Live and love - Part 2

Brian went back to his office, the huge Allerfree file with him. Paul and Marcus’ completely unexpected support left him feeling really good. They had never been in conflict: on the contrary, always very respectful of each others' qualities and what each brought to the firm, but of the three men, he always thought of Alan as the one closest to being a friend as well as a partner.

He had always known they viewed him as a great financial asset for the firm, but to discover that they appreciated him enough personally to take his side in this matter was an eye opener.

Because Tuscan had rejected their first campaign, they were on a very short deadline. He had to review the file and talk to Sam ASAP. He really wished this were only a drug company… To him, that was distasteful enough. But Bob Tuscan. Fuck.

Brian really wanted to talk to Justin. He dialed his number. It went straight to voicemail. He checked the time, and laughed at himself. Justin had only been out of class for seventeen minutes. He was probably still chatting with Lilah. He certainly would not have had the time to buy a new phone yet. Shit. A new phone would have to be charged anyway. He would not be talking to Justin until tonight.

He was slightly appalled at himself for wanting to talk about this to Justin, and share his annoyance and distaste about it with him. He could handle it on his own for fuck’s sake. But there was an unfamiliar warmth in his heart all the same, knowing he could count on Justin for his support.

Loving and being loved by someone meant you no longer had to handle things on your own. Someone was there to share the burden, and fuck, that was so good. He had actually never thought of that as a byproduct of sharing his life with Justin. But no matter what, he now had someone in his corner. He suddenly felt so grateful for Justin, so … blessed.

His old self was laughing, but it was a hollow and envious laugh, he decided. In the old days, he would have buried his frustration by fucking two or three tricks that night, probably treating them like shit after fucking them, spreading the joy, taking out his anger on people who had nothing to do with it. Now he would talk to Justin, get a handle on his feelings, and make love. It wasn’t hard for him to admit which he preferred. He grinned. He was so fucked…

Brian picked up his phone, went through his received call history, checking dates, and dialed. He certainly hadn’t gotten that many calls that particular day, a Sunday in January.

“Yellow!” Brian smiled at the absurd greeting. Trust an art student…

“Lilah?”

“Yes…”

“This is Brian Kinney. Are you with Justin, by any chance?”

“No. He has anatomy on Fridays. But I will be. They don’t get out till 5:30. Do you want me to have him call you back? We’re going to the mall to buy him a phone after class. He can use mine…”

“That would be very good, thank you, Lilah.”

“Uh… Brian? Justin seems really happy, now. Thank you.”

He remembered how upset she had been a month ago. It was nice to know Justin had such good friends. Justin was in class for eight more minutes. Brian had not known that he had anatomy. He wondered if they dissected cadavers, like med students… He shivered at the thought.

He started reading the file. Allerfree was not a bad drug. It worked only on 56% of the people tested, which was par for the course for allergy medication. Half of their effect was placebo anyway.

He wanted to read more about this rash. There...5% of patients. That was a lot. 2-3 weeks persistent rash on chest, abdominal and buttocks area, which appeared simultaneously. Charming. Started diminishing in surface area as soon as treatment was discontinued. Skin discoloring may persist. What the fuck was that? What did that mean?

He searched the file. There was nothing more. Well there was no way he was working on this until he found out what that meant… He was about to call the rep, when he remembered he was waiting for Justin’s call. Yes. And he was at work, for heaven’s sake and he had three lines. He shook his head. He looked for the name of the rep. Michael Smith. He called.

“You have reached the desk….”

Right, Friday past five. Some people worked regular hours. He’d have to call Monday.

He phone rang. His heart sped up.

“Kinney.”

“Hey.”

He smiled. Things were looking up already. “I’ve had a frustrating afternoon. I’m going home right now.”

“OK. I was going to go to the mall with Lilah to get a new phone, but the weasel (there was a tussle and a laugh in the background) canceled on me because her beau just called saying he’ll be in later tonight, and she had to ‘get ready’, whatever that means in girl talk (more background giggling). I think I’ll buy my new phone on the internet, keep mine on the charger all the time until it gets here. So I’m coming home too. You can tell me all about your shitty afternoon.”

“That’s … Justin, I’m sorry she dumped you, but I’m really glad you’re coming home.” He really was. Fuck the old Brian. He was going to get to hold his own personal Sunshine in forty-five minutes or less. He smiled.

