broken pieces of a plate or something, crying his eyes out. He threw the pieces into the trash and then took off up to his room." Debbie looked down and saw a small piece of Justin's broken plate he'd missed earlier. "Pick that up for me, would you? With my chiropractor out of town, my back is a fucking mess. Why did I ever think I could play golf?"

Brian reached down to pick up the ceramic shard. Once he stood back up, he was met with Debbie's finger in his face, her long, fake red fingernail looking rather dangerous.

"Now you listen to me, mister. Justin is a good kid and doesn't need someone like you getting in his way."

"I'm getting in his way?" Brian said in disbelief, considering who he was talking to. "Because you're the expert in knowing what's best for people, right? Look, Deb, whatever beef you have with my mother has nothing to do with me, so how about you just mind your own fucking business and let me live my life without shit-talking me all over town, huh? You need to watch your own ass; not mine, not Justin's, and not Michael's."

Debbie looked back at him in shock as Brian let himself into the house. He didn't give her another glance as he followed his ears to the music room, tossing the piece of the plate into a large potted plant in the hallway.

Brian found Michael sitting at the piano playing a song. He slid the pocket door closed and waited until Michael finished the piece.

"That was beautiful," Brian said quietly, so he wouldn't startle the boy.

Michael turned to look at Brian. "Thanks... that's Ben's favorite piano piece. It's called ‘Meine Freuden,' it translates to ‘My Joy.' I've been practicing it all day."

"It sounded really good. I'm sure he'd love to hear you play it."

Michael scoffed. "I doubt he even wants anything to do with me now, after how my mother talked to him, like he was shit under her shoe."

"Fuck her," Brian snarled.

"No, thank you," Michael said, chuckling. "What am I gonna do? I want to be with Ben. I love him and I don't care what my mother thinks about him."

Brian thought for a bit before picking up Michael's phone, which was sitting on top of the piano, and pressing the power button on the side.

"Seriously, put a fucking lock on your phone..." Brian said through gritted teeth.

He pressed a few things on the screen before holding it up so that the outward-facing camera was pointed at Michael and the piano.

"Play that song again."

"Why, are you gonna record it?"

Brian nodded. "Go ahead, pretend like I'm not here."

"Well.... alright."

Michael stretched his hands out, took a deep breath, and exhaled before he started playing the piece again. Brian recorded the whole song, which was a little over four minutes long.

Brian pressed a few more keys on the phone and handed it back to Michael. "Beautiful."

"You... you live streamed that on Facebook?" the younger brunet said as he stared at his phone's screen.

"And I tagged Ben," Brian informed him as he opened the door. "Wait to see if you hear from him. Which room upstairs is Justin's?"

"Top of the stairs, make a right," Michael said, his eyes locked on his phone as he eagerly waited for some type of response from Ben.

Brian walked upstairs and found that the door to his right was closed. He put his ear to the door and heard music playing faintly. He then knocked.

Justin opened the door a few moments later. He smiled when he saw that it was Brian, but then he forced his face to a neutral expression.

"Brian, what are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?" the young man asked, not waiting for a reply as he crossed the threshold into the Novotny's guest room.

Brian looked around, finding the room to be furnished in a French country motif. The bed frame was a large wooden canopy-type design, with thick pillars that featured elaborate carvings. The nightstands, dresser, and armour all matched the bed frame and headboard. The mattress was covered with a gold and purple duvet, and at least a dozen throw pillows decorated it. There were fancy vases all around the room filled with flowers from Debbie's garden.

The only thing out of place in the elegant room was the recording of "Love Me You Like You Do" by Ellie Goulding blaring out of the laptop at the foot of the bed. Justin shut off the song as Ellie was belting "What are you waiting for?"

Brian saw that there was a sketchbook face-down next to the laptop.

"Working on something?" he asked as he helped himself to the book.

"No! It's not finished," Justin said, clearly not comfortable with Brian looking at his drawing.

Brian found that what the boy had been working on was a sketch of Brian's senior portrait, which he had uploaded to his Facebook page a few months before.

"Holy shit," Brian said as his own face looked back at him, a perfect likeness. "That's fucking amazing. When did you start on this?"

Justin pulled the pad out of his hands and closed the pages, embarrassed. "Tuesday, I think."

"I want that when it's finished. I'll pay you for it."

"No, I couldn't take money for it, it's yours," Justin said.

"If someone is willing to pay you for something that takes your time and talent to do, take the fucking money. You may think it looks humble, refusing money and giving something away, but that's how you stay poor. If you want to earn a living as an artist, never give away or donate your work. People will appreciate it more if they have to pay for it."

Justin mulled that over. "Wow... yeah, you're right."

Brian took the sketchbook back and opened the front flap. He looked through the drawings, which included a few of the girl he recognized as Justin's so-called girlfriend Daphne and some random objects like flowers, a fancy lamp, and a denim jacket hanging off the back of a door.

They weren't all innocent drawings that a teenager who claimed to be straight would draw. Some of the drawings depicted faceless naked men at various angles and positions.

"Oh, my," Brian said, imitating George Takei.

Justin looked away shamefully. "I..."

Brian continued to flip through the pages until he found his portrait. "That looks about done to me. I'll write you a check for it tomorrow. How much do you want?"

"I don't know, I've never sold a piece before."

"I'll give you five hundred for it."

"Dollars?" Justin said in surprise.

"No, jelly beans," Brian replied sarcastically. "Yes, dollars."

The blond shook his head. "I couldn't take that much for a drawing. Maybe... fifty?"

Brian sighed. "You really need to learn your worth, Sunshine. If someone offers you more than the minimum you're willing to sell the piece for, say thank you and take it. Shit, make a higher counter-offer and make them haggle."

"Are you some kind of financial guru?"

"I'm a business major focusing on marketing, remember?"

"Duh, I knew that," Justin said, feeling dumber by the second. "Okay, five hundred dollars."

He tore the page out of the book and held it out to Brian.

"Don't ever give someone the goods until after you're paid," the brunet said, shaking his head at how inept the kid was. "You're just begging to be robbed, because you're too trusting."

"I trust you," Justin said innocently.

"You shouldn't," Brian answered. "Now, put that somewhere safe and don't let me even see it again until you have the payment in hand."

Justin stuck the page back in his sketchbook, then shoved the book under the mattress.

"I hope, in the future, you invest in a safe or a locker for your artwork," Brian said.

Justin smiled and sat on the bed. "Remind me to hire you for business advice, once I start making money."

"Judging by your business practices thus far, you won't be able to afford me. I'm gonna be a big, fat, fucking success."

"You don't have an ounce of modesty, do you?"

Brian sat down next to Justin. "Not even a fraction of an ounce. Now, about some of those other drawings..."

The boy sighed heavily. "Okay... yes, I'm gay."

"I had no idea," Brian mocked.

Justin bumped shoulders with him. "Shut up. Maybe it was easy for you to come out, but for me-"

"It wasn't easy for me," Brian interjected. "Shit, it still isn't. I'm still closeted with my parents, actually. I'm sure they know, but it's like a ‘don't ask, don't tell' kind of thing between us. My parents just aren't the kind of people that you can talk to about this. My mother is very, very religious and my old man is... a Republican.

"My dad is, too. He even voted for you-know-who."

Brian curled his lips in disgust. "Mine did, too. But still, even if you aren't out with everyone, you at least need to be honest with yourself about what you are."

Justin nodded. "I know. I've never been into girls and I've liked guys for as long as I can remember."

"What about your girlfriend?"

Justin closed his eyes and sighed. "Daphne has known that I'm gay since... forever. Actually, she's the only person I've come out to. She only pretends to be my girlfriend-"

"She's your beard," Brian filled in.

"Yeah. Some of the kids at school still asked me if I was gay, but I always denied it. I didn't want to come out at school and then have it get back to my parents."

"Do you really think they'll be surprised? Look at yourself: you're very artistic, you're prettier than most girls, you love pop music, you have a rather delicate voice-"

"Alright, I'm obviously a raging homosexual, I get it," Justin said.

"You could be worse things... you could be a Republican."

The boys laughed together for a few moments before Brian decided he needed to ramp things up.

"Look, if you're not interested in me, I'll back off, okay?" he said, knowing that Justin was nothing but interested.

Justin scooted closer and put his hand on Brian's thigh. "Of course, I'm interested, very interested. You're like, the hottest guy I've ever seen."

"Have you not seen Channing Tatum?" Brian asked. "Because he's fucking hot. I even sat through that atrocious Jupiter Ascending movie, just to see him."

"Channing Tatum wishes he was as hot as you," Justin said before planting a kiss square on Brian's lips.

Brian, always the dominant man, took the lead and deepened the kiss. He was guessing that Justin didn't have much kissing experience, if any. He lightly sucked and nibbled on the boy's lips, which were so soft and full. He tickled Justin's tongue with his own, making the boy giggle a bit.

Justin had changed into a pair of gym shorts with an elastic waistband sometime after returning home from their date. Once he laid the boy back on the soft bedding, Brian slipped his hand inside Justin's shorts, where he quickly found the boy's hard and rather sizeable cock.

Feeling Brian's hand on his most sensitive area, Justin gasped.

Brian licked, kissed, and lightly nibbled Justin's neck as he started to jerk him off. Soon the boy was becoming very vocal, so Brian again covered his mouth with his own. From the way his body was tensing up and trembling, Brian could tell that Justin was very close.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Sunshine, dinner's ready!" Debbie hollered on the other side.

"Aah!" Justin shouted as he came.

"Are you okay?" the woman of the house asked.

"Yeah, Deb! I'm... coming."

Brian chuckled at the word choice. "Well, I'm going. Do you have any plans for tonight?"

Justin looked down at his cum-soaked shorts. "Uh... no."

"I'll pick you up at ten," Brian said as he got up. "Wear something sexy, not cargo shorts."

"What's wrong with cargo shorts?" Justin asked.

Brian opened the door and closed it behind himself before the boy could ask any more questions. He then walked back downstairs and out to the front porch, just in time to see Michael's Audi TT peeling out of the driveway.

For Michael to be leaving just as dinner was being served, Brian knew it had to be for something very important. He took his phone out and brought up his Facebook app, finding the video he had recorded of Michael playing "Meine Freuden." Brian saw that Ben left a heart reaction on the post, and he could only guess that there was a private conversation between the two young men that prompted Michael to race off to be with him.

"I hope The Hulk has a good supply of condoms and lube, because he's gonna be busting out of more than just his shirt tonight," Brian said to himself, smiling.

I'm on the edge of glory and I'm hanging on a moment of truth
I'm on the edge of glory and I'm hanging on a moment with you
I'm on the edge with you

--"The Edge of Glory," Lady Gaga (2011)

"Let the world be ours tonight, we're not letting go, we're falling. It ain't easy to survive so hold on tight, let the world be ours tonight..."

Brian and Justin danced to the beat of Deborah Cox's song "Let The World Be Ours Tonight". They were, without a doubt, the hottest couple on the floor of Babylon. Justin did as Brian asked and "dressed sexy," choosing to wear a pair of tight black jeans and a tight black and orange shirt. Brian was wearing dark blue jeans and a red button up, which was arguably his best color.

There was nothing that Brian wanted to do more than take the twink to the backroom to fuck the everloving shit out of him in front of everyone, but Brian didn't want that for Justin's first time. He had deflowered more than one guy up against the black cum-splashed walls in the past, but he decided to enjoy an hour or two of dancing with the blond before taking him home, where he could take his time with the boy and fuck him as many times as he wanted in the comfort of his bed.

"God, I love this place!" Justin yelled over the music.

"I knew you would," Brian said. "It's a gay boy's paradise, where you can dance, drink, and... debauch. I'm here all the time, even on school nights. It's handy being only a ten-minute drive from the dorms... even if I have to call an Uber sometimes to get back to my room."

"How do you even manage to make decent grades when you're out partying all the time?"

"I owe my A's and B's to a steady stream of Adderall," Brian admitted.

Justin nodded. "I've been on Adderall since I was like, six."

"Everyone here probably takes it." To prove it, Brian then shouted, "Does anyone have any Adderall or Ritalin?"

Nearly a dozen guys dug into their pockets and handed pills out to him.

"Nah, maybe later, thanks," Brian replied.

Justin laughed. "I'll note that for a later date, in case I run out."

"Well, now that you've shaken your ass at Babylon, you're officially one of us," Brian told him as he indicated the swarm of queers around them. "There's no going back."

The boy smiled before puckering up and coming in for a kiss. Brian happily reciprocated, feasting on Justin's delicious lips as confetti fell from the ceiling.

They made out and swayed to the music for several minutes before Brian glanced over in the direction of the bar. There he found his step-brother staring at him while sipping a beer.

Brian made a show of running his hands down Justin's tight twinkie body and cupping the boy's bountiful backside. He noticed Brandon flinch and curl his lip a bit, clearly not enjoying the show he was putting on.

Brandon looked away from Brian and his twink, turning back to the bartender and ordering a shot. He quickly pounded the whiskey down and looked around him, grabbing the first slightly attractive guy he saw by the arm.

"Do you live around here?" Brandon asked.

The guy smiled. "A couple blocks away, yeah."

"Let's go."

Brian watched his step-brother leave with a rather short, skinny guy that he would never look at twice.

"Gross," Brian grumbled.

"Huh?" Justin asked.

