Besheert

Justin decided to ride the subway. The day wasn’t that cold, and walking to and from the stations would not be too onerous. The previous night had been so great. He could not imagine doing anything like it with anyone else, but their relationship with Todd and Brandon was really special.

On the other hand, he could not wait to go to bed tonight alone with Brian. Justin loved him so very, very much. And lately… lately it felt as if there was a deep change in the man he loved, as if Brian had let go of the fear of loving and of being loved which had pretty much shaped his life until then. It filled Justin with joy to have Brian trust in him, trust in them. When they had set down the rules of their relationship, Justin had asked for some time at home, together, and Brian's response, though positive had not been thrilled. But now he said things like “Don’t paint too late tonight. Call me. I… Fuck Justin, I know I’ll miss you until you get home.”

When he’d come back from Essengy the other night, he had been surprised to find Brian there already. Brian had showered, a sure sign he had fucked someone else in a back room, or a lounge somewhere. Justin had decided long ago not to let it bother him, and the best way to do that was to not think about it. He fully trusted Brian to follow their rules. His fucking around had no relevance when it came to the two of them. Brian had certainly been glad enough to suck Justin off, and had made love to him like a man starved.

At Essengy, Justin had had two offers of blowjobs, though one of the guys might have wanted to be fucked as well, he wasn’t sure. He and Brian made love everyday, several times usually. He had gotten blowjobs before because it was his only sexual outlet. He certainly did not need that now, and compared to Brian… well, no random guy at the club ever looked remotely tempting.

Brandon was gorgeous, and Todd’s looks, though far from classic, really grew on you. They were the only two men he had actually found attractive enough to consider seeing in the past year, and they were now his best friends. So he went to the club to dance. And he went home for everything else. Brian was highly sexed enough that fucking someone else at one club or another didn’t mean he wouldn’t have the desire to fuck Justin when he came home.

He wished that… No. He wouldn’t let himself think that way. At least, Brian was his to love, exclusively. It was enough. The memory of Brian’s cock sliding inside him naked at Gillian’s the other night, the memory of the softness, the heat, the closeness he had felt at that moment was always there, though, taunting him. He couldn’t believe he had actually mentioned it in the heat of passion the other morning. God, he really would love it if… Enough.

Arriving at Pratt, he was glad to find Lilah already there. He plugged in his phone while she chose some music, and they both started working, Lilah, as was her habit, chatting of this and that the entire time. Justin found it extremely soothing. His painting was coming along well, it was just about finished really, but he kept feeling it lacked something. He was hoping it would become obvious to him somewhere along the way.

Lilah started speaking of her last evening. She was so happy Max was back in town. She asked Justin if he thought they were too young to get married. Max was twenty-five, and she was twenty-three, like Justin. He thought about it for a second and answered honestly. Twenty-three seemed awfully young to make a lifetime commitment. He knew she had always felt Max was The One, but still. Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to wait a few more years? To have time to play the field a little, to make sure? She was quiet for a while after that, thinking.

“Justin? Did you ever think of going to college, to get a broader education?”

“I thought about it before my Dad kicked me out, because he was pushing hard for me to follow in his footsteps at Dartmouth,” said Justin. “But after he kicked me out, I decided to go straight to Art School. That was what I always wanted anyway.”

“So you were eighteen, and you made a life long commitment.”

Well, she had a point. But that was different. He had always known he wanted to be an artist.

“Do you ever imagine meeting a guy, somewhere, and leaving Brian?”

Justin laughed at that. “No. I think Brian and I are in it for the long haul. I know we have only been together for a short time, but… He is part of me now. I cannot imagine life without him.”

“Besheert.”

“What?”

“You and Brian are Besheert. Two halves of a whole, predestined, made for each other, soul mates.”

“Yes. Exactly. The first time we met, we danced together, and I felt it.”

