Chapter 56 - Poker, What a Drag. (Friday, August 12th, Continued).

After another LONG day of dealing with the Limp Dicked Wonder, Brian was ready to scream. He’d had to try and give Daniel a blow job - twice - that day, with predictably pathetic results. It wasn’t bad enough that just spending any amount of time at all with the man was nerve-wracking and odious, but now he was making Brian LOOK bad! Something really had to be done about this problem. Soon.

When it was time for the Evening Challenge, Brian had a hard time forcing himself up off the couch to follow his Sunshine over to the usual gathering area. Then The Master announced that their Challenge tonight was slated to be something ominously called ‘Drag Queen Poker’. The rules, as explained briefly, made it sound like a reverse strip poker. Instead of getting naked - since they already WERE naked - they’d be getting dressed. Only there was a strange and, at least as far as Brian was concerned, disturbing twist: they’d be dressing in drag queen outfits including makeup and wigs. Brian wasn’t sure this much humiliation was really worth a million dollars. But he let Justin drag him over to the poker table set up in the center of the room anyway.

As the evening’s festivities began, Dino placed a deck of cards on the center of the table, after shuffling them well. Each contestant was then asked to cut the deck, and pass it on to the person next to them to do the same. With the deck back in the center of the playing field, Dino then distributed a pile of chips to each contestant - twenty-five $1 white chips, fifteen $5 red chips, twenty $10 blue chips, and eight $25 green chips - so that each player had the equivalent of $500 in front of him. The only good thing about this game, Brian decided, was that he was great at poker AND the rules said he would get to keep any cash winnings he made tonight. But he didn’t think that would make up for the fact he’d have to wear makeup.

Next, Dino - who was still there despite what Brian had told Ted that morning - dealt each player two cards, face down. Justin did his best to keep his face neutral as he turned his cards over to see a pair of 10’s which he hoped already placed him ahead in this round. Brian, however, could tell by the gleam in his eye that he better have been dealt something good himself. He planned on doing his absolute best to have as little of that diva shit on his body as possible at the end of this torturous evening.

Looking down at his own cards, Brian saw that he’d been handed a five of spades and a jack of spades. The best he could hope for so far would be that the next cards would help him toward a high value pair or maybe a flush.

When Daniel looked at his own hand, however, his already hang-dog face took on an even more pouty expression. ‘What the fuck?’, he thought to himself. Wasn’t Dino supposed to be helping him win this contest? Well he wouldn’t even be winning this one Challenge if the brute kept dealing him crap hands like this? A two of spades and a three of hearts? Tempted to slam his cards down on the table in anger, Daniel only barely held back, realizing that he’d have to salvage this round by bluffing the other guys into betting incorrectly.

Justin, the winner of the morning’s Challenge, started off the bid by throwing in a $5 chip. Brian, stoic as ever, followed with the same. For his part, the Asian Asshole threw in a $10 chip, hoping this would throw the boys off and get him some leverage.

The next round left Justin with a seven of hearts, Brian got a four of clubs, and Daniel turned his card over against his chest to reveal a six of clubs. Justin looked up at him just in time to see his nostrils flare angrily, and the young man smiled to himself as he placed two $10 chips on the table, and then, as if it was an afterthought, added another with a shrug.

He glanced briefly over at Brian, who said, “yeah, Sunshine, not really my game either. And these cards won’t get me shit. I fold.”

“You guys think you can fool me so easily, don’t you,” Daniel growled. “Don’t think I don’t know you two will try and work together to trick me into believing you don’t have anything. I’ll call, and raise the Pretty Pansy another $25.” Daniel tossed his chip into the pot in the center of the big table, hoping that Justin would back down and he would win by default.

With the next deal, Justin got a seven of spades, and somehow kept the excitement from showing on his face. Daniel got a six of diamonds, and allowed a small grin to show, continuing his tactics.

Not wanting to give too much away, Justin added a $10 chip, and motioned to Daniel to give his bid. Daniel matched him and raised another $10, hoping that his hand would be enough, and that Justin was indeed bluffing.

