March 15 – Beware the Ides of March (Part Two)

Justin stifled a yawn as the patron droned on and on about his work, waxing poetic about what they though it meant and basically trying to sound far more important and educated than they really were. He often found it amusing when people did this, and even sometimes was impressed; because while he may not have been consciously thinking of something while creating it, he could see how people might pick up on the undertones of the painting; or pastel in this case.

However, this jackass didn't have a fucking clue what he was talking about; going on and on about how this piece was obviously a metaphor for Justin's slowly diminishing freedom, and the wearing away of his independence, due to his encroaching fatherhood; or some such bullshit. He really wanted to laugh and ask the guy, whose pregnant wife was talking to her mother across the way, if he was projecting much.

Because Justin couldn't wait to be a father; and he certainly didn't feel chained or tied down by expectations like this guy obviously was. But he nodded in the right places and made sympathetic noises, and then rolled his eyes as the guy walked away, satisfied that he wasn't the only one feeling this way. Honestly, he didn't even have to say anything at these things anymore, as people were more than happy to tell him what he meant by whatever obscure dash of paint or dot of color in his work.

It was best to just let them prattle on, and listen to how it felt for or what it meant to them, rather than say, 'actually that dot of blue in a sea of green grass didn't symbolize my feeling of isolation, but was merely me being a fucking klutz, tripping and getting paint where it shouldn't have been.' The isolation theory sounded so much better.

Huffing as the man joined his wife, Justin scanned the room, noting that for the first time tonight, Michael wasn't even looking at him. That came as a surprise, since the asshole had seemed determined to talk to him when he'd first arrived, and kept trying to corner him at various intervals. Justin frowned as he studied Michael; who now seemed to be studiously ignoring him; he couldn't figure out just what was his game.

"You seem a bit tense, darling boy," Lucille said as she came up to him, a serene smile on her face as Justin startled and pulled his confused gaze away from Michael. He smiled warmly at her as she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and simpered. "Tell Auntie Lucy all about it."

"Auntie Lucy?" Justin snorted, arching a brow. Lucille just smirked, her eyes sparkling with humor as she waited for his explanation. Justin sighed. "It's nothing serious; I'm just a bit tense because Michael is here and he's tried to approach me on more than one occasion. And I'm a bit worried that if he does, I won't hold back on him any longer."

"And why haven't you told him to fuck off?" Lucille demanded; she arched an imperious brow, making Justin shake his head and laugh. "What; it's the truth. You should have told that little weasel to fuck off years ago."

Justin snickered at her description of Michael, and cast a look his way. Well, he couldn't disagree with her assessment; although, he did think it was an insult to weasels everywhere. Even they weren't so bad as to be compared to Michael in his opinion.

Justin sighed again and turned back to Lucille.

"Honestly?" Justin asked, waiting for Lucille to nod. "For a long time, it was because I found him to be nothing more than an annoying idiot, and I could easily ignore him." He paused and gave her a wry smile, finishing a bit cattily. "Plus, it's hard to get worked up over someone who is so delusional that he's still holding onto an unfinished hand job that happened when he was fourteen."

"Oh, do tell me how you really feel dear," Lucille said, her eyes gleaming with mischief. Justin laughed again; especially when she just continued to egg him on. "No, really, do tell me; I live for this."

"Leo is right," Justin snickered; ignoring the way the 'weasel,' as Lucille deemed him, turned and watched the two of them. "You are a terrible woman." He paused, looked at Michael and arched a brow, surprised when the man flushed and looked away. Well, that was an interesting development. "But mostly it was because he was Brian's friend and I would have never forced Brian to choose between the two of us. It wasn't right."

"And yet, that little asshole has been forcing Brian to choose for years," Lucille pointed out; Justin shrugged. There was really nothing he could do about that. "And look what happened? In the end, he chose you."

"And that's why I'm worried that he'll try to make a scene;" Justin said, rolling his lips between his teeth as he studied Michael's back. "Brian hasn't said a word to him in over a month. He has to be going through withdrawals at this point."

"Ah," Lucille nodded; and then she cast a sly glance his way. "Well, I wouldn't worry about it; I have a feeling he'll be keeping his distance for the rest of the evening."

