Chapter 16 - BAK Comes Back.

"Mr. Taylor?"

"Yes?" the ringing phone woke Justin bright and early Thursday morning.

"This is Jessica at Kennedy & Collins. Mr. Kinney asked me to call you and get the address where you wanted your work delivered this morning?"

"My work . . . Delivered?" Justin struggled to get his sleepy brain to understand the confusing words.

"Yes, Sir. Mr. Kinney's team is done with the artwork you provided and he asked me to have it delivered for you to your professor. I just need to know which school and your professor's name."

"Oh! Oh, yeah. Great. But, that's okay. I can come pick it up. You don't have to deliver it anywhere."

"Nonsense. Mr. Kinney specifically told me that you are far too busy and I should have it all delivered. It's really no trouble. I've already called the messenger service."

“Well, okay. If you’re sure. My professor’s name is . . . . “

“Thank you Mr. Taylor. I’ll see to that delivery immediately. Oh, and before I forget, Mr. Kinney asked me to tell you that the presentation was a big success, even though he wasn't here to personally see to it. The client loved it. He also asked me to get your email address for him. I think he has some other files he needs to forward to you.”

After giving Brian’s office his email and getting the delivery of his final project sorted out, Justin relaxed back into bed. Getting his final project delivered was really the only thing he had planned to do this morning. His shift at the art supply store didn’t start until 2:00 pm. Which meant that he didn’t have anything else pressing that he HAD to do. It was a very odd feeling for the usually busy young man.

Lying back in bed, Justin let his mind wander, trying to come up with a plan for his day. The prior day’s events and his brief conversation with Brian last night were at the forefront of his mind. He was so relieved that not only was Brian not missing, he also didn’t seem to want to avoid whatever this thing developing between them was. Brian seemed just as eager to talk about ‘things’ as Justin was. He’d admitted that he shouldn’t have run out of the apartment Saturday morning and was the first one to offer to ‘talk’. Brian had even said he was afraid and that this was all ‘new’ to him. Nothing in that conversation sounded like Brian was planning on blowing Justin off or avoiding him. Could Justin have been wrong? Was Brian Kinney maybe ready for more of a relationship than a one night stand? And, if so, was Justin ready for it? Did he even want it? Well, at the very least, Justin was relieved knowing that Brian hadn’t just run off from his bed to spend the past few nights in somebody else’s bed. That had to mean something, right?

But, that still didn’t explain Brian’s behavior. Or why the man seemed such a contradiction. What Brian said he was and the way he acted were so far apart. Justin had no idea which of those men he was going to see at any particular time. And, from what he got out of that short conversation with Brian’s old friend, Debbie, it sounded like most other people only saw Brian one way. Did Justin really think that he would be the one person who could get through to that inner Brian Kinney? Or were his friends right - was Brian really only an asshole who didn’t give a crap about his friends and family?

Well, he wouldn’t be solving the mystery of Brian Kinney by just lying around here all day. And, since there was no actual Brian available to distract him in other ways, Justin figured he’d best get up. Maybe, since it was now already December 19th, Justin had better start thinking about doing his holiday shopping. Especially since, thanks to Brian, he now had some money to spend on gifts.

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Justin spent the rest of the day roaming the streets of New York, braving the stores packed with holiday shoppers and trying not to let the Christmasy soft-pop canned musak he heard everywhere get stuck in his head. It was so nice to have a bit of extra cash in his pocket for a change. He was definitely more extravagant with his gift purchases this year than he had been in a long while.

Most of his shopping was easy. He got his mother some earrings, Molly a gift certificate to download a bunch of whatever teeny-bopper music she was listening to these days, and he splurged on a gift certificate for a mani/pedi for Daphne, along with a copy of 'The Fag Hag Handbook' that he saw displayed in the window of a quirky little bookstore around the block from his apartment. That was pretty much the end of his shopping list, too - Justin knew his father wasn't going to get him anything and none of his other relatives were expecting the poor, disowned fag artist to get them presents so why bother.

