One Million Served

The guys were getting together for lunch at the Diner, a relatively rare occasion these days. Ben managed to schedule a free afternoon, Michael got coverage at the store, Emmett didn’t book any meetings with prospective party clients, and Brian and Ted had just arrived together from Kinnetik. The last one to arrive was Danny, who’d been at a recording session that morning. He came rushing in, ten minutes late. He leaned down to kiss Emmett before taking his seat next to Brian.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, traffic’s a bitch. Had to detour around the club area. Which reminds me, why’s Babylon closed today? Board of health finally get around to visiting? This place has got to be next then.”

“What, no kiss for Brian?” Michael teased from his spot, squeezed in between Emmett and Ben.  Ted, who was seated on the other side of Brian, said quickly, “Don’t encourage them!”

He was too late. With a sly wink at Emmett, who clapped, always thrilled to see PDA’s, especially between his two favorite men, Danny jumped back up and pulled Brian to his feet, then swept him into his arms for a movie style kiss, bending him back into a dip. Someone started the wolf-whistling as the kiss continued, a long, lingering one.

There was something both romantic and devastatingly hot about the sight, Ben reflected. His professorial mind made him attempt to be analytical about the erotically beautiful image his two friends presented rather than acknowledge that he and his husband were becoming visibly aroused watching them kiss so passionately. This was the type of demonstration Ben loved to have his students see, so they could compare and contrast the reactions of a mixed group – and the Liberty Diner did see a much more mixed group of gays and straights these days than it had in the past – to a pair of handsome men enacting a classic movie style clinch. Ten years ago, both straights and gays might have been making cat calls at a display like this; the gays like Brian not being into “romance” and the straights not approving of men kissing men in any way. That was not at all the reaction now; both groups were expressing unqualified approval.

Danny was putting his all into the kiss, looking like every fantasy leading man, all broad shoulders and bulging biceps as he supported his lover in his strong arms, even as he used gentleness to coax a response from Brian’s soft lips, teasing them open before exploring the delights of that sensual mouth. Brian played into it by kicking one leg up in true ingenue style, causing a wave of sighs around the room.

No sooner did Danny pull Brian upright, to the applause of all, than the once and forever stud of Liberty Avenue returned the favor and bent Danny into an even deeper dip, kissing him until they both were breathless. Brian kept one hand low on Danny’s back, fingers splayed along the tight buttocks, while the fingers of his other hand were threaded through the long black hair, holding his man captive as his lips roved over his eyes, his throat, the soft spot behind his ear. The performance, accompanied as it was by Danny’s soft moans, made more than one pair of jeans uncomfortably snug.

By the time they re-took their seats – to a standing ovation, with some of the customers holding up their placemats with ratings of “10" written on them – Danny had forgotten he’d even asked a question. But Michael remembered. He turned to Ted.

“Babylon’s closed? What’s up with that?”

“Hey, I’m the owner of Babylon,” Brian complained. “Shouldn’t you be asking me?”

“Okay,” Emmett said agreeably. “Why is Babylon closed, Brian?”

Brian shrugged. “Damned if I know. Is Babylon closed?”

Danny laughed. “Yes, oh mighty mogul. That much has been established. What we want to know is why it’s closed. The sign outside said it’s going to be closed until Saturday, the 24th. This is Tuesday, the 20th. So it’s being kept closed for....” Danny paused. “Four days.”

“You got that right without using fingers! And to think you always say math isn’t your best subject,” Brian teased, tugging on a stray lock of the long black hair. He turned to look at Ted. “This seems like an odd time to be making plans for some big Halloween blow-out, so what’s up and why didn’t I know about it?”

Ted looked cornered. Having worked at Kinnetik for awhile now, Danny knew that Brian was perfectly capable of approving something when busy, and then denying all knowledge of it later on. But telling him that he’d done so was never a good idea, at least, not for employees like Ted, who didn’t have the advantage of sleeping with him. So, Danny decided to take the bullet and let Ted off the hook.

“Is this part of some plan for the club that Brian has temporarily ‘forgotten’ that he approved because he told you to handle it and leave him alone?” Danny leaned closer, ostensibly in order to look around Brian to Ted on his other side, but really taking the opportunity to let his right hand fall onto Brian’s crotch.

Ted nodded, relieved.  “It’s closed to get ready for the big celebration.”

“What big celebration?” Michael asked. “As Brian pointed out, it’s kind of early for Halloween.”

“It’s not for Halloween! That’s not a big deal,” Ted scoffed.

