Chapter 36

“Brian!” Ted exclaimed in surprise, clearly not having expected to see his friend and boss at the office that day. “Did I miss a meeting with you? Did you tell us that you were coming in?”

“No,” Brian replied, looking at the hustle and bustle that was the Kinnetik office. It had been months since he had last been there. While being pregnant he had mostly worked from home and then when he had been diagnosed with cancer and had the chemotherapy, he had just been too sick to even think about anything work related. Thankfully Ted and Cynthia were great at their jobs and what they were doing and had everything under control, so that he didn't have to worry about Kinnetik at all. “I was just in the area and decided to come by.”

“Just in the area? You live more than 30 minutes away,” Ted pointed out, looking at his friend with a raised eyebrow.

“Justin is visiting Mother Taylor with Vicky and dropped me off,” Brian supplied, knowing that his friend was waiting for more of an answer.

“And you didn't join them?” Ted wondered, knowing that Brian and Jennifer had a great relationship and got on very well.

Brian shrugged. “Nah, I felt like checking in on you guys and seeing if the building was still standing.”

“Still standing and Kinnetik is going strong. You saw the report that I sent you for the first quarter of the year, right?”

“Yeah, very good. Everything looked great,” Brian said as he nodded in the direction of his office and urged Ted to follow him. “You busy right now?”

“We have a pitch later today, but that's only after lunch, so I am good for another hour or so.”

“Who are we pitching to?”

“Dandy Lube, new fall campaign,” Ted supplied, holding out a folder to Brian which clearly contained more details about the campaign.

Brian just shook his head, knowing that Ted had it under control. Dandy Lube had been the account that Ted had first pitched to when Brian had had cancer years ago and seeing how the company had been doing great in recent months, he knew that Ted would be fine. He trusted him.

“Do you know if Cynthia is busy right now?” Brian asked instead, sighing as he sat down in the chair behind his desk. It felt strange how alien it all felt. There had been a time when he had spent more hours in this office than in his home, but that had been long ago. He hadn't been that workaholic in years and had changed into a family man that rather spent time at home with his sons and daughter and worked from his home office when he had to than sitting here in his own office.

“I think she had a conference call with Brown Athletics earlier, but that should be over by now. You want me to check?”

Brian shook his head and nodded at the chair in front of his desk, urging Ted to sit down. “There's something I need to talk to you about. Both of you really, but might as well start with you.”

“Is everything okay?”

Brian could hear the worry in Ted's voice and couldn't help but feel a warm feeling in his chest at the concern he knew his friend felt for him. Who would have thought ten years ago that one day Ted of all people would be his best friend? That Ted Schmidt, the boring accountant would become his confidant and friend, his colleague and partner at work. It was funny how life worked sometimes.

“Nah, everything is great. Last check-up came back okay two days ago and with the hair finally growing out again, everything's slowly returning to normal,” Brian said, pointing at his head which now showed a short buzz cut of new hair growing out, wondering if Ted hadn't heard through the Liberty Avenue grapevine about his latest check-up. “Didn't you hear Debbie squeal in delight? I swear we heard her all the way to Britin when we called her.”

Brian made a face, but Ted knew that Brian really appreciated everyone's concern and liked everyone far more than he let on on the best of days.

“Yeah, she mentioned it. You just had me worried sounding all ominous like that.”

“It's nothing bad,” Brian calmed his friend. “I am good, Vicky is good, the boys are good, Justin is good. Everyone is good.”

“Justin must be so relieved,” Ted said, knowing how worried his friend had been in recent months for Brian and Vicky.

“Yeah, he is. He's finally started painting again,” Brian said, knowing that Ted would understand how big of a step that was. Justin hadn't painted in months. Not that Brian had noticed at first. When he had been sick, he had been too concerned with himself to really know what Justin was doing or not, but now, after he had been good for several months, he had started to pay more attention to the people and things around him and had noticed how little time Justin spent in his studio. To be honest, it had been hardly any time at all and whenever he went to the studio, he had been back way too fast to have done any real work.

One evening a couple of weeks ago, Brian had brought up that topic and had asked Justin about it and Justin had reluctantly admitted that apart from sketches of the family, he hadn't really sketched or painted anything in months. He had admitted that he had just not felt inspired at all and that his mind had been occupied with too many other things.

