This whole thing was going to blow up in his face, he just knew it. Brian didn’t do this kind of trick. In fact, any kind of trick had been off the table since Justin got back from New York last Christmas. When Gus had called him and told him about his April Fools day trick, Justin was less than enthused about it. Gus was only eleven, so he didn’t have a wide array of ideas but this one had to be the very bottom. Brian was going to kill them all.

The paint he covered Brian’s brand-new leather couch with was washable, not only that the oils wouldn’t mess with the leather. Justin wasn’t sure he’d live long enough for the rest of the joke before Brian killed him.

Just as he was ‘fixing up’ the kitchen, he heard the keys in the door. They lived in the loft during the weekdays, it just made it easier to get from work and back at a decent time for Brian. Justin quickly ran to the bedroom and hid in the closet. The irony was not lost on him. Justin listened to Brian slid open the door. He waited for some kind of sign from Brian.

“What the fuck!?!” Brian yelled. It was followed by a strange sound, it took a minute to place it. It was the sound of hitting. He knew he couldn’t open the closet because if he moved, Brian would see him through the obscure glass door. From what he could make out from the angle, it looked like Brian was hitting and kicking the couch. Finally, he stopped, taking out something.

“I need you over here now,” pause “I think Justin found out about Rico. It wasn’t even that good of a blowjob. Not worth the trouble, this is why I didn’t tell Justin in the first place. I knew he’d be a drama queen.”

Justin’s blood started to boil. He never expected Brian to stop tricking, Brian was the one to say he was done with it. Justin made him promise that there would be no cheating, if he wanted to fuck someone else, he just had to tell him. After what Justin had done with Ethan sometimes, he wondered if Brian would ever do the same…a kind of revenge.

“I’ll meet you outside, I need to find Rico to see if he was the one to tell Justin.”

It had to be Michael he was talking to; the others were just as much his friends as Brian’s. Rico? Rico was a moron. He worked for Brian, Justin was surprised he made it to work everyday and not chase after a bag being carried away in the wind. He was also ugly, but he was younger than Justin. He was barely twenty-five. It was sickening just thinking about. He wondered how it happened.

The door jerked him out of his reverie. Brian was gone, meaning Justin could get out of the closet now. His heart was shattered. There was no reason to stay, none at all. He thought he and Brian changed, that they both grew while apart. It was now he saw how wrong it was. Just as he stepped out of the closet another thought occurred to him. It was about Rico. A long-ago conversation he had with he younger man. Rico was only attracted to a very certain kind of person. He only dated, fucked, loved and spent intimate time with drag queens. Brian was very far from his type. That meant Brian would have to be the one to come on to Rico and Rico would think his job rested on it. Both things were laughably absurd. That meant only one thing. He was being had. Even if Brian were in the wrong the couch he would have been pissed him off if he hadn’t already known about it, same with the trashed kitchen. That meant there was a double agent involved. Gus.

Well, if they thought they were going to get one over on him, they were in for a shock. Grabbing his own phone, he made his own call. This had to be something Brian wouldn’t see coming. Gus set him up, but Justin knew the true mastermind, it had Brian Kinney written all over it.

Brian laughed as he got into Michael’s car.

“So, I take it he fell for it?” Michael asked.

“Hook, line and sinker. I could see him through the glass door, he sucks at hide and seek.”

“Are you sure he’ll go to the office?”

“Of course, he has keys to my office, he’ll want to get Rico’s address.”

“Isn’t it a bit mean to make him think you were with someone else? I know he’s not innocent in the cheating thing, but I thought you two got over that.”

Brian sighed. “I did. It’s all for a good cause, Mikey. When he shows up at ‘Rico’s’, he’ll get a surprise.”

“There are better ways to surprise him with his dream trip.”

“This just isn’t his dream trip, Mikey, this is his dream. He’s been refusing to do this tour because we would be apart for too long. Do you know how much trouble I went had to set this all up? First, I had to get everything sorted so I could be gone for six months. Then I had to convince Lindsay and Mel that this would be an experience of a lifetime for Gus. I had to get all the materials and everything I need to homeschool him while we travel. For the next six months I’ll have both Justin and Gus full-time. My son will see and learn incredible things that only people dream of, my partner will live the dream he’s been putting off for years. His name will be world known. Yes, its sneaking and a little mean but he’ll be happy in the end. That’s all that matters.”

He couldn’t wait to see Justin’s face when he walked through the doors of the house, he rented for their going away party.

“I’m surprised you called me,” Ethan said as Justin slid into his car.

“You’re going to help me, you owe me.”

“Did you even tell Brian that we were on a talking basis again?” Ethan huffed.

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying we’re on a talking basis. I would say that you got drunk and tried to fight a giant. You’re lucky I was there, he would have broken you hand.”

