Emmett, wearing a rainbow tie-dyed tank and red cargo pants, stormed over to the table, his white flip-flops flapping loudly under his feet. "Hi Ted, Michael," he greeted, looking at each man with a forced smile. He then turned his attention on the third man at the table, an intense look on his handsome face. "Could I talk to you outside, Brian?" Without waiting for a reply, Emmett turned around and made his way back to the front of the restaurant.

Brian looked at a smug Ted and said, "Thanks a lot," before standing up and following Emmett out front.

Brian found Emmett standing outside the entrance of the restaurant, where there was an outdoor dining area with several tables. "Let's go over here where we can talk in private," Emmett said, pointing to the side of the building. Once they got there, Emmett asked Brian, "Just who the fuck do you think you are?"

Brian chuckled. "I was just about to ask you the same question."

"Alright, I'll tell you who I am," Emmett said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not just Justin's roommate. Although we've only known each other for a few months, he's like a little brother to me. I don't know how much he told you about himself, but he's had a very hard time since he came out last year."

"He didn't tell me anything, other than he had to drop out of school and that it was a long story," Brian said, pulling out his cigarette pack and lighting one.

"Yeah well, he had to drop out of school because his family disowned him after they found out that he was gay. Actually, his father beat the shit out of him, then disowned him after Justin refused to deny who he was and to go on pretending that he was the straight, God-fearing Republican that he was raised to be."

Brian's mouth dropped open, realizing that he and Justin had something in common, apart from Justin having the guts to stick up to his father. Emmett continued, "His mom had no choice but to go along with it, because otherwise his dad would have tossed her out on her ass with him. After that, Justin took all the money he had saved and tried to find himself an apartment. The one friend he had left couldn't help him, because her own homophobic family threatened to cut her off, too, if she gave him money or a place to stay. He quickly found out that he couldn't survive on his own, so he ended up at shelter, where I was volunteering... okay, I wasn't volunteering, I was doing my community service after getting a couple of DUIs. Anyway, after we got to talking, I quickly decided that I couldn't let that beautiful, innocent kid live at a shelter, so I took him in."

"That was very nice of you," Brian said, looking down at his shoes while he finished his cigarette.

Emmett huffed out a small laugh. "It was one of the easiest and best decisions I've ever made. Since then, I've done everything in my power to make sure that Justin was safe and well taken care of, including giving him a job at my clothing store and teaching him the ugly truths of being a gay man. One of those truths is that most fags only want to fuck you then toss you aside like a piece of garbage once they're done with you."

Brian looked up and saw the contempt in Emmett's eyes. "Now you and me, we know all about that," Emmett said in a scornful voice. "Hell, I'm like you. Although I've had a few relationships before, I rarely fuck a guy more than once, though I try to avoid virgins at all costs. But no matter how much I warned Justin of it, I guess he didn't want to believe that it could happen to him, because now that poor boy is heartbroken."

"I can't jump in a time machine and not have fucked him now," Brian said as he tossed his cigarette butt into the street.

"Well, I know that," Emmett said, leaning up against the building. "But you should at least call him and apologize for how you treated him. I think he deserves it, after everything he's been through. He at least shouldn't have to associate his first time with regret."

Brian snorted. "I don't do apologies... or regrets."

"Oh, I think you will this time," Emmett said as he stepped closer to Brian. "I know that I'm not the most masculine guy. I mean, I'm tall and I work out, but look at me," he said as he gestured to himself with his arms, "I'm a big, nelly queen."

Brian chuckled. "But...?"

"But, I'm man enough to admit when I've made a mistake or hurt someone's feelings by saying that I'm sorry. So I think you should prove that you're a real man and apologize to Justin for using him and for being such a shit to him earlier."

Brian huffed out a breath in disbelief and looked up to the darkening sky for a few moments before he looked back at Emmett. "You're questioning my manhood now?"

"Honey, just because you're a top doesn't mean you're a real man. It takes much more than that to qualify in my book." For good measure, Emmett added, "Also, I grew up in Mississippi, where I had to learn how to defend myself from all the homo-haters. So don't think that I can't break that pretty face of yours, if you don't tell that sweet kid that you're sorry." With that, Emmett turned on his heel and swaggered a half block down the sidewalk, hopped into a red VW Beetle convertible, and took off.

********************

"Don't give up on your faith, love comes to those who believe it, and that's the way it is," Justin sang as he laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had spent the last half hour singing along with Celine Dion's greatest hits album (that he had borrowed from Emmett, of course), feeling sorry for himself, when his phone chimed, signaling that he had received a text message.

Justin got up and picked up his phone from the nightstand and read the message:

meet me @ twist LB

Ten minutes later, Justin was immediately let in ahead of the line, as he always was, and made his way into the Main Room, where he had met Brian the night before. After scanning the crowd, he found him sitting at the bar drinking a beer. A moment later, Brian met Justin's eyes and walked over to him, pushing a few admirers out of the way.

"What, you didn't kick me enough before, now you need an audience?" Justin yelled over the pulsating techno music.

Brian pulled Justin toward him by his waist and said into his ear, "It has come to my attention that I may have been overly harsh with you earlier."

"Let me guess: Emmett tracked you down, right?" Justin asked as he locked his hands behind his back in an effort not to touch the beautiful man.

"Yeah, and he made some good points and made me realize that I owe you an apology. So, if I hurt your feelings or burst some dream bubble you had about how your first time was going to be, I'm sorry. I should have been up front with you from the beginning and told you that it was only going to be a one-time thing."