Emmett took instant exception. “I beg your pardon! Halloween is the gay high holy day!”

“Emphasis on the high,” Brian whispered to Danny, opening his legs a bit to give Danny better access to his crotch. Ted ignored all of them and continued.

“Babylon has been under Brian’s ownership for five years, and before that, was around for several more years, and ....”

“Is this where I got bored before and just approved whatever the fuck he wanted me to approve?” Brian asked Danny.

“Probably, but be quiet now so I can find out how it leads to the club being closed for four days,” Danny whispered, squeezing Brian’s cock in a promising way. Brian spread his legs even more and was quiet.

“Well, anyway, I was doing an audit and decided to compare the revenue from before Brian took over to after, and each year since, and I started looking at census figures. That’s when I realized that if the patron counter at the door hadn’t started over when we rebuilt after...” Ted hesitated, not wanting to bring up any bad memories.

But Brian impatiently said, “After the bombing?  That is the only time we rebuilt, right?”

Ted nodded then continued, in his best CPA voice. “Well, yes. If we add the numbers from back then to the numbers from when Brian took over, and then add to those numbers the count since we started the counter over at zero with the refurbished Babylon in 2006, well, it was apparent that we’ll be hitting our millionth patron sometime this month. So, I started watching more closely, and, as I discussed with Brian, it would be best if the actual millionth patron, or trick, if you will, happens on a Saturday, so we can make a big splash about it. Well, this weekend is going to be it. I had to close the club to ensure that it didn’t happen on Wednesday, which is the slowest night of the week.”

The table was quiet for a full minute.

“Wow, one million,” Michael finally said in an awed tone.

“I wonder how many of those tricks were personally served by, Brian?” Emmett joked.

“Forget Brian, I wonder how many of that million Todd has serviced?” Danny asked, shaking his head. He still couldn’t get over the perennial bottom boy of Babylon’s backroom.

“At the very least, as part of your festivities, you should give Todd a case of bag balm,” Ben suggested, grinning.

“What are your plans for marketing this, Theodore?” Brian asked, his eyes narrowed. “I do hope you’re doing more than closing its doors for half a week. In our world, that’s half a lifetime, long enough for a club to be forgotten. What’s going on to get them in the doors again?”

Ted looked a bit panicked. Danny looked at Emmett and raised his eyebrows. Emmett jumped into the breach.

“There are lots of special plans!” Emmett declared. “I have the perfect decorations and refreshments planned and Danny is handling the entertainment, naturally.”

Brian narrowed his eyes. “That’s very interesting,” he drawled, “considering that a few minutes ago, neither of you even knew why Babylon was closed.”

“You know me and my ADD,” Danny said glibly, his busy hand becoming even bolder in Brian’s lap. “And I think much better when I’m not suffering from a low sugar. Where the hell is the waitress?” He raised his voice slightly.

“Hold your horses,” a familiar voice called over, then added as she drew closer, “oh, never mind. I see you already have your hands full, Mr. O’Keefe. Would you like lunch or a room? And don’t squeeze too hard, he’s only got one down there, you know.”

“Ma!” Michael’s face was red as he made his usual protest – not that it ever did any good, Ben thought fondly. Danny hid his face against Brian’s chest and wondered if Debbie was ever going to retire while the rest of the group snickered.

“Now, Deb, don’t pick on the boy. It’s difficult enough getting him to eat here. And let me assure you, he takes quite fine care of my testicle, but I thank you for your concern,” Brian smirked, causing Debbie to laugh loudly and smack Danny on the shoulder with the stack of menus she carried. 

“I don’t know why I’m bothering to bring these over to you guys, you all know the menu. I can’t believe I had to settle a dispute between Tony and the new dishwasher and ended up missing the floor show these two lovebirds put on. What’s up...besides most of the fags in this place, from what Kiki told me was some Cary Grant style kissing?”

“Have a seat, Deb. We deserve our own personal waitress. Let the rest of the diner fend for itself for an hour,” Danny urged, getting up to get a chair from a nearby table.  Michael and Emmett quickly brought Deb up to speed while Danny assisted Debbie into her chair. She interrupted their recital to say to Brian, “He may be a brat at times but I’ll say one thing for him, he’s got the best manners of all of you, except maybe Ben. Say what you will about that Catholic School training – you can’t beat it for beating manners into a kid.”

“Literally,” Danny murmured to Emmett before resuming his seat. Em giggled but composed his face quickly when Debbie looked at him suspiciously. Em returned the conversation to the plans for the big celebration.

