Chapter 28

Brian immediately looked up when he heard the door to their suite open. He quickly closed his laptop, then walked towards Justin who was just getting out of his jacket.

He wrapped his arms around the younger man's midsection and pulled him close.

“How did it go?”

Justin didn't say anything and just turned around in Brian's arms, looking at the older man for the longest time. He then closed his eyes and rested his head against Brian's chest.

“Can you just hold me, please?”

Brian was a bit confused by the request, but in the end just nodded. “Of course.”

He held Justin close and hugged him tight and they stayed like that for several minutes without saying anything.

It was Justin who pulled back his head and looked at Brian with questioning eyes. “Can we lie down for a bit?”

Brian nodded once more, then took Justin's hand and led him to the bed in the next room of their suite. He lay down on the bed and watched as Justin kicked off his shoes, then lay down on the bed as well, immediately moving back into Brian's arms and resting his head on Brian's chest, his hand on Brian's stomach.

“Are you okay?” Brian asked after several minutes of silence, not quite sure what to make of Justin's silence.

Justin looked okay, he actually looked rather peaceful and content, not upset or angry like Brian had expected and he didn't quite know what to make of that. What did that say about the meeting with his mother?

“I don't want to talk about it right now,” Justin muttered, moving closer to Brian's body. “Just hold me, please.”

Brian frowned, but in the end did what Justin had asked of him. He would do whatever Justin wanted him to do. He would do anything for this man.

He was sure that Justin would tell him sooner or later how the meeting with his mother had gone, but if he still needed a bit of time to gather his thoughts, then Brian would give him that time.

Ten minutes later, Brian couldn't help but notice that Justin's breathing had slowed down and he had seemingly fallen asleep in Brian's arms.

Brian wasn't really surprised by that. He knew how nervous Justin had been before the meeting with his mother and he knew that the younger man had hardly slept the night before. He had noticed the empty bed when he had woken up and had seen how tired Justin had looked all day when they had traveled to Washington. Poor guy probably hadn't slept at all the previous night, so Brian was rather glad he was getting some sleep now.

They lay like that in their bed, Brian just holding on to a sleeping Justin, holding him close, protecting him from whatever might come at him, watching the peaceful face of his partner. Brian gently ran a hand through Justin's hair every once in a while, gently caressed his face, careful not to wake up the younger man and marveled again and again how lucky he was to have him in his life.

He really loved this man with all his heart. There was no other way to put it.

After about three hours of not moving at all, Brian felt the need to visit the bathroom and carefully tried to get out of bed without waking Justin up. He noticed how the younger man started stirring when Brian got out of bed and gently whispered into his ear. “Go back to sleep. I'll be right back.”

As if reassured by Brian's words, Justin snuggled into the pillow and stopped stirring, apparently going back to sleep.

Brian went to the bathroom, checked his messages on his phone and sent a quick text with an update to Daphne, then headed back to the bed.

Just as carefully as he had tried to get out of bed, he tried to get back into it.

He wrapped his arms around Justin's body once more and pulled the younger man close.

“How long was I out?” A sleepy voice murmured and Brian was surprised that Justin was obviously not sleeping any longer.

“I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep,” he said quietly, running his hand up and down Justin's back in a soothing motion.

Justin yawned, then opened one eye slowly. “I should probably get up or I won't get any sleep tonight.”

“You've only been sleeping for a couple of hours. I know you were up all night. You'll be fine,” Brian said gently, leaving a soft kiss on Justin's forehead.

Justin smiled, then stretched carefully and opened his second eye as well to fully look at Brian.

“Thanks for staying here with me.”

“You're lucky that I didn't have any other plans anyway this afternoon,” Brian joked.

“Hmmmm,” Justin smiled lazily, resting his hand on Brian's chest. “Lucky me, indeed.”

“How are you feeling now?” Brian asked after another minute when he noticed that Justin didn't seem willing to start the conversation on his own.

“Strangely okay,” Justin said quietly, then turned onto his back to look at the ceiling.

“I expected you to be more upset,” Brian admitted, watching his partner carefully. “I am not sure why, but I thought you would be more upset. So the meeting went okay?”

“It was a total disaster,” Justin said, then sighed. “It was basically the whole spiel from two years ago once more. I am an embarrassment to the crown, the family name, to royals everywhere. There is no way she can ever accept me back into the royal family. Why didn't I stay with Daphne when we pretended for so long? Why not just continue pretending? She doesn't care at all that this is the life I want, that this is the life that makes me happy...”

