The following morning, Michael looked as if he had put salt in his coffee instead of sugar. He was sitting across from Brian and Justin, who were sharing a veggie omelet and a stack of whole grain pancakes. The men were practically sitting on each other's laps, they were so close together.

Michael was seething, wishing he hadn't dropped the blond devil at the loft the night before. He didn't care if the teen claimed that he and Brian never declared themselves to be monogamous, he saw how upset his friend was after finding his so-called boyfriend fucking someone at Babylon. All Michael knew was that against all odds, Brian was completely infatuated with this kid and he didn't like it one bit.

When Debbie brought out the checks, Justin pulled Brian's wallet out of his back pocket and put a twenty on the table before announcing he had to pee.

Justin got up from the booth and headed toward the back of the diner. He paused about halfway to the restrooms before returning to the table.

"I forgot something," he said as he bent down to give Brian a kiss. "Okay, now I can go."

Brian thought it was goofy, but he couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Justin walk away again.

"Jesus," Michael muttered under his breath. He then looked at Emmett, who was sitting next to him on the outside of the booth. "Move."

Emmett got up so his roommate could pass. "Don't say ‘please' or nothing, shit."

The rude man scooted out of the booth, ignoring Emmett's scolding as he walked toward the restrooms. Brian was tempted to follow after him but was confident Justin could hold his own against Michael.

Justin was answering nature's call when Michael burst through the door.

"What the fuck, Brian?" Michael snarled.

Justin looked at him with a blank face. "What the fuck, what?"

Michael gestured toward the direction of the dining area. "That! That fucking little twink-"

"You mean my Justin, my boyfriend?" Justin said, flushing the urinal and zipping his fly.

A growly noise escaped Michael's throat. "Whatever the fuck he is! I saw the look on your face last night when you found him fucking that trick. I've never seen you like that before. You were absolutely crushed, like you had just heard that Armani went out of business."

Justin walked over to the sink to wash his hands. "Why don't you just butt out, Michael? Are he and I going to be together forever? I don't know, but we're together right now."

Michael had no idea how "together" Justin and Brian actually were...

"Well, I don't like him and I don't trust him," Michael said.

"How you feel doesn't matter!" Justin yelled, flinging his wet hands around. "Something beyond our control brought the two of us together, some magical force in the universe. Why him, why me? I don't know how or why, but it is what it is. If anything is going to separate us, I can guarantee it isn't going to be you."

Justin dried his hands and returned to the table.

"Everything come out okay?" Brian asked.

"Yep. Let's go home."

Brian and Justin spent the afternoon hanging out in the loft. They watched one of the few films Brian owned that Justin also liked, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Brian shook his head and chuckled while Justin danced along to the "Time Warp", refusing to join in. Justin sang along with all of the songs while Brian quietly mouthed the lyrics. Brian thought that his singing voice sounded much better when Justin was the one in control of it.

Once the movie was over, Brian taught Justin how to play Texas Hold'em. It turned out that Justin had a great poker face and Brian wasn't as good of a player as he thought he was. Brian went bankrupt and challenged Justin to a rematch, only to lose a second time even quicker after betting too high with each lost hand.

"How the fuck did you win seven hands in a row?" Brian griped as Justin laughed at the man's defeat.

"I don't know. Beginner's luck? Magic? Chance?" Justin offered. "You're the dummy that raised me your last fifty bucks while you only had a pair of threes. Good thing we weren't playing with real money."

"I thought you'd fold!" Brian said in defense.

"While I was sitting here with the rest of your chips? Pfft, yeah, right."

Despite losing to the kid twice, Brian had to admit to himself that he had a good time. He would often join in the monthly poker game at Debbie's house on the first Sunday of every month with Ted, Emmett, Michael, and Debbie's brother Vic. The three stooges weren't very good; in fact, Justin was a better player than the three of them combined. Emmett and Michael didn't seem to understand the basic rules of the game while Ted had a pitiful poker face.

Brian looked down at the cheap watch on his wrist and saw it was dinner time. "Do you want to order some food for delivery?"

"I thought you'd want to do the usual: diner, Woody's, and Babylon," Justin replied in a monotonous tone.

"I don't go out every night. I didn't think you'd want to go out, since Michael will probably be there. I'm guessing you guys weren't singing ‘Thank You for Being a Friend' in the john this morning."

"No, I had to tell him once again to get over the fact that you are in my life... or that I am in your life."

"And how much longer is that going to be?" Brian blurted out. "We still haven't figured out what we need to do in order to switch back. Mysterious Marilyn, if she is actually the one who did this to us, said we'd have to spend time together. We've been doing that, but we're still not back in our own bodies."