Brian had felt bad for not having noticed earlier and had tried to make it up as soon as he had become aware. He had started to take over more tasks from Justin where Vicky and the boys were concerned, trying to give him more time to paint, but that hadn't really changed anything. Instead of getting Justin into the studio, it had just let to Justin getting angry with him, accusing him of trying to interfere in his professional life. And no, he didn't need any interference, thanks very much.

In the end, after two days of tension and each of them trying to get more tasks done than the other, they had sat down and had talked and Justin had admitted that even with the extra time he just didn't feel inspired. He was just staring at blank canvas after blank canvas, having no idea what to paint.

He loved sketching Vicky, loved sketching the boys, loved sketching everyone with Vicky, but none of that had translated into paintings yet.

Brian had offered his help, though at the time he hadn't really been sure what help that could be. How was he supposed to give Justin his inspiration back? How in the hell was he supposed to get that done? Realising that this wasn't a problem that he could solve by just throwing money at it, he had wrecked his head trying to find a solution.

In the end, he had decided to take his family on a trip. Maybe a change of scenery was what was needed to give Justin the inspiration that he needed. It had been almost a year since they had last gone anywhere, what with everything going on in their lives and the boys as well as Justin had been excited for a trip.

They had decided on a long weekend in Florida around Easter when the boys were off school and had enjoyed some nice days lying at the beach, exploring the Everglades and taking in a theme park to end their trip.

The boys had loved the Everglades the most, there was just nothing cooler than seeing real alligators while he and Justin had been quite happy with their time on the beach. Little Vicky had slept through most of it, though the few times her fathers had taken her into the ocean, she had seemed excited enough, squealing and being her happy self.

The days away had done the whole family good and when they had returned home, everyone had been happier and less stressed.

Brian still remembered how the holiday had done him some good and how he had finally regained the last bit of his pre-cancer health while in Florida.

“Brian?” Justin had called from the bathroom, wondering where Brian was. He had said he would join him in the shower, but now Justin was nearly done with his shower and there was still no sign of him. Damn, he loved taking showers with Brian. Where was he? “Are you coming?” Justin asked, opening the door to the shower and calling into the bedroom.

When he didn't hear anything back, he frowned. Vicky had been asleep and the boys were asleep as well in their room which was adjoined to their own room. Where was Brian and why was he not answering? Getting slightly worried, Justin turned off the water, grabbed one of the towels and wrapped it around his waist.

He made his way into the bedroom and found Brian standing in front of the mirror looking at himself with a look of wonder.

“Brian?” Justin asked as he walked over, not sure if Brian even heard him. He certainly didn't give any sign that he had heard anything Justin had said or even knew that he was in the same room. “Are you okay?”

Brian shook his head slowly, as if he was coming back from a deep trance and turned to look at Justin in confusion. “Weren't you going to take a shower?”

“Yeah, that was almost 15 minutes ago. Why didn't you come and join me?”

Justin stopped next to Brian and his jaw dropped at what he saw in the mirror. Not believing his eyes, he actually turned to look at Brian directly, wanting to make sure that the mirror and his eyes were not betraying him.

“Is that a...?”

“Boner! Yeah, it's a first class boner,” Brian nodded, looking at his dick which was standing proudly, knowing that Justin was eyeing it as well.

“When did that happen?”

“When you went into the shower and I said I would join you” Brian said, his voice still sounding like he was in absolute awe.

“And now you've looked at it for 15 minutes and wasted a perfectly good shower fuck,” Justin mock accused, still eyeing the erection from wide eyes.

“I was in shock. I didn't expect it,” Brian admitted honestly, looking at Justin from wide eyes. “God knows why now...”

“Hey, I am not complaining,” Justin grinned, reaching out his hand and taking the erect penis into his hand.

Brian immediately started moaning at the touch, loving how Justin just knew what to do to make his legs turn into pudding.

“God, what a beauty,” Justin whispered as he leaned in to leave kisses on Brian's shoulder and then his neck, never letting go of the erection in his hand. “I hope you know that I've just changed our plans for tonight,” he announced, smiling when Brian grinned and then nodded eagerly.

