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Author's Chapter Notes:

Here it is, folks, the final chapter of this story but the beginning of an even bigger and better story that was all love. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me as I struggled to get this one completed. Hope you enjoy it. TAG

~**~**~**~**~

 

Chapter 32 - Resolution.

 

It took Brian almost two weeks after Justin’s disappearance before he broke down and called Winnie.

 

Every day for those two weeks, he’d awakened expecting Justin to magically reappear with some reasonable explanation about how Jesse had needed him and why he couldn’t get back sooner. But day after day, nothing had happened. There was no cheerful blond kissing him good morning when he woke up. No supportive and interested partner waiting in his loft, eager to hear about his day when he came home from work. No PSA-spouting know-it-all to lecture him and then take care of him after a long night of drunken clubbing. No enthusiastic lover in his bed every night. There was no one there for him.

 

Not only had Justin been his protector since childhood, but for the past year or so the spirit guide had been pretty much a constant in Brian’s daily life. Brian had become accustomed to having him around. Even more, he’d developed a closeness with Justin that he’d never experienced with anyone else. He’d come to rely on Justin in so many ways. It was different than what they’d shared when Brian had been a child, though. This was an adult relationship. This was a pairing of two equals, not one taking care of the other, but each helping and supporting the other. The longer he was gone, the more Brian realized how much he had come to depend on that connection with Justin. And how much he really missed the other man now that he wasn’t around.

 

Which is probably why, after just two weeks of being without Justin, Brian felt like he was completely losing it. And, even worse, he had nobody he could talk to about what was happening, because . . . well, imaginary friend and all, right? But that just made it worse, because Brian had no way to work through all his feelings.

 

So finally, when he couldn’t take not knowing what had happened even one more day, Brian dug out Winnie’s phone number and made the call.

 

“Hey, Winnie,” Brian said when his friend finally answered her phone, trying to make his tone and words casual. “How’s tricks.”

 

“Aren’t I supposed to ask you that, Brian?” Winnie tossed back jokingly, although her voice lacked the usual verve Brian had come to expect.

 

Brian couldn’t think of any other small talk after that, so he just decided to hell with the usual niceties and dove right into the reason he was calling. “Um, Win . . . I know this may seem like a strange question, but is your cousin Jesse okay?”

 

“No, he’s not, actually,” Winnie replied with a sad note. “How'd you hear?” Brian didn’t know how to respond to that, so he was grateful when Win rushed on without waiting for an answer. “I still can’t believe what happened. It was so unexpected, you know? The whole family is still in shock.”

 

“What exactly happened? I didn’t get the whole story,” Brian prompted, trying to get more without tipping her off that he knew nothing at all.

 

“It was a brain aneurysm. Can you fucking believe it?” Winnie sobbed. “The doctors say it was congenital - it was probably always there, hiding in his head, just waiting to rupture. There’s nothing that could have been done about it, though, even if we’d known. But, still, it’s fucking horrible, you know?” She paused long enough to heave a sigh, presumably wiping away some tears. “Of course, that explains all the headaches he’d been having lately and the fatigue. My Uncle and Aunt are beating themselves up over it, but really, nobody knew and the doctors say that stress alone probably didn’t cause it to rupture when it did. They say these things just happen . . .”

 

“Shit. That’s fucked up,” Brian answered, not sure what else you could say to someone in those circumstances. “Is he . . .” He hesitated to ask the tough question.

 

“He’s still in Intensive Care. He hasn’t regained consciousness. They don’t know if he’ll make it or not,” Winnie volunteered without waiting for the questions she knew he wanted to ask. “His heart has stopped a couple times already. The doctors say it’s still too soon to tell - that sometimes patients in these cases pull through - although usually, when they do, there’s significant damage. Everyone’s trying to remain hopeful, but I’m not sure . . .”

 

“Shit, Win. That’s horrible. I don’t know what to say.”