“Who do you think will get there first?” asked Justin. Brian could hear the smile in his voice. This was the playful, I want to fuck, Justin. Lucky him.

“I don’t know but whoever gets there first gets to decide what we do first.” Brian didn’t care what they did, so he was a winner either way…

“Later.”

Brian laughed. “In a hurry, are you? Later.”

Brian called the rep from Tuscan drug again. He felt much more settled about the whole thing. The same message came on. Brian pressed the record button on his phone before he started speaking. He would keep impeccable records of every contact he had with that man. He was not about to get fucked over like Paul had been.

“Hello, this is Brian Kinney, the ad exec now in charge of your account at Plexus. This message is being recorded. Today is Friday, February 21st at 5:45 pm. I have just received the file concerning the Allerfree medication. Some data is still missing from the file, including the medical file of the trial people affected by the rash. Also there is a mention of skin discoloration when the rash clears, and I have some questions about that. Please call me back ASAP on Monday. I get in around seven. I will not proceed any further until I hear from you, so, as we are in a time crunch, the timeliness of your return call is of the essence.”

He got his coat out of the closet, put a couple of files into his briefcase, and left his office. Cynthia was at her desk. He stopped for a moment.

“I have a new account, Allerfree, from Tuscan pharmaceutical.” As if she didn’t know… “Every communication with that company will have to be documented and dated. I will tape every phone call. Can you start a file to store all the Data? A copy of the file should be send to Bob Tuscan himself anytime something is added to it so he is immediately aware of any step we take with this account. Any response from him should be copied and added to the file. Can you also please contact Gerard in Legal, first thing on Monday? I want to meet with him regarding this.”

Cynthia was taking notes. He knew these notes would be added to the file. She was very thorough. Everything would be perfectly documented. She knew very well how Brian felt about this particular client.

“I will be working with Sam Rosen on this project.” A fag and a Jew, the perfect team assignment for that fucking bigot. “Please make sure he is very aware of the requirements I just detailed to you.” He sighed. That should cover it for now.

Cynthia pulled a face. “I’m sorry, Brian.”

He smiled at her. “We’ll get through this, and dump the account as soon as Tuscan can no longer hurt Plexus’ reputation. The good thing is, it put the difficulties with Parchment into perspective.”

She laughed. “Have a nice weekend, Boss. I’ll head out as soon as I’ve taken care of this. I have a date with James. It’s nice to be out early.”

That would be James Bower, from accounting. Somehow, her being in a relationship did not seem so odd, after all. She would head out after an eleven hour day… and she called that early.

“What are you two up to?” he asked, actually interested.

She smirked. “We are going to La Cage aux Folles.” It was his Valentine’s Day present to me. He has no idea you’re gay, by the way.”

Brian chuckled. “A bus-man's holiday, then,” he said.

She smiled at him. “Far from it.” True enough. A ‘folle’ he wasn’t. He thought of Emmett and Drew. They would be back from their honeymoon in two days. Then, sometime next week, Drew would have a little press conference. He wondered if he should give Julie, Bob Hicks and Leo Brown a heads up. He decided he should.

“Cynthia, could you let Julie and Bob Hicks from Brown know that next week Drew Boyd will announce he is legally married to another man? Just so they are prepared. Make sure the communication is secure. We don’t want a leak.”

“From the association with the play I just mentioned, do I conclude Boyd’s husband is a little flamboyant?”

“That’s a perfect description of him, yes. He is a close friend of mine. And of Justin’s. It’s their wedding we attended on Valentine’s Day.” He was quiet for a minute, thinking about what he had discovered about himself during the ceremony. “It was… very nice.”

Cynthia raised an eyebrow at him. He just smiled at her. “I’m off.”

“See you Monday, Brian.”

Having thus taken his time, he was pretty sure he would arrive at the loft well after Justin. Just thinking about what Justin might have in mind got him nice and hard before he even opened the door. After entering, he hung his coat and toed off his Prada loafers.

Suddenly, he was attacked by a blond tornado. Justin took his mouth in a ravenous kiss, pushing him against the door, undoing his pants and pushing them way down with his underwear, all but hobbling him. Justin went down and took in Brian’s cock, sucking the pre-come welling out, and swallowing him gluttonously. Holy fuck. It was going to be one of those times…

Justin tongued the sensitive spot underneath the rim, took him down his throat and kept tonguing the base of his dick as he pushed him in and out, humming. God… A spit slickened finger was probing his hole (When had he done that?) as Justin swallowed around his dick, still humming, rolling his balls in his other palm. Reaching instant overstimulation, Brian completely lost it, crying out as he came, totally helpless, as usual unable to resist the simultaneous stimulations of a horny and determined Justin. He slid down the door with suddenly useless knees, saying, “Fuck, Justin…” to which Justin answered, with a wicked smile, echoing his own answer that morning. “I am here to serve.”

