First of all, I have to apologize for all the trauma I caused people by writing Justin as a cold, calculating bastard in chapter 2. At least, that’s what several people communicated to me. Thanks to the invaluable help of my new friend, Irina, I hope this chapter will redeem ‘my’ Justin in your eyes, as well as Brian’s. At the outset of this story, I said this was what I’d like to happen. Given my predisposition to romance, I hope you’ll forgive me for having Brian say some things that Brian would never say.

Chapter 3

Justin Taylor wasn’t quite awake, but he wasn’t still asleep either. He was in that nether world between dreams and reality. Hearing the rhythmic breathing of his bedmate, he reached out to touch him. "Brian?"

"Try again." Justin was suddenly, shockingly awake. The voice wasn’t Brian’s. He opened his eyes and looked up into the face of a man only a few months older than him.

"Sorry, Ethan." Justin looked away. "I-I was…"

Leaning forward, Ethan kissed Justin’s cheek. "It’s okay, Justin… I know…"

Justin knew he owed the young man an explanation for calling out someone else’s name in his bed. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, and he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last. "Thank you for understanding…" Justin pulled the tan face toward his once more, covering his mouth quickly. Ethan responded enthusiastically, his tongue darting into Justin’s mouth as they writhed together.

As usual, their passion was like a flash fire - moving quickly from a spark to an all-out blaze. Despite their youth, both of them were far from inexperienced. Ethan’s mouth traveled down Justin’s neck to his chest, where he tongued the nipple ring. Moving farther down, he buried his face in Justin’s pubic hair. A tongue snaked out to lick Justin’s cock from root to tip. Justin gasped as his shaft was swallowed almost completely.

Closing his eyes, Justin knew he wouldn’t last long at this rate. Without warning, the mouth was removed and Ethan’s face was beside his again. "Fuck me, Justin. Now." His voice sounded desperate, almost pleading.

Justin opened his eyes and looked up. "I fucked you last night… Isn’t it my turn this morning?"

Ethan’s eyes twinkled. "Are you telling me you’re keeping score, painter boy?"

Justin smiled. "You bet your ass, violin boy!"

"Speaking of my ass," the young man twisted around, as if he was trying to get a look at the subject of their discussion, "why are you lying there discussing it instead of fucking it?"

"Eeeethannn…" Justin drew out the other boy’s name for as long as he could; he knew it drove him crazy.

"Justin… please…" Ethan attacked Justin’s mouth yet again. When he pulled back, they were both breathless. "I promise I’ll fuck you twice tonight…"

*&*&*&*&*

Twenty minutes later, the two young men lay tangled together, dozing. Opening one eye, Justin looked at the clock. "Shit. I gotta go."

"We’ve got an hour before class."

Justin was off the bed, looking for his clothes around the room. "I have to go ho-- back to the loft."

"I thought you weren’t going back there."

"I was upset when I said that last night." Justin slipped his shirt over his head. "All my clothes are there."

Ethan had rolled over on his side, with his head propped on his hand. "Why don’t we wait ‘til after class this afternoon, when he’s not there? I’ll go with you."

Justin sat on the bed and started putting his shoes on. "I appreciate that, Ethan, but I can’t run away from him. The sooner I face him, the better."

Ethan was quiet for several seconds. "Do you…? We need to talk about what happened."

"There’s nothing to talk about." Justin focused a thousand-watt smile on his companion. "I’m okay."

"Justin," Ethan sat up, "you wouldn’t talk about it yesterday because you were still upset. We’re going to have to deal with what happened--"

"Nothing happened!" Justin stood up and grabbed his backpack on the way to the door.

"Wait!" Ethan scrambled off the bed and caught his lover before he made it to the door. "You say you get frustrated with Brian because he won’t talk about things. So, is this the way you react? By not talking to me?"

"Ethan, I’ll talk as much as you want me to… tonight." He kissed the musician softly. "I gotta go."

