Justin walked down the street with a smile on his face. He had a plan and his plan was good. He had checked from the internet where Kinnetik was located and now he was on his way there. Actually, the place should be right around the corner.

Twenty steps later Justin stopped in front of a pair of frosted glass doors. There was Kinnetik written on it with simple black, bold letters. This was definitely the place. Justin pushed the door open and as he could tell from the website, he stepped inside a very glamorous lobby. He liked the color theme of black, wine red and bright white. There was a young girl behind a desk and Justin decided to ask directions from her.

“Hi there… Pauline,” Justin read from her name tag. “I’m looking for the art department. Could you be a lamb and tell me how do I get there,” he smiled his most charming smile girls always fell for.

The blond, ponytailed girl smiled back and nodded. “It’s right down that hallway. May I ask with whom do you have an appointment?”

But Justin was already on his way and waved his hand at the girl. “Thank you!” 

The art department was at the end of the hallway and Justin looked around in awe. The room was busy. There were a lot of people. Most of them were working on computers but some walked around and some were working on boards. The room was colorful because there were loads of pictures and color maps all over the walls.

“Excuse me,” a middle aged man walked by Justin with a huge board and out of the room.

Justin watched after him for a second before venturing further into the room. He felt like he was home. Which was weird since he had never been to Kinnetik. But something called out for him here. Justin actually found his fingers itching to get his hands on one of those computers. He wanted to take a closer look at all those pictures and sketches on the walls. He wanted to let his creativity out after suppressing it for so long. Why on earth had he stopped in the first place? He didn’t remember anymore.

“Hi, can I help you?” a thirty-something man came to Justin and put out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Justin. I’m Brian’s husband and I just wanted to see Kinnetik. I’ve never been here and finally found some time,” Justin flashed his smile at the man.

“Excuse me?” the man furrowed his brows. “Did you say, you’re Mr. Kinney’s husband?”

Justin nodded eagerly.

“Um, we weren’t aware that he’s married,” the man said clearly confused.

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t like to talk about his private life. I thought it’s time you guys finally get to know him a little,” Justin explained. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Andrew,” the man said.

“That’s great, now do you mind giving me a tour, Andrew?” Justin asked politely.

“Okay,” Andrew scratched the back of his head. “Um, well the art department is pretty much this,” he waved his hand around. “We got our interns,” he pointed at one corner to a group of four people. “The Graphic Designers,” Andrew indicated to the three people and then one at the other side of the room. “There we have a couple of Art Directors,” two people were standing in front of a wall of pictures on the opposite side of the room. “And I’m the head of art department.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Justin said as he started to wander around the room. He saw a lot of different books lying around on desks and some unfinished boards and sketches. “What are you working on here?” Justin picked up one board that had a picture of a dog.

“Um, I’m sorry but I don’t think you should be here. Do you have a permission to be here?” Andrew seemed a little nervous but Justin ignored it.

“Of course I do. I’m Brian’s husband,” Justin nodded.

“Excuse me. Could I have my board back?” Justin heard a voice from behind the board and lowered it a little. It was one of the interns.

“Of course you can, sweetie. Hi, I’m Justin, Brian’s husband,” Justin gave the board back and reached out his hand.

The girl smiled a little. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Sarah.”

“You too,” the young man smiled even wider.

“Did you just say, you’re Mr. Kinney’s husband?” Justin heard from behind himself.

The man turned around and came face to face with a one of the Art Directors. “Yes I did,” Justin nodded. “Justin Kinney,” he extended his hand once again.

“Rick Moran. Are you sure? I’ve never seen him wearing a ring,” Rick commented.

“Yeah, we’ve been married for almost a decade actually. He doesn’t wear a ring because he thinks it’s better for the business. You know the ladies. There’s actually a research paper somewhere on the internet about that. Apparently women sign contracts far more often if the other party isn’t married,” Justin explained, remembering one of his friends back in Denver reading about it from a paper.

“That’s an interesting fact,” Rick nodded.

“I thought so,” Justin smiled.

*

There was a knock on Brian’s office door. “Come in,” he said in thought as he was in the middle of reading an article about Gardner Vance. That asshole had found a way to sign a contract with local food chain. Well, Brian wouldn’t have wanted to do business with the old geezer who owned the chain anyway.

