email me!
Part 3
The bell over the door alerted Michael to yet another customer. If business kept up at this pace, he was going to seriously have to consider hiring some full time help to replace Vic. Now that he and Emmett were giving the catering business a go, he had precious little time to help out at the store.
“Be with you in a minute.” Michael mumbled, not looking up from the packing slip he had been going over for, what felt like the last twenty minutes. His brow furrowed tightly in confusion.
“Hurry. Babylon’s only going to be open for another…” Brian feigned checking his watch. “…eight hours or so.”
“Brian.” Michael jumped up and bounced over, wrapping his arms around his best friend’s neck. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”
“Soon? Mikey. It’s 7:15. I’m late.”
Michael glanced at the clock on the wall. “Wow. So you are. I guess I got distracted.” He considered the box on the floor for another minute before turning his attention back to his friend.
“Um, aren’t you a little overdressed for Babylon?”
Wearing one of his many tailored black Armani suits, paired with a cranberry colored button down shirt and matching silk tie, a favorite of Michael’s, Brian looked as though he’d just stepped off the cover of GQ.
“Yeah, well I thought I’d pick you up first. We can stop at the loft so I can change before we meet the guys.”
“Sounds like a plan, let me just sort out this shipment first. I think there’s been some sort of mix up.”
Brian glanced down at the box Michael had been toiling over when he’d first come in, and Michael took the opportunity of Brian’s distraction to admire his best friend’s appearance. He looked hot. The corporate look really suited him. Though, truth be told, Michael liked Brian in a pair of old, worn jeans and tee shirt just as much.
“What’s the matter, did your distributor overcharge you or something?”
By the way Brian was smirking indulgently at him, Michael figured he must have been caught leering. “Um, what? N-No. Over shipped, I guess... The invoice says it’s the new issues of Rage.”
“So what’s the problem? Rage sells out like hot cakes. They’ll be gone in a matter of days.” Brian dismissed.
“The problem…” Michael set the invoice down and reached over to the other side of the counter to retrieve his box cutter, oblivious to the fact that he was now the one being ogled. “…Is that I haven’t written the next issue of Rage yet.”
Brian raised an eyebrow. “Okay. That could be a problem. Maybe they just resent the last shipment. A computer glitch. It’s been known to happen.”
“I suppose.”
Brian stepped back as Michael swiftly sliced through the packing tape, each of them simultaneously pulling an issue free of the box. “What the fuck?”
Michael’s cheeks flushed an embarrassingly obvious shade of bright red as he gazed at the image of himself, or rather Zephyr; mouth and pants open and cock in hand emblazoned on the cover. Behind him, stood the figure of a man in shadow.
“Mikey,” Brian murmured. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, knowing that all of Michael’s stories came from real experiences. Considering he had been hanging out with Michael just about every night over the last six months, his curiosity was piqued about the mysterious man in black. When he could have missed Michael disappearing into the back room with some pumped up hunk, was beyond him. “Whose the mysterious stranger?”
“Justin!” Michael accused angrily.
Brian’s face blanched as his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Excuse me?”
Michael’s looked up quickly at the change in Brian’s tone. “Uh… I mean Ben. It’s Ben. Justin drew it. He obviously sent the sketches to the publisher without me signing off on it.” He mumbled to himself, almost afraid to turn to page one. ‘I wonder just how many of those sketches the boy wonder used…’
Brian stood silent, watching Michael curiously. By Michael’s guarded silence, he was obviously holding something back.
Brian looked at the cover of the comic again. Michael’s likeness had been captured perfectly. Indecent, innocent and wholesomely decadent, just like his Mikey should be portrayed. Justin had outdone himself. That last thought suddenly struck Brian as odd. He hadn’t realized that Justin had paid that close attention to Mikey. Slightly unnerved by where his thoughts were headed, Brian turned his attention back to his best friend.
“Uh, Mikey, how do you know that’s supposed to be Ben? All I see is large, dark blob.” He asked suspiciously.
“The drawings…” Michael hesitated, then took a deep breath and sighed. By the already accusatory tone in Brian’s voice, he knew that Brian had a pretty good idea of what had happened. ‘Here goes nothing.’
“A few weeks ago, I walked in on Justin sketching Ben…nude. Then…it just sort of happened. One minute I’m in shock, and angry, and the next…” Michael trailed off.
“And the next they’re undressing you?”
“It wasn’t like that!” Michael flushed. “Justin…”
“Justin, what?” Brian sneered.
