Midnight Whispers
QAF Brian and Justin Fanfiction

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Brian didn't see his neighbor for the following days and didn't go looking for him. On Saturday however, he got news indirectly thanks to Lyndsay. Since Brian never had food in his home he always treated his son to a kid friendly restaurant, and most Saturdays Lyndsay decided she had to tag along. However, Brian was curious about the visit and knew she was dying to tell him everything, so for once he didn't mind.

 

As soon as they were settled, she started gushing about her meeting with the artist. It had started awkwardly when he had opened the door to her ringing, obviously surprised to find this unknown handsome woman and her kid on his doorstep. It turned out that public visits were not supposed to start for another month (something Brian was fairly certain that Lyndsay was perfectly informed of) but nonetheless, he had let them him, had offered coffee and hot chocolate, had even drawn some dinosaurs for Gus and had chatted with Lyndsay.

 

To say she was excited was the understatement of the year.

 

“Brian, he's so nice! Not snotty at all, we just talked for more than an hour, and he helped Gus copy his dinosaurs. I think he really liked us.”

 

“Yeah daddy, he's real nice” added Gus.

 

“So what does he look like?” asked Brian as nonchalantly as he could.

 

“Why do you care?” Lyndsay had always been on to him and was immediately suspicious.

 

“I don't, I'm just making conversation”.

 

“Well, he's young, I mean he's 24 but he looks much younger. Shorter than me, thin and blond.”

 

Bingo.

 

“So did you get what you wanted?”

 

“Well, I didn't want to seem too eager, but I did slip in that I owned an art gallery and left him a card insisting he come visit anytime, that I would love to have his opinion on the artists I have currently on display. I also invited him to have dinner at the house; he told me that right now he probably would be too busy, but that he would definitely drop by the gallery soon. Brian do you realize what a huge opportunity this would be for me?”

 

Brian nodded and decided that this was enough talking about Justin Taylor. So he turned to his son and told him they would go swimming after nap.

 

 

A few days later, Brian was parking his car after having a few drinks at Woody's. It was only 8, but none of the old gang was there. No surprise here, Michael and Ben were going through a difficult phase in their marriage (AKA Ben's midlife crisis with a young college student half his age), Emmett and his current partner were deeply involved in some new age shit that seemed to totally prohibit alcohol and about everything fun. And Ted was probably in his jammies surfing internet porn. So Brian made it an early night, not even bothering to look for a trick.

 

He was locking his car when the door of the Yoly building opened and out stepped Justin Taylor. Brian hesitated for a moment, knowing the man couldn't have seen him in the dark street, before calling out “Hey neighbor!”.

 

Justin turned around and smiled when he recognized Brian.

 

“Hey, care to join me ? I'm tired of delivery food, I'm headed to “Zorba”, a Greek restaurant downtown. My treat.”

 

Brian knew the place, of course (there probably wasn't a restaurant in all Pittsburgh that he hadn't been to at least once). The food's good; of course it was after 7 so he really shouldn't be eating, but he didn't feel like going up to his empty loft and he only had a light lunch.

 

“Why not? Get in.” he said opening his car door.

 

“No, I want to walk, I haven't left the building for days.”

 

“It's too far to go on foot, just hop on !”

 

“It's only a 20 minutes walk! ”

 

“I am not walking.”

 

“Funny, I don't remember you lacking stamina?”.

 

“Why can't you just get into my fucking car?”

 

“I told you, I want to walk, I need to breathe some fresh air.”

 

Brian let out an exasperated sigh before slamming his car's door shut and walking in front of Justin.

 

“You are an annoying and stubborn little shit and I can't think of a single reason why I would want to have diner with you.”

 

“OK”.

 

“So let's go. At least try to keep up with me, shorty”.

 

Justin laughed at that and Brian smiled back. Then Justin held up his right hand. “Justin Taylor”; “Brian Kinney.”

 

The walk to the restaurant was nice, Brian had to admit. The air was warm, but not hot, there was no wind, and Justin's hair shone very prettily every time they passed a streetlamp. Justin was surprisingly chatty for someone who had only uttered a few words during their night of mad sex. He obviously didn't feel like speaking about his work, but talked mostly about restaurants, mentioning places in Pittsburgh that people had recommended and that he wanted to try. It was a subject that Brian mastered perfectly and the 2 men conversed pleasantly during the 20 minutes ; soon they were seated in the restaurant.

 

Ordering took a while though, because it turned out that Justin was allergic to about everything, from mayonnaise to peanuts and had to check the content of each plate with the waiter who in turn had to check with the cook ; finally it turned out that he could only have one dish on the card without ending up in the ER, and no dessert. Justin settled by ordering three servings of his plate, to Brian's astonishment.