One of their futons magically appeared, and Justin pushed him onto it, one of his legs still bound by his pants, the rest of him still in his suit. His hips were roughly pulled up so his ass was up I the air. Justin’s tongue was there, forcing itself in his ass, feeling heavenly, then licking his hole, shooting pleasure through Brian’s every nerve, then in again, deliciously tongue fucking him, as Justin’s hand was massaging his spit covered cock back to life.

The tongue fucking really felt unbelievably good for some reason, and he was trying hard not to curse aloud. His days as a quiet lover seemed to be a thing of the past lately. Then Justin slapped his ass before returning to eating it, and Brian forgot his resolution and just moaned loudly.

Justin had just slapped his ass! No one had ever slapped his ass. And it had felt really good. Holy fucking shit. A few minutes later, as Brian was in that special place where an agile tongue and a knowing hand on his dick could send him, Justin slapped his ass again and he almost came. It felt so fucking good, leaving his ass all tingly and sensitive, begging for more…

The cock massage, the tongue fucking and the occasional deliciously stinging slap were bringing him precipitously on the verge of another orgasm and he was panting, his forehead on the futon, his hands fisting the white cover.

Without warning, Justin’s cock was pushing into him, the large head stretching him until it popped through, and hitting his prostate, making him see stars. Fuck, this was incredibly, unbelievably good. Justin was relentless, fucking him hard, adding spit to his hand before continuing to milk his cock. His hole felt stretched, full, taken. His ass was warm, tingly, sensitive. His cock was in Justin’s talented hand, the little twist Brian especially liked happening every other pull. Though on the verge, Brian didn’t want to come. It felt too good. He wanted it to last…

Justin said, his voice deep with arousal, “Sometimes, I want you so bad it drives me insane. God, Brian, your ass is so tight, so hot… I love fucking you. I love it. I’m going to pump the come right out of you.” As he was saying so, he matched his thrusts to his pulls on Brian’s cock and Brian’s efforts at holding back the inevitable were over.

He just let the pleasure take over, his entire body feeling every move Justin was making, overcome by his looming climax, the palm of his hands on the futon as sensitive suddenly as the head of his cock, his forehead, his tie bound neck, the skin of his back responding to the touch of his clothes as his cock did to Justin’s hand.

Brian's orgasm was so strong he cried out again, some feral sound he couldn’t believe came out of his throat. His come hit the futon cover, again and again and again, as if his balls were trying to empty themselves completely in the mind-blowing sensations. Justin’s violent contractions told him he too was having an orgasm to remember.

After a minute of stunned stillness, Justin fell back, lying flat on his back on the floor. Brian took his pants completely off so he could move, took off his jacket and tie and opened his collar. He lay on top of Justin, his weight on his elbows, and kissed him, slow and deep. He looked at the beautiful face of his mate, loving the softness of his eyes after such a domineering fuck, loving the surrender of his mouth, of his whole body.

“Tell me,” said Justin. “Tell me.”

“You made me come so hard, I thought my balls themselves had come out my dick.”

Justin laughed but shook his head no. “Tell me.” He said again, smiling.

“You spanked my ass and I cannot believe that I loved it.”

Justin shook his head no again. Brian smiled, and stopped teasing him.

“I love you, Justin. I love you, so much.”

Tears filled the blue eyes as Justin’s face shone with his brightest smile. “And I, you,” he said. “Body and soul.”

Putting his hand under the blond head to cushion it from the hard floor, Brian kissed Justin again, gently, slowly, lovingly, for a very long time, just letting their bodies speak to each other.

Finally, the hard wood was too much for his elbows and knees. He got up and pulled Justin up as well. He took the cover off the futon, and they made their way to the bathroom. The shower felt great, and Brian told Justin about his misgivings regarding Bob Tuscan, Tuscan drugs, and Allerfree.

