Justin was about to jump out of his skin. He was pretty sure he had never been so nervous in his life. The big moment was about to arrive and there were times when he thought it never would. First off, he misplaced his plane ticket Friday morning and tore up every inch of his dowdy little apartment until finally finding the damned thing in his jacket pocket. Then there had been a shitty traffic jam due to a multi-car pileup on the freeway and he almost missed his flight, even though he had ordered the cab (a huge indulgence) almost three hours earlier than his departure time. The final straw was when the plane was grounded for several more hours on the runway due to mechanical difficulties. The plane was finally in the air and Justin had a smooth flight to Pittsburgh's airport.

When the young man arrived, he was surprised and pleased to find a car and driver still waiting for him. Some of his nervous tension eased a little as the driver shuttled him to his hotel, where the vast majority of the cast and crew from out of town would be staying. It was by no means fancy but certainly far from a dump either. He had been told by the pretty young blonde that greeted him that she was his liaison with the producers and director of the movie and she would answer any questions he might have. Miss Barker then gave him his room key and told him he'd be bunking with the actor chosen to play Zephyr...a young man named Jimmy Dixon. In the next instant the butterflies returned en masse when she informed him that a meeting was set up for seven p.m., right after dinner, so that all the participants could have the chance to meet and get to know each other.

Justin couldn't put his finger on why he was so nervous this time. He'd been on other sets and in other productions before. True, they had never been leading parts but still, he had never been so flustered before. He felt like his whole life and future success was riding on this one role and single movie. He had been far too nervous to eat anything. Actually, he had hardly eaten a damned thing all day. There had been too much going on and he simply forgot to. He had met his new roommate for all of five minutes before the chipper young man had disappeared out the door, promising to see him at the meeting. Because of arriving so late, Justin had only been forced to wait an hour and a half before the meeting was scheduled, but the time dragged by in torturous slow motion. Finally, seven o'clock was only ten minutes away. Justin gathered the papers that Sherry had given him before leaving and left his room behind, but not his jangled nerves.

When Justin stepped into the hotel's conference room, he was greeted by a couple of dozen strange faces and a few he recognized. He couldn't miss Brett Keller, the Director. He was obviously the man in charge. He saw his roommate and a couple of other actors that he knew from the audition circuit, though not personally. He spotted the casting director with the authors of the comic book standing beside him. As he scanned past Mr. Novotny and Miss Peterson, his eyes fell on the tall, slender man next to her.

Justin drew in a sharp breath and held it. He sensed that it was inappropriate, but the only word that came to his mind as he stared at the hazel-eyed brunet was 'beautiful'. My God, this man was simply beautiful. Justin thought to himself that he had seen that face before on Greek statues. The high brow topped by thick silken brown hair...the long aquiline nose that came to an abrupt end overlooking the most delicious looking full lips...the strong chin that seemed to shout 'authority figure' to anyone observing... and those eyes, oh my god, those eyes! Everything about the man was mesmerizing, but it was his eyes that trapped Justin in a time warp.

Justin had never ever been attracted to a man before. He had seen plenty of good looking ones in Hollywood but all he saw when he looked at them was competition for the next part. This man in front of him was no plastic stud...he was definitely flesh and blood real. Justin could feel the heat emanating from the man, even from twenty feet away. Justin felt a strange sensation deep in his groin. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that this stranger had just made him horny.

Justin felt a moment of fear and the desperate need to get away from this man quickly. It was at that very moment that the stranger looked in Justin's direction and their eyes locked. Again Justin felt hypnotized by those eyes and knew immediately who the model for Rage was. As he stared, the hazel eyes began to darken and Justin realized that the man's face had developed an almost feral predatory look to it. Something inside him warned that he should look away, but he simply could not do it...not as long as the stranger kept looking into his own blue eyes, that were darkening at the same time.

After what seemed to be hours, but was actually only a minute or two, the tall brunet leaned down to his two companions and made some comment. Whatever it was, Novotny didn't seem too pleased. The tall man made his way over to the cute blond who still stood like a deer caught in headlights. He stepped right in front of the young man and said something to him. Justin suddenly realized that the stranger was speaking to him.

"Huh?" he said.

"I said, you must be JT. My name is Brian Kinney."

"YES, I mean yes, I'm JT. I mean...I'm Justin Taylor. I'll be playing JT," Justin stammered out, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. "And you are?"

"Brian Kinney of Kinnetik Advertising."

Justin realized the man had already introduced himself and felt doubly foolish. What the hell was wrong with him. He was acting like a kid who had never been in an adult gathering in his entire life. Then he realized the beautiful creature was speaking to him again. He tried hard to concentrate.

"...so I can see why Mikey thinks you're the perfect choice for JT. What do you think about the role?"

"Huh?"

"Are these particularly hard questions?" Mr. Kinney asked, with a touch of sarcasm.

"No..no. I just didn't hear everything you said," Justin explained.

"I said, you look like the comic character almost to a tee and you sound like you're from these parts. I asked where are you from, and then I said you have that innocent look that the character needs so I can see why Mikey liked you for the part. Then I asked how you felt about the role."

"I'm sorry. Yes, I'm from these parts...Mount Lebanon, actually. And I'm very excited about the role. I hope I can do it full justice. I appreciate Mr. Novotny taking a chance on me."

