JUSTIN

I didn’t try to act like I usually did anytime Brian and I were naked together. Once again I was faced with how to turn this Brian down, since I couldn’t seem to see him as just Brian. 

“I thought we weren’t supposed to be seeing each other.” I tell him, just continuing to shower.

“Are you really going to leave this Brian with blue balls?” Brian asks, smirking.

“Wait.” I stop him, looking at his eyes. “How are you here?” I ask, yanking him in the small tub.

“Todd seems to think I should let you and Mikey live.” He grumbles, grabbing the shampoo, sniffing it and grimacing. “I love you but at seventeen you were a pain in the ass.”

“What’s going on…? Shit Brian, I need to tell you what’s going on here…” and then I got lost in the feeling of his hands on me.

“Someone missed me?” Brian whispers, running his hands down my chest and wrapping them around the evidence.

“I can’t get my head around it, even though I know it’s you. It still feels weird.” I tell him.

“Can we deal with the harder problems?” He asks me, kissing me.

I needed this, after everything going on, just having him near me would be enough. This was Brian without the bullshit. It was one of the things that bothered me about staying here. The things that didn’t bother me when I lived this life bother me now, because I see what Brian could be like. 

“Stop thinking, just feel right now.” Brian tells me, using his fingers to tease me.

“There’s just so much I don’t get, and then there’s more being tossed in, changing why this is happening.” I tell him, letting go when he breaches me with his fingers.

I just let everything go and just let Brian work his magic on me. Brian could get me out of my head, which usually helped me figure out the answers. It didn’t matter that we were just beginning again. Our souls knew each other in a way our minds sometimes took time to remember. His fingers weren’t enough, and no matter how much I begged he wouldn’t let what came next hurt me. When he took his hand away it was to get down on his knees and let his tongue take over, and it didn’t matter how many times or how many lives we did this in, it never got old. He didn’t stop me when I stroked myself, since we could go a few time without stopping. I came faster than the night he took me to his loft the first time. I didn’t bother to move, knowing I needed more of him. It was never easy to take him, but when he was seated to the hilt he didn’t wait, knowing I loved the pain, because it never lasted and turned to pleasure in seconds. He came almost as fast, removing the condom putting on a new one, and chased our next orgasm. Neither of us wanted to move, but the shower was cold by the time we came again.

“How much time do you have?” I ask him, drying him off as he did the same for me.

“Until we go to sleep.” He tells me.

“We need to go somewhere else, the last thing we need is for you to run into you.” I tell him.

Brian and I got dressed and left Michael’s place, finally deciding on the park, since it we weren't likely to run into the Brian from here. 

“Brian, I’m starting to think there’s more to this than Lindsay. Have you ever heard of anything about the houses of Light, Darkness, and In Between?” I ask him.

“Sounds like something Ben would run around talking about.” He tells me.

“Todd started telling me about it, then Vic seemed to know, and then I went to talk to Ben. If I believe Todd; I’m ‘Light’, Michael’s ‘Darkness’, and you’re ‘In Between’. Only, no one seem to know the whole story, and Todd could give Marlynn a run for her money on the mysterious.” I tell him.

“Then he offers me a ticket here. Which he probably thought would distract you.” He tells me.

“I don’t get why they seem to think having half the facts would help. Only it sounds more like they fucked up and expect us to fix it.” I tell him.

“Sounds like the one thing we seem to do in every life. What is the ‘In Between’?” He asks.

“You, apparently. In essence, God created man, then didn’t get why sinning became all the rage. So he created a governing body when he was losing too many souls to Satan. That’s the short version of what I’ve been able to find out. My side was light, being the side without sin, Michael’s the dark, and you live between the two. It was supposed to make it so you could see both sides and keep the balance between the two.” I tell him.

“The ‘Dark Side’ is in Heaven?” He asks.

“God doesn’t see sin as a necessary evil, just as part of his creation. Michael side and my side were together in assessing who St Peter let in or rejected, you were there to keep us fair.” I tell him.

“I don’t remember anything like that in the Bible.” He tells me.

“Man wrote the Bible, and when you think about it…”

“There was no reason God would want people to know that he didn’t have anything to do with what happens to your soul.” He tells me.

“Because then who would you worship?” I add.

“Not the creator. But the ones who decided where you ended up.” He tells me.

“I’m starting to think what caused all of this was me wanting you to have everything you didn’t here. You weren’t skating the line, in the new timeline.” I tell him.

“I didn’t in the end of this one.” He reminds me.

“But if it’s true, maybe it’s changing the balance.” I tell him.

“Why would it matter, when whatever they wanted us to believe, we did? And we don’t anymore.” He tells me.

“What if they no longer want us to be on vacation from the roles we were supposed to play in the world? It could be the reason this is happening again, to get us to remember who we are.” I wonder out loud.

“Why not just call us back if God wanted that?” He asks me.

“Free will. He gave it to his creations, which we are a part of.” I tell him.

“We have to want to go back to who we were.” He tells me.

“Which is the problem, since you were both pissed at all of us for what we did.” A guy says, sitting on the bench ahead of us.

“Gabriel, don’t you have some war to fight?” Brian asks.

“Son, I’ve been fighting a war from the day Father created all of you.” Gabriel sneers.

“He and Lucifer apparently weren’t big fans of the human race.” I comment.

“I have no problem with humans. Just that they caused chaos where there was none at one time. If Father wanted Pets, who am I to judge him the way the Pets do?” He states.

“Why are you here?” Brian asks.

“I don’t really like playing around, but play we will, because none of us can just give you the answers.” He tells us.

“If we say we want to go back…?” Brian asks.

“It’s never that easy.” Gabriel tells us.

“Then what?” I ask.

“We put everyone back in the role that caused everything. Set up the players in the positions they were in; Justin knowing who he is, Michael knowing who he is, and Brian being tested to be who he will be. It’s why this one needs to go back and babysit the two who forgot. While the two in denial do what they were supposed to do. Help Brian past the test.” Gabriel tells us.

“How?” I ask, not expecting an answer since they don’t give them.

“Why is the better question.” Gabriel tells me.

“Because you and your fellow angels did something wrong.” I tell him.

“We let you die... and there was no longer light in between.” He tells me, disappearing with Brian.