“That’s how I feel about Max. I know intellectually that we are awfully young, but we’re Besheert. Like yesterday. I was waiting for him at the café we always meet at. I was reading my Art History for my test Monday. People were constantly coming in and out, but at one point, I just knew he was there. I just knew he had walked in. I was wearing my hat, and he was looking around. He was looking for my hair, you know? I took my hat off, and he immediately looked at me and he smiled. Not with just his mouth, but with his whole body, you know? And I felt it too, like I could finally really relax, let go of some tension I didn’t know was there. We could wait a million years, it wouldn’t make a difference.”

Justin was done. He stepped away from his painting, and suddenly saw what was missing. The composition was good, the colors good, but now that he knew what it was lacking, it was so glaring, he couldn’t believe he had not seen it before. He mixed colors on his palette, quickly, until he had the right shade of blue, and took a fine brush, which seemed crazy considering the size of the canvas, but amongst the broad strokes, he now needed the thinnest lines.

He added it to the same side of all the silvery grey steaks, and then here and there along the greens. With a slightly larger brush, he added more toward the top of the painting. He stepped back again, and smiled. There. It was completely abstract, of course, but ever since changing the colors two weeks ago, he had thought of it as a rainforest after a rainfall.

The thin blue line you could hardly see was the reflection of the watery blue sky on all the wetness, because even in the rainforest, once in a while, it stopped raining and the sun shone on the upper canopy. The sunshine after the rain, like the light after the darkness of night, immutable, unchallengeable…

He felt this unaccountable rush of love for Brian and smiled when he realized why. Immutable, unchallengeable… Some things were just meant to be. Besheert. He looked up at Lilah, who was spreading gesso on a white canvas.

“I think you’re right, Lilah. If that’s the way you feel, and you two want to get married, you should. Some things are just meant to be.” They smiled at each other.

“I’m done with this one. You want to see?” She got up. He had worked on this longer than he usually did on any one painting. She was curious. She came, stood next to him, and smiled.

“It looks totally different than it did three hours ago, and yet, I can’t see what’s changed...” She looked at the painting critically. “You added that lighter shade of green, but that’s not it. And the peeled banana yellow. But that’s not why it looks so different. What did you do to it?”

“I’ll never tell. How does it feel?”

She grinned at him and he realized what a weird question it was, except she knew exactly what he meant. She stared at the painting again. After a while she said, “Like you wish for something, but you know you shouldn’t? Like you want something more when you already have so much?” She stared at it some more. “But then you feel like you’re going to get everything you want, because it’s just meant to be…”

He looked at his painting, surprised. He knew his yearning for Brian to feel the same way he felt about sex was in there. It had been on his mind most of the time he had painted. But the last? And he felt it, just like she said, that feeling of knowing that he would get what he wanted in time because it was meant to be. He felt himself blushing to the root of his hair, as if she could have known from looking at the painting what he so ardently wished for.

“It’s gorgeous, you know?” she said, and sighed. “When I graduate, I will miss this. Sharing a studio with you, and watching you create all that beauty.”

“I’ll just miss you,” he said simply, honestly.

She bumped his hip, and they laughed.

“So, what‘re you going to do now?”

“I want to do a huge one, freehand.” He grinned. “With lots of cadmium…”

She giggled, and pulled a brand new tube of it out of her cart. “Got some here, in case you run out…”

“Come give me a hand. I prepped this giant one in October, remember? That’s the one I need.”

They went to the blanks’ reserve, where they stored the prepped canvas they had, their names written on the edge with permanent marker. He didn’t have to look for his name, his was the biggest one there, a big square, 7X7, an unusual size to boot.

They brought it out, Lilah taking back everything she had said about missing his stupid paintings as they maneuvered the giant canvas in the tight space. They put it flat on one of large tables, and as soon as Lilah had put a new CD in, a smile on his face, Justin went to work.

*****

At lunch on Monday, Justin felt a bit out of place, to say the least, as he waited in line to pay for the food on his tray at the Medical Center cafeteria where the med students took their lunch. He had taken a long time getting ready for work that morning, because he would be coming to Columbia right after, and since he wanted to be there from 11:30 on, he and Brian had actually arrived at Plexus at 6:00am. Brian had been just as awake and raring to go as he was at the usual 7:00, Justin feeling as if it was the middle of the night. He had wanted to look like a prospective student, to have an excuse to be there, but he also wanted to look hot, to catch the attention of the brothers.

