Justin walked over to the painting he had finished earlier that morning and looked at it. He had been in such a good mood then – Daphne was coming for a week’s visit and bringing her boyfriend with her for Justin to meet… He had completed several new paintings over the last month and was getting good reviews from gallery owners. No shows confirmed yet, but there was definitely interest blooming. None of that seemed to matter now. Fighting with Brian always had this effect on him. Even now – when Justin had already pretty much written him off – it was no different. Justin looked around at the cans of paint and found the one he wanted. He then turned and grabbed a big brush and dipped it into the paint can. Not bothering to scrap the excess paint off of the brush, he lifted the brush to the canvas and made two big strokes across it. He threw the paint brush back into the paint can, looked once more at the painting and then laid down on his couch and stared off into space. He told himself he wasn’t actually crying. He wasn’t sobbing or making any kind of “Boo Hoo” noises. He could just feel the tears falling and pooling next to his face. He thought to himself, “Silent tears speak louder than words”… Although he never titled his paintings before they were complete, he knew he would be naming one of them “Silent Tears”. In a thought that took all of a nano-second, he saw a subtitle: “Dedicated to Brian Kinney”. He rolled his eyes at his own morbid humor and then drifted off into a fitful sleep. ********************************************************************************** Justin opened his eyes and he was in the backroom of Babylon. He had some guy he didn’t recognize bent over and was “going through the motions”. It was ok. It was sex and he would get off, of course; but his heart wasn’t in it. He looked around to see if he recognized anyone else in the room – he didn’t. When he looked back down at the guy he was fucking, he had to take a second look… It was a different guy! He looked around again to try and figure out what was going on and when he looked back at his trick again, again it was a different guy. It deteriorated quickly at this point. When he looked up again Brian was standing next to him with an arrogant look on his face. Wanting to look at anyone or anything other than Brian, Justin looked down again and again the trick had changed to another anonymous “face”. “Quite a little assembly line you have going here, Sunshine… I wonder… Where you are putting your tips?” Brian said with his best tongue-in-cheek smirk… “Justin? Can you hear me?” Brian’s voice was starting to sound funny. “Justin?” Justin decided ignoring him completely was probably the best idea and so he turned his head away. “JUSTIN?” He heard his name louder that time and then he heard someone pounding on the wall… the wall? No, it was the door. Someone was pounding on his front door! Justin startled himself awake and ran to answer the door before they could pound on it again… “Oh Daphne, it’s you…” Justin said as he opened the door. “Gee, thanks… I usually get a hug and you at least ACT happy to see me,” she said. She had said it as a joke, but she could tell that something was wrong. “I’m sorry. I am happy to see you, of course. I was just in the middle of a really fucked up dream when you knocked.” Justin explained. He gave her a big hug and waited to be introduced to the guy standing behind his best friend. “Yea, you look like you’ve been sleeping,” Daphne said. “And crying” she thought to herself. She knew better than to start off her visit by saying that, so she kept that last part to herself and just made a mental note to try and figure out what was going on in a less direct way. She knew Justin would tell her when he was ready; and she knew that if she tried to push it, all that would happen is that he would get upset with her and be less likely to come to her at times when he really needed her shoulder. Daphne snapped out of her train of thought and realized that Justin was just standing there waiting for something. Then she realized he was looking at someone or something behind her…. “Damn – I completely forgot my manners!” she exclaimed. “Justin - this is Keith, my boyfriend. Keith – this is Justin, my best friend.” The two men smiled at each other politely and shook hands. “I’ve heard a lot about you Justin,” Keith began. “It is nice to actually meet the man behind the stories at last.” “Well, don’t believe everything she tells you Keith. Daphne likes to blame me for as much as she possibly can to try to maintain her illusion of innocence,” Justin replied with a small smirk. Keith laughed at that and Daphne took a playful swing at her best friend. The mood was lightening already and she was thankful for that. She really liked Keith and was hopeful that he and Justin would get along. Daphne and Keith wanted to take Justin out for lunch. At first he hesitated; Brian’s words still fresh in his mind. Although Daphne knew nothing about the phone call earlier, she knew money was probably tight for Justin right now. Because of that, she spoke up before he could say no. “Before you try to think up excuses, let me remind you that we are going to be staying here for the next week. Now, to my knowledge, you were not planning on charging us for room and board. The least you can do is let us treat you to lunch!” she finished with one of her smiles that let Justin know that he was not going to win this argument. He looked over at Keith and said, “You know, I think she is actually getting better at this”. Keith chuckled and then replied, “I grew up with a house full of women, dude. I learned early that it is almost always better to let them have their way”. Daphne looked at him with her eyebrows raised in a jokingly questionable look. He just smiled at her and winked. They all laughed at this and Justin finally agreed to lunch. He ran to take a quick shower while Daphne and Keith looked at some of his newest paintings. While in the shower, Justin was able to push the argument with Brian out of his mind. He wasn’t going to let that spoil his visit with Daphne and Keith. When he stepped out of the shower he was almost back to the good mood he had been in when he had started the day. He was walking back into the area where all his new paintings were when he heard Keith make a comment about his work. “Wow, he is really talented!” Keith said to Daphne. “Yea, that’s what all the guys say…” Justin replied as he snuck up behind the pair. “Justin!” Daphne laughed and swatted at him. Keith