 

The meal was good, and Brian once again was surprised by how easy it was to talk to Justin without going into his advertisement stories that people always loved. At one point, and Brian could not remember why, they did mention their professions, but only briefly. Justin merely stated that he was an artist staying in town for a year, not caring to check if Brian knew of his art. Brian said he was in advertisement working in a company named Kinnetik. The conversation was warm, it was not impersonal, business like conversation. Brian knew he talked a lot more than he normally did with anybody, and about very private matters, his son, his friends, the dreams he still had. Justin described passionately the trip he intended to make soon, a road trip across the US, all the places he would see, many of which Brian had never heard of.

 

Soon it was past 10 and the waiter gently let them know that it was closing time. Justin insisted on paying because he had offered in the first place but Brian, hating feeling indebted, took charge of the tip, making it a big one, because he really had a great time. At one point he worried if this had been a date? But he shook up the thought because it just couldn't be a date since it was not planned.

 

The walk back home was just as nice, even if it took a little longer, because both men were just a little tipsy (fortunately, Justin wasn't allergic to the excellent Greek wine and ouzo they had drank). When they arrived, they looked at each other, smiling, both knowing exactly what was coming next and enjoying the anticipation. Somehow they had ended walking in the middle of the street, which thankfully was deserted at this hour, and were halfway to their respective buildings. Then Brian gently tugged on Justin's ugly sweater and directed him to his building.

 

 

Brian woke up at usual, just before his alarm biped. He felt curiously refreshed, because he recalled perfectly the night events and not falling asleep until around 2 am, and comfortable, despite the blond who was once again lying against him, one arm around his chest and his head on his shoulder. He laid still for a few moments, just enjoying the feeling, before stretching and getting out of bed.

 

He took his shower and started to feel uneasy. After all, not only had he broken his no repeat rule, but he had went to diner with a trick and definitely had told him more than his name. It was time to get things back on track. He hoped Justin would wake up and leave his loft before he walked out of the bathroom, saving him the embarrassment of kicking him out. He got half his wish, because when he stepped out, shaven and showered, Justin was wakening. He went to put on a suit, listening to Justin going to the bathroom and then dressing up too. After a few seconds, while he was choosing his tie, he heard him clear his throat. He turned around, and was surprised that his first thought was how good Justin looked like this, hair a mess, light stubble, crumpled clothes. Then Justin smiled at him, walked up in front of him and stood on his tiptoes to press a light kiss to his lips. “See you Brian”, he said quietly, before turning around and leaving. Brian stood still for a minute and then walked to his window and watched Justin cross the street and enter his building.

 

 

The next days, Brian was forced to realize that he was still thinking about the blond. He forced himself to stay away from his windows at home, but that didn't stop him from checking every blond hair he crossed. He even brought home some blond twinks, to prove to himself that it wasn't that Justin had anything special, but just that his tastes in men had changed. After all, after more than 20 years of tall, dark and buff, he was entitled to something new. However, after a few samples, he had to admit that he still didn't like twinks, or blonds, or blond twinks. He hated that feeling and decided that it was just a phase; all he had to do was avoid Justin for a few weeks and everything would be back to normal.

 

About 10 days later, Brian was having a very very bad day at the office. He was ending a very unpleasant phone conversation with an important client who was very unimpressed by the latest scheduled campaign, one that he had personally supervised, when his assistant called.

 

“Yes Cynthia?”

 

“Brian, there is a Justin Taylor here, wanting to talk to you. I told him you were busy but he insists and says it will only take a minute. Do you want me to have him escorted out ?”

 

Brian felt a cold anger surging. Not bothering to answer Cynthia, he rushed out of his office towards the reception. He saw the surprised look on Justin's face when he walked straight to him with a furious face, then grabbed his arm and dragged him outside of the building. As soon as they were out, Justin freed his arm angrily and shouted “what's the matter with you?”

 

“What the fuck do you think you're doing here?” Brian was yelling back, not caring that Cynthia probably could hear him from her reception desk.

 

“I was walking around town, I saw the Kinnetik sign on the building and since it's close to noon I just wanted to know if you wanted to have lunch with me ! Jesus, what's the big deal here !”

 

“OK, I'll make this very clear. We fucked. That makes us nothing, not lovers, not friends, not fuck-buddies and certainly not lunch-buddies. You do not show up at my work, you understand? So keep on walking and don't you dare show up here again or I'll have security throw you out! “

 

Brian watched Justin's expression change from anger to...contempt? He had half expected shame or tears, but certainly not that.

 

When Justin spoke again, his voice was icy.

 

“You know, Brian, I'm used to rich people being friendly as long as I entertain them and then kicking me back to what they consider my place is. I never figured you to be one of them. Well, Big Boss Man, you just keep on hanging out with your high society buddies and I'll keep up with low lifes like myself. And don't worry, there's not a chance in hell that I'll ever show up anywhere near you again.”

 

With that, Justin turned away and left without a look back.

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