"Why?" Justin asked in surprise; and then he noticed the slight amused curl of her lips as Michael looked back over at them, only to quickly look away again. He narrowed his eyes as his gaze bounced between the two of them. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Lucille said, all faux innocence; and then she smirked when Justin snorted. "Or, well, nothing too painful." She leaned up and patted him on the cheek. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it, my dear. Auntie Lucy has your back."

"You are a menace," Justin declared; but he also couldn't help grinning at the woman who had become like another mother to him.

"I do believe that is the best thing you've ever said to me, darling," Lucille said, wiping a fake tear from her eye. Justin just shook his head at her antics, and then laughed when she saw Leo staring at a brightly colored drink in fascination. "Now, if you'll excuse me; I need to stop my buffoon of a husband from drinking whatever it is that darling Emmett is trying to talk him into drinking. I will not carry his ass to the car."

Justin laughed again, and turned to the next person, sighing mentally when he noted that Sydney was standing there with another so-called art critic, just salivating to talk to him. This was going to be a fucking long night.

… … … … …

Justin had just managed to escape the crashing boor, (and bore for that matter), that was Ethan, snickering to himself as he watched Brian hand him his ass once again. He supposed he really should have stuck around and helped Brian out, but he just didn't want to deal with Ethan and his ever-expanding ego. And Brian knew how to shut Ethan down with nothing more than a look and a few well-placed words.

Snickering as Brian stared down at a furious Ethan with an unimpressed smirk, Justin couldn't help comparing Ethan to a hissing kitten trying to stand up to the Big Bad Wolf. It was pretty damned funny that Ethan thought he had anything on Brian after all these years. Talk about delusional. Shaking his head, Justin watched as Brian took a step towards Ethan, making the other man back away, and laughed again.

That was likely why he hadn't noticed Kellie, from Eyeconics, descending on him; and then when he looked up, it was far too late. He groaned internally, and pasted a smile on his face as she approached. Normally, he liked Kellie; but he just wanted to sit down and relax for a bit and he knew that wouldn't be happening any time soon as she started talking excitedly about his art.

Justin just nodded, and kept a smile on his face while Brian dispatched of Ethan, and then he cast him a pleading look, hoping that his husband would extract him from his current predicament. But Brian just smirked and waved; and then quickly walked in the opposite direction. Asshole. He'd be getting even with his husband for that later.

"I really do love your work Justin," Kellie gushed, latching her arm with his as they looked at the nearest piece, which happened to be Colors in the Rocks; a piece that was inspired by the English coastline that Brian and he had visited on the their honeymoon tour. "It's always beautiful and speaks to me on so many levels. And I especially love your Reflections series in this batch."

"Thanks!" Justin smiled; and really, he loved that set best himself. "Those were actually of different areas from around Britin. A Quiet Place is actually a small grove of trees that we can see from our bedroom window. And Reflections, Reflections 2 and Peaceful Gardens are all versions of the pond on our property."

"Oh, I adore Peaceful Gardens," Kellie said, sighing dreamily. And Justin barely held back a snort of laughter; he could only imagine how she would react if she ever heard the story behind that piece. Not that he had any intentions of sharing; that story was for him and Brian alone. "I placed a bid on that one, since apparently someone made an offer for it already."

"Kellie," Justin admonished, placing his hand over hers. "You shouldn't have; you know that I would be happy to create something for you."

"Nonsense," Kellie said, dismissing his concerns with a wave of her hand. "I really loved the colors of it and wanted it for my office. I'm having it redone, and it will look perfect on the wall behind my desk."

Justin huffed and shook his head, but knew better than to argue.

"Well, if it doesn't work out," Justin insisted, holding his hand up when she made to protest. "Let me know and we'll work up a commission for your office based off that one."

Justin smirked as Kellie huffed and rolled her eyes, but nodded; as she too, had long come to recognize Justin's notorious stubborn streak.

"I also put in an offer for this one," Kellie said, nodding to Color in the Rocks. Justin just looked at her in exasperation; and then he silently vowed to create something for her as thanks for her years of support if it was the last thing he did. "I'm planning on putting that one in my summer house."

"I do love this one," Justin said, smiling at the piece, remembering the very out-of-character picnic that Brian had packed that day, along with Justin's sketchbooks; and then he dragged Justin out of bed for a day on the coast. "Well, really, I love them all, seeing as that most of them either came from Britin or from pictures we took during our honeymoon tour."

Kellie nodded and looked up at the picture, a delighted smile on her face.