It felt wonderful to download his frustration. He had Justin’s full attention, the blue eyes rarely leaving his face, even as they were soaping up, as he was shaving, as they got dressed in jeans and T-shirts. He didn’t think he’d ever spoken this long outside of one of his presentation, and somehow, even though Justin answered with nothing more than an occasional “Yeah” or nod of the head, when he finally stopped speaking, he felt as if his thoughts were now clear and organized, as if he had a full handle on the situation and on his feelings about it.

They moved back into the living room. He called his favorite Thai delivery place, and ordered a feast for the four of them. Brandon and Todd were due pretty soon.

Justin looked thoughtful as he was putting a new cover on the futon and putting it back in their living room as if he, as well, was processing the information. Finally, he said, “I wonder what they mean by discoloration. I wonder if they are talking about de-pigmentation. I wonder what that could mean.

“The government trials are so long. It’s worrisome this side effect only appeared after they were over. I wonder what other long-term effect the drug could have, that may not show up for years.” He sighed. “No wonder you don’t like working for drug companies. That guy, Tuscan, sounds like a piece of work, but the drug is the thing that gives me the willies, especially with their rep not disclosing all the information in the first place.

“If he wasn’t fired, could it be because he was told not to disclose the information, and that after the problem became too widespread, they could not hide it anymore and they blamed Paul instead? If that’s the case, I wonder what else they are not telling you.”

It was amazing. This was exactly the conclusion Brian had been drawing after talking things out with Justin out loud. Before, his personal dislike of Tuscan had masked what he now realized were his real worries.

“Justin, I don’t want to do this campaign. I want to find a way to get out of it without harming Plexus, not anymore than the loss of a quarter of a million dollar contract will, that is. This drug may turn out to be innocuous. But I have a bad gut feeling about it.”

“Remember Montrose Linens? You have to trust your guts, Brian. We have to find a way for you to get out of this gracefully. What do we know about Tuscan?”

They got on the internet, and Googled him. He was a total homophobe asshole, the dangerous kind, the kind that spoke out loud and backed up his vile rantings with his wallet.

His company seemed clean though. Most of his drugs so far were symptom alleviators, like over the counter cough syrup and fever reducer. Allerfree was the company’s first step into prescription medicine.

He had a wife, and they had been married thirty years, without one shadow of scandal. She was beautiful, WASP to the fingernails. They had four sons: Two twenty-four year olds, one twenty-two year old, and one nineteen year old, all in college at Columbia, the oldest ones in med school.

The door buzzer went. It was the food. Brian went down to pick it up at the back door, and was tipping the delivery guy when Todd and Brandon showed up. They were in very high spirits, and took the delivery bags from him to free his hands for dialing his codes.

Brian  once again, admired how gorgeous Brandon was. In a playful mood, a smile on his lips and in his eyes, he was pretty irresistible. Todd looked great as well. He was wearing red, which did wonders with his natural coloring. His hair was growing, and ringlets were forming everywhere. It just made you want to run your hand through his hair, which Brian did, totally unselfconsciously, taking advantage of the fact that both of Todd’s hands were holding bags.

“Wow, your hair is so soft. It looks great long.” Todd gave him one of his white-toothed smiles. He really was very attractive. One forgot, always seeing him with Brandon. They made it back to the loft, to find Justin still at the computer. He looked up and smiled joyfully at seeing their friends. Brian realized that was what Todd and Brandon were. Their friends.

It was different than the Pitts, where Brian had known the gang almost longer than Justin had been alive. Brandon and Todd had known Justin first, but their friendship had grown mostly since Christmas, since Brian and Justin had been a couple, even if part of the time they had been apart. His own conversation with Brandon during that time had been the key to his recovering from the crushing guilt, and to being ready to welcome home a healed Justin when he returned.

“Guys, before we eat, I want to show Brian something on the net. It will only take a minute.”

All four of them actually looked at the screen when Justin brought up the eight month old graduation picture of the third Tuscan boy from Columbia in the alumni newspaper. Apparently, he was a fourth generation graduate, and was now in their engineering program. It showed a perfect American family, the handsome parents, the good looking sons, all of them smiling happily for the camera, the new graduate in his silly looking mortarboard hat.

There had to be a reason why Justin wanted him to see this picture, but Brian could not see it. Justin pointed to the twins. They obviously worked out, or had played football, or both. They were very buff. “Take off their shirt and tie,” said Justin, “and picture them a little sweaty.”