*&*&*&*&*

Brian was just getting out of the shower when Justin walked into the apartment. He watched from the bedroom as Justin closed the refrigerator door. Pouring cereal into a bowl, the teenager splashed milk over it and started eating quickly.

As Justin watched Brian dress, his mind raced, trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t start a fight. "What time does the party start tonight?"

"How should I know?" Brian had a bad habit of answering a question with another question. "Call Mikey."

"Will you be there?" Brian shrugged. "Brian, you’re the inspiration for the character. You have to be."

"Ah, yes. *Rage*." He paused for several seconds. "Is that how you see me? In a state of perpetual anger at the world?"

"Not the world - just those of us who love you."

Brian paused, staring at the wall behind Justin. "I gotta go." He was halfway across the room when he was intercepted.

"Wait!" Justin ran to the older man. "I-I… Can we talk for a minute?"

Brian looked at his watch. "Justin, I have to go to work." His actions belied his words and he didn’t move.

"I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about yesterday." Justin moved a step closer. "I-I lost my temper. It was--"

"Forget about it. I have."

"You’re not mad?" He looked into the older man’s face for a clue as to what he was thinking.

"Why should I be? You were right - I *did* follow you, after Mikey told me about seeing you kissing that guy."

"He’s just someone from school." Justin stepped forward so that they were almost touching.

"Someone you’re fucking, right? I assume you stayed with him last night." Justin nodded his head but said nothing. Brian looked at his watch yet again. "I really do have to go. We’ll talk about this later, okay?" A quick kiss to Justin’s forehead and he was gone.

"Sure." Justin spoke to the now-closed door. "Later."

*&*&*&*&*

Despite looking for him in all their ‘regular’ places, Ethan didn’t see Justin all morning. A vague feeling of panic nibbled around the corners of his psyche, but he refused to give in to it. It’s getting close to the end of the semester, he reminded himself, and Justin is still trying to make up for getting behind early on. When his last class was finished, he made his way to the studio art building, to the cube Justin shared with three other freshmen. Sure enough, the young artist was sitting before an easel, staring into space.

"Hey!"

"Hey. What are you doing here?" They shared a quick kiss.

"I’ve been looking for you. Did you have lunch?"

"Not yet. I was--"

"Well, then, come on!" Without allowing his companion to finish a sentence, Ethan grabbed Justin’s hands and started pulling him.

"Wait! I have to put all this stuff up!"

Ethan paused, folding his arms. "Okay. You have one minute, then I’m going to have to get rough."

A smile spread across the pale face. "As much as rough sex in the open at my college appeals to me…" He put all his supplies away quickly and followed his lover down the hall.

*&*&*&*&*

Ethan opened the door to his apartment and stepped inside, followed by Justin. They dropped their backpacks on the floor and walked to the kitchen. Ethan unwrapped sandwiches while Justin fetched bottles of water from the refrigerator. Sitting down, they were silent as they attacked their lunch. When they were finished, Ethan reached into his pocket. "I almost forgot. I got this made for you this morning."

Justin accepted the small object that was being handed to him. "A key?"

"Yeah," Ethan smiled. "You already have the key to my heart, so I thought you should have a key to my apartment."

"Thank you, Ethan. I don’t know what to say…"

"You don’t have to say anything," Ethan shrugged. "Now that you’re going to be living here…" Justin’s face fell, as if a shadow had come across it. "Didn’t you tell me, last night, that you were going to move out of the loft and into here?" Justin continued looking down, but didn’t say anything. "You’re going back to him, aren’t you?" Ethan stood up. "Aren’t you?!" He walked over to the bed and sat down.

"It’s not what you think." Justin walked over to sit beside his lover.

"It’s not?! You didn’t go over there this morning and beg him to let you come back? Did you suck his dick, Justin? Did you let him fuck you?" Ethan’s voice was quiet.

