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Chapter 26 - Interlude.

Watching Brian sleep had always been one of Justin’s guilty pleasures. He could literally do it for hours. Which is precisely what he’d been doing pretty much every single night since Jesse had convinced him to basically move in with Brian. Of course, sometimes he would pop off into the nothingness of the ether for a few hours, feeling like there was something wrong with just lying there next to Brian in bed all night and watching the other man sleep. He had to admit it sounded a little creepy even to him. But he could never stay away for long.

Tonight had been a prime example. He’d been happily staring at his man for hours and hours. He loved all the adorable snuffly noises Brian made in his sleep. The cute little faces he’d make as he dreamed. Justin even loved the light, purr-like snore he’d drop into when he was deeply asleep. Not to mention the innocence the normally prickly, always self-controlled man exhibited when he was asleep. It reminded Justin of when Brian was a still-trusting child. He simply couldn’t get enough of just looking at him, filling his eyes with the inherent beauty that was Brian, and guarding him through the night from the occasional nightmare.

Justin knew that his time of stargazing was almost at an end, though, as soon as dawn broke and light started filtering through the loft. Except when Brian was hungover, the man was a notoriously early riser. And sometimes, even after a night of debauchery, he’d be up before seven, grousing and moaning but unable to sleep late. Justin assumed it came from a childhood of always having to be wary of being caught unawares by Jack, and those old habits died hard even after years of Brian living on his own.

Even as that thought was flittering through Justin’s brain, Brian began to fidget and squirm around restlessly under the sheets as he started to come to life. After stretching out his lusciously long frame to it’s full length for a couple of seconds, the man rolled over onto his side, scooting closer to Justin, and rooting under the sheets semi-consciously until he found the warm, young body he’d been looking for. Brian wrapped Justin in his arms and crooked one of his legs over the top of the youth so as to pull him even closer. Justin melted into the embrace, his body just naturally molding itself to Brian’s, his own arms clasping the bigger body tightly.

“Mmmmm,” the not-yet-awake Brian moaned happily, burrowing his nose into Justin’s neck right behind his ear.

When Justin moaned back, Brian smiled and nibbled at the tender flesh he found there. As far as Justin was concerned, Brian could eat him whole if he wanted. Just as long as he kept kissing him between bites, stroking his chest with one lazy hand and playfully rutting against his hip.

“How the fuck is it possible that you smell so damn good?” Brian asked, as he inhaled another deep breath of the blond. “You’re not even really here and yet you smell like . . . like fresh mown grass on a summer day and sunshine beating down on the earth . . . it’s fucking crazy, you know. You smell good, you taste delicious,” Brian paused to take another lick at the tempting skin of Justin’s slender, alabaster neck, tickling the boy in the process and eliciting a quiet giggle. “You even fucking sound sweet as hell. But you’re not REAL - you’re my imaginary childhood friend. I made you up. I’m the only one who can see or hear you and half the time you’re not even solid. How the fuck is this possible?”

“Well, at least part of me is VERY solid right now,” Justin rejoined, taking Brian’s hand and placing it atop the sheet covering Justin’s now hard-as-granite cock.

Brian gave the bulge under his hand an affectionate little squeeze, left one last mini kiss on the boy’s neck and then wriggled around until he was lying all the way on top of the younger man with his lower body falling naturally into the vee of Justin’s accommodatingly spread legs. Their bodies were touching from cock to chest and Brian’s weight was only partially offset by propping himself up on his elbows. Justin didn’t care. He loved the feeling of Brian draped over him like a warm, living blanket. The bigger man’s weight felt comforting rather than suffocating. Hell, if they could stay like this for the rest of eternity, Justin would gladly never move.

“Mmmmm,” Brian repeated his earlier assessment before diving down to sip at the soft, coral-pink of Justin’s lips.

Justin’s heart soared as he returned Brian’s fervent kiss with all the pent up passion he had inside him. He eagerly reciprocated Brian’s kisses, lick for lick, nibble for nibble, moan for moan. THIS was Justin’s idea of heaven - fuck all the rest of the bullshit the religious types spouted. He’d been there, done that, and the only true paradise in his experience was this perfect moment right here, right now, lying in Brian’s arms.

“Shit, Justin,” Brian finally broke off from his kissing duties to voice his ongoing disbelief in the moment. “This feels so . . . so fucking good. But it’s not real. How can this not be real?”

Brian paused, looking down into the face of this man whom he’d known all life, shaking his head at the impossibility of it all. Justin simply looked back up at him, smiling at Brian with that trusting blue gaze of his. Brian was completely mesmerized by that look. He found that he simply could not look away. Those deep, crystal blue eyes were boring through him and he was swept up in the open, adoring, undoubting look.

