Brian and Justin finally arrived at the loft just as the sun began to rise. Exhaustedly, they took the elevator up to their floor, before entering the loft.
As Brian closed the large sliding door, he leaned against it, relief to be home making him sag against it. God, it felt good to shut the world out for a while. A small smile of contentment graced his lips. When he opened his eyes, however, he noticed that his partner didn't look quite as relieved as he. In fact, Justin looked like a man on a mission.
"Sunshine, what are you doing" he asked, forcing himself to stand away from the door, and walk toward Justin who had just finished looking into the bathroom and was now checking out the closets. Barely acknowledging Brian's question, Justin walked toward the kitchen and checked the larger cabinets. Finally turning to a puzzled Brian, Justin answered, "Just making sure no-one is going to jump out suddenly and try to fuck you"
"Christ, don't even joke about it" Brian demanded as he flopped down on the sofa, weariness etched across his face. Seeing that his partner was now checking behind the curtains, Brian urged him to come over and sit with him.
When Justin reluctantly joined him, Brian realized that the last twenty four hours had taken a toll on his blond. He seemed to radiate tension. "Relax" Brian commanded, rubbing Justin's stiff neck and shoulders "...we're alone now"
"Yeah, but for how long, Brian?"
"What do you mean?"
Justin turned to face Brian, ensuring that he had the older man's full attention before he continued.
"Both Michael and Ted have keys to this place. Hell, for all I know, Mel has one too. Don't think for one minute that they won't use them"
When Brian didn't say anything, Justin went on "...And what's to stop Debbie or Ben coming over her to murder you? Or god help us, if Carl arrives and arrests me? We’re not safe here Brian, we need to leave right NOW"
Justin had worked himself into a full blown queen out and now was urgently pulling Brian off the sofa and started to drag him towards the bedroom. "Brian, come on. We have to pack and go to a hotel or something. Will you come on?” he demanded, trying to get Brian to start packing. Justin had already thrown a few days’ worth of clothes and toiletries haphazardly into his duffel bag and was calling hotels when Brian finally responded.
"Justin, hang up the phone"
"But Brian..."
"Hang it up"
Justin ended the call, looking confused and pissed off. "What's the problem? Surely you see we can't stay here?"
Brian ran his hand through his hair, before he sat his hyperactive partner down on the foot of the bed. He was reluctant to make the suggestion he was going to make to Justin, as they hadn't been back there since Sunshine had moved to New York, but it seemed like the ideal place to him. But, sentimental twat that Sunshine was, he might become all lesbianic or maudlin about them not having moved in. Taking a deep breath, Brian said "Justin, I agree, we should go somewhere else, but not to a hotel. Why don't we go to Britin?"
Justin looked surprised at first, then a huge sunshine smile lit up his face. Kissing Brian forcefully on the lips, he replied "Perfect. Britin would be perfect. Now move your ass and pack"
Brian began to select some clothes from his closet, and then painstakingly folded each item into his bag. Justin just shook his head and laughed as he watched Brian expertly fold his underwear before packing them. Here they were, on the run from the law, and Brian had to make sure his fucking underwear wasn't wrinkled.
As Brian continued packing painfully slowly, Justin started getting excited about spending the next few days at Britin. The last time he had been there was several months ago, and he was looking forward to lounging by the pool, and chilling out far away from Brian's harem. He picked up a notepad and a pen and started compiling a to-list of what he needed before they headed out for their impromptu vacation. Buy groceries; condoms; lube; extra bedding; call his mom to let her know that he would be "away" and to stay away from Debbie; return Carl's car....
