Michael didn’t think the night could get any stranger. All he had wanted was a quiet evening to get to know Ben better – maybe fool around a little. Instead, he was ambushed and he didn’t know how to get control back. He just wanted to sit on the couch, watch a crappy movie, and sip some wine with the very attractive professor. Now, he was stuck watching Brian and Hunter have a stand-off.

“The police? Fuck the police! I’m not going to them! Haven’t you ever seen the movies? You go to the cops, you get killed!” Hunter shouted, moving deeper into the apartment. He flopped himself down on the couch, grabbed Michael’s glass of wine and started drinking.

Michael opened his mouth to protest, but it was too late. Disappointed, he hung his head a bit.

“I don’t give a fuck. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not in a fucking movie. Not to mention, my boy is about one bad day away from killing himself and I’m not letting that happen.” Brian shouted back as he stomped across the apartment to grab Hunter.

Michael, however, latched onto what Brian had said about Justin. “Woah, wait. Wait.” He said, once more reaching out and grabbing Brian’s arm. “Is he really that bad? I thought…I mean I thought you were going to get a professional or something.”

“Not now Mikey…” Brian grumbled at him and Michael decided to drop it, but it didn’t sit well with him.  He couldn’t imagine Justin being that depressed.  It just seemed unfathomable that the too-smiley boy they knew was thinking about suicide.

He glanced back to Ben, knowing the man probably didn’t understand anything that was going on, but there was a calm and patient look on his face. Maybe the night wasn’t totally ruined. He just had to get Brian and Hunter out of his apartment.

“Well I’m not going.” Hunter said, kicking his feet up on the coffee table in front of the couch.

Michael looked at Brian clench his fists. He could see tremors wrack through his friend’s body and realized that Brian was furious - angrier than he’d ever seen him before. Whatever was going on with Justin in the loft was big. Brian looked like he might hit someone if they looked at him the wrong way. So, he calmly stepped forward and cleared his throat. He did keep a mindful distance from Brian, however.

“Hunter. You should go with him. It’s the right thing to do. I’m sure your friend would do the same for you.” Michael said and Hunter slowly turned and looked at him. Hunter looked at him for a long time before turning forward again and sighing.

“Yeah…you’re probably right…” He murmured and shook his head sadly.

“When you’re done, you can come back here. If you’ll feel safer that way.” Michael found himself offering. Though, there was a voice in the back of his head telling him it was a bad idea to invite a hustler into his apartment. However, there was something about the kid that struck his protective side. “Brian will watch out for you in the meantime. Won’t you Brian?” He asked and turned back to his oldest friend.

He looked like he had calmed down significantly. Brian nodded and jerked his head to the door. “Come on. I need to get back.” He grumbled and started walking, apparently assuming Hunter was following him.

Michael turned and watched them leave. He remained standing in the middle of his apartment even as the door shut quietly behind him. Eventually he was able to get control of his body back and he turned to look at Ben. “I’m sorry about Brian showing up like that. I didn’t know…”

“Hey. I’m the one who told Hunter to come over here. I should be apologizing.” Ben said, flashing him an apologetic smile.

“Crazy night…” Michael murmured with a bit of a smile himself.

“Yeah. How weird is it that your friend’s boyfriend witnessed the murder of Hunter’s friend? When I saw him in that coffee shop I could tell that something was bothering him.” Ben spoke, his tone calming and deep. It almost gave Michael chills.

“Apparently he’s not his boyfriend.” Michael said with a chuckle, and received a small laugh from Ben in response. The tension was broken, and they walked back to the couch.

“Sounds like there’s a story there.” Ben commented, grabbing the bottle of wine and refilling Michael’s glass.

“Oh you have no idea…” He murmured, with a shake of his head. He didn’t elaborate. Partly because he didn’t really know how to tell the Brian and Justin story, and partly because he didn’t want the night focused on them. Not to mention, they don’t exactly have a happy ending. ‘Hang in there, Boy Wonder.’ Michael thought as he sipped the wine.

Conversation didn’t flow easily, though. Michael was distracted and he knew Ben was too. He knew they wouldn’t be able to focus on their date until Hunter returned with more information. Until then, he would just try to keep it as comfortable as possible.

“So, who’s your boyfriend?” Hunter asked as he tried to find a comfortable spot in Brian’s jeep. He could see the man roll his eyes, but he didn’t care. He had to admit, he was a bit jealous. Brian didn’t look like the boyfriend type and he thought it’d be easy to get him to go to bed with him. A boyfriend complicated things. It’s not like he was even looking for anything more than a quick fuck, but it was obvious Brian could only think about one thing.

