Net Friends

Chapter 6

Justin went back to the loft after leaving Rue at the motel. He wondered if Brian would be there or if he would have gone somewhere with the guys. As he slid back the loft door, he wasn't sure whether he wanted Brian to be home or he wanted to be alone.

Brian was there.

"Hey, Sunshine," Brian grinned. "The 'Vette still in one piece?"

"Yeah," Justin responded curtly.

"What's up?" Brian asked studying his young lover.

"Nothing."

"Your communication skills tonight could use a little work," Brian said sarcastically.

"I'm not in the mood." Justin knew now that he wished Brian had been out.

"I know I'm going to regret this, but what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Justin snapped.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"Have you eaten?"

"No."

"Want to?"

"Yes."

"Chinese?"

"Sure."

"I'll order."

"Good."

"By the time the food gets here do you think you could find a different, if not better, attitude?"

"I doubt it."

"Thanks a bunch."

"I'm gonna lie down for a minute."

Brian's eyebrows shot up. "Lie down? Are you sick?"

"No."

"Headache?"

"You're giving me one."

"Well, excuuuse me!"

"You're excused."

Brian was about to say something really snarky, but he bit his tongue and watched Justin climb the steps to the bedroom. Maybe once the food arrived and they ate something, they'd both be in a better mood. Brian was pretty sure Justin's mood must have come from something that happened with Rue. He might be able to find out more over dinner, before he met the pudgy one at Babylon. He could hardly wait for that.

A half hour later Brian came up the steps to find Justin lying on his back staring at the ceiling.

"Dinner should be here any minute," Brian said.

"Thanks."

"Justin, what's going on? Something's put you in a funk."

Justin let out a long breath. "I don't want to be told that you were right and I was wrong."

"Tell me what happened. I won't say anything."

"Yeah, right!"

"I mean it. You need to get it out."

"Okay, but I don't want criticism." Brian nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. "I really like Rue even if he isn't exactly what I expected," Justin explained.

When he hesitated Brian felt the need to do a little prodding. "So what happened?"

"We went clothes shopping this afternoon to get him something to wear to Babylon."

"And…?"

"He was … strange."

"Strange, how?"

"It's hard to explain. I took him to Torso and Tyler waited on us. He found some stuff for Rue to try on which wasn't exactly easy. Rue got mad and refused to try anything on. He thought Tyler was making fun of him or … I was."

"You?"

"I know he was worried about finding something appropriate for Babylon, but he was kind of nasty to Tyler … and me."

"Asshole," Brian exclaimed.

"It wasn't that bad … exactly. We went to the next store and I didn't say anything. He actually got an outfit from there, but he lectured me about how to handle salespeople … like I was an inexperienced child, and … oh, I don't know."

"He upset you," Brian said brushing a lock of hair from Justin's forehead.

"Yeah, he did … but I'm not even sure why. He didn't do anything that bad."

"He let you down," Brian said knowingly. "He didn't meet your expectations of him."

The buzzer rang then, heralding the arrival of their dinner. Brian got up and went to answer it. Justin decided he should get up too. Brian's last words were rolling around in his head.

Brian paid the delivery boy making sure he had his sesame noodles. When he turned around he found Justin setting out plates on the coffee table. He carried the food over there. He hoped their little chat had made Justin feel better.

They dished up some food and sat down side by side on the old sofa. They ate in silence for a bit.

"Brian," Justin finally said. "What did you mean about Rue not living up to my expectations?"

"Just what I said."

"But I tried not to have expectations. I tried to base what I thought of Rue on what I knew about him and what I learned since he got here."

"But what you think you know based on internet IM's, isn't always what it seems."

"You keep saying that like you know from personal experience."

"Not from the internet."

"What then?"

Brian sighed. He really didn't like talking about his past especially when it showed him to be stupid. However, he knew that Justin probably needed to hear it. "A long, long, long time ago before the internet was so widespread and chats meant actually talking to someone…"

Justin gave him a swat and told him to continue.

"Back in the stone ages when I was in elementary school one of my wise and caring teachers had her class sign up for penpals."

"You had a penpal?"

"Yep."

"Who was he?"

"His name was Mark. He was from Warwick in England and we wrote to each other for about six years."

"That's a long time. You must have really liked him."

"Oddly I did, and I thought he liked me too."

"So what happened?"

"For the first couple of years we wrote every month, telling about school and our adventures in growing up. His family wasn't too well off, but they had some money, more than mine. We often wrote about how we should meet when we turned eighteen. After what happened in the shower with my coach, I wrote him about it. I told him I was gay."

"You did? I can't imagine you telling that to anyone back then."

"I couldn't tell it to anyone I knew, so my penpal was the best I could do."

"Did you wonder if he would turn against you and stop writing?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, but I took the chance. I wanted to see if he would accept me or reject me. Being so far away from each other I didn't think it would matter which way it went."

"Which way did it go?"

"Surprisingly I got a letter back right away saying that Mark thought he was gay too, but he had never acted on it."

"Wow, what a coincidence!"

"Yeah," Brian said the irony evident in his voice.

