A/N: Have faith, everyone! I only write happy B/J endings. I promise! The pulse of Babylon was beating rhythmically, much like the writhing bodies on the dance floor. It was always amazing to Justin how beautiful the dance floor of Babylon could be. He took another swallow of his Chivas Regal ™ as his eyes once again swept the dance floor for Emmett and Ted. Despite repeatedly telling Emmett that it wasn’t a good idea for him to go to Babylon, Emmett would meet him nowhere else. So, after dropping off the newest Rage drawings at the comic store for Michael to look at, Justin had then had dinner at the diner, talked with Debbie and Kiki for a bit, and finally had headed over to the club. That was thirty minutes ago, which meant that Emmett was definitely late. He raised a hand as he saw Ted walk through the main entrance. Ted saw him and gave him a slight head nod in greeting as he tried to walk over to where Justin was standing, but was stopped by the club’s manager, Thomas. Justin sighed and took another swallow of his drink. It did cross his mind that he hadn’t seen Brian since walking in, but that just caused more pain. It seemed, at least to him, that Brian finally found someone that he wanted to be with. And while Justin was happy for him because he loved Brian and wanted him happy, his heart was breaking because it wasn’t with him. Justin mentally shrugged and took another swallow. As he turned to the bartender to ask for another double of Chivas Regal ™ on the rocks, two things happened: Ted came up beside him and patted him on the shoulder in a gesture of greeting, and a really hot blonde asked him for a dance. Ted chuckled good naturedly and with his hands gestured that Justin should join the insistent man in question. With a smile of thanks and after handing the rest of his drink to Ted, Justin hit the dance floor with the good looking man. About thirty seconds into the dance, Justin realized that this had not been a good idea. The man was all over him. Justin tried to politely push him back a few times, but the man was having none of it. As the man was leaning in for a kiss, which Justin fervently tried to get away from, the man was harshly extricated from Justin’s form. With a sigh of relief, Justin realized that Ted had seen what was happening and had come in with a bouncer to remove the guy. He gave Ted a grateful smile and decided, when Ted turned away to head back to the bar, to grab Ted by the shoulders. With an odd look from Ted, Justin used his hands to tell Ted that he wanted to dance. Ted, with an incredibly shocked look on his face, nodded and began dancing with him. Two dances later, they were still dancing and Justin was shocked at what a good time he was having with Ted. In fact, if he were truly honest, he couldn’t believe what a good dancer Ted was when he wanted to be. Justin kind of smirked to himself when he also thought that Ted was a better dancer than Brian. At the end of the latest Crystal Method song and as a Prodigy song started, Ted signaled that he needed a break and was going to head to the bar. Justin nodded and mimed that he’d join him. Once at the bar, Justin ordered a shot of Jim Beam ™ and quickly shot it. As Ted was ordering a bottle of water, Justin looked around the dance floor and almost threw up when he saw Brian on the floor dancing…with the guy from the day before. Justin was dumbfounded. It seemed that his earlier musings may have been dead on. Brian really had found someone that he seemed to want to be around as much as he had Justin. He watched a few more minutes and was thoroughly sickened by every insignificant touch, glance, and smile between the Adonis looking man and Brian. Justin was pulled from his musings and watching a few seconds later from a tap on the shoulder by Ted. Looking towards Ted with an inquisitive glance, he was practically startled to realize that Emmett had finally shown up- the whole reason that he was at Babylon in the first place- and that Emmett wanted to talk. Justin walked up to Emmett with a quick hug and practically shouted in Emmett’s ear that he wanted to get out of there. Emmett, with a quick, but noticeable glance towards Brian, quickly nodded his agreement. With an inquisitive glance towards Ted and a nod of agreement from him, the unlikely trio was soon heading outside and towards the diner. Once there, Emmett tried to ask a few questions about Brian and the guy with him. Funnily enough, before Justin could try to cut him off, Ted quickly intervened, “It’s none of our business.” Justin could have kissed him for his detour of all the questions. After the quick meeting was over and learning what Emmett had wanted to meet for, Ted offered Justin a ride home, which he immediately accepted. When they got to Justin’s rather run down studio apartment, he asked Ted up. To his surprise, Ted agreed. They sat on his consignment shop futon and talked about anything and everything while having a few more shots of Jim Beam™. Justin was dumbfounded at what a lovely time he was