About a year after he moved to New York he was in a club with some friends. He overheard a familiar voice shouting. Curiosity got the better of him and he followed it. It turned out the bartender had cut Ethan off and he was harassing him to get more. The bouncer, a huge mountain of a man, had Ethan’s right hand, his dominant hand, in his powerful fist. Justin could see the fear in Ethan’s eyes when he knew the man was going to injure his hand. A broken hand is one thing, but this man was crushing his hand, Justin had to stop it. After asking the man twice to let go of Ethan’s hand. He did the only think he could think of. He kicked him in the shin.

They were both banned from the club, but they weren’t arrested. They had on video of the bouncer going too far and trying to injure Ethan after it was clear he wasn’t a threat. They had exchanged numbers because Ethan told him that if he ever needed anything, he owed him. Justin knew Ethan was in town because they still had some friends in common.

“So why are you and Brian having a joke war?”

“It’s April Fools.”

“And you always do something?”

“No, in fact this is the first time. I don’t know why he’s started this but I’m going to win.” His competitive nature coming out.

“So, you want him to see me and hurt him?”

“God no, I would never hurt him like that again, even for a joke. If I time this right no one will know it’s you and you’ll be gone before anyone knows better.”

“Alright, but I still this is stupid and very dangerous. You could break something you back, leg or worse…your hand.”

“It’s the best I can come up with he’ll expect me to go to the office to get Rico’s address.”

“So, you’re sure he’s going to be at the office? If you’re wrong you’ve potentially injured yourself for no reason. Are you positive he didn’t cheat?”

“I’m sure he’s at the office and I’m sure he didn’t cheat. While Brian hates lies, he loves winning. He would have started something just to win. It wouldn’t be fair if I wasn’t playing so he had Gus call and set it all up. It’s devilishly brilliant when you think about it. Alright, we’re close the office. Remember as soon as I’m out of the car you speed away, don’t look back and don’t come back.”

“Fine. I still think this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”

Ethan pulled in the parking lot of Kinnetik and as soon as he goes down to about twenty miles an hour, Justin opened the door and threw himself out. His body hit the ground…hard. All the air was knocked out of him. He heard the car tires squeal and knew that Ethan had listened to him. It was only a matter of time before Brian came rushing out, then Justin would jump and yell April Fool’s day. His vision started to dim a bit, he wasn’t worried. Brian would be out soon.

“Shouldn’t he be here by now?” Mel asked.

They all were in the house, Jennifer had decorated it with all the places the tour involved. Teeny, Justin’s agent, she was a take-no-prisoners kind of woman. She had been after Justin to do this since he signed.

“He should,” Brian agreed. It had been an hour and a half since he left Justin hidden at the loft.

Brian’s cell started to ring, he sighed when he saw it was Justin. He hated it when Justin didn’t act like he thought he would, he didn’t like to be wrong.

“Justin, where the hell are you?”

“Brian?” a vaguely familiar voice said.

“Who the hell is this? Where is Justin?” he demanded. Everyone in the room had their attention on him now.

“It’s Ethan…Ethan Gold. Do you remember me?”

Brian had to remind himself how to breath. So many thoughts crossed his mind. Was Justin cheating on him again with Ethan? Was he using this as a way to leave him again? Why was Ethan calling him?

Wait…why was Ethan calling him?

“Where’s Justin?” he asked, ignoring Ethan’s asinine question.

“He’s on his way to the hospital.”

“What? Why? What happened?”

“I think it would be easier to tell you in person.”

Brian’s blood ran cold. It had to be a joke, it had to be. This was Justin’s idea of a funny joke. He’d make sure to yell at him enough he never thinks this is funny again.

“Very funny, put Justin on the phone. If he’s mad at me that’s one thing but this is a sick joke.”

“It’s not a joke. God, I wish it was. I can’t believe I agreed to it. It was a stupid joke, I knew it was a bad idea.”

“Tell me what happened now?” His voice left no room for argument.

“Justin figured out you were playing a trick on him. He wanted to play a better one on you. Since yours had to do with cheating he wanted to one up you and make you think he owed money to some people. After you berated him for being stupid, he would tell you it was a joke. It was Justin’s idea that he falls out of my car and you’d rush out there after seeing it and he’d tell you about owing the money. It didn’t happen like that, he fell wrong. I was supposed to leave, and I did but I couldn’t stop worrying. I went back, he was passed out on the pavement. I called the ambulance and now I’m following them to Saint Benedicks.”

The next bit was a bit of a haze, he guessed he told the group because they all ended up in the hospital’s waiting room. It was a few hours later that someone finally came out to see them.

“Is someone here of Justin Taylor?” a kind looking woman in green scrubs asked.

