Something was going on. He’d had a sense about them as soon as he’d asked the blond about Brian. At first he thought it was only one sided. Justin was young, impressionable and Brian was, well, gorgeous. He would have been surprised if the young man didn’t have an interest. Maybe they’d even had sex; it wasn’t like Justin was exactly hard on the eyes after all. It had never crossed his mind however, that there were genuine feelings there. 

Not until he’d seen the look on Justin’s face when Brian had walked out of the bar after seeing him for the first time. It wasn’t a look of confusion or anger, or even surprise like he was getting from everyone else. Justin looked like his whole world was being turned upside down and he had no idea what to do about it. It was a similar look to that which he had just seen on Brian’s face after the fight between Justin and his boyfriend.

Nathan had an uneasy feeling. Maybe this wasn’t going to be quite as straightforward as he’d hoped. If what he’d seen tonight was any indication, he may have a battle on his hands. The blond did have a boyfriend, but he seemed like a real asshole so that would only slow things down for a short time, and after what had just happened maybe he was no longer an issue anyway. 

This was most inconvenient. He had hoped that he and Brian could be together again without anyone getting hurt this time, and he genuinely liked Justin. But it seemed as though this could become a war and in war there were always casualties. 

He’d lost Brian once because he’d been too stupid to realize what he had, he’d be damned if that was going to happen again. If playing dirty was what it took to have the brunet back in his life again, then he’d do whatever it took.


				~	~	~


Justin was standing at one of the urinals when he felt someone move next to him. He glanced in their direction and saw the last person he expected. He felt his heart begin to beat a little faster.
“Hey,” Brian said without looking at him as he unzipped his fly. Justin had to try extremely hard to keep his eyes straight ahead. 

“Hey.” They stood in silence for a moment, Justin suddenly becoming incredibly aware that they were alone. He glanced sideways at Brian, remembering how perfect his profile was, how much he used to love drawing that face.

“Where’d Ian go?”

Justin was caught off guard as Brian suddenly turned towards him with a mixture of interest and amusement on his face.

“Um, he has to get up early tomorrow so he went home,” Justin mumbled as he did up his pants and moved away. 

He stood in front of the sink and watched Brian’s reflection in the mirror. He looked like he was going to make some smartass remark, but surprised the younger man with, “Debbie seems to be enjoying herself”.”

As Brian walked over to join Justin, they looked at each other and their eyes met for the first time.

“Ye…Yeah,” Justin stammered, feeling completely flustered. 

He yanked his eyes away from the brunet’s as he slowly washed his hands.

“She certainly enjoyed your performance,” he smiled. She wasn’t the only one. 

“She always did,” Brian said almost to himself.

Justin tried to make his next question sound as nonchalant as possible.

“How come I never knew you could play guitar? Or sing for that matter?” 

Brian was silent for a moment and Justin glanced back at his reflection. He seemed to be thinking about something unpleasant. He had that slight frown on his face, the one he got when someone mentioned eating carbs after seven, or talked about straight sex.

“You never needed to know. It’s not something I do much anymore.”

Justin suddenly turned and stared the other man directly in the eye. 

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about Nathan?”

Well there it was. The question which had been swimming around in his head ever since he’d found out about them. He genuinely hadn’t meant to ask  it, but the words were out before he could stop them. 

Now that they were, he held his breath while he waited for an answer. Brian didn’t say anything. He just stared right back. Justin tried to read his expression. He looked slightly annoyed, but he also looked ashamed. 

Suddenly he felt like he couldn’t breathe. The pressure from Brian’s stare and continual silence, mixed with everything else that had happened that day, started to overwhelm him.

“Forget it,” he sounded angrier then he thought he was. 

He started to walk towards the door, but the movement seemed to jolt Brian’s mind back from wherever it was.

He grabbed Justin’s hand sending an immediate electrical charge through the blond’s entire body. Brian tugged almost imperceptibly on his hand and Justin moved slightly closer.
When Brian finally spoke it was barely a whisper. 

“It wouldn’t have changed anything.”

Brian looked up into Justin’s face and the younger man felt a lump form in his throat from the sadness in his ex lover’s hazel eyes.

 He stepped in even closer and in a voice matching Brian’s simply stated,“It would have changed everything.”

Brian opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. Instead he closed the small gap left between them. Justin could feel the heat emanating from the other man. Brian was rubbing small circles on the back of his hand with his thumb.

Slowly he raised his other hand to cup the back of Justin’s neck. He twisted the blond hair around his fingers and pulled gently, all the while keeping their eyes locked. Justin couldn’t breathe, he felt light headed and his heart was beating so fast he thought it was going to explode out of his chest.

He closed his eyes as Brian started to lean in….

“Brian.” 

They both jumped apart as the door slammed open. Michael stood staring at them with wide eyes.

“What’s going on?” he asked shooting Justin a look that could sour milk. Justin returned it with vigor.

“Taking a piss” Brian stated as if it were completely obvious.  Justin noticed that he was avoiding his eye.

Michael walked over to Brian and turned his back to Justin. 

“We’re going to Babylon now. You coming?”

Brian hesitated for a moment before answering, “Yeah.”

Justin decided now was a good time to leave. Just as he reached the door Brian called out.

“You going home to your boyfriend?” 

Justin turned around. Brian was looking at him with his characteristic raised eyebrow. The young man knew this was his way of inviting him.

Justin smiled slightly. “Well, like I said he has to get up early, so he‘ll probably be asleep”.

Brian nodded without saying anything, but caught Justin’s eye for the first time since Michael walked in. Justin saw a light shinning there that he knew all to well. This was going to be interesting.