 

“There isn’t much anyone CAN say,” Winnie agreed with him. “Or do, for that matter. We’re all just hanging on and waiting to see what will happen.” Then his friend’s tone changed to a more determined note. “It hasn’t been easy for anybody. Especially my Aunt Jen. She’s a wreck. Which is why I was just on my way down to the hospital to spell her. She’s barely left Jesse’s side since this happened, but Uncle Four has finally convinced her to go home and rest for a few hours as long as somebody sits with Jes. So, I guess I better get going.”

 

“Hey, if you want some company, I’d be happy to come down and sit with you for a while,” Brian rushed to add before she could hang up.

 

“That’s nice of you to offer, Brian, but you don’t have to. I’ll be fine. I wouldn’t want to put you to all that trouble.”

 

“It’s no trouble. I really don’t mind. I kinda always liked the kid, you know?”

 

“Yeah, he is a good kid. He’s annoying as hell and a total brat sometimes, but overall he’s pretty okay,” Winnie replied wistfully. “I guess, if you’re sure you don’t mind, Brian, I actually wouldn’t mind the company,” she relented finally.

 

The two of them quickly made arrangements for Brian to meet Winnie at the hospital and then hung up. Brian hustled off to the shower and then dressed quickly. He couldn’t wait to get to the hospital where, he hoped, he would find his missing blond boy.

 

~**~**~**~

 

Brian strode down the hospital corridor, reminding himself that it would be completely undignified to break into a run, but feeling like he wanted to anyway. If Justin was anywhere, he’d be here with his nephew. Not that Jesse being in the hospital totally explained what had happened that day outside the mini-mart or why Justin hadn’t reappeared to Brian since. Brian knew there had to be more to the story. Hadn’t Justin professed his love and determination to always stay with Brian enough times? Brian may have outwardly scoffed at those ‘Lesbianic’ sentiments, but in his heart he still believed Justin’s promises. He knew that only something major would have kept Justin away this long without any explanation at all.

 

Brian checked in at the nurses’ station and was told that Winnie had left authorization for him to have access to Jesse’s room. Following the charge nurse’s directions, he made his way to the small ICU cubicle. Through the big glass window that fronted the room, Brian could see the hospital bed with it’s still occupant and Winnie sitting with her back to the door. He tapped lightly at the door frame, causing the girl to lift up her head and nod at him, before he pushed the door open and slipped inside.

 

“Hey,” Brian greeted his old friend in a hushed voice.

 

“Hi, Brian. Thanks for coming down,” Winnie answered, getting up from her chair to give Brian a big hug.

 

Brian hugged back even as he scanned the entire room over Winnie’s shoulder. Unfortunately, there was no sign at all of his lost ghost boy. Except for himself and Winnie, the only other occupant of the room was the figure lying in the bed hooked up to the dozen or so beeping and wheezing machines. Brian’s sigh when the hug ended was almost as sad as Winnie's.

 

“Come on in and have a seat, Brian” Winnie offered, giving up her chair and moving around so she could perch on the foot of the large hospital bed. “You made it here fast. My aunt and uncle just left about five minutes ago.”

 

They chatted politely for a few minutes, saying nothing substantial, both uncomfortable in their surroundings and unwilling to discuss the real reason for their presences. But then, after the chit-chat petered out, Brian finally turned to the sleeping patient and really looked at him. Amid all the wires and tubes hooked up to the teen, Brian could barely see the young man and, although he wasn’t a doctor, even to him things didn’t look good.

 

The young man was lying there, so still it was hard to be sure he was still alive. The only movement came from the slight rise and fall of his chest as oxygen was pumped through the breathing tube attached to a mask around his face. The boy’s skin looked even paler than usual against the stark white sheets. His thin eyelids were a dark lavender, framed by the long blond lashes and the sweaty and matted hair that had been pushed back from his forehead. It looked like Jesse must have recently got a haircut - his formerly shaggy mop of thick blond was now trimmed in a short prep-school style that made him look even more like Brian’s own blond boy.