As the River Card was turned over, Justin’s heartbeat sped up. He saw the seven of diamonds placed down in front of the dealer. Keeping his eyes low, he lazily threw three more red $5 chips out, and waited for Daniel’s bid. Daniel met his bid. Then the dealer called for them to show their cards with Daniel turning his hand over first. He nearly jumped out of his seat as Justin whooped loudly.

“Yeah! Pay up and doll up, Daniel. Read ‘em and weep . . .” Justin crowed as he turned his cards over to reveal a full house which beat Daniel’s hand by a mile.

Daniel put on the nastiest face imaginable and slowly moved over to where the make-up table was set up on the far side of the Greatroom. He rifled through the distasteful pile of acouterments assembled there and then hastily placed the least offensive set of eyelashes - though they were all repugnant - over his own. At the direction of the servant stationed nearby, he brushed some eye shadow haphazardly on his lids, gave one swipe to each eye with the eyeliner, and then walked back to the table bedecked with lovely red tipped false eyelashes that really did nothing at all for his small dark eyes.

Brian and Justin looked at each other and burst out laughing at Daniel’s inept makeup attempt. “What the fuck do you call that?” Justin snorted. Daniel’s reply was to angrily point out that the rules said they had to be in drag, they didn’t say they had to look good. He could care less what they thought of his efforts. He wasn’t planning on having to don much more of this ridiculous ensemble. Daniel glared at Dino as he sat down - noting that the servant was smiling at him derisively along with all the rest - his look letting the other man know that he was not impressed with his teamwork at the  moment.

Justin lost the next hand, and happily took his time creating a masterpiece with his own eyes, prompting the guys to heckle him about how long it was taking to get the job done.

“Hope you always give that one enough time to get ready for your little dates,” Daniel taunted Brian, who surprisingly didn’t get annoyed at the ribbing at all.

“Oh, I will, because he’s worth it,” was Brian’s laconic reply, enjoying how much more upset Daniel got when he himself played it cool.

When Justin came back to the table, his face really was a work of art. He’d found a set of thick dark black eyelashes that were adorned with peacock blue spots. He’d embellished these with matching blue and black eyeshadows and eyeliner and added a series of self-adhesive black and shiny metallic dots under his eyes. The treatment enhanced his already bright blue eyes. Even Brian, who had never found anything particularly appealing in the effeminate contingent of the gay population, thought the boy looked amazing.

The next round was again lost by Justin, who took care to not spend quite as much time putting on the rest of his face. The rest of his makeup was just as artistically done up as his eyes had been and he looked fantastic - for a Drag Queen. When Brian lost the next hand, Justin jumped up to help him apply his eyes and to make sure that he made him look as amazing as he could. Justin knew that just wearing drag would be bad enough, but to have to endure sitting there and applying it himself would be out of the question for his Stud.

“Please, Sunshine, as little as possible. Don't embellish," Brian asked.

“Ok, fine, but they do look nice on you," was his twink's reply as Justin selected a gorgeous set of bright green and gold lashes that expertly brought out the green sparkles in Brian's own hazel eyes.

Working as quickly as possible, Justin applied a tasteful yet dramatic swath of iridescent charcoal black shadow and a heavy application of black eyeliner. He silently thanked his stars for all those secret afternoons he and Daphne had spent playing with his mother's makeup. If Justin had anything to say about it, Brian would be the most gorgeous drag queen on the planet by the time the evening was over. If the Big Stud was already going to be embarrassed by having to dress up, there was no sense in adding to his misery by having Brian look like a clown too.  

As the game play continued, Justin became more and more amused, while Brian and Daniel finally found something they had in common - they both hated this drag competition! Neither man was having a good time, and the more Justin enjoyed himself, the more sullen the other two became. Which of course just made the blond giggle more. Brian couldn't believe he was letting himself be wenched out like this. Whoring himself out for money was one thing, but THIS? This was just wrong on so many levels. He felt like a barbie doll which Justin was using to play dress up. The ONLY thing making this experience at all tolerable was the fact that, as Justin progressed with his dress up game, Brian found he really DID look pretty fantastic.