“Holy Mary, Mother of God.” Fuck, he had just sounded like his damn mother. One of these boys, or both, on different days, had danced with Justin. He had pushed one of then away from him once, along with a tall guy in a silver shirt, to take Justin for himself. And one of them had given Justin head while he and Justin made out in the lounge. They had left him preparing Brian’s trick for a fuck. One, or more likely both of the Tuscan med student twins were gay.

Did their father know? He didn’t want to out them if he didn’t. But if he did, he had just found his ticket out of working for Tuscan drugs. He was having dinner with the man next week. A few well-placed comments would insure that Tuscan would quietly change agencies, with no blame whatsoever assigned to Plexus.

It was blackmail. How did Brian feel about that? Really fucking good, that’s how. Mostly because regardless of his insinuations during the dinner to come, he would never actually use the information he had. These two kids had problems enough with a father like that. Now they had to somehow find out if Tuscan knew about his boys.

While they were eating, Brian gave a quick synopsis of the significance of the photograph to Todd and Brandon. They were interested while he talked, but when he was done with his explanation, they started being very goofy, feeding each other with chopsticks, and licking sauce off each other’s faces.

They stripped off their tops to not get them dirty and soon were licking sauce, real or imagined, off of each other's chest and stomach. It was curious how much sauce seemed to land on their respective nipples…

Justin commented that since they were sitting on the floor, some sauce might land on their pants as well, and soon, they were licking definitely imaginary sauce off of each other’s dicks, laughing and kissing in between. They had come to the loft straight from the airport, and were horny as hell for each other.

Justin crawled to Brian, and said, looking like a sad puppy, “It’s so inconvenient that you eat so neatly, Brian. Otherwise, we could be naked too.”

“I am really neat with chopsticks but very messy with a spoon,” Brian reassured him. “You better get naked while I get dessert.” He put all the empty Thai food containers on a tray and while Justin took off his T-shirt and pants, got ice cream from the freezer.

He took his clothes off also, put some Haagen Dazs half pints he’d picked up a couple days before on the table, along with four spoons.

“Yum,” said Bandon. “Coffee. My favorite.” He dropped a spoonful on a semi reclining Todd’s chest. “Oops. Sorry, Todd, that must be cold.” It had already slid down all the way to Todd’s lovely treasure trail when Brandon went after it.

Todd’s favorite was caramel, and it apparently tasted really good when it fell accidentally on Brandon’s lower back, and disappeared down his crack for Todd’s nimble tongue to search and find.

Justin suggested ice cream always tasted better in bed, and soon all four of them were enjoying dessert way more than the creator of Haagen Dazs had ever anticipated. Chocolate was delicious licked out of Justin navel, and Justin was apparently liking the strawberry flavor off his nipples. Brian liked that too, very much.

There were many sloppy ice cream kisses, and finally, two sixty-nines, next to each other, where ice cream played less and less of a role, until what was left of the half pints was melting inside the containers on the floor, and all four spoons had fallen off the bed in turn.

This was where having a smaller partner really paid off. While Justin sucked his cock but had to rely on his hands to pleasure the rest of him, Brian had access with his mouth to every lovely attraction between Justin’s legs, and took great advantage of that.

He could see Brandon’s face, as he swallowed Todd’s cock to the root repeatedly, and his look of bliss when Todd did something he really, really liked. He certainly had not looked like that at any time when he had been with Oliver. He and Todd really knew how to rock each other's world.

Brandon opened his eyes, and saw Brian looking at him. He took Todd’s cock in his hand and started to suckle the tip. Brian did the same to Justin’s cock. Brandon tickled the slit with his tongue, and again, Brian imitated him. Brian deep throated Justin twice, before suckling the tip again, and Brandon did the same.

They smiled at each other, and started a sequence they both followed, faster and faster, tickle the slit, suckle the tip, deep throat three times, circle the rim, and again and again, a finger in Justin and Todd’s ass caressing their prostate. Soon, Justin forgot Brian’s cock, and started moaning, as did Todd.

“Fuck Brian, don’t stop, don’t stop…”

“Brandon, Brandon, oh god, Brandon…”

Justin and Todd climaxed simultaneously, as Brandon and Brian were sucking the come right out of the tip of their cock. As usual, Brian almost lost it, Justin’s appreciation was so lovely to hear. Then both he and Brandon lay on their back, heads elevated by a pillow, at opposite ends of the bed as Justin and Todd resumed their ministrations to their cocks once they recovered from their orgasms.