The only person left that Justin wanted to get something for was Brian. But, what the fuck could HE get for someone like Brian? He didn't dare get the man something sentimental - not only would it be a waste of money but it would only earn Justin Brian's contempt, not his affection. But that didn't mean Justin could just go out and buy him something meaningless, like a sweater, either. What DID you get for your significantly older and more well-off roommate whom you'd slept with once and hoped to continue fucking well into the foreseeable future? Jewelry? Clothing? Personalized manacles? A year's subscription to the porn magazine of his choice? Yeah, Justin was sure that this gift wasn't going to be easy to decide on. The decision had to be tabled anyways, since it was nearly time for Justin to head to work. Hopefully Justin would have a stroke of brilliance when his conscious mind wasn't dwelling on the issue so much.

Right before he started work, Justin pulled out his phone to check his email. He quickly deleted the usual spam messages, skipped one from his mother that he planned to look at later that night and another from Daphne. There was one odd email though, from an address he didn’t recognize, with an attachment but no subject line. Normally, Justin wouldn’t even open something like that because of possible internet viruses, but for some reason the address ‘bakinblack@mail.com’ caught his eye. Taking a chance, Justin decided to open the message.

Apparently Justin’s old pair of traveling sneakers was in Chicago this week. There was a picture of the shoes sitting on the edge of the concierge desk at a hotel. There was another of the holey shoes sitting atop the pillows on a turned-down hotel bed. Then there was one of the shoes sitting on the edge of a brightly lit hotel pool. The rest of the afternoon, about every two hours or so, Justin would feel his phone vibrating in his pocket, indicating he’d received another email. All of them had photo attachments without any subject line and without any other words in the body of the message. And, each was a different picture of his old, holey shoes in a different location. These shoes really got around too. There was a picture of the shoes lying on the cement in front of the Millenium Park Cloud Gate, one by the old Chicago Theater, one where the shoes were waiting on the stairs of some grand old Chicago mansion and another where the shoes were waiting to get into Wrigley Field. The last picture of the night was the shoes resting on top of a hotel bathroom vanity right next to Brian’s toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.

Each of the pictures gave Justin another little boost of fun. The extra effort that Brian had gone through to carry his dirty old sneakers around the city and take all these silly photos really blew Justin away. The very fact that Brian had bothered to take the admittedly disgusting things with him on his business trip was remarkable. But for him to do something so playful, thoughtful and even romantic was truly surprising. Justin wasn’t sure that he’d ever figure Brian Kinney out. It certainly wasn’t helping Justin decide how he should be reacting to Brian Kinney.

Whatever the reason was behind Brian’s little joke emails, they did help him get through the rest of his work shift more painlessly than usual. Justin finished up the last big framing order that had been waiting for him and was on his way home before 9:00pm. He found himself almost skipping on his way home. The pictures of his stupid old shoes kept arising in his mind’s eye causing him to chuckle at all sorts of inappropriate times. When he tried to stop thinking about the sneakers, the only other thing that he could think about was that Brian would be home tomorrow morning. Justin was looking forward to that more than he probably should, but he couldn’t really help it. He just hoped that when he did see Brian, they would be able to figure some things out.

Justin was far too wired when he did get home to try to sleep. He tried flipping through the television channels, but nothing seemed to catch his interest. Pacing around the vacant rooms wasn’t helping him to calm down. He thought briefly about cleaning up a bit before Brian got back but that was sure to put him in an even worse mood, so what was the point of that? Finally, Justin’s line of vision lit upon Brian’s box of mementos that he and Daphne had been rummaging through last night. On the top was the enchanting picture of Brian and Gus that Justin had admired so much. He picked it up and examined the touching father and son moment again, suddenly coming up with the perfect idea for Brian’s Christmas present.

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“Unnnnnnhhh. Go away,” Justin mumbled and then rolled over away from the annoyingly bright sunshine streaming through his window and the equally annoying person that was apparently trying to wake him.