Neither Brian nor Justin knew how long they’d laid there like that, unmoving, just staring into each other’s eyes. Justin was so happy he didn’t want to move or look away. And Brian didn’t know what to think. He was so confounded by the depth of the care, adoration and, yes, love, looking back at him, he felt almost paralyzed. He’d been looking in those same clear, blue eyes for a lifetime and yet he felt almost as if this was the first time he’d seen them.

When the quiet tension finally got to be too much, Brian sighed and blinked. “How is this even possible, Justin?” he asked, his voice quiet and so tentative that Justin could barely hear him from only centimeters away. “How . . . What are you? Why am I the only one who can see you and feel you? Why . . . ?”

“Oh, Brian . . .” Justin hated the uncertainty he heard in Brian’s tone. “I don’t KNOW why. Most of the time I’m as lost as you are. It’s not like, when I died, they gave me the play book and all the answers to Life, The Universe and Everything, you know. One minute I was this happy, carefree, seventeen year old boy, who was just leaving the hospital the day you were born, thrilled that I’d finally found you, and then next minute I found myself standing in a cold, damp, dark basement with a scared four year old. I was totally freaking out, but I didn’t have time to worry about it then - I had to take care of you. And ever since then, I’ve just floated along from day to day, trying to do my best to help you whenever I could. But I have no clue what happened to get me here or why.” Brian looked so disappointed in the unhelpful answer, even more so than Justin himself. “All I do know, Brian, is that we are meant to be together. I don’t know how or when, but I KNOW we will be.”

“That’s fucking bullshit,” Brian spit out, a frown marring the beauty of his previously open and trusting face. “I don’t buy into the whole ‘soul-mates’ crap. ‘Fate’ is just a concept some losers came up with to explain away the randomness of life. It’s all nonsense.”

“It’s NOT!” Justin insisted. “It’s not, Brian. I do know that we are destined to be together. I’ve seen it.” Brian continued to radiate his scepticism at Justin, prompting the spirit guide to smile at his doubtful charge. “I know you don’t believe me, Brian. But I believe it. See, back when I was . . . well, more thoroughly solid all the time . . . I used to see things, know things in advance, all the time. I told my mother the day my younger brother was born that I was going to have a baby brother that day - she wasn’t due for another month and I was only a year and a half old. It scared her to the core. I knew the day my Grandfather came to see us at Thanksgiving that he would be dead by Christmas. And I knew the morning you were born that I would finally find the man I had been dreaming of all my life.”

Brian looked off to the side but Justin held onto him even tighter so that Brian couldn’t physically pull away.

“I swear to you, Brian, we will be together for real. I’ve seen it in my mind. I’ve dreamed about it. We are going to be together and we’ll have the most wonderful, long, happy life. Somehow.” Brian huffed a tiny, disbelieving noise, but Justin refused to relent. “How can you doubt this is right, Brian? There’s no other reason for me to still be here, like this, with you all these years, unless we are truly meant to be together. Because I simply refuse to not let it happen. Hell, if death couldn’t keep me away from you, nothing fucking can.”

Justin was so emphatic in his assertions, and looked up at Brian with such unshakable certainty glowing from every pore of his body, that even a doubter like him was momentarily swayed. The blond spirit seemed so positive. His eyes - those expressive blue eyes that never hid anything from Brian - shone with conviction. Even a natural skeptic like Brian found it impossible to dispute the assurances in those steadfast eyes.

“Stupid, romantic, fucking twat,” Brian complained without any real heat to the statement. “So . . . what the fuck are we supposed to do until this miracle of yours actually happens?”

“No idea,” Justin responded with a teasing smile. “But I’m all for more of this while we wait.”

The impish sprite tilted his head up so that he could capture Brian’s lips again. Brian didn’t fight it - why would he when it felt so perfect. He was more than happy to continue lying there, kissing the youth’s soft, warm lips, playing with the strands of silky blond hair, feeling the small, intimate movements of their bodies against each other. And he had to admit that, for someone who was more than likely a mere figment of his warped imagination, Justin felt quite solid. Solid and warm and real and . . . hard.

In fact, the way the ghost boy’s very hard prick was currently poking into Brian’s belly felt awfully real. And the way he was currently biting on Brian’s lower lip felt real too. Those hands caressing his back, moving inexorably lower and lower, downwards towards Brian’s ass, didn’t seem at all insubstantial. They felt amazing. And who the fuck really cared if Justin wasn’t, in fact, ‘real’ - especially when whatever he WAS turned Brian on so fucking much.

Oh, to hell with it! Real or not, Brian no longer cared. Judging by the state of his raging hard on, his body obviously couldn’t tell the difference. Why was he overthinking things so much?

