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The End Done Right
by Vamphile
Chapter Thirteen
The plane landed in Toronto at a little after nine on Saturday morning. By the time they’d rented a car, managed to get all of the toys packed into it, and arrived at Mel and Lindz’s it was well past noon.
Brian got out of the car and was immediately greeted by a blur of brown hair that attached itself to his legs calling “daddy daddy daddy” Brian smiled, and winced a little at the feel of the boys cast slamming against the back of his knee.
He bent down to pick up Gus, “Hey sonny-boy.”
“Daddy, you’re here!”
“Where else would I be?”
Gus seemed to ponder this for a moment, and then smiled “Away. But now you’re not away. You’re here.” Gus then looked over at his mommies who were both hugging Justin hello. Justin was holding JR by the time Brian approached the group.
Lindsay hugged Brian while he was still holding Gus, and then took a step back, beaming at the both of them.
“Gus, why don’t you let daddy and Justin bring their things in from the car, and then you can show him your new room.”
“K” Gus wriggled until Brian put him down and laughed as the kid ran full speed towards a tire swing beside the house. “He’s fast.”
“He’s in a hurry to do everything” Lindsay replied, reminds me of someone I know.
Brian took JR from Justin, “Christ, he looks like Michael, he’s got his nose”
‘Hi Brian” Melanie said as she removed JR from Brian's arms.
“Hey Melanie.” Brian replied, relinquishing the girl.
The house seemed bigger inside than it appeared fro the exterior. The house in Pittsburgh had been somewhat cramped. This was large with an open floor plan.
He and Justin unloaded the car, and sat quietly as they listened to Gus squeal with delight at all his new toys, and Melanie and Lindsay admonish Brian for spoiling him.
“Well, if I don’t spoil my sonny-boy, who will?”
”His parents” Mel said with a little more force than necessary. Brian was about to say something back when a hand on his knee from Justin and a glare from Lindsay made him reconsider. He shrugged, “We were bored, we killed some time.”
“So Gus, you want to show me your room?”
Gus was entranced with a video learning system he’d just received and looked up at his dad and seemed to consider the question. “We can’t right now, Sam is taking a nap.” Brian nodded, and Justin moved down to the floor to play with Gus.
“So, have you two eaten?” Lindsay asked.
“No, we had to leave early, I’m going to have to kill Cynthia, she knows I hate morning flights.”
“You’re just mad because we got interrupted this morning.”
Brian nodded, “Fucking bellman.”
“Brian, language.” Lindsay gave him a look.
“You told them to come get our stuff at seven.”
“Who knew they were going to be on time?”
Lindsay laughed, “Honestly you two, don’t you ever take a break?”
Brian’s face, while pretending to consider the question, looked remarkably like Gus’s, “No.”
Well, let me at least make you some sandwiches, so you can keep your strength up.
Lindsay headed off to the kitchen.
Brian followed her.
“So how are you doing really?” he asked, sitting on a kitchen chair and propping his feet up on another.
Lindsay looked at him oddly, “Fine, I’ve been telling you we’re doing fine for a while, why do you keep acting like you don’t believe me?”
“Because I know you.”
“Brian, nothing’s wrong, it was a big move, and we’re adjusting, everything is…”
“Fine.” Brian finished for her.
“Yes, now could you please take these out to the table.” she turned and handed him a couple of bowls filled with potato salad and something else that Brian wasn’t going to touch, but he shrugged and put them on the table.
Gus was so busy telling the entire history of his day during lunch that he barely ate, apparently he and Sam had had several astounding adventures involving hiding under bushes, and running through a river, and chasing a rabbit for miles.
Brian listened attentively. He pretended not to notice that Justin barely ate his sandwich, but did manage to pull it apart and make it appear as if he had.
He hadn’t pressed the food issue in New York, knowing that Justin’s eating habits were directly related to stress and the show had thrown him off his game. But the piece had sold, for a higher price than expected. Brian had recognized what it was the moment he’d seen it. You can’t spend as many hours as Brian Kinney did staring into the mirror without recognizing your own eye when it was staring back at you ten feet high. It amused him that someone now had him perpetually staring at them from their wall, but it amused him more that they had paid over 20 grand for the honor. He didn’t mention the subject matter to Justin. But he was starting to get an idea of how much the artist had obsessed over him while in New York.
