Chapter 7

“Brian, are you sure this is okay? We don't have to go if you don't want to,” Justin said once more, probably for the tenth time by now. He really wasn't sure if going to dinner at Debbie's was a good idea.

Brian had been awfully quiet, even more than was usual for him, after they had returned from the diner and had mostly hidden away in the bedroom, pretending to be taking a nap. Justin had known that Brian wasn't really asleep and he had known that Brian had probably lied about being tired, so Justin would leave him alone.

Now, as they were getting ready for dinner, Brian still hadn't really said anything and Justin was growing more and more concerned with each passing minute. To him it was obvious that Brian was not ready for this dinner. While it had appeared at the diner that he was really excited about the idea of meeting Michael again, Justin now felt as if Brian was scared.

“I want to,” the older man just said quietly as he combed his hair in front of the bathroom mirror. They had taken quick showers earlier and were now getting dressed again.

“I... That's not really the impression I am getting here,” Justin pointed out, throwing Brian a worried glance from the doorway where he was standing and watching his boyfriend from concerned eyes.

Brian sighed, then turned away from the mirror to look at Justin. “I want to. Really,” the brunet said once more, before he brushed past Justin into the bedroom and picked up some clothes to wear.

“Then why aren't you talking to me? Why are you being this weird?” Justin had turned around and watched as Brian was getting dressed.

“I am not being weird,” Brian sighed. He locked eyes with Justin and saw the younger man just raise an eyebrow in silence.

Locking gazes for several moments, Brian finally lowered his and sat down on the bed with a loud sigh. “Okay, I am being weird...,” he admitted on a whisper, hiding his face in his hands.

Glad to have gotten at least that much of a confirmation from Brian, Justin moved over and sat down next to his boyfriend, taking one of his hands in his own and holding on tightly. “Why? Is everything alright?”

Justin could see that Brian was struggling with what he wanted to say and he gave him all the time he needed to get his thoughts in order. When Brian started speaking, he listened intently, wanting to help the man he loved in any way he could.

“It's... just overwhelming...you know?” The brunet muttered as he turned pained hazel eyes to the younger man. “I... I haven't thought about Debbie or Michael in years and... seeing Debbie and knowing that I will also see Michael again... it has just brought back a lot of memories and... not all of them welcome. I... it's just a lot to deal with.”

At the mention of the unwelcome memories, Justin frowned in concern. “I thought they had been friends. That you liked them.”

“They were, but...,” Brian ran his left hand through his freshly combed hair, completely messing up his hair once more. “I... thinking back to all the times Debbie has taken care of me and... all the things Michael and I have done... thinking back to school and everything... it... it has also brought back memories of... my parents...,” Brian ended in a whisper. “I... I had pushed those memories away for years, but today... they resurfaced and... I wasn't prepared for that.”

At the mention of Brian's parents, Justin could only shudder. He knew that Brian had been sold into slavery by his own parents and he had heard the stories from Debbie about how his parents had treated Brian when he had still been living with them. How they had hurt him, had blamed him for their own miserable life and how Brian's life had already been hell before he had been sold to become a slave. How Brian had worked so hard in school to make it out of there and have a chance at a better life. How ambitious Brian had been to attend college and make a career for himself. Justin could only imagine how painful those memories had to be for Brian.

“I... I am sorry, Brian. And here I am pressuring you to talk to me and... I am sorry.”

“I... I just need time to deal with that. I... I needed time to confront those...demons from my past,” Brian whispered and Justin could only nod. He could understand. He honestly had no idea what Brian was feeling right now, but he could imagine how he would feel in Brian's situation and he would have been a total mess, he knew that much.

“We should stay in tonight. I will call Debbie. She will understand,” Justin started and got up from the bed, walking over to his desk where his phone was.

“NO!” Brian shouted after the younger man and followed him.

Justin turned around and frowned at Brian. “No?”

“I... I want to go. I really want to,” Brian said quietly. “And we... I promised that we would come.”

“Brian, Debbie will understand. Don't worry about that. We can do this another time. When you're more ready to face all of this. She and Michael will both understand.”

Justin watched as the brunet slowly walked over to him and left a soft kiss on his mouth. “You are the best, do you know that?”

“What?”

“You are the most considerate man I have ever met. You're... you're always worried about other people's feelings first and you're always trying to do what's right. I... I have no idea what I did to deserve to end up here with you,” Brian whispered, before he leaned in once more, this time deepening the kiss that followed his statement.

After a while Justin broke the kiss and looked at Brian from shining eyes. “I love you, it's as simple as that. I want you to be happy, Brian.”

“I am.”

When Justin threw a doubtful gaze in Brian's direction, the older man gently ran his hands across Justin's cheeks and held his face so their gazes were locked.