This was his second time standing in line, this time with yogurt on his tray. The cafeteria hot food bar was open from 11:30 to 2:30, to accommodate the different med students’ schedules. He could be here a while.

He was one person away from the cash register when he almost jumped out of his skin as someone said, “Thanks for saving my spot!” took the yogurt off his tray, put the tray on a pile of others and stepped in front of him to the register. As the cashier was adding up his food purchase, one of the brothers turned back to him, smiled, leaned down and said in his ear, “Remember me? I remember you. I’d recognize your hair and your ass anywhere…”

Justin said, with an uncertain smile, “I think so…”

The handsome med student put his hand on his chest, and rolled his eyes, tragically. “You don’t! Break my heart…” He went to sit at a four person table near a window, talking to Justin on the way. “We danced together one night at Essengy. You, me and some hunk in a silver shirt. I was already thinking threesome! when that guy waltzed in, just pushed us aside, and started making out with you. I guess you had a prior commitment… I know the guy’s reputation, but you seemed to know what you were doing, so I left you to it. I saw you leave with him a while later.” He frowned, as if feeling guilty in retrospect. “You knew about him, right?”

Justin thought his delayed concern was rather sweet and smiled. “Yeah. I knew all about him. He just gave me a ride home, actually.”

“Really? He made out with you and gave you a ride home, when he fucks guys and can hardly be bothered to hand them a towel? You must be one hell of a kisser!” He waved, to attract someone’s attention. “Sorry, I was just flagging down my brother Alex.” He smiled at Justin. “I’m Rob, by the way.”

“Justin.”

Over Justin’s shoulder, Rob was watching his brother approach.

“Oooh, what do we have here? Seems my brother met someone in the cafeteria line as well…”

“Good god! There are two of you?” joked Todd, who had arrived with Alex, as he put his tray next to Rob’s and sat down. “Be still my heart!”

The arriving brother said to his twin, “Rob, this is Todd. He’s here for continuing education.” He turned to Justin. “I’m Alex, by the…Well, hello there.” He smirked. “I believe we have met before.”

Justin had pretended to hardly remember Rob, so he took the easiest road, “It’s quite possible. I am quite confused at this point.”

“That time we hooked up at Essengy… You’d met my brother before… No wonder you were so friendly.”

Justin smiled sweetly. “I’m always friendly…” and to show he meant it, he held out his right hand across the table and said, “Hi, Todd, I’m Justin. It’s nice to meet you.”

Todd grinned, and shook the proffered hand. “Nice to meet you, Justin. Are you here for continuing ed as well?”

“Nah, I was accepted here for September, and I came to check it out without the escort.”

“So? What do you think?” asked Rob.

Justin tried to look wistful. “Well, I love it. But I don’t know if I can swing it financially. I’ve applied for financial aid, so I guess I’ll see. My parents were all set to pay for it, but then... well, let’s just say that I came out, and that now they’re not willing to pay for it anymore.”

“Ouch,” said Todd. “That’s sucks. My parents have been great, thank god. They said it made no difference to them.”

“Sorry, man,” said Alex. “We’re somewhat in the same boat. Our Dad found out about us, and told us he would only pay for our education if we stayed in the closet, even to our Mom and brothers.”

“How did he find out?” asked Justin genuinely curious.

“We played football in high school, and the coach caught us in the shower with a well named tight end, and a not so well named wide receiver (It was his first time, and there was nothing wide about it, let me tell you)…”

Rob took up the story from his reminiscing brother. “The coach was pissed, one, because we were fucking, and two, because we were doing it raw. He gave us this long lecture about safe sex, and then he called our Dad.”

“We pretty much begged him not to,” said Alex. “Our Dad is a complete homophobic asshole. But he did anyway.”

“So he came, picked us up, and took us to Taco Bell. We never went to fast food places. We were like ‘What the fuck?' Rob shook his head. “After we sat down, he pointed out the guy in the back, who had made our tacos, and told us that's where we would be if anyone found out about our pervert ways. He would kick us out of the house, forbid our Mom and brothers to contact us, give our trust funds to charity, and obviously not pay another penny toward our education.”

