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Brother's Keeper
by Vamphile
Six
Aaron was trying to take in the scene. He’d woken up to the sounds of an argument. He’d recognized his father’s voice but not where he was. Then it all started to come back to him.
When he’d stumbled down the steps he just wanted to see what was going on. He also wanted to make sure his father wasn’t still planning on sending him away. He was not prepared for the bizarre reaction Justin and Brian had to his interruption.
They were both insane. That had to be it. Why the fuck were they laughing as if they couldn’t stop. He’d seen Justin mad, and he’d seen Brian pretty pissed as well in the last few days. He’d also seen them joke around together, and laugh a little. This was different. This was… they were bordering on hysteria.
Aaron turned his attention away from the couple and saw that his father was equally confused and even more irritated than either Brian or Justin had been at any point since he’d met them.
He flashed back to Craig’s rants about Brian, the sugardaddyclubfreakchildmolester, and Justin the ungrateful little faggot who was with him.
He tried to attach those labels now to the men he’d been dealing with and they didn’t fit. He eventually stepped back. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He wanted a beer but was pretty sure that would make the situation worse not better.
He took a long drink from the bottle of water and tried to figure out what to say to get this to stop.
~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**
Craig watched Aaron stumble down from what he assumed to be the bedroom. He’d never been in the loft before. Hell, technically he was barely in it now. Brian wouldn’t let him get beyond the first few feet but from what he could see there were no other doors. Just one big open space.
He took in the disheveled look Aaron was sporting. No shoes, no shirt, his face still carrying pillow creases, his hair rumpled. Craig wanted to yank the kid out of there and was about to make a move to do so when Brian and Justin started laughing. It wasn’t a chuckle, or a bemused grunt of humor…it was bordering on hysteria. He watched as the two became red faced and held on to each other in an attempt not to fall down from laughing so hard. He would never understand Justin, or what he saw in this freak that had been leading him around and into danger since he’d met him.
His anger was growing and Aaron's obvious comfort with the loft itself wasn’t making him any less furious.
He’d lost Justin. He’d tried to talk to him. He’d tried to reason with him. And eventually he’d made some really bad moves as far as rebuilding their relationship, but that was years ago. He’d given up on the little faggot. Jenn had obviously won him in the divorce. The divorce was mostly Justin’s fault anyway. He wasn’t going to lose Aaron.
He moved around the pair who were seemingly getting a grip on themselves finally. “Aaron, I think you’d better comes with me.”
“Fuck you dad.”
Craig sighed. He’d heard this part before. He was going to try to keep his calm but if he got the, “it’s just a fuck”, line again, he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to keep himself from flying off the handle. He took a deep breath.
“Aaron, this is no place for a kid your age. Come with me. I’ll take you back to your mom and the three of us can talk.”
Justin interrupted them. “Bad idea dad.”
“Justin, this really isn’t your affair.”
“You really want to bring up the term affair?”
“Justin. Stay out of it. You’ve done enough.”
“So have you. Why don’t you just walk away? You’re so good at that.”
“Justin.” Craig’s tone was warning.
“What? You can’t threaten me dad. You’ve got nothing left to hold over me. And you don’t have custody of Aaron. You can’t take him. So just get the fuck out of here.”
“This isn’t your apartment. You can’t kick me out.”
Justin shrugged. “No, my names not on the deed. But it’s my home.” He turned to Brian. “Can I kick him out?”
Brian smiled. “If you want. Although I was kind of looking forward to doing it myself.”
“Well, it is YOUR apartment” Justin said, smirking, and making an elaborate show of moving away to allow Brian access to Craig.
Brian took a step forward. Craig refused to back away.
Suddenly Aaron was between the two of them. “Um, hey, guys. Not to, you know, make an issue of it or anything. But this isn’t about either of you, so can we stop the pissing contest now?”
Justin actually grinned a little. As much as he’d love to see Brian throw Craig out on his ass, the kid was right. Brian and Craig had fought, in their own ways, for their places in Justin’s life. And, it seemed to Justin, they had both ended up right where they’d wanted to be. So why not bring the actual current issue into focus?
“He’s got a point.”
Brian and Craig both looked at Justin and each took a step away from one another.
“He should come home with me.”
“That’s not gonna happen.”
Craig looked at Justin. “He can’t stay here.”
“He’s gonna go home. To Alicia. I’ll take him.”
“Justin. I…”
“I know dad. You don’t want him here. You don’t want him near your freak of a son or his sugardaddyclubfreakchildmolester of a boyfriend but you don’t get to make the call on this one.”
Brian was watching Craig closely. Justin was far more confident than he’d ever seen him around the man before. But that didn’t make Brian more confident that Craig wasn’t going to behave.