"What?"

"Let me finish my story," Brian admonished. "We were both fifteen by this point. I had moved to the neighborhood where my mother still lives. I had met Mikey … and Debbie. I knew I was gay. I still wrote to Mark, but he never mentioned any more about his own sexuality. I assumed that he was gay too and told him a lot about what happened to me on Liberty Avenue and at school."

"Was he supportive?"

"He seemed to be, always said the right thing at the right time. Then when I was sixteen, maybe seventeen, the letters stopped coming, no explanation, no reason given. I wrote him a couple of times afterwards, but when he never responded, I stopped writing too."

"Was that the end of it?"

"I wish," Brian snorted.

"What happened?"

Brian sighed again. "This is the good part. My last year in high school the class trip was to England. I bet you can guess the rest."

"You went and met him." Brian nodded. "Did your parents let you go? Did they pay?" Justin asked.

"Are you nuts? I never told them I was going until the morning I left. I was eighteen by then and they couldn't really stop me. My granny gave me the money to go as a graduation present."

"You never talk about your granny," Justin observed. "She sounds nice. Did you have other grandparents around while you were growing up?"

"That's for another time," Brian said. Justin liked the implication of that statement, that there would be another time and that Brian would tell him about his family. He smiled contentedly and let Brian continue. "So I head off to merry old England. I had a great time in London and then we went to Stonehenge and stayed overnight in Warwick. I really wanted to meet Mark. I still thought of him as the sympathetic kid from the letters we had exchanged. I even thought we … might get together." Brian looked at the floor thinking about how stupid that idea had been. "I got the phone book and looked up Mark's number based on the house number from his address. I called and asked for him. His mother put him on and I explained who I was. Mark seemed excited at first, then kind of reserved. He agreed to meet me at a pub not far from where we were staying. I had a picture of Mark when he was about twelve, so I sort of thought I'd know him. He had one of me too. I ordered a pint and waited. Finally I saw him come through the door."

"What did he look like?"

"Just like I imagined he would. He was quite handsome and strong and … perfect."

"No shit!"

Brian snorted. "He recognized me too. I wanted to hug him but I could feel this wall between us, so I held out my hand and we shook. It was … awkward. He sat down and we had a beer and chatted about what he was doing. He was going to Oxford the following year. Did I mention he was very smart too?"

"No," Justin replied wondering what could have gone wrong with this perfect creature.

"He said he was going to be a lawyer. That should have been my first clue. I can't stand lawyers."

"Especially a certain female one?" Justin giggled.

Brian gave him a look and let the comment pass. "Before we finished our drinks, I had to ask him why he stopped writing to me. He said that he realized he wasn't gay and didn't know how to break that to me after he had 'let on' that he was. It was like he had pretended to be gay to support me." Brian shook his head at the memory.

"So he wasn't gay?"

"Of course, he was … is! He was trying to make himself believe that he wasn't, but my gaydar is almost never wrong, and it wasn't wrong in this case."

"Did you call him on it?"

"No, what would have been the point? He would have just denied it. We finished our drinks and walked out of the pub. I hoped we could stay in touch, but then something happened."

"What?"

"Down the street a gang of three or four guys was kicking the shit out of someone. The poor guy was lying on the ground defenseless while the others kicked at him. I yelled at Mark to come with me to help him. We ran down the street. When we got closer, Mark yelled at me to wait. I turned around and he was calling to the kickers. They stopped and waved at him. The guy that was being beaten up managed to escape while Mark distracted them. I thought he had done a good thing until I realized that he knew the fucking assholes. They were his friends. They came over and Mark introduced us, giving me this funny look, like to keep my mouth shut. Mark said he was sorry, sorry for helping the guy escape. One of his friends said that they were just about finished kicking the shit out of the pathetic fag anyway. Somebody else made a rude comment about poofs and Mark laughed along with them. I knew I had to get out of there or I'd be the next poof getting his ribs kicked in."

"And Mark just let you go?"

"He was happy to see me go so that he could get on with his happy, hetero, lawyer life with no one would be any the wiser."

"Shit!"

"I looked back at them once just as Mark glanced back. I could see this look of pity and contempt and 'thank God he's leaving' on his face. I never saw him again."

"He turned out to be so different from what you expected," Justin observed. "I see now why you said that to me."

"I was trying to warn you."

"I understand that, but Rue hasn't done anything like that."

"I didn't mean that he would. I just had this feeling that he would turn out to be so different from what you expected and hoped that you wouldn't be hurt by it."

"Thanks for worrying about me," Justin said. He slid closer to Brian on the couch. "I really appreciate it."

"Do you now?"

"Oh, yes."

Justin wrapped his arms around Brian's neck and kissed his full lips plunging his tongue inside. He pulled back a little and looked into Brian's eyes. He wished Brian understood how much he loved him. He captured Brian's lips again and sucked on the bottom one. He finally broke the kiss and pushed Brian back against the couch. He unbuttoned Brian's jeans and pulled out his thickening cock. He licked up one side and down the other, holding it like a popsicle and sucking like it was a hot day in July. Brian sighed and slumped back into the couch allowing his head to fall back and rest against the back of the couch.

