DeAnna Zankich
New | Tenant of My Heart
Summary: Kate calls her two favorite boys.
Warnings: None
Author Notes: Another followup to "Tenant of My Heart" that won't make sense without the foregoing material. This should fill in any blanks some of you might have felt from the suggestions I made in "Cricket".
Spoilers: None
"Christ, you are the biggest hag," he said, tucking the phone between his chin and shoulder as he opened the frig. "You don't even care that the world almost came to an end a week ago--you just wanna know if Vince did my lover."
"Well, did he?" Kate said, laughing. It was good to hear her laugh again.
Brian shook his head, reaching into the frig for a beer. "I don't think I should tell you."
"And why not?"
"Because Vince might not want you to know." He opened the beer and drank two big sips, shuffling lazily back over to the couch. It was hot that Saturday afternoon and he had all the windows open in the loft. The long filmy curtains blew in the humid breeze and he took a deep breath. Brian was happy to be home.
"Then he DID do Justin!" Kate squealed. "We knew it! Richard and I had a bet. The way they were flirting at dinner . . . it was inevitable."
"Whatever." Brian let her go on, loving the playful lilt in her voice. He tried not to think of how she had sounded last week--during those few hours before Richard made his way home from Boston. Brian had felt so helpless, like everyone had. He knew the thing he would remember most about that Tuesday morning in September was the broken sound of Kate's voice.
"I'm sure Vince wouldn't mind you telling me," she went on. "In fact, Stuey will tell me if you won't."
"I doubt it," Brian teased. "He might not remember much. I had him pretty well preoccupied."
Kate took in a deep breath. "Oh my God, you didn't! Did you?"
He laughed. "You kill me. Don't you think you'd know if Stuart and I did each other?"
"Well . . . there have been other things going on. We haven't actually talked much about anything fun for the last week. Come on, Bri. Don't keep me in suspense. You know you want to tell me."
Brian took another sip of his beer and stretched out on the couch, wiggling his toes in the warm summer breeze. "All right, Katherine."
"And don't lie," she said. "I want the real chain of events, not some imagined scenario you make up just to sound more interesting."
"I never lie," he said with comic indignance.
"Oh, right! You lie like a rug--all the time."
"Never about sex." Brian smiled, knowing she would go off on that last remark.
"Oh, God that is such SHIT!" Kate exclaimed. "You've been lying about sex ever since your first hard-on!"
"Never," he affirmed.
"Right, okay. So, you're telling me that you actually DID do the entire football team when you were in high school. Even the straight guys and the geeks."
"Well . . ." he said, fighting off a giggle. "Okay, I may have exaggerated that one. I'd never fuck a geek."
Kate laughed. "Wait, hang on. I'm gonna get Stuey on the other line and see if he'll chaperone your story."
Brian's heartbeat picked up a little when Kate clicked over to arrange the conference call. He finished his beer while he waited then got up to get another in the time it took her to come back on. When she did, there was a distinct hollow crackle on the line with her.
"Hello?" Stuart said in his sexy Irish accent.
"Hey," Brian said, smiling. "How's it going?"
"Fine. I was having a nap. Katey says she wants me to listen to you tell her what we did on our last night so you don't lie about anything."
Laughing, Brian settled back on the couch. "I wasn't going to lie. But there might be things I don't remember."
"Yeah," Stuart said, giggling softly. "You were a little distracted at times."
"Okay," Kate interjected. "I've waited long enough, girls. Dish! We all went up to bed after we got Stuart and Vince set up in the guestroom. It was too late for them to go back to the hotel and they were too drunk, anyway. So . . . what next?"
"Well," Brian said. "The whole thing wasn't even my idea."
"Of course not," Kate teased.
"No, it really wasn't," Stuart confirmed. "It was Vince's. He's the one that went to Brian's room after you and Richard had gone to bed. Vince wanted to see if the kid wanted a back massage or something. Or was it a dance? I remember something about dancing . . . Fuck, I was really pissed."
Brian chortled. "Yeah, well Vince wanted to massage something, all right."
"Go on . . ." Kate urged, giggling.
Brian relaxed back against a pillow on the couch and rested his beer against his leg. With his free hand, he toyed with the hairs on his belly while he began telling what he remembered of the story.
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He and Justin were making out on the bed, really going at it, when Vince knocked. They were giddy and drunk and horny and they asked him to come in and join them. He said he shouldn't come in without Stuart and then Stuart was there. Brian didn't really remember how or when Stuart got there, he just remembered him being there. There had been some mention of dancing, but all that was very vague in Brian's memory.
Vince and Stuart climbed on the bed and Brian and Justin sort of . . . fell away from each other. Vince pulled Justin into his lap and they started kissing, but really soft and tentative, almost like a couple of straight teenagers on their first date.
Brian had made himself comfortable with the pillows piled up against the headboard and Stuart was beside him, sort of snuggling against him. He remembered loving the way that felt--the heat of Stuart's body and the softness of his flawless skin. Brian didn't remember when Stuart had taken off his clothes, but the handsome Irishman had been naked as he laid there. Naked and hard. Brian could still feel the silky pressure and heat of that beautiful erection against his own naked thigh.
He and Stuart watched while their respective lovers kissed each other gently. These memories were very clear to Brian, for some reason. He could see it like it was happening right then.
