<~> Brian's POV <~>

"Brian! Justin! What the hell are you doing?" Lily's voice sounds more furious than I've ever heard it. In fact, it sounds angrier than I would have thought a Lily-type voice could get.

I'm currently lying, collapsed on top of my lover's body, my hands still clenching at his hips, my head nestling somewhere on his chest, as I huff and puff trying to catch my breath after probably the greatest orgasm ever known to humankind. His legs are still locked around my torso but his head has fallen back onto the table under us. One of his hands is still tangled in my hair while the other is draped dramatically over his face, doing nothing whatsoever to hide the bright red blush in his cheeks. My cock remains happily within his warm depths while his has started to deflate where it's trapped between our two bodies that are both liberally coated with his cum.

Without even lifting up my head I answer, "Well, I'd think it was rather obvious what we're doing, Lily, seeing as you just walked in right at the very best part. Part. Part."

"Brian? Are you . . . What is . . . Who? Oh my god it's Justin!" Ted and Emmett's voices are tripping over each other so much I can't quite tell what they're saying or who's asking what.

"Justin? Are you okay, Justin?" Daphne's voice is louder, clearer and much more insistent.

"Shit!" That's the very first time I've ever heard Lily curse, which is amazing really, considering what she puts up with on a regular basis.

I feel a small but firm hand on my shoulder at this point and then suddenly I'm pulled away from my comfy warm napping spot on my lover's chest. My dick is torn out from where it has been resting in My Hal's ass. We both yell "ouch" at the pain such an abrupt disengagement causes. I think Lily is being terribly rude and a bit rough-handed.

The crowd of onlookers is still gaping at us and gabbling as I seat myself on the table next to My Hal, resigned to meet whatever repercussions are coming. I grab a random piece of clothing out of a nearby box and begin to wipe the cum off myself. When I'm done I offer the item to my likewise sticky neighbor who follows suit.

When I look up, they're all staring at me like I'm a funny looking zoo specimen. I figure it could be worse and put on my cheeriest smile. "Ted and Emmett. Ted and Emmett. Ted and Emmett. And . . . Daphne? What's up guys?" I greet them all with a friendly wave even though they're now all frowning at me. Next to me I hear My Hal groan. I shake my head, chuckle a bit, then grab one of my boy's hands and haul him up so he's sitting next to me where I can wrap my arms around him more protectively.

Meanwhile, the 'rescue squad' that found us are still standing there arguing about fuck knows what. Finally, Lovely Loud Lily yells, "Stop! I will NOT have this discussion here. You two," she grabs a handful of discarded clothing off the floor and tosses it at me, "get dressed! The rest of you," Lily glares at the three visitors, "go wait in the lounge. We'll be right there as soon as these two have some clothes on."

The peanut gallery sullenly moves off, looking back at me with a mixture of disapproval, confusion and grudging amusement. "MOVE!" Lily orders, causing me to immediately hop off the table, helping my companion get down after me, before we both start to dress ourselves. We exchange a couple of sideways glances at each other as we work - I'm amused, he's embarrassed and just a bit worried.

"Let's go," Lily commands brusquely, indicating with a gesture that we should precede her out of our little love nest.

Halfway down the hall, My Hal tugs softly at my sleeve and tilts his head with a longing look at the nearby men's room. I nod. "Lily, we need to use the restroom, please." I added the 'please' when she looked like she was about to yell at me. Reluctantly, Lily nods her permission to go piss.

We're somewhere between completing our business at the urinals and washing up when it strikes me just how utterly ridiculous this situation truly is. I can't help laughing. It starts off as a mere chuckle at first. My Hal looks over at me, sees my grin and answers with a smile and a giggle. From there it escalates uncontrollably until we are both so breathless with laughter that we can barely stand up straight. It feels so wonderful and familiar to laugh with each other like this, all the tension floating away on the peals of laughter. We're holding each other up, still guffawing at full volume, when a thoroughly fed up Lily barges in, impolitely pulls us out the door and tows us the rest of the way down the hall.

I'm still wiping tears of mirth out of my eyes as we're directed to sit side by side on the couch while our tribunal pulls up chairs in a semi-circle facing us. Ted, Em and Daph are there. Seated next to Ted is some old woman I've seen around occasionally but never really met. Then there's Dr. Travis and finally Lily.

The old biddy promptly starts things off as soon as we're seated. "Brian. Justin. I'm Olivia Crenshaw, the Director here at The Banks. I understand there's been an incident this morning involving questions of impropriety and suchlike. I'd like to get this taken care of right away."

She seems to be looking directly at me and waiting for some response. I say, "Okay!"

After that my attention drifts off quite rapidly. They're all babbling and arguing and pointing fingers. Despite the fact that my name keeps coming up, nobody's asked my opinion on anything so I assume it must not really concern me.

My Hal - or should I be honest and finally admit to myself it's Justin? - sits listening quietly at my side. Our hands are clasped together tightly and resting on top of our thighs, which are pressed together down their lengths. I only want to look at Justin. I want to fill my eyes with him, touch him, kiss him, whatever is possible that will help me prove to myself that he's real and really here with me. I couldn't give a rats ass about anything going on around us, as long as he's here by me. He usurps all of my attention.

