“Hi Em” Justin said as he walked into the bathroom to get some privacy, glaring at Brian as he went, to indicate that Brian had better not fucking follow him.

Locking the door, Justin turned and sat on the closed toilet, holding the phone away from his ear as Emmett screamed.

“HEY BABY. Oh my god it is sooooo good to hear from you. Though I’m at the hospital so I may not have time to chat for very long. How are you sweetie? I take it you heard about Teddy and Mikey? Handbags at dawn, baby”

Justin affirmed that he had indeed heard the news and asked how the patients were doing.

“Well, Mikey looks like he has two faces at the moment. His nose is....ew.... well I just told him to look at the bright side. Seeing as he’s gonna have a nose job anyway, he could ask those scrummy doctors to straighten it a little. Every dark cloud I say”

Justin had to laugh at Emmett’s asssessment of the situation. Then he enquired about Ted.

“Well baby, I thought that saying “gonna kick your balls so hard you’ll feel them in your throat” was just an expression, not an actual thing. Makes me wanna keep my legs crossed, you know?”

Justin couldn’t control his giggles after hearing that. It took him a few minutes of listening to Emmett describe the ‘to die for’ male nurse that he had fucked in the dispensary before he could steer the conversation back to what he needed to know.

“So do you know what they were fighting about?” he asked, trepidatiously awaiting the reply.

“No clue, honey. Michael isn’t doing much except whining and asking for Brian and Teddy is out cold awaiting his ball reallignment. Deb is incoherent. The doctors had to sedate her, can you believe it?

“Did something happen last night? I know you guys were at Woodies. How did your night go?”

“We had a ball, baby. Teddy and Mel were there, you know she is in town for that conference thingy right? Well, I was early for once because I had this fabulous new pair of lemon pleather pants that just had to be admired by all of Gay P.A.and I sat Brian and Michael, soaking in the admiration. Then Teddy and Mel came in and we had some drinks and girl talk, you know the usual”

“Then what?” Justin urged him, wishing he would just get on with it.

“Well we went to Babylon for a little while but Michael, Mel and Ted were such a bore. Michael is all ‘should I go to Timbuktu with Ben’ and Mel was all ‘maybe we were premature in going to Canada’ and Ted was all ‘Will Blake and I make it? Is he ‘The One’? Honestly honey, I’ve had more fun at church, you know?”

“How did Brian take all this introspection?”

“Well, Sweetie he looked like someone had forced him to go down on a lesbian. You should have seen his face, baby. Lady Disdain aint got nothing on Brian Kinney”

Justin had to laugh at this colourful description of Brian’s ‘pissed off’ face.

“Did you guys stay long?”

“No way. With those three acting like that? I convinced them to go to that new place Marty’s you know, near the gym? Had a few drinks and laughs but then Hans called me, you know that dreamy hunk o’man I emailed you about...?”

Justin had no idea what Emmett was talking about but he just made encouraging noises for Emmett to keep going.

“...well he finally got back into town and wanted to stop by my place to ‘get to know me better’ so I made like Cinderella and made a hasty retreat home before he turned into a pumpkin”

“Did the others leave with you?”

“No honey, they stayed out.... oh the doctor is coming to update me on Ted so I gotta go baby, okay? Toodles”

And with that, Emmett hung up and Justin was nowhere nearer to figuring out what was going on. On the plus side, Emmett didn’t appear to be in ‘love’ with Brian so that was something.

As Justin sat and tried to digest all that he had heard today, the phone rang again.

Since Justin had locked himself in the bathroom, Brian didn’t know what to do with himself. Would Justin believe him? Trust him?

Fuck, how could Justin believe any of this shit when Brian could hardly believe it himself? And he had fucking lived through every cringe-worthy, vomit-inducing minute of it. If he lived to be a hundred, Brian would never forget the sensation of Theodore’s tongue in his mouth, or the feel of Michael’s balls on his back.

There are somethings that you can never un-see, un-feel,  or un-know.

As Brian came to this horrific realisation, the bathroom door opened slowly and Justin walked out, looking like he had been punched in the gut.

“Sunshine?” Brian said softly, terrified of what he might hear.

Justin looked up into Brian’s eyes and gave him a small smile. He could tell that Brian was afraid; desperately waiting for Justin’s verdict, yet dreading it at the same time. Walking slowly to stand in front of him, Justin gently took Brian’s face in his hands and said;

“Brian, I believe you”

“What? How? What? Really?”

Justin giggled at the elated confusion Brian was displaying. It was such a rarity to see this vulnerable, raw side of Brian.

“I believe you Brian. I’d pretty much decided to have faith before I went into the bathroom. You don’t lie, and if you did, you’d sure as shit come up with a more plausible story than the crap I heard”

Brian had to smile at that “Well, I am a brilliant Ad Man Sunshine”

“Yes you are, and modest too” Justin laughed, stroking Brian’s cheek. “But then that last call confirmed it”

Brian looked at Justin quizically.

“What did Honeycutt have to say?”

Justin shook his head.

“No, it wasn’t what Emmett said, it was Lindsay”

“Lindsay? What has she got to do with anything”

“She called me to see i I knew where you were. She’s been trying your cell but couldn’t get through”

Brian swore under his breath as he rummaged in his jeans for his phone.

“Fuck, I forgot to turn on the ringer” Brian said as he looked at the display. “Jesus, fourteen missed calls. Is Gus okay?”

Justin hurried to reassure Brian.

“He’s fine Brian, don’t worry. But Lindsay is extremely pissed off with you”

“What the fuck is it now?”

Justin looked at Brian cheekily and said “Well she’s understandable upset considering Melanie called her and told her that she is leaving her...”

Brian’s expression of complete and utter befuddlement was so cute that Justin grabbed Brian’s face and kissed him so hard and so deeply that Brian’s knees nearly buckled. But he had to stay focused.

“Yeah, so Lindsay...” Justin continued as if he hadn’t just rocked Brian’s world with an incendiary make out session.

“... she’s understandably pissed at you because Melanie left her...”

Justin smiled up at Brian and waited for the explosion

“... because she is in hetero-love with you, Mr Brian Kinney, her nemesis!!!”