Author's Comments: I know you're disappointed with Brian's decision to delay viewing his painting. I felt the same way until I realized that he coudn't just glance at the painting. He would have to have time to experience the painting. So his waiting made sense. You won't have to wait too much longer for the unveiling of the painting...Promise! Updates will post as usual every 1-3 days.
Lois, thank you for the beta...you are the greatest!
Chapter 4 – Something In The Dark
Early Evening…(Day 15)
Brian and Gus walked up the lighted path leading to the house. They crossed under the ivy-covered archway and entered the foyer. The sensors detected their presence, and the foyer became softly lit. Brian could see a small table and a coat rack off to his left. Brian placed his briefcase on the table, so he could help Gus off with his coat. Next Brian removed his own coat.
Gus continued to hold tightly to the package containing the lemon bars.
Gus and Brian had only taken a few steps into the foyer when Justin was there to meet them. Gus reached out and handed Justin the treasured package of lemon bars
“Jus, these are for you. Dad and I went to the Diner,” Gus explained.
“You got these for me!” Justin exclaimed with surprise. “Thank you, Gus,” Justin said, giving Gus a big hug. After the hug, Justin continued to hold Gus’s hand.
Brian and Justin greeted each other with a gentle kiss and their usual greeting.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Stay where you are, I have something for you,” Justin instructed, making sure they didn’t proceed any further.
“Justin, what’s going on?” Brian asked apprehensively.
In the next instant, two small flashlights seemed to appear out of nowhere. Actually, Justin had the flashlights hidden in the pockets of cargo pants.
“Here, these are for you. There’s one for each of you. It will make moving about easier,” Justin suggested with a smile. In the next instant the house went completely dark.
Brian and Gus looked at each other in confusion, as they turned on their flashlights.
“Justin?” Brian questioned.
Justin ignored their questions…instead he gave more directions.
“Brian, I picked up a few things at the loft. I also picked up some comfortable clothes for you and Gus. Everything is in the media room over there to your left,” Justin said, motioning in the direction of the nearest room with his own flashlight. “I want you both to get comfortable. Gus can help you change. Then I’m expecting both of you in the living room in less than 15 minutes,” Justin ordered with a smile as he turned and walked away.
Brian held Gus’s hand as they slowly walked toward the designated room…both were moving in stunned silence.
“Dad, which room is the living room?” Gus finally asked in a whisper.
“Gus, this morning I had a pretty good idea. But you know Justin… it could be anywhere by now. Let’s go ahead and change clothes. Then we can call out to Justin and let him come get us. How does that sound?”
“Dad, do you think Justin knows where the living room is?” Gus asked quietly. “How can he even find things in the dark?”
“You know how Justin likes to hide things for us to find?” Brian asked, thinking of all the games Justin has played with Gus.
“Yeah.” Gus said with a smile.
“Well I think the living room is just going to be another one of those hidden things. We’re just going to have to do whatever Justin tells us to do?”
“Ok Dad.” Gus finally agreed. “But I don’t know about this.”
As Brian thought about their predicament, he had to smile.
Using their flashlights for illumination, Brian quickly got out of his Armani suit as he settled into the comfortable sweat pants and sweatshirt that Justin had provided. As usual, Brian was barefoot, since he really liked the feel of the wood floor beneath his feet. Gus also changed into sweat pants and a sweatshirt, and imitating his father, Gus removed his shoes and socks. He wiggled his toes against the wood floor.
Brian just smiled as his son tried to imitate him.
“So are we ready?” Brian asked.
“Yep.” Gus said with a nod of his head.
“Then let’s call Justin.” Brian suggested.
They both moved to the doorway of the media room and called out into the dark. “Justin! Justin!” they both said in unison.
“Justin, where are you?” Gus added.
“I’m right here, Gus,” Justin responded, while slowly approaching the pair from a great distance.
Then Brian became aware of strange noises. “Do you hear that?” Brian asked Gus. “Justin, what are those strange sounds?” Brian had to ask into the darkness, “And, why are the lights off?”
Justin ignored all their questions. Instead he simply appeared with a flashlight, for he knew the original flashlights would have been left behind in the room, when they changed clothes.
“Now if you two will follow me, our evening can begin,” Justin said, leading the way.
Brian and Gus followed close behind Justin. It seemed like a really long journey to Gus.