Alex grinned. “So we’re holding out until we graduate from med school. He thinks he can control us with the trust funds…”

“But fuck him and his fucking money. After that we can make our own way.” Rob grinned too. “We were thinking of livening up our graduation ceremony.”

“We’re not quite sure how, yet. But we are going to stick it to him. As publicly as we can,” Alex said. “We just wish there was a way to tell our Mom first. She is completely under his thumb. She looks like she comes from money but before they got married she sold perfume at Macy’s…”

“Our grandparents were immigrants, and poor as dirt. But she’s really sweet, and she doesn’t share his views…”

“She doesn’t deserve the public humiliation. He does.” Alex shrugged. “Our brothers aren’t stupid. They probably have figured out by now why we never bring girls home. But they…”

“Holy shit!” Rob exclaimed, interrupting his explanation.

“What?” asked Alex.

“Don’t turn around, bro, but the ballet guy from that Clearlife commercial just walked in,” said Rob.

“Fuck that,” said Alex, who turned around immediately. “Oh dear God. He’s even hotter in person.”

Todd smirked at Justin and said, “You’d like to meet him, eh?”

“I’d like to be his boy toy, that’s what I’d like…” answered Alex.

“He can have two for the price of one,” added Rob.

Todd got up, walked to Brandon, and kissed him lightly on the lips. Justin laughed. The looks on the twins’ faces were priceless. Todd talked to Brandon for a minute, no doubt telling him he and Justin had got all the needed information, and then brought him back to the table.

“Brandon, this is Alex, Rob, and Justin. Guys, this is Brandon.” Todd sat down again, Brandon standing behind him, massaging his shoulders lightly.

The loquacious brothers were completely speechless. Justin took pity on them. “Hi, Brandon. It’s nice to meet you. Why don’t you take my spot? I have to get to class.”

“Thank you, Justin. I had lunch already, but I wouldn’t mind sitting down and having a cup of coffee.” He bent down and kissed Todd’s neck. “Can I get you some, Todd?”

“Yes, thanks.”

“Guys?” Brandon asked the brothers.

“No, thank you,” said Alex, just staring.

“No, thanks,“ said Rob, his spoon of pudding still poised halfway between his bowl and his mouth, where it had stopped when he spotted Brandon.

“I’m sure I’ll see you again sometime at Essengy, guys.” They both seemed to finally come out of their trance. “Thanks for the yogurt, Rob. Bye.”

“Bye, Justin.”

“You’re welcome. See you.”

“Bye, Justin. It was really nice talking to you,” said Todd.

Justin grinned at him and left. He checked his phone. The battery was almost empty. He plugged it in at a free outlet in a corridor next to some soda machines, and called Brian.

“Kinney.”

Justin smiled. “Hey. We got all the information you need, and more,” said Justin.

“That’s great. So their Dad knows?”

“He has known for years. We can talk over everything tonight with the others, but I think it’s all good. You?”

“Nada. The rep is giving me the run around, sending me irrelevant stuff, not giving me what I ask for. Also, apparently, the doctor who headed the team conducting the FDA trials at Columbia has left the country, and gone back to El Salvador where he has opened a clinic. So I’m completely dependent on their rep for help. I sent for the FDA report, but it will be a while before I get it, and chances are it will make no real sense to me… Anyway. We can discuss everything tonight. Where are you?”

“Still at Columbia. I had to plug in to call you. I’ll get a cab to class. Good thing I don’t start till two.”

“What do you have today?” They had never really discussed Justin’s classes before. Justin was surprised how pleased he was that Brian should ask.

“Drawing from life.”

“Is that were you get to draw naked models?”

“That’s part of it, but some people are dressed, and we also do animals. We’ve met at the zoo a couple of times, and we had greyhounds come in just last week.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

“It’s interesting to learn all the different techniques, but sometimes it’s frustrating because of my hand. Other than that, I enjoy it a lot.”