"Are you ready to get out of here?"

The boys were in the Mustang a few minutes later. Brian didn't know whether Brandon was taking his trick back to the house or not, but it didn't matter. With their parents away, Brian was free to spend a long, loud night with the blond beauty in his passenger seat.

"That was a lot of fun," Justin said as Brian drove them in the direction of Fox Chapel. "I could have danced all night. There were still a lot of guys there. Were they about to close?"

Brian looked at the clock on his radio and saw that it was shortly after 1 AM. "No, they're open until four."

"Oh. Well, I had a great time."

"Our night isn't over yet, Sunshine," the older boy informed him as he stopped at a red light.

"What..." Justin began to ask before Brian reached over and cupped Justin's package.

The blond finally realized what the rest of the night would entail.

"Oh."

The light turned green and Brian proceeded through the intersection.

"Unless you don't want to."

"Oh, I, um... uh... yeah," Justin stammered out. "I mean... "

Brian chuckled. "A simple ‘yes' is sufficient."

Justin sat silent for several seconds.

"Pop quiz, only one question, multiple choice," Brian said. "‘Do you want to come home with me? A: yes. B: yes. Or C: yes.' Time's up, pencils down. What's your answer?"

"Yes," Justin answered.

Brian smiled over at him. "Good boy. You get an A-plus."

They pulled into the driveway of the Greene/Kinney house a few minutes later. Brian was happy to see that Brandon's Porsche wasn't parked in the driveway in the usual spot. He hoped that his meddling step-brother would stay out at least until dawn.

Justin got out of the car and looked up at the big French Provincial-style house, which had multiple spotlights on it for security and to show off.

"This is a really nice place."

"It's my step-mother's house," Brian said as they walked to the front door. "Well, I guess it's my old man's house now, too. I don't really live here, I'm just staying here during the summer. It was either this or at my mother's, and that shit ain't happening."

Once Brian managed to get the door open and turn off the security alarm just inside the entrance, they walked into the home. Justin showed himself around the front parlor, office, and den, marveling at all of the paintings, pictures, sculptures, and knickknacks displayed. The place looked like a mini-museum with all of the various expensive things that Elaine had collected over the years.

"Is that a real Warhol?" Justin asked, pointing to a colorful painting on the wall of the den.

Brian shrugged. "I doubt she'd buy anything fake, except for her teeth and tits."

"That had to have cost at least twenty thousand."

"Maybe someday people will be shelling out that much for one of your paintings."

Justin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right."

"You're talented, don't sell yourself short."

Justin eventually mosied on into the kitchen. There he found a chef's wet dream, complete with a huge center island with a six-burner gas range, double wall ovens, a stainless steel side-by-side refrigerator with a large LCD touchscreen on the front, granite countertops, a fancy mosaic tile backsplash, limestone floors...

"Wow, your step-mom must love to cook in here," Justin said.

"Pfft, yeah right," Brian said, laughing heartily. "She can't cook, or at least, she doesn't cook. She spent a fortune to have this place renovated recently, but I've never seen her with a spatula in her hand. That's what the personal chef is for, but Elaine let her off this week, since she and my old man are on their honeymoon. Apparently, my step-brother and I don't need to eat."

"Debbie told me about their big, expensive wedding at dinner the other night, how a senator and a former governor were there. Sounds like they spent quite a bit of money on it. Debbie said that your dad has an advertising agency but didn't say what Elaine does, but I'm guessing it must be something special to have all that money to blow on this house and her wedding."

"She marries rich fucks and sits on her ass all day. My old man makes husband number four. The woman's never worked a day in her life... you don't have to when you're born with money and marry money, although Jack sure has her fooled," Brian casually stated.

"Fooled how?" Justin said in response to that last part.

Brian waved his hand. "Enough about my parents."

Justin swallowed hard when Brian walked toward him, a predatory look in his eyes.

"Uh... can I have some water?" the blond asked.

Brian took a cup out of the cabinet and handed it to him. Justin walked over to the fancy refrigerator and got some water out of the dispenser.

The boy gulped down the cold water, watching out of the corner of his eye as Brian unbuttoned his shirt. He sat the cup down on the counter and Brian tossed his shirt onto the floor, revealing his bare chest.

"Better?" Brian asked.

Justin nodded as he stared at the gorgeous young man in front of him, who looked like he belonged in a Calvin Klein underwear ad.

Brian walked back over to Justin and quickly divested him of his shirt. Suddenly their mouths were joined, Brian kissing Justin as if he was starving for him. Brian ran his hands down Justin's back, getting harder than he already was at the feeling of the soft skin.

Brian lowered the two of them to the floor, the cold limestone tile feeling refreshing on Justin's hot skin. Brian then unbuttoned Justin's jeans and shoved his hand inside the boy's boxers, grabbing onto the hard shaft.

"What do you want?" Brian asked in a growling voice.

"You," Justin answered breathlessly.

"Give me details," Brian demanded. "Paint me a picture."

"I... I want your mouth on me," Justin said.

Brian tightened his grasp on Justin's cock. "Here?"

"Uh-huh."

Brian sat up and pulled down Justin's jeans and boxers. He scooted down so that his face was level with Justin's hips.

Justin cried out when Brian took him into his mouth, all at once. He'd never had someone touch his dick before this day, and now, here was this beautiful man who was swallowing him whole.

Brian gave Justin what one might describe as an aggressive blowjob. He did not go down on guys very often, but he had found out very early in his sexual career that he was able to deepthroat fairly easily. Justin had a long, thick cock for his small stature, which was a bit of a challenge but a challenge that Brian happily took on.

He almost couldn't believe just how much he wanted this delectable blond twink. He didn't just want him for the sake of the bet with Brandon, but he wanted him just for the sheer joy of having him. Brian normally didn't go for boys like Justin: the younger, delicate, rather feminine types of gay boys. With Justin though, he had wanted him from the moment he'd first seen a picture of the boy along with his mother, father, and younger sister in the post on the CMU website announcing the elder Taylor as the new school president.

Brian also wanted the blond the more he'd gotten to know him over the last few days. He actually liked Justin's spunky attitude, how despite Brian being older and apparently more affluent than he was, he didn't back down from him. He matched Brian in smarts and attitude, and Brian was attracted to every part of him like a bee to honey.

Being the young virgin that he was, Justin didn't last very long with Brian going to work on his cock, and he came hard down Brian's throat.

"Oh, God, ohhh!" Justin shouted, his voice echoing in the designer kitchen.

Brian watched while Justin quivered in front of him. Justin had his eyes closed and was breathing heavy, and Brian had to refrain from pulling a condom out of his wallet, flipping the boy over, and taking him right there on Elaine's expensive floor.

"Do you want to go on a tour of the second floor... my bedroom, specifically?" he asked the boy, who was slowly recovering from his orgasm.

"I don't know if I can stand," Justin answered, giggling.

Brian scooped the smaller man up and put him over his shoulder. He then carried him up the staircase and down the hall to his room, Justin's pants around his ankles and his bare ass in the air.

Once in his room, Brian stripped the boy of his remaining clothing.

"Let's take a shower first," he announced as he dropped his own pants and underwear, revealing his glorious cock to the boy, who was now sitting at the foot of the bed with his blue eyes wide.

"Uh... okay," Justin said.

The look on his face said that he was either trying to commit Brian's naked form to his mind for a future drawing or he was contemplating whether the man's huge member would fit up his tight ass... or maybe both.

Brian walked his naked self into the adjoining bathroom, which had a walk-in shower with a swinging glass door. He noticed that Justin had joined him in the room as he waited for the water to warm up.

"After you," Brian said to the blond, directing him to go into the stall first.

Justin stepped into the shower and shrank back from the stream of water.

"Too hot?" Brian asked, joining the boy.

Justin nodded, so Brian turned the temperature down a bit.

"Is that better or too cold now, Goldilocks?"

"It's perfect," Justin replied with a smile.

Brian cupped Justin's plump right ass cheek and pulled the boy closer. His other hand gripped the back of Justin's neck, trapping the boy while Brian took possession of his lips again. Their hard cocks hung heavily in front of them, so they ended up poking each other's bellies.

Justin reached out and grabbed ahold of Brian's long shaft, eliciting a moan from the older boy. The blond lightly sucked on Brian's tongue as he began to slowly stroke the only other cock he'd ever touched. This leisurely pace wasn't fast enough for Brian, so he placed his larger hand on top of Justin's and sped the task along.

Their kiss was broken when Brian started to breathe heavier. Justin took that opportunity to lick the water off of the brunet's long neck, which Brian also seemed to enjoy, judging by the beautiful noises coming out of his mouth. Something else came out a minute later as Brian found his release.

"Aahhh!" Brian shouted as he came all over Justin's belly, causing the blond to laugh before rinsing off the product of his and Brian's work.

Once the older boy had a few moments to recover, he grabbed a bar of soap and worked it into a lather. They kissed some more while Brian ran his soapy hands all over Justin's arms, chest, back, and ass, making sure to get his crack nice and clean. The blond loved the feeling of the large hands on his sensitive skin, even enjoying the light scrape of the callouses resulting from hours of Brian lifting weights in the gym.

The boys finished washing themselves and stepped out of the shower to dry off. The predatory look was back in Brian's sexy hazel eyes and they were locked in on the naked blond in front of him, as if he were a delicious meal he couldn't wait to devour.

They wordlessly walked back into the bedroom and crawled onto Brian's bed. Brian, being the dominant young man he was, pushed the smaller man down so he was lying on his belly. The brunet straddled him and started kissing his neck, right at the bottom of his hairline.

Justin writhed on the bed as Brian made his way down his spine, kissing and licking the clean, soft skin. The blond found himself getting really hot all of a sudden, despite the slight chill in the room. He involuntarily squeezed his shoulder blades together and arched his back.

"Relax, Sunshine," he heard Brian say behind him.

He did as the much more experienced man said and willed his muscles to loosen up. Brian then continued on his journey south, scooting down the bed the farther he went. Justin felt Brian put his hands on his cheeks and spread them apart slightly. Before he could wonder what the older boy was going to do next, Brian ran his tongue down into the small cleft just below Justin's tailbone, pausing for a moment before running his tongue clockwise around the tight hole.

"Ohhhh!" Justin cried out.

Brian pulled the boy's hips up a bit, spreading his cheeks open more for him to get a good look at what the boy had to offer. If he wasn't hard already, he certainly was now at the sight of the virginal asshole before him, the grand prize nestled between the beautiful globes of this gorgeous blond twink.

It was almost enough to make a horny fag cry.

He could have stared at that perfect pucker all night, but it was just begging for a taste. Brian dove in, wetting it with his spit before he started licking the alphabet around the hole. Justin was making all sorts of noises, alternating gasps, moans, and various words with every exhale.

"Oh, shit... fuck... ahh... Jesus... ohh... God... fuck... Brian... yeah..."

Brian held back from laughing as he stopped for a moment to wet his index finger. He stuck the tip of it into Justin's asshole a little bit. The boy tensed up, noticing the difference between a tongue and a finger. Brian then exhaled a puff of warm air on the hole, making the boy relax enough for him to push up to the middle knuckle.

That small amount of finger in his asshole, along with the other attention that Brian had paid to him, was too much for Justin to handle. He came all over Brian's sheets with a deep groan before collapsing onto the bed like a rag doll.

"Shit, I made a mess," the blond remarked.

"The first of many we'll make tonight," Brian promised.

He knew it was going to take more than saliva to move things along, so Brian hopped up from the bed and opened his nightstand drawer. He selected a bottle of silicone-based lube, which was nice and thick, perfect for anal. He also grabbed a condom and placed the foil packet on top of the nightstand for easy reach.

Brian laid back down next to Justin and ran his fingers through the short blond hair, which was still damp from their shower.

"Turn over," he instructed. "I want to see your face."

Justin did as he was told, moving over slightly so he wasn't lying in his puddle of cum.

Brian settled himself between Justin's legs. He grabbed the back of Justin's left calf and bent his leg slightly at the knee. Justin took the hint and bent his other leg. Brian then spread a good amount of lube on his index and middle fingers before reaching down and spreading the sticky gel around the rim of Justin's asshole.

Justin jumped a bit. "It's cold."

"It'll heat up," Brian said.

The brunet then spent the next several minutes working first one finger into Justin's tight hole, making sure he was opened and lubed up enough before sticking in the second one. Brian knew this had to be painful for the boy, so he kissed him thoroughly while he worked. After applying more lube, Brian continued fingering him. Soon Justin was pushing against his hand eagerly, enjoying the sweet burn and the attention Brian was giving to his prostate.

Justin was vocally showing Brian how much he was enjoying what he was doing, moaning and babbling shamelessly as the older boy scissored his fingers inside of him.

"Are you... ahh... ever gonna fuck me?" Justin finally asked.

"Are you ready?" Brian said, sticking his two long fingers in as far as they would go.

Justin gasped. "Yes!"

Brian quickly sheathed himself and spread more lube on his cock.

"Take a deep breath and let it out slowly," he said to the blond.

Justin complied, inhaling deeply through his nose. Brian breached the slightly loosened but still tight hole with the head of his cock as the boy exhaled.

"Oww!" Justin hollered. "It hurts... is it supposed to hurt?"

Brian pushed in, causing the boy to dig his fingernails into his back and scream out in pain more.

