Many thanks to Becky, my great beta! :)
“Wake up, Justin.” The boy could hear the soft voice, and felt someone shoving his arm gently.
“Huh?” Justin opened his eyes slowly and tried to locate where he was.
“We’re here.” Brian said and nodded towards a dark, unfamiliar building ahead of them. Justin was sure he’d never seen that place before.
“Where?” He asked, his voice full of uncertainty.
Brian sighed, and seemed to force himself to stay patient,
“At your place. This is where you live.” After watching the boy’s face suspiciously, he couldn’t help asking, “You don’t remember where you live?”
Justin let out a nervous laugh and tried his best to act casual,
“Of course I remember; I guess I’m just not fully awake yet.”
Brian kept on looking at him with a raised eyebrow, and didn’t seem too convinced.
“Uh-huh.” Was all he said then opened the door and stepped out of the car.
Justin followed the man on shaky legs, looking around the unfamiliar street, trying to find out which part of Pittsburgh it was. While watching an Indian restaurant’s ornate entrance across the street he could hear Brian’s voice behind him,
“Keys?”
Justin turned around abruptly and faced the man who was standing at the front door of the dark building.
“What?” The boy asked in confusion.
“We want to get in there, don’t we?” Brian’s eyes mirrored disbelief, “So, would you open the door?” Seeing the boy’s still obtuse expression he added slowly, “With your keys.”
“Oh.” Justin finally seemed to understand what the man was talking about and started to fumble in his bag. Panic started to overwhelm him suddenly. ‘What if I don’t have a key?’
After a minute of uncomfortable misgiving he finally pulled out a bunch of keys. He was staring at it with curiosity; wondering what other places he had keys to. But before he knew it, Brian took the keys out of his hand and said,
“Let me do it for you.” Then he turned around to open the door while murmuring under his breath, “I don’t want to stand here all day.”
The door opened and they entered the building. Justin was sure he’d never been here before. Or he didn’t remember; it didn’t make any difference at the moment. As he stepped to the elevator he could see Brian giving him a questioning look.
“What?” Justin asked in frustration. He was starting to get tired of feeling like a total retard. At least, that was what the man’s expression made him feel like.
“I don’t think that going up the stairs to the first floor would kill you Justin. Besides, as far as I can see it would hardly work.”
Brian’s sarcastic tone made Justin take another look at the elevator, and now he could see an ‘Out Of Order’ sign hanging on it. He frowned because he swore it hadn’t been there a minute ago. He wouldn’t have missed it…under normal circumstances at least. But this situation could be called anything but normal really.
They took the stairs without a word. Justin tried to slow down unnoticeably, following Brian as he went. He didn’t want to embarrass himself again by not knowing which door was the right one; so he let the man lead the way. When Brian stopped at a huge brown door Justin handed the keys to him,
“Would you...” And he gave the man a sweet smile.
“Sure.” Brian took the keys and opened the door to the apartment.
As they stepped into the place he could see Melanie gliding towards him, giving him a hug,
“Justin, it’s so good to see you! How are you feeling?”
But Justin couldn’t reply since the woman was squeezing the life out of him.
“Well, he’d probably feel much better if you let him breathe.” Another familiar male voice assailed the blond’s ear. He turned his head and he could see Michael leaning against the doorframe.
“I’m fine, thanks.” Justin mumbled when Melanie finally pulled away, then he added sheepishly, “At least, for now…”
“What do you mean?” Michael asked suspiciously.
“Nothing…I just…” Justin started to stammer, already regretting his previous sentence. He noticed that Michael looked somewhat…frightened…or…suspicious. Like he didn’t trust Justin; or he was afraid of the boy attacking him. He wore that typical expression which told Justin what the man was thinking of him. That he was a dangerous lunatic.
“Wouldn’t it be better if you went back to the…” Michael started, but Brian seemed to get tired of this, so he cut the smaller man off.
“The doctor said he’s free to go as long as his state doesn’t get worse. But he has to go to therapy twice a week and he’s got some medication to take.”
“But…” Michael started again, but this time Melanie gave him a terrifying look,
“Shut up Michael.”
“Well, I never would’ve thought that I’d say this but…I agree with your wife.” Brian said to Michael with a devilish smile.
“Wife…” The blond whispered to himself in disbelief, while trying to act like he wasn’t shocked to hear something like that.
“Come on Justin,” Melanie said as she wrapped her arm around Justin’s shoulder and led him inside, “you have to rest.”
“Well then, I’m off.” Brian said and Justin turned around immediately. He just didn’t want the man to leave. He wanted Michael and his wife ‘Jesus!’ to get out of there, leaving him alone with Brian.
“Can’t you stay a little longer?” He asked the man, his question more of an entreaty.
“No can do. Sorry, Lindsay is waiting for me. There’re a lot of things that should be arranged by Saturday you know.” And then it hit Justin. The wedding! He’d totally forgotten about that fucking wedding! Brian went on, smiling at the blond, “But I’ll come as soon as I can, okay? Take care and get some rest. I need my best man after all.” And with that, Brian left.