“He’s not my boyfriend. We’re…partners.” Brian answered, and kept his eyes forward on the road as they drove to the police station.

“And he’s a teenager? How old are you?” He asked swiftly, reaching forward to fiddle with the air conditioning. It was a hot summer night and he was starting to sweat with his jacket and backpack bundled up on him.

“None of your fucking business.” Brian snapped at him.

‘Old enough to be defensive about it…’ He thought and then leaned closer to him. He put a hand on Brian’s arm. “Well, you look like your twenty-five. So it’s not like you’re old or anything.” He said, lying easily. There was no way Brian was twenty-five. But he was a gay man and gay men were vain. So, he guessed a low number. Apparently it worked, because he didn’t seem as tense anymore.

“Justin’s my partner.” Brian explained, more confidently this time. Hunter liked ‘partner’ even less than he liked ‘boyfriend’. Partner implied some kind of commitment. “He’s recovering from an injury and since he’s stuck in our home he likes to people watch. One night, he was looking outside and saw your friend.” Brian explained. “Jason.” He suddenly added, and for some reason that made Hunter like Brian a lot. Jason was a person, and Brian knew that. “You know the rest.” He said, turning down a street.

Hunter sat back in his seat the right way and held his hands in his lap. It was obvious he was getting nowhere with Brian. But he wouldn’t give up right away. “Is he deformed or something now?” He asked, not even trying to hide the hope in his voice.

“Give it up.” Brian ordered and turned to flash him a devastating smile. “I’m out of your league. And so is he – injury or not.” He declared and Hunter scowled, seriously doubting that was true.

Distantly, he realized that Brian was more complex than he had initially given him credit for. But, he wasn’t going to let one throw-away comment about his partner stop him from getting what he wanted. He glanced over to Brian again and licked his lips. Honestly, the man probably didn’t even notice as he was so focused on the road, but Hunter had a routine and he was going to stick to it. “So why didn’t the cops believe him?” He asked.

“What?” Brian asked in a biting way, as if the mere conversation was bothering him.

“Justin. He told the cops, right? But they didn’t believe him. Why not?” Hunter asked curiously.

“Oh. He…” Brian paused and Hunter knew immediately that it had to do with whatever injury Justin apparently had. Maybe he was worse than deformed. Maybe Brian was only with him out of pity. “It doesn’t matter. They just didn’t.” Brian said and Hunter could see the police station off in the distance.

“Is he like retarded or something?” Hunter asked, mostly meaning it as a joke, but Brian didn’t think it was funny.

The man slammed on the brakes and Hunter was grabbed by the front of his shirt. “Listen here, you little brat. You make one more comment about him, and I’m throwing you out of this car. I might even be tempted to back up over you. You know fuck all about him, or me. So keep your mouth shut until we get inside. Got it?” Brian growled viciously into his face.

Realizing he’d struck a nerve, Hunter wisely kept his mouth shut and merely nodded. Brian let him go and the jeep started moving again. Hunter looked out the opposite window, imagining what Justin could possibly look like and how someone that was as attractive as Brian could care so much about another person. People like Brian didn’t care about others – they only cared about themselves. He may be young, but he’d been out in the world more than long enough to know that.

The jeep was thick with silence as Brian parked at the police station. They both exited and Hunter looked inside. Apprehension filled him, but he thought about Jason and how naïve he had been. Even though Jason had probably been older than him, he still felt responsible for the guy; he had more experience. He should have insisted. He should have stopped him from going back. Jason deserved justice; he’d make sure that happened.

Justin could see his face in the sheen of the knife in his hand. He turned it this way and that, looking at his reflection from different angles. He barely recognized himself. He was thinner, and paler. His eyes didn’t look the same. Neither did his lips. If he didn’t know any better he’d swear he was looking at a different person.

He couldn’t remember the last time he ate. But he didn’t feel hungry. In fact, he didn’t feel much of anything anymore. He was shutting down, preparing.

For a brief moment it had seemed like there was hope. Brian had reminded him that there were things that were safe in this world. But he couldn’t stay inside the loft forever. Brian would have to go back to work eventually. Things would go back to the way they were. Brian would give up on the search, probably try to convince him that he made it up, and then try to move on. Eventually he’d get sick of him here.

So really, he was doing Brian a favor.

Besides, the world was going to kill him. Just like it had killed that hustler across the street. He wasn’t going to let that happen. The world wasn’t going to take any more from him than it already had.

Brian was frustrated by the slow pace of the uniformed officer showing them to Horvath’s office. He wasn’t surprised the detective was in so late at night. After all, he and his partner were the ones to answer his call to the police when the murder had happened; he must work the night shift.