“You don’t mean that, Sunshine,” a sultry deep baritone voice replied, accompanied by a tiny nipping bite to Justin’s earlobe.

“Brian?” the sleepy blond rolled over and tried to see through squinting eyes if the voice really did belong to his errant roomie.

“You were expecting someone else to be sneaking into your room, biting your earlobe and fondling your morning woody?” This time, the low, lascivious voice was bolstered by a small chuckle and then a warm hand snaked under the covers and started tickling down the side of his torso and then lower and lower until it found something interesting that it could grab onto.

Justin groaned loudly as Brian's fingers clenched tightly around his full cock, pulling slightly and twisting a bit at the tip to get his full attention.

"Daddy! Daddy! Lookee, s'cat!" Squeaked a very young, high-pitched little voice from the vicinity of the hallway.

Brian had just enough time to yank back his hand, slyly licking a trace of cum off his index finger, before Justin's bedroom door was kicked open and the most adorable dark-haired child came traipsing into the room dragging along a very irritated Winston.

"Daddy! S'cat!" the boy delightedly shouted, attempting to lift up the furry grey feline that was draped with its front paws over the kid's forearm, the rest of the cat dangling inelegantly down so that his rear paws snagged at the carpet.

"Yes, Gus. I see that you found Winston," Brian snickered evilly as the kitty looked helplessly up at him, silently begging for assistance. "Winston, I'd like to introduce you to my son, Gus. He's going to be your best friend and inseparable companion for the next three days."

"Mine!" Gus giggled with glee jumping up and down, still holding the cat, jarring the nauseated looking kitty over and over.

"Yes, he's all yours, Gus," Brian agreed, winking at Justin while Gus dragged the cat back out to the other room.

"Maybe the fuzzball will think twice next time he eats my notes or tears up my condoms!" Brian smiled maliciously.

"Oh, Brian," Justin almost wailed, squirming out from under the covers and looking around for clothes so he could go save his poor cat. "You really don't want to make ANY cat your enemy. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, do you?"

"Oh come on, Sunshine. Gus won't really hurt him. Maybe the fuzzball will even like getting all that attention." But Brian just couldn't stop snickering more with every shriek of excitement they heard coming from Gus in the other room. "Besides, if the cat keeps Gus busy enough, there'll be more time for us . . ." Brian pulled Justin off balance and back against his chest right as Justin was trying to put one foot into the pair of jeans he'd found.

"Mmmmmm. As tempting as that sounds . . . and feels," Justin sighed as Brian licked and nibbled up the side of his neck, "I think I should be dressed when I officially meet your son."

"Suit yourself, Sunshine," Brian relented as Justin squirmed out of his grasp. "But you know that the kid won't even notice you're alive as long as Winston is anywhere in sight. You could go out there naked, painted blue and lit on fire and he probably wouldn't bat an eyelash."

"Poor Winston," Justin pulled on a tee and had already started towards the door.

Brian followed behind the concerned cat owner. They found the child sitting in the middle of the floor right by the front door, Winston in Gus’ lap, being pawed over rather roughly by the curious three year old. The not-so-young-anymore cat looked up at his person and opened his furry mouth in a pathetic, silent 'Mow'. Justin rushed to Winston's aid but before he could get within arms length, Gus had the cat clutched to his chest in a stranglehold.

"Mine!" asserted the preschooler definitively, startling Justin and eliciting more laughter from the doting father.

Approaching more cautiously a second time, Justin knelt down slowly about two feet from where Gus was squeezing all the air out of the cat's body.

"Hello, Gus," Justin said in his best 'calm the child' voice. "I'm really excited to meet you."

"MINE!" Gus wasn't going to be cajoled into giving up HIS fuzzy friend by some sweet talking, stranger. "Daddy said it's my kitty!"

"Briiiiiaaaan!" Justin turned back to the snorting brunet behind him, begging for assistance.

"Hey, Gus," Brian finally relented - a bit. "If you're nice to Justin, he might show you where he keeps the fuzzball's treats. And, if you promise to be good and not strangle the cat, you can feed him a little snack, okay?"