Several hands later, both the disgruntled men had their faces and jewelry completed, with lovely fake fingernails affixed (Brian’s a sparkly blue and green set and Daniel’s a fiery red-gold), and Brian had his one piece undergarment ‘firmly’ in place already. Justin had yet to lose another round. Then, just as quickly, Daniel came through with an unbelievable straight flush, followed by a four of a kind, which Brian followed up with a flush of his own. This had Justin doing a solo performance at the drag table, donning a diamond pendant and earring set, a bustier and garter complete with silk stockings, and then a gorgeous blue sequined dress that lightened Brian’s sour mood as he began to whistle and wink in appreciation. Drag may not be his thing, but his beautiful partner always looked stunning and hot . . . even in a dress.

Justin’s next two cards were a King and Jack of diamonds. He placed his bet, conservatively at first, not sure what would come up next. When his next two cards revealed a ten and a Queen, also of diamonds, he could barely hide his excitement. He raised the pot as much as he could without alerting Daniel that something was afoot, causing the other two to match his bet. When the dealer turned over the last card, Justin was only slightly disappointed to find that the next card was not the Queen of diamonds, since the seven of diamonds still give him a flush, which he was pretty sure would get him the win regardless. With a twitch of his cheek that only Brian saw, Justin placed his cards face down on the table and waited. Brian understood his cue and folded, leaving Daniel unaware and cocky as always.

“Too afraid to take a chance on getting dressed . . . in a dress . . . huh, Kinney?“ The other man chortled. “Maybe you just can’t handle the pressure?” As Dino turned over the last card Daniel added, ‘looks like your little boy toy is going to be the first one out.” With that, he went all in, pushing his chips across the table, sure that his straight was going to keep him out of the formidable female skivvies waiting for him next.

His mouth dropped open in despair, however, as Justin swiftly turned his cards over and said, “Bad move, dickwad. Now, not only are you broke . . . but you also will be wearing that delightful bra and panty set you’ve been eyeing up for the last 15 minutes.” Seeing the flush lying on the table before Justin, Daniel’s arrogant smirk quickly turned into a scowl as he realized that Justin was right, and he had made a really bad move.

Reluctantly, Daniel walked over, picking up the objectionable items and staring at them as if they might bite. He was so fucking embarrassed to have to put them on at all, let alone have to sit there wearing them in front of these guys as well as the cameramen and crew. As if he didn’t already feel ill enough, this additional humiliation made him even more sick to his stomach. He grumbled the whole time he was putting the objectionable items on.

Since Daniel had lost all his chips on the last hand, he was given a ‘House Bonus’ of $50 more so that he could keep playing, but warned that that was the last of The Master’s generosity and if he lost that he’d be out of luck. After that the play got even nastier and the guys were at their trickiest, with Brian and Daniel desperately trying to bluff their way through any bad hand. It rarely worked though as Justin, who wasn’t in the least afraid of losing, could practically smell their desperation and always called them on it. Before long all three of them were in beautiful gowns - Brian in a full-length shimmering emerald green number that was stunning with his lean height, and Daniel in a sequined red frock with a thigh high slit and a long tulle train. The only things left to complete their outfits were the shoes and the wigs.

Justin was actually thrilled when he lost the next two hands in a row, because he’d been eyeing the really cool set of robin’s egg blue speckled nails that he figured would go wonderfully with his gown. He also selected this great, modernistic pair of strappy blue stiletto heels that gave him at least three inches on his height. He wasn’t normally into drag, but what the hell. The artist in him pushed him to make his ensemble the best it could be even if that did involve him wearing a dress. He didn’t want to lose the game, but at the same time he would have been really frustrated if he hadn’t been able to complete his sartorial masterpiece.

