Chapter 25

“Brian? Are you here?” Justin called into the loft when he opened the door and frowned when he got no reply in return. Brian hadn't mentioned anything about wanting to go out, so Justin had expected him to be home.

“Brian?” Justin made his way through the loft and smiled to himself when he could hear water from the bathroom. Brian was most likely taking a shower. And Brian in the shower was always a nice sight. Justin smiled to himself as he made his way over, getting rid of his clothes as he made his way through the bedroom to the bathroom.

Once he opened the door, he smiled to himself when he saw Brian's naked form under the spray. He immediately felt his cock come to life, something that Brian's naked body always did to him. He quietly opened the shower door and joined Brian in the shower, gently running his hands over his boyfriend's back.

Brian nearly jumped to the ceiling, not having heard Justin come home and being surprised by him joining his shower. “Jesus Christ... Justin... Are you trying to kill me?”

“Hmmmm, not really... I was more thinking along the lines of loving you and then loving you some more and some more,” Justin whispered as he left small kisses all over Brian's backside, his hands now moving to Brian's chest and playing with his nipples.

“Hmmmmmmm, sounds nice,” Brian moaned, leaning into Justin's touch now that he had survived the shock of his surprise shower visitor.

“I thought you might like that,” Justin smiled to himself as he moved further down with his kisses, kneeling down on the floor of the shower, now moving his tongue down Brian's spine and further down between his cheeks.

Brian started moaning even more when Justin's tongue started teasing his hole, gently licking and lapping all around the sensitive skin.

It had taken Brian a long time until he had been ready to allow Justin access to his asshole in any form at all. He still wasn't ready to let Justin fuck him, which had nothing to do with him not trusting Justin, he trusted Justin more than anyone else in his life, but he just wasn't ready to be fucked. It still caused him so many bad memories to just think about being fucked, he definitely wasn't ready to let Justin do it. Thankfully Justin understood and wasn't pressuring him at all. Justin was a saint when it came to being patient with Brian and Brian knew that not many men would have been that patient with him. Other boyfriends would have demanded their turn to fuck him by now, but not Justin. Justin never brought it up and was happy enough with all the different ways they pleased each other even if it meant that he didn't get to fuck Brian and Justin had never complained, not even once.

When Brian had urged him to rim him for the first time about a year and a half ago, Justin had been so worried that he would hurt Brian or that Brian wasn't ready that in the end Brian nearly had to force him to go ahead. Brian knew that he wasn't ready for Justin to fuck him, but at the time rimming had felt just right. And now, as Justin's tongue was gently poking into his hole, he was reminded of why. Justin's tongue felt so good and he was so gentle, making sure that he wasn't hurting Brian in any way. Brian was truly lucky to have Justin by his side. He knew that.

When Justin's rhythm picked up and he nearly tongue-fucked Brian's ass, Brian started pulling and rubbing at his own dick. He knew it wouldn't take him long to come, it never did when Justin used his talented tongue on him. Brian synched his movements with the movements of Justin's tongue and soon after spurted his semen on the shower wall, groaning Justin's name as he came.

He was breathing heavily, resting his forehead against the cold shower tiles as Justin gave his asshole some last gentle licks.

“Jesus Christ... you did it...,” Brian whispered, still trying to catch his breath.

“Did what?” Justin smirked as he moved up and made Brian turn around, so he was looking at him. Justin's hard-on was poking into Brian's side.

“You killed me...,” Brian smiled, before he leaned down and caught Justin's mouth in a hungry, passion-filled kiss.

“Hmmmm, too bad... I was hoping my boyfriend would pay me back for my nice service offered. Whatever will I do now?”

“Hmmm, that's a real problem there, I must say...”

“You wouldn't know of any new boyfriends, would you? Anyone that would be willing to take over and take a chance on me?” Justin smiled, tongue in cheek.

“I might know of one or two, but lets be honest... they wouldn't be able to hold a candle to your last one. He was one of a kind,” Brian teased with a gentle smile on his lips. He loved when he and Justin got playful like that.

“That is true. He was... too bad I killed him,” Justin mused, pretending to look sad.

“Maybe he can be resurrected?” Brian suggested and Justin's face brightened up.

