"You can't be serious!" Jennifer yelled at her husband the evening after she and Craig had discovered that Justin was gay.

"I mean it, Jen," Craig said as he paced the floor in their living room. "I don't want that little faggot living under my roof!"

Jennifer gasped at the slur. "Craig!"

"And I don't care where the fuck he goes," Craig added.

"But... but if he doesn't live with you, he can't be on your insurance anymore!"

"That's his problem," Craig said.

"We can't just throw him out, not right after his surgery," Jennifer said in a pleading tone. "He can't take care of himself right now. He needs me to cook for him, to give him his medications-"

"He's an adult, Jen. You can't baby him for the rest of his life," Craig said. "He can go live with that... that man, for all I give a shit."

"You mean that Brian guy?" Jennifer asked.

"Whoever the fuck it was that had his tongue down your son's throat," Craig growled in disgust.

"My son?"  

Craig got right in his wife's face before saying, "I don't have a son anymore... and if you don't like it, you can get the fuck out, too."

Jennifer stood with a horrified look on her face as she watched her husband of almost twenty years walk upstairs before he slammed their bedroom door shut.

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

Justin called Brian the next day, which a Friday, after eating lunch.

"Yeah?" Brian answered groggily.

"Hey, it's Justin. Did I wake you up?"

"No, I'm just lying down."

"Are you in bed?" Justin asked in a breathy voice.

Brian chuckled. "Yeah. I'm glad to be out of that fucking hospital bed."

"I know. Hospital beds are never comfortable," Justin said. "I've laid in plenty over the years."

"Well, hopefully you won't have to go back into the hospital again for a long time."

Justin sighed. "Yeah, that would be nice."

After a pause, Brian asked, "So, how did it go with your mom after I left?"

"She told me that I'm too young to know if I'm gay or not, but then I asked her if she was sure that she was straight when she was my age, and she said yes."

"What, she didn't have any lesbian experiences in college?"

"Eww! I hope not," Justin said with a chuckle. "But I assured her that yes, I like dick."

"Did you actually say ‘I like dick'?"

"Yep."

Brian laughed, but then had to stop to cough. "Ugh. I'm still hacking up phlegm, since I quit smoking."

"You quit, like completely?"

"Yeah. I've been cutting down since I decided to give you my kidney, and I haven't smoked since last Saturday night. I threw the rest of the pack away."

"I thought you smelled nicer on Sunday," Justin said.

"I haven't even craved a cigarette since Sunday night, because I'm used to lighting up after sex," Brian said.

Justin smiled as he recalled for what he would swear was the millionth time he had thought about the night he and Brian had spent together. It wasn't the horrible experience that Brian said it would probably be for him. Although it was painful at times, Justin knew that he would always remember the night he lost his virginity fondly, mostly because of the amazing man he gave it to.

"So anyway, what did Mommy have to say after her baby boy told her he liked dick?" Brian asked.

"She asked me if I've had any ‘experiences' yet. I told I've done everything but suck a dick."

Brian laughed again. "Not everything. You haven't topped or rimmed."

"Is that an invitation?" Justin asked, his breathy voice returning.

"Uh... well, it wasn't intended to be," Brian said uneasily.

"Oh," Justin said, trying not to sound disappointed. "Um... I need to let you go. I have to test my blood sugar, and that takes both hands." He actually didn't need to test for another two hours, since he had just finished his lunch, but he was now desperate to get off the phone.

"Okay," Brian said. "Later."

"Yeah," Justin said before he heard Brian end the call.

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

Jennifer picked Justin up from the hospital the next day. She had not yet told Justin about his father throwing him out of the house, as she had hoped that Craig would change his mind once he calmed down. After asking him about it the previous evening, Craig again told her that Justin was no longer welcome in his house, but that he hoped she would stay.

Even as Jennifer pulled her car out of the hospital lot and turned onto the highway, knowing that she wasn't taking Justin home, she still couldn't find the strength to tell him.

After driving for several minutes with the only sounds in the car being an easy listening station playing quietly on the radio, Justin realized that something was wrong after Jennifer failed to make their turn-off. "You missed the exit."

"I... I know. We're going to Christine's house," Jennifer said, referring to her younger sister that lived a few miles from them.

"Why?" Justin asked.

Jennifer bit her lip as she began to tear up. "Because... because your father..."

Justin looked at his mother's profile as he waited for her to finish her sentence. "Because Dad what, Mom? Tell me."

"He said you can't live with us anymore," she finally said.

Justin leaned his head back on the seat. He hadn't been looking forward to returning home, but he had also been afraid of Craig doing something drastic like this. "And you're letting him kick me out?"

"Believe me, I've tried to talk him out of it for the last two days, but he won't budge."

"Why are you only telling me this now?" Justin asked.

"I didn't want to upset you-"

"Well, I'm upset now!" Justin yelled. "Where the fuck am I supposed to go?"

Jennifer tried to sound enthusiastic. "Christine said you can stay in her basement for as long as you'd like, and I'll stay there with you while-"

"I'm not living with her," Justin said in an angry tone.

"But Honey, you've always liked it over there."

"No, I haven't, not with those fucking brats of hers," Justin said. Christine had three children under the age of twelve, and he had only tolerated them during visits to Christine's house over the years.

"Then where do you expect to live, Justin?" Jennifer said, beginning to get angry at his lack of appreciation for Christine's invitation and how he was speaking about his cousins.

"I'll stay with Brian," he answered.

"Oh, no, you won't," Jennifer answered sternly as she took the exit closest to her sister's house.

"Yes, I will!" Justin said. "You can't tell me what to do."

Jennifer sighed. "Honey, I know you're eighteen and legally, you can do what you want-"

"That's right."

"But this Brian... I'm sure he cares about you to some degree, but probably not like you care for him."