She looked taken aback when almost everyone in the waiting room stood up. Even Ian was still there, even though Brian told him he wasn’t needed. He excused Justin’s idiocy because sometimes Justin didn’t think things through right, it was a part of his brain damage. It really started showing these last few years, but Ethan had no excuse like that.

“Are any of you family” she asked gently.

“We all are,” Debbie said, her face still wet with tears.

“I’m his mother,” Jennifer said, clearly wanting to get this over with.

“Your son is fine. He had the wind knocked out of him, panicked and passed out. We’re sending him for an MRI because of his history but that’s only because of that. It’s to eliminate any worry. It’ll take a while before he can be sent but he was worried his family would be here and scared.”

Brian felt like he could breathe again for the first time. “Can we see him?”

“Are you family?”

“He’s his fiancé and his medical power of attorney, he has ever right to see him,” Jennifer said, her voice steel.

“Alright but just the two of you and only for a little while. He’ll be released after the test so there’s no reason to get him a room upstairs.”

Brian followed the woman and Jennifer. He was doing everything to not want to yell at Justin for being so stupid. What was he thinking?

She opened a door and lead them in. There were two beds, the closer one was an old man. She opened the curtain and Justin was laying in the bed, looking pale…well, paler than usual.

“Justin, what were you thinking?” Jennifer asked as she rushed to him.

“I’m sorry, Mom. It made sense when I was planning it. Ethan tried to talk me out of it, I thought he was being weird about it. I guess I was the wrong one.”

“You think?” Brian couldn’t help but say.

“I really just wanted to win the prank war,” Justin said, it had to sound lame even to him.

“Prank war? Do you hear yourself? Once in eleven years I play a prank on you and you go off the rails like this. What else would you do to win…jump off a building? How stupid are you? Did you really think you would win by making me think you were attacked and THROWN out of a car? I don’t even know you right now.”

“It made sense at the time. I’m kind of fuzzy on why now though.” He looked worn, really worn. Jennifer was giving Brian the evil eye. He needed to get out of here before he said something he’d regret.

“Are you taking him home with you, Jen?” he asked.

He tried not to see how Justin’s face fell. He needed to get away for a while, he knew it.

“Sure, I’ll call you when he gets released.”

Brian nodded and left the room.

Justin pretended to be asleep when his mom came back into the room. He didn’t know where she went but didn’t care. His heart was broken. Why had the idea sounded good at the time? Brian was right, it was cruel. Nothing made sense right now. He could feel one of his headaches coming on. They used to be a lot just after the bashing but then they were few and far between. The last few years though they had picked up. He hadn’t even told Brian or his mom about them.

“Honey, they are coming to take you for your MRI, you can stop faking being asleep.”

Opening his eyes, he looked at her. “How did you know?”

“You used to do the same thing when you wanted your father to carry you to bed when you were little. You always had the same tell.”

“Which is?”

“Your eyes move over your eyelids.”

“Oh.”

They came and go him, he tried not to feel too claustrophobic in the MRI machine. At least he didn’t pass out again. He was back in the room before too long which was good because he really was tired. Really tired. It felt like he could sleep for a week.

Jennifer watched his son sleep, doing her best not to shake him awake and yell at him. How could he do that to them. Brian had planned the trip of a lifetime for Justin, they would be leaving Saturday morning, two days away. Now she didn’t know if that would happen because Brian was so mad.

Just as she pulled her phone out to call Tucker when the door was opened back up, a new doctor walked in. This one was a hard-faced woman with sharp cheekbones.

“I’m Dr. Hollis, with neuro.”

Her heart studdered and she thought it stopped when the woman said brain aneurism.

“That means surgery, right?” she asked.

“No, that’s only for ruptured ones. Lots of people live healthy and happy lives with them. It’s only when they rupture is when it’s bad.” She continued saying a lot of big words that Jennifer would have to google later.

“What does that mean?”

“Reduce stress, don’t smoke, don’t lift anything and cut back on caffeine. Reduce anything that raises blood pressure.”

Justin had woken up when the doctor came in but had been silent. “Is that why I’m acting different?” he asked her.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m doing stupid stuff, stuff I never would before. Like jumping out of a moving car.”

The doctor’s face did some odd twitching. “You jumped out of a moving car?”

“Yes.”

“No, the aneurism isn’t to blame, sorry. Your prior damage could explain it. Personality changes sometimes have a hibernation period. But I don’t think it’s really that much of a problem. From now on you’re going to take your health seriously, right?”

“Right. What caused it?”

“Many things can but I believe it was the trauma you suffered years ago. It must have been too small to catch on the scans. I’ll see you in the morning before you’re discharged. You need to be watched for a for a few more hours. Then we’ll set up an appointment.”

“I need to make a call,” Jennifer told her son before rushing out the door. Brian need to get here before Justin started to freak out.