“Good. Hold on.” Justin could hear Cynthia’s voice in the background. “Harold Montrose is on my other line. I have to go. Later.”

“Later.”

All the way to Pratt, Justin felt the effect of the conversation. Brian and he spoke of Art related issues often, whether related to Plexus, or to Justin’s paintings. But they had never spoken about what he did in school. Justin had never even noticed, to be honest. Brian’s expressing an interest in it made him feel really good. He grinned to himself. He was so crazy in love.

Drawing from life, as Justin had expressed, could be frustrating for him. After a couple of hours, Justin’s hand would usually start acting up. He had developed a coping technique now. Everything he could he did with his left hand: the general outline, the shading, anything that did not require perfect precision.

It put less pressure on his right hand, but sometimes had drawbacks. It you were right handed, especially with charcoals or pastels, you tried to work from left to right, to minimize smudging. If you work ambidextrously, as he did, you had to cope with not being able to rest your hand on the paper at all. He tried to rest his wrists on the frame, or protect his work with paper held in place with painter’s tape. It complicated matters.

He had not disclosed his condition when he’d applied to Pratt, and for most classes it was not an issue, but for this one it was a constant problem. It had not taken long for his instructors to require explanations for his unorthodox approach, and some of them were more supportive than others.

Because of the extra steps he had to take, the time constraints were more severe. He had unconsciously compensated by drawing faster. At first his technique suffered, and he was often not fully happy with the final product, but little by little his accuracy had increased, and he also got faster at ‘blocking’ his work progressively with paper and tape. He found that the paper used to line baking pans worked best. After a month, he had started to be satisfied with his results, and since then, things had only gotten better.

When they got to pencil drawings, where smudging was much less of an issue, it made his life so easy he loved it. He felt he had so much time. The instructor in that particular technique was astonished by the amount of detail Justin had time for compared to other students. So now, his earlier suffering actually gave him an edge.

Todd and Brandon were coming for dinner at seven to discuss Tuscan, so there was really not time to go to the studio to paint. However, the Thursday before, one of his classes had ended. It was a technique class, where they were given a topic or particular technique and required to paint a canvas, sketch, draw, or do a watercolor with a strict time limit. The theory was that it would help develop spontaneity, and increase their trust in their choices.

It was the class where he’d painted Florence’s portrait. He had to admit he loved how that one turned out, but two others he really disliked. One was a monochromatic rendering of a still life, and the other an impressionist rendering of a photograph. His grades in the class had been really good. He just didn’t care for all of the results.

So now he was on a mission. He met Lilah and Rory in the studio, and they each got out the paintings they disliked. Rory hated all three; Lilah liked her monochrome, but hated her impressionist and portrait. They could, and really should, have reused the canvas, but after his immolation of A Beautiful Life, they had somehow decided to burn them.

They had a little procession to the parking lot, and set up way away from any cars. Rory, always safety conscious, had even brought a small fire extinguisher, just in case. They sprayed their paintings with barbecue starting fluid, which was much more flammable and much less expensive than turpentine.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” said Rory, in a playfully reverent voice.

“Return thee to mediocrity’s well from which you sprang,” said Lilah.

“Begone, begone, thou foul images, to the fires of hell we condemn thee!” said Justin.

Lilah dropped the match, and they all stepped back. Even though they were expecting it, they still jumped when all the fluid seemed to ignite at once, and they giggled. Lilah started to dance, singing the few lines she knew of Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire. She shoved Rory to force him to join her and move around the flaming canvas.

Laughing, Justin joined them.

For the next few minutes they danced around, and then finished in a disorganized group hug, laughing their heads off. They decided, as they disposed of the few remaining unburned pieces of frames, that it had been a very successful and extremely cathartic endeavor.

Justin took a cab home, and was surprised when he came in to see that Brian had come back from work already. The camel coat he wore that morning was in the closet, and his computer was on the desk.

“Brian?” He wasn’t home. He must have gone back out to run some errand.

Justin took out his cell. It was dead. Annoyed, he plugged it in. At least he had no missed calls. He really needed to order a new phone. He went to the desk where Brian’s laptop was open on some horribly boring looking financial chart. He opened a new window and googled Cell phone. The list appeared. He was intrigued to see that several of the listings were purple instead of blue, showing that site had been visited from this computer already.