Cynthia poked her head in and looked a little uncomfortable. “Hi, um, the word is that someone is down at the art department and says he’s your husband.”

Brian snapped his head up from the paper. He stared at the woman a second. “I’ll be right out,” he said folding the paper. Cynthia opened the door more and let Brian walk past her.

“I have no idea who it is but maybe it’s better to let Bill deal with this,” Cynthia suggested as she took quick steps in her black high heels, a step behind Brian.

“It’s Justin,” Brian muttered annoyed.

“Um, Justin?” the blond woman asked curious.

“Don’t ask,” Brian muttered again.

Brian arrived at the art department and surely enough he saw a familiar man leaning on a table, ass pushed out towards him and bunch of people gathered around him. He was clearly in the middle of a story. Brian walked behind him and cleared his throat.

Justin turned around knowing from that noise it was Brian. He smiled widely. “Hi honey.”

“What the fuck?” Brian restrained himself but did indicate with the tone of his voice that he was not happy.

“I just wanted to finally see where you work. I think I’ve been a bad husband by not supporting you enough and coming to see this place. I think it’s exquisite. You never told me about these wonderful employees you have here,” Justin indicated to the people behind him. There were at least five pairs of eyes glued to the two men at the moment.

“Can I have a word with you, honey,” Brian didn’t give him time to answer. He grabbed Justin’s upper arm and dragged him out.

On the way Justin looked back and winked at the people. “I love it when you get rough.” He saw a few smiles as the crowd dissipated and then Brian shut the door putting a barrier between them and the people in the other room so they couldn’t hear.

“And what exactly are you doing?” Brian crossed his arms over his chest and was that a foot tapping the floor Justin saw from the corner of his eye.

“I think it’s quite clear,” Justin smiled.

Brian arched his brows. “If you’re trying to get a quickie divorce by spreading details about my private life and invading my life, you’ve just done the opposite.”

Justin face fell and he started pouting. “You’re the meanest husband ever. If you had any decency you would let me go and be happy with it.”

“Not with that man. Anyone else, yes, but not with that man,” Brian shook his head.

Justin crossed his own arms too over his chest. “There’s nothing wrong with Alex and you know it.”

“Keep telling yourself that but it’s not going to change the truth,” Brian took hold of Justin’s arm again and led him down the hall to the lobby. “Now go annoy other people. I don’t have time for this crap,” he led the man past the front desk.

Justin saw a bowl of candy on the edge of that desk and grabbed a few as Brian dragged him. He smiled at Pauline and winked his eye a little making the girl smile.

Then the door opened and Justin found himself on the other side of it again. The black bold letters that formed the name Kinnetik was slammed to his face. They stopped only five inches from the tip of his nose, making Justin blink and pull his head slightly back.

Justin sighed and looked away, trying to decide what he would do next to annoy his husband.

*

Later that week Brian wanted to let some steam out after a hard day at work. He did now realize that Justin may pull other stunts too, to make him sign the divorce papers. But the man had decided that there would be nothing that would make him sign them before the little lad asked him three times.

Brian walked to the bar at the Woody’s. It wasn’t late yet. Actually, it was only six. Not his usual time to be out and about. But today he wanted to just spend a quiet night with the pool balls.

“Can I have a double Jim Beam?” Brian asked the bartender. He was new and Brian had fucked him on his second day at the job. He couldn’t resist. The man had worn these amazing worn out, low cut boot jeans. Turned out those jeans were the only good thing in the man.

The brunet looked around and tapped his fingers against the edge of the bar table. His eyes stopped to two people that hadn’t been there before. Well, one of them hadn’t been there before. They were sitting on bar stools around a small, black high table. Brian grinned. He could have some fun.

The Jim Beam appeared in front of him and Brian made his way towards those two. He sipped his drink and walked around the bar. But as he got closer, he stopped. He saw from afar that Justin was fiddling with a long necklace he had around his neck. When he got closer, he saw that it wasn’t just a necklace. There was a ring hanging from the chain. The brunet furrowed his brows. He moved behind them and when he got close enough, he did recognize the ring. He recognized it because he had bought it. Almost a decade ago.

“What are you two love birds up to?” Brian smiled and put his arms around both of the men’s shoulders. He noticed Justin quickly pushing the ring under his shirt.