"But this one was from when we were visiting England, Scotland and Ireland," Justin smiled, remembering quaint cottages, cool mornings spent in bed and endless day trips to some of the most beautiful places that he'd ever seen. "Just like most that set over there. Sound of Harris is of a sound of the same name in Scotland; Sun Setting over Bowland Hills is again, as stated; and I think Squall Over Low Dale was when we were in Ireland, but I'm not sure as the pictures got all jumbled."

"Really? Come show them to me and tell me about them," Kellie demanded as she looked over her shoulder with a frown; but then she turned to Justin and smiled, practically dragging him towards the pastels in question. Justin protested, wanting to grab his drink before they headed off, but Kellie determinedly plowed on without care.

"Tell you about it?" Justin laughed, but eventually gave in and let her shepard him across the room; he could always grab another drink once he'd met Brian over at the bar. "You heard all about the trip and saw all of the pictures years ago."

"Yeah, but this way I can imagine the story behind the painting…" Kellie smiled, but there was something tight around her eyes that had Justin wondering at the abrupt change in her mood. "Or well, pastel? Is that how you'd say it?"

"Yes, they are pastels," Justin nodded, barely holding back his own frown as he studied her expression for any clues as to why she seemed so wound up all of a sudden. "I decided to stay away from paints while Sunbeam was incubating so that I didn't have to listen to Brian bitch anymore than necessary."

"And we know how good he is at that," Kellie smirked, and almost seemed to return to normal; but Justin could still see lines of tension around her eyes and mouth.

"Don't we ever," Justin agreed with a small smile. "I've had a hell of a time convincing him to let me paint the nursery as it is…" Justin trailed off as he caught Kellie looking around, her face pinched. And now he was really worried. "What? What's wrong?"

Kellie bit her lower lip and looked back at Justin with a worried moue.

"I don't want to alarm you," she said, glancing in the direction from whence they'd come. "But while we were talking, I thought I saw someone drop something into your drink." Justin froze; his blood chilling as he stared at her in disbelief. Kellie shrugged. "I couldn't see who it was as they were behind someone; all I saw was a hand dropping what looked like a pill into your drink. So I pulled you away before you could drink it."

"Where...?" Justin asked a bit sharply, feeling bad when she looked at him in surprise; but with everything that had happened lately, he needed to know if his drink had been spiked. "Is it still there?"

"I don't know," Kellie hesitantly said, craning her neck to see if the glass was still there; and then sighing in frustration when another patron blocked her line of sight. "I just didn't want to bring it to your attention while we were standing there, just in case the person overheard."

"We need to get that glass," Justin insisted, his stomach sinking as he walked back over to Color in the Rocks. "I don't know if you've heard," he said as he looked over his shoulder. "But someone has been stalking me; and if there is something in there, I want to know what this asshole was trying to drug me with."

But when Justin reached the small table that he'd set his glass on, it was missing. Blowing out a frustrated breath, he scanned the room, looking for anything, or anyone out of place, but nothing seemed odd and no one was paying him any mind.

"Fuck," Justin cursed under his breath; he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the start of another headache as he turned to Kellie and asked. "Was there anything else that you noticed?"

"Not really," Kellie said; her eyes wide and startled. "They were wearing a dark jacket, with some sort of animal on it. But that's all I noticed."

"Was it a wolf?" Justin asked, hoping that they'd finally have something to nail this guy with; after all, there were cameras everywhere in the gallery and if he'd gotten caught on video, they might just have a chance of tracking him down finally.

"Maybe," Kellie hedged, and then shook her head with frustration when she couldn't give a more definitive answer. "I didn't get a good look at it." She paused and then gave him a distressed frown. "I'm sorry. Maybe I should have said something sooner…"

"No, it's fine," Justin reassured, soothing her nerves even as his ramped up when he thought of how close he'd come to drinking whatever was in his glass. He placed a protective hand over his belly. Taking a deep breath, he kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you for stopping me from drinking it. I don't even want to think about what might have happened to Sunbeam if I had."

"Of course, Justin," Kellie said, her face still pinched with worry as she pressed a kiss to his cheek in return. "I hope everything works out and you find this person."

"From your lips to God's ears," Justin murmured, looking around the room for Carl, and frowning when he couldn't find him. "Now, if you'll excuse me; I need to talk to someone." Kellie nodded, waving him off. Justin tried to smile, but he knew that it didn't reach his eyes when she just continued to fret. "I'll talk to you later."