"Yay!" Gus was immediately on board with that idea.

He jumped up, towing Winston along with him but allowing his grip to loosen up enough to let the cat breathe.

"C'mon, Jus'n," the little boy grabbed at the hand of his new cat care assistant. "I'm gonna feed my cat. You can help."

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Justin spent the rest of the morning following Gus around - who was busy following Winston around - and doing his best to make sure the tyke didn't love HIS new kitty to death. Brian was thoroughly amused by the entire situation. He refused to lift a finger to help restrain his son's overly affectionate gestures towards 'The Fuzzball'. In an act of desperation, Justin finally bartered the 'best blowjob you've ever had' (after Gus went down for his nap), in exchange for help separating the kid and the cat before one of them killed the other.

"Hey, Sonnyboy," Brian said with his best smirk as he finally got up off the couch to intervene. "I know a place that has grilled cheese sandwiches that are almost as good as your Grandma Debbie makes 'em. And, if you're good, I'll get you an ice cream cone for dessert."

"Yay!" Gus screamed, again jumping to his feet in his boundless enthusiasm, and still gripping the cat as he started already for the door.

"Sorry, Sonnyboy, but Winston is an indoor only kitty. You'll have to leave him here while we go to lunch," Brian explained.

"No. He's mine!"

"Gus, don't argue," Brian said in full-out parent voice. "Winston stays here. Besides, you don't want to take him outside where he might get scared and lost? He should stay here where he's safe. You can play with him again later after you both have naps."

"But, Daddy . . ."

"Gus, if you keep arguing there will be NO ice cream."

"Fine," Gus pouted, but finally released the cat, who dashed away into hiding as fast as his short, furry legs would carry him.

"Good boy. Now get your shoes and your coat," Brian smiled indulgently down as the boy scurried around searching for his things.

"Bribery, Brian?" Justin dismissed Brian's questionable parenting techniques. "I could have done that."

"Hey, don't knock it, Sunshine. Ice cream will get you a long way where Gus is concerned," Brian insisted, handing the exhausted younger man his own jacket. "Now, let's get you some food so you'll be fully fueled and have plenty of stamina for 'naptime' later!"

Justin felt sufficiently rejuvenated by the time they were halfway through their lunch. Brian had taken them to a New York style deli not too far from the apartment. Gus was happily, and for the most part quietly, munching away at his grilled cheese sandwich and fries, while Brian toyed with his turkey on whole wheat - dry - and Justin wolfed down his Double-Decker Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich with fries and potato salad and two sodas. The two older men were catching up a bit on what they’d each been doing the past week.

Brian explained that his work on the Furry Friends account had garnered him this athletic goods account opportunity and he’d been forced to fly out to Chicago with only three hours notice on Saturday. The good news was that, not only had the pet travel agency ads been well received, he’d nailed the athletic goods account - singlehandedly - and had returned triumphantly this morning with contract in hand. He was very optimistic about how this would help him up the ladder at work, not to mention the big bonus he’d be getting next quarter. Brian did warn that he would likely be bugging Justin for help with the artwork for the new account, since no one at Kennedy & Collins seemed to be able to draw a straight line with the help of a ruler. Justin told Brian about Ms. McMillan’s visit to the gallery and her purchase of two of his paintings. Brian seemed just as ebullient as Justin over his first two professional sales.

Justin eventually confessed to the fact that he’d gone through Brian’s stuff when he’d been so worried about his roommate’s disappearance. Luckily, Brian didn’t seem in the least disturbed by this revelation. Justin even told Brian about his short conversation with Debbie, but he didn’t reveal how indignant the woman’s disdainful comments about Brian had made him feel. Which was a good thing, since Brian immediately launched into a series of fond memories about Debbie, who he referred to as his ‘Surrogate Mom’. Justin didn’t like to think that anyone’s mother, surrogate or otherwise, would say such derogatory things about someone, but he didn’t really know Brian that well and had never met the mysterious Debbie, so he decided to hold back judgment on the situation. Who was he to talk, after all - his own relationship with his mother had been strained since the whole Dartmouth debacle.