Lying on an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar bedroom which was supposed to be his, totally tired of Melanie’s overprotection, Justin sighed and stared blankly at the ceiling. Suddenly he heard Michael clearing his throat and it made him look in the direction of the bedroom’s door.
“You know…I was just thinking…” Michael stopped, wanting to make sure Justin paid attention to what he was about to say.
“Yeah?” Justin asked, his voice exhausted.
“Since you’re not in the best condition right now… I thought you might like someone else to be the best man for Brian’s wedding…” Michael said carefully.
“Huh?” Justin already knew what the man had in mind. He smiled bitterly; ‘good old Mikey. He’ll never change.’
“And I thought you wouldn’t mind if I…” Michael stopped, waiting for Justin to ease the situation.
Justin’s answer was clear and short,
“No. I’ll do it. Brian asked me, not you. I guess he had a reason.” Though Justin didn’t remember Brian asking him to be the best man, he was sure that the man had chosen him over Michael. And he didn’t know why, but this thought made him deliriously happy. Okay, he did know why.
Michael glared at him in frustration, and Justin could see he didn’t like this answer. The man opened his mouth to retort, but suddenly Melanie showed up with a cup of tea. Michael shrugged and tried to sound casual,
“Okay. I just thought I’d help.”
By the time Justin finished his tea, he could hear someone opening the front door. His stomach lurched; it must have been Daphne. How was he supposed to act? He’d never had a girlfriend. And he didn’t feel like having one either. He was gay as hell, and now he had to act like a fucking straight guy? According to these people he’d been straight before. ‘Before what?’ But he was sure as hell he wasn’t straight now. He knew who he wanted and it wasn’t Daphne.
He didn’t want to hurt his friend but he suspected what she expected from him. Okay, he’d done it once with Daphne, but it was only a favor. Since he didn’t have any better ideas, he decided to blame his sexual indifference toward the girl on his poor state of health. That would do for a while.
After Michael and Melanie saying their goodbyes, Daphne stepped inside the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside the boy.
“How are you feeling?” She asked in a soft voice, stroking Justin’s cheek soothingly.
“Fine.” The boy answered, looking slightly nervous.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t pick you up.”
“That’s okay.” Justin gave the girl a weak smile.
“I’m going to take care of you now. Everything’s going to be alright, okay?” She said, squeezing Justin’s hand.
Justin nodded in response. He knew that protesting wouldn’t have helped.
“I love you Justin; you know that, don’t you?” Daphne whispered, as she leaned closer.
‘I need that fucking panic button!’ Justin thought to himself, as the girl was getting closer and closer. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t say a word, just tried to pull himself away from Daphne. But the girl’s hands grabbed his face and turned it to her own. And then…
“No, please…” Justin groaned as he could feel the girl’s lips on his own.
But Daphne ignored his words. Justin could feel her tongue entering his mouth.
“Stop it…stop…please…” He tried to pull away, but he couldn’t do it for some reason.
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“Stop.” He said again, slightly surprised that this tongue seemed familiar to him. But how? Maybe she really was his girlfriend? He had to admit that he kind of liked this kiss but still; he was not straight. It was not right. With a final grunt he pulled away, no matter how much he enjoyed it and cried out,
“I said, stop!”
“Okay.” Came the cold reply as the warm lips pulled away.
Brian? Justin didn’t even realize that his eyes were closed, and now he opened them. And he wished he’d never opened them at all. He was lying on the bed, but in the loft with Brian on the edge of the huge bed, looking suddenly unconcerned. The man stood up, straightening his grey suit.
“Brian, I didn’t…it’s not what you think!” Justin sat up in bed immediately, looking at the man with desperate eyes, his voice trembling. Brian held his hand up,
“Whatever. I’m already late anyway.” And with that he left the bedroom.
Justin got out of bed immediately, following Brian who stopped at the kitchen counter.
“Brian, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. You don’t understand…” Justin tried again, feeling the tears forming in his eyes.
“Let me guess,” Brian turned to Justin and gave him a fake smile, “another fucking nightmare.”
Justin nodded in response and when he saw the man’s doubtful expression he took a step forward and added in a whisper,
“You don’t believe me?”
Brian stared at the boy for a minute without saying a word then he grabbed his suitcase and said,
“Got to go.”
Justin closed his eyes at the loud sound of the loft door. He stood there for a few minutes, blinking in incomprehension. The worst thing was that it hadn’t really been anger that he’d seen on Brian’s face; the man’s face had mirrored pain and disappointment, and it was tearing Justin apart. When he could feel the first teardrop rolling down his face, he swept everything off the counter with one fierce movement, groaning loudly in frustration,
“Fuck!”
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As Brian stormed through the entrance of Kinnetik, Cynthia could see that he was in one of his most fucked up moods.
“No interruptions.” He said to his assistant dryly without looking at her, slamming the door of his office behind him.
Sitting behind his desk and running through the stack of papers in front of him, he just couldn’t focus on his work. He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
After a few silent minutes he leaned forward abruptly, buzzing his assistant,
“Cynthia. I want you to call Dr. Nyman for me. Now.”
Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! :)