"It will hurt at first every time, but that's part of it," he told Justin.

He then pulled out slightly before pushing further in than before. He continued to rock in and out of the tight, slippery tunnel before he was fully seated. Justin's mouth was hanging open and Brian couldn't help but take the full bottom lip into his mouth, nibbling on it. This took some of the attention away from the pain Justin was feeling in his ass, and he stuck his tongue out and licked Brian's top lip.

Brian started making shallow thrusts, eventually pulling out more and more each time before pushing back in fully. Despite having come recently in the shower and having above-average stamina, Brian's balls were full and ready to burst.

He wasn't the only one who needed a release. Justin only lasted two more pumps before shooting another load on his belly.

Despite the blond's asshole clamping down on him during his orgasm, making him impossibly tighter, Brian was determined to ride it out for as long as possible or at least until Justin told him to stop. The boy had his legs wrapped tightly around Brian's hips, making it a bit difficult for the brunet to continue to thrust.

Brian used his upper body strength to his advantage, reaching around to unlock Justin's rather strong legs and pushing them up so that the boy was nearly folded in half. Brian then drilled into the blond, thinking about how an engine worked.

Let's see, you need a spark plug to ignite the fuel to create combustion... then the valves to let in air and fuel... you need a piston to move up and down... then you need a rod to connect to-

As it turns out, thinking about engines was much sexier than Brian thought it was, because he came hard. He was able to lower Justin's legs before slumping on top of the sweaty, sticky body beneath him.

"Ho... ly... shit," Justin said.

Brian nodded. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like a spaceship just flew up my ass, but other than that I'm great," he answered.

Brian held the condom secure as he slowly pulled out of the blond. Justin groaned in discomfort, feeling more pain than he had when Brian was inside of him.

"I'm not gonna be able to walk tomorrow," the blond said as he rolled over to his side.

"You may want to wait a few days before riding a bike or horse," Brian advised, making them both chuckle.

"Good idea."

Brian threw the used condom away in the small trash can conveniently placed beside his bed, where normally his cum-covered tissues went after jerking off. The housekeeper must have thought the young man had terrible allergies.

Having successfully deflowered young Justin Taylor, Brian had fulfilled that portion of the bet with Brandon. He had a pretty good feeling that the cum-covered twink beside him wasn't the only virgin who had become a man that night. He wondered just how many times Ben had made Michael scream.

Evidently exhausted, Justin cuddled up next to Brian and closed his eyes. Brian, however, wasn't ready to call it a night.

"Are you up for one more?" he asked the blond.

Justin opened his beautiful blue eyes and smiled. "Can we do it doggy style this time?"

Brian was really starting to like this kid.

I think I've finally had enough

I think I maybe think too much
I think this might be it for us

Blow me one last kiss

--"Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," Pink (2012)

Friday, July 13

Short on sleep and very hungover, Brandon staggered into the house around 10 AM. He went into the kitchen, desperately needing something to drink. In his sleepy state, he didn't notice the two discarded shirts on the floor until he slipped on them, nearly smacking his face on the countertop before breaking his fall with his hands.

He bent down and picked up the two shirts, recognizing them as the shirts that Brian and Justin had been wearing the night before at Babylon. He dropped them back where he'd found them.

"Shit," Brandon whispered, knowing that if the boys had lost their shirts downstairs that it meant they'd probably lost the rest of their clothes upstairs.

Brandon was sitting on a stool at the kitchen island, drinking a glass of orange juice, when he heard giggling coming from the staircase. Brian and a shirtless Justin appeared a few moments later, with Justin walking with a noticeable waddle.

"Oh... good morning," Brian said to Brandon, a smirk on his face.

"Morning," he replied dryly.

Justin smiled at Brandon. "Hi."

Brian made the introductions. "Justin, this is my step-brother, Brandon. Brandon, meet Justin. He and I just spent a lovely evening together."

Brandon flashed a fake smile at the blond. "I bet you did."

"And where were you all night, young man?" Brian asked Brandon in a mocking tone.

"I was out, Dad," Brandon answered before draining the rest of his juice and getting up to put his dirty glass in the sink.

"I fed Rocco, he was howling in the hallway at dawn."

"Thanks," Brandon said.

Brian picked his and Justin's shirts up from the floor and handed Justin's over to him. "Don't forget this."

Justin put his shirt back on and smiled sheepishly. "Well, I guess I'd better get back to Debbie's house, so she doesn't worry about me."

"Wouldn't want that," Brandon mumbled as he headed toward the stairs.

"It was nice meeting you, Brandon," Justin said to the retreating young man, who tossed his hand up in a lazy wave without looking back.

Brian walked Justin to the front door.

"So, do you want to have dinner or something later?" Justin asked, a hopeful look on his face.

This would normally be when Brian would say something like "You can see me again in your dreams" when a trick asked him about a future meeting. With this particular trick, the last thing Brian wanted to do was throw him away like all the others. He'd had a very enjoyable night with Justin and saw a lot of potential in how good the boy could be in the sack if he had the right man to teach him.

Who was a better teacher in the fine art of fucking than Brian Kinney?

No one.

"Sure. Do you like Thai?"

"I like anything edible."

"I'll pick you up at seven," Brian said before wrapping his arms around the blond and planting a kiss on him.

Brandon wanted to take a nap, but he had no time to spare. He took a quick shower, swallowed a bunch of Advil, and put on some clean clothes. The door to Brian's room was closed, so he was able to leave without being noticed.

He got into his Porsche and drove back across town. He parked in front of an old apartment building two blocks over from Liberty Avenue, where he had been just two nights before.

Brandon walked up to the third floor and knocked on the door to apartment 3B. He waited several seconds before knocking a second time.

Finally, the door was answered by the apartment's occupant, Ben Bruckner. Said occupant was wearing nothing but a pair of blue basketball shorts, which were riding low on his hips. He looked like he had just finished working out, his face flushed and a sheen of sweat on his sculpted chest.

Brandon openly checked out the attractive man. "Hey, Ben."

"Uh... Brandon," Ben said, having to take a moment to remember his name. "What are you doing here?"

Brandon shrugged. "I was in the neighborhood and wondered if you wanted to grab some lunch."

Before Ben could answer, none other than Michael Novotny came waddling out into the living room, the same waddle that Justin had exhibited earlier. The boy as wearing a pair of gray sweatpants that were very baggy on him, most likely a pair that he'd found in Ben's room and pulled on.

Michael was obviously shocked to see Brandon standing in the doorway, since he didn't know that Ben and Brandon knew each other. He was so shocked and confused that all he could do was stare at his neighbor with his mouth open.

Having heard footsteps on the creaky floor behind him, Ben turned and looked at Michael. He then turned back to Brandon before shoving the man into the hallway and closing the door behind them.

"Look, Brandon, we had fun the other night, but it can't happen again."

"Uh-huh," was all Brandon could say, wondering if Brian had anything to do with Ben and Michael reuniting.

Whether he had a hand in it or not, it appeared that Brian had officially won their bet.

Ben looked at Brandon apologetically. "I have a boyfriend now, so..."

"Understood," Brandon said, pasting on a smile. "You boys have fun."

Ben, being a gentleman, stuck his hand out. Brandon gave him a quick handshake before leaving.

Brian was typing on his laptop when Brandon walked into his room carrying a bouquet of red roses.

"Well, congratulations, Mr. Kinney," Brandon announced as he tossed the flowers onto Brian's desk.

Brian smiled wide at having successfully bedded Justin. "Thanks, now we just have to wait and see if Michael-"

"Oh, he did, he did," Brandon confirmed. "The little weasel has been popped."

Brian tilted his head in surprise. "How do you know that? Did Michael tell you?"

"No, but you don't need to worry about how I know... Jesus, are you gonna change your sheets?" Brandon said, looking over at Brian's rumpled bed in disgust.

"Tell me how you know," Brian said, closing his laptop and standing up from his desk.

Brandon sighed. "I may have had a... thing with Ben the other night."

Brian put his hands on his hips and waited for his step-brother to explain further.

"I saw him at Babylon, after Debbie had caught him and Michael kissing, and I went home with him."

Brian scowled, angry that Brandon had once again meddled in their bet, but allowed him to continue.

"You don't get to have all the fun. Anyway, I went over to his place this morning and Michael was there. They'd obviously just finished fucking, so despite my interferences, your plan to get Michael in Ben's bed worked. Again, congratulations."

Brian ran his fingers through his hair, willing himself to calm down and accept his victory. "Thank you. I assume you've come here to make some sort of arrangements?"

"Well, if you change your sheets and give me time to prepare, we can get started at sundown tonight, say around 8:30?" Brandon said, slowly walking toward him.

Brian picked up the bouquet and slapped it to Brandon's chest. "Maybe some other time. I have a date tonight."

"A date?" Brandon repeated, sneering. "With the twink?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes."

"Why? You've had him, so why waste any more time on him?" Brandon asked, knowing all about Brian's usual "hump and dump" policy.

Brian inhaled deeply and exhaled with a sigh, as if he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "I like him... a lot. I want to try to have something real with him."

Brandon didn't know what to say, so he grabbed the back of Brian's neck and tried to kiss him. Before their lips could connect, Brian pushed him away.

"What the fuck?" Brian asked.

"What the fuck, indeed!" Brandon said, throwing the flowers on the floor. "You're Brian Fucking Kinney, you're a heartless shit who cares about no one and nothing, other than getting off and that fucking car of yours. Do you honestly believe you've done a complete one-eighty in the few days you've known this kid? People don't change overnight, Brian."

"People's ways aren't set in stone, we evolve," Brian replied.

"Wait... his parents don't know about you, do they? What do you think is gonna happen once they move here? Craig Taylor is the new president of our school. From what I saw online, he's an active member of the Republican Party, even ran an ultra-conservative, yet unsuccessful, campaign for Congress a few years ago. I'm sure your reputation of being a deviant homosexual and how you corrupted his innocent son will come around soon. Do you think his parents will accept having a faggot for a son and you as his, dare I say, boyfriend?"

Brian tried to look unconcerned. "We'll deal with it if it becomes a problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to hit the gym and take a nap before I meet Justin for dinner."

Brandon stared at his step-brother for several breaths before he turned and walked out of the room.

Brian was doing upright barbell rows at the gym when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Hey, Brian," Emmett said, giving him a toothy smile.

Brian turned to find the young man dressed in a tight red tank top that said "Sorry Girls, I Suck Dick" in white lettering and a tiny pair of rainbow-striped shorts.

"Hello, Rainbow Bright," Brian replied.

"How's it going?"

Brian placed the barbell back on the rack. "Fabulous."

"Can you spot me?" Emmett asked, pointing to the bench press. "Normally Brandon is my workout buddy, but he's not answering my texts, the bitch. I hope he's not avoiding me, because of my relationship with Teddy..."

Brian refrained from saying anything about his step-brother as Emmett loaded up the bar. For being one of the biggest queens in town, Ms. Honeycutt had a rather ripped physique and could bench as much as Brian.

Emmett did six reps, only needing a bit of encouragement and assistance from Brian during the last one. He got up so that they could switch places.

"So, when are you and Brandon going to throw a house party? I'm surprised your place hasn't been party central this week, with your folks out of the country... unless it has been and you two cunts haven't invited me."

Brian finished his set of six reps and sat up. "No parties yet."

Emmett stretched his shoulders in preparation for his next set. "Well, today is Friday and they'll be back on Sunday, right? It would be a fucking shame if you and Brandon didn't throw at least one good party, while you have the house to yourselves."

"Yeah," Brian said, slapping Emmett on his ass. "Good idea."

"Don't you give up, nah-nah-nah. I won't give up, nah-nah-nah. Let me love you. Let me love you..."

The Greene/Kinney house was filling up quickly with college-aged kids. "Let Me Love You" by DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber was bumping on the expensive surround sound stereo system set up on the ground floor. There were two kegs, several bottles of wine and liquor, and plenty of quality marijuana to enjoy.

Emmett had taken it upon himself to compile a guest list from his phone contacts, which seemed to be made up of at least half of the regulars from Babylon along with every fag they had gone to high school with and a few of their CMU classmates who lived in Pittsburgh, all male. Brandon didn't know they were hosting a party until Emmett and Ted arrived with sandwich platters and other snacks, because Brian hadn't told him.

"You owe me some Thai food," Justin said to Brian as they danced to the beat of the catchy song in the large front parlor.

Brian smiled guiltily. "I know... how about tomorrow night?"

Justin leaned in for a kiss, getting a long, passionate one in return.

"Aww, look at you two lovebirds," Emmett cooed, breaking up their moment. "Great party, Brian."

"Yeah, I did it all by myself," Brian cracked, getting a tongue stuck out at him in return.

Something caught Emmett's eye over Brian's shoulder. "Well, there he is, oh, and with that hottie with a body from Babylon. Michael!"

Brian and Justin turned to find Michael and Ben walking in, hand-in-hand.

"That's the famous Ben? Wow, he's really hot," Justin said.

"He's alright," Brian lied.

"How are you guys doing?" Michael asked as he approached the group, a huge smile on his face.

"We're doing just fine, Sweetie," Emmett said, giving Michael a double-cheek kiss. "Are you going to introduce us to your gentleman friend?"

