Midnight Whispers
QAF Brian and Justin Fanfiction

 

Brian and Justin spent the Saturday together taking care of the potential Anatol threat. At the end of the day, Brian was mostly satisfied. A restraining order was delivered to Anatol (or rather, would be delivered as soon as he was spotted since nobody knew where to find him); a private guard had been hired to be present each Saturday and the Yoly building locks had been reinforced. Brian would have wanted more but Mrs Yoly had shared Justin's opinion. She also knew of Anatol, who seemed to be a celebrity of his own in the New York's art world and was unanimously considered inoffensive. Brian had been stunned to learn that he was even invited at some art events. Worst yet, Justin had confessed that he regularly slipped him some bills, so he could get a good meal from time to time.

 

Among all this, all day long, Brian had had to answer more than 50 phone calls, from people thanking him for the gala invitations. Without surprise, Debbie and Em's calls had been the most enthusiasts of the lot. He had to cut Em off though, when the man had insisted that tuxedos with knee length pants were the latest fashion and that Brian, with his beautiful legs, would look amazing in one. Michael had called many times too but Brian had let it go to voice mail.

 

He had hoped to spend the evening with Justin, but the young man told him that he had lost an afternoon of work and had to catch up. So Brian had gone to Babylon and tried to enjoy the night there, but truth be told, Babylon wasn't what it used to be. Brian had been forced to close the backroom the previous year. Now that everyone had top cell phones with zillion pixel cameras, some ill-intentioned people had sneaked in to snatch pictures of men in very compromising positions and posted them on social networks; a closeted man, with an important position in the city, had even been submitted to blackmail.

 

Even in the more selected VIP room that Brian had added a few years ago, similar incidents had taken place, including one in which the stolen pictures were provided by one of his own employees. He lost a lot of money setting the cases out of court. Carl and Mel had been a great help then; without them, Babylon probably would have been shut down by authorities. It would have been heartbreaking to loose the club. But a part of the freedom, the total lack of inhibition that Babylon used to represent, were partly gone.

 

Refusing to completely back down, Brian had large toilet cubicles set up in the ex-backroom, so a lot of sex still did happen there, but the spirit was not quite the same.

 

He left at midnight and parked at his usual place. He was getting out of his car when he heard a piercing whistle. Smiling, he raised his head and easily spotted Justin smoking at his usual place, legs dangling in the air. He crossed the street and waited impatiently for the door to open.

 

* * *

 

It was wonderful to wake up, totally relaxed, at 6 thirty, to sigh contently, before peacefully going back to sleep, spooning a very soft and warm body. His last conscious thought was “I could get used to this...”

 

It was Justin, or rather the smell of eggs and sausage, that woke him up around 11. Brian couldn't remember the last time he had slept so late. He walked lazily to the kitchen area and sat himself heavily on a chair, rubbing his eyes. Within seconds, Justin was straddling him and they shared a very long and deep kiss. When Justin pulled away and opened his eyes, just inches from his face, Brian was amazed by how clear they seemed in the morning light. Then he was amazed to be amazed by another man's eyes. He had never paid attention to that part of a man's body before.

 

Justin got up and finished cooking and soon they were sharing breakfast, that Brian, really hungry, ate with pleasure, not even caring about his usual diet. As usual, Justin was chatty, but Brian noted that he never talked much about himself. In fact, apart the fact that he was a 24 year old artist with severe allergies, Brian knew pretty much nothing about him.

 

“You're pretty secretive, aren't you?”

 

The remark caught Justin off guard. He eyed Brian intently for a moment. “What do you want to know?”

 

Brian pondered his first question for a moment.

 

“Do you have any family?”

 

Justin smiled bitterly. “Yes, of course, but I haven't seen or heard from any of them in years. I got kicked out the house at 15 by my father when he discovered I was gay. ”

 

“Where was that?”

 

“Atlanta.”

 

“What happened then?”

 

“Well, I stayed at my best friend's house for a few months, until summer break. Her parents were really nice people. But I couldn't just stay forever. Besides, I didn't care about finishing high school, I knew exactly what I wanted and I didn't need to graduate for it”.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Brian, when did you decide to be in advertisement?”

 

Brian was a little surprised by the question, but answered nonetheless. “Well, I always knew I wanted to make money. So naturally I majored in business. During college, I got a few internships; one was in this ad company, it turned out pretty quickly that I was a natural at it, so it was a pretty easy decision. Why?”

 

“Well, if you had met me at 8 and asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would have told you, “an artist”. And that wasn't even the whole truth, because I already was an artist and I knew it; I just wasn't good enough yet to make money out of it. So except for art classes, I felt like I was wasting my time at school. That's why when I left my friend's house, I went straight to New York”.