He let out a nervous breath, and then set out to find Carl; hoping that Kellie was mistaken, but the growing unease in his stomach told him she wasn't.

… … … … …

Justin looked all over for Carl, and couldn't find him. And it didn't help that every time he moved, he was distracted by yet another patron that wanted to talk to him about this piece or that; until finally, Justin just gave it up as a lost cause for the night. Rubbing a hand over his face, Justin looked around, and as the gallery was starting to clear a bit, he decided that now was as good a time as any to take a break.

He slipped out of the main gallery and into the little nook where the bar had been stashed, making a frustrated sound in the back of his throat when Carl walked right past him while talking on the phone. Of all the annoying... Well, at least he'd also found his wayward husband, who was sitting at the bar,  talking to a pissed off looking Emmett.

Justin watched them for a moment, noting the tension running through them both, and that made the ball of lead in his stomach grow. Fuck, what the hell had happened now? He walked towards the bar, frowning when Emmett looked up and instantly stopped talking; he nodded in Justin's direction, making Brian turn around and smile, but it was a weak thing at best. Well, wasn't this peachy?

He smiled back, just as tightly, which of course made Brian frown and run his eyes over Justin, checking to see if anything was wrong. And then his frown deepened when he realized that Justin was just as tense as he was. Sighing, Justin walked over and sat down on the stool next to him, nodding when Emmett set an unopened bottle of water in front of Justin. And thank fuck for that, as he didn't want to ask for an unopened bottle, and risk Brian's alert system ratcheting up to DEFCON 1.

There were no levels two or three in his current system; it was either all systems normal, or maximum force readiness these days.

"All right," Justin said, as he turned to his husband with a frown; not for one second missing the look that Brian and Emmett exchanged as he did. "So, do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"About what?" Brian asked mildly, a small smile on his face; but Justin noticed that it didn't quite reach his eyes.

And oh, fuck no; they were not going to play this game with Justin. He knew that there was something wrong just by the way Emmett kept twitching every time Justin glanced his way. And it certainly didn't bode well that Brian refused to meet his eyes when he just stared at him in disbelief.

"Don't even, Brian," Justin huffed, looking between the two conspirators with annoyance. He was so not going to let them coddle him. "I know you too well; and there is something you aren't telling me." Brian opened his mouth as if to protest; but then stopped when Justin frowned. "Don't lie to me, Brian. Now what is going on?"

Brian remained silent for a long moment, his eyes grave as they studied Justin, his mind obviously weighing the pros and cons of telling Justin. And then he sat up as if he'd made a decision. Justin arched a brow.

"Can't you just let it go with me saying there was a valid reason for me asking Ethan that question?" Brian asked rhetorically, throwing Justin off because he'd forgotten all about Ethan in his recent, potential brush with the stalker.

He narrowed his eyes; Brian knew damned well that wasn't what Justin had been talking about, and the fact that he was deflecting by bringing Ethan up again pissed Justin off to no end. But fine; he'd play his game for now, as he was a bit curious as to why Brian had acted as he did, all but jumping down Ethan's throat when he mentioned the lack of portraiture in Justin's current show. It had been an odd reaction.

"No," Justin said slowly, his eyes growing hard as he stared at Brian, conveying the fact that he knew damned well what Brian was doing and he wasn't falling for his shit. Something he hoped came through in the double meaning of his words. "Because you know damned well that I hate to be kept in the dark; now, again, what happened?"

Brian winced, but held firm under his gaze; and fuck, now Justin was seriously pissed.

"I know you're going to be angry with me, Sunshine," Brian said, and again, he could hear a double meaning lying under the words, with Brian acknowledging that Justin knew something was going on, and he wasn't addressing it. "But please let me finish before you get pissed off and yell at me."

"I'll try," Justin huffed, wondering what the fuck had Brian choosing his words so damned carefully. He eyed his husband warily. "But I make no guarantees." Brian frowned, but Justin held firm. "That's the best you're going to get. Take it or leave it."

Brian frowned unhappily, but nodded. He slammed the rest of his beer and then waved his hand at Emmett, asking for another. And the dread in Justin's stomach grew as Emmett opened up another beer and handed it to Brian, watching with a tight smile as Brian nearly downed that one too.