Out of curiosity, he checked Brian’s history. Last Saturday, mid afternoon, Brian had spent about an hour and a half on different sites about cell phones, including the Consumer Report, the Electronic Review… He went to the last site visited.

It was called PureMobile.com, and was an Internet retail outlet. Digging into the history he saw that a Motorola V3i had been put in the shopping basket, purchased, and the purchase canceled. Justin smiled. He wanted to know more. Using the knowledge he had gained through years of tweaking his programs, he checked how much time had separated each event. The phone had sat in the basket twenty-two minutes before the purchase was made, and the purchase canceled four minutes later. He chuckled.

Justin closed the window he had opened, and went to take a shower. He smelled like a bad barbeque. In the shower, he reflected on the significance of what he had just found out.

He knew how important it was to Brian to be able to reach him. It had been very high on his list of requests during their ‘Boyfriend’ discussion. He was obviously really bothered by the unreliability of Justin’s phone, and yet had not mentioned once during the weekend Justin’s procrastinating in ordering a new one over the Internet.

Brian had spent an hour seriously researching what the best phone for Justin would be. Yet he had not brought up his findings, leaving Justin the freedom of buying what he wanted, accepting that his own choices and criteria might be different from Justin’s.

Justin imagined that Brian had put the phone in the shopping cart and then debated within himself the pros and cons of buying it.

He tried to guess Brian’s arguments for both sides of the issue. Justin would have a phone. He would have it quickly (Brian had requested the overnight delivery. Had he left his order standing, the new phone would have arrived at Plexus this morning, and by the time Justin left for Columbia, it would have been fully charged and ready to go.) Justin would have the best phone available according to his research. But…

Justin would not have gotten to pick his own phone. He would be annoyed at Brian buying him an expensive item again though he had already told Brian how he felt about that. And finally, it would be treating Justin as less than a fullgrown adult, allowed to do things when he felt like it, and if he felt like it.

After 22 minutes his desire for Justin to be reachable had won over everything else, and four minutes after that, his respect for Justin had won over his own desires.

Justin felt like a jerk for not taking care of this sooner even though he had known it was important to Brian. Now that he knew just how important, he decided to fix the problem as soon as he had a chance.

He stepped out of the shower to be welcomed by a smiling Brian and a hot towel. That was very nice, as was the delicious kiss, cold on the outside, and warm on the inside.

“I picked up dinner,” Brian explained. “I’ll go set the table.”

“I’ll be right out and give you a hand,” said Justin.

He put on a white undershirt, his favorite blue cashmere hoody, Calvin Klein boxers, cargo pants and a pair of white socks before joining Brian. He got the cutlery out of the drawer.

“Brian, do you know anything about the newer cell phones?” Justin asked conversationally. “I’ve been meaning to order one, but I haven’t made the time to research it.”

“A bit. What are you looking for?”

“Clam shell. They feel better to me. Not too bulky so I can have it in my pocket on vibrate at the club and not look like I’ve padded myself. Reliable, I guess. With an alarm clock feature.”

“Don’t you want a camera?”

“I have not had one yet. What would I use it for?”

“Take a picture of something that inspires you? Take impromptu pictures of friends goofing off? Of Gus, anytime you think he looks cute?”

“Hm. I hadn’t thought of that. Yeah, a camera would be good.” Brian had obviously thought this through, and anticipated Justin’s needs and desires.

“If you are tired of carrying a separate mp3 player, you can get one that will hold your music as well.”

“Really? That’s cool! But it must cost a lot. I don't want to pay one month’s salary for a phone.”

“I hear you. Why don’t you check the new Razr on the net, and read about it. I can finish the dinner preparations.

Justin went to the Motorola page and read all about Brian’s choice for him. It was really good, if a little pricey. “I like their V3i model,” he said. “What do you think?”

“I think it would be a good choice for you.”

“Me too. I think I’ll order it.”