Brian frowned, not quite having expected that. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but with Justin so calm and content, he had definitely expected something else. “I thought you'd be more upset about that.”

Justin nodded, then turned to meet Brian's gaze. “Yeah, so did I. But I think deep down I've made my peace with what my mother is like a long time ago. When she never contacted me again, never asked how Lizzie or I were doing, when she left me all alone to deal with the fallout from that video... I think I knew then that she would never be the mother I wanted her to be and... today... it just confirmed that once and for all and I was finally able to close that door. For good!”

Brian nodded. “Still, it must hurt anyway...”

“Not as much as I thought it would,” Justin admitted sadly. “I think I accepted this a long time ago and today just confirmed it and I finally made my peace with it.” He turned over again and smiled at Brian gently. “I am okay. Really, I am. Stop worrying!”

Brian smiled wryly. “I'll always worry.”

“And I love you for it,” Justin leaned in and kissed Brian.

Their kiss intensified quickly and it only took them minutes to get rid of their clothing and before five minutes were over, Brian was already making love to Justin on the big bed, gently caressing his body and showering it with gentle kisses all over.

After they had both climaxed, they ended up in one big heap of sweaty limbs and kissed some more.

In the end they took a shower, put on the hotel's bathrobes and sat down on the couch in the main room of their suite.

“I really am okay, Brian,” Justin reassured his partner once more, seeing the concerned glances he threw him every once in a while.

“I know,” Brian said quietly, handing Justin a glass of whiskey, before he sat down next to him with his own. And he knew that Justin wasn't lying. He looked okay, he seemed content and peaceful and not upset at all and to a certain degree Brian could understand what Justin had meant about closing the door to his relationship with his mother for good. Their relationship had been strained, literally non-existent for years and maybe Justin was right, maybe he had already accepted this outcome a long time ago and today was just a final confirmation of something he had already known deep down for months, maybe even years.

Once Brian sat next to him, Justin took a sip from his glass, then crossed his legs and looked at the older man.

“The palace will release a statement soon, announcing that I won't return to the royal family after my two year hiatus and won't be doing any official royal duties again.”

“Okay,” Brian nodded, not really surprised by that. He hadn't really expected anything else after almost two years of silence. And really, they had made their point two years ago when they had pretty much kicked Justin out of the family then, so this was really just a confirmation of what they had known for a long time already. “Are they expecting any statements from you?”

Justin shrugged. “I doubt it, though the media will most likely reach out for comments from me... from us. The palace statement will say it was a joint decision, so I think we might get away with not saying anything, really.”

“Is it though?” Brian asked, raising an eyebrow.

Justin shrugged once more. “Who cares? It's not like I wanted to go back to that life... I have always hated it and to know that that part of my life will be over for good... I don't care if she made that decision for me or if we decided it together. I never wanted to return anyway, so I honestly don't care how they want to spin this.”

Brian nodded, then ran a hand over Justin's thighs. He knew Justin's feelings on his royal background, knew how much Justin had hated his life as crown prince, how much he had hated the prospect of being the next king when all he had wanted to be had been an artist, father and lover to his male partner. Brian knew that Justin had been happier than he had ever been since they had moved to Britin and had built their lives there, so he couldn't really blame him for seeing it this way. Justin had the life he had always dreamed of. Who cared if it was his decision or if his mother wanted to sell it to the press as a joint decision? It didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

“What will this mean for Lizzie?” Brian asked, looking at Justin with curious eyes.

“We didn't really get that far, but with me officially leaving the royal family, she won't be considered a member of the royal family any longer either. Her claim to the throne dies with my claim. That will all move to Molly now and her children she might have one day. Lizzie can just grow up to be whatever she wants to be.”

Brian heard the relief in Justin's voice and knew how worried Justin had been about his daughter getting swept up in the circus that was life as a royal. He already felt bad enough about the attention Lizzie was getting due to him being a prince... or rather a former prince now, but hopefully that interest would die down in the coming years. Now that Justin was no longer a part of the royal family, the press might start to really lose interest in them for good. One could hope.

“And your sister is okay with all of that?” Brian asked, raising an eyebrow in question. He knew that Justin and his sister had never been particularly close. She had been more than eight years younger than him and by the time she had been born, Justin had already been shipped off to boarding school. They had never really spent much time together unless it was for photoshoots or special events and they had never been close as other siblings might be. Brian knew that it was something that had made Justin sad on occasion, but it had just been how things had been in his family. She had attended mostly the same boarding schools he had and while they had been at St. James' Academy for a year or two at the same time, they had never really hung out in the same circles. And then Justin had moved to New York after his wedding, had stayed there with his family while she had finished school in Pittsburgh.