"So you don't have any problem playing gay?"

Justin could swear there was a twinkle of mischief in the man's eye when he asked that last question. He tried hard not to blush, but he could feel his skin warming uncomfortably.

"I don'... well, it's all acting. I mean a role is a role. I'm sure I...."

"So you don't think it will be too much of a stretch for you to play this role?"

Justin could clearly hear the laughter in the man's voice, and he had a disconcerting way of pushing his tongue against his cheek as if to try and control a huge smile.

"Of course not," he answered, almost defensively.

"You do realize that I...I mean Rage will be fucking the shit out of JT once the lad is rescued from the bashing. Right?"

Now, there was no mistaking the man's meaning. Justin began to bristle.

"Are you making fun of me, Mr...."

"Brian."

"Mr. Kinney?"

It was at that precise moment that the tinkling of a spoon on a glass caught everyone's attention and conversations drifted off until there was dead silence. Brett Keller welcomed everyone to their new 'family' and gave them the pep talk for the making of the medium budget thriller. He informed them that they had the weekend to get a feel for the place and get to know their co-workers, then they would get down to business with wardrobe fittings, rehearsals and some early blockings. When he was finished with his speech, he raised his glass in a toast to Rage and everyone shouted agreement before taking a sip of their champagne.

Justin turned to continue his conversation with Mr. Kinney and found the space empty. A quick look at where he had first spotted the man revealed that Mr. Kinney had rejoined his friends. He had his back to Justin. For some reason this bothered the young actor more than he would have liked to admit. For some odd reason, he felt abandoned. Before he could analyze why, a few of his fellow actors were surrounding him and drawing him into conversation. The next time he looked up all three of the Pittsburgh natives had vanished.

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

Brian Kinney was completely distracted all the way home in his Jeep. He didn't even hear a word of what his friends, Mikey and Linds, were chattering on about. He kept picturing vivid blue eyes looking deep into his. He tried to shake the image but it kept coming back. What the hell was it about that fucking kid. He was certainly no different than the thousands of blond twinks Brian had been around in his thirty plus years. Well, at least now he knew why Mikey had been so enthusiastic about the kid. He looked and acted exactly like the fictional character that Michael and Lindsay had dreamed up when creating the comic book.

Brian knew the kid was actually twenty three but he could have passed for a seventeen year old any day. There was an air of innocence about him that intrigued Brian. He hadn't fucked a virgin in forever. Not that he could be sure that Justin Taylor was a virgin...after all he WAS twenty three...but some animal instinct in Brian screamed that this kid had never been touched by a man, or maybe even a woman. Brian was almost, though not quite, surprised by how much he wanted to find out for himself if his assessment was true.

Brian dropped Linds off at her house, grinning at a scowling Mel who stood at the doorway of their home tapping her foot. So he was a little late getting her home! Well, he thought to himself, it didn't matter if she was pissed. He couldn't do anything right in Mel's eyes anyway. A part of her was always going to be jealous of his and Lind's relationship, which was her problem not his. He actually liked Mel...well, respected her anyway. She had one hell of a set of balls on her and she truly loved Linds. She had even been willing to let Brian father their son, Gus, almost six years ago. She was good to Linds and Gus so Brian tolerated her moods.

Brian tried really hard to convince Michael to go with him to Babylon after dropping off Linds, but his domesticated friend  only wanted to get back to his 'husband' and share all the news about the party with him and their ward of the state, Hunter. Brian frowned, thinking about how much his best bud had changed after meeting the Professor. It wasn't that Ben kept Mikey from going out... far from it... but his friend just didn't seem as interested any more. Well, he'd be damned and sipping iced tea in Hell before anyone ever tamed him.

As soon as Mikey was out of the Jeep, Brian turned the vehicle around and headed straight for Babylon, his second home. He felt hornier tonight than he had in a long time. What he needed was a ripe bottom to help relieve the tension that had been building ever since he spotted the blond actor.

Brian usually sought out tall dark slender men who vaguely reminded him of himself. He would fuck almost any decent looking guy but they were his favorites. As a matter of fact, very few small built blond twinks ever caught Brian's eye at the clubs or on-line. Tonight, as he stood on the scaffolding above the dance floor, Brian found himself scanning the gyrating throng in search of a compact blond. He finally spotted a likely candidate and descended to the dance floor to intercept his target.

Less than five minutes later he was dragging the twink to the backroom by his belt loops and pushing him up against a cum-stained wall. The young man's butt jiggled as Brian yanked his pants down and used his knee to spread the twinks legs. A quick roll down of the condom on Brian's impressive hard-on, and he was buried to the hilt in the blond's ass. Brian reached his release in record time as he closed his eyes and saw sky blue eyes staring at him from behind his eyelids. The intensity of his orgasm surprised him. The twink turned around and handed Brian his phone number. Brian exited the back room alone and tossed the number into the nearest trash can.

As Brian left the club that night he made up his mind that it would be his job to give the young actor playing JT some lessons in how to really get into the role. He would start first thing tomorrow. By the time he was done, Justin Taylor would be the best homosexual he could possibly be...whether he really was one or not.

To be continued...........