"I love him, Mom."

"I know that you think you do," Jennifer said. "But I'm sure that he doesn't love you. I mean, this Brian... he must be in his thirties!"

"Stop calling him ‘this Brian,' like that's his name. It's just ‘Brian,'" Justin clarified. "And he just turned thirty last month."

"Then that makes him nearly twelve years older than you."

"And?"

"And, he's too old for you!" Jennifer answered. "You need to be with someone your own age."

"What, some stupid kid that doesn't know shit?"

Jennifer smiled ironically. "If you think that someone your age is a ‘stupid kid,' then what does that say for you?"

Justin opened his mouth to retort, but stopped when he realized that she had a point. Maybe he was a stupid kid, but he knew that he wasn't wrong about his feelings for Brian. He also knew that Brian must have had feelings for him beyond physical ones, despite Brian balking over Justin asking him if he was inviting him to top and rim him the day before.

A few minutes later, Jennifer parked the car in front of Christine's house and cut the engine. "I'll help you get into the house, and then I'll go to the pharmacy to get your prescriptions. I need to let them know not to deliver your next insulin shipment to your father's house; that I'll pick it up, instead."

Justin remained in the passenger seat as Jennifer hit the button to open the trunk, opened her door, and got out of the car without taking her keys out of the ignition. He slid over to the driver's seat while he watched his mother remove his suitcase from the trunk and slam the lid shut in the rearview mirror.

The moment after the trunk lid was closed, Justin turned the engine over, threw the car into drive, and took off.

 ********************

Justin arrived at Brian's building about twenty minutes later. His mother's cell phone, which was in her purse in the backseat of the car, had rung several times during his trip over. He had no doubt that it was his mother calling from his aunt's house, but he wasn't about to answer it only to hear Jennifer's outrage of him stealing her car. His only hope was that she had not called the police.

Justin rode the elevator up to the fourth floor and knocked on Brian's door.

"Hold the fuck on!" Justin heard Brian yell after he knocked a second time.

Brian pulled the door open a few seconds later. "Oh, it's you."

"Were you expecting someone else?" Justin asked.

"No, but I sure wasn't expecting you."

Justin bit his bottom lip. "Can I come in?"

Brian stepped aside and closed the door once Justin was inside. He followed Justin over to the couch, where he watched the boy sit down slowly with a look of pain on his face.

"Still hurting?" Brian asked, although he knew the answer. He himself was still experiencing some abdominal pain, so he knew that Justin had to be, too, since his surgery was more invasive.

"Yeah, it's mostly when I go to sit down or stand up," Justin said. "I could probably use a Vicodin."

"Do you want one of mine?" Brian asked. "They gave me more than I'll probably need."

Justin unzipped his messenger bag, which was in his lap. "No, I have some in here."

Brian went over to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water. He came back and handled the bottle to Justin before sitting down next to him.

"Thanks," Justin said after swallowing down the white pill.

"So... what are you doing here?" Brian asked. "I thought you'd be home resting."

Justin snorted. "What home? My dad threw me out."

Brian raked his hand through his hair and sighed. "Shit. He's an even bigger homophobic prick than I thought."

"Yeah, and my mom didn't even tell me about it until after we were on our way to my aunt's house after I got out of the hospital earlier."

"Then how did you get over here?" Brian asked. "Wouldn't your car be at your parent's house?"

"I sort of stole my mom's car after we got to my aunt's house," Justin answered with a sheepish smile.

Brian laughed. "Wow. So where are you going to live, now that you're homeless?"

Justin reached over to rub the top of Brian's hand. "I was hoping with you."

Brian pulled his hand away and scoffed. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

Justin looked at Brian with his mouth open, unsure of what to say.

Brian got up and walked over to his beverage cart by the window. "I mean, it's really shitty what your dad did-"

"You shouldn't be drinking when you've been taking Vicodin," Justin said as Brian opened a bottle of Jameson.

"Thanks, Debbie, but I got this," Brian said as he poured himself a shot before tossing it back.

"Why can't I live here with you?" Justin asked.

"Because my place is only big enough for one person, and that's me," Brian said.

Justin looked around the immense space in the loft. "This place is fucking huge, and I don't take up much room."

"Okay, let me rephrase that," Brian said. "I don't want anyone to live with me. I've been on my own since I got out of college at twenty-two, and I like it that way."

"So, not even me, after all we've been through together?" Justin asked.

Brian sighed. "Look, just because I gave you a kidney, doesn't mean we have a special bond or something. Plenty of people donate their kidneys to people they never see again. Plus, you already knew that I have fucked a lot of guys, and I'm certainly not friends with any of them. And above all else, I don't do boyfriends, period. So what makes you think you're any different than any other trick I've been with?"

Justin got up and walked over to stand in front of Brian. "You can't honestly tell me that I'm just another trick. Although you supposedly don't do dates, either, we've shared meals, we've watched movies together, and you took me out to Woody's and Babylon, all before we ever fucked. And you can't say that you did all that just to get in my pants, because instead of wasting time with me, you could have just gone out and found someone else to fuck. Plus, you wouldn't have given me your kidney if you didn't care about me and my wellbeing, so you can't just toss me out of here like you don't give a shit."

"Believe what you want to believe," Brian said with a shrug. "Even if your dad won't let you come home, I'm sure your mom would never let you end up on the streets. At least you have one parent you can depend on; that's more than I've ever had."

Brian stared into Justin's blue eyes for a few more moments before walking over to his door and pulling it open. "You'd better get your mom's car back to her before that pill kicks in. She's probably worried sick about you."

Justin picked his bag up from the couch and walked to the doorway. He paused to look into Brian's hazel eyes before walking out of the loft, and Brian pulled his door closed before Justin even stepped into the elevator.