Author's Comments: The storyline and date-timeline continues where Superheroes left off. Story Updates will post as usual every 1-3 days. I hope you enjoy this sequel. Lois, thank you for the beta...you are the greatest!
Chapter 1 – Morning Plans The Next Morning…(Day 15) Brian felt, rather than heard, Justin slide out of bed the next morning ahead of the alarm. Brian had not forgiven Justin for falling asleep in the middle of their ‘critical discussion’. Read ‘critical discussion’ to mean something that Brian wanted to talk about, but Justin didn’t. Justin had sent Brian’s painting to the house in West Virginia for the simple reason that Justin wanted Brian to see his painting, for the first time, there. Brian tried to understand Justin’s reasoning because he knew from experience that Justin firmly believed that a painting should be seen in its proper setting. Justin may have an artist’s sensibility about such things, but at this moment Brian wanted his painting, and he wanted it now. The suspense was killing him. All he remembered was the beauty of the painting from the quick glimpse of the thumbnail on Justin’s website. Brian already knew he loved the painting, even if he couldn’t remember many specific details about it. Brian kept thinking to himself, if he had only had a little more time with the computer, this problem wouldn’t exist. He had been just about to click on the thumbnail and to see the larger image of the painting, when Justin intervened and convinced him to wait and see the real thing. Justin had then extracted a promise that Brian would not peek at the website images. That sealed his fate, for no matter how desperately Brian wanted see what was on the website, he would never break a promise to Justin. Brian accepted that he would have to suffer and wait until the time was right to see the actual painting, but he didn’t have to like it one bit. Brian’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the shower. Deciding this was an invitation, Brian turned off the unnecessary alarm on the clock so it wouldn’t wake Gus while he was in the shower. And then Brian quietly slipped out of bed and joined Justin for their morning shower. An hour later as the water turned cold and Justin had made his usual complaint about the insufficient capacity of hot water in the loft, Brian and Justin emerged from their shower thoroughly fucked and ready to start the day. Justin dressed first and went to the kitchen to start the coffee and prepare breakfast. Brian took a little longer to dress, while he tried to figure out exactly which suit/shirt/tie combination matched his mood today. Brian looked at the sleeping Gus and gently kissed his cheek. Then the aroma of brewing coffee forced Brian to toss on a pair of sweatpants and hurry to the kitchen. When Brian arrived in the kitchen, Justin was nowhere in sight, but the door to the loft was opened. Walking to the open door, Brian peered into the hallway and noticed the door to the storage area was opened. Justin had given strict instructions to Brian not to venture into the storage area. So Brian simply shrugged and returned to pour himself a glass of guava juice, while he waited for the coffee to finish brewing. Through the open door Brian could hear the rustling sounds of things being moved. His instinct was to offer help, but he remembered Justin’s instructions to stay out of the storage area, so he made himself comfortable on one of the bar stools and continued to wait for Justin’s return. Hearing the door to the storage room close and Justin’s approach, Brian gulped down the rest of his juice. “Is Gus still asleep?” Justin asked, returning to the loft and sliding the door close. “I guess he did have a rather busy day yesterday.” “Yes, we all did!” Brian remarked with a smile. Then noticing the sketchpad in Justin’s arms, Brian had to ask, “What do you have there?” “Brian, I’ve been gone a long time, but surely you recognize a sketchpad,” Justin teased, while gently stroking Brian’s cheek. “Don’t be a smartass, Sunshine. I know it’s a sketchpad. Why were you fishing this one out of the storage room, when you already have one over there on the coffee table?” “This came from ‘my just in case list’ when I was packing to come to here.” “What?” “Never mind. Would you like me to fix you some eggs and toast?” Justin asked, moving into the kitchen and starting to gather ingredients. “Hold on. What are you talking about ‘my just in case list’? You’ve mentioned that before.” Justin sighed and explained, “When I was packing to come to Pittsburgh, you were really vague about why I was coming. So I packed a few things that I thought I might need while I was here. Things I couldn’t purchase here, but just might need for one reason on another. This sketchpad was on that list.” Brian reached for the sketchpad and starting flipping through it. He was utterly fascinated by the images before him. Justin had done color sketches of various rooms in a house. The sketches were unusual in that furniture and special touches had been added to each room. This was the first time that Brian had ever seen color images in one of Justin’s sketchpads. Color images were usually reserved for canvas. “Justin, if you ever to decide to give up painting, you have a terrific future in interior design,” Brian commented with a smile. “These are magnificent interiors.” “Thank you, I’m glad you like them,” Justin gushed, always surprised by praise from Brian. “What are they?” Brian asked. “Bri-tin.” “What? Bri-tin? How?” “Come here and I’ll show you,” Justin said, motioning toward his computer. While Justin fired up his computer, Brian poured two cups of coffee and brought them over to the computer. Brian was always most curious to see what Justin had show him, for Justin never failed to intrigue him. Justin opened a file on his computer and smiled at Brian. Then Justin started to explain, “Right after you asked me to marry you, I ordered the architectural plans for the house. I loaded them on my computer. We were starting to talk about renovations and things, so this seemed like the easiest way to manage things.” Justin had been mindlessly clicking through images, when he paused for a moment. He became a bit more subdued, before he continued. “Of course, then we decided not to get married,” he said sadly. It was just a moment, then Justin’s voice quickly returned to normal. “Anyway, I now have the layout for the whole property. I have the house and the surrounding structures, including the pool, tennis court, and stables,” Justin said, clicking