“I really am, Justin and it's all thanks to you. You... being here with you... It has made me happier than I have been in years. In all my life, really... It's just so much to take in and... sometimes I need time wrapping my head around everything that has happened. I am sorry if I am worrying you. I am sorry if I am shutting you out. I don't mean to... I... I just need time sometimes to really wrap my head around everything that's going on. So much has changed recently and... it's all because of you. Because you love me and... sometimes I just have a hard time believing all of this is true.”

“It is,” Justin whispered, lovingly gazing at Brian.

“Just bear with me. I... I realise that I have to be the worst boyfriend ever, but... I will try to do better. I will.”

“Just love me, that's all I need from you,” Justin whispered, before he closed the distance between them and leaned in for another kiss.

“I can do that,” Brian promised into the kiss.

When they broke apart after several minutes, Justin eyed his boyfriend carefully. “You would tell me if you didn't want to go, right?”

“I would, but... I really want to go. I... really want to see them again and maybe get a chance to reconnect with Debbie and Michael.”

“You do realise that Debbie is never letting you out of her sight again? Now that she has another of her lost boys to take care of, she'll turn all motherly on you. She will fatten you up and will smother you in love,” Justin chuckled.

“I think I can deal with that,” Brian smiled and Justin could see the honesty in Brian's eyes. Brian wanted this and maybe Brian even needed this. Maybe having Debbie and Michael back in his life was just what Brian needed to help him deal with his past and come to terms with it and help him accept his new reality with Justin. Maybe reconnecting with Debbie and Michael would help him overcome some of his demons. Justin really hoped so. All he wanted was for his boyfriend to be happy. After everything Brian had been through, that was the least he deserved.

***

Justin rang the doorbell, holding on tightly to Brian's right hand, squeezing it in support. “Are you ready?” He asked as he turned to look at him.

“As ready as I'll ever be,” the brunet replied quietly, a gentle smile on his face.

The door opened only seconds later and before either of them could react, Debbie had engulfed them both in crushing hugs. “I thought you had bailed on me. Sunshine, you know dinner is at 7,” she admonished as she looked at the blond sternly. “You're late.”

“Sorry about that, Debbie, we were held up,” Justin apologised, not wanting to get into the reason for their delay. He didn't want to put Brian on the spot like that.

“Couldn't get enough of this handsome specimen, huh?” She winked as she nodded at Brian, pulling him into the house with her. “Can't blame you, Sunshine.”

Brian just followed wordlessly and took everything in. He remembered Debbie's house, he remembered coming here after school with Michael and doing homework together, preparing for tests and just getting up into all kinds of trouble as teenage boys did. Most of all however, he remembered the atmosphere of this house. There had always been love in the air. Not like his house where you had to watch your every move and every word, where everything he had done had been wrong anyway. Here, love had been present in every corner. Be it in the food that Debbie so lovingly prepared for him and Michael, be it in all the pictures she would put up of them and other loved ones, be it in the way she would keep presents from Michael and put them on display to show how much she loved them and him. Brian had never felt unwelcome in this house and had always loved coming here.

“It still feels the same,” he whispered in awe and frowned when he realised that he had actually said that out loud.

Debbie turned to him and eyed him curiously. “What did you say, honey?”

“Just... I always loved coming to your house and... it still feels as warm and welcoming as it did back then,” he repeated, this time blushing.

“And you'll always be welcome here, Brian. Always,” she smiled at him widely, then pulled him over to the living-room where Brian saw an older man eye him with a friendly warm gaze. “Carl, honey, this is Brian. Brian Kinney. Brian, this is Carl, my husband. He works for the Pittsburgh PD.”

“It's nice to finally get to meet you, Brian. I have heard so much about you from both Debbie and Justin,” the older man said quietly, holding out his hand for Brian to shake.

“It's nice to meet you, too,” Brian replied, remembering what Justin had told him about Carl. That Carl had helped him find Brian at Sappersteins. “I... I think I have to thank you for everything you have done to help Justin to find me and...,” Brian started, but was interrupted by the older man.

“Don't mention it. It was the least I could do to help you and Justin.”

Not wanting to dwell on the sombre mood that was starting to settle as everyone started to think about what they had actually saved Brian from, Justin came up at Brian's side, leaning into the older man and waving at Carl in greeting.

Justin started some small talk with the police officer, steering the topic of conversation away from Brian and his past, knowing that the brunet was already tense enough as it was, without having to think about his past as well.

When the doorbell rang again, Debbie hurried to the door with a muffled “That must be Michael, Ben and Hunter.”

She had been right and greeted her son and son-in-law and their adopted son, ushering them into the living-room.