While Justin was preening and admiring himself in the mirror, Brian and Daniel were busy glaring at each other. Daniel had kept up his usual rain of snarky comments about both Brian and Justin throughout the game and it was really starting to rankle. Brian wouldn’t have opted to have his favorite twink prancing around in drag, but then again, it was all a part of the Challenge and nobody really had a choice. The fact that Justin looked like he was having fun with the night’s game shouldn’t give Daniel license to berate the young man as harshly as he was. Fuck it, they were ALL wearing dresses here. Daniel didn’t have to be such a fucking asshole about it. And Brian had to face it - if Justin HAD been female, he would have made one smokin’ hot babe!

After another hand, which Brian barely won with a measly pair of Kings, Daniel was sent off to find a pair of heels. He grudgingly came back wearing red platform pumps with stiletto heels made of clear lucite encasing small red roses. They were really unique and went fabulously with his gown which, when Justin complimented him on the choice, only made Daniel even angrier. By this point his face was an ashen, purple-red and Justin could literally see his pulse beating in the veins on his temple. The furious bully boy seemed to be having a tough time breathing through his unseeing anger as well - panting for breath as he made his way back from the dressing area to the poker table. Daniel’s appearance reminded Justin eerily of his Great Uncle Clive right before that elderly gentleman had collapsed in the middle of one particularly eventful Thanksgiving dinner a few years back.

Daniel didn’t even try to bluff with the next hand he was dealt. Brian’s pair of Jacks lost to Justin’s two pair - Aces and Tens. Which meant that Justin got to pick out a pair of heels to go with Brian’s gown. The boy took a long time to decide, but finally chose this great pair of sparkly emerald green pumps that went beautifully with Brian’s dress and - as a bonus - had these hip green ladies’ faces on the underside. Brian didn’t comment. He simply let the boy pick him out some shoes, put them on and then almost fell on his face as he tripped on the hem of his dress when he turned and tried to walk in the fucking things. Brian really was NOT cut out for drag.

That last hand left them all basically tied. Although, strangely enough, little Justin had somehow accumulated the largest pile of chips in front of his spot at the table so he was at least ahead monetarily. But whoever lost the next hand would earn his wig - the final piece of their drag ensemble - and would be officially out of the game, making the indignity of this entire evening totally for naught.

Before dealing out the last hand, Dino had his assistants bring over all three wigs which were placed on display in the center of the table. There was a really wild, tall white wig styled into crazy waves, which was placed in front of Justin. Brian got a relatively sedate looking, long. curly auburn wig. And the final selection - placed in front of Daniel - was this huge beehive bouffant creation with auburn, fire engine red and darker brown streaks. Justin laughed at the wig he’d been given. Brian made this face - sort of a cross between constipation and exasperation - and just shook his head at his wig. And Daniel . . . well, Daniel turned an even more alarming shade of currant red, puffed up his chest, got to his feet and violently swept the offensive wig off the table along with most of the card playing paraphernalia.

“No FUCKING WAY!” Daniel screamed at the top of his lungs. “I’m NOT putting that thing on my head. I don’t give a fuck if I DO lose. That thing is ridiculous! It’s a fucking nightmare. Why can’t I have something like that instead,” Daniel pointed to Brian’s more realistic looking wig.

“Sit your ass down, Sweetcheeks,” Dino replied calmly but with a veiled threat in his tone. “Unless you’re saying you’re quitting the competition, taking your clothing and leaving, you’re going to sit your butt in that chair, calm the fuck down and - if you lose the next hand - you’ll be putting on whatever wig I tell you to wear. So, what’s it going to be . . . Dan?”

“Fucking A!” Daniel cursed, throwing vicious looks at everyone around him including Dino, Brian and Justin. When nobody reacted or in any other way indulged his little outburst, Daniel growled and threw himself back down into his seat. “Just fucking deal the cards, Asswipe.”

