Author’s note: After reading lots of spoilers for the ending of season 2, I couldn’t help thinking about how the B/J/E triangle will actually play out. How will it affect the future of Brian/Justin, who are the couple of choice for every intelligent and sensitive QAF fan?:) As a huge Justin fan, I’m most interested in how the appearance of Ethan affects ‘my’ Sunshine, of course. Here is the first installment of what I’d like to see.

Chapter 1

Justin Taylor wasn’t quite awake, but he wasn’t still asleep either. He was in that nether world between dreams and reality. He reached out to touch the other occupant of the bed. His hand made contact with the sheet and a pillow, and nothing else. Opening his eyes, Justin looked around in the semi-darkness.

Brian wasn’t there.

Justin glanced at the clock. Almost five a.m.

"Shit!" Closing his eyes again, he rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. This was the second night this week that Brian was missing in action. On Tuesday, he’d gone to Babylon alone. Justin pretended he didn’t notice when the older man arrived home in time to shower and leave for work. He’d noticed all too well, however, and resolved not to let Brian go out alone again.

So, they went out together last night. Justin grimaced. Great idea. I got to watch him practically have sex on the dance floor with that scruffy guy in the gray wifebeater. After a few minutes of the ‘performance’, Justin walked out.

He didn’t go home, though. Stopping on the corner, he punched in the now-familiar number into his cell phone and held his breath. "Hello?"

"Hey. It’s me."

"Hey, ‘me’. How’s it going?" There was a touch of forced casualness.

"Can I come over?"

"Tonight?"

"It’s okay if it’s too late."

"Justin, it’s barely midnight. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No, I’ll be there in twenty minutes."

He made it in eighteen.

A smile crept across the young face when he remembered his short visit to his friend’s apartment. They’d fucked, of course - they always did, but it never felt like fucking with Ethan. He thought of it as ‘making love’, something he and Brian had done a few times and not recently.

But it wasn’t the sex that kept him coming back. It was afterwards, when they sat on the floor and played video games or cuddled on the couch and listened to some weird classical music that Ethan described as ‘ethereal’. Or when they lay in bed, wrapped around each other, talking. Parts of them were still sticky from semen and saliva and sweat.

Justin’s fingers ran idly through the riot of curls that covered his companion’s head. Ethan didn’t stop him, but tried to look annoyed. "What is this weird fascination you have with my hair?"

"It’s not weird," Justin laughed. "I just don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything like it. Your hair always looks like you just got out of bed."

"Unlike yours," Ethan countered, "which always looks like you stepped out of a magazine, or off a runway."

"I look like an airplane?"

"Not that kind of runway!" Ethan laughed. "I’m trying to tell you that you look like a model."

"Shut up! I don’t look that good."

"You don’t have any idea how amazing you look, do you?" Ethan’s face moved close to his lover’s ear as he spoke softly. "How amazing you are." A soft kiss was placed against the side of his head.

This wasn’t the first time Ethan’s words had moved Justin; so far, he’d managed not to give away too much of what he was feeling. He wasn’t sure *why* he felt he had to keep his guard up, though. "The most amazing thing about me right now is that I’m *starving*! Do you have anything to eat?"

Both young men scrambled off the bed and walked, arm in arm, to the small refrigerator in the corner of the room. Opening the door, Ethan looked inside. "I have bottled water, juice, spaghetti sauce… Ah, ice cream!" Grabbing it, he started to close the door. "Let’s eat it out of the carton."

"N-No!" Justin turned away.

"What do you mean, no?" Ethan shot a quizzical look at his lover’s back. "You don’t like ice cream?"

"It’s not that." Justin stood just out of reach.

"Oh, I get it. Brian likes ice cream." Justin shook his head. "Brian doesn’t like ice cream."

Justin continued shaking his head. "It has nothing to do with Brian."

"The fuck it doesn’t!" Replacing the carton, he slammed the door shut and walked back over to the bed.

"Why do you assume everything is about him?" Justin stood in the middle of the floor.

"Maybe because it is?" Ethan collapsed on the bed and rolled over on his side. He stared at Justin for a long minute, trying to be upset at what he’d allowed this older man to do to him. In the end, all he felt was compassion for the suffering of a sweet and wonderful person who had done nothing to deserve what he was being forced to endure. "Come here." Reaching out his hand, he beckoned to his companion to re-join him on the bed.

Justin’s eyes never left the floor as he moved across the room. Lying down, he sighed as arms enfolded him. "I’m sorry, Ethan. I shouldn’t’ve snapped at you."

