Sunday October 22nd 2000 at 5:49 am

“Bed checks, bed checks,” Justin heard in between sleep and wake. He attempted to stir but couldn’t due to the heavy weight on his chest in the form of a sleeping Ethan.

“Ethan, Ethan,” he said shoving him. “Bed check.”

Ethan sat bolt upright just as they heard the door turn, but it was locked. Thank God Ethan always remembers. As Ethan climbed out of his bed and unto his own Justin heard the door click open. He peeked a look at Ethan to see he was under his blankets before the lights came on.

“Come on boys, wake up, Mass starts at 7 o’clock on the dot. You wouldn’t want to be late.” Mrs. Blanc, the French instructor scowled.

“We’re up mam, we’re up,” they said in unison.

Satisfied she turned and went to ruin the sleep of others.

“Good save,” Gregory muttered (was that bitterly, Justin shrugged) sitting up in bed once the door closed.

“My heart was gonna jump out of my chest,” said Ethan giggling.

“And mine,” Justin added sitting up and stretching.

“I’m gonna shower, Maya said she was going to come over here before mass.”

“Have you actually had sex with her?” Justin asked without thinking.

Ethan snorted and Gregory rewarded him with a scowl. “Are you crazy, her dad would kill me. I’m ‘lucky’ enough to be dating her-“

“Her exact words,” piped up Ethan who was rummaging for something church worthy to wear. Justin got up to do the same.

Gregory looked like he was about to retort but decided against it, and instead went into the bathroom and slammed the door.

“Maybe we should be more considerate,” Justin said pulling out boring black trousers, a light-blue buttoned up shirt and a dark blue tie from his wardrobe.

Ethan shrugged and Justin didn’t press it.

~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~

The boys’ dorm at 1:35 pm

The headmaster might attempt to kill Gregory for popping his daughter’s cherry but there was obviously nothing against kissing and disgusting hetero humping.

Justin turned horrified to Ethan, whom looked back amused.

Then suddenly Ethan smiled, and at Justin’s quizzical look he said quietly, “Watch this.”

Stealthily Ethan walked to the door, opened it and then slammed it while saying at the same time, “Headmaster Hawthorne what are you-Oh Maya, she’s right here.”

There was a sound like a vacuum being powered off as Gregory and Maya broke apart. Maya stared daggers at Ethan as he and Justin rolled with laughter.

“Very funny Ethan,” Gregory drawled.

“You think you two would have gotten used to it by now,” he said sobering up.

“Whatever, I’m out of here. I should’ve been down at the stadium by now anyways,” she stood up, long auburn hair swinging, blue pompoms in hand, “are you coming?”

“Of course he is, aren’t you Gregs? We’ll follow.” Justin said desperate to get the couple out of the room and out of sight.

Gregory looked betrayed before he planted a fake smile on his face and followed his girlfriend out of the room.

“He’s going to be so mad.” Ethan said laughing once the door closed behind the couple.

“Why, because you interrupted his face sucking?”

“No, because that’s normally our, ummm-“ Ethan stopped and turned red.

“Right,” Justin said pulling his tie off and tossing it on the floor by the side of his bed.

He saw Ethan approach him from the corner of his eyes and didn’t look up until he felt his weight on the bed. “Justin-” Ethan began but Justin stopped him with kiss.

“Whatever there is between you and Gregory or anyone else for that matter is none of my business. We’re all friends here right?” Ethan nodded a little unsurely.  “Good, now go lock the door.”

Justin was all for skipping the game in lieu of kissing and sucking, sketches and violin music but Ethan would have none of it. So very reluctantly he followed Ethan to the football stadium after donning a pair of 501 wash-blue jeans and a green t-shirt with a smiley face (only because Ethan had informed him that the rival team’s color was green and yellow) on it.

“There you guys are,” said Gregory as they made their way to his party. They exchanged greetings with the rest of the group before Gregory filled them in on the game’s status, and honestly Justin couldn’t care less.

Ethan seemed to be paying attention though because he said, “Dear god, if it were soccer he would’ve been red carded for that.”

“That’s exactly what I said,” pipped up one of Gregory’s friend, he was short but bulky with sandy blonde hair. Justin knew he’d seem him in history class before but couldn’t put a name to the face.

At some point during the game and many promises of reward under Ethan’s breath Justin began to enjoy himself, so much so that by the end of the game he was insulting the players along with the spectators about ‘poor form’.

“We’re garbage,” Rob concluded looking at the scoreboard. It read 39 to 16 rival team.

“At least our cheerleaders are hot,” said sandy hair making Ethan roll his eyes. Justin chuckled and coughed to hide it.

“It is getting cold,” the petite dark skinned girl said with a shiver. “So Gregs are you going to formally introduce us to your new roommate?”

“Oh yeah sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Justin this is Emily. Emily this is Justin…” And he progressed to introduce Justin to the rest of the group of teenagers, he found out sandy hair’s name was Chris. Go figure.