“Are you sure it is not a long way away?” Gus finally had to ask.
“Not too far,” Justin answered with a smirk.
They all traveled a few more paces, and then they stopped.
“Welcome to our campsite for the evening,” Justin finally said as the group finally reached the living room, which was located on the opposite side of the house. Justin had taken a circuitous route to get there just for good measure.
“Campsite?” Brian asked with surprise.
Brian hesitated a moment as his eyes adjusted to the changed lighting. There in the living room, Justin had created a campsite…complete with tent, trees, rocks, and nature sounds.
“Justin, are those crickets?” Brian asked, after listening to the chirping.
Brian secretly hoped those sounds were being imitated by a machine rather than the real insects.
“Yep. Gus do you hear them?” Justin asked.
“Listen to them, Dad there must be a zillion of them,” Gus said excitedly.
“Justin, I hear a water fall,” Brian said, apprehensively not knowing what to expect next. But just to make sure, he looked around the room to see if he should start to worry.
“Yep. There are also lions and tigers, but I heard they won’t be out tonight,” Justin teased as Gus giggled.
“I see,” Brian smirked, thinking that having that knowledge was a big relief.
“There are a couple of blankets scattered around for sitting, or you could sit on the rocks. I’ll have dinner ready for you shortly,” Justin announced, leaving the room and disappearing into the darkness again.
“That sounds good,” Brian said, suddenly realizing that he was hungry.
Justin reappeared and handed Brian and Gus each bottles of water, and he once again disappeared into the darkness.
“So this is the living room? How did you find it?” Brian teased, thinking it sure didn’t look like this earlier in the day.
“I had the plans, of course,” Justin responded laughing.
Brian and Gus laughed too and made themselves comfortable on one of the blankets.
The fireplace provided the only lighting for the campsite. The remainder of the room was still dimly lit in shadow.
“Look Dad, stones,” Gus said, with his eyes wide in wonder.
“No Gus, those are rocks…boulders actually,” Brian explained lovingly.
Justin had scattered rocks of different sizes around the room. Gus started to climb up and down the various levels of rocks, with Brian helping to steady him as he climbed. The rock formation went all around the lighted area of room, so Gus could go from rock to rock and never touch the wood floor. Giggles were heard within a few minutes.
Finally Gus needed to rest from all the jumping and climbing, so he settled on a rock and once again sipped his water, and Brian did the same.
A few minutes later, a lantern and a small plate of fresh veggies appeared on one of the other boulders toward the rear of the room. Brian and Gus moved to the light and immediately started to nibble on the veggie treats.
Justin finally appeared again and joined them at the rock. Justin started to nibble on the veggies while he talked to Brian and Gus.
“Gus, did you have a good time today in your Dad’s office.” Justin asked.
“I got to draw and color and everything.” Gus responded, munching on a carrot.
“I see.” Justin remarked. Then he turned to Brian and asked, “How was the traffic?”
“We waited just long enough to leave so that it wasn’t too bad. Did you get everything you wanted to get done today?” Brian asked, munching on another veggie.
“Emmett and Gregory were a big help. Everything will arrive tomorrow around noon,” Justin confirmed.
Brian just smiled as he tried to picture Emmett and Gregory scurrying around trying to get everything done.
Gus and Brian were busy talking to each other, when they noticed that Justin had disappeared again.
“Justin where are you, and what are you doing?” Brian asked, finding Justin’s appearances and disappearances a bit perplexing.
Justin had discovered the rotisserie and grilling features in the kitchen. He had put these to good use as he created the campfire dinner. It took him a minute to answer Brian.
“I’m right here, and dinner is served,” Justin announced, reentering the room carrying a tray of food, containing mini-hotdogs and mini-hamburgers for everyone, as well as all the fixings for little sandwiches. Justin served everything on paper plates and even provided the necessary eating utensils.
Gus started munching on his hot dog immediately, while Brian proceeded to make faces in protest.
“Justin, surely you don’t expect me to eat those things?” Brian protested as expected, using his hand for extra emphasis.
“But Dad, you have to. This is what you eat when you go camping,” Gus informed him, obviously speaking from experience.
“Brian, you have to at least take a bite,” Justin insisted. “Here you can have a bite of mine.” Justin said, handing over the morsel to Brian.