My Hal aka Justin, however, seems to be following along with the general conversation with rapt interest. Whatever's being said is really pissing him off, too. He looks so fucking hot when he's pissed off at someone other than me - well, he's hot when he's pissed at me too, but it's not as fun.

"Wait just a second," Justin/Hal interrupts and gets angrily to his feet, thankfully still holding my hand because I couldn't bear to not be touching at least some part of him right now.

Everyone stares at Justin/Hal like him standing up and telling them off is a miracle. It shuts them up pretty fast. I'm just glad the hubbub is lessened.

"Just stop right there," Just/Hal insists. "You're talking about us as if Brian's some kind of pervert who practically raped me. That's fucking insane! I'm sitting right here listening to you guys and not one of you has asked me a goddamned thing. Well, ask me. I'm not a helpless abuse victim here! I'm a consenting adult. If I ever was incompetent it was primarily because of all those drugs you guys were giving me. Since Brian made you stop the drugs, I've been fine. So quit talking about me as if I wasn't here and as if Brian's done something wrong!"

"Justin? You're really okay," Daphne's evident concern for her friend helps keep the rest silent.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure if I'm okay or not, Daph," Just Hal smiles at her and holds out his gimp hand as an example. "But I do feel better than I remember being in a very long time and my head is finally clear enough so I can think for myself. Considering what my life's been like for the past couple of years, I'd say that's a pretty good start. Now, the rest of you, shut up and lay off Brian!"

Just Hal sits back down and smiles at me. I'm so fucking happy. I can't believe he stood up for me like that. With all the shit being thrown at me the past few days, I really needed that. I think I could like having someone to take care of me. I'll finish fixing Just Hal, and then he can take care of me while I get fixed. Then we'll just take care of each other.

"Justin, why didn't you tell anyone about such a huge change in your health status," Doc Travis speaks up, looking sternly at the recalcitrant patient.

"Why? Shouldn't you professionals be observant enough to have noticed on your own?" My pissed off Just Hal snaps back at him. "Well, apparently not, since you've barely taken any notice of me the entire two plus years I've been here. Nobody around here even cared enough to see that I was being given the correct meds until Brian arrived. So why should I come to you with any of my other concerns? Besides, I wasn't aware there was a time limit on being crazy - what, is there some rule that you must notify the authorities within 24 hours after emerging from a catatonic state? Anyway, it didn't happen overnight, exactly. I've been getting better a little bit at a time ever since Brian started taking care of me. And when the effects of the meds started to wear off I wanted to take my time to figure things out on my own."

That effectively ended that topic of discussion. Go, Just Hal! Go. Go. Go!

"Excuse me," Ted injects into the ensuing break in the conversation, "What I don't understand is why Brian never told us Justin was here. I've been visiting every week. Why didn't you ever say anything, Bri?"

"I, I, I did. I told you about My Hal! I told you about the blue and needing yellow instead for his head and fixing his meds. I told you everything, Ted, Ted, Ted."

"But . . . Justin is Hal? I don't understand Brian. Why have you been calling him Hal?"

"I didn't think he was real?" I admit, my voice subdued.

"What?" Ted, Emmett and Daphne all ask in unison.

I look over at Just Hal now and I can barely understand it myself. I know now that he's real. He's Justin. But he's also still My Hal. How can I explain so they'll understand when I'm not sure I do?

"I didn't think he was real," I repeat. "When I first got here, I thought I was just imagining that it was him. I used to see him all the time, everywhere, only it never was him for real. So, then I got here and I saw him and at first I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me. Tricky me. Tricking me. But then he opened his eyes and he looked so much like the real Justin, but it couldn't be Justin. Justin couldn't be here, here, here. He couldn't be mine. He was just in my mind. Just in my mind. Just in my dreams. So, I figured I had just made him up again. My own personal delusion. My hallucination. My Hal."

Does that sound as crazy to them as it just did to me?

“You thought I was imaginary?" Just Hal asks, smiling humorously at me. "I thought you were imaginary at first too. I thought it was impossible that Brian Kinney would have come here to my own personal hell to save me. But you simply refused to disappear, so I had to admit you were real."

"I thought I was just exceptionally crazy and had a really great imagination," I assert. "I kind of still don't always know what's real, Just Hal. You won't, won't, won't leave me now because of that, will you? I'm not fixed like you yet. Not yet. Yet. Yet. You bet. Just don't go yet."

"No. I won't leave you, Brian. I won't ever leave you again," Justin promises and I know everything will be okay now.

"Good, Just Hal. My pal. Pal. Pal. Cause doc here said I could decide to be not crazy and then go be normal. And, I've decided doc. Just Hal and I need to get the hell out of here. We need some privacy. That, You, Gene, won't like it if we fuck in the ward and Lily will give us dirty looks and tell me about the rules. AGAIN. So, I think I'd like to leave now, as long as I can take Just Hal with me, of course. If not, well, I won't leave, not even if I get to be sane."