"We didn’t *do* anything, I swear!" Justin was the one yelling. "I-I… Y-you… It’s complicated…"

"Complicated… Now, *that’s* an understatement, isn’t it?" Ethan turned away.

Justin moved around so that they were facing again. "Please don’t be like that. I know how this must look to you, but I’m going to take care of everything, Ethan. I swear. *I* want to stay here with you, as much as you want me to." Placing an arm around the musician’s shoulder, Justin leaned his face forward until they were almost touching. "We’ll be together soon."

Closing his eyes, Ethan took a deep breath. He wanted to convince Justin that they needed to talk now, and not put it off any longer. He wanted to tell him that this situation wasn’t fair to any of the three of them; they needed a resolution and Justin was the only one who could provide that. He thought he could do that, until he looked into those clear blue eyes, and he was lost. He knew he’d allow Justin to do anything he wanted, without even a second thought. As he sucked Justin’s tongue into his mouth, he could feel his dick getting hard, and all they were doing was kissing. Stripping off his clothes, he pulled Justin over to lie beside him.

*&*&*&*&*

Brian Kinney glanced at his watch as surreptitiously as he could. It was one entire minute after five p.m. This client’s time was up at five. Brian waited impatiently for the middle-aged man to take a breath so he could smilingly thank him for all his input and tell him that their next appointment was scheduled for next week.

*&*&*&*&*

It took Brian exactly twenty minutes from the time he walked out of his office until he opened the door of the loft. On a good day, that is. This was not a good day. There was some sort of catastrophe on every other block, turning rush hour traffic to a crawl. He considered parking the Jeep and running the rest of the way home. I might get there faster, he decided.

As he listened to the cacophony of car horns and shouting people, Brian tried not to think about the reason he was in such a hurry to get home.

Justin was there.

When Brian was finally able to get Justin on his cell phone, he didn’t want to make any concrete plans for the evening. "C’mon, Justin!" Brian tried not to sound desperate. "You told me this morning that you wanted to talk. This’ll give us a chance, before we go to the party."

"What difference does it make if we go to the party together, as long as we’re both there?" Justin sounded distracted.

Brian wasn’t in the mood to discuss this. "We haven’t been anywhere together for a while. We’ll eat before we go, okay?" Before Justin had a chance to object, he continued, "Look, I’ll be home before five thirty. See you then." He hung up before Justin could say anything else.

And now it was after five thirty and he still wasn’t home. He hated walking into the loft and calling Justin’s name, not knowing if he was there or not. He seemed to come home only to sleep and change clothes any more. I should have let him talk this morning, he decided. He wanted to tell me about the violinist.. The boy was cute enough, but he was so… What? Young? Probably close to Justin’s age. I never worried about other guys before. Why am I worrying about this one? What was his name? Ethan? The way he was looking at Justin…

Brian shook his head slightly, trying to erase all the negative thoughts. So Justin was fucking one of his classmates. So what? I’ve fucked around on Justin lots of times. The main difference is that I know how to get in and out without complications and Justin hasn’t yet learned that he can use his dick without getting his heart involved. Still, it took a lot for Justin to apologize this morning; he deserves something nice in return. Just because we trashed the rules doesn’t mean we should forget about why we’re together. Justin loves me, I know that, and I lo--

"Shit!"

Screech!

The Jeep slid to a halt inches away from a BMW convertible driven by a very attractive young woman. She turned, her mouth pulled up into an ‘O’ and a smile in her eyes. "Sorry!" She smiled weakly, shrugging her shoulders.

"You stupid bitch!" Brian had his head out the window, yelling. "Why don’t you get your head out of your ass and drive?!"

The coy smile disappeared from the woman’s face. Turning around, she inched forward, trying to get away from the Neanderthal in the black Jeep.

*&*&*&*&*

It was five fifty-seven by the time Brian made it home. Taking a deep breath outside the door, he opened it and walked inside. "Justin?"