“Do you guys want to grab dinner at that diner a few blocks from here?” Adam asked. He was the tall one with square glasses and a wide chin.

“Sure,” said Gregory, Emily, Chris, Brady, and Cecilia but Ethan, Justin, and Rob declined.

“I have some art projects I need to finish,” Justin explained.

“You know how Professor Filipo is if I don’t practice, I’ve put it off long enough,” he said more to Gregory than anyone else.

“Okay, bye then,” said Gregory unable to hide his disappointment.

“See ya,” they said as they walked away from their party and out of the stadium.

~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~

St. Francis Art room D7 at 7:47 pm.

“Did you have fun with the heteros?” Justin asked when he looked up from his sketch at the sound of footsteps and his eyes fell on Gregory.

He shrugged. “Where’s Ethan?”

“Follow the sound of violin music,” Justin said adding the finishing touches to his drawing, when he looked back up again Gregory was gone. Okay so I lied. It does bother me.

He traced a finger over his sketch and smiled. He was the last person to claim jealousy when he had spent the better part of an hour sketching the man he couldn’t get out of his head. The intensity in the eyes of the sketch/Brian made him redden in reminiscence. God, Monday can’t come soon enough.

~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~

Monday October 23rd 2000 at 5:07 pm

“How about neither, I still think you’re making a huge mist-“

“I’m not Daph. He’s gonna be the one, I’m certain of it.”

“How do you even know if he wants you?”

He grinned widely into the phone. “Oh Daphne, I know.”

“Uh huh. So there’s nothing I can say to change your mind is there?”

“Nope.”

“Bitch.”

“Hey!”

“Well you better give me all the details, okay maybe not all the details. By the way are you coming home for Thanksgiving?”

That wiped the grin out of his face. “I don’t know. They haven’t asked me.”

“No…Oh Justin I’m sure your mom and Molly want to see y-“

“I gotta go Daph.”

“But Justin-“

“Later.” Justin clicked the phone off and tossed it on his bed. Seconds before he had been too excited to sit down and now all he wanted to do was crawl under the covers and sleep for days. It hadn’t gone unnoticed to him that it was now exactly a month before Thanksgiving and his mom had never mentioned him visiting (because that is what he would be doing) over the holidays on any of the times she called.

The shower shutoff and the abrupt change in noise caused Justin to snap out of his thoughts, remembering that Gregory had been in the shower. Deciding that he could really use a smoke Justin pulled out the cigarette pack that was hidden inside his underwear drawer, and before Gregory had a chance to come out he was gone.

Sitting up on the windowsill and staring out an open window of the Art building’s third floor Justin took a long drag from his cigarette and blew out the smoke through his nose. It wasn’t that he actually wanted to go home for Thanksgiving (though seeing Daphne would be nice), but it was the fact that his own family had neglected to invite him. I guess there’s not much to be thankful for when you have a queer for a son, he thought bitterly.

“Fuck,” he heard from outside the locked door. For a split second Justin panicked almost putting out his cigarette but then he heard the sound of keys jingling, and smiling with the knowledge of who was on mischief patrol today took another drag out of his cigarette.

The door opened, closed, and locked before Mr. Kinney turned the corner and froze cigarette in mouth upon seeing Justin sitting on the windowsill. He had changed out of his black slacks, burgundy buttoned-up shirt and tie for black Nikes, blue 501 jeans and a black v-neck shirt that made Justin want to touch and see if it was as soft as it looked.

Hey,” Justin said blowing out a puff of smoke.

“What are you doing here?” he asked taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

Justin lifted his cigarette over his head as if to say, ‘duh, smoking, what do you think.’

“You do know there’s no smoking allowed on the premises right?”

“Why do you think I’m here?”

Brian narrowed his eyes and seemed to consider his options for a moment before he put the cigarette back in his mouth and lit it while making his way over to Justin and the open window.

“How did you know about this room?” Brian asked after taking a few drags off of his cigarette. He was close enough to the window but maintaining a safe distance from the younger man.

“Well Emily, you know Emily Hudson?” Brian nodded. “She told me in smoker confidence that the sculpture rooms in the Art building had great ventilation, especially that large room, S8, I think. Well anyways, I wanted to be alone so I let myself into one of the smaller rooms instead.”

“I can leave if you want, you were here first after all,” Mr. Kinney said but made no move to leave.

Justin shook his head. “Stay.”

“Okay,” he said and leaned against the wall.

Justin finished his cigarette rolling the butt out of the window and stuffing the filter back into his empty cigarette pack. He looked up to see Brian watching him, he grinned and jumped off the windowsill.

“You going?” Brian asked as if he was unable to help himself.

“You want me to?” he replied while moving closer to him.

“Mr. Taylor,” Brian warned when Justin stopped in front of him, snatched the cigarette out of his hand, and took a long drag before handing it back to him with a smirk.

