This chapter is short -_- I dont know why I had such a hard time with this one. Oh well, I hope you like it anyway. Thanks to my beta!
Justin ignored the elevator in favor of the stairs. He jogged up to his cousin’s floor and once again began to think about his need of an apartment of his own. When he made it to the correct floor he wasted no time before walking in and was promptly bombarded by Ted, who reminded him of Debbie as he hugged him. For a moment he felt that he couldn’t breathe as Ted tightened his grip. Justin did his best to warn Ted but to no avail. Ted finally loosened his grip and stepped back.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Sunshine.” he said softly and Justin smiled.
“Me too Ted.” Justin replied.
“I didn’t tell anyone what had happened, I didn’t think you would appreciate it.” he said quietly, as if it were a secret, Justin sighed in relief.
“Thank you, you have no idea how much I just want to pretend none of this happened.” he said and Ted frowned.
“Well you can’t pretend it didn’t happen, Jus’. You need to recognize it.” he said in a fatherly tone and Justin shook his head.
“I know. I fucked up, okay? Can we please just drop it?” he asked, giving Ted his best puppy dog eyes. Ted groaned.
“Fine. I’ll drop it, FOR NOW.” he said and Justin smiled. He walked over to Ted and hugged him again, before disappearing into the bathroom. He quickly removed his clothes and turned on the shower. He stepped into the shower and scrubbed himself, trying to get the smell of Sap and the hospital off of him. He smiled softly as he thought of Brian, and how he saved him from the middle aged club owner. Once again he felt dread. Justin sighed. He should have listened, to Ted, to Brian… to himself, but no. He didn’t, and he was drugged and almost rapped for it.
Justin turned the water off and stepped out of the stall. He wrapped a towel around his waist and picked up the clothes he was wearing last night. He pushed them into the trash.
~~~~~
Brian looked through his closet. He felt like a teenager. He groaned and sifted through his clothes for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He didn’t know what to wear. Brian Fucking Kinney, stud of Liberty Avenue, always cool, always in control didn’t know what to fucking wear on a FUCKING DATE! He sighed. He thought maybe he was losing his mind. He heard someone banging on the door and growled. Walking over to the large metal door he slid it open.
“What?!” he yelled. Michael, who was on the other side, flinched.
“Wow, I can see you’re in a bad mood.” he said and Brian rolled his eyes.
“I don’t know what to fucking wear! I’m taking Justin out tonight and if I wear a suit, he’ll think I’m trying too hard, and if I wear club clothes he’ll think I’m childish- stop laughing Mikey!” he yelled and Michael laughed harder.
“Oh god, is this what Justin does to you? Make you queen out like a 15 year old girl with a crush?” he asked and Brian glared.
“Fuck you, Michael.” he said, turning around and walking into the bedroom. Michael followed him, still chuckling slightly.
“You know Justin doesn’t give a shit what you wear… if anything you should find something you’re not going to miss, considering Justin’s only going to rip it off of you once you two get together.” he said and once again, Brian turned to glare at the man.
“It’s not going to be like that, Mikey… I want to cheer him up. Especially after last night.” he said and stopped himself, but realized it was too late.
“What happened last night?” he asked. Brian paused.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” he said. He figured Justin probably didn’t want this to be spread around, and even though Michael meant well, he was still a Novotny. He, just like his mother, couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
“Tell me.” he pushed and Brian gave him a look.
“Drop it Mikey.” he warned. Michael sighed, but did as he was told.
Brian went back to the task of finding something to wear.
“Need help?” Michael asked. Brian looked over his shoulder at his friend, and looked him up and down.
“No.” he said in a deadpan tone. Michael rolled his eyes. He knew his friend had it bad.
~~~~~
Michael walked into his mother’s house and saw that she and Vic were busy in the kitchen. He recognized the state the kitchen was in and knew that tonight was a family night.
“Hey ma’” he greeted and she smiled, and kissed him on the cheek.
“Hey baby. Where were you?” she asked as he sat next to Vic at the table.
“I went to Brian’s.” he said and started to laugh, “you should see him ma’… he’s trying to get ready for a date with Justin. He’s never looked so clueless.”