He looked over at Gus, who was still talking while Lindsay was trying to get him to eat something. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she tried to entice him to try a carrot stick.
“What the hell is that?”
Lindsay looked up quickly, and Brian put his hand on the spot where her jaw and neck met, there was a dark purple bruise. Lindsay pulled his hand away and moved her hair back to cover it, laughing “someone was a little overzealous with the hugging while wearing his cast.”
“But mommy…” Gus said
“Oh honey, it’s okay I know it was an accident.” And she picked Gus up and said, do you think Sam is awake yet?”
Gus grabbed Brian and Justin's hands and dragged the upstairs, the house was sparsely furnished downstairs and the upstairs was in a similar state. Gus had bunk beds, “Sam sleeps on the top one and I get the bottom one which is cooler ‘cause it’s like a fort.”
Mel had already taken Justin and Brian’s bags up to the spare bedroom, which was outfitted simply with a bed and a single dresser.
“We’re back to tortured starving artist world,” Brian whispered into Justin's ear. Justin laughed and they continued to listen to Gus prattle on about Sam and his dog and the mean monster that they had narrowly escaped.
He sat on Gus’s bed and listened to him go on about how loud the monster got at night. Gus climbed up and sat next to him on the bed, telling him a long story about the return of the Jedi, and Brian nodded and “mmmmmm hmmm’d” at the appropriate times. When Justin popped his head in on them twenty minutes later they were both sprawled half on and half off the bed asleep. Gus was pressed against his father’s chest, Brian's arm laying half off the bed and serving as a pillow for his son.
Quietly Justin grabbed his sketchpad and pencil from his bag and sat at the door, capturing the moment.
Lindsay walked by smiling at the vignette on her way downstairs.
“Well Brian hasn’t changed much” Melanie said as she began picking up and trying to find a place for all of the things they’d brought for Gus and JR.
“Mel, he hardly ever gets to see him, and he just wants Gus to know he’s loved.”
“He is loved, buy US, his parents, you and me, why the fuck did he even have to come up here?”
”Mel, Gus is his son, and Brian has changed, a lot. Did you see the way he was with Gus, and with Justin, he’s softened.”
“Why do I even bother, you always take that asshole’s side.”
“Mel that’s not fair”
“And what is fair, is it fair that we had to leave the fucking country, is it fair that they won’t let me practice law, is it fair that Brian fucking Kinney can provide for us and our kids when I can’t?”
“Can’t we just be grateful that he’s willing to help?”
”No, I can’t be grateful, I… You know what, FUCK THIS.”
And with that Mel left, slamming the door behind her.
The sound of the slamming door woke Gus and his father. They both had the same groggy reaction, sitting up quickly. This of course caused Brian to hit his head on the upper bunk “FU…dge” He rubbed the spot he’d hit.
What was that noise?
“That was mommy leaving” Gus said, “She leaves loud sometimes.”
Justin stood up and took his sketch into the bedroom to finish from memory while it was still fresh and Brian and Gus downstairs.
“Everything…”
“Brian, if you ask me if everything’s okay I’m going to scream so just don’t”
Lindsay was on the verge of tears.
“Hey Gus, why don’t you go upstairs and Justin will give you some paper and you can draw with him okay?”
“K”
Gus ran up the stairs.
Brian sat on the couch next to Lindsay, pulled her to him and she rested her head on his shoulder.
“Is the big bad Mel in a mood?”
“Yes”
“Is the big bad Mel mad that I’m here?”
”Yes”
“Is the big bad Mel gonna have to just get over it?”
Lindsay laughed, “Yes”
Well then, that’s settled, “So what the fuck is up with you two?”
I’ve told you, she’s stressed, Brian it’s nothing. Brian nodded “If you say so.”
“I do.”
The rest of the visit went more smoothly. Melanie kept her temper in check, Gus and Sam were inseparable for the moment and Justin seemed to be pretty relaxed, for Justin.