“Yes Mr. Kinney?” he purred trailing a finger from Mr. Kinney’s exposed neck to his naval and only stopped when his hand was slapped away. Yep, just as soft as I imagined. Justin looked up to meet large hazel eyes and was pleased to see that the gesture was contradictory to the look on the older man’s face. “Why?” Justin practically whined.

“Too many reasons to name.”

“Keep telling yourself that they matter.”

Brian chuckled then. A deep throaty sound that sent shivers down Justin’s spine as goosebumps spread across his skin and his cock throb in the restraints on his jeans.

“You are so very cheeky,” Brian said with a smile as he put out his cigarette.

“Here,” said Justin offering the empty pack of cigarettes, “my pack is empty now so you can just throw it in here.” And he did.

“Want another?” Brian asked and Justin nodded. “You really shouldn’t be smoking though,” he added almost like an afterthought.

Justin shrugged. “When did you start smoking?”

Brian grinned. “I was 14. God, I should really stop.”

“You should,” said Justin with his cigarette in mouth as Brian leaned forward to light it. Of course he had his own light, but he would never begrudge Brian’s intentional proximity.

“And you?”

“Me?” Justin said momentarily distracted by the closeness and intoxicating smell of the older man.

“Yeah you. When did you start your cancerous addiction?” To Justin’s disappointment he went back to lean against the wall as he lit his own cigarette.

“Just last year. I did it to piss off Chris, but that went out the window real quick.”

“What did? ‘Chris’ or the fact that you forgot it was only meant to piss him off?”

Justin grinned. “Both.”

“So who is this Chris?” he asked inhaling from his cigarette.

Justin scowled. “The reason I’m here.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It was pretty horrible, not to mention humiliating when his dad caught us. The fucking prick turned on me and practically accused me of molesting him. Me?!” He took another long drag.

“Preposterous,” Brain said teasingly and Justin stuck out his tongue. “You seem to be enjoying yourself though.”

“It could be more of an enjoyment if you want it to be,” said Justin with a crooked smile.

“I think you have it covered.”

“Doubtful.”

They finished their cigarettes in silence as Justin contemplated the best way to tell Brian what he’d been craving to tell him since Saturday night.

“So,” Justin began trying to catch Brian’s eyes, but the latter was too busy staring down at the hand holding his cigarette. “I want you to be the one,” he continued deciding that he should throw it out in the open.

Brian looked up, his expression bemused. “The one to what?”

“You know, to be my first.”

Justin smiled his million-watt smile and watched as Brian’s eyes darkened and trailed over his body and then back up to his face.

“Add one more reason to that list,” said Brian a little bitterly.

Justin rolled his big blue eyes. “Again with that. Tell me Brian, do you want it?”

“Wanting has nothing to do with it.”

“I don’t care about morality, rules, or the one hundred and million reasons we shouldn’t that you waste your time thinking about. All I know is that I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone else in my entire life. When I’m near you, it-it consumes me, and I know you feel it too.”

“Justin we-I can’t,” he groaned running his right hand through his dark hair in exasperation.

“I swear I won’t say anything.”

“Not even to your little friends?”

Excited that Brian was even considering it he quickly said, “Of course not. I would never do that.”

They stared at each other for a long time, and Justin who was almost too scared to blink made no movement to touch him. Yet, he craved it like a man dying of thirst. Brian lifted his hand as if to touch him but just as quickly dropped it.

“No Justin. Find someone else,” he practically snarled as he pushed him out of the way.

Momentarily stunned Justin staggered but regained his footing almost at once. “I do love playing games Mr. Kinney.”

Brian didn’t answer instead he slammed the door leaving Justin alone but by no means defeated.  

Justin waited a whole of fifteen minutes before he followed Brian (for one, he didn’t want any questions being asked before anything actually happened, and two it took longer than usual to think of things that would make his dick soft) out the door. Then suddenly he froze when he heard the voices of his two roomates on the other side of the door.

“So what is this going to be a nightly thing now? Am I going to have to warn you just in case so we all don’t get the boot?”

“Why the fuck are you being so hostile?”

“I’m not hostile, I’m pissed, ok, maybe a little hostile. But this shit, it fucking bothers me, it bothers me a lot.”

“Weren’t you the one who at the end of term last year said, “Whatever you think this is, it’s over”.”

“I know what I said, Ethan.”

“So what exactly are you saying now?”

Justin should have probably made his presence known then but he didn’t.

“I hate how it feels to see you with him, okay. I fucking hate it.”

“Anything else?”

“I…”

“Right. Let’s just find Justin before Mr. Kinney gives us a ‘hey I’m an asshole, surprise’ check, okay?”

“Fine.”

“Good.”

Justin stepped out of the room startling the two brunettes. “Hey.”

“Hi,” they said awkwardly.