"In here." Justin was sprawled across the bed, scribbling in his sketchbook. He wore black briefs and nothing else. Brian took a dive and landed beside him on the bed. "Hey!" He yelled, without looking up. "Why don’t you give me a warning?" Scrambling off the bed, he went to his backpack and fished out an eraser.

"C-Can you fix it?" Brian couldn’t see what Justin was working on, his hands were in the way. He tried pulling them away as he sat up and started licking the back of Justin’s neck - a well-known erogenous zone.

"Brian…" Justin pulled away, still holding the book. "Do you mind?"

Leaning back on his elbows, Brian licked his lips. "C’mon, let’s get all hot and sweaty, so we can take a shower before we go out."

"I can’t." Justin stood up and walked to the closet.

"You can’t get sweaty? Or you can’t go out?"" Brian watched Justin as he examined several items of clothing before choosing what he wanted to wear.

"I’m going to the party with Ethan." He wriggled into a pair of tight jeans.

Brian had no verbal response, so he chose the non-verbal approach one more time. Scrambling off the bed, he covered the space between himself and the teenager quickly and wrapped his arms around the slim body. Before Justin could react, his mouth was roaming across the young man’s face and neck.

Stepping sideways, Justin turned his head away. "Brian, please. Can’t you see I’m trying to dress?"

"Undressing is more fun." Brian reached around his lover’s body and grabbed the zipper of his jeans.

Justin grasped Brian’s hands and patiently pulled them away. "I have plans, didn’t you hear me?"

Stepping back, Brian flung himself back down on the bed. He watched the teenager’s every move as he slipped on his favorite navy sweater, the one that made his eyes look iridescent.

Justin considered sitting on the bed to put his shoes on, but decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to put himself within reach of Brian, who had become uncharacteristically quiet. He carried his shoes with him to the door and slipped them on. "I’ll see you at the party."

*&*&*&*&*

Ethan looked up from his book when Justin walked in. "You’re here early. What time does the party start?"

"Not until later." Justin kissed his friend on the back of the head and glanced at the book. "Studying on a Friday night?" He scrunched his nose.

Ethan shook his head. "Just looking over this stuff. I have a big test on Monday." Closing the book, he pushed it away. "What’s up?"

"Nothing." Justin sat down on the bed. "I thought we could eat before we go to the party."

"Sure. Where d’ya wanna go?"

"The diner."

Ethan looked at his companion. "Which diner?"

"Liberty Diner."

"Are you sure? What if Brian’s there?"

"So what if he is?" Justin shrugged. "It’s a free country. He can eat anywhere he likes and so can we."

Ethan changed shirts three times before he finally decided what to wear. After being asked for his opinion for the third time, Justin said, "You look great in anything. What are you worrying about?"

"Your friends will be there, Justin. Brian--"

"You’re gonna have to stop thinking about him."

"I will if you will."

"Don’t start, Ethan! I am *not* going to fight with you about him. Not tonight."

"Suit yourself. You came here to get away from him, right?"

"I came here because I wanted to be with you. Is that concept too difficult for you to understand?" The blonde’s tone was uncharacteristically sarcastic.

"No." Ethan walked over and sat down on the bed beside his lover. "If that was the truth…"

"*What* are you talking about?" Justin stared at the other teenager’s face accusingly. "Are you trying to say that I *like* things the way they are?"

Ethan moved forward slightly and placed a brief kiss on his lover’s mouth. "Just look at it from my point of view: you’re living with the hottest guy on Liberty Avenue, who’s taking care of you financially," he raised his eyebrows, "*and* several other ways. Every time he does something in character as the asshole you say he is, you come running to the ‘other guy’, who lets you talk or talks to you, who lets you fuck him or fucks you…" Ethan paused for half-a-minute, hoping his words were having the desire effect. "All that has to happen is for him to tell you he loves you and you forget what my name is--"

"Ethan, that’ll never happen--"

"Why, Justin? Why?" The questions came out as not much more than a whisper. "Every time you’re here, so is he. Your opinion on everything from music to sex to politics is influenced by him. If you left him today and we stayed together for the rest of our lives, you’d never belong to me like you belong to him."