There had only been one incident, a nightmare, causing him to accidentally wake Brian up by sitting up too quickly, not realizing where his hand had landed he basically punched Brian in the solar plexus. Brian had soothed him back to sleep and the next morning Justin didn’t even seem to have a memory of the event.
Justin hugged and kissed Mel and Lindz goodbye trying not to cry when Gus was sobbing while saying goodbye to Brian, but he only held out until they got into the car.
“You okay there?”
”Yeah, I just…already miss him” he’s so like you Brian
“Yeah but you’ve already got me, could you really deal with TWO of me?”
Justin leaned over and nuzzled into Brian's neck kissing him softly, I’ve missed you too.
They were late getting the car back, and they were both a bit disheveled when they finally got on the plane, but their smiles were wide, and Brian didn’t get nearly as drunk this time, because it’s hard to drink when there’s a beautiful blonde who refuses to remove his tongue from your mouth or his hand from your pants.
“It’s good to be home”
“It would be better if home weren’t a construction site”
“They say they’ll be done in two weeks”
Brian snorted, “That’s what they told me when they started, two months ago”
“But you didn’t believe them then”
“And I should believe them now?”
”It’ll be done for the housewarming right?”
”I suppose, if not, it’ll be one of Emmett’s amazing theme parties, something with everyone dressed in hard hats and work boots.”
“How very village people.”
“We have to meet with Gregory tomorrow to finalize some things”
“do I have to be there?”
“Only if you want any say in the furniture for the great room, or the entire design of the bedroom.”
“Tomorrow?”
“You got a hot date?”
”No I was just hoping to get some serious studio time in today and tomorrow, It’s been almost a week”
“It’s been four days.”
“That’s more than half a week.”
Brian rolled his eyes, “okay, but then I’m going with the all black walls and the leopard print duvet.”
Justin elbowed his chest lightly, and Brian winced, since he managed to hit the exact spot he’d bruised at Mel and Lindz's. “Whoops, sorry.”
“‘Sokay, just watch your hands next time you wake up screaming, or you could hurt something really important.”
“I wasn’t screaming, I was just a little nervous.”
“A little nervous? That’s a lovely revisionist history lesson you’re giving me”
“Okay maybe I was scared”
“Of what?”
”I don’t wan to talk about it”
“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”
“It was a nightmare, I get them sometimes, you know that, it’s part of my charm” Justin smiled a close-lipped little grin that always amused Brian.
“Yeah, you’re fucking charming, and strong.”
Justin leaned in and kissed the spot “Better?”
”Mmmmmm, but now it hurts, lower”
Justin locked his eyes on Brian while he kissed Brian's abdomen, loving the feel of the muscles involuntarily contracting at the sensation. “How’s that?”
”The pain just keeps moving lower.”
Justin smiled and moved his head under the blanket, swirling his tongue lightly around the head of Brian's cock. He repositioned himself for a better angle and began to lick and suck just the head until Brian growled. He knew Brian wanted more, but he was determined to go slow, to make him wait, to get him to ask for what he wanted directly. And so Justin didn’t speed up at all. He licked, and swirled, eventually he ran his tongue down the shaft, flicking it and then ran it back up the other side. Finally he took the whole head into his mouth again, but refused to touch any other part of Brian or take him any deeper. He felt Brian move and lifted his head to prevent him from thrusting into his mouth. He continued the languid swirling of his tongue.
Brian was getting aggravated, he leaned his head against the pillow, trying to lose himself in the feeling but he wanted more, and the fucking kid knew it. Justin was toying with him and he was not amused.
“God dammit Justin, fucking blow me!”
Justin lifted his head and raised an eyebrow “Ask me nicely.”
Brian couldn’t believe the little fucker had the nerve.
“You can have anything you want, all you have to do is, Ask. Me. Nicely.”
Justin’s voice was syrupy sweet, he licked lightly again at the now purple head of Brian's hard cock.
Brian gritted his teeth “Please. Blow. Me.”
Justin seemed to consider the option and ran his tongue across the slit, applying just a small amount of pressure making Brian gasp involuntarily.