blushed slightly. “I’m sorry if that embarrassed you Keith. I am just used to acting crazy around Daphne.” Justin said when he saw the color come into Keith’s cheeks. He didn’t want to make the guy uncomfortable and was hoping he had not already done so. Keith laughed, “No worries, man. You just startled me. I didn’t realize you were there.” He said with a smile. With that, the trio set out for lunch and some sightseeing. ************************************************************************************ Lunch and sightseeing turned into lunch, sightseeing and dinner. They were walking back towards Justin’s apartment when Daphne saw a sign for The Inner Sanctum. She looked at Justin and asked him what it was. “It’s New York’s answer to Babylon,” Justin replied as he kept walking. If it had been just the two of them he was sure she would have drug him through the door – kicking and screaming if necessary. Thankfully Keith was with them so he was pretty sure he would not have to deal with that on this trip. He was wrong. “Justin, hold up a minute,” Daphne was grabbing his arm. “Let’s go in for a while. You and I haven’t been to a club together in ages!” she said. Justin looked at her as if she was an alien. He looked over at Keith and then back at Daphne. “Daphne, my dear…” Justin started as he glanced over at Keith again – trying to get his point across without having to say anything else. “What my love?” she replied batting her eyelashes at him… (She could be such a dork sometimes…) Justin sighed and looked at her again. “The Inner Sanctum is exactly like Babylon…” “I think you established that a minute ago,” she replied; still not understanding what Justin was trying to say. Justin was starting to feel like he was talking to Gus. “Do you and Keith frequent the gay bars on Liberty Avenue?” Justin asked. “Well, of course not!” Daphne replied. Before Justin could come back with anything else, she added, “but I am sure we would stop in now and then if you were still living there!” She gave him that triumphant smile again and Justin could have sworn he heard someone on a loud speaker somewhere nearby: “Daphne - one… Justin - zero”. “We don’t have to stay long. Besides – you need to get out once in a while.” Justin knew he wasn’t going to win this war, but he hoped to at least win this battle. “I tell you what… let’s come back another night. None of us are really dressed to be out clubbing right now anyway…” he said. Daphne hated to admit it, but he did have a point about that. They were all wearing sweatpants and T-shirts. She relented for the moment but only after Justin promised to bring them back before she and Keith had to go back home. *********************************************************************************** It was another Saturday night at Babylon. It was the number one hot spot again, so the alley was packed with people standing in line to get into the building. Ted & Blake had stopped and picked up Emmett on the way and the three of them were now walking up to the door. Everyone was giving them dirty looks as they walked past and eventually went inside without having to wait. As they were disappearing into the building Emmett popped his head back out. He smiled and waved to the people that had been giving them the dirty looks. “Em, would you behave yourself!” Ted called out as he yanked Emmett inside. Blake was laughing at the two of them. He was grateful that he wasn’t the jealous type. Watching Ted and Emmett interact was always entertaining and he would definitely hate not being able to enjoy it. He was glad the two had been able to rediscover their friendship. Seeing them joke around like they used to always gave him a warm feeling. Emmett was as much a part of Ted as Ted was a part of Emmett. Blake just couldn’t imagine one being complete without the other by his side. “Teddy, dahling,” Emmett said, “we are at Babylon – this is where we come when we DON’T want to behave!” Emmett wiggled his eyebrows, kissed Ted and Blake both on their cheeks and headed to the dance floor. Ted just shook his head, which made Blake start laughing again as the two of them headed for the bar. They were about 10 feet away when Ted saw Brian. He knew it was a bad sign that there was an unused shot glass sitting there and Brian was drinking straight from a bottle. “Christ!” Brian exclaimed in a disgusted tone of voice, “The last thing I want to deal with right now is people who think they are in love.” He grabbed the bottle and headed up to his office without another word. Ted looked over at the bartender and called him over. He motioned toward Brian and said, “Dare I ask what that was about?” The bartender shrugged. “The only coherent comments he has made all evening were ‘fucking twink’, ‘never should have called him in the first place’ and something to the extent of ‘never taking him back again – even if he comes crawling’ …” Blake looked completely lost. Ted leaned over and whispered one word in Blake’s ear – “Justin”. Blake nodded to show he understood – at least to some extent. He had missed most of the Brian/Justin saga, but was learning fast. Ted made a mental note to stay clear of Brian for the next few days. Ted, Blake and Emmett were all standing near the bar later on when Brian came out of his office, an empty fifth of Jim Beam in his hand. He stopped at the bar long enough to hand the empty bottle to the bartender and walked into the crowd. Emmett had started to say hello, but noticed the look on Brian’s face and stopped. He looked at Ted and Blake and they both shook their heads and said “don’t ask”. He nodded and replied, “I am pretty sure I can guess anyway…” and started to sip his Cosmo. A moment later, Brian walked back out of the crowd and headed toward the backroom – a young blond following closely behind him. Emmett sighed as he leaned back against the bar. “Let’s hope it doesn’t take our fearless leader another five years to reach his next revelation…” Ted got a real confused looked on his face and turned to Emmett. “What are you talking about?” “Well,” Emmett explained, “it took Brian five years to realize how much Justin meant to him… I am just hoping it won't take him five more to realize that no amount of booze or faceless blondes will be able to take his place or make the pain go away.” Ted and Blake nodded in agreement. The three of them looked at each other and all knew that booze and faceless blondes was exactly how Brian planned to deal with this. All they could hope for was that Justin wouldn’t be planning any surprise trips homes.