"Oh Holy Fuck, I stole a cop car" Justin screamed, as it hit him once again that he had committed a crime. "Brian, we have to give back Carl's car before I'm sent to Ryker's Island"
Brian couldn't believe the shit that exploded out of Justin's mouth sometimes. It was during his queen outs that little Sunshine truly showed his age. Finishing up his packing, Brian just nodded his head and said "Yes, dear"
"Brian, are you listening to me? I could be sent to Ryker's Island where the prison guards are as dangerous as the inmates, and they will use their truncheons on me. I'm going to be black and blue"
"Calm the fuck down Justin. You won’t be sent to Ryker's Island. It's in New York for fuck sake" Realizing that logic was not what the blond was looking for, Brian tried again. "On our way to Britin, we’ll leave Carl's car parked outside the diner. We'll call him from the road to let him know where to find it, okay?"
Justin seemed alright with this plan, so Brian continued his packing. Once finished, he opened the safe concealed by the naked man painting and withdrew several rolls of $100 bills. Justin's eyes bugged out of his head when he estimated how much cash Brian had.
"What the fuck do we need that for?" Justin demanded to know. Brian just smiled and retorted "It's your bail money"
"Ha, fucking ha"
Just then a loud banging could be heard on the loft door. Brian closed the safe and quickly moved over to Justin who looked like the Gestapo was at the door. Silently, they both held their breath, hoping against hope that whomever was outside the door would leave. No such luck, however. A key was placed in the lock and then the door began to slowly slide open. And there stood Melanie Marcus, attorney at law.
"FUCK MY LIFE" Brian screamed as he raced to the door, spreading his arms out to prevent Mel from gaining entrance. Wearing a beige trench coat and carrying a half drank bottle of vodka, Mel drunkenly reached out and caressed Brian's chest. "Aren't you going to invite me in, lover" she slurred, attempting to be seductive.
"Not in this lifetime" Brian retorted, batting her hands away as she continued to maul his tits. Fucking lesbians.
"Don't be like that, honey" she continued, completely unaware that Brian looked a little green around the gills. "I just came to say au revoir. I'm heading up to Canada to hand in my resignation and pack my things. But I'll be back, lover. Soon. Real soon"
"Well, that's super. Bye now" Brian said and attempted to close the door once again. But Melanie stuck her foot in the way.
"I can't leave without my farewell kiss, now, can I?" she purred. Taking a large fortifying swig of vodka, she dropped the bottle and pulled open her trench coat to reveal her naked self to Brian's horrified gaze. Taking advantage of Brian's shock, she grabbed his crotch with one hand and his neck with the other and French kissed the shit out of him.
Brian was having an out of body experience. It was like he was watching events, unable to do anything to change them. A couple of things occurred to him. Firstly, Mel's tongue was doing a fabulous impression of a windmill, as it circled around his mouth, trying to connect with his own tongue, which he was desperately trying to keep away from her. Secondly, she had no idea how to handle cock. Her grip was so tight, he was afraid to move away from her in case she ripped his one remaining ball clean off.
The honk of a car horn brought the kiss to an end. Wiping her hand across her face, Mel smiled at Brian as she fastened her coat back up. "Well, that's my ride to the airport" Smiling at the shocked faces of Brian and Justin, she added "You have a very mobile tongue, lover. I can't wait to feel it in action in places other than my mouth". And with that, Mel sauntered down the stairs.
Brian didn't look like he was capable of moving, so Justin slid the door closed, and guided Brian over to the sofa. He wanted to murder Mel when she started kissing Brian, but he had been so shocked he couldn't have moved if he tried. He had felt like he was watching a tiger mate with a lizard. It was so disgusting but he just couldn't look away. His partner seemed to be in shock. "Brian, are you o...."
Before he could finish his sentence, Brian had run for the toilet, and Justin could hear the loud retching as Brian emptied the contents of his stomach. When Brian finally returned, he was carrying both his bag and Justin's. Picking up the car keys for the 'Vette and Carl's car, Brian walked over to the loft door and opened it. Turning back to Justin, he snarled "You coming?"
Justin nodded and followed Brian out to the cars in silence. Before he got into Carl's car, Justin turned to Brian and asked "are you okay?"
Brian turned to him and said "We will never speak of this ever again. It never happened. Understand?"
"But Brian...."