It took a minute or so for the servants to pick everything up off the floor after Daniel’s temper tantrum. While they were in the process of cleaning the mess, Ted and another older and slightly paunchy man wearing a really cheap suit, who Brian didn’t recognize, walked in through the front door. The Security Chief started to walk over to see what his boss wanted, but Ted waved him off, indicating that he didn’t want to interrupt the game. Dino nodded and returned to his business, shuffling the deck before he started to deal the last hand. Again, each player’s first two cards were laid face down on the table. Brian lifted up the corner of his cards and was rather pleased to see he had a pair of fives right off the bat. He tossed in a green $25 chip and the betting moved around the table. Dino then dealt a third card to everyone. Brian was thrilled to have received another five and upped his ante another $25.

Daniel eyed his cards with disdain, realizing that even though he had a pair of tens, he had to bet conservatively since his prior series of fuck-ups left him with very little, even after that house credit. He could barely meet Brian’s last bid. He wasn’t going to lose though. He threw in a $25 chip and placed his cards upside down on the table to indicate his turn was complete.

Justin’s first and second deal showed a Queen of diamonds and a King of hearts. His third card was a lousy three of spades. He basically had nothing. Brian on the other hand was gnawing at the inside of his cheek - a tell that anyone else might think would indicate Brian was in trouble, but that Justin recognized as the very same tell he got sometimes when Justin was doing something that the stoic stud was secretly quite pleased with . . . just like when Justin had topped the man earlier that morning in a very unexpected way. Add to that the twinkle in Brian’s eye, and Justin knew that his lover was thoroughly pleased and thought he had a good enough hand to beat the pouty pest at the other end of the table. Justin trustingly pushed his cards further away from him into the center of the table and folded.

Daniel’s third card was a lousy stinking four - absolutely NO help. When, on his fourth card, he pulled another four, his heart lept. Finally, he had more than a slim chance of pulling this thing off and avoiding that ridiculous wig. He placed his bet and waited for Dino to place the last card on the table, completely unaware that Brian had already beaten his two pair.

Brian’s fourth card was a nine, but he still thought he had enough to win the round, so he upped the pot again and then sat back to wait it out. When he saw the final card turned over by Dino, he knew he’d pulled it off at the last possible minute. There before them was the last five.

“Ok, Dudley Do-nothing, show us what you’ve got” Brian said, a devilish grin appearing on his handsome face. Taken aback, Daniel turned his cards over, caught off guard by Brian’s glee when he had been sure he had it in the bag. An ecstatic Brian slowly and with great precision laid his cards out on the table one at a time, his shit-eating grin growing proportionally as each of his three fives were laid out in a row next to the dealer’s River Card.

Daniel’s heart dropped into his already queasy stomach when he saw Brian’s hand and realized that indeed the brunet’s four of a kind beat out his 2 pair. Daniel had lost. He would have to put on that fucking stupid wig. He would be laughed at, not only by Brian Kinney and his smartass twink, but also by Dino, the rest of the staff here, and a thousand other queers watching him online. It was more than humiliating. It was degrading. It was mortifying. It was horrifying.

Daniel stood up abruptly, knocking his chair backwards with the force of his motion. He was huffing and heaving, so insanely furious that he couldn’t breathe. His vision started to cloud over with a red haze that distorted everything around him and only the faces of those he hated the most managed to float through the fog. He could see Brian Kinney the most clearly. Brian was the man he hated right at that instant more than anything in the world. All of this. All of this degradation. This ignominy. It was all Brian Kinney’s fault.

“You fucking piece of shit!” Daniel howled and lunged at Brian, that sneering face now the only thing he could see through the sudden dimness of his vision.

With a whoosh, Daniel slammed into Brian, knocking them both to the ground and taking out Brian’s chair in the process. Brian was taken off guard and didn’t immediately do anything to protect himself let alone to strike back. Everyone else around them seemed to be equally taken aback and too shocked to do anything for several tense moments. Daniel continued to bellow inarticulately, punching at any part of Brian his fists could reach as they rolled around on the floor, only minimally hampered by their long drag queen gowns.