Michael beamed up at the man on his arm. "Guys, this is Ben Bruckner. Ben, this is my friend Emmett, and this is Justin, the guy I told you about who's staying with us, and you've met Brian-"

"Oh, yes, we've met," Brian said, sticking his hand out for Ben to shake.

Ben smiled at him. "Michael and I owe you a huge ‘thank you' for helping us get together."

"Anything to help out my dear friend Michael," Brian said, trying to hold back the sarcasm.

He suddenly found his arms full of the nerdy young man.

"Thank you, Brian, really," Michael said into his neck.

Brian patted him on his back, glad that he wasn't the one who had to take the kid to bed.

Pulling away from Brian, Michael looked over at Ted. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."

Emmett draped his arm around his beau's shoulders. "This is my Teddy."

Ted started talking to Ben about his performance at the Spring concert, which allowed Brian and Justin to break away.

"You should have heard the fight that Michael and Debbie had when he came home earlier," Justin said. "Apparently he spent the night with Ben, and Debbie hadn't even noticed that I didn't come home last night because she was so worried about where Michael was. I could hear them yelling and cussing at each other from downstairs, even with my door closed. Debbie's not happy that he's with Ben, but Michael told her that he was going to date whoever he damn well pleased and she needed to mind her own fucking business."

Brian looked over at Michael with newfound respect. "Good for him."

They dance through a few more songs before Anita, Brian's dealer, waved him over.

"I'll be back in a few," he said to Justin, giving him a kiss before going to talk with the drug-pushing drag queen.

Justin found an open spot on a couch and sat down to wait for Brian. He was watching the guys dancing and making out around him when Brian's step-brother sat down beside him.

"Hi," Justin said, turning to the handsome young man. "Brandon, right?"

"Yes, hi, Justin," Brandon said, flashing him a smile. "Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yeah, I've never actually been to anything like this before."

Brandon frowned. "You weren't invited to any parties in high school?"

"I wasn't what you would call ‘popular,'" Justin confessed.

"Well, you are the hottest guy here tonight," Brandon said as he scooted closer to the blond. "If I had gone to high school with you, I would have taken you to parties. Of course, I never threw any parties here, because I'm a good boy."

Justin tried moving away from Brandon, but he was blocked by the armrest. Although he found Brandon attractive, he got a very negative vibe from him. He recalled Brian telling him that his step-brother was an asshole.

"Do you want to dance?" Brandon asked, moving even closer towards him.

"Uh..." Justin said, looking to see if Brian was coming back yet. "You know that I'm with Brian, right? We're kind of like, boyfriends."

Brandon laughed. "Kid, everyone wants to be with Brian, but unfortunately, no one can have him. You seem like a really sweet boy and I don't want you to get hurt. Trust me, Brian is only going to hurt you, I've seen it happen time after time. He's not your boyfriend; Brian doesn't do boyfriends. Once he's through getting a taste of you, which probably won't take very long, he'll spit you into the gutter just like all the others."

Justin looked down at his hands and sighed sadly. Brandon wasn't telling him anything that Debbie hadn't already told him about the young man that he was pretty sure he was falling in love with, but it was still hard to hear it from someone who seemed to know Brian well.

"Yeah, but..." Justin began to say as he tried not to burst into tears. "You weren't there when we were doing it last night. You don't know all the things we did. The way he kissed me... the way he looked at me... the way he touched me... you don't know anything."

Brandon stared at him, nonplussed. "I'll tell you what I do know: he's probably fucked most of the guys here, and I'm sure they'd all line up to tell you how Brian used them purely for sex. How he kissed them, looked at them, touched them."

Justin didn't want to hear any more. He stood up and walked out of the room to get away from Brandon, but that only made the older boy follow him.

They walked into the kitchen where the kegs were set up.

"Hey, let me get you a drink," Brandon said to Justin.

The blond shook his head. "I don't like beer."

"Well..." Brandon said, stepping closer to Justin and wrapping his arms around him. "If you'd like something nicer, we have a big wine cellar in the basement, much better stuff than this cheap swill. We have a bar with some good scotch, too."

Justin struggled to break out of the stronger man's grasp. "No, I don't think so."

Undeterred by the boy's disinterest, Brandon pressed on. "Oh, come on, Blondie. Brian and I swap tricks all the time, he won't mind."

Before Justin could refuse him again, he was saved when Brian appeared.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked his step-brother.

Brandon let go of Justin and put his hands up. "Nothing, Bro, just trying to get a nibble of this sweet little twinkie here."

"What makes you think I'd even want you?" Justin asked Brandon. "If you ask me, you're a cheap imitation of Brian. Why would I waste my time with you when I have the real thing? You're just jealous because he has me and you don't."

The nosey queers around them let out a collective "Oohhh!"

Brandon stormed off towards the stairs, no doubt to go and lick his wounds in his room for the rest of the night.

Brian hugged Justin from behind. "Holy shit, Sunshine. You showed him who's boss."

The blond turned around to face him. At first, he thought about asking Brian about what Brandon had said but decided to let it go, considering the source. He hoped that he would become the exception to the rule.

Justin smiled when Katy Perry's "Walking on Air" began to play.

"Let's dance," the boy said.

I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was break me, yeah, you wreck me

--"Wrecking Ball," Miley Cyrus (2013)

Saturday, July 14

Brian woke up, needing to pee so badly that he thought he was going to burst. After answering nature's call, he walked back into his bedroom and saw Justin still asleep. The blond looked impossibly adorable while he slept, but Brian knew that under the pretty exterior, there was a talented, smart, and feisty young man who was going to leave a serious mark on the world. Justin could very well be the next Andy Warhol. Brian felt lucky just to know him and spend time with him, whether that time lasted for years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds.

As if he knew he was being watched, Justin's eyelids fluttered open, revealing a sea of beautiful blue.

"Hey," Justin said as he slowly awoke. "What time is it?

Brian lifted his phone from the nightstand, which was plugged into the charging cable, and pressed the power button to show the time. "Almost noon."

"Damn," Justin said as he sat up. "Deb might be worried about where I am."

"If Michael spent the night with Ben again, I doubt she gives a shit where you are," Brian pointed out.

Justin picked up his discarded cargo shorts from the floor and reached into the pocket for his phone. After unlocking the screen, a look of surprise came over his face.

"Uh, I have a link to something from you on Facebook Messenger."

Brian was confused. "Huh? Why would I have forwarded something to you when we were together all night? Hopefully, my account wasn't hacked."

Justin selected the link, which opened up to a Google Doc. After the page loaded, he saw at the top of the screen that the document was titled "The Twink." Under the title was a picture of himself, his Facebook profile picture.

Brian went over to his closet and pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of lightweight pants. After getting dressed, Brian turned around to see a naked Justin sitting on the bed with tears in his eyes as he looked at his phone screen.

"What the hell is this, Brian?"

"What is what?"

Justin looked up at him, his face awash with sadness. "The Twink?"

It took a few seconds for Brian to think about his online journal entry from his "Trick Chronicles" file. He crossed the room and tried to pull Justin's phone from his hand, only for Justin to swat him away.

Justin began to read out loud, "I don't exactly know if I am more thrilled about the challenge I have, with Brandon's urging, sat for myself or just the fact that I now have something to do with my summer other than using drugs and getting laid. Make no mistake, I have no plans of relenting in either of those areas, yet it is nice to have something else with which to pass the time. The something else I speak of, in this case, happens to be the blatantly photogenic and equally as blatantly closeted individual, heretofore referred to as Justin Taylor (i.e. The Twink).

"It began with my regular perusal of the wasteland known as Facebook when something caught my eye: a post that my nerdy neighbor was tagged in, authored by Justin Taylor, thanking the nerd's cunt mother for inviting him to stay with them for the summer. After viewing Justin's Facebook page, I was excited to learn that his father was none other than Craig Taylor, failed GOP candidate for Congress and the incoming president of CMU. I also realized while looking at Justin's page that he is a virgin. If I were to deflower him, this would be, without a doubt, my Ninth Symphony, my greatest sexual conquest thus far..."

Brian was rendered speechless, which never happened to a sharp-tongued person like him. Justin was reading directly from his journal entry, which only got more colorful the more it went on.

As Justin stared at him, waiting for him to explain himself, Brian finally found his voice.

"How..." He paused to clear the lump in his throat. "How the fuck did you get that?"

"You used me," Justin said, tears rolling down his sweet face. "You seduced me as part of some sick game with your step-brother, didn't you?"

Brian tried to smooth things over. "At first, that was what it was about, but-"

"That's all I am to you, right? As you said yourself, ‘something to pass the time.' Like I'm a fucking toy for you to play with!"

"No!" Brian said, becoming too upset to worry about how Justin received the link to the doc in the first place. "Things totally changed when I met you, when I got to know you. Hell, I don't have to tell you, just keep reading."

He sat at the foot of the bed to allow Justin to read the rest of his journal entry about him. Yes, the first half of the entry was pretty bad, full of words only a horny animal would write, but the second half, written once Brian had developed feelings for the blond beyond those in his pants, were what Justin really needed to read.

Justin finished reading quietly to himself and looked up at him, still upset. "Alright, what part of that was supposed to make me feel better?"

"The part where I talked about how I really like you, how I think you're smart-"

"Where?" the boy asked, skimming through the doc again. "There's nothing in here about me being smart, just things about my ‘bountiful backside,' my ‘juicy cocksucking lips,' and how I'm so naive and repressed that you'll have no problem getting my pants off. Well, congratulations Brian, you succeeded. Now that you've gotten your prize, how about you just leave me the fuck alone?"

Justin started getting dressed, sitting his phone down on the bed. Brian grabbed it and tried to look at the screen, but it was asking for a fingerprint or passcode.

"What's your unlock code?" Brian asked.

Justin yanked his phone out of Brian's hand.

"God, I was an idiot for ever trusting you. Deb told me exactly what you were about, but I took a chance on you, anyway. I didn't want to believe that someone could be so heartless. The first time that I think with my dick and look what happened," Justin said, his voice choked with tears.

"I promise you, Justin, there was more on that doc than just me talking about how I wanted to fuck you. Whoever sent-"

Brian paused, his head jerking toward the direction of Brandon's room. He stalked across the floor and yanked his door open, finding that the door to his step-brother's room was open. Walking inside, he saw that the room was empty.

"Brandon! Where are you, you piece of shit?" Brian called out as he went over to the bathroom, finding it also empty.

He heard Justin's footsteps on the wood floor in the hallway, leading toward the stairs to leave.

"No, Justin! Please, I-"

"Save it, Brian!" Justin said as he ran down the stairs. "I never want to see you again!"

The blond slammed the heavy door behind him.

"Fuck!" Brian yelled before looking around the house for his step-brother, finding nothing but a bunch of garbage from the previous night's party.

He then went back up to his room and logged into his laptop. Clicking on the link to his Google Docs, he saw that his "The Twink" doc was the most recent one edited. Once the doc was open, it showed that the last edit was made three hours prior, when Brian was asleep.

Brian didn't know how he did it, but somehow Brandon accessed one of his devices, found his "The Twink" doc, removed all of parts that Brian had added to the doc since Wednesday that included nearly one thousand words describing how he was falling for said twink, and sent a link to the butchered doc to Justin on their Facebook private message thread.

"Motherfucker!" Brian screamed.

All he could think to do was to open his previous Google Hangouts conversation with Brandon and type out "Where the fuck are you???"

While he waited for a reply, Brian clicked around and was able to recover the previous version of his doc, which included his updates that Brandon had deleted. Next, he copied the link and sent it to Justin on Facebook Messenger with the words, "Justin, please read this. I hope it will clear everything up."

Brian was beyond pissed off at Brandon. It was obvious that his step-brother was trying to destroy his budding relationship with Justin. Was it because Brandon was jealous of Justin? Did he feel threatened by him, because the blond had seemingly done what no man had done before - touch Brian's heart? Or was this just another one of Brandon's underhanded stunts for his own entertainment?

Brian was going to do everything in his power to make sure Brandon did not succeed in his quest to ruin his relationship with Justin.

Looking through his documents on his Google Drive, Brian found an old one titled "The Ice King," which he hadn't edited in over a year. He had started the doc back in high school, first keeping it in Microsoft Word before moving it over to a Google doc.

The document went on for twenty pages, describing specific examples of Brandon's transgressions over the years. How he had stolen money from his mother on multiple occasions, shoplifted just for the joy of getting away with it, fucked an altar boy just minutes before his grandmother's funeral, cheated on a guy with his brother and his best friend, sucked off a cop in exchange for getting out of a reckless driving charge... the list went on and on.

Brian was the first to admit he was no angel, but unlike Brandon, he never pretended that he was. Everyone knew that Brian used drugs, drank, and had a lot of sex. When Justin questioned what Debbie had previously told him, he made no excuses. Even as he seduced Justin, he did so while being himself. He had gotten the blond into bed honestly, offering him no promises or proclamations of love.

Brandon, on the other hand, seduced guys by pretending to be the sweetest person they had ever met, giving them the boyfriend treatment all the way. He would play with their minds and their hearts, telling them that he loved them, meeting their family members and charming them with his bullshit, and spending many nights rocking their world in bed. While this was going on, Brandon would mock his current project behind his back to Brian and fuck other guys in the backroom at Babylon. Brandon would eventually either grow tired of the game or find someone else to seduce, dropping the poor bastard like a hot potato.