having with “boring” Ted. Just as Ted was yawning for the tenth time in less than five minutes and was saying that he needed to go, Justin decided that he didn’t want the evening to end. He pulled Ted in by the jacket lapels and brought his lips to Ted’s. For a moment, Justin could tell that Ted was shocked, then he seemed to give in, but to Justin’s surprise, he quickly pulled back and repeated, “No,” over and over. “What?” Justin asked, “Don’t you want to kiss me?” “No,” Ted repeated again before heading to the door. “Is it because of Brian? Because if it is, we are definitely through this time; you don’t need to worry about him.” Justin began walking towards Ted again. He had to admit that he found Ted’s “boring” label quite appealing at the moment. His drunk self wanted to bring the fiery Ted out, so he went to pull Ted in for another kiss, but Ted was ready for him this time and gently removed himself from Justin’s embrace. With a smile, Ted said, “I’m flattered, but you’re drunk. And yes, there is also Brian to contend with.” “I told you,” Justin said as he went to wrap his arms around Ted’s waist unsuccessfully, “Brian and I are through.” “Justin,” Ted replied, “I’m flattered. I really am, but you are not over Brian and you are drunk. That’s never a good combination. So, here, let me help get you tucked into bed and we’ll pretend that this never happened.” “I want it to happen,” Justin tried to assure him, but found himself tripping over his own feet. Ted laughed. “Really, I am flattered, but I think it’s time for you to go to bed- alone.” And then, Justin was quite sure that he heard Ted mumble something about Brian killing him. Then again, maybe he was wrong. He was, after all, suddenly very, very tired. Justin woke the next morning with a fair sized headache and an incredibly dry mouth. He was delighted when he found a glass of water beside his makeshift nightstand. He took a drink and found a letter from Ted. In that letter, Ted reiterated most of what he had said the night before: That he was flattered, but he also realized that Justin was hurting and that Justin was drunk, so he considered the situation to be over and done. Justin, to be honest, wasn’t quite sure what to make of it except that Ted probably didn’t want to incur the wrath of his boss. And the reality was that it probably hadn’t been as good an idea as it seemed at the time. Ted did, after all, work for Brian and they were all in Deb’s fucked up family. So, he allowed himself to mindlessly linger on the futon as he drank the water. Twenty minutes later, he felt revived enough to attempt a shower. After a lovely semi-hot shower and a bowl of oatmeal, he was happily into a rather good piece of abstract are when the buzzer to his apartment sounded. Assuming that it was Emmett, Ted, or his mother, he just called out for the person to let themselves in. He was shocked when he felt two arms come around his waist and kiss to his cheek. “Miss me?” the easily recognizable voice asked. Justin turned in and away from Brian. “I wasn’t expecting you.” Brian laughed and arched an eyebrow, “Clearly, you are still dressed.” “Not funny,” Justin chastised Brian, “Besides, we aren’t together anymore.” “Yes, you have mentioned that a time or two,” Brian assured him. “So,” Justin asked, “What do you want?” “To ask you if you want the house’s master bedroom to be in predominately darker colors or more primary?” Justin threw the paint brush in his hand out of pure exasperation. It smacked against the far wall and fell to the dilapidated floor. “Damn it, Brian, how many times must I repeat myself? We aren’t good for one another. We don’t want the same things. This isn’t working anymore.” Brian shrugged and innocently said, “I was just asking about the color scheme for the master bedroom.” “Fuck you,” Justin quickly retorted, “Why don’t you go home to your new ‘fuck more than once’ trick.” Brian, at this statement, looked very confused and his comment confirmed his confusion, “What?” “I said, ‘Why don’t you go home to your new ‘fuck more than once’ trick.” Brian quickly shot back, “I heard what you said. It just makes no fucking sense. What are you talking about?” “I’m talking about your new boy toy.” “What the hell,” Brian inelegantly repeated, “Are you talking about?” Justin sighed. “The guy you were with two afternoons ago. You know, the same guy you were with at Babylon last night.” Justin found himself wanting to smack the smirk right off Brian’s face when Brian had the gall to laugh outright at him. “Matt? Is that the guy you are referring to? The one that was with me at the diner two days ago?” “Sorry,” Justin cattily replied, “No one could possibly keep track of all the names of the guys that you have fucked.” This, for some reason, only made Brian laugh harder. In fact, it took him several minutes to stop laughing. When he did, he agreed, “Probably not, but in this case Matt is not a fuck. He’s my cousin. And you, Sunshine, are jealous!” Justin wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.