With only a slight shift of his weight, Brian’s cock was freed, dropping down between Justin’s legs so that it was dangling in just the right place. Justin didn’t even try to hold back the groan of longing that percolated out as soon as he felt the welcome throbbing of the full shaft pressing against his perineum. All it would take would be for him to raise his legs, bending his knees . . . just like that . . . tilting his hips upward so that the dripping tip was now nudging against his skin just above the spot that would lead to utter bliss.

Both of them froze. They were panting, staring at each other, each waiting for the other to take the initiative. Brian knew he was being uncharacteristically hesitant, but he really didn’t know if he was ready to move forward with this. It felt like a momentous step. It felt irreversible. He stayed still, poised where he was, his dick hovering only millimeters away from the place he wanted to be, and struggled to make up his mind. Meanwhile, Justin continued to smile up at him, completely trusting and open, willing to wait for Brian’s decision while the moment stretched out interminably.

The two men were so caught up in the gravity of the moment that it would have taken a tornado ravaging through the loft to get either one’s attention. So it really wasn’t surprising that neither of them noticed the vibrating cell phone sitting on the nightstand. Or heard the landline ringing in the outer room. Brian’s sole focus at that moment was the tiny electrical impulses zapping through him every time his dick twitched, causing it to tickle against the warmth of Justin’s delectable ass.

Which is probably why they were both so startled when the loft door slid noisily open and a too-friendly voice yelled out a cheery “Brian? Hello! You here?”

“What the fuck is Lindsey doing here?” Brian grumbled, his head dropping down so that his forehead rested on Justin’s chin. “Damn lesbians - they have the absolute worst timing.” Justin chuckled in agreement, trying to calm his own heartbeat. “Do you think Lindsey would have me committed if I just ignored her and carried on fucking the invisible twink in my bed?”

Justin didn’t have time to actually respond to that question, though, before the owner of the annoyingly peppy voice came galloping up the stairs, right into the bedroom, not pausing until she was almost on top of them.

“Oops!” Lindsey immediately cringed as soon as she got a glimpse of the bed, backing slowly down the stairs. “Sorry, Brian! I didn’t know you were . . . entertaining. I did try to call to tell you I was on my way over with breakfast, but you didn’t answer. How about I just wait in the kitchen? Don’t mind me. Just carry on with . . . whatever you were doing,” she offered with a sophomoric giggle. “Just pretend like I’m not even here.”

“What? You mean you can see . . .” Brian started to ask as he slid off Justin, only to be shushed when Justin laid a finger across his lips.

“No, Brian. She can’t see me. It was the sheets,” Justin pointed down towards the foot of the bed where the outline of his legs under the draping of the sheet was clearly visible to both of them. “She only saw you lying on the bed and my feet . . .”

“Hmm. So you are at least a little bit solid after all?” Brian mused even as he threw the covers off the both of them and sighed at the sight of the beautiful and willing blond boy lying in his bed, completely naked. “Some parts of you more than others.” Justin smiled coyly up at him until they were again interrupted by the clanking and clattering of the invader in Brian’s kitchen. “Fucking persistent lesbians . . .” he growled again and rolled all the way off the mattress. “. . . Fucking lousy timing.”

Brian grabbed the pair of sweatpants he’d shucked off the night before and pulled them on with reluctance. Although, now that he thought about it, maybe Lindsey’s arrival right at that moment wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It meant Brian would have more time to figure out what he wanted. What he was going to do about this growing . . . whatever . . . between himself and Justin. He wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to take this any further.

“It’s okay, Brian,” the blond whispered as he literally popped into sight right in front of Brian, now completely clothed. “There’s no rush. You don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for. I’ll still be here when you are ready,” Justin affirmed as if reading Brian’s mind - again.

Trying to cover up for the indecision and guilt he felt at his thoughts being caught out that easily, Brian seized on the first alternative topic that came to mind. “How the fuck did you get dressed so fast? I didn’t even see your clothing around?” Brian looked around him as if he’d discover Justin’s secret stash of clothing somewhere.

Justin’s carefree peal of laughter went a long way towards putting Brian at ease. “One of the few perks of being incorporeal. I just think ‘Clothes’ and they’re there.”

“Nice trick,” Brian chuckled. “Especially if it works in reverse. That would save serious time in the back room if all my tricks had that power.”

“Sorry, Stud. I’m the only one with Super Twink Powers. You’re on your own with the rest of the gay population of Pittsburgh.”

“Oh well. I’ll muddle through, just like I always have, I guess,” Brian replied as he got to his feet and turned unenthusiastically towards the stairs, hesitant to confront Lindsey yet again. “Your powers don’t, by any chance, include some way to teleport me out of here so I don’t have to deal with the baby-crazy lesbian, do they?”