Now that she had finished high school and was attending university in New York, he had left New York and had moved back to Pittsburgh. It was quite tragic actually, how they had seemed to miss each other so many times in their lives.

“I don't think she has much of a choice,” Justin sighed, drinking some more of his whiskey. “With me out of the picture, she's the only one left to take over after my mother resigns or dies.”

Justin had told Brian before how every royal family had at least two children to ensure their legacy. The heir and the spare. And while it had sounded absolutely horrifying to Brian to hear those descriptions, Justin had very matter-of-factly explained the deal behind them.

The first child of any royal was considered the heir and was trained their whole life to become the next king or queen. And then there would be a second child, the spare. The spare was only there in case the heir died, or as in this case, something happened and they couldn't continue the royal legacy for whatever reason. In that case, the spare who was mostly considered dispensable, suddenly became important and would have to take over as the heir. They would then receive the same training, the same education and would be forced to follow in their parents' legacy.

“And it didn't sound like she wouldn't do it. Who knows? She might even be excited about it,” Justin shrugged.

Brian nodded, but didn't say anything else to that. He just continued running his hand over Justin's thigh as he had done before.

“I guess I should reach out to her and see how she feels about this, but...she probably hates me just like my mother does,” Justin said, now sounding sad.

“Don't say that, Sunshine,” Brian replied quietly, meeting Justin's gaze. “Maybe she's horrified by your mother's behavior.”

“Or maybe she agrees with her,” Justin shrugged. “It doesn't really matter, does it?”

“She's your sister,” Brian just said, but knew that that didn't really have to mean a lot either. His sister was as good an example of that as any.

“Maybe I'll reach out to her one of these days,” Justin said in a non-committal answer.

They finished their whiskey and then decided to order some room service, neither of them feeling like leaving the room that evening, neither of them feeling like being around other people.

Once their dinner was delivered, they sat down to eat, still only wearing bathrobes, both too lazy to get dressed properly.

“My mother had us followed,” Justin said suddenly as if he had only just remembered that piece of information.

Brian stopped eating and looked at him with a frown. “She what?”

“She had images... of a barbecue at Debbie's, that pool party we had at Emmett's and Drew's place last summer... images of private get-togethers that never appeared in the press.”

“Why?” Was all Brian could ask, not quite sure why she would have them followed. It wasn't like they were hiding their relationship and nobody knew that they were together and she could use these images against Justin. They had made their relationship public a year and a half ago, they had been photographed at so many events, fundraisers and god knows what. What was the point?

“I don't know,” Justin admitted honestly. “She asked me to stop associating with the riff-raff as she called them...you,” he added quietly after a few seconds.

Brian ran a hand over his face, but didn't say anything. He didn't really know what to say and for once felt rather speechless.

“She brought up your past... your parents...,” Justin continued after a few seconds of silence. “Said you weren't a suitable companion for a royal... that kind of bullshit...”

“Well, I guess I should consider myself lucky then that you're no longer a royal, right?” Brian said, his voice void of any emotions.

Justin eyed Brian and could see the anger boiling under the surface. He reached out his hand and took Brian's and squeezed it.

“I told her that she couldn't be fucking serious,” Justin continued, looking at Brian intently. “That you... Debbie... everyone else... that you were my family. That you had shown me that my own happiness mattered, that there was more to my life than duty and unhappiness, that I deserved to be happy as well and that you... the family... that you accepted me for who I am, loved me as the man that I am and that you have been more of a family to me than my real one ever was. I told her if I ever found out that she had us followed again, I would release that information to the press, would release some of her homophobic remarks that she has made to me and then she could see how the gay people of Darumor would like that.”

Brian's eyes had widened as he had listened to Justin and he couldn't help but smile in amusement when Justin finished. “Sunshine... You threatened her?”

“She insulted you...my family... the people I love. I couldn't just let her get away with that,” Justin said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Brian still smiled, then shook his head in amusement once more. He then got up, walked over to Justin's chair and pulled him up into a standing position as well.

Justin seemed a bit surprised, but allowed Brian to pull him closer and allowed him to kiss him deeply. When the kiss broke, Brian's whole face was shining with happiness and pride.

“I love you, Sunshine! And I am so fucking proud of you. You have no idea!”

Justin smiled, allowing Brian to kiss him once more. “I love you, too.”

Soon after they were naked again in the bedroom of their suite and by the time their next round of lovemaking was over, their food was cold and forgotten.