Justin was quiet for a long minute, thinking about what Ethan had just said. "I’m gonna go on to the party." Ethan opened his mouth to speak, but Justin continued, "Alone. If you wanna come later on, that would be okay, but it’s up to you." Standing, he walked to the door. He opened his mouth to say something else, but changed his mind and left without another word.

*&*&*&*&*

Justin arrived early for the party. He was reasonably sure that Brian wasn’t there yet. It would be a change for him to be someplace that neither Brian nor Ethan were. On the way over, he had had a chance to think back over the events of the past weeks, and to try to work out where he’d lost control of his life. When he was with Brian, he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else; Brian made him feel like he’d never felt before. By the same token, he felt safe when he was with Ethan; he was able to feel in control of things when he was with the younger man. The problem is, Justin decided, that I love both of them.

"Justin!" His ruminations were interrupted by Michael, who had just entered the room and was walking over to him. "You’re here early."

"Yeah. I kinda want this to be over."

"You’re not nervous are you?" Michael smiled.

Justin shrugged. "A little. You?"

"Scared to death! There are going to be some important people here tonight."

"Who? Spiderman? Batman?" Justin couldn’t stop his sarcasm from showing.

"Oh, very funny." Justin started walking away but Michael stopped him. "Wait."

"What is it?" Justin wanted to find a quiet corner to hide in.

"I-I just wanted to apologize for telling Brian about you and that guy kissing the other day. He told me it wasn’t any of my business… and he was right."

So it *was* Michael who saw us, Justin thought. "It’s okay." He was determined not to let Brian’s friend know how much trouble he’d caused.

"No, it’s *not* okay. I was trying to help Brian, but I think I ended up hurting him more."

Justin’s curiosity was piqued. "Why do you think you hurt him?"

Michael grimaced. "I know he loves you, even if he never says it. I thought that, if he heard the truth about what you were doing--"

"He’d come to his senses and kick my ass out?" Justin was standing very close to Michael, staring hard at him.

Michael broke the stare. "I told you I was sorry."

Justin looked around; he didn’t have the energy to continue this discussion. "Where’s Ben?"

"He had a late meeting." Justin could almost hear Michael’s sigh of relief. "He’s coming later."

Nodding, Justin smiled. "Good." When he couldn’t think of anything else to say, he walked away.

*&*&*&*&*

Justin looked up from the conversation group he was involved in. The place was packed with dozens and dozens of people, and what an eclectic group it was. Some of them were comic book geeks like Michael, some were art people like Justin, most of them regulars on Liberty Avenue, who never said no to a good party.

Brian had arrived a little late, with no fanfare. Justin tried to keep an eye on where he was during the night, but that wasn’t an easy thing to do. It seemed that everyone there wanted to talk to him for a few minutes, and Brian was being elusive.

When he was able to get free for a few minutes, he walked around slowly, looking for Brian without appearing like he was looking for him. A quick reconnaissance of the room failed; there was no place he hadn’t looked, except the bathrooms. And the back room.

Without another thought, Justin headed toward where Brian undoubtedly was. He stepped through the doorway, pausing for several seconds to allow his eyes to accustom themselves to the semi-darkness. The familiar sights, sounds and smells attacked his senses as he walked slowly around the room.

It took very little time for Justin to find the object of his search. Brian was over against a wall, his back to the room, fucking someone. Not just anyone. He was fucking the guy who was dressed in the Rage costume. How ironic, Justin smiled, as he stared at the man he loved. Brian’s hair was disheveled slightly and his breathing was labored.

Without warning, Brian turned his head and saw his teenage lover standing nearby. A half-smile curled the edges of his mouth as he held out his hand, beckoning Justin to join him - join them.