 

In fact, now that he really examined the boy, Brian saw how closely Jesse and Justin resembled each other. They could have been twins. They were about the same general build and height. Both had the same high cheekbones, upturned nose and full, wide lips. There were, of course, lots of little differences - Jesse had a small scar on his right cheek that looked like a little pock mark, whereas Justin had one on his left eyebrow where he said he'd once had to get stitches after being run over by a kid on a 10-speed bike - but you’d have to look close to see these small variations. The only really noticeable difference were the two men’s eyes, but with Jesse’s dark grey eyes closed, Brian couldn’t see that particular distinguishing feature.

 

What he could see, though, was enough to tell him that this wasn’t the blond boy he was looking for. And if Justin wasn’t here with his other ward - the only other person on the planet who could actually see and hear and touch him - while Jesse was languishing in a hospital bed, Brian was pretty sure that he wasn’t anywhere. And he probably wasn’t coming back either.

 

~**~**~**~

 

Since Brian's trip to the hospital, he’d been despondent.

 

Of course, nobody looking at him could tell that. Like any wounded or scared animal, he instinctively hid. Outwardly, he was still the same suave, cocky stud he’d always been. He went about his daily business without interruption. He continued to show his usual brilliance at work. He turned up for breakfast with the gang every morning and allowed himself to be talked into going to Woody’s or Babylon in the evenings. When he had nothing else to do, Brian would take himself off to the baths so he could at least have his physical needs seen to. But inside, he felt hollow and more lonely than ever before.

 

Around him, other people’s lives seemed to go on without a hitch. The boys were caught up in their own concerns over work, tricks, boyfriends and other interests. Debbie was occupied with taking care of Vic whenever she wasn’t working and was too distracted by her brother’s health woes to notice Brian much. Lindsey and Mel were preoccupied with the imminent birth of their first child and didn’t have time for Brian even if he’d wanted to confess to them what was bothering him. Nobody noticed that anything was wrong with Brian and, since he’d never been the kind to share anyway, there was no reason why anyone would have asked him even if they had noticed something. He had always been self-contained and standoffish when it came to his emotions, why would anyone notice a change now?

 

But, while everyone else was going on with their own lives, Brian felt more and more disconnected. Nothing really seemed to matter anymore. He was completely nonplussed by Mikey’s continued intimations about how much he’d like to become more than just a best friend to Brian. His tricking had become perfunctory and not all that satisfying. He couldn’t even get interested in the fact that Lindsey was due any day now and he would therefore soon be a father. It felt like that eventuality, and everything else going on around him, was happening to someone else. Not him. He was just drifting through life. Going through the motions without any real stake in the activities around him. And, since Justin was gone, nobody even noticed that Brian was essentially gone too.

 

After several days of walking around like this, the one thing that finally penetrated the icy shield of his numb indifference was the afternoon he had to show up in court to resolve the charges against him for ‘assaulting’ his father. He’d already discussed the case with a sympathetic ADA. Everyone was agreed that the matter would be plead down to a simple misdemeanor which would be expunged off his record in six months provided he kept his nose clean. Of course, if Jack hadn’t been trying to teach Brian a lesson, and had just told the truth about what had happened, the whole matter would have been dropped outright. Brian could always trust Jack to be an ass, so that wasn’t surprising. But, because of his father’s perverse sense of humor, Brian had to show up in court at least long enough for the Judge to sign off on the plea agreement before it would all be behind him.

 

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Jack Kinney decided to show up to court that day too. His whole purpose in coming to the proceedings seemed to be his desire to rub Brian’s nose in the fact that he wasn’t any better than his father now that they both had ‘records’. His stunt backfired though, the judge overheard Jack’s caustic remarks in the corridor outside the courtroom and summarily dismissed all the charges against Brian on her own initiative. But even though Brin left the courtroom with a clean record, he still felt like he’d been once again gutted by his father’s malevolence. And the haunting words that he was no better - that he should take a good look at Jack because he was doomed to turn out the same way - continued to ring in his subconscious long after he’d left Jack standing on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse laughing his sad, tired old ass off.

 

Brian made it home, walked into the loft, and went straight up to the bedroom where he stood in front of the full-length mirror scrutinizing himself.