They could watch their own cock being sucked, the other man’s cock being sucked, and the other man’s face, as he was being sucked. Justin was a god at this, and apparently Todd was no slouch either. For the longest time, Brian watched the black ringlets of Todd’s hair bounce as he deep throated Brandon, taking his ten inches in easily. It was a lovely sight. Brandon had a beautiful cock.

Looking at Brandon, he could see him watch Justin’s head moving up and down on his own cock. Was Brandon imagining Justin was sucking him off right now? That thought somehow was so arousing that Brian lost it, and making eye contact with Brandon came deep inside Justin’s mouth.

Whether it was the sight of Brian coming, the thought of the hot spunk in the mouth of the man he loved, or strictly the sensation from his own lover sucking him off, Brandon came as well, staring right at Brian. It was so fucking erotic Brian was instantly hard again and wanted to fuck Justin and watch him come. He made his way up Justin’s body, kissing, licking, reached for a condom and covered it generously with lube, and after kissing Justin long and hard, guided himself into his body.

Justin wrapped his legs around Brian's waist, as Brian started fucking him, kissing him all the while. It was so fucking good. Justin and he moved together perfectly, as they had always done, their fucking harmonious and entrancing. Brian watched the blue eyes turn darker and darker as Justin’s pupils dilated with his increasing arousal, watched Justin’s head and neck take on that rosy hue it always had before he came. Justin was meeting his thrust, opening his mouth to his kiss, opening himself to receive him, letting Brian see into his soul the love that was now central to his being.

Brian was aware of Brandon, next to him, fucking Todd in the same way. He took a long breath of Aroused Justin scent, with its beloved citrusy note, and kissed Justin again, their kiss, passionate, loving, their tongue making love just as their bodies did. He closed his eyes, and let the perfect rocking of his hips, the perfect slide in and out of Justin warm, soft, tight, silky channel carry him away.

Justin’s lovely trembling told him it was time, and his body obeyed, his delicious, sweet orgasm filling the condom in Justin’s ass just as their connected bellies were slickened with his love’s hot come. He continued rocking for a few seconds, and continued kissing for a lot longer.

He gently and slowly pulled out of Justin, smiling at him, and slipped off the condom to tie it and throw it adroitly into the bin. He spooned his love, and they watched together as Brandon kissed and fucked Todd, mirroring what they had been doing minutes ago.

Brandon raised himself on his arms, and told Todd, ”Brian and Justin are watching us, Todd, and we look so fucking hot. Look at them. Look at them, I want them to see your face when you come. You’re so beautiful when you come.” Todd looked toward them, eyes out of focus, obviously very close. “Come for me, love,” said Brandon, “come for me…” and he was right, Todd’s face looked like the face of an angel when he climaxed, peace on his features, eyes half closed, lips parted.

“Brandon,” Todd sighed in bliss, ”Brandon, I love you…”

And Brian saw Brandon look right at Justin as he said, his body pulsing with his own orgasm, “I love you.” And he closed his eyes, so that when Todd looked at him with surprise, and pulled him down for a deep kiss, he wouldn’t see the ache, the want for another in his lover’s eyes.

Brian backed away a little, allowing Justin’s body to lie flat on the bed. Just as he had expected, Justin’s eyes were uncertain, and Brian smiled at him. He bend down to whisper in his ear something he had only so recently understood himself.

“There is not enough love in the world, Sunshine. Any of it that is, we should cherish and celebrate. It is always a good thing. And it is a beautiful thing when friends can love one another, and still be friends. We all have the capacity to love more than one person at a time. I love Mikey, always have and always will. Mikey loves me, and for years before he met Ben, a lot more than I deserved.

“And I am sure than in his own way, Brandon loves Todd too. He just happened to have met you first. He chooses to be our friend and that’s his choice to make, and we should honor it. As for you, Justin, you bring nothing but joy into this world. Your art, your friendship, your kindness. I have never met anyone more deserving of love than you. I, for one, am grateful for any love that comes your way.”

He looked at Justin, whose eyes were awfully bright. “I know that you are mine, Justin, that you love me, body and soul. I am yours too, Sunshine, and I love you, body and soul. Never doubt it. Count on it, always.”

Brian took Justin's soft lips in a kiss. One more month, Sunshine. One more month, he thought.

