Chapter 31:  I Can Fall Asleep Like That Too!

“Good morning, Naomi,” Ethan Gold greeted the administrative assistant inside PIFA’s Art Department as he walked up to her desk. 

“Hi, Ethan, what’s up?”

“I was just curious about something.”

“Yeah, about what?”

“Is Justin’s honeymoon leave for one week or two?  Is he expected back at work this Monday coming up or the following one?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“That Justin Taylor has taken a one-year leave of absence.”

“What… an entire year off!”  That stunned Ethan.  “Did he say why?  Do you think he’s coming back at all?”

“You’re right… it is sort of up in the air.  No one’s sure if he’s coming back or not.  When we asked him for sure if he was coming back, his answer was… it depends.  However, he didn’t say specifically what it depended on.”

“Hmm,” Ethan pondered on that for a second.  “See you later… take care, Naomi.”

“You too, bye.”

Ethan then hurried back to PIFA’s Music Department to his own job.

“Shit!”  He thought to himself as he sat at his desk getting his materials ready for the class he had to teach which would commence in about twenty minutes.  ‘I have to work a plan for Justin to return to work I need him back here before a year.  To be exact, I need him to return immediately after his honeymoon.’

Ethan then gathered his materials for his class and on the way over there, he rushed over to the Drama Department to speak with one of the drama coaches about developing a possible plan to entice Justin to want to return to work earlier.

*

“Wow!  Whoa-a-a!  I still can’t get over this place, Brian,” said Justin as he smiled ear-to-ear; and his eyes grew bigger and brighter than Brian’s ever seen before.  He stood in the center of the Britin’s front room looking all around him.  “It’s exactly like my dream house inside and out, and the furniture is so exquisite; it’s both our taste.”

“Do I gather that means you like it?”  Brian seemed so anxious for Justin’s approval.

“LOVE IT!”  Justin sincerely accentuated.

“Hey, I’m glad; we have similar good taste; what can I say,” Brian arrogantly shrugged.  And, Justin couldn’t blame him for his haughty pride; Brian definitely deserved kudos for this instant come back after the honeymoon debacle in Jamaica.

“It’s the perfect place,” Justin said as he exited that room and started the tour on his own and Brian followed him.

“It’s so big,” Justin commented as he went happily from one room to the next with Brian on his heels smiling just as radiant.  He was so taken by Justin’s glee. “How many rooms are there, Brian?”

“You can count them for yourself as we walk through each one,” Brian suggested.  “But wait until you see the master bedroom, Justin.”

“Can’t wait,” Justin turned his head and looked over his shoulder back at Brian; and Brian thought that smile on his husband’s face was to die for.

“Neither can I,” Brian seductively smirked.

They finished the tour on the first floor and Justin had to comment on something.  “Very interesting, Brian,” he diligently noted.

“What is?”

“It’s enough of my paintings on the wall in here for me to give a public as well as very elaborate exhibition of my work.  How did you manage to have that much of my work brought here in just that small amount of time?  I just can’t get my brain around it.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want you straining your brain any.  You could get a headache… and we wouldn’t want that… would we?  So, don’t even give that mere technicality another thought; and finish the rest of the tour instead.  After, we’re done inside the house we still have the exterior and the grounds to explore.  So, let’s not waste any time.  A week can fly by really fast when you’re having as much fun as this; so, carry on, my hubby.” 

They then came to the staircase leading upstairs.  “What’s up there?”  Justin asked.

“The best way to find out is to go up there,” Brian replied.

“Well, I’m sure that master bedroom you mentioned is at least up there somewhere.”

“You might be right,” Brian mocked and then he made a hand gesture encouraging Justin to go ahead first, “After you, the other Mr. Kinney.”

“Thank you, Mr. Kinney,” Justin blushed.

“You’re welcome,” Brian said and then he followed Justin upstairs.

And when they got to the top of the stairs and on the second landing, Justin, still smiling like a hyena, looked back at Brian again.  “More of my paintings on the wall, I see.  When we leave here after a week, you might have to rent a U-haul just to carry my paintings (alone) out of here.”  Justin was becoming more convinced than ever that Brian actually owns the damn place!  In his opinion, it was just too much of their personal shit around for just a one week stay.

“Whatever,” Brian arrogantly shook his head.

Justin even noticed that not all the furnishings were unfamiliar to him.  He saw several items that Brian and he had put in storage when they had the first divorce, simply because they hadn’t decided who should get what and didn’t take the time to go through the stuff and make a final decision.  So, they both just kept a key to the storage area.  There was a vase on a table in the living room that Justin recognized as a wedding gift they received from Lindsay (Gus’s mother) but at their first wedding not the current one.  And, even the table (it sat on) was gifted to them by someone for some occasion dating years back.  And, as he strolled along, he saw several things that looked terribly familiar to him.

“Which way?” Justin got to the top of the stairs at the second landing, turned around and asked Brian for directions.

“Certainly can’t go in all directions, Justin.  So you have to choose… left or right, or straight ahead.”

“Right,” Justin’s dazzling smile challenged Brian.                                                                                               

“Then… right… it is, Justin,” Brian expressed his approbation.

Justin then went right and opened the first door he saw.  “Fuck!  A private built-in home theatre, Brian!”