They had both been rather tired after a long day at the theme park riding roller coasters with the boys and had decided to have a quick shower and then crash, knowing that it would only be a few hours before Vicky would demand their attention again, but Brian agreed, a change of plans sounded great under the circumstances.

Justin guided them to the bed and they collapsed onto it, Justin still kissing all over Brian's chest now, leaving tender kisses on his scar which had already started fading quite a bit, never letting go of the erection in his hand.

“I want you to fuck me,” he announced as he looked up at Brian from passion filled eyes, eyes that were hungry for what they both knew was to come. “But first I'll taste you.”

And then his head was gone and Brian gasped when his cock disappeared in Justin's talented mouth. “God, Sunshine. Gonna cum,” Brian moaned as Justin expertly blew him.

Justin tasted the first bit of precum on Brian's penis, enjoying the taste he had been missing for months, before he let go of the erection, not wanting to waste it on a blowjob. As much as he loved blowing Brian and as much as he loved and wanted to taste him, he didn't know if this was a one off or if Brian was back to his old self now. Not knowing when he'd have his next erection, there was no way Justin would waste it on a blowjob when he could have Brian inside him, fucking him.

Knowing how much Brian loved watching Justin prepare himself, Justin held out his index finger to Brian's mouth, urging him to give it a good lick. Brian did as asked and shortly after, Justin led his finger to his hole and gently started massaging it. When he felt the muscle give in, he slowly started inserting the finger. He moaned at the pleasure, enjoying the feeling of being filled.

He smiled when Brian handed him the box of lube and squirted a generous amount onto his hand once he had removed it from his behind and held it out for Brian. He spread the lube over his fingers, then returned to what he had been doing. After a few minutes of finger fucking his hole, he inserted a second finger, smiling when he saw Brian take in a deep breath as he was moaning in pleasure himself.

Judging by Brian's quickened breathing and the precum leaking from his penis, he was definitely enjoying what Justin was doing.

Justin spread his fingers, scissoring them to open up the muscle around his hole, then added a third finger. God, he was so ready for his fingers to be replaced by Brian's dick, but he knew that it had been a while since Brian had last fucked him and even though Brian had fucked him with their collection of dildos in recent months, it just wasn't the same. Justin wanted to be sure that he was ready to take in Brian and he knew that Brian wouldn't fuck him any other way.

“Almost there,” he moaned as he spread his three fingers inside himself, feeling the muscle give. “God, want you to fuck me.”

Brian moaned as well, his hands running all over Justin's body, his cock still leaking precum.

After a couple of more minutes in which Brian had sat up and had started kissing Justin, Brian pulled back, removing Justin's fingers from his asshole. “You ready?” He asked breathlessly, looking at Justin from hungry eyes.

Justin nodded, his eyes glazed over with passion. “Fuck me!”

Brian helped Justin lie down, then spread his legs apart, settling in the space between them.

He squirted some more lube into Justin's hands and gasped as the blond started spreading the lube on his cock.

“God, I'm so close. Won't last,” he warned, but Justin didn't care.

“Don't care. Need you inside me,” was all he replied, removing his hands from Brian's cock, instead grabbing his neck and pulling him closer for another lust-filled kiss. “Need you, Brian.”

Brian nodded, never breaking the kiss as he carefully led his cock to Justin's hole. He whispered into the kiss as he started to push in. “Love you.”

Justin moaned at the feeling of being breached. There was always a slight second of pain, but that had quickly turned into pleasure when he felt Brian glide in further. He loved the feeling of being filled by his lover again and loved the feeling of being spread by Brian's dick. “God, feels so good,” he moaned into the kiss.

Once Brian had pushed all the way in, he started pulling out again, then pushed in again, setting a steady rhythm that was met on each thrust by Justin's hips. Justin's legs had by now closed around his waist, pulling him that much further in, making them as connected a they could be. All the while they kept kissing, whispering into the kiss as they fucked.

“God, more!”

“So tight. Always so tight.”

It didn't take long until Brian felt the signs of his orgasm and as much as he didn't want to come yet, as much as he wanted to make this last longer and wanted to enjoy it some more, he knew that there wasn't much he could do at this point, already being too far gone. And on some other level, he wanted to come as well. It had been too long since he had been able to fuck Justin and come inside him.