“How might I do that?” Justin asked, feigning total ignorance.

“You might have to inject him orally with the juice of life,” Brian suggested, before he sank down to his knees and took Justin's hard member into his mouth.

Justin started moaning and it was good that Brian was holding him up or he would have quickly fallen down, because as soon as Brian's lips had closed around his cock, his legs had started to turn to jelly. God, Brian's mouth was too damn talented.

It only took Justin a couple of minutes before he came in Brian's mouth and Brian swallowed eagerly. Once he had licked Justin clean and Justin had stopped riding the waves of his orgasm, Brian got up again and turned off the water in the shower, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

“I guess you're lucky. Looks like the juice of life has worked and has magically resurrected your boyfriend.”

“Lucky me, indeed,” Justin grinned, before he opened the shower and grabbed a towel that he handed to Brian, before he grabbed one for himself. Then he burst out laughing. “Juice of life? Really?”

Brian just shrugged, a grin on his face. “I am pretty sure my brain just short-circuited when your tongue was in my ass. Don't blame me for not being more creative. You know I can't think with your tongue in me.”

“Awwwww, poor Brian... Such a hard life,” Justin teased, before he pulled Brian towards the bedroom and onto their bed. They fooled around for a bit, before they ended up lying next to each other, their heads resting on the same pillow, touching slightly.

“How was the meeting?” Brian asked, his brain finally remembering how to work again and remembering why Justin had left the loft earlier that day. He had had a meeting with a prospective new client talking about some things he wanted Justin to work on.

“Good,” Justin smiled, slowly turning to Brian. “He really liked my ideas and we agreed that I would work on some designs to show him at the next meeting.”

“Hmmm, my super talented graphic designer boyfriend,” Brian smiled as he leaned over and kissed Justin gently.

“And don't you ever forget it,” Justin joked, playfully hitting Brian's stomach. Brian was just about to reply something when they were interrupted by their house phone ringing. With a groan Brian got up from the bed and moved over to pick up the phone.

“Yeah?... Hi Mel... how are you? Good! Yeah, he is... What? No way! Are you for real? Wow... okay... okay... and now? Okay... yeah... we will.”

Justin had only been able to hear Brian's side of the conversation and he could see the expression on Brian's face which was one of obvious disbelief. He wondered what Mel had called about and told Brian.

“Brian? Is everything okay?” Justin asked in concern as he made his way out of the bed as well and walked over to Brian's side.

“Yeah... no... I don't know...,” Brian muttered, looking at Justin in confusion.

“Is everything okay with Gus?” Justin asked in concern.

“I don't know... I guess... she didn't mention him.”

“Uhm, okay... so what did she want?” Justin frowned, wondering what had gotten Brian so flustered.

“The Supreme Court is going to hear our case,” Brian whispered, looking at Justin from wide eyes.

“What???” Justin's eyes widened as well and he just looked at Brian, pleading with him silently that this had better not be a bad joke. “Are you for real?”

Brian only nodded, before he found his voice again. “They have considered our case worth hearing and will hear oral arguments next month.”

“Next month?”

“Yeah... Mel has asked us to come by the office tomorrow, so we can go over everything in detail. Fuck... this is it... fuck...”

“Brian, it's gonna be alright,” Justin said quietly, not liking to see how agitated Brian was getting.

“What if... what if they also say no?” Brian looked at Justin from what could only be described as scared eyes.

“Don't worry about that now... we'll figure it out if it happens. What if they say yes?”

“Don't get my hopes up,” Brian warned his boyfriend, before wrapping him in his strong arms. “Fuck, the Surpreme Court of the United States.”

“This is what we have been fighting for, Brian,” Justin whispered, returning his boyfriend's embrace and leaning into him. Soon they would have an answer. One way or another.

***

In the weeks leading up to their case being heard by the Supreme Court of the United States, Brian and Justin had met with their lawyers on an almost daily basis. The media attention had gotten even worse now that the court case would be heard by the Supreme Court and much as they had feared, the case had now also garnered the attention of celebrities, politicians and even the White House.