"NEVER, JUSTIN. I MEAN IT"
"Okay"
"Good. Now let’s collect the ‘Vette from outside Marty’s, then leave Carl’s car outside the dinner, and head to Britin"
**********************
Meanwhile at Debbie's
Debbie helped Ben walk back to the house. He would live, but he had landed hard on his knees, so he was having a little trouble.
When the got back inside, Hunter and Blake were fussing over Emmett and Carl, getting them cups of tea and ice for their bumps and bruises. Ben and Debbie joined them at the dinner table and soon all eyes turned to Emmett, who preened at being the centre of attention.
"So Emmett, what the fuck happened? What did you find out and how the hell did you all end up arrested" Debbie questioned.
Emmett, the gossip king, began to regale his audience with the events of the evening, from who was wearing what, to how many drinks were bought for him and more pertinently, what Marilyn had told them. Once he explained about the hypnotism, his audience were shocked into a stunned silence. But not for long, because Debbie started shrieking.
"OH MY GOD, MY POOR BABY. OH MY GOD"
Debbie continued to shriek and wail until another shrill voice started to shout from the doorway of the kitchen.
"What the fuck is all this noise about"
All eyes turned toward Michael, who had been awakened by the screaming and had come down stairs to investigate. After his impassioned karaoke performance earlier at Woodies, his mother had tried to bring him back to the hospital. Michael had dug his heels in though, and had refused pointblank to return. "I'm fine, Ma. Quit worrying" he had told his mother when she had pleaded with him to go back. "I need to be at home, so that I'm close to Brian"
Deb had decided that she may as well agree. Michael was such a stubborn little shit. If they had tried to bring him back to hospital, he would just have taken off once again. But when she had driven Ben, Michael and Hunter home from Woodies, Michael had refused to get out of the car.
"Mom, I told you that Ben and I have broken up and that I'm with Brian now. You can just drop me at the loft"
Ben looked as though he was going to punch something when he heard this, but he held his tongue. And Debbie, try as she might, had been unable to convince Michael to change his mind. She did however insist he came home with her for one night. Taking him home and putting him to bed in his old room, Debbie had hoped that Brian and Justin would figure out what had happened to her son and he would be back to normal.
Now, having heard Emmett's news, and with Brian and Justin having taken off to god knows where, she was as worried as ever.
Pulled from her reverie by Michael once again demanding to know what was going on, Deb turned to her son and said. "Michael. You need to rest honey. Go back to sleep baby and we'll talk in the morning"
Michael was having none of it. He wanted to know why all these people were sitting in his mother's kitchen at five in the morning.
"Tell me what is going on"
They all avoided eye contact, willing each other to be the one to speak. Finally, Ben spoke up.
"Michael, I have some news which you may find upsetting, but I need you to listen to me carefully, okay?"
Michael just nodded.
Taking a deep breath, Ben began.
"Emmett has learned that you, Ted and Melanie were hypnotized last night into believing you are in love with Brian"
Michael looked at Ben, with a pitying look in his eye. "Oh Ben. You don't need to make up these lies to justify why I've left you. You need to face reality" he added condescendingly.
Ben clenched his teeth, and tried once again. "I'm telling you the truth, Michael. Emmett just told us. You were hypnotized as part of a prank"
Michael, who didn't believe one word, turned to Emmett and asked "Why are you saying this crap? Are you jealous that I'm with Brian, is that it?"
Emmett looked indignant at the very suggestion. "Me? Jealous of you? Not in this lifetime" he replied bitchily.
But Michael thought he had hit the nail on the head, so he continued "You ARE jealous. Jealous that Brian Kinney is my lover, that he wants ME, not YOU"
Blake tried to intervene to calm everyone down. Slowly approaching Michael, he spoke softly "I'm sure Emmett isn't jealous Michael. He's just trying to be a good friend by telling you what happened to you. I know that you don't remember any of it, but think. Why would Emmett lie? Or Ben? Or Carl? Or your own mother?" As Blake spoke, he pointed to each of them, who nodded, confirming that he spoke the truth.