“I have an account with a retailer, and I get a bit of a discount with them. Also, I can insure your phone against damage and theft through their website by putting it on my registered credit card if you want.” Brian was done preparing for their guests and was looking at the screen over his shoulder.

“Why don’t you do that,” said Justin, getting up. “I’ll get my checkbook and write you a check for the amount.”

“I’ll have them overnight it to Plexus. It can be charged and ready to go by the time you leave for class if I place the order now.”

“Great.”

Brian did what he needed to do, which was probably just to resend the form from last Saturday, told Justin the amount (accurately, noted Justin, who of course knew exactly how much the order came to), closed his laptop, folded Justin’s check in his wallet, smiled and grabbed him to sit him sideways on his lap.

“Thanks for taking care of this. I’m really glad.”

“I should have done it this weekend. I know it matters to you. I’m sorry.”

Brian kissed him, a lovely long sweet kiss.

Justin looked at his face, and ran the back of his fingers along his jaw. “You are a beautiful man,” he said, smiling. “Inside and out. And I am a very lucky one.”

Brian pulled him closer, and hugged him. “Thank you. My sentiments exactly. And this is where we suddenly both scream in horror, discovering we’ve grown breasts and we are now a couple of lesbians…”

Justin burst out laughing. “God forbid!” he said. “I wish you had time to brutally throw me down and take me from behind, grunting, just to exorcise that thought.”

“Sounds all right to me. Damn. It’s five to seven. No time for a good testosterone-affirming fuck. Well, there’s always tonight…”

The door buzzer went, and Justin got off Brian’s lap to go answer it, chuckling, wiggling his bum. “Hold that thought,” he said. Brian followed him quickly and grabbed his ass.

“Thought,” Justin said again. “Hold that thought, Brian, not that ass.”

“Sorry,” said Brian, smirking. “My mistake. I’ll get us some drinks while you let them in, shall I?

Dinner was both fabulous and instructive. Brian had gotten some filets mignon from some fancy caterer that he’d had to finish in the oven, some steamed greens and a really good fat free salad. They all had a shot of decaf espresso for dessert.

Brian was very happy to hear from Justin that there was no love lost between the twins and their father, and that they actually wished their mom to be aware of their sexual orientation. Their Dad could certainly not blame the twins for someone else outing them to their mother. That gave him a lot of freedom.

Brian had called Plexus’ own legal team and had explained the situation to Gerard, who headed it. It seemed all the precautions he was taking were great. Gerard’s only advice was to send a copy of the file to an independent council on retainer, and let Tuscan know that was happening. It would prevent Tuscan from knowingly making legal claims that were untrue, and prevent a session of “he said, she said” if the case were ever going to go to court.

Brian still had gotten nothing but the run around and some hardly veiled bullshit from the Tuscan rep. He’d actually called Alan in about it, and had been quite pleased when Alan had looked as concerned about it as he felt.

Alan had already called Tuscan and had mentioned to him that since Brian had never met him, and he had never met Brian, and since Brian did not have a wife who would, with Tuscan’s own wife, help a first meeting, it might be a good idea for he and his wife to attend as well.

He had explained that he wanted them to start out on the right foot and develop a productive, friendly relationship from the start. Tuscan had replied he needed to discuss it with his wife, and that he would call Alan back. As of 5:00, Monday evening, he still had not.

None of them was sure what would be best: for Brian to be alone with the Tuscans, or for Alan to be there to bear witness. On the one hand the presence of Alan and his charming wife Heather might help keep Tuscan civil. On the other, alone, Brian could afford to be as brutal and vicious as he needed to be.

After Justin’s departure, Brandon and Todd had continued to pump the brothers for information. It seemed that ever since they were little, at home, Bob Tuscan had always been a petty tyrant, keeping a tight control over every aspect of their lives: The classes they took, the sports they played, the friends they were allowed to hang out with. His biggest mistake had been to send the two of them to an all male school at an age when the teenage hormones ran unchecked.

They had known for sure they were gay since they were sixteen, when they had both taken girls to the Junior Prom. The celebration took place in a large hotel downtown, and a few of them had rented suites. The TVs had satellite, and in one of the suites, the channels were not blocked.