Then, Brian chuckled and said, “Time to shower and change the sheets, everybody. Between the ice cream and the come, if we don’t do something quickly, we’ll have to be pried apart with the Jaws of Life.” They all cracked up and went to the shower. Brandon lovingly soaped and rinsed Todd, and Brian smiled at Justin.

“I love your soap, Brian. I love the scent of it,” said Todd.

“I have a cupboard full. Grab a bottle when you leave,” offered Brian.

Todd smiled at him. “Thanks, but no thanks. To me it’s the smell of the four of us, of playing and dancing and laughing and fucking together. It would feel weird to use it at home.”

Brandon laughed. “I feel the exact same way,” he said. “It’s the smell of our friendship. It belongs in this shower only.”

Brian smiled at them. “I understand exactly what you mean,” he said, and he did.

They changed the sticky linens and cleaned up the rest of the ice cream, then they went to bed and the couples faced each other, Brian spooning Justin and Brandon spooning Todd.

Todd restarted the conversation about Tuscan Pharmaceuticals. Of all of them, he had the most medical knowledge, but still had no clue about the skin discolorations, or possible side effects. He however felt strongly that queers should not, if at all possible, be of any help or associate themselves in any way with people like Bob Tuscan, and that was how he approached the problem.

He was the more political of the four of them, and had been out to everyone in every way since he was very young. The idea of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ was completely unacceptable to him. Brian, who had lived in the grey zone all his life was impressed with the strength of his conviction. Todd was of Greek descent, and all his family were fervent orthodox Christians.

His father, his uncles, and his brothers were men’s men, firefighters for generations. But when he was fourteen, he had announced to everyone at a family gathering that he was gay, and not given an inch since. The matriarch of the family had stood by him, and things had been rocky and chaotic for everyone for a while, but soon enough, it had been accepted. Family was everything to them, and now, any insult to their brother was answered by the an impressive show of solidarity by the Bourekis clan.

“We need to find a way to figure out if Tuscan is aware of his sons' sexual orientation,” he said, “and use his own fucking bigotry and hypocrisy against him.”

“I could give a photo of the twins to Jeremy at Essengy, for him to call me next time one of them shows up,” Brian thought out loud.

“I have seen him, or them, there pretty regularly,” approved Justin.

“Yes,” said Brandon, “but it could be weeks for all you know. They’re med students. Let’s meet them at the med school.”

“What do you mean?” asked Brian.

“I mean Monday, Todd, Justin and I should have lunch at the med school cafeteria. We are three hot fags. One or both of them has already met Justin. They might strike up a conversation. Or we could. Justin, you could be there as a prospective student, Todd, you could have a continuing education course like you had in January. I could just be…”

“Dr. Goodfuck, visiting from the Swedish academy of Anal Massage?” suggested Todd, laughing.

Brandon kissed his neck and tickled his ribs at the same time.

“You could be looking for a sports medicine specialist's recommendation. You are moving to town and are a professional dancer. Everybody knows you now, Brandon. You can’t pretend to be someone you are not,” remarked Justin.

“And me?” asked Brian. “I don’t get to go?”

“You have to work,” Justin pointed out.

“You have to find out as much as possible about the drug,” said Brandon.

“They might be at that dinner, for all you know, and the cat would be out of the bag,” Todd argued. “When is it anyway?”

“Not sure yet. So, say one of you strikes up a conversation with them. Now what?”

“We could bring up the topic of coming out to our parents. It’s a pretty common icebreaker, actually. Most of us have had to go through it,” said Justin.

“If it doesn’t come up, we can make a date for later,” said Brandon, “and meet him or them at Essengy Monday night.”

“We’ll just have to think on our feet and do our best,” said Todd.

“You’re not working Monday?” asked Brian, surprised.

“No,” said Todd, turning in Brandon’s arms. “Someone asked me to take a couple days off, because he was going to be in town, and had some news.” Brandon ran his hand up Todd’s body, passing over his cock, and coming to his face, caressing his cheek as he kissed him, running his hand through the dark curls.

“Todd is going to help me find a place,” said Brandon, “but right now, I know exactly where I want to be…”

Brian and Justin watched as Brandon lovingly prepared Todd, and turned him over, sliding into his body from behind, lying on top of him, gently biting the nape of his neck, kissing his shoulders as he moved inside of him, slowly, deeply. He said quietly in Todd’s ear, “ And I do love you, Todd, very, very much.”