Brian took a bite, and Gus cheered. Brian continued making faces in protest.
Justin of course, was prepared for this. He had made a little packet of turkey and vegetables just for Brian, who looked at his packet and realized this was another of Justin low carb/low fat creations. With that, Brian decided that he suddenly liked this camping thing a whole lot better.
Justin disappeared and reappeared once more, this time with special green vegetable salad, which everyone ate without complaint.
Later, Justin brought out the torch… you know, the kind that you would normally use to light cherries jubilee… which made a perfect device for toasting marshmallows. Justin made s’mores by adding the graham crackers and a chocolate bars to the toasted marshmallows. The s’mores were a bit messy, but Gus loved them.
Brian wasn’t sure he liked any of these things. He found that the toasted marshmallows looked particularly strange. They were after all sticky and sweet and obviously carbs, and it was clearly after 7pm. The graham crackers and chocolate bars weren’t any better. No, Brian wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with any of this.
Brian protested for several minutes more, and each comment caused Justin and Gus to look at each other and laugh.
Finally Gus and Justin saw that they had no other option to get Brian to enjoy camping. These were desperate times, and desperate times called for desperate measures. So they tickled Brian and wrestled him to the ground.
Gus pinned Brian down while they forced fed him toasted marshmallows. Due to his squirming and protesting, Brian ended up with marshmallows all over his face before he finally ate the required one. Gus giggled the whole time.
“I don’t see what’s so funny,” Brian remarked, licking the excess marshmallows with his fingers.
Justin assigned Brian and Gus the task of assembling a little tent. The idea was that the tent would be a father/son project, and Gus would get a chance to sleep by himself. But assembling things was not Brian’s strong suit. So every time the little tent was raised, it kept collapsing a few minutes later. Gus giggled every time the tent collapsed, but Brian failed to see the humor. They both had a good time, which was the whole idea of the project.
Finally, Justin took pity and moved Gus’s sleeping bag into their already assembled tent. Justin had the larger tent assembled during the day, to be sure they all had a place to sleep. The tent was easily big enough to handle the additional sleeping bag.
Justin had thought of everything. He had even purchased a book of campfire stories.
Brian and Justin read to Gus by light of the campfire…correction, make that by the light of the fireplace. Gus listened in complete fascination from his snuggled position between Brian and Justin.
Finally Justin noticed that Gus was starting to get sleepy. Once again, Justin was prepared.
“Gus, you pajamas are inside your sleeping bag,” Justin said. “Why don’t you get dressed for bed?”
Brian borrowed a flashlight and helped Gus find his way to the bathroom. Gus quickly changed and entered the tent.
“So Gus, how did you like camping?” Brian asked, helping his son into his sleeping bag.
“Fun Dad…can we do this again,” Gus asked with a big grin.
“Not too soon,” Brian said in mock protest, “I still have to recover from that marshmallow experience.”
Gus and Justin just laughed.
Brian curled up on top of an adjacent sleeping bag and stayed with Gus until he had fallen asleep.
Meanwhile, Justin did a quick clean up of the kitchen, and then he and Brian sat spooned together in front of the fire, using one of the boulders as a back support.
“I can’t believe you created this elaborate campsite.” Brian whispered, kissing Justin on the cheek. “Gus had a ball just jumping from rock to rock throughout the room. His little eyes lit up and his face was aglow.”
“I’m glad he had a good time,” Justin said with a smile.
“I’m sure this is a evening he will definitely remember.”
“Well, he’s been so good with all the stuff going on. I wanted to do something special for him. You know after tomorrow, the house will be filled with furniture. I wanted us to enjoy the house, to initiate it, while it was still empty.”
“You know this house feels so different from the loft. Whenever I would come here before, it would always used to feel so big. But this camping in the living room experience, makes the whole house actually seem cozy,” Brian confessed with emotion.
“Wait until you see it with actual furniture in it,” Justin teased. “You’re going to love it.”
Brian wasn’t actually sure about that, but as long as Justin was happy, that’s all he cared about.
“Did Emmett and Gregory help you find everything you think we’ll need?” Brian asked one more time.
“Yeah, I’m sure by tomorrow or the next day, everything will be ready. I have to fly out on Wednesday morning to Cincinnati, but I should be back in plenty of time to help you put Gus to bed.”