“Justin…” Michael’s voice became soft with embarrassment. “Justin said… he said we looked beautiful together. He said…” Michael swallowed hard. “He said I was beautiful.”
“You are beautiful.” Brian’s heart ached at the thought of his Mikey not thinking he was attractive and surprised that someone would find him beautiful.
“He said he wanted to get it down on paper.”
Brian could just imagine the syrupy sweet lines that Justin had strung together to coax Mikey out of his clothes. He shuddered at the thought that he probably taught him most of them.
“And Ben… Jeez, Bri. It’s just been so long… It felt so good to be touched again.”
‘I’ll bet.’ Brian thought angrily about those large, practiced hands playing Mikey like a fucking piano. Professor Perfect probably realized his mistake in breaking up with him and wanted Mikey back. ‘Well fuck that.’
Brian surreptitiously pocketed the comic and headed for the door. “I’ll see you later.”
“Wait. Where are you going? I thought we were going out?” Michael knew exactly what was wrong with Brian, and frankly, it was scaring him that his best friend wasn’t doing more to hide it.
“I just remembered I have something to do.”
“Bri…Brian wait. Fuck!”
******
Justin was taken aback by the figure he found looming in his doorway. “Brian.”
Not once, in all of the months that they had been apart, had Justin seen Brian anywhere except for the occasion and occasional encounter at Babylon, or requisite ‘see, I don’t have a problem hanging out with you, ’drink at Woody’s. He’d certainly never actively searched Justin out before. Then again, he hadn’t had a reason, until now…. Slowly, Justin’s eyes were drawn to the object, clutched tightly in Brian’s fist.
Rage: Vol. 1 issue 3
Brian’s eyes probed Justin’s expectantly.
“Uh, come in.” Hiding his amusement, Justin stepped aside, letting Brian pass. “Give me a minute. I’ve got a pot of gumbo on the stove. Wouldn’t want it to burn.”
“Why don’t you put it in the refrigerator. I hear it always tastes better the next day.”
Justin ignored the old barb and went about lowering the flame.
Brian glanced around the small apartment with distaste. It was similar to Mikey’s, in that all of the furniture looked as though it was borrowed or found in a second hand store. Everything seemed to be colored in similar shades of brown, mustard yellow and olive green. Everything was reminiscent of the seventies. Unfortunately for Justin and his boyfriend though, they obviously lacked an “Emmett” to pull it all together.
“So,” Justin reappeared from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a damp dishrag. “Can I get you something?”
The comic hit the dining room table with a smack. Justin gave an elated smile, as he hurriedly picked it up. “Oh cool. They arrived!” Then meeting Brian’s severe gaze with a playful one of his own, Justin delivered the most unrepentant grin he could manage. “I bet Michael was surprised.”
“In shock is more like it. What the fuck are you playing at?” Brian deadpanned.
“I’m not playing at anything. I’m just giving the public what they want.”
“Oh,” Brian huffed. “And the public wants pictures of Michael naked. Is that it? Pictures he didn’t give you permission to publish, I might add.”
“Zephyr.” Justin corrected, grabbing his backpack and removing a stack of letters from it. “And yes. Essentially, I am giving the public what it wants.” Pulling off a rubber band, Justin fanned the envelopes out on the table in front of Brian. They were all addressed to Michael Novotny & Justin Taylor c/o Red Cape comics. “See for yourself.”
After skimming through the first few, Brian began to see a pattern. It seemed his little Mikey certainly had a following, even if they were a following of geeks… Dear Justin and Michael, when is Zephyr going to get a boyfriend and get naked? Dear Michael and Justin, I’m thrilled that you created a role model for the gay community, and at the risk of sounding shallow… when are we going to get to see Zephyr get laid? Dear Michael and Justin… They all seemed to carry the same general theme.
To Justin, who was observing his ex-lover as inconspicuously as possible, Brian seemed satisfied with the explanation and somewhat amused.
“Is he really pissed?” Justin winced, glancing up from a particularly graphic picture of Zephyr, his cock an achingly needy shade of purple, swollen and dripping with spunk.
“What do you think?
” Justin glanced back at the picture. “He translates well to paper though. Don’t you think?” Justin offered in way of consolation. “Come on Brian. You know Michael better than anyone. He was never going to let me use those sketches of him.”
Brian had to agree. His Mikey was much too modest for that. But still… “What’s your point?”
“What’s my…? Brian. You’ve seen them. Those pictures are amazing!”
“Your humility knows no bounds, Sunshine.” Brian shook his head.