 

What he saw wasn’t the outwardly attractive and confident man that everyone else saw. Brian saw the scared and abused little boy that had always been an integral part of him. A part he now knew he could never escape from. That sad, frightened, beat up little boy inside him determined everything he was today. He could never escape it. He could never escape from his past. Maybe they were all right and he WOULD turn out just like his father. Shackled to his traumatic childhood and doomed to repeat it in the future.

 

And, if that were the case, why bother?

 

Because Justin was no longer there to counter Brian’s black mood or talk him out of his resolve, there was no answer to this question. Brian was left with the conclusion that he shouldn’t bother. Not anymore. It was time to end this charade of a pathetic life. Before everyone’s dire predictions actually came true.

 

Brian walked over to where his stash box rested on top of the dresser. He flipped open the top and pulled out the package of sleeping pills he’d gotten from Anita earlier in the week. He’d been hoping that these would help him stave off the nightmares. Now, though, he figured he could put them to another use - staving off the nightmare of his life. These beauties, along with the brand new bottle of scotch he'd picked up the day before, should do the trick nicely.

 

Brian was disappointed when the phone started ringing before he was halfway across the room on his way to grab the liquor. More likely than not, it was just Mikey calling to ensure Brian was going to join him at Woody’s. Brian briefly contemplated ignoring the call and just getting on with his plans. But then he’d risk Michael coming over to see where he was and interrupting him.

 

If Brian was going to do this, he did not want to be interrupted. He wanted to do it right. There would be no half-assed measures leaving him sick and damaged in a hospital somewhere with everyone crying over him and trying to get him to go to counseling. That was NOT Brian’s MO. He always succeeded at everything he tried, and he wanted to ensure he’d go out of life a success as well. So, he quickly decided to postpone his plan and answered the phone.

 

~**~**~**~

 

The night had dragged by for Brian. The same old bar. The same old club. His same old friends. Even the same old guys, all of whom were falling over themselves to garner Brian’s attention. There was no challenge left to it at all. He had wanted to enjoy his last big hurrah, but nothing seemed to matter to him anymore.

 

Finally, as the night was winding down and he could tell that Mikey and the rest were getting to the point when they’d want to call it a day, Brian decided to take one last trip to the backroom for old time’s sake. He sauntered out onto the dance floor, selected a nice, young, dark-haired, twink who looked acceptable, and then, grabbing hold of the man’s belt, began to drag the guy towards the back. Of course the guy came without question - they always did. It was actually funny how easy this was sometimes. The thought made Brian smile for the first time that day as he strode through the chains to the backroom with his trick in tow.

 

Brian had only barely made it to his favorite stretch of wall before Mikey was there telling him the rest of the gang wanted to go. Brian wasn’t giving up his final trick that easily though. He told Mikey that he’d only be ten minutes, tops, and then pressed the trick’s face towards his waiting cock. It was all for nothing though. The trick gave decent head, but it wasn’t really enough to keep Brian interested. It was just one of ten thousand other blow jobs, not many of which stood out and none of which actually made a difference. Within less than five minutes, Brian gave up, pushed the trick away and, with a silent goodbye to the backroom and everything else, Brian followed his friends out of the club.

 

As usual, the gang was waiting for him right by the front door. Brian slung his arm around Mikey’s shoulders and they all started walking over towards the jeep which was parked right across the street. Brian blew off the guys’ teasing about how he could possibly have gotten bored in the middle of a blow job. They obviously didn’t get it. He was bored with life - one lousy blow job more or less wasn't going to make a difference. It was really time to get this over with.

 

Brian had just thrown his jacket into the back seat of the jeep and was going to get in when it happened. When everything changed. When his plans for the night were knocked right out of his head.

 

When He came along.

 

Brian felt his presence before he even saw him. He felt a prescient tingling along his spine. He knew it was HIM.

 

He looked over his left shoulder and saw a young man walking through the swirling mist rising up from the street in the heat of the evening. From a distance, Brian wasn’t sure at first that he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing. But he could feel him more and more strongly as he neared.