Vic laughed and Debbie gasped.
“Godammit, those two are dating?! Why the fuck didn’t anyone tell me?!” she yelled. Vic chuckled.
“Calm down sis, Brian’s not used to the dating thing… he probably just didn’t want anyone taking the fun out of it for him.” the man said and Debbie put her hands on her hips.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that he has been claiming to not believe in love, and dating and relationships all his life. Now that he’s found someone he is actually willing to let his walls down for he doesn’t want, or need his family telling him that they told him so and how he’s a hypocrite and all that good stuff.” he finished.
“Well he is!” she exclaimed. Vic and Michael chuckled.
She sighed.
“Either way, we’re going to have to have to move the dinner to tomorrow night.” she said. Michael rolled his eyes.
“Ma’ you have a dinner every week, them missing one isn’t going to be the end of the world.” he said. Debbie glared at him and he stayed quite.
~~~~~
Justin walked out of the guest room at Ted’s apartment only to see Ted doing a little dance around the kitchen obviously thinking he was alone. Justin watched silently, smiling at his cousin and wondering how long it would take for the man to notice him. Ted whipped around and saw Justin, and instead looking embarrassed he danced over to the blonde and took him in his arms continuing into to dance. Justin laughed as Ted swung him around.
“Whoa, Theo! What happened, you discover rechargeable batteries?” he asked and Ted shook his head, still smiling.
“You know your friend, Jay?” he asked.
“Red? Yeah, what about him?”
“Well, I just hired him as my personal assistant! Did you know he has a degree in business?”
“No shit?” Justin asked, surprised “I had no idea. Well I’m glad he has a job… I felt kind of bad that he got fired ‘cause of me.”
Ted sighed
“It’s for the best… who knows it could have been him.” he said and Justin nodded, deciding not to dwell on it.
He walked over to the couch and sat, it was 6:30 now and he knew Brian would be by soon to pick him up. He wanted to make a good impression on Brian, even though the two have already been heavily involved with each other, Justin still couldn’t help but feel nervous.
~~~~~
Brian pulled up and parked in front of Ted’s apartment building. He sighed and looked in the visor mirror once again, checking his hair. He knew he didn’t have to, that Justin probably couldn’t care less what his hair looked like… not only that but his hair always looked amazing. He wiped the imaginary dust from his shoulders. He had finally settled for a dark blue silk dress shirt and black slacks. Exiting the Jeep he made his way to Ted’s apartment.
Standing in front of the door he took a deep breath before knocking. Ted answered the door a few minutes later, giving Brian a smug smile. Brian knew that he was in for it.
“So, you must be Justin’s friend, Brian. I’m Ted, nice to meet you.” the shorter man said, voice heavy with sarcasm. Brian had to fight not to roll his eyes.
“You too!” he replied in a false, chipper voice “You must be Justin’s grandfather.” he finished, tongue planted firmly in his cheek. Ted groaned and turned around walking into the apartment.
“Justin, your BOYFRIEND is here!” he yelled, emphasizing on the word boyfriend knowing it would make Brian cringe.
Brian ignored him. Instead his attention was drawn to Justin, who had come out of the guest room wearing a black and light blue turtleneck that clung to the man’s chest and black slacks that fit him perfectly. He did his best to ignore the tightness in his pants.
“I don’t have a lot of dress clothes… I hope this is alright.” Justin said, obviously a little nervous. Brian was relived that he wasn’t the only one.
“It’s perfect.” he stated, and the room got quite. Brian could see Ted out of the corner of his eye, trying not to laugh. He shook his head. “So, you ready?” he asked and cringed. He couldn’t believe how juvenile he was acting. Justin smiled, however and Brian’s nervousness disappeared.
“Lead the way.” the blonde said, walking towards him. They left the apartment and started walking down the hall, chuckling at Ted’s “You kids behave now!” that was yelled their direction.