"It’s okay, baby." Ethan’s hands moved caressed Justin’s body gently. "I shouldn’t’ve mentioned B-- him. I know it upsets you when I do."

"This is the only place I can go to get away from him." Justin smiled. "When I’m here, I can pretend that you and I are the only two people in the world…" Leaning forward, he touched his lips to Ethan’s.

As much as Ethan wanted to deepen the kiss, he kept it light. He knew Justin didn’t need anything intense just now. "You can come here any time you want, you know. Any time you think you need to escape…"

"Thank you," Justin breathed, against Ethan’s cheek. A minute later, they had shifted around so that they were sitting face to face. "I don’t want you to feel sorry for me."

"I don’t."

Justin’s fingers crept back to play with the other man’s hair again. "He’s been very good to me, letting me live with him and buying me that computer when I couldn’t draw and loaning me the money to pay for school…" He looked past the face of his companion. "He loves me, in his own way, although he’d never admit it."

"You love him too, don’t you, Justin? Why else would you have stayed with him? And done all the sex and the drugs?"

"Are you kidding?" A mischievous look appeared in the blue eyes. "I had a blast - *we* had a blast!"

"I know." Ethan nodded. "But I remember something you said to me the first night we met. You said you were still looking for the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with."

"I said that?" Justin’s mind raced as he tried to think of something to say to change the subject.

"You did." Ethan nodded. He could see the uneasiness in his lover’s face. "We’re all looking for Mr. Right, aren’t we?" He stared at Justin for several seconds. "What are you thinking?"

Justin pursed his lips. "Guess," he smiled.

"I can’t." Ethan shook his head. "I never know what’s going on under all that blond hair."

"Good."

"Why is that good?"

"I like being mysterious - hard to figure out…"

"Not me."

"You’re not mysterious?"

"Not at all." Ethan shook his head. "I don’t want to be. I want you to be able to look at my face and tell what I’m thinking. I never want you to wonder what I like, or don’t like. If I love someone, I want him to know it."

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Love someone?"

"Justin," Ethan shook the curls off his face. "Do you want me to tell you that I love you?"

"Only if you do."

Both young men sat quietly, their arms entangled. "We’ve only known each other a couple of weeks."

"I know."

"I think you’re beautiful and sexy and very, very sweet."

"I know that too." Justin grinned. Pulling the other young face toward his, he kissed him.

"Cheeky bastard." Ethan kissed Justin again, slowly exploring the small mouth with his tongue. When he pulled back, both their faces were flushed. "I’ll tell you this: yes, I think I’m definitely falling in love with you, Justin. Should I try to stop myself before I go too far - before we get past the point of no return?"

"Are you talking about Brian again?" Justin looked annoyed.

"No," Ethan shook his head. "I’m talking about us - you and me. The only two people in the world right now. I promise I won’t say it until it’s the truth, and I’ll never say it if it’s not what you want to hear." Pulling Justin forward, he wrapped his arms around the slim body. "Okay?"

"Okay."

The two young men sat quietly for several minutes. Without warning, Ethan pulled back. "Are you still hungry? Do you wanna go out and get something?"

Justin looked at the clock on the bedside table. Almost two thirty. "No, I need to get home." One glance into Ethan’s eyes and he knew that the other teenager knew why he was leaving, but neither of them mentioned it.

"Okay." Ethan sat quietly as Justin dressed. He walked him to the door. "Do you need a ride home?"

Justin shook his head. "Do you have time for lunch tomorrow?"

"I’ll make time." Ethan pulled Justin close once more, kissing him as long and as hard as he could before the blond opened the door and walked out.

*&*&*&*&*

Justin was still lost in thought when he heard the door open. Turning over on his side, he pretended to be asleep as Brian walked into the bedroom, then out again, on his way to the bathroom. The next sound Justin heard was the shower running. Without thinking, he crawled out of bed and hurried to the bathroom.

Brian was in the shower with his back to the door when Justin walked in. He opened the glass door and stepped in without asking. Brian glanced his way, then turned his face up under the spray. Justin grabbed the soap out of his lover’s hand and started running it across his back. When he reached around to soap Brian’s chest, strong hands grabbed his. In the blink of an eye, Justin had been turned around so that his face was pressed against the glass. Slippery hands pulled his ass cheeks apart as Brian’s cock pressed against his hole.

Justin had just enough time to take a deep breath before he was impaled roughly. Brian began thrusting immediately, not giving his partner a chance to get used to the hard shaft inside him. Justin bit his lip to keep from crying out as Brian fucked him roughly. He could feel his dick getting hard and reached down to stroke himself.