 

“How old were you then ?”

 

“16. I was both terrified and excited. But I had a plan. Being the art freak that I was, I knew there were abandoned buildings squatted by artists. That's where I went. The first one, they kicked me out, said it was not kindergarten, the 2nd freaked me out, when I got there 2 girls were fighting with knives in the hallway while people stood around not caring. I ran away as fast as I could. The 3rd one, they let me stay one night, they were nice about it though, they were harassed by police and couldn't afford to shelter an underage runaway boy. They told me of other squats to try and I finally found a place where I could stay. I was there for a few months.”

 

“What was it like?”

 

“Um...awful? Dirty, unsafe – the building was nearly collapsing; the artists living there were mostly okay, but a few of them were real weirdos and scared the shit out of me. For some reason, one got his kick of watching me sleep, so every night I would look for a new spot to sleep in and pray that he wouldn't find me. It still was better than living in the streets, though. Thankfully I grew up a few inches so I didn't look like I was 12 anymore. I got a small job as a delivery boy; with no rent to pay, I had enough money for food. The hardest thing was realizing how much I lacked in technique to really be an artist. There was no way I could afford any art school and with only my fake ID, I couldn't get a loan or a scholarship. So I learned by watching others work, I read every book I could borrow at public libraries. It was not a very conventional school, but it worked for me.”

 

“And then you got signed by a big gallery?”

 

“I wish...All the galleries I tried, I got kicked out before I could even open my mouth. But there's a real underground world for artists in New York, even if nobody has money. I met people and offered free work, like, making posters for concerts or plays, covers for albums or books. I got involved with some artists, and sometimes we would do projects together, graff painting or whatever. What I loved doing best, was for every big event, like a Broadway production, or a blockbuster movie, making my own poster, photocopying it in as many samples as I could afford, and then gluing them everywhere... until one day I heard this woman was looking for me, leaving her card everywhere. I called her and she said she was gonna be my agent.”

 

“A dream come true...”

 

“Not likely! She had this contract ready which basically tied me up to her for all my life, but she could kick me out whenever she wanted. And she was keeping like 70% of what I would make. Still, I signed, but I lied about the fact that I was still a minor. I figured when I'd want to break the contract, that would help.”

 

“How old where you?”

 

“A few months short of 18.”

 

“So you had it pretty good, despite getting kicked out by your parents?”

 

“Yeah, well, that's the General Audience version, the adult version is a bit rougher.”

 

Brian waited but obviously Justin wasn't going to continue. He wouldn't press him, he could feel that Justin had already showed him a great trust and told him a lot more than he usually did. Besides, what he hadn't told, Brian could easily guess. What could be expected to happen to a pretty boy, living alone in the streets of New York. Brian thought that as much as he hated his lousy parents, at least they provided him a roof. Of course, they had not known he was gay until he was already totally out of their reach. He sighed; Justin was 12 years younger than him, and yet being gay hadn't been easier for him. And it still wasn't for many young gays, he was sadly aware of that.

 

Brian decided to change the subject; he had to clear one thing up with Justin, and fast.

 

“Justin, you remember I told you I had a 7 year old son? Gus?” Justin nodded.

 

“Well, you know his mother. In fact, she's quite a fan of yours.”

 

Justin looked puzzled for a moment, then his eyes got wide. “Lyndsay Peterson! Of course! She came with her son Gus the first time, I didn't make the connection. You told me you had a son with a lesbian friend and...”

 

Justin seemed hesitant to finish his sentence, much to Brian's amusement. “And?”

 

“Well...Lyndsay looks pretty straigth to me.” This time, Brian laughed out loud. Justin blushed and protested “no, she didn't hit on me! It's just, we had lunch twice and once there was this hot guy seating nearby and she kept eying him during the whole meal. So I assumed she was hetero.”

 

“Don't worry, Justin. Truth is, whether Lynds is lesbian, straight or bi, is no concern to me. I'm 100% queer.”

 

Justin was obviously relieved but still seemed a little tense and once again, Brian knew why.

 

“I also know she's pushing for you to do a show at her gallery. If you want to, do it. But don't feel you have to because of me, all right? I never mix my professional life and my personal life, I don't expect you to do it because you think it would please me”

 

Justin beamed at him. “Thanks; I've already told her that part of the residency deal is that all my work is solely for the Yoly foundation during it. And my agent plans some big thing once it's over. But she's pretty insistent.”

 

Brian sighed. “You have no idea...And you haven't met the rest of my family yet. She's not even the worst.”

 

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