Justin turned away, feeling sick. He walked, blindly, out of the room and back into the larger room. Pausing for several seconds, he estimated how long it would take him to get to the front door, where he could make his escape into the night.

"Justin!" Someone was calling him, but he couldn’t see who it was. "Justin!" He turned around again, scanning the faces of the people around him.

He felt a soft hand on his elbow. Turning, he looked into huge brown eyes, filled with concern. "Are you okay?" He didn’t answer. "What’s wrong?"

Coming to himself, Justin shook his head. "Nothing." He smiled. "I-I’m okay." He pulled the other teenager into a hug. "I didn’t think you’d show up."

Ethan pulled back. "Does that mean--"

"That means I’m very glad to see you, Ethan. Thanks for coming."

"You’re welcome." Ethan had to raise his voice to be heard. "This is a wild party!"

"Yeah." Justin thought about what he’d just witnessed in the back room. "D-do you wanna leave?"

Ethan looked hard into Justin’s eyes. "Justin, are you all right?"

"Sure." Justin hoped he was smiling. "I’m tired of all the people. Can we go?"

People kept stopping Justin to speak to him and it took them several minutes before they made it to the door. Justin paused just inside and looked around one more time. "Why did you come?" He looked at Ethan.

Ethan considered several replies, but decided to go with the truth. "I love you, Justin. I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you, and I’ll keep coming after you for as long as you let me." Without saying anything else, Ethan moved his face forward and kissed his companion softly. Justin moved into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Ethan’s shoulders and holding him close.

Brian walked up while they were kissing. Spotting him, Ethan pulled back and turned Justin around. For a long minute, the teenager and the ad exec stared at each other. Justin looked from Brian to Ethan and back to Brian. Without a word, he grabbed Ethan’s hand and pulled him out the door.

Michael saw Brian leave the back room and walk across the floor. He watched Brian watch Justin leave with a dark-haired teenager. When Brian turned away from the door, Michael saw the pain in his best friend’s face. Looking down, Brian shook his head slightly and turned away. Grabbing the nearest guy he could put his hands on, he dragged him onto the dance floor and started moving against him.

*&*&*&*&*

Neither Justin nor Ethan said anything on the way home. When they were safely inside the tiny apartment, Ethan gathered his lover into his arms. Not sure of what he should say, he decided to say nothing. They undressed slowly and crawled into bed.

As they lay huddled together in the dark, Ethan listened for the rhythmic breathing that would signify that his lover was asleep. "Justin, are you awake?"

"I don’t want to talk." Justin’s voice sounded small.

"Okay. I understand. Just remember that you’re not alone; I’m right there with you. Whatever has to be done, we can do it together." He placed a soft kiss on Justin’s cheek. "G’night."

*&*&*&*&*

"Wake up, sleepy head." The voice was close to his ear, it was almost as if it was inside his head. Justin turned over, hoping it was a bad dream and that it would go away.

"Justin. Are you gonna stay in bed all day?" The voice wouldn’t go away.

"Yes!" Burying his face in the pillow, Justin tried to pull the sheet over his head but hands pulled it away. He flipped over on his back and looked up. "What time is it?"

"Eight thirty." Ethan held out a coffee cup.

Eight thirty! "Shit!" Pushing the cup away, he started scrambling off the bed. "We’re late for class!"

Ethan was laughing now. Justin paused, trying to figure out what was so funny. "We don’t have class today. It’s Saturday."

Saturday! Justin tried to make his eyes focus on his companion. "What the fuck are you doing waking me up before noon on Saturday?"

Ethan offered the cup again. "We need to get your stuff from the loft and bring it over here."

Staring at the other teenager, Justin took the coffee. "Not now, we don’t."

"Why not now?" Ethan sat on the bed beside the blond.

"Because…" He couldn’t believe he was having this discussion. "If Brian’s home, he’s asleep, and maybe not alone. He goes to the gym on Saturday afternoons. We’ll wait ‘til around two and go over."