 

When the svelte young blond stopped under a street light, leaning against the light pole and looking Brian’s way with a curious and intense gaze, though, Brian could finally see clearly enough and his heart started thumping in his chest so hard he could hardly breathe.

 

It was JUSTIN! Finally. Brian felt a true smile break out across his lips.

 

He started towards the waiting boy who was looking back at him with interest. Brian didn’t even care that he’d be making a fool out of himself by approaching his invisible friend while everyone he knew was watching. He was just too happy to see Justin again to care.

 

Only, as he got nearer, he realized something was off. There was no spark of recognition in the boy’s eyes. Interest. Desire. Lust. Maybe even a little fear. But no recognition. What the fuck?

 

“How’s it going? You had a busy night?” Brian asked, walking right up into the boy’s personal space but stopping himself at the last minute from wrapping the young man in his arms the way he wanted to.  

 

That was the moment Brian realized that the boy standing in front of him wasn’t the one he had been missing. This wasn’t Justin. The scar on his left eyebrow was missing. The mouth was just a tad bit too wide. His hair was just one shade too blond. When the kid briefly turned his head to the left and the light fell on his right cheek, Brian saw the little round pock mark and realized that this was the wrong Taylor kid. But, if it was Jesse, why didn’t he recognize Brian either? What the fuck was going on here?

 

“Just, uh, checking out the bars, you know,” the kid answered him with an assumed nonchalance that Brian knew was totally fake. “Boy Toy, Meathook . . .” he listed with false bravado.

 

“Meathook?” Brian felt like laughing, the conversation was so ridiculous. “Really? So, you’re into leather?”

 

“Sure,” the kid tried to bluff his way through it, but the attempt was laughable.

 

There was no way Brian could let this neophyte loose on Liberty Avenue. Not if Jesse thought it was a good idea to try out Meathook his first night out. Regardless of what the fuck was going on, Brian knew he wasn’t letting the kid out of his sight. Especially not before he figured out what the hell was happening.

 

“Where you headed?” he asked.

 

“No place special,” the kid answered.

 

“I can change that,” Brian posited, reaching out with one hand to grab the lapel of the kid’s jacket and tow him back towards the jeep.

 

Of course the guys gave Brian shit about picking up what they thought was just another trick and leaving them without a ride home. Brian didn’t care. He had to get this kid off the street and figure out what was going on. Where was Justin? Why was Jesse, who, last he’d known was lying unconscious in a fucking hospital bed, out cruising Liberty Avenue? And why didn’t the kid know Brian when he saw him? He wouldn’t get any of the answers he needed though until he got him someplace private where he could ask the right questions.

 

As soon as they’d pulled away from the curb, Brian started the interrogation. “So, what’s your name kid?” he asked, playing dumb just to see what kind of answer he’d get.

 

“That’s a good question,” the boy laughed with an adorably nervous grin. “See, I was named after an uncle of mine that died when he was real young, but nobody calls me by my real name because they all claim it’s too painful to talk about my dead uncle. So, instead of my real name, Justin Elias Sanford Taylor, they all just call me by my initials, ‘JES’, so it’s always ‘Jes’ or ‘Jesse’. Except my mom, of course, she’s always called me ‘Justin’” the kid’s rambling chatter covered up Brian’s surprise at this announcement quite well. “Of course, nobody ever asked me what I WANTED to be called. Personally, I think it’s cool to be named after a dead dude. That’s why I prefer Justin. Not that my family has ever listened to me when I told them not to call me by that annoying nickname, though. So, depending on who’s calling me, I guess I go by either name.” He concluded, somewhat noncommittally, and then looked over at Brian with a new flutter of nerves.

 

“Shit. I’m rambling, aren’t I?” He cringed and tittered a little half laugh. “Sorry. It’s just that I tend to talk a lot sometimes. And, since I just got out of the hospital, I suppose I've got a lot of talking to make up for, so it’s all spilling out at once.”

 

“Hospital? You’re okay though?” Brian asked.