Less than five minutes later, Justin whimpered softly as he shot into his hand and onto the glass wall. Squeezing his anal walls tightly brought Brian over the edge as well. The older man pulled out immediately and left the young man alone in the shower.

Justin stayed in the shower long enough to wash his hair. When he got back to the bedroom, Brian was almost dressed.

"It’s not even seven thirty, Brian. You’re going to work already?"

"I’ve got a meeting first thing with the Manelli Pasta people. The pitch needs a little more work before it’s ready."

"You used to do all of that work here, at home, before..." Justin walked over to stand behind his lover.

"Yeah, well, I wasn’t a partner, before…" Brian turned around and looked at Justin for the first time since he’d come home. "You disappeared last night."

"I didn’t think my presence was required any more. You and that guy were getting pretty friendly on the dance floor." The smile on Justin’s mouth never made it to his eyes.

"I picked him for you… for us…"

"But you never made it home with him."

Brian laughed. "I wasn’t about to bring him back here knowing the kind of mood you were in."

"You don’t know what kind of mood I was in."

"The fuck I didn’t…" Brian stared at Justin for several seconds. "I gotta go."

Justin walked back over to the bed and sat down. Why is Brian suddenly acting like a shit? he wondered. Maybe it wasn’t so sudden. Brian has always been Brian, he decided. Maybe *I’m* the one who’s changed. Leaning over, he snagged the receiver off the bedside table and punched in the number. Ethan answered on the second ring. "Hey. Do you want to have breakfast before class?"

"Sure. At the diner?"

"No. I’ll be there in twenty minutes, with bagels."

"And strawberry cream cheese?"

Justin smiled. "If that’s what you want. You have juice, right?"

"Yes, *and* there’ll be a surprise waiting for you as well."

"I don’t like surprises, Ethan. What is it?"

"Not gonna tell you. Wear something you can get out of quickly, okay?"

"I like the sound of that."

*&*&*&*&*

Justin took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the tiny apartment. Ethan answered wearing nothing but a smile. As he followed the musician into the room, he held out a paper bag. "I didn’t forget the strawberry cream cheese." Ethan grabbed the bag and threw it in the direction of the table. He covered Justin’s mouth with his as his hands worked furiously on the buttons of his jeans. When his mouth moved down to kiss Justin’s throat, the blond said, "Ethan, I came over here to eat."

Ethan looked up. "Oh, you’re gonna eat." He smiled mischievously. "We both are."

Justin allowed himself to be pushed over to the bed. Stripping off his shirt, he lay down beside Ethan. Without warning, Ethan flipped Justin over on his back and started moving his mouth down the pale chest. He tongued the nipple ring slowly before moving down past his stomach. Burying his face in pale pubic hair, he pushed Justin’s legs apart and then attacked the hard cock with his lips and tongue.

His senses in overload, Justin moaned loudly. He shifted his body around so that Ethan’s dick was in front of his face. Without hesitation, he swallowed it greedily, pulling a moan from the musician’s throat.

Sometime between a minute and an hour later, Justin grasped Ethan’s balls and squeezed gently, pulling him over into free fall.

Five minutes later, both young men had moved back around so that they were lying side by side again. Justin’s hand moved, involuntarily, to Ethan’s hair, playing with a stray curl. "What did he do this time?"

"Who?" Justin looked away.

"You know perfectly well who." Ethan moved his face so that it was two inches away from his lover’s. "Brian. He didn’t come home again?"

Justin looked at Ethan. "He came home. This morning. Just in time to shower and go to work."

"I’m sorry, baby." Ethan gathered the other young man into his arms. "What can I do?"

"Nothing." Justin buried his face in Ethan’s shoulder for several seconds before he looked up. "You’ve already given me exactly what I needed."

"You needed a blow job?" Ethan laughed.

Justin joined in. "I was talking about you. You were what I needed." He glanced at the clock. "Holy shit!" He disentangled himself from his lover’s embrace and started scrambling off the bed.

"What?" Ethan watched Justin’s sudden movements.

"We have to be in class in twenty-one minutes!" Snatching his clothes off the floor, Justin began dressing quickly.

Two minutes later, both teenagers were dressed. "Bring the bagels, Ethan. We can eat them on the way."

Ethan grabbed the paper bag off the floor, fished out the plastic container and stashed it in the refrigerator. "We’ll save the strawberry cream cheese for another occasion."