The office was empty, but the officer told them to sit and wait, as Carl was probably just getting coffee. Brian said slowly, itching to get this over with so he could go back home. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He felt like he had to get back immediately. But he needed to get this done.

“I apologize. I always start the night off with a cup of coffee.” Carl said as he walked in and around them to sit at his desk. Brian could see the recognition in the man’s eyes as soon as he saw him. He slid into his chair slowly and leveled Brian with a hard look. “What do you need?” He asked, glancing to Hunter with thinly veiled curiosity.

“This kid here knows the victim.” Brian said, cutting right to the chase. He pulled out Justin’s drawing once more and laid it on the desk. Carl slowly pulled it closer to him and stiffened, but said nothing. Clearly he reacted to something in the drawing, but Brian couldn’t guess what it was. “I also got the apartment number.” He added, grabbing one of Carl’s pens and writing it on a sticky-note pad.

“You do?” Carl asked, looking down at it. He then turned over to Hunter. “What’s your name, kid?” He asked, his tone not unfriendly, but not exactly welcoming either.

Brian frowned when Hunter didn’t immediately answer. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so hard on him in the car; but the things he was saying about Justin got to him. He didn’t let anyone speak poorly of Justin. It just wasn’t okay. Still, that kid was young. He probably could have gone easier on him. He motioned for Hunter to answer, and the boy cleared his throat.

“Hunter.” He said, and then pointed to the drawing. “His name is Jason. We lived together.” He explained, and Brian cringed because Carl’s eyebrows shot up on his head.

“Lived together? Where?” He asked and then narrowed his gaze at Hunter. “How old are you?”

“We lived in a warehouse. And I’m fourteen.”

Brian felt a wave of sympathy flow through him. He had known he was young, but he didn’t think he was that young. He would have guessed closer to Justin’s age. Fourteen and hustling…Nobody deserved that. He glanced to Carl and could see the same sympathy he was feeling on the man’s face.

“What makes you think he’s missing, and didn’t just skip town? I know it’s common for pr-ahem, night workers, to pick up and leave whenever they feel like it.” Carl said, his face flushing with embarrassment at having nearly called a child a prostitute – even if it was true. Brian glanced to Hunter, but the boy didn’t seem fazed.

“He didn’t take anything with him. And he never came back after that night. Even if he had skipped town he would have taken his things. Besides, he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to make a life here.” Hunter said, his voice getting quieter at the end, speaking of his sadness at having lost a friend.

Brian looked at him a moment longer before turning back to Carl. It was all they had to offer, but it had to be enough to get some kind of action. He watched Carl look down at the drawing once more and shake his head slowly. “I need you to be very certain about this.” He said, looking over to Brian. “Justin is sure of what he saw?” He asked, and Brian nodded slowly.

He knew there was a reason for Carl’s sudden hesitation. And he knew it had to do with the picture. He could only think of one reason why. “You know them. You know the other two men. The one’s Justin saw do it.” He declared and Carl tensed once more and closed his eyes. Then, he nodded solemnly.

“Oh shit! Are they cops?!” Hunter exclaimed excitedly, as if he was watching some drama on television.

“They were.” Carl said, picking up the sketch to look at it closer. “Reichert and Stockwell. They retired a few days ago; said they wanted to spend more time with their families.” He explained, and Brian could hear resignation in the detective’s voice.

Brian didn’t miss the importance of what Carl had just shared. As far as he was concerned, that was all the proof he needed. Finally he was going to be able to tell Justin some good news; hopefully it would be enough to break through to him. “Well great! Go arrest them!” he declared and Carl shook his head vehemently.

With the way his life had been going the past few months, Brian should have expected that it wouldn’t be that easy.

“I don’t have enough to go on.” Carl said, pushing the picture back across the table. “I’m sorry, Kid. But there could be plenty of other reasons for your friend to be gone. And I still have no body. I can’t arrest someone for murder if there’s no body.” Carl spoke swiftly, his nervousness easy for Brian to pick up.

“Bullshit!” He protested, standing as he snatched the drawing away. “You just don’t want to rock the boat! You’re scared that these two can make trouble for you. Let me guess; you’re close to retiring and want to keep your nice, comfy pension.” Brian theorized and could see the look of guilt easily on Carl’s face.

“The word of a mentally unstable-.”

“I swear to god if one more person talks shit about Justin I’m going to break something.” Brian murmured through clenched teeth. He folded the picture back up and took a step away from the desk. “Fine. But you know we’re right. I hope you can rest easy taking those checks when you let two murderers go free.” He muttered and turned to leave. “Let’s go, Hunter. I’m taking you back to Michael’s.” He said, and without giving Carl a chance to say anything else, they left.