"That's not making me feel any better, Brian," Justin said, growing more and more fearful with each passing moment; because, what if the stalker had made a play for Brian as well? Brian looked at Emmett, and nodded to a pad of paper and a pen. Emmett hesitated, looked between Brian and Justin, and then sighed and handed it over.

"Just give me a minute to put my thoughts together," Brian said with a thin smile; and then he began writing, even as he explained the Ethan debacle. But, again, there seemed to be a hidden meaning in his words. "A lot has happened tonight; and most of it I told to be kept under wraps. Although, I did tell Tak and Carl that if you wanted an explanation, they were shit out of luck; and that I was telling you."

Brian passed him the note; Justin just looked at him like he was crazy, because seriously, how had this become his life? Brian nodded to the paper. Justin looked down and gasped, his heart pounding in his ears as he read, 'we think the stalker struck again and tried to drug or poison my drink.'

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you weren't deliberately keeping it from me for my own good," Justin said in a neutral tone as he wrote back, 'why?'

"Oh, don't give me that much credit, Sunshine," Brian huffed mirthlessly, and Justin knew it to be the truth; Brian would have kept this from him if he could. "I was more than happy to keep quiet and I didn't fight it for that exact reason. I won't lie to you."

Brian quickly wrote, 'I was getting ready to come to the bar to meet you, when a server came up to me, claiming he was bringing me my drink. But I hadn't ordered anything; and call me crazy, call me paranoid, but I wasn't going to take the chance.'

"Well, it's not like it's a surprise to me that you're an overprotective asshole," Justin huffed, his body going numb as he read the words; he swallowed thickly and licked his suddenly parched lips. "Spill."

Justin felt silly doing this, but he imagined that Brian had a reason for doing it; so, he wrote back. 'Don't blame you. What happened?'

"You know how I told you about the break in at Sydney's?" Brian said, writing his next note and passing it to Justin. 'Carl took me to the kitchen in the back and had me wait there with the drink, while he called it in. Tak came and took samples, bagged up the empty glass and interrogated me.'

"Yes," Justin nodded; well at least that answered that question. No wonder he couldn't find Carl earlier. "I remember you telling me that one of my paintings had been defaced; but not which one."

Justin took a deep breath, and decided to mention his own potential drugging, 'well, that explains why I couldn't find Carl earlier.'

"Please," Brian huffed, but his eyes were sharp on Justin's face, his frown deepening as he noticed Justin's stress. "As if you haven't already figured it out."

Tapping the pen to his lips, Brian's eyes grew dark and then he began to write, 'why would you need to see Carl? Did something happen?'

"I have my suspicions based on some things that have been said," Justin nodded; he took a deep breath knowing that as soon as he wrote this down, they would be entering DEFCON 1 territory. 'Kellie said that she thought she saw someone slip something into my drink earlier; likely about the same time as you were getting your drink.'

Brian inhaled sharply, his eyes flying to Justin's.

"But that's all they are – suspicions," Justin said, again with the double meaning. "I would have gone looking, but knew I'd likely not find anything."

"Showing restraint, Sunshine?" Brian teased, but his eyes were filled with fear as he wrote, 'you couldn't find anything?' Justin nodded. "How unlike you."

Justin picked up the pen and flipped the page over, 'we went back to grab the glass, but it was gone. I have no idea if he grabbed it, or if it had just been picked up by a server. But in the end, I guess it doesn't matter as we couldn't find it. Unfortunately, Kellie was more concerned with getting me away, so I wouldn't drink it, than preserving it.'

"Which one?" Justin asked, continuing on with this weird ruse, and wondering why they were playing out a bad spy movie. Brian leaned against the bar, his face unreadable.

"It was the one you did of me," Brian finally said, not bothering to write anymore; and Justin frowned as he tried to follow this bizarre situation. "The one where you had me posing on the chaise, in the guise of Bacchus."

Justin nodded; he had figured that out a long time ago. There were only so many paintings that it could have been, and only one that would have had Brian reacting the way he did. But there was also something more under his words; something more that Brian was trying to tell him. He thought back on their conversation with Ethan and then it clicked.

"So, when Ethan asked why there were no paintings of you..." Justin said slowly, his mind quickly piecing things together. "You thought that he was referring to…"

"Yes," Brian nodded, again not writing anything down; because there was no need to in his eyes. What happened tonight, and Ethan's presence, seemed to have meshed in his mind.

