“You want me to do what?”
“It’ll be fun,” Justin said. He pulled Brian closer to him and nuzzled his head into his chest. Then, for good measure, he pressed his lips lightly to Brian’s nipple. Brian could never resist kisses there. When, as predicted, Brian let out a soft, pleased sigh, Justin continued. “I want to brighten up the place. We can go to Home Depot, pick out some colors, bring them back…”
“Get paint all over my $300 jeans.”
“You know, you could buy some jeans for $10,” Justin said.
Brian snorted. "Not fucking likely."
“Or,” Justin said, adding a note of seduction to his voice, “you could paint naked.”
Brian raised an eyebrow. “Now that idea has some merit."
“I thought it might,” Justin said. He gently stroked Brian’s cheek. Getting Brian to do something he really didn’t want to do was was just like soothing a cantankerous alley cat. Fortunately, after being involved with Brian for eight years and living in New York for three, Justin had developed great skill with both. “Just think… some blue in the living room, yellow in the kitchen… something bold for the bedroom.”
“Bold, hmm?”
“Hmm,” Justin agreed, brushing his lips against Brian’s jaw.
“Yeah, sorry, Justin, but I think it’s going to take more than a few coats of paint to make this dump look like your dream home.”
Justin sighed and rolled away from Brian. “Well, if you don’t want to help me, you could just say so.”
“When did I ever say I didn’t want to help you?” Brian asked. He pushed himself up on his side and looked over at him.
“You’re making it pretty obvious,” Justin said.
“Only that I thought spending time and money on painting thisapartmentwould be a waste of resources,” Brian said. “If I’m going to paint my balls blue, I want it to really be worth it.”
“You know, some people may say that making their partner happy is worth it,” Justin said. He knew his tone sounded petulant, but right now, he didn’t care. He knew his apartment wasn’t much, but it was all he could afford, and it suited his needs well enough. And Brian had been the one who kept saying he should really embrace his life in New York and make it feel like home and not a temporary resting stop. So here he was, trying to make things better, trying to brighten up his life a bit, trying to do anything to help so he wouldn’t miss Brian so badly, andmeanwhile Brian couldn’t even go to Home Depot with him without making a remark.
“I think, in fact, I would say that,” Brian said. “And have, if I remember correctly.”
Justin frowned. Brian had that… special tone of voice. The that he got when he was on the cusp of revealing something big, something he knew Justin would love, and he was just waiting to see the expression on Justin’s face when he figured it out.
Justin rolled back to look at Brian. Sure enough, he was barely managing to suppress a huge smile. “Brian. What are you hiding?”
“The Cartier deal went through,” Brian said, only a little smugly. “We’ll be opening Kinnetik - New York within a month.”
Justin’s jaw dropped. “But they said they wouldn’t have a decision until they had that big meeting at the end of the year.”
“I believe I’ve been known to push things along when I have the proper incentive,” Brian said. He pulled him in for a deep kiss that, had they not been lying down, would have made Justin’s knees buckle. “Such as making my partner happy.”
Justin grinned. “So you’re really moving to New York?”
“As soon as possible,” Brian said. “It’s going to be a lot of work to launch the office here, and I’ll need to be on the ground immediately.” He brushed Justin’s hair back behind his ear. “And since, given the option, I’d rather wake up every morning with you than without, it only seems to make sense to start that as soon as possible.”
Justin reached for Brian’s hand and twined their fingers together. “I'd have to agree.”
“But this does change our afternoon a bit. Instead of checking out Home Depot, what do you say we check out some homes?” Brian brought their joined hands up to his lips and gently kissed Justin’s knuckles. “Possibly even ones that come pre-painted?”
“Oh, no,” Justin laughed. “I’ve gotten attached to the idea of seeing you paint naked. You’re not getting out of that now.”
Brian heaved an exaggerated sigh and threw his head back on the pillow. “When will it end?”
Justin leaned over him and cupped his cheek. “Never, I'm afraid” he said.
A small smile crossed Brian’s face. It was Justin’s favorite of all of Brian’s smiles -- soft, yes, but positively radiating with peace, contentment, and, of course, love. “I can accept that,” Brian said.
Justin settled back into Brian’s embrace, humming happily as Brian idly threaded his fingers through his hair. Thoughts of waking up like this, wrapped up in each other’s arms, basking in the soft glow of morning, in their freshly-painted bedroom in their new home, flooded through his mind. He drew in a deep breath as he smiled, wanting to soak in everything about this moment.
They had a bright future ahead, the two of them, together.
Nothing at Home Depot could ever compare.