Brian took his time in the shower to allow Justin to come to bed and choose whatever side he wanted. When he left the bathroom, Justin was just coming through the door. He looked like he had cried, but Brian expected as much after having another delicate conversation with his son.

Justin froze for a moment, his eyes dropping to the towel around Brian's waist, then he looked at the bed.

They had equal distance to the bed, and they broke into a run at the same time, but Brian had longer legs. Before he could sit on his usual side, Justin tackled him, somehow making both of them fall to the floor.

“Shit. Ooops.” Justin sat up on his knees, rubbing his shoulder.

“Fuck you, Sunshine.”

“You know I’m a sore loser.”

“I have a sore ass to attest to it,” Brian muttered, getting up. He held his hand down for Justin to pull him up. “All yours.” He gestured to the right side of the bed.

“Wait.” Justin stopped him, tugging him back. “This is your side. I’m sure I won’t be able to fall asleep here even if we switched.”

“What about the sun in your eyes, dear?” Brian mocked.

“I’ve noticed you shut the drapes. Thank you.” Justin dropped Brian's hands and rounded the bed. He took off his clothes until he was down to his underwear.

They met on top of the mattress as Brian once again pulled the blanket over their bodies. Brian turned his head away, allowing Justin's body heat to relax him enough to fall asleep. He almost succeeded when Justin flopped around, turning the nightstand lamp on.

“What exactly are we doing?” Justin sat up, bundling the blanket on his lap.

“I’m trying to fall asleep.”

“How can you? Don’t you feel this…” He gesticulated wildly. “I don’t know…it’s like a tension.”

“That’s you. I’m not sure when it’s the last time you fucked, but you’re more wound up than a spring.”

“You know when I last fucked,” Justin spat.

“Right. Your little sexcapade at Babylon. It didn’t do the trick.”

“We settled that.” Justin stared at Brian, not ready to say more than he was ready to actually do.

Brian bent one of his arms behind his head, peering at Justin, who seemed to have an internal struggle. A muscle jumped in Justin's cheek, before he laughed quietly.

“I know this word brought our demise…but I need you to hold me.”

Brian gasped theatrically. “You want to cuddle?” he stage-whispered.

“I tried to avoid that specific word.”

“Come here.” He opened his arms, and after switching the light off, Justin snuggled against Brian's chest, facing the window. “You’re a twat, you know that?”

Justin clutched at Brian's arms holding his tightly. “I needed this. I always felt safe in your arms.”

“Because you’ll always be safe with me,” Brian promised, daring to press his lips to Justin's naked shoulder. His skin was so soft, and he smelled of what they ate at dinner since he hadn’t showered.

Justin rubbed his thumb over Brian's forearm. “I love you.” Not a moment after his confession, he became lax in Brian's arms, making Brian wonder if he had been fully awake when he spoke.

“I love you, too,” Brian admitted against Justin's neck, kissing the spot behind his ear.

“I know.” Justin's reply made Brian startle. He hadn’t expected Justin to be awake.

This was the most relaxed Justin had been around him since his return.

#

“Hi,” Justin said meekly. “I’m so sorry I’m thirty minutes late, Emmett.”

“Well, good morning! What happened to you?”

“You wouldn’t believe me. Let me get some coffee.” He hurried inside the small cafe place.

It was a week since his and Brian’s late night confession, and Justin knew it was on him to make the proverbial first move, because Brian had respectied his boundaries…until earlier that morning.

.

.

.

It was the first morning since he had moved into the master bedroom when Justin woke up before Brian. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised to find Brian wrapped around him, because that was how they had fallen asleep since Justin had told him about wanting to be held. And it shouldn’t have been a surprise to feel Brian’s morning wood digging into his ass.

Before Justin could ruin what they were building by jumping on Brian’s dick, he closed himself in the bathroom.

His plan to jerk off in peace didn’t last for more than two minutes.

Brian joined him unabashed and unashamed, as if they had done that every morning. Many years ago, sure. Recently? They were trying for a record about how fast they could become monks.

“Morning,” Brian mumbled, reaching over to grab his shower gel.

“Uh, couldn’t you wait five minutes?” Justin kept his back to him, gripping the base of his dick, unsure what to do. He needed to come like nothing else.

“What, were you jerking off? You were,” he said slowly. To make matters worse for Justin, Brian leaned closer, his chest touching Justin’s back as he peered over Justin’s shoulder. “My, what a glorious sight.”

“Brian…” he warned quietly.

But Brian slapped his hand away from his dick, taking matters in his hands. Justin sagged into his chest, wrapping an arm around Brian’s neck and slapping his other hand to the wet tile.

“Relax. It’s just a handjob,” Brian said into his ear.

Justin pushed his ass back into Brian’s obvious erection. It made Brian grip his hip as he groaned loudly.

“Fuck, Justin.”

“Yes…fuck Justin,” Justin laughed breathily. “I need you.”

“I’m not going to fuck you for the first time in the shower. This is just for you. I want to see you relax.”

Justin moaned loudly, resting his head back on Brian’s shoulder. “Feels so goood.”

“This is so hot,” Brian breathed into his ear.

.

.

.

Justin was shaken from his reverie by the barista handing him the coffee, warning him it was hot. Clearly, not as hot as his shower that morning.

Justin had abandoned Brian in the shower not long after he came undone because they could hear Nick calling for them.

That was when Justin knew he was going to be late. They had overslept, then the fun in the shower hadn’t helped matters in getting ready faster for their day.

Brian had dropped Justin off at the corner of the street where he was supposed to meet Emmett, before he continued to Nick’s school. 