At least at that point in time.

"You think he's the stalker?" Justin asked incredulously, fighting back a laugh at the how ludicrous that sounded. Brian nodded hesitantly, but there was a flicker in his eyes that had Justin narrowing his again. Brian huffed, knowing he's been caught.

"It's not funny, Sunshine," Brian groused, scrubbing his hand over his face as Justin impatiently shoved the pad of paper and pen at his husband and pointed to them. "You have to admit that the question was odd."

And yes, he did have a point; but Ethan? Seriously?

Brian grabbed the pen and hastily scrawled, 'I did think that at the time, but there has been a new development, and I'm not sure what to think anymore.' Justin read it and nodded, and then couldn't help himself as he laughed again. Ethan was many things in Justin's mind; but clever enough to pull this off? Not at all. Brian scowled.

"Sorry," Justin said as he tried to quell his giggles and focus on the more serious matter at hand. "I just have a hard time believing that it's Ethan. He's a passive-aggressive narcissist, far too wrapped in his own importance to care about what I'm doing. Before you came over, he spent the entire time talking about how great he was; and honestly, he was so caught up in fawning over himself that I doubt he even noticed that I was there. I could have been anyone. I just don't see it."

Justin tapped the paper with the pen, his mind going over everything he knew before he wrote his next question, 'and is this new development the reason for all this cloak and dagger shit; because, I have to tell you, honey; this is fucking weird.'

"All the better to throw you off, wouldn't you say?" Brian huffed, and grabbed the pen and paper. And again there seemed to be some double meaning in that sentence; especially when Brian followed it up with a soft, "people change."

But on the pad of paper Brian wrote, 'they think that the bartender was either the stalker or an accomplice. And again, I know it's fucking paranoid of me, but I'm taking no chances that this asshole has found a way to listen in on any conversation held here.'

"I'm sure they do," Justin huffed and grabbed the pen and paper. "And in Ethan's case, he's grown even more infatuated with his own image. I wouldn't be surprised if he sat at his mirror every night and told his reflection just how wonderful he is. I just don't think it's him."

Brian hummed, but didn't respond; but he did grab the paper and pen back and scrawled, "So why don't you?"

"Simple," Justin wrote, still feeling silly; but willing to humor his husband that had watched far too many spy thrillers for his own good. "While I'll admit there is something familiar about the person, I didn't recognize the man that assaulted me in the grocery store; nor have I recognized him the two times that I've seen him lurking. Ethan, I know on sight. Plus, he was too bulky to be Ethan. And while he was about my height, he also was a bit taller than me."

"It doesn't mean that he isn't involved somehow," Brian pointed out; he looked up at Justin and sighed when Justin just gave him a 'you can't be serious' look. "He is still far too invested in our relationship failing, and in you, for me to rule him out completely."

"My gut says that it's not him," Justin said aloud, shaking his head when Brian frowned. "Ethan is far too in love with himself to ever truly want anyone in his life; unless they bring him the two things he wants the most – fame and fortune. And yes, I suppose I could bring him those things, but he knows it's a lost cause. The only reason he's so invested in our failure is because it hurt his ego that I dumped his ass and then immediately went back to you without even mourning his so-called loss."

"Well, I'm not convinced," Brian said, ripping the pages they'd used out of the notebook, and folding them up. He handed the pad and paper back to Emmett, who looked a little green around the gills; and Justin realized that he probably knew what was going on due to the fact that it was his business that stalker or accomplice had used to get close to him and Brian. "But I will pass this onto Tak."

Justin smirked as Brian held up the notes; again with the double meaning. When the fuck had this become his life? And then he sobered, because paranoid or not, Brian had a very good reason to be worried. Because if their drinks had been drugged, then that meant that this asshole was escalating again. And that scared the shit out of him.

Meeting Brian's eyes, he leaned forward and rested his head against his husband's, shuddering as he thought of how close they'd come to something potentially tragic tonight. Brian wrapped his arms around Justin's neck and seemed to just breathe him in, his body shaking as well. Justin ran his hands over Brian's hair, drawing comfort from his nearness and reassuring himself that he was still there.

"We'll figure this out, Sunshine," Brian whispered as he pressed his lips against Justin's brow, his fingers toying with the fine hairs at the nape of Justin's neck. "I promise."