“Is everything okay, mom? Why the urgent invite to dinner? Not that we mind coming, but,” Michael started and only stopped when he saw that they were not alone and that Justin was also there with what Michael assumed was his boyfriend. He had of course heard all about the slave called Brian that the young man had been in love with ever since he had been a teen and that slave had been his tutor and he had of course known about Carl's attempts to help Justin find said boyfriend. He had also known that a few weeks ago they had been successful and that Justin and his Brian had been reunited two weeks ago. When Michael's eyes widened at the sight of the man that Justin was leaning into, he couldn't help but gasp. “Brian?”

“Hi Mikey,” Brian said quietly, looking at what used to be his best friend in quite some trepidation. Justin could feel how tense Brian had gotten and wrapped his arm around the older man, rubbing gentle, soothing circles on his back, trying to support him that way.

“Oh my god, Brian!” Michael exclaimed once more, before he ran over, engulfing Brian in a crushing hug. Justin quickly let go of his boyfriend, allowing the two friends their reunion. “I can't believe it's you!” Michael whispered over and over again as he held onto Brian tightly.

Justin watched from gentle eyes as the two friends held each other and both shed some tears at their reunion.

“Wait... your Brian is Justin's Brian?” Ben asked in bewilderment, having been aware of both of them having had connections to a slave called Brian, but having assumed just like everyone else that they were different Brians.

“Yep,” Justin just nodded, his voice too choked up to say much more. He felt so happy for Brian that he was finally reunited with his friend.

“That's freaky,” Hunter mumbled, watching on with the slight disinterest only a teenager could muster. “How come you never figured out it was the same person?”

Debbie turned away from the reunion happening in her living-room and eyed the other men in the room. “It's unbelievable, but... I guess his last name never came up.”

“Justin shared it with me, but since our investigation into Brian's whereabouts never concerned Debbie or Michael, we never talked about it much and just refered to Brian as Brian. It's amazing that we only found out today when Justin took Brian to the diner and Debbie recognised him,” Carl explained and everyone just nodded.

By now Michael and Brian were slowly pulling apart, both having tears all over their faces. “I can't believe it's you, Brian. I was so worried about you... You have no idea. Are you okay? Are you alright?”

“I am now,” Brian whispered and his eyes met Justin's across the room. Michael followed Brian's gaze and smiled.

“I can't believe that you're dating my best friend from school, boy wonder,” Michael chuckled and Justin could only laugh in return.

“Yeah, I didn't expect that either. But... turns out it's a small world after all,” Justin smiled and slowly made his way over to wrap his arms around Brian once more, leaning into the older man.

“Brian, you have to meet Ben and Hunter. Ben, Hunter, come over here. This is Brian, my best friend from school. You remember the stories I have told you?”

Both made their way over and greeted Brian, being introduced by Michael. “This is Ben, he's my husband. We married in Canada last year and he's a professor at CMU. And this rascal here is Hunter, our adopted son.”

“Nice to meet you,” Brian said, his voice still emotional from his earlier reunion with his best friend.

Brian looked around the people in Debbie's living-room and once again felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere of love he had always connected with this house. He once again felt that love as well. There wasn't one weird look, not one bad remark about his status as a slave and everyone just seemed to welcome him into the fold of their weird family.

“I... I want to thank you all for what you did for Justin when... when he needed you. He... he has told me so much about what you did for him and... I am grateful he had you all by his side when...,” Brian wasn't able to finish his sentence, but they all understood what he wanted to say. When he couldn't be.

“Brian,” Justin whispered, tightening his embrace of the brunet. “It's okay.”

Brian nodded and leaned down, so their lips could meet in a soft kiss. He needed to feel Justin, if only in that short kiss.

Everyone watched with emotion before Debbie decided that the evening had turned emotional enough.

“Come on, everyone. Dinner is ready. We've spilled enough tears for one night.”

They all settled around the table she had prepared and she started serving two huge casseroles full with her famous Mac&Tuna casserole.

Brian's eyes widened when he saw the dish and he looked up at Debbie from teary eyes. “You remembered...”

“I told you I'd make your favourite. Now eat, you're way too thin, honey!” She urged him and smiled as everyone started eating and soft conversation settled around the table.

Everyone talked and had fun and Brian immediately felt welcome and at home around these people. They all treated him normally and spoke to him without any disdain in their voice, without looking down on him and treated him just as Justin's boyfriend and Michael's long lost best friend, not like the slave he was and had been treated as for years.

It felt strange at first, different, but the longer the evening went on and the more he relaxed, Brian realised that he had missed this normalcy in his life. That he had missed normal things like having a dinner with friends and family and that he had just missed normalcy. He could get used to that feeling, he knew it. And that was a dangerous thought. He was well aware of that, but for the moment he didn't want to think about it, for the moment he only wanted to enjoy the normalcy and wanted to enjoy having his best friend back in his life and being treated like a long-lost family member by everyone else at the table.