After two more thrusts, Brian's orgasm came over him and Brian emptied his seed inside Justin, moaning into the kiss. Feeling Brian come inside him also brought Justin to the brink and shortly after he came with a quick explosion of emotions as his own orgasm hit.

They collapsed breathlessly, finally breaking their kiss as Brian fell onto Justin's cum covered stomach and chest.

It took them a couple of minutes to regain their breaths and come back down from their orgasms.

“God, I missed this so much,” Justin whispered emotionally, looking at Brian from teary eyes.

Brian could only nod, feeling too emotional himself. Not quite sure how to deal with the onslaught of emotions, Brian hid his head in Justin's shoulder.

Justin quickly realised that Brian was crying, and wrapped his arms around his lover, holding him close. He knew how emotional he felt and he could only imagine what it felt like to Brian. He knew that he had wondered if they would ever be able to do this again when Brian had been at his worst a couple of months ago and just knowing that they had just done it, that Brian had felt well enough had messed with his emotions as well.

“I love you,” he whispered into the older man's neck, leaving tender kisses there. “I love you so much.”

Brian just nodded, just crying for what felt like hours, but had probably only been minutes. “I love you, too,” he replied after a while, running his fingers through Justin's sweaty hair. “So much.”

They stayed like that for a long time, just basking in the afterglow of what had just taken place, before they had gotten their shower after all. They had both been in desperate need of another shower and why waste water, right?

Brian was brought back to the here and now by Ted's polite cough. “You're thinking about sex with Justin aren't you?”

Ted had seen the look on Brian's face before and knew well enough what it meant.

“Jealous?” Brian smirked, knowing that he had been caught. But damn, he loved thinking back to that night. After that night, they had had many more nights like that, but it had been the first night after months of not being able to be together like that and it just held a special place in their memories. Thankfully that part of Brian's health had also returned to normal, but he would never forget the emotions he had felt the moment he had come buried inside Justin again. Something he had been scared of would never happen again when he had been sick and hadn't known if he would live or die. He wasn't even ashamed of his tears, knowing that Justin had understood and had felt the same.

“Blake and I are doing just fine, thanks very much,” Ted replied quickly, though both men knew that they didn't really want to speak about their sex lives.

They might be friends, but the days of bragging over their sexual exploits were over and long gone.

“So, Justin is painting again, you said?” Ted brought their conversation back to their earlier topic, hoping that it would be safe ground.

“Yeah. He started again last week, spending some time in the studio while Vicky was sleeping.”

“I guess Florida must have gotten his creative juices flowing again, huh?” Ted mused, not knowing how true that statement was.

“Yeah, I guess it did,” Brian said, not willing to divulge any further details about Justin's creative juices or any other juices come to that, even though he felt quite proud of himself if he thought about the fact that him fucking Justin again had brought back his inspiration to paint. So much for being his muse, Brian thought smugly, but then forced himself to focus on why he had come to the office.

“Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about Justin.”

“I figured,” Ted mused, looking at Brian with a raised eyebrow.

“Now that I am doing better and that things are slowly returning back to normal, I guess the next logical step would be to also return back to the office,” Brian announced, not surprised when he saw the smile on Ted's face.

“Brian, that's great! We all missed you and it will be great to have you back!”

“Yeah, don't get too excited, Theodore. It would be the next logical step, but... it's not what I plan on doing,” Brian replied, eyeing his friend closely, not surprised when Ted's eyes widened in surprise.

“You're not coming back?”

“Not in the way I used to be here before,” Brian said, knowing that he needed to explain some more. “In recent months so much happened and so many things have changed and Justin basically put his life and career on hold to take care of everything. I don't want to come back to the office as before and leave him to take care of Vicky. I want him to work again, I want him to paint again now that he feels inspired again.”

“But he wanted to take a break anyway when Vicky was born, didn't he?” Ted asked, not sure if he understood what Brian was saying.

“Yeah, that was the plan. And he's still intent on doing it, but... lets just say, I have decided to extent my own break as well.”

“Your own break?” Ted still felt confused.

“I know the plan was to have Vicky and then slowly start going back to work like I did with Luke. Working from home, then coming to the office for a couple of days a week. It's just that...,” Brian stopped, not quite sure how to continue.