“You should see them together, Brian. The way Michael looks at him, and way Ben holds Michael like he’s the most important thing in the world. It’s really a shame it didn’t work out between them.”
Brian’s eyes narrowed, and Justin knew he had to tread carefully here. Damn, he thought, studying Brian’s protective stance. He is really jealous. Justin had to admit, as happy as he was with Tomas, a small part of him wished that even an infinitesimal amount of the jealousy that Brian was now radiating had been reserved for him when he and Brian were a couple. Brian looked more intense than Justin had ever seen him. Michael was a lucky man.
“They are so hot together.” Finally, Justin decided that the best thing to do was let the pictures speak for themselves. Digging into his knapsack, he retrieved his sketchbook. “Here…see for yourself.”
Justin hovered over Brian’s shoulder as he thumbed through the first few drawings. “Ben is big,” Justin stated playing devil’s advocate.
“I know.” Brian snapped. “I slept with him, remember?” Though Brian had to admit, looking at him now, Ben did seem bigger-a lot bigger than he remembered, actually. And that wasn’t just his cock size.
If Brian remembered correctly, Ben’s body was more than just visually stimulating, too. It was a veritable playground of sin, well practiced in most of the arts of carnal pleasure. Himeros; the ancient Greek god of sexual desire, come to life in one hell of a hot package. Gazing over Justin’s detailed depiction of Ben, Brian remembered that weekend in Miami fondly.
As Brian turned the page, Justin held his breath, studying Brian with renewed interest.
He wondered, already being as unraveled by this whole scenario as Brian obviously was, just how much of his normally well-schooled features were going to crack? The next few pictures were definitely going to be enlightening to say the least.
On the page before Brian, Michael lay bared, open and naked in every sense of the word. Every curve of his body, every muscle and expression right there in black and white for all the world to see…for Brian to see. Completely exposed.
Justin watched Brian closely. The way his eyes traveled, not across paper, but across Michael and the elaborately shaded lines of Michael’s body. Brian’s expression of passion and reverence was mesmerizing.
For eighteen years, Brian Kinney had avoided seeing his best friend like this; pictured him in his minds eye, yes. Dreamt of him, imagined him, envisioned… But now, here he was in all of his lust-filled glory and sexual abandon spread out for Brian’s pleasure… ‘No, for Ben’s pleasure.’ A voice in the back of his mind whispered. Suddenly, Brian grew angry.
Looking at the picture, Brian was surprised that his cock wasn’t the first organ to react. His heart swelled with love, his muscles clenched in possessive anger, his dick leapt with interest, and from some unfamiliar place in his psyche, his chest constricted painfully.
Justin however, all too familiar with that place, noticed it the instant it flashed across Brian’s face. Jealousy. Brian slapped the cover of the sketchpad closed.
“So, he’s back with, Ben, then?”
“I don’t know really.” Justin replied cautiously. “I didn’t stick around once… Uh…”
“Yeah,” Brian snapped. “I got it.”
Justin watched as Brian began buttoning up his coat. “Wait. I’ve got something for you.”
Brian rolled his eyes in aggravation, annoyed at being held up. He waited impatiently as Justin gently pulled one of the drawings from his sketchbook.
“Not quite perverse enough for the storyline…” He said in way of an explanation, admiring his work. A picture of Michael, similar to one of the first ones Justin had drawn that day; similar with the exclusion of Ben, that is. Michael stood facing forward, his deep, chocolate eyes challenging. His pants were open revealing a sprinkling of thick, black curls. But his cock for the most part, remained concealed, only an indication of a bulge to be seen. He was holding up his own shirt, exposing his midriff, while one hand spread temptingly across his flattened belly as if caught mid stroke. The edges of Michael’s mouth were turned up in a kittenish grin. “…but too good not to be seen.” He rolled the picture into a cylinder, and gently slipped a rubber band around it before handing it to Brian.
Brian snatched it, and headed for the door. “Wow, if one didn’t know you better, they’d think you were jealous or something.” Justin taunted.
Brian turned back around. “Then it’s a good thing you know me better than that. Isn’t it? I don’t do jealous.” Brian’s words were meant to be hurtful, but Justin was, thankfully, past all of that pettiness. If anything, he found himself amused by the supposedly ‘heartless’ ad man.
Grabbing the comic off the table on his way out, Brian turned and slammed the door so hard behind him, that it bounced back open. Justin rubbed the splintered wood regretfully. His landlord was going to go ballistic when he saw the damage. “Shit. It’s a good thing you don’t do jealous.” He laughed to himself, and closed the door.