Suddenly the sound of the doorbell downstairs pulled Brian away from reading. The housekeeper was off on the weekends, so he ran down to see who was there, hoping it was Justin.

Instead, Brian found Debbie on the front porch. He hardly recognized the woman, who was dressed down in an old t-shirt and shorts, her hair a mess and yesterday's makeup smeared.

"Is Michael here?" she asked.

Brian recalled that Michael and Ben had left the party sometime around 11 PM when some of the guests were trickling out to head off to Babylon. Michael had quite a bit to drink and Ben had to assist him out to his car.

"No, why would he be here?" Brian replied.

Debbie teared up. "I don't know... I know that you and Brandon have been spending time with him lately. We had a big fight yesterday, I said some things I shouldn't have, he threatened to move out... God, I'm a terrible mother."

Brian nodded. "Yeah, you are. In your quest to keep your son on your tit for the rest of his life, you drove him away. I'd bet dollars to cronuts that he's at Ben's place. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Will you please tell him to come home or at least to call me if you hear from him? I just want to tell him how sorry I am, that I want him to be happy. I don't care who he dates, as long as it's a good person. He has such a big heart, and if he likes this Ben guy, I'm sure he has to be nice. I've been so fucking selfish-"

"Did you see Justin come home a little bit ago?" Brian interrupted.

"I heard someone come in and run up the stairs. I thought maybe that it was Michael, but I saw the blond hair before he went into his room. Justin doesn't really speak to me much, since he knows I disapprove of him dating you."

"Do you notice a pattern here? The more you meddle and gossip, the more you drive people away."

Debbie ran her hand through her unkempt hair. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Maybe you ought to work on that," Brian suggested before slamming the door in her face.

He went back upstairs and checked to see if Brandon or Justin ever replied, finding that they were both ignoring him.

Brian did something he hadn't done in years, which was to call Brandon's cell phone. He almost didn't recognize the sound of the ringing in his ear, since his primary communication with everyone was with text and online chat messages. The line rang six times before the automatic voice message began, saying that person he had dialed was not available. He decided to leave Brandon a voicemail.

"Hey, Bro... so, haha, I saw what you did when I was sleeping earlier. Yeah, that was really fucking cute, how you broke into my shit. The next time I see you, I'm gonna beat the holy fuck out of you. Love, Brian."

He hung up and placed his phone on his desk, face-down. He then looked at the phone, seeing the fingerprint scanner on the back.

"Son of a bitch," Brian asked, feeling like he needed to take a shower after imagining his step-brother creeping into his bedroom when he and Justin were sleeping and scanning his fingerprint. He had always been a fairly heavy sleeper, so he wasn't surprised that he slept through it.

Brian had never felt so violated in his life, a feeling that he was not very familiar with. He'd become another one of Brandon's hapless victims and he didn't even have to take it up the ass.

Wanna hear your beating heart tonight
Before the bleeding sun comes alive
I want to make the best of what is left, hold tight
And hear my beating heart one last time before daylight

--"Beating Heart," Ellie Goulding (2014)

Rocco had woken Brandon up on Saturday morning around seven, demanding his breakfast. Brandon fed the hungry dog and looked at the mess left behind from the previous nights' party.

There were a few passed-out boys scattered around the house, so Brandon went through to wake up and kick them all out. He was a little upset that he'd missed out on what appeared to be an orgy in the guest room, which had included Emmett.

"Alright, everybody get the fuck out!" Brandon yelled at the group of six or so naked men strewn about the room.

He waited beside the doorway as the boys got dressed and walked out one by one.

"Where did you run off to last night, Baby?" Emmett asked him, his voice slurred from a lack of sleep and possibly too many drugs or alcohol. "We could have had so much fun."

"Get out and take that with you," Brandon snarled at him.

The "that" in question, which was Ted, gave Brandon a dirty look as he and Emmett left.

Brandon did one more sweep of the large house to make sure that no one else was still there and that nothing irreplaceable appeared to be broken or stolen. Except for the assorted trash here and there, the house was no worse for wear.

The only room of the house that Brandon hadn't looked into was Brian's bedroom. The door was closed and there was no sound coming from behind it. Brandon tried the doorknob, which was unlocked. He slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open, looking over toward the bed.

He found Brian and Justin lying under the duvet, with the older boy spooning the younger one. They had their backs to him, so he walked around to the other side of the bed, finding that they were both sleeping soundly. Brian was wheezing with each breath, because of his deviated septum. He knew from sleepovers with his old friend/now step-brother that his wheezing was louder when he was sleeping heavily.

Brandon had tried many times since Brian had come to live at Elaine's house to guess the password on his laptop when he was gone, without success. He also knew that Brian had a numerical passcode on his smartphone, but he normally kept it close to him at all times, like most young people do, so Brandon never had the chance to try to break into it. Indeed, Brian's phone was face-down on the nightstand, plugged into the charging cable.

Justin suddenly moved, rolling a bit away from Brian so that he was lying more on his belly. Brandon had no idea how long the couple had been asleep or how much longer they would stay asleep, so he knew he had to move quickly before either of them woke up and found him.

Brandon delicately picked up Brian's phone and pulled the cable from it. The phone had a fingerprint scanner on the back, which he knew Brian normally used to unlock his phone because it was quicker than typing in his passcode every time. Brandon pressed Brian's right index finger to the circle on the back of the phone, which revealed Brian's home screen with his icon shortcuts.

As quietly as he had come in, Brandon left the room, taking Brian's phone with him before shutting the door. He then walked across the hall into his room and shut the door.

After he had sent the link to Brian's "The Twink" post to Justin, with the flowery parts omitted, of course, Brandon put Brian's phone back where he'd found it and got the hell out of the house. He knew that once Brian discovered what he'd done, his ass would be grass, so he wanted to be as far away from him as possible, for as long as possible.

Brandon didn't know where to go, so he drove in the direction of downtown. He was hungry, but he knew that Brian would probably go straight to the Liberty Avenue Diner to look for him at that time of the day. He found a restaurant that advertised a champagne brunch. The food wasn't the best and the champagne tasted like watered-down Sprite, but it filled him up.

He next went over to Point State Park, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers joined to form the Ohio River. There were hiking trails where he sometimes took Rocco to walk. To kill some time, Brandon walked along the trails, enjoying the morning sun and the breeze. He wished that he would have brought Rocco with him.

The last place that Brian would ever come looking for him would be at a sports bar, so Brandon went to a burger and wing joint near the CMU campus for lunch. He had some honey barbeque wings with extra celery sticks as he tried to form a plan, one that would at least take him to Sunday night when Jack and Elaine would be back from their honeymoon. With the parents in the house, Brian probably wouldn't strangle him.

A group of guys came into the bar soon after Brandon had finished his meal. Among the guys was Drew Boyd, captain of the football team. Summer training for the team began that coming Monday, so the guys were rowdy in anticipation.

Brandon recalled the story that Brian had told him just a few days before, how he'd ‘turned the tight end into a wide receiver' after fucking him the night of Jack and Elaine's wedding reception. He watched the young man, who was acting like a typical dude-bro jock with his friends, which meant that he was flirting with the waitresses and making loud sexist jokes.

Drew quickly put away a large mug of beer, which soon sent him to the men's room. Brandon followed him in and stood next to him at the urinals.

"Hey," Brandon said, taking a second to check out Drew's cock, which was large even when flaccid.

"Hey," Drew echoed. "You're... uh..."

"Brandon Greene," he answered.

"Right! You're Kinney's brother."

"Step-brother," Brandon corrected. "You went to my mother's wedding, where she married Brian's dad."

Drew looked over at Brandon's cock as he finished peeing. "Yeah."

"I saw you leave that night with Brian. Tell me, did you guys have a suite or a regular room? I hear the suites at the Omni are top-notch."

Drew stuffed himself back into his pants and flushed the urinal. "Uh... we just, um..."

"No need to be embarrassed, Dude," Brandon said as he joined him at the sinks. "You're not the first guy to spend the night with him and you certainly won't be the last. At least he brought you to a party where there were food and drinks, ‘cause usually, he won't even buy a guy dinner before he fucks them."

Drew was meticulously washing his hands as if he was a doctor scrubbing up for surgery. "Look, I..."

Brandon leaned in and gave Drew a kiss, which the man returned for a few seconds before pulling away. Brandon then quickly washed his hands and left the room, all while Drew still had his hands under the faucet with the stream of water flowing over them.

Brandon returned to his table and ordered another beer. He saw Drew go back to his friends soon after. The man's demeanor had dramatically changed, as if he had seen a ghost in the bathroom. His friends didn't seem to notice since they were engrossed with baseball game highlights on one of the many flat-screen TVs around the room.

As expected, Brandon received a Hangouts message from Brian asking him where the fuck he was. He didn't have to see Brian's face to know that the man had probably figured out what he'd done and was none too pleased with him.

Drew made eye contact with Brandon numerous times before he finally got up, telling his friends he had to go and that he'd see them at practice on Monday. He walked past Brandon on his way to the door, dropping a crumpled up napkin on his table. Brandon discovered that an address a few blocks from the campus was written on the napkin.

Sitting back down at his desk, Brian added some more to the bottom of his "The Ice King" doc, including what Brandon had done over the past week to Michael and Ben. He next copied the shareable link to the doc and pasted it into his Facebook status bar. He tagged Brandon, Justin, Michael, Ben, Debbie, Emmett, David, Jack, Elaine, and as many as Brandon's exes and friends that he could think of.

He then hit the big blue "post" button.

"Let's see how they'll like you now, asshole," Brian said.

He hadn't had anything to eat yet that day, so Brian went downstairs to see what he could find in the kitchen. It was then that he noticed how big of a mess had been left behind from his party. Knowing that Jack and Elaine would be back from their honeymoon the following evening, he figured he needed to clean up.

After eating an old Lean Pocket he'd found in the freezer, Brian grabbed some big trash bags and started collecting all of the garbage around the house. He needed to put on the yellow dishwashing gloves he'd found under the sink, because there were several used condoms left discarded around.

Brian's phone started chiming with notifications from people commenting on his post. He only checked to make sure that they weren't from Justin or Brandon before putting his phone back in his pocket and continuing his cleanup.

He realized after an hour that it was going to take him all day to clean. The downstairs guest bathroom was absolutely disgusting and he didn't want to even walk in there, let alone try to clean it. He pledged that this was the last time he'd ever throw a party at his house, because the aftermath wasn't worth it.

Brian was passing by one of the front windows when he saw a purple van parked out in front of the house across the street, which he recognized as being from a local cleaning company that many of the people in the neighborhood used.

He went outside, jogged across the street, and rang the doorbell to the house.

A tiny Asian lady in a purple smock answered the door.

"Hello, I no live here, I just housekeeper," she said with a thick accent.

"I know," Brian said, pasting on a smile. "Listen, uh... I know you probably don't normally do this, but I really need a hand cleaning up my house, just across the street. See, I had a party last night and there's quite a mess-"

"No," the lady, whose name tag said "Min" quickly answered. "You not a client with appointment, I no clean your house."

Brian took his wallet out of his back pocket, opening it to see how much cash he had.

"I have..." he said as he counted. "Two hundred and... forty-eight bucks. It's all yours if you come over and clean for an hour."

A younger white lady peaked around the door. "Hell, give the money to me, I'll clean your shit for you."

Min put her hand out, palm up. "I clean, too. We split money."

Brian held the bills close to his chest. "Finish up your work here, then come over to my house. Number 3610, right across the street. I'll pay you when you finish."

The two ladies came over about fifteen minutes later and went to work. After an hour, there were no signs that a party had ever happened.

Brian split the cash between them. "Thank you, girls, you did a fantastic job, worth every penny."

The white lady, named Krista, pocketed her money. "Thank you, sir. Now, don't be going around to your rich-ass neighbors, telling them we did this for you. We could get fired for taking money under the table."

"You were never here," he said in agreement.

Brian went back up to his room and got on his laptop. By that time, there were many comments on his Facebook post, including ones from Michael, Emmett, and Debbie, all of them filled with outrage and hatred for Brandon.

Still, he'd heard nothing from Brandon or Justin.

Deciding that he couldn't wait for a reply from Justin any longer, he showered, shaved, and got dressed before going over to the Novotny home.

"Tell me why I shouldn't just slam the door in your face like you did to me," Debbie said when she answered.

Brian smiled. "Hey, Deb. Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"You're quite the writer," the woman said, referring to his Ice King post. "Maybe if the advertising thing doesn't work out, you could be a novelist."

"Nah, I don't think I could invent a fictional character as evil as my step-brother. Anyway, could you please tell Justin that I'd like to speak with him?"

"I would if he was still here. He dragged his suitcases downstairs about twenty minutes ago, saying that he was sorry but he had to leave. I tried to get him to stay, but he'd made up his mind and already had a car waiting on him. I'm guessing you had something to do with his departure."

"Where did he go?" Brian asked, feeling like something had just been ripped out of his chest.

Debbie shrugged. "A silver Prius came and picked him up. The driver got out and helped him put his bags in the trunk. I didn't recognize him, might have been an Uber."

"Shit," Brian said as looked down and found another small piece of Justin's broken pottery on the porch, reminding him of their first kiss.

"Do you actually like this kid or was he just another fuck puppet to you?" Debbie asked.

Brian sighed. "I care about him."

"Then go after him. Whatever you did, just tell him that you're sorry and beg for his forgiveness."