Brian had half a mind to get up and finish himself off in the shower, but he couldn’t. Hell if he was gonna fucking beg for a blowjob. Then he looked down, Justin's eyes met his as his tongue shot out and performed another swirl.
Brian's voice was huskier now “I want you to blow me, please, I want to come in your mouth, I want to feel your lips on me, please. ”
Justin smiled “All you had to do was ask.” and then he went to work, sliding his lips all the way down until he hit the base of Brian's cock, feeling Brian actually slide down the back of his throat, he concentrated on a small swallow that made Brian practically buck. He continued his ministrations with tongue lips, and throat until he was sure Brian was ready, then his hand reached up and began to lightly fondle Brian's balls, delicate artists fingers working their magic, and Brian shot, moaning loudly. Justin wasn’t done.
He continued to lick gently at Brian's cock and balls; licking him clean and when he was sure the job was complete he climbed back up to the head of the bed and kissed Brian. “There is no way you’d choose black walls and a leopard print duvet.”
“I might, you should probably come with me as you have much better taste than I do.”
“Flattery this is new.”
“I just don’t feel like hearing you bitch if you don’t like it”
“What if I promise I won’t bitch?”
“Shut up, you’re coming, now would you fucking untie my hands so I can get up and take a shower?”
Justin laughed, “told you that I could tie a good knot.”
The next day they met with Gregory at Brian's office. He had fabric samples for the furniture for the Great room and color palate suggestions for the bedroom. The boys were poring over these while Gregory tried to point out the benefits and down sides of each. They were agreeing on nothing and Justin just wanted to finish and get back to the studio, but his artist’s eye couldn’t resist the challenge that was finishing the house. It was the house of his dreams. It was the house Brian had bought when he had finally been willing to take a chance on love and Justin was scared to fuck it up.
Brian just wanted it done. He was sick of wearing shoes in the house, sick of the dust, sick of eating out because the kitchen appliances had been removed and the new ones weren’t due for another three days. He was grumpy and aggravated, and Gregory was a pretentious motherfucker.
He pointed to a set of fabrics; they were all in shades of red “these.”
Justin shook his head, “We’ll hate them in a week, plus too trendy.”
Brian shrugged, “these?” they were a deep plum color accented with cream
Justin wrinkled his nose “My grandmother had her entire condo done in just those colors.”
“These?” It was a pale yellow and Wedgwood blue.
“Just no.” Justin replied “These.” he pointed it was saddle colored leather with bone and hunter green accents.
“Little too hunt club for me.” Brian said
Justin moved on… ”These?”
Hmmm, Brian carefully considered them, the dark brown leather for the sofa with sage and cordovan velvet accents.
“I like it.”
“So do I.”
“So,” Gregory asked, “Should I place the order?”
“Yes” they spoke in unison. They’d spent hours choosing the style of the sofa, Brian's tastes still fell towards modern and Justin was still convinced that the modern look would go badly in the new house. He had given in on the den, because, well, it was loft like, and they both felt comfortable there, but for entertaining, and to make the house the showplace that Brian deserved, he had finally talked Brian into something just a little more traditional.
Gregory was showing them the area rug and accent pieces he felt would best compliment their choices, and other than a small disagreement about the coffee table, the rest of the decisions went rather quickly.
But then they were back to the color schemes for the bedroom. There was in fact a black and leopard skin option that made them both smile, as they moved it directly to the NO pile.
They were left with three possibilities after sorting through some of the horrific options Gregory had provided. Someone, somewhere, might want tangerine walls with a blueberry carpet, but it wasn’t what they were looking for.
They considered the three boards carefully, as the bed was already there, and had a light wood, modern art feel, Gregory was pushing for the white art gallery look, but even Brian had to admit that while he loved the clean lines, it looked more like a hospital room than anything else, and so they discarded the white as well.
That left them with the option of pewter textured walls, which Brian kind of liked and the one that Justin preferred, it was a soft celery color with accents in off white and light wood, that would compliment the bed nicely but be more warm and welcoming, according to Justin. In the end the bedroom was truly Brian’s domain, and so they went with the pewter walls and brushed nickel hardware on the pale wood furniture with modern lines.