“Justin, this really isn’t any of your business. Why don’t you go back to whatever you were doing before this all started and let his mother and me decide what the next step is.”
Justin shook his head. “It became MY business when he showed up on MY doorstep because he was afraid of you. It’s MY business because he’s my half brother. It’s MY business because I know first hand what listening to you can do to a kid trying to figure out who he is. So FUCK OFF!”
Craig was beyond angry now. He took a step towards Justin fists balled. He came up short against an immovable object.
“Leave Craig.”
Brian was standing chest to chest with him and when Craig shifted Brian did too.
“Brian.” Justin's voice was calmer. He laid a hand on the man’s arm. Brian didn’t move.
“It’s my home Craig. Get. The. Fuck. Out.” Brian took a step forward.
Craig could push back, but he wasn’t sure he could take this man, and he didn’t have a legal leg to stand on. Or he could step back.
He turned and left. “This isn’t over.”
“Yes it is.” Brian said as he slammed the industrial metal door closed.
“Well, that was bracing.” Justin smiled but Brian wasn’t ready yet.
“He’s such a fucking asshole.”
“Thank you.” Aaron said it in a small voice. He was angry with Justin. Yeah, he resented the fuck out of him, but he didn’t want to see him get hurt. And he really didn’t want to go back with Craig.
“You. Sit.” Brian turned his attention to Aaron and pointed to one of the chairs around the dining table.
Aaron wasn’t about to argue with Brian at this point. He didn’t know him well enough to know if that face was just for effect or if he was really that angry.
Brian sat across from him at the table. Justin pulled a couple of beers from the fridge and put one in front of Brian. He opened his own and joined them at the table. He was interested in what Brian was going to say next. And his heart rate was still working on getting back to normal. Okay, maybe he was a little more afraid of his father than he was willing to admit. And he’d never seen him that mad before… well, once, when he had beaten up Brian but that was years ago. He took a long pull from the beer bottle and leaned back a little waiting for Brian to start.
Brian took the beer, grateful to have something to do with his hands other than throttle the both of them.
Justin fucking taunting his father like that. Goddammit he thought the kid was smarter than that… he was gonna have to kill Craig one of these days just to make sure he stayed the hell away from Justin.
And Aaron. He didn’t know where to start with his anger. Peddling his little twink ass on the streets. Dragging everyone into his fucking drama. His seemingly endless ability to pretend it was no big deal.
Brian put the bottle down and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t sure he’d had a headache this bad since he’d ended up with a duffle bag full of Justin's underwear and that stupid ass Yellow Submarine tape.
Justin saw Brian’s expression and headed towards the bathroom. He found the migraine meds that Brian swore he never needed. He was a little concerned when he saw that the bottle was almost empty. He filed away the information to nag Brian about it later.
He sat back down, putting the pill in front of Brian. He smiled and swallowed it.
“There are gonna be some fucking rules.”
Justin was amused, and a little surprised. Aaron was just pissed off and opened his mouth to say so.
“Shut the fuck up.” He looked at Aaron and then turned his attention to Justin. You wanna tell him the rules or should I?”
Justin shrugged. He had no fucking clue what rules Brian was talking about. They had rules once… but those couldn’t be what he meant. The rest seemed fucking obvious…although now that he thought about it he realized apparently Aaron didn’t find them as obvious.
“You go. I’ll add stuff if I need to.”
Brian nodded. “You are not selling your ass, or any other part of your body.”
Aaron opened his mouth, one could only assume to again profess his innocence.
Justin held up his hand. “Let him finish.”
Aaron shut his mouth again.
“You are NOT going to clubs alone and letting guys you don’t know get you drunk.
You are NOT taking any fucking drugs from anyone you don’t know.”
Aaron looked up a little surprised at this, but Justin shrugged at him and he continued to listen to Brian’s litany of rules.
“You stay fucking HOME on a school night. Don’t piss off the jocks…especially the baseball players.
If you’re gonna find some kid your age and fuck around with him. If you’re gonna find anyone and fuck around with him and you don’t use a condom I’ll personally remove your dick. Any questions?”
“How am I supposed to know people well enough to get drugs from them if I’m not allowed to go to clubs and let guys buy me drinks?”
Brian dropped his head onto the table. “He’s all yours.”
Justin bit his lip and pretended to be thinking. He was really just trying not to laugh. Yeah, okay, they were good rules, in general. But not for his half-breed.
“Aaron. No clubbing. No fucking without a condom. And no coming back here because you’re too wasted to go home.”
“So I should just go back with whatever guy I’m with.”
“No.” They said it in unison.
