Part 8



They really should have realized that Brian would be recognized by half of gay Pittsburgh and that it wouldn’t take long for word to get back to Michael.  It only took 12 hours before he was calling Brian on his cell phone.



“Brian?  When did you get in town?” Michael asked even before Brian had said a word.  “Why didn’t you call me?  We could have gone out together.”



Brian looked at Justin who was making them sandwiches for lunch.  He motioned for the blond to come over and listen.  “Hey Mikey.  What makes you think I’m still in Pittsburgh? I didn’t call because I was only in town for the night and I know that you and Ben go to bed early on a school night.”



“I would have gone out,” Michael protested.  “For you.  Ben would understand.”



“Yeah, well, I wanted to spend some time with Justin,” Brian said pointedly.  Justin smiled at him and he kissed Justin softly in return.



“What exactly is going on with you two?” Michael asked.  “I mean, he’s gone for what, six years?  And all of a sudden he’s back and latched on to you again?”



“Michael, Justin never went anywhere,” Brian said smoothly, his voice dripping with meaning.  “He’s been here the whole time.  I was the one who left.  Just ask your mom.  She’s had dinner with Justin every week for more than six years.  Except for the weeks he’s in New York for work.”



“That’s how you two met up again, isn’t it?” Michael said, ignoring Brian’s reference to Debbie.  That meant he already knew but refused to acknowledge it.  “Did he track you down in New York and convince you to come see his art?”



“Actually, it was a complete coincidence,” Brian said.  “I was chasing a client, in the non-sexual way, and ended up at his opening.  Quite exciting when I saw a portrait of my ass on the gallery wall.”



“He displayed your picture without telling you?” Michael said indignantly.  “That’s not right.”



“Actually, it’s perfectly legal,” Brian said and winked at Justin.  “As long as he isn’t using my likeness to endorse a product, he can paint it, photograph it, or sculpt it and put it on display for the world to see.  Besides, I like Justin’s art.  He makes me look good.”



Michael snorted.  “You like anything that makes you look good.”



“So true,” Brian agreed.  “But Mikey, you never answered my question.  Why did you think Justin was gone?  I mean you and the boys, even Melanie and Lindsay seemed to have taken a shine to Justin before I left.  I mean, he babysat for the girls.  He and Emmett were shopping buddies.  And he helped you and me work out our differences.  I thought you all would have made sure he was okay while I was gone.”



“Why?” Michael asked, his voice getting that whiney quality that Brian loathed.  Justin wrinkled his nose in distaste at the sound.  “He was just a kid and he didn’t belong.  Why should we have kept him around?”



“Because he was your friend? Because he was young and alone?  Because he was a fellow human being who needed friends?” Brian asked darkly. All pretenses of a friendly chat were gone.  “What did you tell the others to get them to agree with this shit, Mikey?  Ted I could see.  There was never a real connection there.  But you had to do something to convince Melanie, Lindsay and Emmett.  They actually cared about him.  So, what did you do?”



“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Michael denied.  “Besides, I was in Portland then.”



“You didn’t leave for Portland for more than a week after I left.  Maybe I should call up Lindsay and ask her,” Brian said.  “Do you think she’ll tell me?”



“I…”



“Mikey?”



Michael sighed.  “I convinced them that it would be better for Justin if he went back to his own life.  I told them that by keeping him around they were making it harder for him to let go.”



“Why?” Brian demanded.  “Why would you do that?”



“I don’t know,” Michael admitted quietly.  “I… Brian, I’m sorry.  I really thought…”



“No, Mikey, don’t even pretend that you thought it was best for Justin,” Brian said coolly.  “You thought it was best for you.  Your jealousy reared its ugly head once again.  Tell me this:  what was the reasoning behind the silence at Christmas?  You all could see we were together, what purpose could continuing to shun him serve?”



“I didn’t do that,” Michael denied.  “I know that I… well I felt guilty.  I figured he wouldn’t want to talk to me, to us, after what we did.  So I didn’t say anything.”



“You obviously didn’t feel too guilty or you would have apologized and owned up to your actions,” Brian said.



“Brian…”



“Listen Mikey,” Brian interrupted.  “I’m going to be in and out of Pittsburgh a lot for a while.  I want to spend as much time with Gus and Justin as I can while I’m traveling for work.  If you hear that I’m in town, ignore it.  I’ll let you know if and when I’m ready to forgive you.”  Brian clicked his phone off and turned to face Justin who was looking stunned.   “Hey, you okay?”