Many celebrities had chosen to support Brian and Justin in their fight and the Ironmen had even played with anti-slavery ribbons in their last game to support their new local heroes as they had been called. Justin couldn't help but wonder if that had been organised by Drew to show their support for his friends. Who knew?

Unfortunately, the new attention, had also brought back side effects they had rather wished to avoid. Once more Brian's mother and sister had used the media attention to get their point across that Brian deserved to be a slave and deserved everything that had happened to him, just like Justin's father had once again defended his treatment of the slave.

The weeks leading up to their court date in Washington hadn't been easy on anyone, and Justin could still remember the night when Gus, who was now 5 ½ years old had stayed with them and had started asking the questions Brian had been so afraid of.

“Justin, why can't I play with Billy anymore?” the boy had asked, looking up at his second father from sad eyes.

“Who says you can't play with him anymore?” Justin asked, wondering what Gus was talking about. Billy had been Gus' best friend in pre-school and they had been as close as could be for the last couple of months. They had many playdates and sleepovers.

“Billy said he can't play with a slave son,” Gus said in a sad voice. “What is a slave son?” He looked up at Justin from big, sad hazel eyes and Justin's breath got stuck in his throat. Gus looked so much like Brian and right now Justin felt as if he was looking at a younger version of Brian. Oh shit, Brian. Justin hoped against hope that Brian, who had taken a shower earlier with Gus hadn't heard what Gus had said, but one look over his shoulder and he knew Brian had heard. He saw how Brian hung his shoulders and just looked defeated, before he turned around and nearly ran for the door to of loft. Fuck! Shit! Justin wanted to go after him, wanted to let him know that it was okay, but he couldn't because he needed to stay with Gus and Gus needed him right now. Maybe even more than Brian. Brian was an adult and would be okay for a while, but Gus... he wouldn't understand.

Justin sighed, before he turned back to Gus and looked at him from sad eyes. “Oh Gus... It's...it's not easy to explain...,” Justin started and was stopped by Gus interrupting him.

“It's something bad, isn't it? That's why Billy can't play with me anymore.”

“No, Gus. No... it's not bad. It really isn't. Billy... he... God, it's really hard to explain,” Justin stammered, trying desperately to come up with a way to explain their situation to a five year old. Justin gently sat down on the edge of Gus' bed which they had put in a corner of the living-room for when he was staying over and urged the boy to come and cuddle with him. “Come here.”

Gus immediately climbed into Justin's lap and leaned his head against his chest.

“You know that your daddy loves you very much, right?” Justin asked, wanting to make some things clear first.

“Yeah,” Gus nodded eagerly. “And I love, Daddy.” As if remembering his father, Gus started looking around. “Where is Daddy?” Usually Brian and Justin would take him to bed together.

“Daddy had to go out for a minute to meet with a friend. He'll be back soon,” Justin lied, hoping that he was right.

“Oh, why didn't he say good night first?”

“It was an emergency,” Justin continued lying, running a hand through Gus' auburn hair. “Anyway... your Daddy and I... we have known each other for a long time. Long before you were born already. And... back when your Daddy and I met... he was a slave in my family's home,” Justin started, wondering if Gus knew about slaves. Some kids grew up with slaves in their houses, but Gus was surrounded by anti-slavery advocates, so Justin wasn't all that sure.

“Your family owned Daddy?” Gus asked with big eyes. So apparently he knew about slaves after all. Justin wondered if Melanie and Lindsay had explained slavery to him or if it had come up somewhere else.

“Yes, they did,” Justin nodded, feeling at a loss of what to say. “And I loved your Daddy very much and he loved me, but... my father, he didn't like that. He didn't like me loving your daddy.”

“Why not? Why does he not like Daddy?” Gus asked from big, confused eyes. How anybody could not like his daddy was beyond the small boy. His daddy was a great guy.

“He was of the belief that your daddy was a lesser human being because he was our slave. That your daddy had less rights than you and I do because we owned him and... he thought that slaves should not have the same rights as people who are not slaves have.”

“But daddy is a nice man,” Gus interjected.

“That he is,” Justin agreed with a gentle smile. “My father is a bad man, Gus. He doesn't like people that don't think like him and he doesn't like people he thinks are not as good as he is. And... unfortunately there are many people in the world that agree with him. They think just because some people are slaves, they are lesser people and deserve less rights.”