"Thanks," he said before turning to walk home.

Later that evening, Brian drove downtown to Liberty Avenue, hitting all of Brandon's usual haunts around the neighborhood. He didn't see him or his car anywhere, and no one he had asked admitted to seeing Brandon that evening. Brian started over and retraced his steps to make sure he didn't miss him, without success.

Despite being a single fag on a Saturday night, Brian went home alone around midnight, worn out and pissed off. He was also mourning the loss of a certain blond twink.

He once again sat down at his desk, firing up his laptop. After scrolling through the new comments on his Facebook post, Brian sent a direct message to Justin.

Brian Kinney: So... are you never going to talk to me again? I still owe you Thai.

He waited for about an hour for a reply, watching a few episodes of The Office on Netflix to kill the time. Still, with no word from Justin, Brian laid down in his bed, which felt very cold and empty, and eventually fell asleep.

'Cause baby now we got bad blood
You know it used to be mad love
So take a look at what you've done
'Cause baby now we got bad blood

--"Bad Blood," Taylor Swift (2015)

Sunday, July 15

Justin was abruptly awoken by the sound of "Low" by Flo Rida feat. T-Pain playing out of his phone way too loud.

"Shawty had them Apple Bottom jeans, boots with the fur. The whole club was lookin' at her. She hit the flo', next thing you know, Shawty got low low low-"

After getting his bearings, he was finally able to grab his phone from an end table and answer it.

"Hey, Daph," Justin said to his best friend.

"Hey," she replied. "So... what's going on?"

"Not much, I'm just waking up."

The young lady, who had never been known for bullshitting, let out a chuckle. "Uh, it doesn't seem like ‘not much' is going on, from where I'm standing. I saw the thing on Facebook that Brian posted yesterday, it's fucking blowing up with comments from people. It's really long, and I only got through a few pages before I had to go to sleep last night, but damn, it's crazy. I'm trying to understand how you're involved in it, because I saw that he tagged you; that's how I ended up seeing it on my timeline."

Justin had either talked on the phone or chatted on Hangouts with Daphne every day since they had been apart, so she knew all about what had been going on between Justin and Brian. Daphne was currently in a village in India building a house with Habitat for Humanity. It was first planned for Justin to go with her and a few of their other friends that Daphne had recruited to go for a two-week trip. However, when it came time to book their airline tickets, Justin allowed his fear of flying to keep him from going, and no amount of begging or having his manhood challenged from Daphne would change his mind.

After leaving Brian's house the previous day, Justin had turned off his Facebook and Messenger notifications, since he knew that Brian would probably try to contact him through those apps. They hadn't exchanged phone numbers or email addresses, which Justin was happy about as that gave Brian fewer avenues to contact him. After what he'd read in that disgusting "The Twink" document, he never wanted to see or hear from Brian again.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't looked at Facebook since yesterday," Justin said to Daphne as he rubbed at his eye goobers.

"Well, you really should. Who is that Brandon Greene douchebag?"

"Hang on, Daph," Justin said before putting his phone to his chest.

Ted had shuffled into the living room in a pair of cotton flannel pants, looking like a sleepy puppy.

"I'm sorry, did my phone wake you? I didn't know I had my ringer up so loud," Justin asked from his spot on the couch, which had been his bed during the previous night.

"No, I was already awake, I'm an early riser," Ted answered on his way to the kitchen. "I needed to get up to do laundry, anyway. These pants are the last semi-clean thing I have. Do you want some coffee?"

"That would be awesome, with a Sweet'N Low, if you have it," he said before getting back to Daphne. "You still there?"

"Yeah, so who the fuck is Brandon?" she said.

"He's Brian's new step-brother. They've also been friends for a long time, it seems."

"Well, this Brandon guy sounds like some kind of movie villain. You really need to read the thing that Brian posted, especially since he tagged you... wait, are you guys kaput? What's going on with you two?"

"Jesus, you're the one who's roaming through the jungle, probably trying not to get eaten by lions, and you're worried about little ol' me," Justin said, shaking his head.

Daphne laughed. "First of all, they have tigers in India, and secondly, it's really not as exotic as you're making it sound, trust me. Haven't seen any tigers, just huge bugs, lizards, and some snakes. We have wifi here at the place we're staying, it's pretty modern. So, tell me, are you not talking to Brian anymore? When we chatted on Friday, you were totally gaga over that boy. I was expecting you to ask me if I'd be your best man at the wedding."

"He's an asshole. I found out yesterday that he'd made a bet with Brandon that he could get me into bed this summer, so as you could imagine, I dumped his ass."

"What a fucking pig!" Daphne said, always protective of her best friend. "Sounds like he's no better than Brandon. Ugh, I wish I was there so I could kick both of those guys in the balls."

Justin smiled. "I wish you were here so I could hug you. Do you remember Ted Schmidt? He was two years ahead of us and his family goes to our country club."

"I think so. His mom's name is Margaret, right? She always brought those fancy cupcakes for school fundraisers, they were so fucking good."

"Yeah, that's him. He's letting me crash on his couch until my parents come and we can move into the new house. I just couldn't stay at Debbie's anymore, since Brian was only three houses away."

"I don't blame you," Daphne said.

They chatted for a bit longer until it was time for Daphne to eat dinner. There was a 9 ½ hour time difference between Pittsburgh and the village in India.

"I wish I was there with you," Justin said as they were wrapping up their conversation. "If I'd gone with you, I wouldn't have met Brian and this whole debacle would never have happened. I really ought to get some kind of anxiety med for the fear of flying."

"You live and you learn. Next time maybe you'll think with your head instead of your dick when a cute guy comes around. I'll be home next week. Maybe I'll drive out to see you for a few days before I move into the dorms."

Daphne was planning to attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, which was in Justin's old hometown of Philadelphia, a five-hour drive away.

"You'd better come to visit me, otherwise we won't see each other again until Christmas break, when we go to see the family back East. Well, I love you, Daffy Duck."

"Love you too, Sunshine."

Justin groaned. "God, I wish I hadn't told you about that."

"See you later," Daphne said, giggling before she ended the call.

Ted carried over a cup of coffee for Justin and sat it on the table. No sooner did Emmett join them in the living room.

"Mmm, do I smell coffee?" asked the nelly boy, who was wearing nothing but a pair of tight blue boxer briefs.

"Yes, I was about to bring some to you," Ted answered before receiving a kiss from his lover; he preferred "lover" over "boyfriend."

"Oh, Justin, I forgot that you were out here. I would have gotten dressed," Emmett said, suddenly feeling shy about his lack of attire.

Justin waved his hand. "It's fine... you certainly didn't remember that I was out here last night."

Emmett ducked his head behind Ted, embarrassed. "Oh God, did you hear us?"

"I think the whole building heard you," Justin said with a smile.

Ted and Emmett sat at the small table in Ted's dining alcove, drinking their coffee and playing footsie under the table. Justin stayed on the couch, debating with himself before he decided to look at his Facebook app. Since he had been tagged in Brian's post, it appeared in his notifications.

He opened the Google Docs link and saw that it was for a document titled "The Ice King."

"Hey, did either of you read this Ice King thing?" Justin asked the guys.

"Oh, God, yes," Emmett said, his voice heavy with scorn. "I gave Brandon's voicemail a piece of my mind yesterday. I hate myself for ever loving him, that fucking piece of shit, good for nothing, yellow-bellied..."

"You were tempted by a pretty face and a big dick, no one would blame you," Ted said to Emmett before turning to Justin. "I didn't read it, because I don't know Brandon very well and already got the cliff notes version from Em."

Justin sipped his coffee while he read the sordid tale of Brandon "The Ice King" Greene. It was a challenge to drink the coffee without it dribbling down his shirt, since Justin had his mouth open in shock and awe as he read.

"Asshole," he said several times throughout the document.

"Mmm-hmm," Emmett replied each time.

Justin finally finished reading, feeling like he needed a shower before he could go on living. Instead, his stomach was telling him he needed food if he wanted the energy to do anything else.

The three of them went to the Liberty Avenue Diner for lunch, which Justin enjoyed. There was nothing he loved more than a greasy cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake and the diner did not disappoint.

"Michael said that Debbie used to work here," Emmett told Justin.

"Really?"

"Yep, she was a waitress and her gay brother was a cook. She met Michael's dad here."

Justin looked around the old-fashioned diner, which was packed with gay people and rainbow-patterned decor. "What was he doing here? Was he gay, too?"

Emmett shrugged. "Maybe he just liked the burgers."

Brandon woke up on Sunday morning when his bedmate rolled over on top of him, squeezing the air out of his lungs. He was used to Rocco waking him up like that, but this particular bedmate was heavier. He opened his eyes to find a pair of unfamiliar brown ones staring back him.

"Good morning, champ," Drew said.

Brandon pushed him away so he could breathe. "Morning."

"Last night was amazing. That thing you did with your mouth? Wow!"

Brandon smiled, always happy to hear a positive review from a customer. "I'm glad you had a good time."

"I'm trying to decide who's better: you or Brian."

"Uh... how about you just keep that answer to yourself?" Brandon suggested, not wanting to know if he didn't measure up to the great God Kinney, whose cock and stamina were things of legend on Liberty Avenue.

"I guess you need to be leaving, huh?" Drew asked.

Brandon looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand, which revealed that it was 10:12 AM.

"No, I can stay if you want me to."

"I do want you to," Drew said as he ran his hand across Brandon's bare ass. "So, how about you let me do some things to you?"

Brandon could guess what types of things the man wanted to do to him, so he gave his standard answer to that particular inquiry.

"I decided long ago that the only man who will have my ass will be my husband," Brandon claimed.

Drew chuckled. "O...kay."

Brandon fucked Drew until the young man literally passed out from exhaustion. He then grabbed his cell phone from his pants off the floor, which he had turned off the previous day to avoid any more messages from Brian.

He took his phone into the bathroom and closed the door. After the phone booted up, several notifications for messages and calls popped up, prompting Brandon to turn the volume off so it wouldn't wake the sleeping man in the bedroom.

The first thing he decided to look at were missed calls, which included ones from Brian, Michael, Emmett, and Elaine. Wondering who had died, he next checked how many voicemails the callers had left him, finding several.

Brandon chose the oldest one first, which was from Brian. He listened to Brian's threat of violence when he saw him next, which made him chuckle.

Next was a message from Emmett.

"Brandon, it's Emmett..." the nelly boy began before sighing dramatically. "You know, I knew you were a son of a bitch, but I didn't know just how big of a son of a bitch you truly were until today. I just can't believe what a sorry sack of shit you are. I mean, how in the fuck can one person be so cold? What you did to Michael... Jesus Christ. Do me a favor, okay? Don't ever call me again. If you see me in public, don't even look at me. Rot in Hell, you little fucker."

Brandon figured Michael must have told Emmett about the kissing lesson and the blowjob, but he didn't understand why Emmett would be so upset to hear about that. Maybe someone told him about his attempt to get between Michael and Ben? Brian, maybe? When would this conversation have taken place? Brandon had last talked to Emmett twenty-four hours before then, and the fruitcake was bummed that Brandon hadn't participated in an orgy...

He next chose the voicemail he'd received from his mother.

"Brandon, I... God. Here I am, having a wonderful time on my honeymoon with my new husband, and this falls into my lap. I just can't believe that the boy I raised turned out to be such a conniving monster. You and I are going to have a serious talk when I get home."

Now he was really confused, having no idea what he could have done to upset his mother, who was normally quite indifferent toward him. What did she know? Who told her? She and Brian weren't exactly friendly with each other, so he couldn't imagine his step-brother calling Elaine and gossiping about him.

Deciding to switch to something else for answers, since his voicemail messages so far had been nothing but vague, Brandon brought up his Facebook notifications. There he found that he had "99+" notifications, which surprised him. He selected the most recent one, which was a reply to a post he was tagged in.

Brandon sat his bare ass down on the toilet lid as he began to read the document that Brian had posted the previous afternoon.

The Ice King

There has never been a single person in human existence quite like Brandon Francis Greene. Gorgeous face, nice hair, great body, huge cock, smart as hell, athletic, popular...

Cold as ice.

He cares about absolutely no one but himself, having elevated self-absorption into an art form. He believes in nothing and laughs in the face of sadness and sincerity. A person solely observing him and having seen the damage he's done to so many lives would most likely classify him as evil. He'll spend night after night in drunken, drug-induced debauchery, fucking his way through gay Pittsburgh, but lives this other life as the consummate perfect angel. He is in a sense brilliant, as evidenced by the fact that he has indeed completely fooled everyone, from his parents to teachers to boyfriends.

Everyone except for me.

I caught on to Brandon's bullshit very early, after he had attempted to get me into bed during our freshman year of high school. We became friends when we realized that we weren't sexually compatible; specifically, after I refused to bottom for him. We are very similar people except that I have a heart, and from time to time, actually feel emotions that Brandon may not even be capable of, such as guilt and sympathy. I have seen him break the spirits of others, lie to anyone supposedly important to him, manipulate people for his own enjoyment, and all of these things are done without so much as a second thought.

Before Brandon could read any further, there was a knock at the door.

"Are you okay?" Drew asked. "You've been in there for a while."

Brandon realized he had tears running down his cheeks. He sat his phone down on the sink so he could wipe his face with some toilet paper.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute," he answered.