“You don't want to come back.”

“No, not really,” Brian admitted. “I want to spend time with Justin and Vicky and the boys. I want to focus more on them. I'll still be available for some of the big accounts and to kick your ass if profits go down, but I won't be returning in the capacity I was here before I got pregnant and sick.”

“Wow...okay...I didn't expect that,” Ted admitted, eyeing his friend. “You always seemed to love Kinnetik and working here.”

“I do. I love it, but right now, I just don't feel it. Right now I feel like I owe Justin for everything he has put on hold in the last year and I want him to have the chance to explore some opportunities more without having to worry if that would work with my schedule. I want to focus on my family more. I... I missed out on so much in the last year. I missed so much time with them... I just don't feel like missing more because I was trying to nail another account. I want to spend more time with them.”

“Wow, I will be honest: I didn't expect that.”

“To be honest, neither did I. The thought first crossed my mind a couple of weeks ago and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of not coming back. The agency is doing fine. You and Cynthia are taking great care of things. Everything is running smoothly and you guys don't need me for the day to day running of the company. You can do it. I am not needed here.”

“You'll always be needed, Brian.”

“You guys did just fine on your own in the last few months. And if you really need me, I'll still be available. I'll only be a phone call away. I'll still be the CEO and will still read the reports and everything. I just won't be as involved in the day to day running of things as I used to be. I am not pulling out completely or selling the company. I am just taking a further step back.”

“Are you sure that's what you want?” Ted asked, knowing that Brian loved the agency and loved working here. He knew how much Brian had loved coming back after Luke had been born and older, how much he had enjoyed being around adults again. Now things were different though and he had Justin by his side. It wasn't just him and a baby, but him and Justin and their family.

Brian nodded, pulling a folder out of the briefcase he had been carrying when he had come in. He handed the folder to Ted and it didn't take long before the man gasped in shock.

“Brian, you can't!”

“I can, I have and you will accept it,” Brian said quietly, looking at his friend. “I know that I can never thank you for everything you have done for me over the years. I know that I owe you big for everything and this is my way of repaying you and saying thank you.”

“Brian,” Ted started, still looking at the contract in his hands that would give him 24.5% ownership of Kinnetik Inc.

“Cynthia will receive the same papers when I speak to her. You and her will own 49% of Kinnetik Inc and I will keep the majority of 51%. In case something happens to me, the 51% majority will go to Justin and he will take over in my place.”

“Does he know about this?” Ted asked, still feeling dumbfounded by what was happening.

“Yes, he knows,” Brian nodded. “He has known for a while now. I put this in my will in case I wouldn't... you know... make it. I told him before, asking for his approval.”

“Wow, I don't know what to say,” Ted admitted, then stopped when he saw a smile on Brian's face. It was the sort of smile Brian only had for one person. And as Ted turned around, he saw that one person walking up to Brian's side, passing him with a smile, while carrying their daughter in his arms, holding her close as Brian leaned in and kissed her on her head.

“Say yes,” Justin said, smiling at Ted. “Then I can take him back home with us.”

“Aren't you supposed to be with your mother?” Brian frowned, pulling Justin into an embrace, holding him and Vicky securely in his arms.

“She had to leave. Some emergency at the office. She's gonna come and visit us later when it's taken care off.”

Brian nodded, then turned back to Ted. “Well, you heard him. Say yes, so he can take me home with them.”

Ted still felt dumbfounded, looking at the papers in his hand. “I... I don't know what to say, but... thank you! Thank you so much!”

“You deserve it,” Brian said sincerely, meeting his friend's eyes in an emotional gaze. “You really do, Theodore!”

“Yeah, Ted. You deserve it. Just sign and go home to celebrate with Blake!” Justin added.

“He's got a presentation later, he can't,” Brian winked, making Justin laugh.

“Okay, then do the presentation first and celebrate afterwards.”

Ted finally gave in and signed the paperwork, becoming part owner of Kinnetik Inc.

Afterwards Brian met with Cynthia, who seemed as shocked as Ted, but in the end also accepted his gift and when Brian and Justin left Kinnetik that day, they both knew that the company was in good hands.