 

“Oh, yeah. Of course,” Jesse, or Justin-part-two, rushed to reassure the man he obviously thought he was trying to seduce in his own, bumbling, virginal way. “I’m fine. Really. There was just this thing with my brain, and I was sorta in a coma for a couple weeks. It was really dramatic and all, but I think my family totally blew the whole thing out of proportion. Even if my heart did stop a few times. I mean, I’m totally fine now. Well, except for a bit of memory loss, but it’s not really that bad, you know - I just have these holes - it’s like having a piece of Swiss cheese for a memory. But other than that, I’m one hundred percent good to go. Or so my doctors tell me.” The kid held his arms out to the side as if presenting himself as evidence to back up his statement.

 

“When I woke up a couple days ago, I felt just fine and couldn't even figure out what I was doing in the fucking hospital. I guess I scared my cousin Winnie to death - everyone had been expecting me to die, you know. But I didn't, and the docs say it's a miracle or something, but I'm one hundred percent fine. Memory issues aside. So, that’s why I thought I’d celebrate by taking myself out for some fun for the night, you know?” The boy finally ran out of words and looked over at Brian who’d still said nothing. “Damn. I did it again. Too much?”

 

Brian only laughed, still trying to process the entire story. However, before he could pursue his next line of query, and before the kid had a chance to veer off on another rambling tangent, they pulled up at the curb in front of the loft. Brian stopped the car and turned off the engine. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do with this amnesiac Justin Junior. He supposed he should call Winnie and let her know what her cousin was up to. He guessed that nobody in the boy’s family had a clue the kid was out trolling on Liberty Avenue, only days after getting out of the hospital after miraculously surviving a ruptured brain aneurysm. They were probably all freaking out big time. Jes seemed fine to Brian though.

 

Still undecided about his next course of action, Brian turned to look at his companion. The light from the street lamps on Fuller were shining down through windshield directly on the boy sitting in the passenger seat. The way the light hit the boy, it seemed to create a glow around him, creating a halo effect above the white blond of his hair. Brian thought how beautiful the kid was and was reminded almost immediately of how many times he’d thought the same thing about his Justin. He remembered all those times, lying in bed, looking down on the bewitching blond countenance and reveling in his companion’s surreal, breathless, timeless beauty.

 

Fuck he missed Justin! He missed him so bad it was like a stabbing pain in Brian’s gut. He hadn’t realized it fully until just this moment, but that pain of loss was what was killing him. What had been driving him to want to kill himself. Brian wanted nothing more, right at that moment, than to get his Justin back for good.

 

Which is when some mystical shift in the light occurred that changed Brian’s entire life.

 

All of a sudden the street lights were illuminating his passenger’s face in a way that emphasized the young man’s eyes to the exclusion of the rest of the youth’s face. It was like a spotlight shining on that one feature. And Brian finally noticed THIS Justin’s eyes.

 

They weren’t the dull grey blue he’d come to associate with the boy he used to know as Jesse. These eyes were a brilliant, deep, crystal blue. These eyes contained a mischievous yet caring glint that Brian had known all his life. These were the eyes that had smiled at him countless times, when he was hurt, happy, scared, gleeful. Those weren’t Jesse’s eyes. Those were his Justin’s eyes!

 

“Justin?” Brian breathed out the name, questioning the truth he saw but didn’t trust.

 

“Yes?” the boy answered, smiling at him with that same, reassuring, loving smile that always melted Brian’s heart.

 

‘I promise, Brian, nothing will keep me from being there for you when you need me. I’ll always find a way to get to you. NOTHING can keep us apart for long. I know you don’t believe it, but we’re meant to be together. I know that as surely as I know anything. We’re kindred souls. We will always end up together. That’s just the way the universe works. Even if, for some inexplicable reason, something were to happen to one or the other of us, I would STILL find a way to get back to you. I promise. I don’t know how or what form I would be in, but somehow I would get to you.’

 

The prophetic words seemed to percolate out of the ether directly into Brian’s consciousness. Brian hadn’t believed them the first time he’d heard them, assuming they were mere romantic hyperbole, but now he couldn’t escape them. Now he believed. Justin had always maintained that they were destined to be together - for real - somehow, and now, maybe, that prediction looked like it might be coming true. Maybe HIS Justin truly had come back to him, like he’d always promised he would.