Justin thought about it for a few seconds. Removing Brian's hands from his waist, he said, "Whatever, I was being a drama queen. It was just a fuck, I get it now."

Brian narrowed his eyes, surprised by Justin's reaction. "Okay, well..."

At that moment another guy, a bit tanner and more muscular than Brian, came up between them and said to Justin, "Hey Hot Stuff, how've you been doing?"

"Oh, I've been alright, you?" Justin said, suggesting to Brian that he had probably spoken to the man before.

"Fine, especially now that you're here," the guy answered, giving Justin a big smile. "You wanna dance?"

Justin glanced over to Brian before he said, "I'd love to." Justin then pulled the guy a few feet away and started grinding with him to the beat of the music.

After watching for a few seconds, Brian walked back over to the bar, turned his back, and ordered a shot of tequila. He glanced over his shoulder a couple of times, trying to hold back an unexpected twinge of jealousy as Tan and Muscular groped Justin's perfect ass, the ass that only Brian had ever penetrated. After licking some salt off his hand, downing his shot, and biting a lemon wedge, Brian felt a bit of relief when the song ended and changed over to a slower salsa beat.

Brian turned back around only to find Justin and Tan and Muscular were still dancing together. Worse, at some point while his back was turned, Tan and Muscular had lost his shirt, revealing his perfectly sculpted pecs and washboard abs. Brian watched them dance for a few more seconds, but stepped off his bar stool when Tan and Muscular dipped the petite blonde and licked his neck like he was a popcicle.

"Alright, that's enough," Brian said to Justin. "You proved your point."

"Get in line, Pal, I had him first," Tan and Muscular said as he held Justin tightly.

Brian snorted. "Uh, sorry, but that honor belongs to me, so fuck off."

Justin gave Tan and Muscular an apologetic grin as he pulled out of his grasp. "I'll see you later, Ben." Ben gave Brian a scowl, but patted Justin on his shoulder and walked away.

Justin raised his eyebrow. "What about your ‘One Time Only' policy?"

"Fuck it," Brian snarled as he grabbed Justin and planted a kiss on him.

******************

Emmett walked in the door of his apartment with a stack of clothing catalogues in his arms and closed the door with his foot. After kicking off his flip-flops, he began to walk back to Justin's bedroom to check on him and to show him the things he was wanting to order for the store when he heard the distinctive sound of two male voices moaning in pleasure from behind the door.

Emmett quickly walked to his room, placed the catalogues on his bed, and ran back across the hall to press his ear up to Justin's door.

"Oh God, Brian!" he heard Justin yell.

Emmett held back a giggle as he walked back to his room and quietly shut the door.

********************

"Do you really have to leave?" Justin asked as Brian was tying his shoes.

"Yes, I have to leave," Brian answered regrettably.

"But why?" Justin asked in a mock child-like tone, climbing behind Brian and wrapping his arms around his neck.

Brian placed his foot on the floor. "It's complicated."

Justin snorted and sarcastically asked, "What, are you married or something?"

Brian sighed. "Yeah, actually I am."

Justin pulled away from Brian. "Oh."

Brian turned to look at Justin, who had moved over to the other side of the bed and was now staring at his feet. "And we have a ten-year old son together."

Justin nodded, but didn't look up. "So, that's why you were at a kid's soccer game when I called you earlier."

"Yeah."

"So what, am I like, your mistress now? Or... mister... or whatever?" Justin asked.

Brian huffed out a little laugh. "No... Justin, my marriage is a sham, okay?" Justin looked over at Brian as he continued. "We only got married because our families forced us to when she got pregnant, which was purely by accident. And I only slept with her a few times out of curiosity; I had been exclusively fucking guys for five years by then, and I was wondering if I was missing anything. Now, it's more of a business arrangement than a real marriage. Hell, we haven't even had sex in like, four or five years. The only time we ever did was when she initiated it, which luckily wasn't very often."

"So, does she know that you...?"

"She caught me fucking a guy in my dorm room the day before she told me she was knocked up, but I told her that I was going to be faithful to her after we got married," Brian explained. "But that was only because my father threatened to take me out of his will if I wasn't."

"But, you obviously haven't been."

Brian chuckled. "No, but she's not stupid. I don't get any at home, so she must know that I'm getting it from somewhere else. And, my father was too busy playing golf and carrying on his own extramarital affairs to pay attention to what I or who I do."

Justin cocked his head and asked, "Well, if you've been out whoring around in Queerville for half of your life, why hasn't Emmett ever seen you around before? Because he knows everybody and he only just saw or heard of you yesterday."

"Well, I had been pretty discreet about it, but since my old man finally croaked last week, I've been able to go out cruising more openly."

"Then what's stopping you from coming out and being truthful to your wife?" Justin asked as he lightly trailed his fingers on Brian's arm.

Brian looked down at his lap. "I... I don't know."

"Are you worried about hurting your wife or having your son end up with divorced parents?"

"I... I don't know why I just told you all of that," Brian said as he stood up from the bed. "I gotta go."

Justin called out his name as Brian closed the bedroom door. As Brian came to the end of the short hallway, he found Emmett sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream, watching Some Like It Hot.

Emmett looked over and said, "I hope you know what you're doing."

Brian stood there for a moment and answered, "Honestly, I don't have a fucking clue," before leaving the apartment.