rapidly through image after image, showing the entire expanse of the West Virginia property. “Well…well…well,” Brian commented, showing total amazement. “What else have you been up to?” “In the beginning when I went to New York, remember you wouldn’t talk to me, and nothing was happening on the art scene for me there, so I would work on the designs for the house. Then in between shows, I would periodically update my sketches. Eventually, I digitized the interior spaces of the house. See?” Justin continued to explain, zooming in and enlarging images of the various rooms on the computer. “You did all this while you were away?” Brian asked in amazement. “Well if you know how you want the rooms to look, if you know what we want, why are we just renting what we need? Why not just buy everything we need and furnish the house?” Justin let out a laugh, “You’ve got to be kidding, right?” “Justin…” “Brian, WE don’t have time to negotiate with YOU over every items that will go in the house. Need I remind you how many hours it took for us to settle on the rental car that I’m primarily going to be the one driving,” Justin teased. “I don’t want to think about really furnishing the house, taking into consideration both our tastes, with constant negotiation with you. That’s just too big a task, when you consider all that we both have on our plates at the moment: the Belluss Occhiali/Eyeconics project, the remaining paintings for Santa Barbara, my upcoming show, Gus is here, you’re busy with Kinnetik, plus I still have to fly to Cincinnati tomorrow or the next day. There just isn’t time right now. All I want is for us to spend some time at the house and enjoy it before my next show. So renting is best. We’ll just get what we need quickly. You and I can furnish the house together later,” Justin suggested, sealing his thoughts with a kiss. “Well if you see something you think I’ll like, just buy it. If you guess wrong, it’s not going to be a problem.” Brian said, returning the kiss. “I just don’t want to get too many things, until we know what’s going to happen with Belluss Occhiali…after all, you could be moving to Europe,” Justin teased. “But then I guess I could stay at Bri-tin and still enjoy the house, while you’re busy setting up the European office of Kinnetik.” Brian was about to challenge Justin’s remark, but their conversation was interrupted as a little person suddenly appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to climb into Justin’s lap. “Well, did we wake you?” Justin asked, kissing the top of the head of a very sleepy Gus. “No I woke up all alone. So I came in here to find you,” Gus said, leaning into to Justin’s chest, but reaching a hand out to Brian. “So Gus, let’s you and I get dressed, then I’ll take you and Justin out to breakfast at the Diner. How does that sound?” Brian volunteered, reaching for Gus and lifting him into his arms. Gus simply cheered and clapped his acceptance of the idea. “That will be great, I’ll call Em and my mother so we can coordinate our plans for today,” Justin said, reaching for the phone. Brian reached in his desk drawer and pulled out a business card, he had obviously set aside last night. “Here’s the card for my decorator at the Designer’s Showcase, just in case you’re unhappy with the rental choices available. Just decide what you want, and then I want you to let Emmett handle the details. I really want you to get back to painting as quickly as possible, ok? And, if you need me to do anything you just call Cynthia. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this alone,” Brian said, leaning down and kissing the top of Justin head. Gus imitated Brian’s motion and also kissed the top of Justin’s, since he was still being securely held in Brian’s arms. Brian and Justin both burst out laughing. Gus just smiled. Gus was now fully awake. “Let’s go Sonny Boy,” Brian said, tossing Gus in the air and catching him. “Let’s you and I get dressed.” Justin called Emmett and invited him to join them for an early breakfast at the Diner. Justin also called Jennifer, who was already having breakfast with Molly. Jennifer indicated that she downloaded the original listing for the property, which gave a detailed description of some of the unique features of house. Jennifer also indicated that she would make the preliminary calls to the furniture rental company. Justin gave her the name and phone number of Brian’s decorator, just in case they needed to formulate a backup plan. Justin made one final comparison between what was on the computer with what was in his sketchpad. He felt he was now ready to tackle the task at hand. Justin made one more precautionary move…the computer file, which he and Brian had just been looking at, was emailed to Jennifer. Gus and Brian emerged dressed and ready to go. Justin noticed that Brian was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater and carrying a suit bag over his arm. Gus was also similarly dressed and carrying a small backpack. Justin took one look at the pair of them and asked, “So where do you think you’re going dressed like that?” Justin couldn’t help laughing. “Gus and I talked it over, and we decided to spend part of the day with you,” Brian said innocently, thinking that their decision should have already been obvious to Justin. Gus eagerly nodded his agreement. “After breakfast, I’m just going to ride to the house with you to make sure you have everything you need, and then Gus and I will be off. We won’t be in your way,” Brian said reassuringly, secretly thinking that he might get a chance to look at his painting. “Brian, there will be too many people at the house. Promise me you won’t try to look at your painting amid all this chaos,” Justin said knowingly with a smile. Brian sighed resolutely and nodded his acceptance. ‘Justin was definitely on to him,’ Brian thought. Brian suddenly realized that Justin had been issuing instructions to him and now exacting promises from him ever since his arrival from New York. It was obvious to Brian that Justin was losing sight of who was in control. Then he stopped to notice the new confidence that Justin exuded as he went about his tasks, and Brian smiled as he realized he liked this new aspect to Justin. Of course Brian also noticed his plans to see HIS painting were being thwarted at every turn, but he remained hopeful that an unexpected opportunity would present itself for him to sneak a peek at the painting. With everyone now dressed and properly equipped with their respective bags…they were on their way to breakfast at the Diner.