"We've only spent a few hours here alone together," Justin pointed out. "It may be days, weeks, months-"

"Months? I'll be damned if I'm going to have to be in your body and live your life for months! I'm not about to make a habit out of going to your school for you. I have my own life to worry about. I have to go back to work in two weeks and you are not the least bit qualified to do my job."

"Well, I guess we're both fucked!" Justin yelled. "I'll drop out of school and you'll quit your job, and we'll stay here playing card games until we finally switch back. How's that sound?"

Brian let out a long sigh. "Not very helpful in the long run for either of us. We don't even know why it was we switched in the first place."

"Maybe it was to appreciate our own lives by living someone else's life?" Justin guessed. "Before yesterday, the only person who I'd come out to was Daphne while everyone knows you're gay."

"My parents don't know," Brian said.

"Maybe you - or I as you - need to tell them."

Brian shook his head. "It's none of their fucking business whether I eat pussy or suck cock. I only see them a few times a year, which is a few times too many."

"Then why would it matter whether or not they knew, if you hardly ever see them?"

"Exactly, it doesn't matter," Brian snapped. "They're better off not knowing. It wouldn't be pleasant for any of us, if I ever did tell them. If I decide to tell them, it'll be on their deathbeds. Your mom didn't seem to take the news of her son being gay all that well, but my folks would flip the fuck out if I just went over to their house and told them. Maybe you - or I as you - need to walk into that cake eater school of yours tomorrow and tell everyone that you're queer."

"No, you can't do that!" Justin said, tearing up at the thought. He was ridiculed enough for not being athletic and for his lack of a girlfriend.

"What else is there?" Brian asked.

Justin thought about it. "You said when you saw Mysterious Marilyn at Woody's the night before we switched that you blew her off when she wanted to tell you who your true love is. Maybe this was her way-"

"Here we go again," Brian droned. "You think you're my true love? I'd have to believe in love in order for that to be possible, Sunshine."

"How can you not believe in love? You love Gus, right?"

"How the fuck should I know how I'm supposed to feel towards my son? My old man never showed me anything but hate and resentment for my entire life."

Justin looked at Brian sadly. "What about your mom?"

"Oh, you mean the ice queen who let my dad beat the shit out of me throughout my childhood and preached about how I was going to Hell for not going to Mass with her every fucking evening? What about her?"

Justin was silent for several breaths. "Just because your parents didn't teach you about love doesn't mean you're not capable of it. What is love, anyway?"

"Love is something straight people tell themselves they're in so they can get laid, and then they end up hurting each other because it was all based on lies to begin with," Brian said.

"It's more than that," Justin claimed.

"Alright, Cupid, what is love?" Brian said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

Justin smiled. "It's... I mean, I'm not an expert or anything, but there are different kinds of love: for your family, your friends, and romantic partners. I think love is about accepting someone for who they are, wanting the best for them, wanting to be around them, and wanting them to be happy. When you truly love someone, you feel like you can get through anything with that person by your side. They're the one you turn to when you need someone to talk to. You miss them when you're apart. When they're in pain, you wish you could take it so they don't have to suffer. Love is feeling like you're at home when you're with them, no matter where you are in the world."

"I am home, so..." Brian said, sounding bored listening to Justin's flowery bullshit.

Justin decided not to waste any more words on the topic if Brian wasn't interested. "What's for dinner?"

The men decided to order a vegetarian pizza from a pizzeria ran by a gay Italian couple a few blocks away. To match the cuisine, Brian put on a Frank Sinatra album after the delivery guy left.

"That's better than the thumpa-thumpa music they play at Babylon," Justin said.

"Sometimes my ears need a break from the thumpa-thumpa," Brian agreed.

They didn't exchange any words while they ate, which was perfectly fine with Brian. Justin seemed to be deep in thought following their conversation about how they could switch back.

"Did you wish your life could be different before we switched?" Justin asked.

Brian tried to recall what happened before waking up in this teenage body. He had brought a trick home despite feeling tired following a long day at the office trying to wrap things up prior to going on vacation. He passed out much earlier than he would have in his younger days.

"I wished that I could be younger or at least have the energy I had when I was younger."

"And I wished that I could be older so I wouldn't have to deal with my parents anymore," Justin said before getting up and sitting in the chair to Brian's right. "What if I wished to be younger and you wished to be older at the same time?"

The men joined hands and closed their eyes.

"I wish I were older," Brian said.

"I wish I were younger," Justin said.

They sat there for several seconds before opening their eyes and finding that they were still in the wrong bodies.

Brian pulled his hands away and picked up another slice of pizza. "Any other suggestions?"

"Maybe we need to fall in love," Justin said.