He scrolled down through the long document, noticing that Brian had documented many stories where Brandon had lied to, manipulated, or intentionally hurt someone over the years. Included were mentions of Elaine, his father Frank, Emmett, and most recently Michael and Ben.

He didn't realize how long he'd been looking at his phone until Drew knocked on the door again.

"Is it okay if I come in?"

Brandon opened the door for Drew. "Sorry, I was checking my messages."

"Anything good?"

Brandon shook his head. "Nah."

Back at Ted's, Justin finally decided to look at his Facebook Messenger. He wasn't surprised to find a message from Brian, asking him to look at what appeared to be the same link that had been previously sent to him, the one containing that disgusting "The Twink" document. There was also something about how Brian owed him Thai food.

Against his better judgment, Justin clicked on the link, which opened to the familiar document. He scrolled through it before noticing that there had been several paragraphs added to it. As Brian had promised, after all of the filth, the tone of the piece changed as Brian described the time that he'd spent with Justin.

He wrote about their outing to the Warhol Museum and the mall, when he realized that Justin was much more than a pretty face and a beautiful ass, that he was intelligent, passionate about art, and strong in his resolve, even as Brian knew that Justin wasn't being honest about his claims that he wasn't gay.

Next Brian wrote about their amazing day on Thursday that began at the sushi place, then the fun time they'd had at the pottery painting studio, where Brian admitted to enjoying chatting with Justin as they painted their pieces, followed by Brian freaking Justin out as he sped down the road in the Mustang. Justin remembered exactly what happened next, of course: Brian had taken him back to Debbie's house and kissed him for the first time. Justin finally came out to Brian later that evening and they had sex that night after dancing at Babylon. Brian described their tryst in graphic terms, which made Justin hard as he remembered how Brian made him feel on that magical night.

The final section of the document described how Brian had developed true feelings for Justin, feelings he claimed he'd never had for another man before.

What is it about this kid that has captivated me? Is it the blond hair, the blue eyes, the juicy lips, the sexy body, the impressively large cock, the squeezable ass? Well, yes, all of the above, but that's certainly not all. It's also the way he stares into eyes, as if he's challenging me to be real. The way he laughs and smiles, as if there were no evils in the world. The way he kisses me, the way he holds onto me when we kiss, dance, and fuck, the way he talks about art with a passion that I don't feel for much of anything, the way he... everything.

The Twink snuck in and stole my heart.

Justin inhaled quickly, his breath catching in his chest.

"Fuck," he said as tears fell from his eyes.

So baby, come light me up and baby I'll let you on it
A little bit dangerous, but baby, that's how I want it
A little less conversation and a little more touch my body
'Cause I'm so into you, into you, into you

--"Into You," Ariana Grande (2016)

Elaine Greene-Kinney: We just got home and you're not here. You need to get home NOW and feed your damned dog.

Brandon read the Hangouts message from his mother and winced. He was twenty-one years old, about to start his senior year of college, and she still talked to him like he was a child. The worst part was that he was scared of her. The woman was a maneater, hence her being forty-five years old and on husband number four, and quite an intimidating woman. She always had an emotional detachment to her only child, letting nannies do the hard work while he was growing up. Regardless, Brandon constantly sought his mother's approval and cherished the rare times she expressed even an ounce of pride or love for him.

He typed out his standard reply when his mother demanded his presence.

Brandon Greene: I'll be right there.

He paid the check at the steakhouse where he and Drew had gone for dinner, telling the young man that he had to go home.

"Uh... can I text you?" Drew asked him, as if he were a lovesick tween.

Brandon spent the day with Drew so he wouldn't have to go home and face the inevitable confrontation with Brian. Drew was a decent lay, sure, but Brandon had no interest in seeing him again, especially since he was only taking Brian's sloppy seconds by fucking him.

"Give me your number," Brandon said.

He would probably give Drew's number to Emmett, imagining the two of them getting along well together.

Since he had driven them to dinner, Brandon dropped Drew back at his apartment, begrudgingly giving him a kiss goodbye. He then drove across town to Fox Chapel and parked in the driveway, relieved that Brian's Mustang wasn't there.

Brandon opened the front door, where Rocco greeted him.

"Hey, buddy," he said to the dog, giving him a scratch behind his ears before heading toward the kitchen. He gave Rocco a big scoop of food, which the dog happily devoured.

Minus the dog's chewing, the house was eerily quiet. Brandon looked around the lower level, finding no one there. He walked upstairs, slowing his footsteps when he got to the landing.

Finally, he heard voices coming from Elaine and Jack's bedroom. Brandon peeked into their open doorway.

"Hello, Mother," he said, finding Elaine unpacking one of her suitcases.

The woman met his eyes, a look of scorn on her face in spite of her botox treatments. She pointed in the direction of Brandon's bedroom.

"Your room, now," Elaine ordered.

Brandon hung his head. "Yes, Ma'am."

He went into his room and sat down on his bed, quietly waiting for his mother. She walked in a minute later, followed by her new husband.

"So... ‘The Ice King'?" Elaine asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Brian wrote that," was the only thing that Brandon could think to say.

"Yes, I know," his mother replied, her voice dripping with derision. "Is it true?"

Brandon thought for a few moments. "Um... which part?"

"How you've stolen money from me? How you've snuck into my purse and taken cash out of my wallet?"

Of all the sordid tales in Brian's journal entry about him, that part was one of the least objectionable since as far as Brandon knew, every kid had taken money from their parents at least once in their lives.

"Oh... uh, yeah," Brandon confessed, the tone of his voice evident that he didn't think it was a big deal.

"Why?" Elaine asked. "You've gotten a generous allowance every month, practically since you could walk. If you needed more, you could have just asked me! If there was something special you wanted... I mean, there have been plenty of times that you've said, ‘Mother, there are these cool shoes I like,' or ‘I need a new backpack,' or whatever it may have been, and I've given you the money to buy it. Why would you take money from me behind my back?"

Brandon shrugged. "Just... for the fun of it, I guess?"

"This woman has given you everything you've ever asked for, for your entire life," Jack said to him.

"How the fuck would you know? You weren't there! You're not my father!"

"Hey!" Elaine yelled, never having heard her son talk back to someone so disrespectfully. "You don't talk to him like that! Apologize, right now."

"I'm sorry, Jack," Brandon said, obviously not meaning it.

Elaine sighed, closing her eyes. "I spent our entire flight home thinking about what I should do with you. I can't believe that the child I raised-"

"Oh, you raised me?" Brandon interrupted. "You mean, the child your nannies raised?"

Elaine's mouth dropped open, but she knew it was true. "I just can't believe that you could be so cruel to people. Were all of those stories true? How you've used boys for sex, time after time? How you... Christ, that altar boy at Nana's funeral? How could you do that?"

Brandon looked directly at Jack. "I was just trying to keep up with Brian, fucking every attractive guy - gay, straight, or undecided - in town."

Jack rolled in his lips and looked away, Brandon obviously hitting a nerve. Having a gay son had always been a sore spot, even though Brian had never officially come out to him. It was well known in their social group that Brian was a fag, a very promiscuous one at that. Jack had first heard the rumors way back when Brian was only fourteen, with the word being that he was having sex with a male golf trainer at the country club.

Elaine sighed again. "Well, I already talked to Brian. I called him yesterday, after I read his... whatever it was, about you."

She didn't elaborate on their conversation.

"As far as you, young man," his mother continued. "You have exactly twenty-four hours to pack up your things and get the hell out of my house, and take that nasty dog with you."

"What?" Brandon said, shocked. "Mother... I'm sorry, okay? It was wrong for me to steal from you. It was very immature and unnecessary for me to do that. I don't know exactly how much I took from you over the years, but I'll pay you back. How much do you want? Just name an amount, whatever you think is fair."

"This isn't about the money, Brandon. This is about the disrespect you've shown me, by stealing from me. I admit, I wasn't always the best mother to you and I'll have to live with that. But I refuse to live with you any longer."

"I move back into the dorms in a few weeks," Brandon said, tears in his eyes. "Please, just-"

"No. I don't care where you go, but you're not welcome in my home," Elaine replied, refusing to budge.

Brandon's face cracked as he began to openly weep. "Mother, I have nowhere to go. I can't move back into the dorm until next month. I... I don't have any money. I always spend everything you give me each month for my car, clothes, food, and... other things."

"Like drugs?" Jack asked.

"Well, that's all gone, too," Elaine informed him. "I'm not paying for you to wine and dine your little boyfriends anymore. I'm also not paying for you to keep putting poison into your body. I searched your room when we got home and found your drugs - the marijuana in your sock drawer, what I'm guessing is cocaine in your nightstand, the liquor bottles under your bed, the pills, the rolling papers, the pipes..."

"You're throwing me out and cutting me off?" Brandon asked, hardly able to breathe.

"Yes, the gravy train stops here. Your final year at CMU is paid up, including your dorm and meal plan, but if you still want to go to graduate school next year, you're on your own. Maybe your father will help you, but I don't see that happening. Get a part-time job... I'm sure McDonald's is hiring."

Brandon thought he was going to vomit. He wouldn't even walk into a McDonald's to use the restroom, let alone think about working at one.

"What about Brian? Look in his room, you'll find a pharmacy in there, too! Why am I being treated like I'm the only bad guy in this house? You should have seen the party he threw here last night! There were beer kegs, boys smoking pot, having sex all over the place-"

"You don't need to worry about Brian, I'll deal with him later," Jack said.

Brandon turned to his step-father. "And you! Why don't you tell her how you're broke? How you lost everything but your company when Joan divorced you. Tell Mother how you only married her for her money!"

Both men looked to Elaine after hearing her sigh.

"I know about Jack's money problems, Brandon. Hell, everyone knows he lost half of his property to Joan. She brags about it to everyone at the club."

"Yeah? Well..." Brandon said, frantically looking between Elaine and Jack. "What about his gambling, huh? Brian told me that the money Jack did have left, he lost playing poker. Did you know that, Mother?"

"I love Jack and he loves me," Elaine informed her son. "I know that he didn't marry me for my money; he wouldn't have signed the prenup if this marriage was only about money. The advertising company is doing very well, and soon Jack will personally be solvent again. I'm surprised that he even married me, since I don't have the best track record..."

Jack put his arm around his new wife's shoulders. "Hopefully, the fourth time will be the charm."

Elaine smiled and gave Jack a kiss.

Brandon rubbed his wet face, having nothing else. He wondered if Brian knew the truth, that he had absolutely nothing to lose if he hadn't successfully completed the terms of their bet.

Brandon could hardly believe that everything had come to bite him in the ass like this.

He couldn't stand watching Elaine and Jack being all lovey-dovey together, so he got up and walked out of his room. He gave Rocco a pat on the head before getting into his car and leaving.

Justin was sitting on Ted's couch/his current bed, watching a YouTube video on his laptop. It was a compilation of cats squeezing themselves into boxes, which would normally have him in stitches, but he couldn't even crack a smile.

"What's wrong, Baby?" Emmett said as he took a seat next to Justin. He looked over at the laptop screen, chuckling as he watched a cat jump into a tall, narrow box and get stuck.

"Nothing," Justin mumbled.

"Brian?" Emmett asked.

Justin paused the video and sighed. "I just don't know whether I can trust him again or not. He even told me that I shouldn't trust him. I really want to be with him, but I can't deal with the games."

"Well, trust me, Honey, with Brian Kinney, what you see is what you get. He's an asshole, but he doesn't play around when it comes to sex. If he wants you, he'll have you."

"He already had me, just like he's had every other fag in town," Justin said.

"I saw the two of you dancing together at the party the other night. I've seen him dance with plenty of guys before at Babylon, and he's never danced with a guy the way he danced with you. The way he held you and looked into your eyes... you're obviously special to him."

Justin sighed again before pressing the space bar on his laptop, for the video to resume.

Emmett got up from the couch and walked into Ted's bedroom. The man was flipping through the channels on his TV, which was on the dresser opposite the bed.

"You watch live TV?"

Ted shrugged. "It's summer, there aren't any good shows on right now."

"The new season of Game of Thrones starts next week," Emmett said as he laid down next to Ted.

"I don't watch that."

Emmett gasped dramatically. "You... what? Oh, my God, I'm seriously rethinking our relationship right now."

Ted laughed. "I already pay for regular cable, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. I'm not paying for premium channels, too."

"And I thought I knew you... Anyway, we need to do something to help Justin. He's torn up about Brian, it's so sad to see a cutie like him frown."

"That guy is an asshole and Justin's better off without him. He'll meet plenty of guys his age at school, guys better for him than Brian Fucking Kinney."

"He wants Brian, not some little boy who doesn't know his ass from his dick," Emmett said sternly. "It's not up to us to decide who's good for who, it's-"

"Who's good for whom," Ted corrected.

Emmett ignored him and continued. "It's up to Justin who he wants to be with. I've only known the kid for a few days, but I think he's a sweet boy. We should help him, Teddy."

"We?" Ted asked.

"Yes, we."

Emmett opened his Facebook Messenger app on his phone and sent a message to Brian.

Emmett Honeycutt: Hey, asshole.

Brian replied a few seconds later.

Brian Kinney: What do you want, fruit cup?

Emmett Honeycutt: Well, that depends. Now that Justin is out of your bed, have your done your typical Brian Kinney thing and jumped into the next warm ass?