“So we were just discussing how we’re going to celebrate Babylon’s Millionth Trick! Just think, Deb. This Saturday night, the club will have had one million guys go through its doors. Pretty amazing, huh?”

“Wow, one million? I remember when Vic and I first went to Babylon! Back in those days, they were lucky to get a hundred queers in there in a month. Now, it’s been a million gay boys and girls through those doors over the years....” Deb’s voice faded away and her eyes grew a bit misty. The men could tell that she was no longer with them at the well-worn large booth table at the diner, but thinking back over the years to her visits with her brother to the bright, disco-lit Babylon of the eighties.

“You should honor the past in some way,” Ben said thoughtfully. “Celebrate the here and now, while paying homage to the club’s rich history.”

“Godiva, may she rest in peace!” Emmett said, dabbing at his eyes..

“Sheba and Shanda Lear!” Danny grinned. “And isn’t there another one, Divina?”

“Yeah, the best one of all, right Deb?” Brian said, his eyes twinkling.

She just laughed while Michael blushed.

“We need more than the drag queens,” Ted objected. “We need....”

“The Kings!” Emmett interrupted. “We need the Kings of Babylon back to strut their stuff! We have the two best right here!” He beamed at Danny and Brian. Brian rolled his eyes but Danny grinned and quickly agreed.

“Brandon won the year after me. We can get him to don his crown again, I’m sure. And if you invite him, Brian, I’m sure Justin will come down. Maybe he’ll bring Miguel and Juan with him?” Danny suggested.

“I can ask Antonio and Perez, they volunteer at the Vic Grassi house. They’re from Vic’s era at Babylon and they still look pretty good,” Ben said. “Ted, do you have any record of all of the Kings? Blown up pictures of them all would be fun, especially of Brian at twenty-one.”

“Just what I want to look at, pictures of my younger, prettier self,” Brian groused, but he relented when Danny whispered in his ear, “I’ll grant you younger, but I refuse to concede prettier. I knew you then and you’re even hotter and more beautiful now. But it would be fun to have a poster sized picture of you to go along with the one you have of me.”

The gang continued to bat ideas back and forth; after a while, they even remembered to order food. Finally, Brian turned to Ted and asked, “So, is there any part of this ‘celebration’ that you do have planned already, Schmidt?”

Ted flushed. “I ordered balloons...and confetti....and a ribbon for the millionth person......” His voice tailed off.

The guys all looked at him, then Emmett, always the first one to look on the bright side, chirped, “Guess it was a good thing you got detoured, Danny!”

*************

After a bit of scrambling, with favors being called in all over Pittsburgh and surrounding states, the big night arrived. Brian and Danny got ready for it over at the loft. They’d already been over at the club earlier that day for last minute checking of everything from the bar supplies to the sound equipment.

Danny was already on his fourth change of clothes when Brian came out from the shower, shaved and ready to slip into his favorite 501's and black wife-beater.

“You’re still making up your mind?” Brian asked, rather unnecessarily, given that Danny was standing in his thong with a pile of rejected designer clothes scattered on the floor around him.

“Your mirrors make my ass look fat,” Danny complained, twisting to look over his shoulder at his compact ass.

“Yeah, you look so huge in that thong; better take it the fuck off,” Brian rolled his eyes.  “I’m beginning to think you have body image problems.” He paused and looked at the mess on the floor. “What am I saying? I know you have body image problems, at least when you’re dressed you do. Trust me, your ass is perfect. So are my mirrors. As for that thong, it should be outlawed. It stays...for now.”

Danny turned and smiled at him, looking him up and down. “You’re looking mighty fine yourself, Mr. Kinney. Why is it we have to put clothes on and go out?”  He walked over to Brian and wrapped his arms around him. Brian purred at the feeling of his naked cock against Danny’s silk encased one.

“You are insatiable – makes all the crazy worth putting up with,” he declared, clasping the afore-said perfect ass. “But...we did just make love before our showers and we will make love again at Babylon, so....”

“Whoa,” Danny said, backing away. “Who said anything about fucking at Babylon?” He walked back over to the closet and started rummaging for a pair of jeans different from the ones he’d already tried and rejected. Brian joined him and pulled out a pair of his. Having basically one style made dressing easy. He stepped into them before answering his lover.

“It’s a special occasion! Babylon’s birthday, in a sense,” he said coaxingly. “Don’t you think we should take part in the fun? And to me, fun means...making love to you.” He grinned, and buttoned the fly of his jeans. Commando tonight, Danny noted.