“Well tomorrow Gus has a busy day planned. Debbie and Gus are going to make cookies. I understand that your mother is supposed to join them for lunch. I also heard that the munchers are coming into town. I’m sure they just want to make sure that Gus doesn’t have pink hair or something. I think they’re going to be in town until the weekend. I’m not really sure what that’s all about. Anyway, we’ll probably have Gus for a few more days.”
“Well I guess if Gus is making cookies tomorrow, I think I may drop in at Kinnetik so I can get the art department started on those boards. We never really know when Signor Silvestri will make a surprise appearance, and I know you want to be ready,” Justin suggested.
“But, what about your painting?” Brian asked with concern. “I know the trip here has probably put you behind schedule. I really didn’t mean to do that.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. It’s only been a few days, and I could definitely use the break,” Justin said, snuggling in closer.
“Maybe,” Brian said, still having his doubts.
Justin then turned around and kissed Brian passionately.
“Wow! Believe me I’m not complaining,” Brian said breathlessly as the kiss ended, “But what was that for?”
“I saw my studio earlier today. You furnished and equipped everything, didn’t you. You even got that really expensive easel that I was drooling over. When did you do all this?”
“It was right before you left. I talked to Lindsay and ordered everything. By the time it got here though, you had already left for New York. Somehow, after you left, furnishing your studio let me know that you would be back. I wasn’t sure when that would be, but I wanted everything ready for you whenever it was,” Brian said softly.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
They sat there for a moment just enjoying the fire and each other.
“So what else do you have planned?” Brian asked with a smirk.
“I was hoping you could leave work early on Thursday,” Justin mentioned casually.
“Why, what’s going on?” Brian asked hesitantly. After the camping experience, he now knew to be ready for anything.
“I found riding stables not too far down the road. So, I scheduled Gus for a riding lesson at 3PM on Thursday. I thought maybe you would like to take him. It’s only a half hour lesson, but I thought we could see if he and the horses like each other.”
“Well that’s an interesting prospect.” Brian commented with a smile. “But, what about your painting?”
“Ok I worked that out. I thought I would spend the mornings at Kinnetik overseeing the project, and then I could paint in the afternoons and evenings. After the house is set up and I get back from Cincinnati, I shouldn’t have anything else to throw me off schedule. Is that all right?” Justin asked, hoping to finally have Brian stop worrying.
“Ok,” Brian said emphatically.
With that settled, they enjoyed another quiet moment.
Justin snuggled in closer to Brian’s chest and said, “Thank you.”
“For what?” Brian whispered, trying to figure out what else he’d done.
“For keeping the house, and for agreeing to let us move in, even if it’s only for a few months,” Justin said quietly.
“I bought this palace for you, remember?” Brian reminded him, gently kissing the top of Justin head.
“Yes, for your prince.” Justin answered.
“You remembered,” Brian whispered.
“Of course, I remembered. How could I forget?” Justin said, as he snuggled even closer to Brian. “Do you think you’ll ever get used to living here?”
“Well if you promise not to hide from me,” Brian teased. “I think I’ll be ok.”
“I promise,” Justin assured him.
***
Justin eventually stood up and pulled Brian with him. “Come with me…let me show you the shower,” Justin suggested seductively. “It’s not quite as big as the one in the loft, but I think we can manage.”
“I don’t know, I’m used to having a lot of space to maneuver,” Brian teased.
“I promise this time you’ll be ok in tight spaces,” Justin responded with a smile, pulling Brian along.
Justin leaned in and kissed Brian passionately.
When they finally pulled apart Brian simply said, “Well, as long as you’re sure.”
“Absolutely.”
The shower was just a slightly smaller version of the shower in the loft, however the shower was fully stocked with all the essentials: condoms and lube, as well as their individual brands of shampoo, shower gel.
They both quickly got undressed, and Justin started the shower.
“Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of time because we don’t want to leave Gus sleeping alone too long, but I just wanted to make sure that you had one more memory to top off your camping experience,” Justin said, kissing Brian gently nipping his way down to Brian’s neck.
Brian adjusted the water temperature and pulled Justin in to shower with him.
And as Justin had predicted, Brian was definitely able to maneuver.
After several blowjobs and a quick fuck, Brian and Justin emerged in pajamas ready to sleep with Gus in the tent.