"Ack, wrong answer, but thanks for playing." Both young men laughed. "Why do you have to sneak over there while Brian’s gone? What are you ashamed of? Me?"

Justin shook his head. "You know that’s not it. It’s--"

"Complicated, I know." He waited for a reply but none was forthcoming, so he continued. "Justin, I know you’ve had a lot of shit to deal with lately and I’ve tried to understand. But this," he made a circle with his hand, "this whole thing has to stop, and it has to stop now. You’re like a boomerang, going from Brian to me and back again. Now’s the time for you to make up you mind, for once and for all. If you choose Brian, then it’s time to go home to him. If you choose me, we need to get your stuff out of his place." Without giving Justin a chance to reply, Ethan crawled off the bed and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door.

*&*&*&*&*

An hour later, Ethan was following Justin into the apartment building where Brian lived. They took the stairs up to the top floor and Justin unlocked the door. Pushing it aside, he held out his hand. "After you."

Ethan ambled into the apartment and looked around. "Jesus! No wonder you didn’t want to leave Brian! This is a fucking palace next to my place!"

"Ssshhh!" Justin tried to put his hand over Ethan’s mouth. "I told you, he’s still asleep, if he’s here." He walked gingerly across the hardwood floor, avoiding every creaky slat. Stopping halfway across the room, he stared up at the bed.

"That’s the bedroom?" Ethan pointed at the stairs.

"I told you to be--"

"Brian!" Ethan walked up the stairs. "Are you up there?"

"Shit!" Justin made a dash for the bedroom, but Ethan was already there.

"Justin?!" Brian sat up and tried to open his eyes.

"I-it’s nothing, Brian. Go back to sleep."

"Since you’re awake," Ethan sat down on the edge of the bed, "do you mind if we have a chat?"

Brian rubbed his eyes and looked back at Justin, who was standing on the other side of the bed. "Justin, what the fuck is going on?"

"Don’t ask Justin." Ethan interrupted. "Talk to me."

"Okay, Ethan, isn’t it?" Ethan nodded. "What the fuck are you and your," he glanced at Justin, "*boyfriend* doing in my apartment before noon on a Saturday."

"We came to get Justin’s stuff. He’s moving in with me." When there was no reply, he stood up. "But before we start packing, there’s a couple of things we need to talk about, and you might want to get dressed." He pointed toward the other room. "Justin and I will be over there."

Brian watched the dark-haired teenager pull the blonde teenager out of the room, staring after them for several seconds.

Ethan was looking at Brian’s DVD collection when their host entered the room, dressed only in cutoff sweatpants. "Can I offer you gentlemen some coffee?"

Ethan shook his head. "We’re fine." He stood up. "Why don’t you sit down so we can get this over with? Then you can go back to bed."

Brian sat down on the sofa, next to Justin and looked over. "Do you know what’s going on?"

Justin shrugged. "Not a clue." They both looked up.

"I’ll get right to the point. Since Justin and I met, things have been kinda… weird, for all of us." Ethan started pacing. "Justin has been living with you and fucking me, and living with me and fucking you. It’s just a great big fucking mess, don’t you think?" Ethan paused, his hands on his hips. "Well, I have a solution, but you both have to promise that you’ll go along with what I tell you. Okay?" He looked from one face to the other.

Ethan walked over to where Justin was sitting, and knelt in front of him. Cupping the pale face in his hands, he said, "I’ve told you this before and I’ll tell you again: I love you, and I know that you love me." Moving his head forward, he kissed the other young man tenderly. "But you also love Brian." He glanced at the other man on the sofa. "And, guess what? He loves you too. I didn’t know that - didn’t *really* know it - until I saw the two of you together for the first time, the other day."

If either of the inhabitants of the sofa were surprised by this conversation, they didn’t show it. "So, this is what we do now. Justin, you’re going to tell Brian that you love him."

"But--" Justin started talking.

"No arguments. And, don’t talk to me." He glanced at Brian. "Tell him."