“Yeah,” Justin said and took a deep cleansing breath.  “In a way I feel relieved.  I mean, it wasn’t me.  I tried to tell myself that I hadn’t done anything to deserve being treated that way, but it’s hard to really believe that, you know?  I mean, something must be wrong with me, some defect that makes me disposable… My dad, you, and then them…”  Justin’s eyes were filled with tears that he brushed away absently.



Brian reached out and pulled Justin into his arms and held him there.  “You are not disposable.  And I’m sorry that I ever made you feel that way.  Justin, you are one of the best people I know.  You have a generous heart and a love of life that I envy.  If I had known then what I know now, I would have packed you away in my suitcase and dragged you along to New York with me.  But I was an idiot then.



“As for your dad,” Brian continued without letting Justin squirm away.  “He was the biggest moron I’ve ever met.  That he couldn’t or wouldn’t see how wonderful you are, how privileged he was to know you was his defect, not yours.”  Brian let Justin pull back just enough to let him look Brian in the eye.  “And the idiots I called friends… well, they are just that: idiots.  They don’t deserve your friendship if they put so little value on it.  You are better than the lot of us put together.”



Justin chuffed a small tearful laugh.  “I’m not sure that’s true, but thank you.”



“Look on the bright side, Michael is about to pay big time for his sins,” Brian said lightly.  “Because Debbie is not going to let him get away with hurting her Sunshine.”



This time, Justin’s laugh was more lighthearted and Brian knew that things would get better now.



BJBJBJBJBJ



Weeks passed and Brian and Justin fell into a comfortable rhythm.  Kinnetik was up and running right on schedule and Brian spent his days making the move work to their benefit with great success.  They were able to work out a system that allowed them to spend time with Gus regularly without letting even his mothers know Brian was back in town.  Justin continued to paint the people and places that most inspired him.  In fact, his latest portrait was of Brian and Gus dueling in the park wearing the pirate hats, eye patches and plastic swords Justin had bought for them on a whim.  (He even included the shiny fake gold crown Brian had made Prince Justin wear, letting it hang from the park bench where Justin usually sat with Brian.)



And then in late March Brian decided he would schedule client meetings in New York while Justin was there for the opening of the MOMA exhibit.  Brian was surprised to see him and Gus on the walls of the museum; Justin hadn’t told him which pictures would be hung.  The frontal pose of him on the bed was there as well, making Brian grin when he received numerous lusty looks from both men and women at the opening.  The other two pictures were streetscapes from around Pittsburgh.  Brian was startled to recognize Kinnetik’s new home in one of those.  Justin was filled with surprises.



“You chose these?” Brian had asked.



Justin had shrugged.  “I made suggestions and the curator made the final decisions.  But I have to admit these are the ones I would have chosen.”



That trip had lasted only a week and they were soon back in Pittsburgh, living the life they had created for themselves.



Of course their peacefully anonymous existence wasn’t meant to last forever.  The week after they returned from New York, the local paper decided to do an article on Kinnetik as part of a series on businesses moving into the area.  Brian knew that agreeing to the interview would effectively end his secret life, but he knew that it was probably time anyway.  Gus was getting anxious to spend more time with him and Justin and Justin was getting anxious to go out dancing more than once every other week, and then only on weeknights.



It actually took a lot longer for the information to get around than Brian had guessed it would.  Then again, who among their ilk actually read the business section of the newspaper?  In fact, the article was brought to Ted’s attention by his boss, who remembered the fact that Ted was friends with Brian and wondered if Kinnetik could be a potential new client.  Ted had in turn told Melanie and Michael, in that order.  In the end, it was a full twenty-four hours after the article was printed before Brian started getting the calls.  Numerous calls.



“Hold all my calls, unless you know exactly who it is and why they are calling,” Brian told his assistant over the intercom after shutting off his cell phone.  Michelle had taken Cynthia’s place three years before and she knew how to handle Brian and his moods by now.



“Brian, there’s a visitor in reception causing a bit of a stir,” Michelle said smoothly.  “He insists that he’s your best friend.  Richie told him he would need to wait to be announced, be he decided to just barge in anyway.  When the security guard wouldn’t let him wander through the building on his word alone, he started throwing a tantrum.”



“Michael,” Brian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.  He could feel a headache coming on.  “Tell Richie and the guard that I’ll deal with him in a few minutes.  And tell them to threaten to call his mother if he doesn’t settle down and behave like a civilized person.  Her name is Debbie Novatny.  That will keep him quiet for a while.”



Michelle laughed and hung up.  Brian picked up the phone and dialed Justin.  “It has begun.”