“The backroom of Babylon is not making love, it’s fucking,” Danny corrected him. He pulled out a pair of black leather pants. They looked fucking hot on him and he knew Brian loved them, but they were not the kind of thing one could easily doff and don, not good backroom garb. But they were mouth-wateringly tight in the best kind of way.

“You’re not wearing them, are you?” Brian’s voice almost cracked.

“Yeah, with this dark red silk shirt–sleeveless. What do you think? I could go with the black vest instead of the red shirt but that’s so obvious, don’t you think?” As Danny smoothed the leather over his slim hips, Brian bit his lip.

“You’re so evil, making me choose those pants over sex,” he accused. Danny grinned.

“No, I’m not. I might not have sex in the backroom of Babylon, and our piano room will be filled, since Sam and I will be taking turns playing for the various divas, but you can prowl the backroom all you want, stud. Just save some for me for later.”

Brian grinned. “You do know Justin’s coming to town.”

Danny made a face. “Well, maybe not all you want. Besides, Etienne is coming too. And Terry. Did I ever tell you about the time I had a threesome with....”

Holding up his hands in surrender, Brian laughed, “You win, you win! I think I might find myself enjoying the music in the piano bar too much to visit the backroom. Finish getting dressed. We wouldn’t want to miss seeing who the one in a million trick is, would we.”

Putting his arms around Brian again, Danny kissed him, saying in his deepest “fuck me” voice, “You’ll always be my one in a million, mo gra`, and nothing will ever change that.”

Returning the kiss with interest, Brian whispered, “I love you, and the way you look, tonight.”

The two men stood in each other’s arms for a long moment, just enjoying the closeness before venturing out for their night with the boys.

*************

Justin, Louis, Miguel and Juan got out of the cab that had brought them from the airport. It had taken a good deal of cajoling for Louis and Juan to both swing getting away from the play they were both leads in on the same night, but they’d sensed that Justin needed their moral support. Miguel assured the others that Justin had friends down here, friends who loved him a great deal, but due to a lot of what had happened just two years earlier, there was still some bridge rebuilding that needed to be done.

The four friends were dressed to kill, and their arrival caught a lot of attention from the people waiting in line outside the club as well as from the people heading in through the VIP line, which Brian had told Justin to be sure to use. “Unless,” he’d joked, “you want to take your chances on being the millionth trick.”

“Some crowd,” Louis commented, impressed despite his expectations by the quality of the men to be found here in Pittsburgh.

“They always seem to attract a great crowd here,” Juan told him. He scanned both lines, looking for something, or someone, interesting.

“Let’s head in,” Miguel said sensibly.

Justin’s entrance, with his court of three tall, dark and handsome men – two of them identical – caused quite a stir inside. Emmett rushed over from the stage area where he’d been talking with Shanda Lear. The two of them hugged tightly. Ted and Blake followed.

“Where’s....” Justin started to ask, after introducing Louis to the gang, but before he could get the question out, he felt that familiar tingle on the back of his neck. A warm arm pulled him back in a one-armed hug.

“Hey, you made it! Good to see you. And you’ve brought a friend in addition to your matched set,” Brian said after kissing Justin lightly on the cheek. 

“Hey Brian, good to see you too. Babylon looks great tonight, but something tells me that wasn’t your hard work,” Justin teased. “This is Louis Van der Haas, a...friend of mine. He’s appearing in Rent with Juan.”

Brian and Louis shook hands, both of them eying the other, then Louis smiled. “Hey man, nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Some of it good, I hope,” Brian quipped.

“What, you mean like how two thirds of the million were checked out by you personally?” Miguel teased. He felt a strong arm come from behind him and cut off his air while another arm pinned him and prevented him from escaping. Juan grinned at Danny.

“He doesn’t look so good in blue, Dark Angel, maybe you should release him?”

“Okay, if it would please you, Juan.” Danny kissed Miguel on the cheek and let him go. He walked around the gasping lawyer to kiss the other twin, who told his brother to stop breathing so loud. “You’re such a baby, Miguel; he didn’t even make you pass out, man.”

The ice firmly broken between the two groups, they chattered in a friendly way until Brian glanced at his watch. He beckoned to Ted and the two of them stepped a few feet away.

“Shouldn’t it be getting close to the big event? This place is packed. We’ve got all the former Kings here who are coming. Stephen Lane is waiting to arrive so he doesn’t steal any camera attention from your one in a million, though we need to get all that on film so we can use it with our blood marrow campaign. Danny’s big opera singer is singing with Mikey’s drag queen father upstairs. We’ve got almost a capacity crowd – you didn’t make a mistake about the number, did you?”