“Do you think that, too?” Gus asked with a frown.

Justin chuckled at the small boy and shook his head. “No, I don't. Quite on the contrary. I love your daddy very much and I love him so much that I don't want him to be a slave anymore. I want him to be a free man like you and me.”

“I want Daddy to be free!” Gus exclaimed, looking at Justin from big eyes.

“I know you do, honey,” Justin whispered, tightening his hug of the small boy. “You are a good boy, Gus. Your daddy loves you very much and you make him very, very happy!”

“I love Daddy,” Gus said sincerely, meeting Justin's gaze.

“I know you do and... you know, Gus... at the moment, your mama, your daddy and I are trying to get your daddy his freedom back. We are talking to some judges soon about not having your daddy be a slave anymore. But some people... they don't like that we're trying to get your daddy to not be a slave anymore.”

“Why not?” Gus asked wide-eyed.

“I don't know,” Justin said honestly. “Some people are just not nice people and they like that they have more power than others. But your mama, your daddy and I... we're trying very hard to change that and... I guess Billy's parents might not like that we're trying to change it and that's why Billy might have said what he has said.”

“But... Billy was always so nice to me and we are best friends,” Gus said sadly.

“I know, honey. And I am sure you will be again soon,” Justin muttered, hoping that he was right. “I am sure Billy doesn't even really know what he's talking about. Maybe he has just heard some not so nice adults say these things about you and your daddy. Just remember: We all love you very much and your daddy loves you most of all of us!”

“I hope Daddy will be free soon. I don't want him to be a slave,” Gus said emphatically and Justin could only agree.

“I know. Neither do I.”

After Justin had read him a story, Gus had quickly fallen asleep, thankfully not asking any more questions about Brian and slaves and what was going on.

Justin knew that he would have to talk to Melanie and Lindsay about what Gus had said. So far they had mostly been able to keep the case and their court dates a secret from the little boy. There had been some concerns raised by his pre-school at one point when they had gotten some concerned messages from some of the other parents, but at the time Melanie and Lindsay had taken care of it and none of that had gotten through to Gus. This was the first time that Gus himself had been directly impacted by Brian's status as a slave. Something Justin knew Brian had always been scared about.

Several hours later, when Justin had already given up hope that Brian would return home that night and he had already gone to bed, he heard the metal sliding door open and saw Brian make his way back into the loft. Brian's shoulders were hunched and he looked smaller than he normally did and Justin worried about his state of mind. He watched as Brian crossed through the living-room and stopped by Gus' bed, leaning down at its side. When he still didn't move after several minutes, Justin decided to walk over and check up on him. He was worried about the state Brian would be in.

“Hey,” he whispered gently as he came closer to the older man and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly. “Are you okay?”

Justin wasn't really surprised when Brian shook his head and when he noticed his shaking shoulders, he knew that Brian was crying. He slowly slid down next to Brian and engulfed the taller man in a tight hug. “Shhhhh, it's okay.”

“No, it's not,” Brian whispered, his eyes never leaving Gus' sleeping form. “Nothing is fucking okay...”

“Brian, don't do this... Gus is alright.”

“No, no he's not. His best friend won't play with him because of me,” Brian angrily whispered, careful not to raise his voice too much as not to wake up Gus.

“Brian, that is not your fault. Don't go blaming yourself for something that is out of your control,” Justin whispered, hating to see Brian like this.

“I knew this would happen. I fucking knew it...”

“We all did, Brian. We all knew this day would come and we all knew we would deal with it,” Justin said quietly.

Brian just snorted. “Yeah... deal with it... I ran away like the coward I am.”

“You're not a coward, Brian. Don't say that.”

“I couldn't even fucking look him in the eye and explain to him why his best friend won't play with him anymore...”

“And you didn't have to. That's what you have me for. That's what Melanie and Lindsay are here for. You're not alone, Brian. Gus has four parents that love him very much. You're not alone. Don't carry the fucking weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“It's my fault... we should have never told him. I knew he would suffer because of it,” Brian hiccupped through his tears and Justin ran a gentle hand up and down his backside.