~~~~~
Justin smiled as Brian led him into to an upscale restaurant. The place was nice, really nice, it reminded him of the days he would go to the country club with his parents. An older woman greeted the two at the door and led them to a table with a small piece of paper with the word “reserved” written on it. They sat down and Brian ordered some wine. This was probably the first time Brian had been on a date before and was trying to romance him. It was sweet but Justin knew that the older man was putting on a show… that this whole wine and dine thing wasn’t really him.
Justin jumped slightly when he realized that Brian was talking to him.
“What?” he asked dumbly and Brian chuckled.
“I asked if you like it here…” he repeated and Justin blushed.
“It’s nice, do you?” he asked and Brian smiled.
“Yes. Good food, good service… I usually take clients here.” he stated and Justin laughed a little.
“To woo them?” he asked.
“Something like that.” he replied. Justin smiled sadly.
“I’m not one of your clients, Brian.” he said and Brian’s eyes widened.
“Justin… I didn’t mean…” he started but Justin smiled, stopping him.
“It’s okay Brian. I’m just saying… you and I are a lot alike. I don’t expect you to woo me; I don’t expect you to be anyone else but yourself. Romance to me isn’t necessarily candle lit dinners and wine, and I know it isn’t to you. We don’t have a typical relationship… so why should we have a typical date?” Justin finished and Brian stared. Justin wasn’t sure what his reaction would be, but he wasn’t going to bullshit the man. He didn’t want to be anything but honest with Brian.
Soon Brian let out a sigh.
“I know Justin,” he started “but this is what I think of when I think of dating. This is what Mikey and Emmett and Theodor all talk about being their perfect date…even though I personally think it’s all bullshit, I wanted you to see that I’m willing to bend for you. If this is what you want, then I want to be able to give it to you.” he replied and Justin smiled widely at him.
“That means a lot to me Brian, you have no idea… but maybe we should just be honest with ourselves here.” Justin said and Brian raised an eyebrow.
“What does that mean?”
“Lets get out of here and I’ll show you.” the blonde man said and Brian smiled. He knew there was a reason he liked Justin, he knew that he was different. The two stood up and left the restaurant after leaving a fifty on the table for the wine. Brian knew that that was a bit much but it didn’t really seem to matter as he followed the young blonde out to his Jeep. Tonight wasn’t going to be a typical date for Brian… Justin was going to make sure of that.
~~~~~
The two were on their way after Justin convinced Brian to let him drive, which to Brian, but a feat with feat within its self considering he had a hard enough time letting Michael drive him home after a night of partying. Brian curiously perked when he saw that they had turned into a parking lot of a local high school. Justin drove around the school and parked in the back. Brian gave the blonde a look.
“Your taking me back to school, Sunshine?” he asked and Justin giggled.
“You’ll see, come on.” he said while exiting the Jeep and walking towards a building Brian guessed was the gym. He followed Justin to the back of the building and to the pair of doors. Justin tried them but found that they were locked.
“Well, guess that’s that end of that.” Brian said, smirking at Justin. Justin did nothing but smirk back. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small box and opened it. Inside looked like dental equipment. The younger man kneeled down before the door and got to work. Soon Brian heard a click and Justin effortlessly opened the door. Brian smiled.
“That was hot.” he stated and Justin laughed.
“Come on!” he ordered enthusiastically and walked in the building. Brian followed. Justin walked around the dark room for a while before making a small ‘aha!’
The room flooded with light, and Brian saw that it wasn’t a gym… but an indoor pool. He smirked, closing the door behind him. He walked over to the blonde with the devious smirk on his face.
“We could get in trouble Sunshine.” he stated while wrapping his arms around the blonde. Justin smirked.
“That’s why it’s fun.” he said, stepping back out of Brian arms and pulled off his jacket. The younger man proceeded to undress until he was naked. Brian watched as the blonde gave him a wanton look before he dove into the pool.
The older man didn’t waste any time before doing the same. He grabbed a hold of Justin and pulled him close. The blonde laughed and pretended to try and get away. The two continued to mess around for the rest of the night. Brian had to admit that a date with Justin definitely wasn’t what he had expected. It was fun and exciting, not as mundane and repetitive as he thought the experience to be. Then again... he knew if it was anyone else but Justin, it probably would have been.