“Sorry, no. But if you’d like, I could maybe pelt her with balled up pieces of paper or make things appear to fly magically through the air. That should get rid of her,” Justin teased with a smirk and an impish twitch of his nose.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s the best idea. I don’t need to deal with an hysterical woman on top of the whole baby thing.”

“Well, if you change your mind, just say the word. It might be kinda fun, actually. I’ve never tried that kind of thing. Ooo, how about if I drape a sheet over my head and run around the room. That would be totally wild. Hahaha.”

Justin looked like he was seriously considering ‘haunting’ Lindsey, which caused Brian to hurry off towards the kitchen a little faster in order to prevent the little twat from carrying out his threat. That would be all he needed - rumors going around that his loft was inhabited by some crazy poltergeist. No, better head that insanity off before it got started. He’d rather deal with Lindsey than Sunshine run amok.

“Lindsey. What the fuck are you doing in MY loft this early on a Saturday morning . . . uninvited and barging in without my permission I might add?” Brian came in blasting.

“Sorry, Brian. I didn’t expect you’d have company - I mean, you never let your tricks stay the night - so I didn’t think it would be a problem to just drop in. I’m really sorry I interrupted,” Lindsey repeated, craning her neck as if to look around Brian to find his ‘trick’.

“What do you mean, ‘company’?” Brian asked, playing dumb, and trying not to smile at the blond brat standing right behind Lindsey and pulling silly faces at her back.

“Didn’t you have someone up there with you?” Lindsey asked, looking very confused, especially once Brian shrugged with a ‘what’ gesture. “I could have sworn I saw . . .” She moved around the kitchen island in order to peer into the bedroom without obstruction. “Huh? I really thought I saw someone in bed with you. I guess . . . I guess it was just the way the covers were bunched up or something. That’s really weird.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I WASN’T in the middle of fucking someone when you barged in here, Lindsey, or I would have been even more pissed off than I already am,” Brian complained as he helped himself to the freshly brewed coffee, dumping in most of the sugar bowl and drinking right out of the carafe. “Now, say whatever the fuck you came to say and then get the hell out of here so I can enjoy the rest of my Saturday.”

Lindsey, who was still looking around the loft as if determined to find where the missing trick was hiding, finally pulled herself together and refocused on the task at hand. “I came over to apologize, Brian. I know we got off on the wrong foot last night and I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to make you so uncomfortable. I’ve talked to Mel about how she acted and she’s sorry too.” Brian didn’t believe that for a single second, but didn’t want to waste his breath disputing the matter, so he merely sat on a kitchen stool and applied himself to his coffee.

Lindsey finally gave up looking for Brian’s bed mate and applied herself to the bagel she had just toasted. She smeared it with a thin layer of fat free cream cheese and then set it out on a plate which was dutifully presented to Brian. She poured out a glass of the guava juice she’d found in the fridge and added it to the place setting. She even went so far as to fold a paper napkin and set it next to Brian's plate, then smiled approvingly at the pleasingly domestic setting she’d arranged. Brian rolled his eyes at her blatantly obvious manipulations but was hungry enough, for once, not to care. Instead of calling her out on it, he just quietly began to snarf down a half a bagel.

Evidently pleased by the seemingly positive reaction, Lindsey took up the narrative again. “Listen, Brian. I understand that you’re not yet ready to really, seriously, consider my request that you help Mel and I get pregnant. I wouldn’t expect you to be. We sort of sprang this on you suddenly,” she tittered as if she’d said something incredibly funny, although Brian wasn’t laughing or even, really, paying much attention to her at all. “I want you to take all the time you need to think about this. Just don’t say ‘no’ right off the bat, okay? Give the idea a chance. There’s no hurry. Just promise you’ll think about it a little longer. Please?”

Brian looked at the pleading face and just couldn't turn Lindsey down completely. Maybe it was the residual hangover talking. Or maybe it was the after effects of that pleasurable interlude in bed with Justin. But, for whatever reason, Brian was feeling a little more mellow than usual and unable to get his full ‘asshole’ mask in place this morning.

“Fine. I’ll think about it. But don't get your fucking hopes up,” Brian warned as gruffly as he could before he’d consumed more than a full cup-worth of coffee.

The radiant smiles on both the visible and invisible blonds’ faces as he said this made Brian scowl. Why were they all so annoyingly persistent? Fuck it. He didn’t really care. Brian decided to compartmentalize both Lindsey’s pleas and Justin’s ongoing presence for the time being and just concentrate on his breakfast. They could all wait.

All he really had to do right then was to finish eating, get a shower, and then head to the gym where he hoped to be able to find a trick willing to relieve the hard on that he still hadn’t gotten rid of since abandoning the blond boy in his bed.

Maybe this time all his problems really would go away if he just ignored them?

Yeah, fat chance.