“Don't say that. He's alright, Brian. Gus is a smart boy. He loves you so much and he wants you to be a free man. He wants you to be happy, you know? So what if one of his friends is an asshole. That's life. He would have learned that lesson sooner or later anyway.”

“He shouldn't learn it at five years old,” Brian muttered angrily, breaking free of Justin's grasp and getting up. Justin followed Brian into the kitchen and watched as he got himself a bottle of water from the fridge.

“No, no, he shouldn't. But we can't change that now, Brian. All we can do is be there for him and support him. That's what he needs from us. That's what he needs from you!”

“I can't... I fucking can't... I feel like I am going under... like I am fucking drowning...,” Brian whispered and Justin could hear the anguish in his voice.

“Brian?” Justin asked, feeling slightly scared of what Brian meant with that statement.

“I just want it to be fucking over. I... I want our lives to return to normal again. I don't want to turn on the fucking TV every time and see our damn faces all over every fucking news show. I... I just want us to be us again... Is that too much to ask? I just want my son to have a fucking normal childhood with his friends.”

“Brian... it'll be over soon. In a month it will all be over. You know that...,” Justin whispered gently, once more walking over to the older man and hugging him.

“And then?”

“And then all our lives will return to normal, one way or the other,” Justin whispered.

“Aren't you tired of this shit?” Brian asked, wondering how Justin could stay so calm.

“You have no idea,” the younger man chuckled, his eyes shining when he looked at Brian and their gazes met. “I am fucking tired of it all, but... if this is what we have to do... if this is the price that we have to pay... then I'll pay it gladly if it means that at the end of it all you'll have your freedom back.”

“And if not? If all of this was for nothing?” Brian asked in a pained voice.

“Then we'll at least know that we've tried all we could... We've done everything in our power to change the status quo. We have fought as hard as we could and we'll never have to ask ourselves 'What if?'. And most of all: We'll make it work. Just like we always have. Brian and Justin against the rest of the world,” Justin said seriously.

“Brian and Justin... against the rest of the world,” Brian whispered, a small smile gracing his lips. “God, how do you put up with me and my drama queen moments?”

“You're damn good in bed. It would be a pity to lose that,” Justin winked, feeling relieved when Brian laughed and his attempt at a joke had worked.

“I love you, you know that?”

“Hmmmm, I think you mentioned it once or twice,” Justin smiled.

“Once or twice? That won't do! I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you,...”

Justin leaned in and shut Brian up by gently kissing him. “I think I got it.”

“Good, I never want you to doubt.”

“I don't and never have,” Justin whispered, before he started pulling Brian towards the bedroom. Once they lay down, Justin laid a hand on Brian's chest. “Where did you go?”

“Just walked around... tried to clear my head... ended up at the diner for a coffee and got a free lecture from Debbie on top,” Brian made a face and Justin laughed at the expression on Brian's face.

“Did you tell her what was going on?” Justin asked.

Brian shook his head. “She probably thought it was nerves because of the Supreme Court Date.”

“Well, it's not like she would be far off with that one either,” Justin chuckled, but then turned serious again as he turned to look at Brian.

“Gus will be fine, okay? Don't you ever worry about him. He has so many people that love him and you have no idea how much that boy adores you.”

“What did you tell him?”

“The truth... or as much of the truth as a five year old can understand. That some people in this world aren't nice and like to be in control over other people, but that his mama, his daddy and I are trying to change that and that we're trying very hard to give his daddy the freedom he deserves. He was all for that.”

“I am sorry I left you alone to deal with that,” Brian whispered, resting his forearm on his face. “I should have explained it to him.”

“Hey, it's okay. I know how much stress you're under. Don't worry about it, okay? Gus is fine, I am fine and you will be, too. That's all that matters,” Justin said quietly, before he rested his head on Brian's chest and no more words were spoken that night. There would be enough times for more words over the next couple of days. They both knew that.

The following weeks leading up to their Supreme Court date hadn't necessarily been any easier, but at least they all knew that they were finally getting closer to a final decision. It would be over soon. One way or another, they would know for sure soon what would become of Brian's slave status.