"You know I love you, don’t you?" Brian nodded.

"Good." Ethan retained control of the situation. "Now," he looked at Brian, "it’s your turn."

Brian’s eyes darted from the Ethan’s face to Justin’s. "My turn for what?"

"Haven’t you been paying attention? It’s your turn to tell Justin that you love him."

"Don’t bother, Ethan." Justin interjected. "Brian doesn’t ‘do’ love."

"Of *course*, he ‘does’ love - he just doesn’t ‘say’ it." He looked at Brian. "Am I right? Do you love him?" Brian’s head nodded imperceptibly. "See?" Ethan spoke to Justin again. "He loves you."

"But he didn’t say it."

Ethan moved his head close to Justin’s and whispered, "He’s waiting on me to leave so you can be alone. Then he’ll tell you." Standing up, he looked down at the couple who remained seated. "One more thing and I’m outta here. Justin, you told me once that you were still looking for the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. I think you already found him, and I think you know it. You were looking for Mr. Right, and he was right there all along." Leaning forward, he placed a kiss on the top of Justin’s head. ‘Have a nice life, you two and, in the immortal words of Bill and Ted: ‘be excellent to each other’." Turning, he walked across the room and out the door without another word.

After Ethan was gone, Brian and Justin remained seated for several minutes, not saying anything. Turning sideways, Justin said, "Don’t worry - I don’t expect you to say it."

"I wasn’t going to." Brian smiled slyly at his companion.

Leaning forward, Justin buried his face in his hands. "I’ve been a total bitch lately, haven’t I?"

"What do you mean, lately?" Moving quickly, Brian pulled Justin off balance and into his arms.

"I’m really sorry, Brian." Justin was lying against the older man’s bare chest. "I-I don’t know how I let that happen."

"I do."

The teenager shifted so he could see his lover’s face. "You do?" Brian nodded. "Would you like to share?"

Brian looked skeptical. "I don’t know." He shook his head. "Once you start all this talking and sharing and shit, it’s hard to go back to the old, uncommunicative ways."

Justin grinned. "I’m willing to take a chance. How about you?"

"Ah, what the hell?" Brian shrugged. "You were miles ahead of me, from the beginning. You realized how you felt way before I did. Hell, you realized how *I* felt before I did. I guess you thought I’d come along, eventually. And, despite how tough you try to act, you’re all soft and sweet, on the inside. When you met a fellow artist who was into the ‘romance thing’, of course, you fell for him too."

"No," Justin shook his head. "I never fell for him, not really."

"But, can you deny that you enjoyed him whispering sweet nothings into your ear?"

"How do you know what he whispered into my ear?"

Brian moved his mouth to Justin’s ear and whispered. "I was nineteen once, you know."

"You were?" He sat up in mock surprise. "Tell me: when you were nineteen, did you have a Brian or an Ethan?"

"Neither." Brian stared into the distance. "I had a Gregory. He broke my heart." Glancing at Justin, he said, "And that’s all I’m going to tell you about him."

"Is he the one who’s responsible for all of your walls?"

"You mean, all my *former* walls?" Brian kissed the teenager. "You’ve taken care of most of them."

"But not all of them…"

Brian was silent for several seconds. "When I saw you leave that coffee shop with him…" Pulling Justin close, he touched his forehead to his lover’s and closed his eyes.

"Hey." Brian opened his eyes. "It’s over now. You won’t have to deal with Ethan again."

"What makes you so sure? There’s always another Ethan… somewhere down the road…"

"Just like there’s always another Gregory…" Justin kissed Brian softly. "You told me once that we were together because we wanted to be and not because there’s locks on our doors. Do you still believe that?"

"Yes," Brian answered, without hesitation. "Do you?"

"I do." Justin giggled when he realized what he’d said. Brian joined in a few seconds later. "What do you think we should do now?"

Brian kissed Justin again. "It’s still early. Why don’t we go back to bed?"