“You never would have to leave the privacy of your own home again to see another movie, Justin!”

“Or at least not leave home for an entire week… right, Brian?”  And even in that room Justin saw something familiar – a lamp that time (still another trinket from their first marriage).

“Hmm,” Brian rolled his lips backwards into his mouth but that was another occasion he didn’t give Justin a definitive answer to one of his questions.

Justin then toured the rest of that floor but saved the finale for last... that was the master bedroom.  “What’s in there?”  He asked when he came to those closed double-doors.

“For some to know and for others to discover,” Brian answered him.

“Just can’t give me a straight answer about anything, Mr. Kinney… can you?”  Justin accused Brian.

“Now, Justin, what kind of adventure would it be, if I told you every little detail?”

“There’s nothing LITTLE about this place or you, Brian.  You have a flair for doing everything is such a BIG way.”

“Only the best for my prince.”

“I’m your prince?”

“For at least a year,” Brian shrugged.

“Sure,” Justin’s smile left him for a second but returned quickly enough; and then he swung the double doors opened and looked upon the magnificence of the master bedroom.  “Is this place for real?”  He had to ask for he was completely taken aback by its beautiful aesthetic design.

“Walk inside with me,” Brian took his hand and led him inside.                                                               

“Umm… umm… umm,” Justin was tongue tied.  “Is that the exact blanket that was on the bed when you and I made love for the first time, Brian?”

“That’s the blanket, Justin; but I didn’t expect you to remember it after all these years.  That was so long ago.”

“I’ll never forget it and obviously you haven’t either.”

Brian’s mouth gaped then as he appeared, to Justin, even more bashful and timid than Snow Whites’ most timorous dwarf.  Brian was the one left speechless just then.

“I remember thinking when I first saw that blanket…,” Justin reminisced.

“Thinking what?”

Justin chuckled.  “How expensive it looked, which I thought was really funny under the circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

“You were pretending to be poor then; and I was thinking how does he expect to pull that image off by adorning his bed with such an expensive item as that bed spread.”

“Yeah, I remember that.  I remember you staring intensely and blindingly at the duvet and I said…”

Justin finished his sentence for him.  “… It’s a family heirloom passed down from generation to generation.”

“Did you believe me?”

“No!  Because it looked brand new then; but then again it’s looks brand new now too though.”

“So do you,” Brian said.

“What?”  Justin asked.

“You look brand new too.”

And, Justin then looked like Snow Whites’ dwarf just then as he blushed as white as the princess herself.

“Mind if I look inside the bathroom and the closets now?”  Justin asked.  “Shit!  That reminds me!”  Justin looked rather alarmed.

“What?”

“We left our entire luggage on your jet, Brian!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Brian shrugged, “It’s no big deal.  First finish the tour of the bedroom and then we’ll address that issue.”

Justin then went and opened the door to the bathroom.  “Marvelous,” his eyes shimmered when he saw that too.

“And, the jacuzzi is big enough, but the bathing stall in there," Brian pointed out, "Is so large that we can stretch out on the shower floor full-length and fuck missionary-style inside there.”

“Can’t wait,” Justin delightfully mocked. "Always longed for a much bigger shower and for that purpose too."

“Check out the walk-in closet next.  It is so big, Justin, you can fit an entire other bedroom set inside there,” Brian guided him to it but he let Justin open the door for himself; and another surprise hit Justin like a flash of lightning glaring in his face when he opened that door even.

“What the fuck!  How did that happen?  All of our things are here!”

“All new clothes and footwear actually, my prince; and everything are in all the right sizes.”

“That’s another U-haul truck we are going to need at the end of the week when we have to carry everything out of here,” Justin subtly expressed.  “But where are we going to put it all?”

Again, Brian didn’t give him a straight answered; he just shrugged coyly again.

“Wow,” Justin closed the closet door and then walked towards Brian.  The expression on Justin’s face showed how mesmerized and pleased he was.  “It’s a lot to absorb all at once, Brian.  I’m almost afraid to tour the grounds for fear of dying of the shock of taking in too much excitement at once.”

“Well, maybe we can stand to take a bit of a break and tour the outside later.  You slept the entire time on the jet but I didn’t.  So, actually I am feeling a bit of jetlag.  My head can actually stand to hit the pillow this moment.  And, you know how I hate to sleep alone.”

“Does that mean I’m invited?”  Justin asked.

“You’re always invited.  I think you know that.  It’s just NOT the same bed without you,” Brian walked up to Justin, placed his hands at his waistline and guided him backwards to the bed.

“You too, Brian.  I can’t even say, for sure, that a bed is ever a REAL bed without you in it.”

“Proof it,” Brian challenged him.

“Ohh, shit,” Justin merrily moaned, “What a challenge.”

“Yah, but I’m sure you’re up to it… or UP for it… whatever the case might be….”

“What happened to the jetlag?  I thought you wanted to sleep.”

“I guess I can sleep while my cock is buried all the way deep inside of you.”

“Mmm; that’s sound so relaxing and gratifying to me,” Justin seductively swore.  “I can fall asleep like that too.”

Brian then pulled Justin closer into his arms and they kissed passionately and long and then Brian pushed Justin down on the bed.