Justin sucked on the head running his tongue back and forth along the slit. He licked his lips as he collected the precum. He deposited it along the shaft and slid his lips down doing his best to take it all and bury his nose in Brian's pubic hair. He blew out through his nose and heard Brian sigh in satisfaction.

"I'm going to ride you," Justin promised. "Ride you like you've never been ridden before."

Brian's eyes opened. He smiled at his lover and knew that what he said was the truth. He could ask for nothing better.

Justin slid off the couch and disrobed as quickly as he could. Brian watched him through eyes heavy with lust. This slender sprite, this boy-man, this sexual animal was all his. He was a creature like none other and Brian was finally beginning to realize that.

Brian accepted the condom Justin handed him. He ripped it open with his teeth in his patented manner. He slid it the length of his dick which still stood tall and proud waiting for Justin to fulfill his promise. Justin squirted lube into his hand and slathered it along Brian's length. He then took his lubed finger and leaning over so his ass was at Brian's face level he reached under himself and slid the finger into his ass. He felt his ass contract around it as he worked it in and out a couple of times. Brian groaned at the sight wanting his dick to take the place of the finger. Justin added a second finger and repeated the process. Brian groaned more loudly and Justin turned to grin at him over his shoulder.

"Little shit, I can't wait any longer."

"Right thing to say," Justin said his grin growing wider.

He stood up and stepped up onto the couch one foot on each side of Brian. His dick bobbed in front of him above Brian's head. Brian reached up and ran his hand up and down it a couple of times marveling at the pure, white skin of Justin's thighs. Justin leaned back as Brian's strokes grew faster. Brian grabbed Justin's legs to steady him and make sure that he didn't fall backwards. Finally Justin's hand closed over Brian's stopping the strokes.

"Ready?" he asked looking down at the face he loved.

Brian nodded and Justin squatted above him. Brian held his dick at the ready as Justin lowered himself onto the mushroom head. He threw his own head back in pleasure as the cock spread him wide and filled him up. He sat on Brian's lap relishing the fullness, the tightness, the connection between them.

Brian stared into his eyes, then pulled Justin's head close for a soul-searing kiss. He bucked up from beneath Justin shoving his dick so far up the boy's ass that he thought he could taste it at the back of Justin's mouth. They both groaned at the sensation.

Justin raised his hips and felt Brian's dick slide partially out. As the head approached his hole he clamped down with his anal muscles ensuring that it didn't fall out. Brian let out a puff of air as Justin did. Justin sat down hard on Brian's thighs, the cock once again fully up his ass. This elicited another groan. Brian jabbed up wanting to be even farther inside his lover. Justin rose up again and repeated his actions. He sat down once again.

"God, Justin!" Brian gasped as the sensations coursed through him.

Justin began to bounce up and down on Brian's cock, his arms wrapped around the man's neck to steady himself and give him leverage. Brian continued to grunt and groan and thrust into the willing ass. His hand sought Justin's dick and began stroking once again. They called out each other's name and kissed when they could slow their motions long enough to do so. Justin's bouncing was bordering on the frantic when Brian shouted, "Now!" and came with enormous force. He felt his cum shoot again and again into the condom as Justin's cum spewed forth over their chests

Brian's arms went around Justin's back to steady him. They clung to each other as their orgasms washed over them. Justin laid his head against Brian's cheek feeling Brian's cock still up his ass. He never wanted it to leave.

After a bit he felt Brian shift and lay them down on the sofa. Justin felt Brian's dick slide free and Brian fumbled to remove the condom. The old afghan his mother had given them was pulled over their bodies. Justin snuggled against Brian when he was finished.

"That was spectacular, Sunshine," Brian said softly and kissed Justin's cheek.

"It always is," Justin whispered back.

"Do we have to go to Babylon tonight?"

"I promised," Justin said sleepily. "I have to take Rue."

"Okay," Brian said grudgingly.

"And you said you'd be there too."

"I know I did."

"And you will be there?"

"I always do what I say."

"Except when something comes up," Justin said with a grin.

"My something only comes up for you these days."

Justin was immediately alert. Had he just heard what he thought he heard? "Did you just say …?"

"Never mind," Brian said sternly.

Justin knew better than to pursue it when he heard that tone of voice. He laid his head against Brian's chest and smiled to himself. He had heard right and he liked what he had heard.

"I wish Rue was going home tonight. Then I could stay right here all night."

"The bed's more comfortable," Brian said tongue in cheek.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, it sounded like you want to get rid of your friend."

"Frankly I do. I'll be glad to see the back of him."

"Does he have that great an ass?"

"Ew, I don't want to think about Rue's ass in any context whatsoever."

Brian chuckled. "But you're ready to have him leave?"

"I like him better as a net friend than as a real person. I think the sooner we go back to that arrangement the better."

"I couldn't agree more," Brian stated and kissed his lover heartily.

They lay entwined for a long time relishing the quiet time together. They both knew that the trip to Babylon was going to be interesting. They each hoped it wouldn't turn ugly.