It was a good thing he didn’t bring up his concerns about Brian’s Pittsburgh ‘family’, since the mere mention of Debbie brought up a whole slew of new reminiscences about Debbie, Michael and Brian’s youth. Even Gus piped up with some funny tales about his Grandma Debbie. She sounded like quite the character. Justin was even more confused about how to react to Debbie after hearing all the fond stories. Maybe, when or if he met this woman, he could form a more substantive opinion. Until then, Justin decided to reserve judgment.

As to why Brian and Gus had arrived at the apartment at the same time, Brian explained that, since he was so late getting back from Chicago, he’d arranged with Gus’ mothers to meet them at the airport when their flight arrived. Brian had seen the ladies off to their hotel and taken immediate possession of his son. He apparently had Gus until Tuesday morning when the boy would fly back to Pittsburgh with the ‘Munchers’ to spend Christmas with the rest of the family. Brian had already confirmed with his work that he had today off after his extended trip to Chicago. He wasn’t sure that he would be able to take the whole day off on Monday, though, but he figured it would work out somehow.

As soon as Gus had finished his sandwich and was equipped with the requisite ice cream cone, the three of them vacated the deli and walked over to a little park that Brian had already scoped out nearby. Brian and Gus ran around the park for at least a half hour, and Justin was hard pressed at moments to point out which one of them was the child. Brian seemed so much more relaxed and carefree around his son than Justin had ever seen him. Brian was smiling pretty much the whole time - an easy, unforced smile that glowed from inside the man in a way that lit up his entire being - and Gus’ smile echoed his father’s perfectly. Justin was tempted to join in but found himself even more compelled to sketch what he was seeing so he sat out most of the more energetic stuff.

Eventually both Brian and Gus were tired enough to admit it was time to head home. Gus was even too tired to walk on his own the whole way, so Brian picked him up and seated the boy on his shoulders before they were even a block away from the park. It was such an adorable sight that Justin ran ahead a few paces and snapped a photo of the two, incurring Brian’s half-hearted wrath. Justin had so many new ideas after watching the father and son together - he couldn’t wait to get back to his easel and start working on them all.

Gus could barely keep his eyes open by the time they all got back to the apartment. He had a momentary burst of energy when he remembered about his cat, but since there was absolutely no sign of Winston anywhere, Gus gave up and let his father put him in Justin’s room for a nap. Brian was extremely glad that the tyke was so easy to get to sleep, since he was more than ready for his own naptime activities. Brian wasn’t about to let Justin forget the promise he’d made earlier in exchange for relief from the Gus and Winston situation.

As soon as Brian had Gus settled, he came stalking back out to the main room with a sexy smirk on his face and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. All of a sudden, Justin found himself feeling incredibly shy. It made no sense. He wasn’t exactly a virgin - he’d been away from home at college for going on three years now and had been living with Connor for a good portion of the past year. But, reconnecting with this enigma, Brian Kinney, had Justin feeling like he didn’t know anything. Justin felt like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. His pants were far too tight through the crotch but he didn’t want to seem overly desirous which made Justin feel unaccountably self-conscious. That predatory look on Brian’s face didn’t help matters much, either. Justin felt a bit like a defenseless jungle creature about to be pounced on by a voracious jaguar.

Brian didn’t seem at all deterred by Justin’s seeming shyness. He paced around the back of the couch, looking like he was about to leap onto the hesitant blond cowering against the far edge of the sofa. Justin was sure he looked ridiculous, he was nervously biting at his lower lip and probably had worry lines across his forehead. That wasn’t about to deter Brian Kinney, though. The man was ready for his own naptime adventures.