And then they all start laughing even though I was being totally serious.

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<~> Three Months Later <~>

<~> Justin's POV <~>

"What if he doesn't like the yellow? Some people don't, you know. Some people even like blue, Just Hal. Do you think Gus likes blue. Blue. Blue, too?" Brian asks, getting ready to change his shirt for at least the tenth time.

"No, Brian. I'm sure Gus will like your yellow shirt. And if you go change again we'll be late, so you're just going to have to wear what you're wearing and hope for the best," I tell him, rebuttoning the top three buttons he'd already started to undo, while turning him around and pushing him towards the door of our brand new loft that we'd moved into only a month before.

It had taken that long to get everything sorted out after that momentous morning when Brian discovered I was real and everybody else discovered I was awake and mostly back in the land of the sane again. Not that The Banks didn't want to be rid of us - they really couldn't wait to get both Brian and I out of their facility after all the allegations of impropriety, both by us and against us - but there was such a fucking mess with the legalities. That very night we left The Banks and temporarily went to stay with Ted but it took a while until our freedom was declared official.

Of course we'd both been declared legally incompetent and neither of us had any money or a place to live or jobs or anything else. It took several weeks to get the court to rule me to be legally competent, even with my doctors signing off on everything. And no, I'm not completely well yet - I still struggle with depression and anxiety and the other lingering PTSD effects left over from the bashing - but I'm no longer paralyzed by my condition or my medication. I've even started back into physical therapy for my hand, and this time I don't think Brian will let me give up until it's as good as new, or at least good enough that I can draw again. Brian's not only my strongest advocate, he's my motivation.

I also filed a lawsuit against The Banks, for multiple counts of malpractice, abuse of a patient and neglect. My lawyer advised me to include Craig Taylor and Jennifer Taylor as defendants in the suit, since they were the persons the courts had declared to be my legal guardians after I was committed, and they were probably equally to blame for the shoddy medical care I recieved all those years. The defendants were all more than happy to settle the suit out of court for a rather tidy sum - which was more than enough to pay for my half of the purchase of this loft. I plan to use the rest to pay for art school as soon as I get my hand functional again.

The day after we returned to the world, Brian set to work getting his own situation sorted out. It took eighteen phone calls, the lawyer serving Michael with the legal papers that were filed with the court the prior afternoon and the threat of pursuing him personally for damages for abuse and neglect in his position as Brian's legal guardian, before Michael finally relented and agreed to see Brian in person. The two-faced little idiot eventually came crawling over to Ted's, and apologized profusely to Brian for not coming to visit him, for not taking more interest in his condition and for not listening to Ted about Brian's wishes regarding Gus. Michael still claims ignorance as to Brian's real condition and maintains he was too traumatized by seeing his friend like that to visit. Brian still hasn't forgiven Michael and I'm not sure he ever will completely.

Brian did agree to drop all legal claims against Michael provided that his former POA immediately sign all legal documents necessary to turn over Brian's money and guardianship to Ted. It took a little longer to get Brian's legal rights restored than it did mine. Lindsey got her parents to provide funds for an attorney to fight Brian's renewed custody and visitation claims to Gus. And one of their first underhanded but effective legal tactics was to fight and thereby delay Brian's competancy determination. Brian had to jump through a fucking lot of hoops including multiple medical and psychological exams before he was finally able to convince a judge he was not impaired enough by his condition that he couldn't competently handle his own care and finances. Neither of us will EVER forgive Lindsey for putting us through that.

But, after three months of struggling, legally and personally, things are finally resolved. Lindsey will definitely NOT be taking Gus to France and the family law judge didn't seem very happy with her constant attempts to belittle Brian and his mental health status in court. Lindsey lost big time.

So, today is the big day. Today we get to have our first overnight visit with Gus. Brian is, understandably, a bit nervous.

"I'm not ready, Just Hal. I'm not ready. Ready. Ready." Brian whines, trying to get away from my guiding hands.

"Yes, you are, Brian. You've been wanting to see Gus for months. You are more than ready for this. You know you're ready. Your doctor says you're ready. Your lawyer and the Court and the Child Welfare Case Worker say you're ready. Now, grow some fucking balls already and let's go see your son!" I demand, pushing him all the way out the door and pulling it closed behind us.

"You're really pushy for an hallucination, Just Hal," Brian teases me but seems to have regained some of his resolve as we head down the stairs together. "You know, if you're not nicer to me, I could always just imagine myself a new hallucinatory lover. And this one would be much nicer to me. He wouldn't ever yell at me or denigrate my balls. You should be nice. Nice. Nice. Or I'll put you on ice!"

"Fine," I say, kissing my reluctant partner on the cheek as I link my arm through his. "You go right ahead and try, Brian. But you know you'll never come up with another hallucination that has an ass as great as mine!"

"Fuck! You're right," Brian concedes. "I guess I'm stuck with you, Just Hal! Now, come on and let's go get OUR son, son, son, Sonny boy. We've got a whole new life to get started on!"

And we all lived happily, and mostly sanely, ever after.

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