“Well what the fuck. How am I supposed to get laid if I’m not allowed to go to clubs, drink or go back to his place?”
“There’s a nice alley between Pistol and Popperz. You could try the bathrooms at Boy-Toy. And stay the fuck out of Meathook.” Brian was mumbling this against the table. He still didn’t have the energy to lift his head.
“This sucks.”
“No. That’s kind of the point.”
“So I’m just not supposed to get laid.”
“Can’t you get laid at school like everyone else?”
“Is that what you did?”
“Sure, I sucked off my gym teacher.”
“Brian!”
Aaron laughed. Brian turned his head to stare at Justin who glared at him. “Tell that story to him and I’ll remove your dick.”
“Okay. Fine. Fuck the swim team.”
“I did.”
Brian sighed. “What time does your mother expect you home?”
“Not 'til late. She won’t be home 'til really late. It’s Monday. She watches her boss’s kid on Monday night.”
“What?”
Aaron shrugged. “She watches his kid Monday nights so he can play poker and his wife go to some meeting or something and then he doesn’t give her shit about the days when she has to take off ‘cause I’m sick or whatever.”
Brian nodded. ‘Whatever. So you need to go home soon, it’s almost seven.”
“No she doesn’t come home 'til midnight on Mondays.”
“You still need to go home soon.”
“I’ll take him. Go lay down. I’m hoping you won’t have a headache when I get back.”
Brian nodded. “Wait, you’re taking the ‘vette?”
“Can we pretend we already had the argument and skip to the part where you remember you gave me a set of keys to it.”
“Oh yeah, that. Go. Don’t fuck up my car.”
“Yes, you’d be sad if I got blood all over your interior.”
“Very.”
“Hour tops.”
“Mmmmmm hmmm.”
Justin knew the pain meds were kicking in. And that this little drama had pretty much worn Brian out. He leaned over to kiss him and bit his earlobe. “Move to the couch. If you’re too stiff to fuck me I’m gonna be pissed.” He whispered.
“Too stiff to fuck you? That’s an oxymoron.”
“And you’re just a moron. I’ll be back.”
He left, hustling Aaron out with him.
Brian stood up and arched his back, realizing he would end up stiff if he slept with his head on the table. He moved to the sofa and sprawled out on his back mindlessly flipping through the channels and trying not to think about what Justin was telling Aaron, or how close Craig had come to actually hitting Justin. His jaw clenched. Yeah, he had to kill Craig.
~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~*~**~**~*~*~*~*~*~**~
Once they were both in the car and headed towards Aaron's house Aaron seemed to relax a little.
Justin started.
“Dad’s pretty fucking intense.”
“So was Brian.”
“They don’t like each other much.”
“I noticed.”
“He thinks you’re gay ‘cause of Brian.”
“I’m not.”
“Duh. So did Brian mean it about all those rules?”
“Yeah. He left some out but it’s not like you’re gonna listen to him anyway.”
“Maybe I will.”
“You should. And you should listen to me. Craig is pissed. Craig will do anything to keep you from becoming like me. He hates me.”
“I don’t think he really hates you.”
“No. He didn’t always. He does now. He’s twisted things in his head to make a lot of shit my fault. Shit that has nothing to do with me. But that’s not the point. The point is that his head is pretty fucking twisted. And I don’t care if you want to go out and get laid.”
“Yes you do.”
“Okay, yes I do. But I’ll get over that. However, you need to recognize that you’re in very real danger of ending up at some place that tortures you for being gay.”
“Pfft, that’s so not gonna happen.”
Justin pulled the car onto a side street and came to a complete stop. He turned his head so he could give Aaron his complete attention. “Yes. It is.”
“My dad wouldn’t… my mom… it’s…”
“Listen to me Aaron. Brian called me and not your mom. Why do you think that is?”
“Because he barely knows my mom.”
“Yes and he’s very shy. Skittish around strangers even.”
Aaron rolled his eyes.
“Why do you think he called me?”
“’Cause he luuuuuuurves you.” Aaron made a face.
“No, he calls me because of that three times a day. Why do you think he called me when he found you on the street? Fucking think about it twat.”
Aaron shrugged. “Because he didn’t know what to do?”
“Brian always knows what to do. He called me because he couldn’t take you home. He can’t be the one who drags you out of clubs. He can’t be the one who deposits you back on your mother’s doorstep. And he’s not gonna be the one who tells her what her little angel’s been up to while he was supposed to be at school. Because he and I both know where that will leave you.”
Aaron seemed to finally understand. “You really think dad would do that?”