Justin sat next to Emmett, patting his pockets for the smokes. It took him a moment to remember he had left them in the Jeep when Brian wanted a cigarette earlier.

“What did you lose?” Emmett asked curiously.

“My smokes. Fuck it.” Justin took a sip from his coffee, leaning back in the chair. “Am I keeping you from work? As much as I want to talk business, I could use a friend.”

“All yours, baby. How are things with Brian? I heard you decided to stay with him, after all.”

“Yeah, it would be counterproductive to uproot Nick from a place he feels safe. He barely understands what’s going on, as it is.” Justin ran a hand through his hair. “Just the other day, he had another meltdown about Ethan.”

“Well…Ethan was his other dad.”

“I know, and I’m starting to believe Brian. Nick needs to talk to someone who can help him. Obviously, I’m failing miserably. Like Brian said a few days ago, I see it only from my perspective and my pain is not the same as Nick’s.”

“So, you’re looking for a therapist?”

“Not yet, but if there is another random meltdown over some silly thing, I will.”

Emmett nodded. “I see Brian is involved in helping with your son.”

Justin chuckled. “Nick adores him, which is still amazing to me. But I probably told him too much about Brian for Nick to see him as a stranger.”

“You told your son about Brian?” Emmett repeated, intrigued.

“I mentioned him in the past,” Justin explained, not ready to go into details about how such comments about Brian led to fights with Ethan.

“How do you feel about their friendship?”

“I’m happy he trusts Brian so much. Maybe too much,” Justin said, amused. “He decided to play matchmaker.”

“No way!” Emmett gasped, staring worried at his friend.

Justin scratched the nape of neck nervously. “He’s been over the moon to have the bed to himself ever since I moved into the master bedroom with Brian.”

Emmett’s eyes widened. “You and Brian….”

“We’re working on repairing our relationship. As shocking as it may be, we haven’t fucked yet. Hell, we haven’t even kissed which sometimes makes me think if we’ve turned into a couple of monks.”

“I can’t believe it!”

“Well, it’s true,” Justin said defensively.

Emmett pointed to something behind Justin. When Justin turned to check what grabbed Emmett’s attention, he found Brian strolling their way, his forgotten box of cigarettes in his hand.

“Your son insisted I should bring these to you. Good morning, Emmett.”

“Isn’t he a sweetheart?” Justin laughed nervously. He took the box, shaking out a cigarette.

Brian aided him with a lighter. “I’m not leaving my zippo with you.”

Justin pouted. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. If you need the car, let me know.”

“I’m going by the gallery after I’m done here with Emmett. I’ll let you know.”

Brian nodded, then bent to kiss Justin’s forehead. And then he was gone.

“Are you sure you’re not back together? That looked a hell lot like a relationship interaction.”

“I think we are…but we’re both walking on eggshells. I’m afraid we won’t be able to go at this pace much more, and instead of doing the steady thing, we’ll dive head first into fucking.”

“And that’s a bad idea, how? I haven’t seen Brian at Babylon which means…”

“Yeah, I know.”

Justin tried not to feel ashamed about his lapse of judgment and his lack of self-control during his trip to Babylon that night, not long ago.

“Did you tell him about your trip to Babylon?”

“I’m sure you explained to him how much I misbehaved that night. Anyway, it was then when we commonly agreed to try again.”

“I didn’t tell him anything. He thanked me for bringing you home safely, though.”

Justin grimaced, not ready to revisit the events of that night.

He focused on savoring his cigarette since it would be his last until he found a store to buy a lighter.

“Tell me what party you had in mind. Just remember Brian’s thirtieth birthday, before you plan something extravagant,” Emmett said in warning.

“Actually, I want to throw Nick a party. His birthday is three days after Brian’s. I want something small.”

“Oh, that’s so precious! I love throwing parties for kids. Though, I rarely get to do them these events.”

“Don’t go crazy. Just a few kids from school and us. Against my better judgement, the venue can be a fast food place.”

“I know of some cool places for children’s birthdays.”

“No, it has to be a fast food place. He won’t expect me to support what he and Ethan believed to be healthy bonding time.”

Emmett’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, the poor darling. Of course, baby. So a few kids and their parents. And by us, you mean…”

“Brian and me. Maybe we can have a barbecue or something for Brian’s birthday…bring the whole family over. We haven’t talked about it yet. We’re both busy.”

“Okay. I’ll start searching and let you know what I have by the end of the day.”

“Next week is fine, too. It’s Friday. I’m sure you have plans.”

Emmett grinned widely. “As a matter of fact, I do. It so happened that when Drew and I took you home, it was our first date night. You must remember how I set him free and told him to return to me when he was mature enough.”

“No way! That took him ten years? I had no idea. Fuck, now I really feel like a tool for ruining your night.”

“You didn’t. We had been talking since New Year and we decided to meet at Babylon that night.”

“I hope you’re at a different base than us,” Justin joked.

“It’s hard to believe Brian can abstain for so long.”

“Not really. You all have a very wrong opinion about him.”

Justin was tired of defending Brian in front of his friends. They had a misconceived opinion about how he operated. Not even Michael knew him as well as Justin did.

“We all know how he is,” Emmett commented.

“You don’t really.”

“Okay, maybe he’s changed, but it’s all for you. We’ve noticed many little changes over the years, and of course, you know better since you actually lived with him.”

“Maybe he changed for himself. He grew up a lot. Brian has definitely made some changes, but they all benefited him. He understood that changing for me only pushed me away. Look what happened when we were engaged. It drove me to New York, and if I had stayed we would have been miserable. We ended up being miserable anyway, but that’s beside the point.”

“Well, I’m happy you’re making it work.” Emmett smiled brightly.

“So am I.”