“I know,” Justin said with a little chuckle.  “I’ve had more than twenty calls to my cell phone in the last hour.  It’s funny, not one of them has called in years, but suddenly they all want to talk to me.  Must be your influence.”



“I am a magnet for trouble,” Brian said lightly.  “Are you sure you want to keep me around?”



“Pretty sure,” Justin said.  “At least you make life interesting.  Never a dull moment with you around.”



“Mikey’s here,” Brian said.  “I expect Lindsay pretty soon too.  Once I can get them out of here, I’m coming home and we’re turning off the phones.”



“I’ll have lunch waiting for you,” Justin promised.  “Then we can hide in bed for the rest of today.”



They said goodbye and Brian hung up his phone.  With a deep sigh, he got to his feet, straightened his jacket and necktie and walked out towards the front of the building.  When he reached reception, Brian stood and watched Michael whine and try to cajole Richie, the receptionist, into letting him back.



“Listen Mr. Novotny, even if I let you past you would still have to get past Mr. Kinney’s assistant,” Richie said reasonably.  “And let me tell you, you don’t want to cross that woman.  Why don’t you just take a seat and be patient.”



“I can’t believe this!” Michael muttered as he stomped back to the comfortable sofa by the front glass block windows.



“Mikey,” Brian said, bringing attention to himself.  He smirked when all three people present straightened up and turned to look at him.  “Let’s go to my office.”  While Michael gathered his coat, Brian turned to Richie and Martin, the security guard on duty, and said, “Thank you for your patience, gentlemen.”



“Yes, sir, Mr. Kinney,” Martin said and Richie beamed with pride at the praise.



Brian led Michael through the renovated offices without speaking.  There was no commentary about how this space used to be the showers or that conference room was once a steam room.  In fact, Brian didn’t once look to see if Michael was even following him.  When they reached Michelle’s desk outside Brian’s office, Brian paused to give her some quiet instructions before ushering Michael through the door.



“Have a seat,” Brian said, gesturing to the sofa along one wall while he turned a chair around to face him.  Once Michael was settled, Brian asked, “Is there any particular reason why you felt the need to disrupt my place of business with a temper tantrum?”



“Why didn’t you tell me that you were moving back to Pittsburgh?”  Mikey demanded, ignoring Brian’s question.  He really didn’t have an answer, anyway, so it was best to just move on.  “Ted said that you’ve been here for months.”



“Since mid-January,” Brian agreed.  “As for why I didn’t tell you, I thought that would be obvious.”



“Not to me,” Michael said with a frown.



Brian sighed and rolled his eyes.  “Alright, let’s try this.  How would you feel if I called Ben a roid-head only interested in getting his next lay and spreading his disease?”



“Those are lies!” Michael shouted and stood up from the sofa.



“Sit down!” Brian ordered.  Once Michael was sitting again, though he was seething with anger, Brian continued, “Right, so you would be angry if I started spouting lies and unfounded accusations about your husband.  So why do you think I wouldn’t be just as angry that you would do that to Justin.  And not just once, but for years you’ve been putting him down and making groundless allegations against him.  Hell, it’s been two months since I forced you to admit the shit you did to him when I left for New York and you still haven’t made any attempt to contact him, apologize or even tell the others that you lied!”



Brian took a deep cleansing breath.  “Christ Michael, your blind hatred is fucking repulsive and I won’t subject Justin to it.  So no, I didn’t call you up and announce I was home because I didn’t want to see you.”



“You didn’t even tell Lindsay,” Michael said.  “She’s the mother of your kid!”



“And I’ve made a point to see my son a lot more over the last couple months,” Brian said.  “Lindsay didn’t need to know why I was able to see Gus more often.”



“Are you really going to push your closest friends away for him?” Michael asked with shock.



“And what would you do if all of your friends were cruel to Ben?” Brian said.  “What if they all ignored him, stopped taking his calls, turned away from him when they saw him at Babylon and completely shunned him?”



Michael seemed to deflate and sagged back into the sofa.  “So what do I do?  How do I fix this?”



“I’m not sure that you can,” Brian said bluntly.  “I’ve given you enough chances to try and fix things with Justin, but you’ve ignored me every time.  And unless he can find it in himself to forgive you, I won’t let you be a part of my life and continue to hurt him.”



“Shit Bri,” Michael sighed.  “Even when you were in New York I knew that we were still friends even if we only saw each other a couple times a year.”



“Yeah, well, you’re going to have to live with the knowledge that you fucked that up,” Brian said.