Michael was confused, but he was also a stubborn shit, so he stuck to his guns. "Emmett is a big fat liar. He is consumed with jealousy because I get to have sex with the Stud of Liberty Avenue and he never has, and never will"
"Fat? Did you just call me, ME, fat?" Emmett raged, looking ready to knock Michael's head off. "I will have you know that I am the same weight now as when I was sixteen years of age. And furthermore, just so you know, Brian fucked me within weeks of me moving to Pittsburgh. And since he doesn't "do" fat, that proves my point" Emmett smiled triumphantly into Michael's shocked face. "So put that in your fucking pipe and smoke it, Mr. Novotny"
It was only when the first saucepan flew passed his head, that Emmett realized that maybe he shouldn't have mentioned his tryst with Brian. It had happened before he had made friends with any of the gang, and once he had, he realized that he should never bring it up, especially to Michael, not if he wanted to keep his friendship. But the cat was well and truly out of the bag, and Michael was out for blood.
Michael threw a frying pan and another pot at Emmett, before grabbing his mother’s sharpest knife out of the knife block and began chasing Emmett around the kitchen with it, screaming with rage. Everyone shouted at Michael to stop, but he wouldn't listen as he continued to try to stab Emmett. Eventually Carl took him down by performing a running tackle and knocking him to the floor. Michael refused to calm down, so Carl pulled out his handcuffs, snapping one on Michael's wrist and the other onto the radiator pipe.
Debbie hugged Carl and thanked him for taking control of the situation. Ushering everyone into the sitting room, she turned to Michael who was sitting on the floor with a mulish expression on his face, and pointed her finger at him.
"Michael Charles Novotny. I cannot believe what you just did. Now you sit there and think about what you did, young man"
"You can't put me in time out, Ma. I'm thirty five fucking years old"
"You're lucky that's all I'm doing, you little shit. Now shut the fuck up or I'm getting out the wooden spoon. You have been warned"
As Debbie headed into the sitting room, the phone rang so she answered it.
"Brian? Is that you?"
"...outside the diner?..."
"...now listen here, you little shit, you nearly killed Ben..."
"… of course you didn't ask him to jump on the car but that's not the fucking point..."
"...when will you be back?..."
"...what are you going to do?..."
"...two fucking weeks!!! …"
"...okay honey..."
"...yeah, I'll tell him. Okay, keep in touch"
Everyone was listening to Debbie's side of the conversation and waited to hear the latest.
Wearily, Debbie sat beside Carl on the couch and said "Justin and Brian are going to an "undisclosed location" for a while and they will be in touch. They're working on a way to fix this mess so in the meantime we have to control the Pittsburgh Butcher over there" she snarked, looking pointedly at Michael.
"Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted, so let's all get some sleep. I have a feeling we're going to need it" Carl said, standing up and then pulling Debbie to her feet. Ben and Hunter said goodnight and went home, Blake decided to head to the hospital to visit Ted, while Emmett headed upstairs to his room. Picking up some cushions and a throw off the couch, Debbie carried them over to Michael and dumped them on his lap.
"Here you go, Honey. Night night"
Michael looked appalled at the idea of his mother leaving him to sleep on the kitchen floor while handcuffed to a radiator.
"You’re not really going to leave me here all night, are you, Ma?" Michael pleaded.
Debbie, for once, wasn't taken in by Michael's puppy dog eyes and little boy act. She was just too fucking tired.
"I'll tell you what, Michael. I'll let you sleep in your own room tomorrow night if you are a good boy and don’t try to stab anyone"
With that, Carl and Deb climbed up the stairs to their bedroom. Just before she fell asleep, Debbie remembered something.
"Carl? You awake?"
"What is it, honey?"
"I forgot to tell you. Justin asked me to pass on his apologies for stealing his car, and please not to send him to Ryker's Island"