Brian Kinney: Not that it's any of your business, but no. I'm between asses at the moment.

Emmett Honeycutt: That's good, because your previous warm ass is currently sitting on Teddy's couch.

Nearly a full minute passed before Brian's reply popped onto the screen.

Brian Kinney: So?

Emmett Honeycutt: I just thought you'd want to know. The three of us are about to go to Woody's for a drink. Maybe we'll see you there?

Emmett watched a few minutes of Friends, the episode where they imagine how different their lives would be if Rachel had married Barry, if Ross was still married to Carol, etc.

By the time the commercial break came and Brian still hadn't replied, Emmett stood up and walked over to Ted's closet. He found maybe the only stylish shirt in his lover's boring wardrobe and tossed it over to him, along with a pair of jeans.

"We're going out for drinks," Emmett said.

"It's Sunday evening, I have to go in for my internship tomorrow at eight," Ted replied in a whiny tone.

"Fine, maybe Justin and I will go without you," Emmett said as he put his shoes on. "And maybe we'll meet a couple of hot guys, and-"

"Alright, alright," Ted grumbled as he started changing into the outfit that Emmett picked out for him.

Emmett kissed Ted on his forehead before walking into the living room, finding Justin still slumped on the couch and frowning at his laptop.

"Have you ever been to Woody's?" Emmett asked.

Justin shook his head, his eyes still on the screen.

Emmett helped himself to one of Justin's suitcases on the floor. "Well, we're going. They have half-priced margaritas until midnight. I'd bet you like strawberry the best."

Justin finally looked at him. "I'm really not in the mood to go out."

Emmett picked out a tight black t-shirt and some distressed jeans. "Every guy in the joint will be looking at you in this, Baby."

He put Justin's outfit on the sofa cushion next to him.

"Get dressed and I'll do your hair," Emmett said, smiling down at him.

Justin didn't have the energy to argue with him.

The pill I keep taking, the nightmare I'm waking
There's nothing, no nothing, nothing but you
My perfect rock bottom, my beautiful trauma
My love, my love, my drug, oh

--"Beautiful Trauma," Pink (2017)

Brian walked into Woody's and immediately started looking around for a blond twink. During his scan of the bar, which was quite full for a Sunday evening, his eyes settled on the back of a shaggy, sandy blond head that he knew quite well.

He walked over to the table, finding his step-brother slumped over a tall mug of beer. Two empty shot glasses were on the table in front of him. There was no telling how many he'd had before then, since it was nearing 9 PM.

Brian took the seat across from Brandon.

"Ah, the rat finally swims up from the sewer and shows his ugly face," Brian said.

Brandon snarled at him. "Fuck off. I'm not in the mood for you and your shit. You've ruined my life."

"If anyone should be pissed off at the other here, it's me. How did you do it, huh? Did you sneak into my room when I was asleep and break into my phone? Did you use my finger on the scanner?"

"It was quite simple," Brandon admitted. "Don't know why I haven't done it before, since you sleep like a fucking rock."

The young man drained the rest of his mug and shook it at the server nearby, signaling for another.

"Well, your little plan to break up me and Justin worked, but he's on his way here as we speak. I was able to recover the parts of the doc about him that you deleted, and I sent him the whole thing. I'm sure you probably read it before you deleted it, it's all true. I'm going to get him back and there's nothing else you can do to fuck it up."

"Goodie for you," Brandon said, his voice cracking. "Thanks to your Ice King thing, I'm homeless."

Brian tilted his head. "What?"

"Yeah. Mommie Dearest read it, and she was so disgusted by it - specifically the part where you talked about me stealing from her - that she told me I have to be out of the house by tomorrow night. She also cut me off. I have no money and nowhere to go, but she doesn't give a fuck. Hell, I'll be lucky to pay off my tab here tonight... I'll probably have to blow the server to break even."

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Did you think that all the nasty shit you've done over the years wasn't ever gonna come back to haunt you? That you can act like the scum of the Earth and-"

"Oh, because you're such a prince?" Brandon yelled, standing up from his chair. "I am sick and fucking tired of you always coming out smelling like a rose, when you're no better than me. What was it you said? I'm brilliant because I have everyone fooled, including my parents? Shit, at least I have the balls to look my parents in the eye and tell them that I'm gay. I came out to Frank and Elaine when I was twelve. Jack and Joan know about you, but only through the grapevine gossip."

"At least I've never stolen money from my parents," Brian countered. "Shit, you've never earned a dime in your life. I caddied at the golf course each summer during high school, I've tutored for the last three years, and I'm doing a paid internship at Vangard Advertising this semester, which I also haven't told Jack about. But you? You've always expected things to be handed to you, like you're a fucking Hilton. When you don't have enough, you steal it. When you're trying to woo a guy, you pretend like you're their Prince Charming. I've never had to lie to get in a guy's pants.

"Do you want to know why I've never told my parents that I'm gay? Because it's none of their business who I fuck. I'm not ashamed of who I am, I just don't want them to hassle me about it. I can't even tell Joan that I got a speeding ticket without her telling me I'm going to Hell, and Jack will tell me what an embarrassment I am, how his Republican buddies will judge him for producing a gay son. You don't know what it's like to not have liberal parents, like yours."

"Well..." Brandon said, looking around for the server. "Where's my fucking drink?"

"I think you've had enough," Brian said before taking out his wallet. He pulled out a twenty and dropped it on the table. "Let's go, I'll get you an Uber."

"To take me where? I can't go home. I don't have a home anymore."

Brian looped his arm through Brandon's as he began guiding him to the door. "You said Elaine gave you until tomorrow to find a place. I can loan you some money to stay in a hotel until we find you something more permanent. Or maybe we can get her to change her mind... I'll talk to Jack and-"

"I don't want your fucking help!" Brandon said, jerking his arm away from his step-brother.

He continued on toward the door, yanking it open and wobbling backward a few steps. Luckily Brian was there to prevent him from falling on his ass.

They started down the concrete steps where they ran into Ted, Emmett, and Justin.

Brandon took one look at the blond and pointed at him. "You! This is all your fucking fault!"

Justin looked at Brian, confusion on his face. "What...?"

"He's drunk, ignore him," Brian said.

"If it wasn't for your twinkie ass, none of this would have happened!" Brandon continued, managing to walk down the last few steps to the sidewalk without falling.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Emmett asked his ex-lover. "Anything bad that's happened to you is your own fault. You deserve every terrible thing that you get."

"Oh shut up, you flaming fuck!" Brandon said before shoving Emmett.

Ted stepped between the two men. "Don't you touch him!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Brian yelled, separating Brandon and Ted. "None of this is necessary. I'm going to take Brandon home before he causes any more trouble."

"We brought Justin all the way here to talk to you," Emmett said, gesturing to the young man at his side.

"Well, you wasted your time," Brandon said, looking back to Justin. "Brian only thinks he wants you because of your tight ass, but he'll wear it out soon and forget all about you. He's just trying to convince himself that you're something special, to make himself believe that he's a better man than he really is, but he'll never change. He's a dirtbag, just like me, we're two of a kind."

Brian pushed Brandon. "No, I'm not just like you. You're in a class of your own, Brother. You've always tried to one-up me. Well, in this regard, you won by a mile in the ‘dirtbag' race. You're homeless, friendless, and penniless."

"Fuck you!" Brandon said before he launched himself onto Brian, his fists flying wildly.

Without thinking about his own safety, Justin used his smaller body to wedge himself in between Brandon and Brian, trying to pry them apart. He received a blow to the side of his head for his efforts, which knocked him off of his feet. As he tried to stand, he slipped off the sidewalk and tumbled into the street, dizzy from the hit.

"Justin!" he heard Brian call out.

Justin looked up, nearly blinded by headlights that were coming at him fast. He froze in place like a deer, unable to move.

Suddenly, Justin was shoved into the other lane, away from the oncoming car. About a second later, he heard the sound of something - or someone - smacking into the hood of the car.

Justin looked up to see a body tumble up and over the car before landing hard on the road.

"Brian!" he yelled, getting up and running to where the body had landed.

Only it wasn't Brian who was lying there in the road, because Brian was also running toward the body.

It was Brandon.

Brian fell to his knees, not caring that he was skinning them on the rough pavement.

"Brandon!" he cried out, putting his hand on his step-brother's cheek.

"I tried to stop!" the man who had been driving the car yelled as he got out to check the person he'd hit.

Brian could see in the light from the streetlamp nearby that Brandon was in bad shape. He was bleeding from a wound on his head and the blood was pooling around him. His limbs were splayed at unnatural angles.

"Brandon, no!" Emmett yelled. He and Ted had also come out into the road to check on the man.

Brandon was somehow conscious, although he was obviously in a lot of pain.

"I'm sorry," he said to Brian, just above a whisper.

"You're sorry?" Brian repeated, tears dripping off of his face. "You saved Justin. I can't believe you did that! Wh... why?"

"You guys should be together," Brandon said, his eyelids drooping as he struggled to breathe. "I love you, Brian... I just want you... to be happy. Be good to each other... okay?"

Brian grabbed onto Brandon's hand and squeezed it tight. All he could think to say was, "Okay."

Brandon's eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

"No!" Brian yelled helplessly. "Don't you fucking die on me, you asshole!"

An ambulance arrived a few minutes later. The EMTs cleared the area, having to force Brian to let go of Brandon's hand so they could check him.

Brian grabbed Justin in a tight hug while keeping an eye on Brandon.

"That could have been you," Brian said into Justin's hair. "If he hadn't pushed you out of the way..."

"I thought it was you," Justin replied.

"I love you."

Justin looked up at Brian. "I love you, too."

Brian watched as one of the EMTs shook his head, indicating that there was nothing they could do.

Brandon was dead.

Right now, I'm in a state of mind
I wanna be in, like, all the time
Ain't got no tears left to cry
So I'm pickin' it up, pickin' it up
I'm lovin', I'm livin', I'm pickin' it up

"No Tears Left to Cry," Ariana Grande (2018)

Wednesday, August 22

Brian parked in front of the Fine Arts building at Carnegie Mellon University on the first day of the new school year with Justin in the passenger seat next to him. He wasn't driving his beloved 1968 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR, however.

He was driving something he, an old pony car lover, never thought he'd own: a black 2001 Jeep Wrangler. Sure, it had a ton of miles on it. Sure, it had a crappy sound system. Sure, it was one of many Jeeps on the street and didn't turn any heads. All that mattered was that it ran well and it was cheap, Brian buying it for less than $10,000 from a guy on Craigslist.

Shortly after Brandon's funeral, Brian decided that he needed to get his own place. Without telling his father, who'd practically had a stroke when he later found out, Brian sold his Mustang to a collector for a great deal of money. Brian used that money to buy himself a loft apartment in downtown Pittsburgh, one block over from Liberty Avenue and close to the CMU campus. Justin immediately moved in with him, despite the protests of his parents. To save up for his own car, Justin started working at the Liberty Avenue Diner as a busboy, making great tips.

Debbie and Michael mended their relationship, with Debbie accepting Ben as a part of her son's life. Once she actually got to know him, she realized that Ben was a nice young man and made Michael very happy. To be closer to the campus, Michael would stay at Ben's apartment during the week and drive out to Fox Chapel on the weekends to visit his mother. Ben found a job as an assistant orchestra instructor at a local middle school, which earned him a small income but also gave him the experience he would need for more lucrative teaching jobs in the future.

Ted and Emmett were still going strong, with Ted about to start his senior year and Emmett starting his junior year at CMU. Emmett had taken Brandon's death pretty hard, but Ted was there to help him get through it. With Emmett's urging, Ted bought a subscription to HBO and caught up with Game of Thrones.

Brian and Justin got out of the Jeep and walked hand-in-hand to the building.

"It's gonna feel so weird without Brandon here," Brian said.

"Maybe he'll haunt the business school," Justin said with a small smile.

Brian shook his head. "Nah, if he was gonna haunt anything, it'd definitely be the backroom at Babylon."

Justin laughed and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist. "Well, maybe in celebration of our first day of school, we can go to Babylon tonight and put on a show for him."

Brian, liking the sound of that, gave Justin a big kiss.

They were interrupted when Michael came bouncing over to them, happier than a puppy with a new chew toy.

"Justin!" he yelled out. "Can you believe it? We're finally here! We're in college, aah!"

Brian and Justin both chuckled at Michael's enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I guess we'd better get this show started," Justin said.

"Oh, before I forget, Ben invited you guys out to dinner tonight. You know that sushi place off of Liberty Avenue?"

"That's where we had our first meal together," Brian said to Justin.

The blue-eyed blond looked into those hazel eyes and nodded, remembering how smitten he had already been with Brian then, despite how hard he tried to resist him.

He quickly learned that resistance to Brian Kinney was futile.

"Meet us there at six?" Michael asked.

"We'd love to," Brian answered for them. "You boys have a great day at school. Don't let any bullies steal your lunch money."

Justin gave Brian another kiss before he and Michael walked together into the building.

"So, I thought of this really cool idea last night for the comic," Brian heard Michael say to Justin. "What if we have a chiropractor as a villain?"

"A chiropractor?" Justin repeated before disappearing behind the door.

Brian looked up into the clear blue sky. He didn't believe in Heaven or spirits, but he didn't feel alone.

"I'm glad we made that bet," he said quietly before walking back to the Jeep.