While the Residence’s staff simply stood there amazed and momentarily stunned, Justin was the first one to come out of his temporary stupor. He looked to the big burly masked servants who were all just standing around WATCHING while this insane monster was beating the crap out of his lover and the little Teflon Twink completely lost it. Justin barrelled past the closest servant, shouldering him aside ruthlessly. Just at that same instant, Brian managed to roll himself and Daniel over so that Daniel was no longer able to use gravity to his advantage. Both of them were now lying on their sides as they grappled with each other. Daniel continued to punch and Brian was busy trying to get a choke hold on the man attacking him.

When Justin was finally near enough to help, he did the first thing that came to his mind - he pulled back with one fantastic, stylish, strappy blue stiletto heel and kicked Daniel as hard as he could. The sharpest point of the heel landed dead on against Daniel’s hip, hitting the abscess he’d been unable to get rid of. The pain sent Daniel reeling. He collapsed onto his back shrieking with pain. The pain in his hip was matched, almost immediately, by a blinding stab of pain in his head, causing Daniel to writhe, trying to lift his hands to his head.

That’s when Daniel noticed that his right arm wasn’t moving quite right. He felt weak and the entire right side of his body was slowly going numb. He tried to call out for help, to yell, but only a garbled inarticulate utterance came out of his mouth. Before he could even register what was happening, though, the whole room faded to black around him in a rapidly darkening tunnel of pain and fear.

Since they were the closest, Brian and Justin were the first to notice that Daniel all of a sudden gave up fighting and started quivering in pain. At first it was just inexplicable. But then Justin noticed the way that the entire right side of Daniel’s face sagged and his screams turned to slurred mumblings. Brian was a moment behind in his own realization, only knowing that something was seriously wrong and that Daniel’s fierce grip on him had suddenly weakened and then slipped away entirely.

“Shit! He’s having a stroke!” Justin yelled, turning to the Residence staff all huddled uselessly behind him. “Somebody call 911 immediately! Hold on, Daniel. Help is coming.” The terrified twink knelt on the carpet next to the equally terrified man, trying to soothe him even as Daniel lost consciousness.

Brian had meanwhile risen to his feet and was looking around, appalled that no one had moved yet. Getting right into Dino’s blank-looking face, he ordered, “pick up your phone and call an ambulance right now, you useless eunuch!” With a small shake as if to wake himself up, Dino finally ran over to the cordless phone on it’s stand in the bookcase by the wall and dialed for emergency services.

The seven minutes between then and the time when the ambulance arrived seemed to last an eternity. Nobody had LIKED Daniel, but still, it was hard to stand there and gloat when someone was stroking out in front of them. Even if Daniel had done this to himself - and Justin wouldn’t be so crass as to start spouting another PSA about the dangers of steroid use right then, but he knew that one of the risks was high blood pressure which often led to strokes - it was hard not to feel guilty about the fact that it seemed like his kick to Daniel’s hip had initiated the stroke. It wasn’t until the EMT’s were finally wheeling Daniel strapped into a large wheeled stretcher out of the big front door that Justin allowed himself to take a deep breath and settle back into Brian’s encircling arms.

Ted chose that moment to end the call he’d been on since about sixty seconds after the ambulance was summoned. “Well . . . That was a pretty dramatic ending to this Challenge, I’d have to say,” Ted stated, bouncing on his toes and making an effort to pull everyone out of their state of shock - an effort that fell decidedly flat. “Never heard of the threat of dressing in drag causing someone to lose consciousness before. But I guess there's a first time for everything . . .” Ted’s voice petered off into nothing when all he got for that forcedly jovial comment was a searing look from Brian and a worried frown from Justin.

“Right, well, I guess it’s my turn to add to the shock value then,” said the older man standing next to Ted, who had remained largely silent up until now except for making a couple of short phone calls himself during the uproar over Daniel’s collapse. The man reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out a leather wallet, before turning towards the three huddled servants. The man flipped open the wallet and revealed a detective’s shield. “I’m Detective Carl Horvath, Pittsburgh P.D. Dino Carrelli-Fiore, you’re under arrest for possession of illegal drugs with intent to distribute.”