Gregory breathed a sigh of relief; he could finally order what was needed for the two rooms that had given the couple the most difficulty. This project may actually be completed; he had begun having his doubts.
Decisions made, notes taken Gregory left to go place orders, argue with suppliers, and generally do whatever was necessary to keep Brian from destroying his career if the house wasn’t finished by the date of the house warming.
Brian looked at his watch, it was only 2:00 “Lets go grab some lunch at the diner.”
“Mmmmmm, I’d love to”, Justin replied, “but I have to get…”
“Back to the studio” Brian frowned
“Brian, you promised you weren’t gonna give me any more shit about it as long as I took care of myself, and look”, he stood up and turned in a circle, “I slept, I’ve eaten, hand’s fine” he flexed his hand a couple of times to illustrate his point “so can I please go finish my art so I don’t have to admit that I’m a total fucking failure who can’t even get enough pieces together when offered his own show?”
Brian looked at him. “Okay, but Debbie’s gonna be pissed if she finds out you were a three blocks away and didn’t stop in and say hi.”
“And if I stop in and say hi? How long do you think I have to stay before she lets me leave?”
“Just keep me company for lunch, and then I promise, I’ll get you out of there, 45 minutes tops.”
“Promise?”
”45 minutes.”
Justin sighed, “Okay, but I’m really not hungry”
Brian looked at him, “I believe that, but it’s up to you to convince Debbie.”
They walked to the diner in silence, Justin was fighting the urge to run, back to his car, back to his studio, away from the noise of the diner, away from all the people who knew him too well, away from… just away.
“Sunshine! And Asshole.”
“Nice to see you too Deb” Justin said as she hugged him tight.
“Holy shit Sunshine. You’re skinny as a rail, Here, sit, I’ll get you a bacon double cheese burger and fries.”
“It’s fine Deb, I’m really not hungry.”
“I’ll take a turkey sandwich Deb, thanks for asking.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll put the order in, for the BOTH of you.”
They slid into a booth “Told you.” Brian said.
Justin looked like he was about to cry but he blinked and suddenly his eyes cleared. Brian figured he was just overcritical of Justin's every expression lately.
Deb put the food in front of them and Brian was more relived than he was willing to admit to watch Justin take a huge bit out of the burger.
They chatted amiably about the decisions they’d made for the house.
“I’ll call Emmet tomorrow and see when we can meet with him about planning the party”
“Brian?”
”Mmmmmm?”
“Can I do it?”
”Do what?”
”Just let Emmett and me plan the party, I kind of want to do it for you.”
“On one condition”
“mmmmmm?”
“You make it what you want too…and I’m still paying for it.”
Justin smiled, “that’s two conditions.”
”as long as you don’t wear yourself out, you already have a lot on your plate, with the show coming up and…” Brian trailed off, realizing that the only other thing on Justin's plate was his stress level.
Justin took another bite of the burger, and tried to taste it, it felt like sawdust in his mouth. He finally swallowed. “I’m fine.” And I won’t let it distract me from helping you get the house finished, or from my work, trust me, I can take care of myself.”
“Always knew you could” Brian decided now was not the time to ask him why, if he COULD take care of himself, he didn’t.
They finished eating, and walked back to Justin's car, arms around each other. Brian gave him a kiss before Justin climbed into the orange box. “I still can’t believe you drive that thing.”
“It’s perfect.”
“And ugly”
Justin was sitting in the drivers seat now, putting his keys in the ignition. “You love it”
“No, I don’t” Brian said, “But there are things I do love”, and with that, he leaned in and kissed Justin again. Then he backed away closing the drivers door, and watched the car head off down Liberty Avenue. He turned and walked back into the office.
Justin was halfway home when a song came on the radio, he didn’t recognize it at first, but suddenly he was sweating and shaking. He pulled the car to the side of the road and got out as quickly as he could, and promptly vomited everything he’d managed to eat at the diner. “Stupid song.” he thought to himself, “Not even a real reason to get upset.”, just something he and his mother used to like singing in the car when he was a kid.
Justin sped the rest of the way home, and locked himself in the studio with one of Brian's bottles of scotch and a large canvas. His work that afternoon had a Jackson Pollack feel to it.
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