Soon, to the dismay of their young ladies, most of the boys were sitting down, watching pornography. Rob and Alex thought it was all right, somewhat exciting, but then somehow the channel had been switched to a male on male one, and they had both been riveted to the screen.

A senior who had come as one of the junior girl’s date, and who had orchestrated the channel change, approached them as soon as the TV returned to the male on female porn.

He was the captain of the wrestling team, and offered for then to join him in his much smaller room, where, as an eighteen year old, he had access to the encrypted channels. Soon all three of them were lying on his bed with hard-ons, watching guys rimming, sucking, and fucking each other. When he had started caressing them through their tuxedo pants, the brothers had thought they were in heaven. He had then made the boys an offer they could not refuse.

He would suck off whichever brother would let him have a chance at his ass. Before either one of them could respond, there had been a knock on the door and the co-wrestling captain, who happened to be the captain’s best friend, walked in, looking completely at ease with what was going on. Since both Alex and Rob wanted their cocks sucked, and really, their ass fucked as well, the arrangement had worked out beautifully.

About an hour later, and their wallets 200 dollars lighter, both brothers had their dicks up the wrestlers’ asses. It was a night to remember. Since the wrestlers had only ever fucked each other, and the brothers were virgins, they did not even bother with condoms. By six in the morning, starving as only teenage boys can, they had all finally left the suite, all four of them walking a little stiffly on their way to Denny’s chicken fried steaks. All of their long-suffering female dates were long gone, and they couldn't have gotten dates for any other dances if they’d tried. They did not.

Over the next two years, Rob and Alex fucked practically the entire football team. Most of its members would end up being straight, of course, but were experimenting, boarding without a girl insight. and eager for the popular brothers to help them through their teenage angst.

The dinner was scheduled for Wednesday evening. They discussed the many ways the dinner could hypothetically go. Brian grinned at one point and said he felt he was preparing for a military mission, but underneath the teasing you could tell that he was really, really glad to hear all their thoughts and suggestions, giving him the different approaches of three intelligent minds aside from his own to think up his perfect strategy.

At ten, Brandon and Todd left. Brandon had to catch a plane back to the Pitts early in the morning, and Todd had to work. Brandon had put down a deposit on an apartment as small if not smaller than Todd’s, so his quest had been successful. Even though the central topic of the evening had been serious, they had still managed to have a great time, with the usual teasing and laughing.

Brian and Justin cleaned up, cooperating automatically.

“I wish I could come with you,” said Justin.

“Well you could go in Drag. It worked in ‘La Cage aux Folles’,” joked Brian.

“When did you see that?” asked Justin astonished.

“Cynthia did, and gave me a synopsis. It did actually sound funny. She and Bower, from accounting, had a really good time.”

“I have never been to a real play. Have you?”

“Does College Theater count?”

“No.”

“Then, no.”

“We should try it some time. We live in New York. We should take advantage of it.”

“Well, we certainly could try it.” Brian caught Justin as he was passing by on his way back to the kitchen after drying off the dinner table. “Right now I can think of a couple of things I would like to try as well.”

“Oh, yeah?” grinned Justin. “Like what?”

“Well, if my accounting is correct, you too now own four ties. How about we use them on you all at once, and try my Valentine’s Day present?”

Justin’s cock was instantly hard, and he shivered in Brian’s arms. “Hummm…” he said, with a smile he hoped was enticing. The way Brian reacted, he concluded he had been successful.

Lying in Brian’s arms later, Justin brushed his sore nipples with the tip of his fingers, Justin decided Brian had liked the nipple clamps Justin had bought for them. Justin had really liked them. Just like the last time bondage had been part of their lovemaking, he concluded he wouldn’t do it every other day, but could certainly enjoy it occasionally. He sighed, smiling when the long fingers of Brian’s right hand wrapped themselves loosely, but oh, so possessively around his right wrist. He cuddled closer into Brian’s arms, and fell asleep.

To be continued...

Justin's Fag Hags, Lovely Lilah, and beloved Daphne...