“Do you mind, we’re trying to have a nice night here,” Alex immediately got annoyed.

“Then you shouldn’t have picked out a bar where I’m a regular,” Brian grinned. “You’re in my playground now, buddy,” he patted the man’s shoulder a couple of times.  

“Hi Brian,” Justin sighed and took his bottle of beer, drinking from it.

“Hi there beautiful,” Brian kissed him on the cheek. He did not miss the look Justin gave his boyfriend.

“I’ll be right back. Need to pee,” Justin pushed Brian’s arm off his shoulders and got up. “You, behave,” he gave his husband a stern look and pointed his finger at him.

Brian let go of Alex and held his hands up like surrendering. He watched Justin go and sat on his husband’s stool. He leaned his elbow on the table and looked at the man who he did not like. “Nice that ring on Justin’s neck,” Brian pointed his own neck.

“Yeah, it’s his grandpa’s wedding ring,” Alex seemed to calm down a little.

“His grandpa’s?” this was just too perfect for Brian.

“Yeah, I think he might want to use it when we get married,” Alex said a little proudly.

“That thing?” the brunet pointed at the way Justin had gone to.

Alex nodded.

“That ring that looks like it’s made in the 2000’s,” Brian arched his other brow. “How young is his grandpa?” the brunet chuckled.

Alex didn’t know what to say to that and Brian noticed.

“Maybe you should dig a little deeper,” Brian grinned and threw his Jim Beam down his throat before taking a sip from Justin’s half empty beer bottle. “Oh, here he comes,” he smiled widely at Justin who found his way back.

“Did you behave?” Justin looked at Brian amused.

“I was a perfect angel. Oops, took your seat,” Brian hopped off the barstool and let Justin sit back down. “I must be going now. It seems like someone is eyeing my pool table. Have fun you two,” Brian smiled and took Alex’s beer bottle before walking away while drinking the rest of it.

“What an asshole,” Alex muttered and looked after the older man.

“Did he say something,” Justin asked, placing his hand on Alex’s thigh.

“Nah, not really,” the man said. He looked at Justin’s neck and reached for the necklace. It was a very simple chain. The ring that dangled from it was golden. The surface was a little rough and sparkly and in the middle, around the ring, went a very simple pattern of diamonds. The ring did not look like it was old. Alex doubted if it really was his grandpa’s wedding ring.

“You want to use this ring when we get married?” Alex asked moving his eyes to the blue ones.

Justin looked back at Alex and shook his head. “No, we’ll get our own.”

“But you said it’s your grandpa’s,” Alex said.

Justin didn’t answer. He just took the ring from Alex’s fingers and dropped it inside his collar.

Alex turned his head and looked at Brian. The man was leaning against the pool table and watching them. He looked like a cat who just ate the cream. Alex turned his head back to Justin who played with his beer bottle. The pieces had just clicked into their own places but he decided not to say anything.

*

Justin approached Brian as the man was leaned over the pool table. He aimed and hit a ball, sinking a red ball. Justin stopped at the other side of the green and brown table and waited for Brian to straighten his back.

“We meet again,” Brian nodded his head a little.

“What did you say to Alex?” Justin’s tone was not so nice.

“What are you talking about?” Brian arched his brows and took the little blue cube, rubbing it at the tip of his pool cue.

“He’s been weird since you talked to him,” Justin looked at the man angrily.

Brian looked at his pool table from different angles and walked around it. “Would you mind,” he pushed Justin aside a little and leaned over the table. Justin held in his groan and rolled his eyes. Brian took a shot but missed and got up again.

“I just pointed out that you have such a lovely ring dangling from that chain of yours. Your grandpa was very nice giving it to you,” Brian smirked, lowering the end of his pool cue on the floor and leaning on it. “He’s got the impression that you two are going to use it at your wedding. Such a sentimental kid that Alex of yours,” Brian babbled like he was talking about the weather.

“Stay out of it,” Justin grunted.

“It’s not me who’s wearing my wedding ring on my neck. I think it’s bad leading him on like that, when you’re still holding on to me,” Brian looked into those blue, angry peepers.

“Stay. Out. Of. It,” Justin repeated angrily and walked away.

Brian smiled as he watched Justin retreat and it felt like his day had just turned a lot better.