“Oowwww!” Brian’s attack was interrupted mid-lunge as he prowled around the end of the couch and unexpectedly tripped over a stray empty beer bottle that had rolled just out of sight under a section of the newspaper that had been tossed on the floor after being read, causing the man to topple sideways over the arm of the couch. “Justin . . . You fucking slob! I was gone less than a week and look what you’ve done to the place. I can’t even walk into the living room without injury. Did you and Daphne throw a fucking party or something? There must be two dozen empty beer bottles sitting around here and I don’t know how many pizza boxes. . . .”

Brian kept on muttering complaints about the disastrous state of the apartment while he rubbed at the sore spot on his thigh where he’d hit the arm of the sofa. The silly pratfall had broken up the tension enough for Justin, who was giggling and no longer feeling quite so shy. He perked up from his corner and leaned over to help massage away the pain in Brian’s leg. And, while he was bent over Brian’s crotch like that, with the man pouting so adorably and complaining about getting hurt and the mess upon his return and all the indignities that had been unfairly heaped upon him, Justin regained his confidence and his libido and summarily unzipped Brian’s jeans. That effectively shut up Brian’s ranting in short order. Brian simply sighed and eased back against the cushions so that Justin had more ready access.

Justin immediately ascertained that his memories of what he’d find inside weren’t exaggerated. Brian’s cock was already straining against the seams of his clothing by the time Justin got the zipper far enough down that Brian’s deep purple rod could pop out, proudly peeking around to see what was going on this afternoon. It was a delectable sight and forced an eager moan out of the willing youth.

The mere sound of that moan triggered a droplet of pre-cum to percolate out of the slit at the end and Justin couldn’t restrain his tongue from stretching out to taste the little pearl. The salty, sweet taste hit Justin’s tongue and he immediately started to salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs hearing the feeding bell. Every synapse of his young body knew exactly how to react to that wondrous taste, that silky, firm texture and the warmth radiating from the pulsing blood under the smooth skin that met his tongue. Justin’s own dick got hard so fast he thought he might black out from the instantaneous redirection of all the blood in his own body down to his groin. The only thing that kept Justin focused was the little growl of pleasure that Brian couldn’t hold back at that first tentative touch.

“Justin . . . *whhooooo* . . . fuck, I missed you,” Brian whimpered as Justin’s lips started sucking in little nibbles of skin all along the length of Brian’s painfully hard shaft. “You have the most exquisite mouth I’ve ever felt. Those beautiful lips were made to suck cock . . . my cock,” the older man didn’t seem to have any remaining control over the words that were coming out of his mouth unrestrainedly at this point. “So good . . . so fucking good . . ."

Justin was inspired by the sensual words his actions were eliciting. He started licking away at the long firm rod, starting low at Brian’s full balls and slowly trailing his tongue all the way up and up and up, then flicking seductively at the very tip in an evil, whiplike motion that Brian didn’t know was possible with a mere tongue. The end of each long stroke brought Brian to the edge of orgasm each time, amazing him at how fast this boy had stimulated him. He felt like a fucking schoolboy who couldn’t control himself, but he loved it too much to even try to hold back. It was only the momentary pause between each long lick that kept back the rising tide of sweet, sour pleasure that was welling up from his gut.

Justin was trying to hold himself back at the same time, without much more success than Brian was having. He was slowly humping against Brian’s leg as he sucked and licked and bit at the treasure he’d found. How could it be that giving a blow job to this evocative man was almost as invigorating as getting sucked off himself? All Justin knew was that the more he gave this man, the more stimulated he became himself, and it egged him on to greater creativity. He trilled his tongue along the hot shaft in fantastic patterns and caressed every single throbbing vein and wrinkle of skin with hungry lips. Then, finally, when Justin was almost ready to shoot himself, he engulfed the entire heavy span of Brian’s cock and swallowed it whole as he lightly tickled along the stippled skin under his tightening balls. Brian keened, his cry half pleasure, half unbearable longing, as he shot ribbons of warm cum into Justin’s rapacious mouth. Justin came in his pants three heartbeats later.

“If this is the homecoming I’m going to get, I’ll have to find more excuses to go out of town, Sunshine,” Brian panted as he pulled the boy up to lie against his chest while they both caught their breath.

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