“We both do. Your mother thinks it’s a good idea. She can’t afford it. He can. And he will. And I’m not playing mission impossible to rescue you. You can’t get mail, and you can’t take phone calls… so once you’re in there, you’re fucked. And not in the way you’re looking for.”
“I think you’re…”
“You think I’m right. And you’re scared. You know what? Good, you should be scared. You should be fucking terrified. I can help you, and I’ll try. But I can’t fucking do it if you’re locked up in god’s tabernacle of the holy pussy.”
“Where?”
“Whatever that place is called.”
“You’ll help me?”
“Yeah, tell you what. ONE night of clubbing a week. NO drugs. NO going to the back room and you can hit on all the twinks you want.”
“You’re gonna go with me?”
“Would you prefer Brian escort you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s why I’m taking you.”
“Do you think dad’s mad enough now? I mean you and Brian really pissed him off.”
“I don’t know. He’s pissed. Try not to let him get to you. But Aaron, you’re going to have to be more careful. And I don’t mean about getting caught. I mean about what you’re doing.”
“But I only have to worry if I get caught.”
Justin sighed. “No. You only have to worry about Craig and your mom if you get caught. And me and Brian.”
“Brian’s harmless.”
“Keep thinking that. It’s like playing with a baby tiger. They’re cute…'til they’re not.”
“Pfft, he’s more like a big ole puppy.”
“I’ll tell him you said that.”
Aaron looked stricken. “Christ, it would also just be generally helpful if you got past the part where you have a crush on Brian. He doesn’t need the aggravation right now.”
“’Cause he’s got you?”
“Sure, lets go with that. I’m all the aggravation he can handle.”
“Pfft, you don’t aggravate him.”
“Trust me. I’m one of the most annoying things in his life. And if you’re around enough, you’ll hear him tell me so.”
“He doesn’t mean it.”
“Aaron, you know very little about anything at this point in your life and absolutely nothing about me and Brian. But he does mean it.”
“So what’s he doing with you?”
“It’s more aggravating when I’m not around.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“I know.”
“You two are twisted.”
“We know”
“Are you sure it’s safe for me to go home?”
“We’ll see. Bottom line. Are you gonna watch it or are you hoping to have electrodes attached to your testicles?”
Aaron shuddered. “I’ll be good. But when can we go to a club?”
“If you go to school for the rest of the week, and if you don’t cause any more shit then Friday night.”
“You’ll be back?”
“Pfft, like I trust you. I’m staying the week and I’ll be checking up on you.”
“You are not.”
Justin gave him a determined glance as he started the car and headed towards Aaron's house.
He dropped Aaron off. The lights were off the house was empty. “You have a key?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll be here at seven tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“To drive you to school.”
“Fuck.”
Justin smiled and watched Aaron go inside the house. He headed back to the loft.
~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**
All the lights were out in the loft when Justin opened the door. He slid the door shut as quietly as possible but saw Brian stir on the sofa.
“Half-breed get home okay?”
“He’s in for the night.”
“You read him the riot act.”
“I explained the possible immediate consequences of his actions.”
“Does he get it?”
Justin was laying between Brian's legs, his back against his chest. Brian’s arm wrapped around his waist. He still hadn’t turned any of the lights on and they were talking in hushed voices. Apparently Brian’s headache was not completely gone.
“I think so.”
“They’re gonna send that kid to torture camp.”
“He’ll be good.”
“Yeah, he’s proven that.”
“He has incentive. I promised to take him out on Friday night if he behaved for the rest of the week.”
“Take him out? You’re dating your half-breed now?”
“No, I’ll take him to Pistol or Boy-Toy. But only if he’s good for the rest of the week.”
“You’re coming back on Friday?”
“No, I’m staying for the week.”
Brian's arm pulled Justin a little closer, held Justin a little tighter. “Is he gonna take up all our time this week?”
“No. But I have to find some studio space. I still have work to do on some stuff for that show.”
“I have the perfect spot.”
“Really?” Justin was only half paying attention. Brian was sucking on his earlobe, and doing things to the skin on his neck that weren’t conducive to conversation.
“I’ll show you tomorrow.”
“Oh and I need the car tomorrow morning. I have to drive Aaron to school.”
“You’re killing me here Sunshine.”
“Do you want to rent me a car for the week?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Mmmmmm, just keep doing that.”
“This?” Brian asked innocently as his fingers continued to tweak Justin's nipples under his shirt.
“Mmmmmm that.” Justin’s eyes were half closed and he was beginning to forget about the half-breed. “How’s your headache.”
“All gone.”
“Wanna go to bed?”
“It’s early.”
“Wasn’t talking about sleeping.”
Brian growled and followed Justin to the bedroom. Sleep was a long time coming… they weren’t…at least the first time.
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