Ted looked around the room, then paled. Danny, Em and Justin had moved closer so they heard him say to Brian, “Uh, no, it’s all good, Boss. It should be any minute.”

Emmett hissed to Danny, “Catch him but not where Brian can see. Meet you near the back door. Justin, come on.”

Ted moved away as quickly as he could, toward the front door, but Danny grabbed him by the arm and forced him to go with him, chattering brightly the whole time so no one would be suspicious.

“This is turning into a brilliant event, Ted, and you deserve so much credit for even thinking of doing it, and the only thing that would blow it now would be to let that CPA mind of yours worry too much about the actual one to be a million, when it is the concept of a million that is important, you get what I’m saying?”

Ted looked nervously at Danny, who told him to shush until they reached the outside. Seeing Emmett and Justin waiting, Ted relaxed a little.

“I was terrified you were bringing me to Brian to be murdered,” he confessed.

“We got Louis to ask Brian to dance. He has an ass that won’t quit,” Justin volunteered grinning, though Danny stuck his tongue out at him.

“Boys, we don’t have time for your usual tiffing, we have a crisis. Teddy, when is the millionth trick happening?”

“Probably about an hour ago,” Ted said miserably. “I forgot to tell the doormen to let me know when they got within twenty numbers or so of it, and since it is the recount number they see, they don’t know what the magic number is.”

Thinking fast, Danny asked, “Does anyone – other than you, that is?”

“No, you have to add the....”

Justin told him to shut up. He looked at Danny.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Danny grinned. “I don’t know–are you sneaky and devious?”

“When I need to be.”

“Then we’re probably thinking the same thing.”

Emmett looked at the two of them. “What? What are you thinking?”

Danny kissed Em, but then turned him around. “Go back in and make sure everything is fabulous. If anyone asks any questions about the process of knowing who is the millionth trick, please make sure Ted explains it...in full detail. No part left out.”

“No part except maybe the very end,” Justin clarified. Danny grinned.

“Well, yeah, but I doubt anyone will ever want to listen long enough to get to that part.”

“What should I say if Brian or Louis are looking for you two?”

Justin and Danny looked at each and grinned.

“Just tell them you saw us together – and say that we looked like we were having a good time, emphasis on the ‘good time,’” Danny instructed him.

“They’ll never believe that!” Emmett protested. “At least, I don’t know about Louis but Brian sure won’t, and you know how bad I am at lying.”

“That’s the beauty of it, Em, sweetie,” Danny reassured him, hugging him close and laughing. “It’s not a lie. We are having fun, and are soon to have more fun. So you’re not lying to them but that answer will make them give up. I know Louis from way back. He’ll react the same way Brian does if Justin has said anything at all to him about me, am I right?”

Justin laughed. “Well, yeah. And he won’t believe it but you’re right, it’s true.” Justin sounded a little surprised by that fact himself.

They hurried Ted and Emmett off, with the instruction to be ready to make a fuss as soon as they entered the front door with the night’s millionth trick.

“So, what are we looking for?” Justin asked, more than a little surprised to find himself in the company of the Dark Angel and not wanting to throttle him. “Someone really tall, hot and perfect looking?” He looked at Danny in his leather pants, those long legs looking even longer than usual. Why did he have to have his mother’s height along with her blond hair, he wondered, not that he was sorry not to bear any resemblance to Craig Taylor.

“No,” Danny said thoughtfully. “I was thinking someone along the lines of...that!”

He tossed his head in the direction of a street lamp across the street and a few doors down from Babylon.  A not too tall, kind of slender young kid, definitely underage, was leaning against it, holding a cigarette but not taking many puffs, trying for all the world to look world weary, but just managing to look young and out of his league.

Justin had to blink a few times. Except for the hair being light brown, the face lightly tanned rather than fair, it could have been him.

“Wow,” he said in a soft voice. He looked sharply at O’Keefe, wondering if he had some point to make, or worse, had Brian described to him how they’d met? That was a personal moment, just for him and Brian.

And Michael and Ted and all the tricks walking down the street, of course. Before Justin could say anything more, Danny said softly, “Like a young Brian almost.  Like he’s waiting for something magical to happen, for his dreams to come true.”

Justin smiled. “Yeah, exactly like that, waiting for that one guy to come along, for whom he’s not just one more in a million, but that one in a million.”

The two men looked each other in the eye. 

“We’ve got our boy.” 

Danny nodded to Justin and let him do the talking.  Justin knew just what he was going to say too.

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