 

Maybe Brian was being given the gift of a real chance with the man he finally realized he did love more than anything in the world.

 

Without speaking - Brian didn’t think he could speak even if he was able to corral his whirling thoughts long enough to come up with the right words - Brian got out of the jeep, walked around to the passenger side of the car, waited for this new Justin to climb out and then led the boy upstairs to his loft. The boy followed quiescently. The elevator ride up was silent but filled with a pregnant expectation. Brian felt like he was vibrating with a strange combination of uncertainty and anticipation. He wasn’t sure he could trust his revelation or that, even if it was true, it would last. It would probably take him years to actually accept that he finally would be allowed his heart’s desire. He definitely didn’t want to jinx it by asking questions, though, so he stayed silent.

 

When he finally reached the door to the loft, Brian took a deep breath and then steeled himself. He wanted this so much, it was going to kill him if it didn’t happen. But even so, he wouldn’t pressure the boy for more than he was ready to give. Even if he was Brian’s Justin on the inside, it seemed that the kid didn’t know that yet.

 

Brian slid the loft door open and strode in as confidently as he could. He threw his jacket over towards the couch, not really caring if it landed on the floor or not.

 

“Coming in?” He asked the boy who was hesitating on the doorstep.

 

“Huh? . . . Oh, yeah,” the boy huffed another nervous laugh and took two baby steps inside.

 

“Shut the door,” Brian directed.

 

The kid turned back, grabbed the handle and, after taking a deep breath of his own, pulled the heavy metal door closed with a sharp clang. Brian, meanwhile, had decided that the only way to do this was to take action. He stripped off his shirt, picked up a bottle of water he’d pulled out of the fridge and took a sip. The kid was still mincing his way around the end of the kitchen island and looked like he was about to bolt. Brian wasn’t about to let that happen if he could do anything about it.

 

“This is a really nice place,” Justin Junior offered, with an unsure smile.

 

Brian didn’t answer. He just upended the bottle of water over his head, letting the liquid drip down his body to try and cool himself off and stay his rampaging ardor. The boy looked like he’d be drooling if he hadn’t swallowed back hard. While the kid nervously chattered, Brian began to strip off the rest of his clothing. First his boots and socks, and then his jeans. Finally, when there was nothing else left to remove, Brian hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his thong and lowered even that to his ankles before standing up and offering himself to the younger man in all his naked glory.

 

“So, are you coming or going? Or coming and then going,” Brian asked, adding in the option he really wanted the youngster to chose last. “Or coming . . . And staying?”

 

Then he waited. Standing there with his arms outstretched, offering himself up, completely vulnerable and open, and scared as shit about what the answer would be. And, finally, after only a few seconds of indecision, the boy shrugged off his own jacket and came across the floor to him.  

 

Brian took the body of the man he knew so well in his arms and finally let his lips do what they’d been longing to do since he’d found the kid under a street lamp. He devoured those lips like a starving man. They kissed and nibbled and tasted each other for what felt like ages. And it was good. And real.

 

And Brian finally, really, truly believed in the prophesy that Justin had had the day Brian was born.

 

They really WERE meant to be together. They WERE kindred souls. And as long as he had Justin, Brian’s life wasn’t a waste of time after all.

 

“What was your name again?” Brian asked, just testing one more time to make sure he wasn’t dreaming and this was real.

 

“Justin. My name is Justin.”

 

“Good,” Brian responded and turned to lead the boy to his bed, where he hoped Justin would always stay.

 

~**~**~**~**~

 

~The Beginning~

 

~**~**~**~**~

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

5/29/17 - So, it took more than four years to complete this story - I can't believe that it was so hard to write. But it's finally done and I can now relax without the weight of an unfinished WIP hanging over my head. I apologize to all who have been waiting on this one for so long. Thank you to all who have stuck with me and with this story. Now, what should I write next? TAG

The End.
Tagsit is the author of 61 other stories.
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