Dino was sputtering and protesting that he didn’t have any drugs, holding out his hands to show that he had nowhere on his body to conceal any contraband between his shirtless top half and his tightly leather-pants-clad lower half. The detective just snorted a mirthless laugh and pulled a pair of handcuffs off a loop on his belt. Without heeding any of the accused’s protestations he walked over and roughly snapped the cuffs on Dino’s wrists.

“Yeah, yeah. Save it for the judge, Buddy,” Horvath sounded bored. “While you guys were finishing up your little Drag Queen Poker game, my guys were searching the employee lockers downstairs in the staff break room . . . With your employer, Mr. Schmidt’s, permission, of course. Your locker, Dino, contained more than ten ziplocs of powdered crystal meth as well as a pretty good quantity of illegal anabolic steroids,” the Detective went on. “And if, as I suspect, steroid use was the cause of the stroke that other gentleman suffered just a few minutes ago, we’ll probably be charging you with criminal negligence, negligent assault and, if he doesn’t make it, manslaughter. So, if I were you, I’d start praying that that boy pulls through.”

“But . . . but . . . I didn’t sell DANIEL any drugs. He already had those. He’s been using all summer. I didn’t . . .” Dino’s protestations of innocence were cut off as Horvath hauled him through the entranceway and the door finally slammed shut behind them.

“Wow! I can honestly say I didn’t see THAT coming, Theodore,” Brian finally found his voice, turning to look at his friend without letting go of his twink.

“I really owe you for clueing me in this morning, Brian,” Ted reached out and shook Brian’s hand enthusiastically. “After I talked to you, I contacted my lawyer, who was downstairs with the cops while we were up here distracting Dino. He had a shitload of drugs down there. I don’t know what the fuck he was planning to do with it all, but I’m sure it wasn’t going to be good. After the way he tried to set you up, Justin, I wouldn’t put it past him to try it again with the rest of the drugs he was stockpiling.”

“Mr. Schmidt,” one of the remaining servants approached and interrupted at that point. “Should we go on with the Challenge or . . . what?”

Ted finally looked over at Brian and Justin, who were still dolled up in their Drag Queen finery, although Brian’s makeup had been a little smudged and he’d lost most of his fake nails. “Nah. Fuck it! Let’s just call it a tie. That okay with you two?”

“Fine. But I want to finish my costume first,” Justin insisted with a playful smile. “And Brian, you have to as well. I know I’ll never get you into a dress again and I want proof of how gorgeous you were.”

“I’m ALWAYS gorgeous, Sunshine,” Brian laughed and grabbed the wig his boy was handing him. “Now I’ll not only be better looking than all the gay men in Pittsburgh, but most of the women as well.”

Justin laughed a little as he carefully helped Brian don the curly red wig before turning and putting on his own wavy white creation. “Take a picture, Theodore,” Brian insisted. “This is the first and LAST time you’ll ever see me like this and you’re going to want to have proof to blackmail me with when I’m old and rich.”

The mood never did get back to the level of lighthearted fun that it was at before Daniel’s final temper tantrum and subsequent collapse, but it came close enough. Brian and Justin got a little campy while Ted photographed them. Justin was actually pretty good at walking in those torture devices otherwise known as heels and he spent several minutes trying to teach Brian how to do a true runway walk. Unfortunately, Brian could barely stand in his own heels, let alone strut in them, so that project was quickly declared an epic ‘FAIL’. But, all in all, the little group did have some fun before Brian decided enough was enough and it was time to return his alter-ego, ‘Emerald’ to her wardrobe case. Justin was rather sad, though, to put away their finery and demanded one last, more serious, picture. Ted agreed and snapped the photo with his phone.

Brian and Justin really did make a striking couple - whether it was as a couple of hot fags or as a couple of Drag Queens.