Watching them make love was really wonderful, and Brian moved back enough to put on a condom and slick it, before sliding into Justin’s ass, still spooning him, taking hold of his hard erection, thrusting in his ass and massaging his cock in time to Brandon’s languorous movements.

For a long time, the four of them seemed to float in a different world, out of time, just pleasuring each other unhurriedly. Justin's eyes closed and he rested his head back on Brian’s shoulder. Brian breathed in his neck, loving his scent. Brandon kept whispering into Todd’s ear, licking and kissing his neck.

He started moving faster and Todd mewled with pleasure and spread his legs further. Brandon lifted himself onto his arms, and started a sinuous motion that pushed him deeper and harder into Todd, his eyes closed in his pleasure. Brian couldn’t believe how beautiful he looked. Todd mewled again, and arched his spine to bring his ass higher.

Brian could see Brandon’s slicked cock move in and out of him, and loved it when Todd, still arched, started to play with his own nipples. “Brandon, I am so close… don’t stop… please… harder… please… harder... yesssss... here I come…” and his mouth opened on a silent scream, his head thrown back, his fingers pinching his nipples tightly. Brandon bit his shoulder, and pumped into him hard and fast three more times before staying completely still, deep in his ass, wave after wave of tension moving up his body, from his thighs to his lower back as he trembled and came.

Brian pulled out of Justin who turned over to his back and brought his ankles to Brian’s shoulder, just as Brian wanted. He slid home inside the man he loved, and folded him almost in half to reach his mouth in a passionate kiss. Their fingers laced together near Justin’s head, they moved as one, their bodies responding to one another, Brian going as deep inside Justin as he possibly could, staring into his eyes until they were each other's world with nothing but their passion, their mounting pleasure, their mingled breaths, and their words and sounds of love. It seemed the perfection of it would never end, their bodies in a state of utter bliss, slick with sweat, their motions as immutable and varied as the waves of the sea.

But Brian's traitorous body wanted its release, and each thrust started carrying him higher and higher, closer to orgasm. Justin’s pleasure sounds became more urgent, Brian’s name on his lips like a plea, and the beloved body started trembling under him like a captured bird. Brian smiled and said, “Let go, Justin, let go,” and he felt the sweet pulses of his love’s pleasure. He let his own climax engulf him, feeling as if he was pouring his love into Justin’s willing heart as his hot come poured into his body, stopped only by the latex barrier. Not much longer now, please God, he thought, not much longer.

He pulled carefully out of Justin’s body, falling to his side next to Justin. Gentle hands removed his condom, a warm cloth cleaned his and Justin’s belly, and they only had to curl into each other, close their eyes and sleep.

Several times that night they woke up and loved each other, or watched their friends do so. As the sun was coming up over the city, Justin and Todd gently, lovingly took their strong mates to a place of surrender, of receiving instead of giving, of acceptance and trust.

They woke up late, showered together and ate the high protein, low fat breakfast Brandon and Justin cooked, dancing around in the kitchen to a Van Morrison CD, as Brian and Todd looked at the ads in the Saturday paper for places for Brandon. He would rent at first. This was New York City. His salary was much higher than it had been in Pittsburgh, but still, until he sold his apartment there, he didn’t have enough in savings for a down payment on any kind of a place.

Since the New York City Ballet rehearsed and performed in the Lincoln Center and Brandon had expressed the desire to live in Manhattan, they concentrated the search in Clinton, which seemed like a reasonable neighborhood for him.

There was no urgency, really. He would not start until April, and then the first four months would only be rehearsal. The troupe was huge. The principal dancers like himself were many. He was very glad he had held out for a better position than the Corps de Ballet. If he had accepted their first offer, he could not have afforded to live in Manhattan.

Brian did mention that if worse came to worse, Brandon could be in one of his guest rooms for a month. After all, Justin had lived at Todd’s for that long. Todd and Brandon had agreed that it was better for their relationship if they did not move in together. Living in the same city was going to be a big enough adjustment already.

After breakfast, Justin left for Pratt to go paint, taking his phone and his charger with him. Brandon and Todd headed out to Clinton. They were all going to Essengy that night. As per usual, Brian had brought home some work. The loft was strangely quiet. Brian wondered what he had done with his weekends before Justin entered his life. He drank one more coffee, smiling at the portrait of Florence on the kitchen wall, then went to his desk, opened his laptop and went to work.

To be continued...

Brandon

Todd