Vince's fingers softly seeking Justin's tender flesh under his shirt while the boy wiggled and sighed in his lap, almost purring from the seductive kisses. Justin played with Vince's hair, brushing it back from his face and ears so gently. They both had their eyes closed and seemed to be lost in each other. Brian remembered watching them with unfailing attention and he remembered purposefully shoving aside his emotional response to what he was seeing.
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"You were jealous," Stuart stated.
"No, I was just . . . I don't know."
"Jealous."
"Oh, and you weren't? I could totally hear you grinding your teeth!"
Kate laughed at them. "You were both jealous, I'm sure. Now get on with it. Vince and Justin were making out and totally enjoying themselves and you two wolves were left out in the cold. Boo hoo. So, what did you do to console yourselves?"
Stuart chuckled. "Poor Brian needed something to take his mind off being so bloody jealous."
"Fuck off," Brian said but he was laughing when he said it.
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He didn't know when it all started, but Brian had a very clear memory of what happened next. His eyes were closed and he was tasting those hot, plum colored lips, reveling in the sweet, erotic way Stuart Jones kissed. Brian had always loved kissing Stuart. The Irishman didn't just kiss, he made a meal of the action--sucking and licking, nibbling and devouring. It was dead sexy to Brian and secretly, he was learning from Stuart's technique. He wasn't too much of an old dog to learn a new trick or two and Stuart had some amazing kissing skills.
Stuart had been murmuring to him, saying something about how beautiful Brian was . . .how hot and delicious. Then Stuart was straddling him and tickling his nipples with those long fingers. Brian remembered feeling those lean hips in his hands as he guided Stuart forward and into just the right spot.
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"You were calling me `baby'," Stuart pointed out impishly.
"So?" Brian said.
"So, nothing. I like it when you do that. I was just saying . . . to give Kate the full picture."
Brian rolled his eyes and went back to his story.
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He HAD been calling Stuart `baby'. He was saying "oh, baby that feels so good . . . baby, do that again . . . more . . .yeah, baby, that's it .. ." Brian remembered Stuart grinning and whispering to him that he liked being called that . . . he'd whispered it against Brian's ear, which made him shiver uncontrollably.
At that point, Brian had no idea how much time had passed, he looked over Stuart's shoulder to see what his young lover was up to. He remembered being frozen by what he saw, and then trying desperately to hide the fact that he'd been affected at all.
Justin was naked by then and he was just pulling off Vince's shirt. Because they were both so fair, their arousal glowed on their skin in a heated blush. Brian remembered being mesmerized by that for a moment . . . the way their passion was made so visible. Stuart had looked back at the others as well and for a moment he and Brian just watched as their lovers pressed against each other at the end of the bed.
Brian remembered feeling Stuart's fingers turning his chin to the side, making him look away and take another of those hot, wet kisses. It was easy to oblige. Brian had melted into that kiss gratefully and lustfully and then he and Stuart were falling . . . rolling on the bed in their own greedy embrace, rubbing their naked bodies together and sucking each other's mouths roughly. Brian loved to make out like that, all ferocious and grabbing. He loved the reassuring pressure of urgent touch. It made him feel needed--required. He had sighed into Stuart's wanton body that night and then he remembered hearing Justin's voice.
"Do it . . ." the boy had whispered. "Please . . . I wanted you to today . . . at the museum . . ."
Brian had tried to look back, but Stuart stopped him, keeping his attention on another round of intensely erotic face-sucking.
With his eyes closed again, Brian could only hear the sounds his young lover made under the experienced ministrations of Stuart's husband. He could smell Justin's arousal . . .the faint, alluring musk of his pre-come. Brian knew without seeing that the boy's taut belly was slick with it. He knew Vince had his fingers in it and he was using it to gently lubricate the young man's willing hole. Brian didn't know how he knew these things, but he did. It was almost as though he could feel it himself.
And so he concentrated on Stuart, the writhing Irishman below him. Brian sucked Stuart's nipples and licked his rippled belly, tasting his own sweat there on the warm skin. That combination of erotic flavors had transported him back to the first time he had Stuart--there, in that very room, in that very bed. The first time he'd forced his will on Vince's boyfriend almost two years ago. Brian had been intoxicated by Stuart Jones from the first time he saw him, and the spell had never really been broken.
While he licked Stuart's skin making his way to that throbbing, dark erection, Brian heard Justin moaning softly in that hitching way he had when he was being penetrated. The boy would hold his breath and relax every muscle until he was fully impaled and then he would empty his lungs in a series of little sighs that sounded like he was in pain . . . but he wasn't. He loved having cock inside him. It was blissful to him.
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"You kept kissing me," Brian said to Stuart. He realized his voice was getting a little hoarse from talking for so long.
"I was trying to keep you distracted. You were really jealous, Brian."
"My, my," Kate said softly. "Does this mean what I think it means? Are you becoming a one boy man, dear Mr. Kinney?"
Brian sighed but had no immediate reply.
"I wouldn't buy a hat for his wedding just yet," Stuart said and all three of them laughed. "But he's definitely showing the first signs of being in love. Intense possessiveness is always a good indicator."
"I wasn't . . ." he started to say, but he trailed off. Brian had been blind drunk that night and he really had no idea what he'd been thinking.
"You were," Stuart finished for him. "You were ready to rip Vince's legs off. If I hadn't distracted you, God knows what you would have done."
"Joined them, probably," Brian said without much conviction.
"Hm," Stuart grumbled. "I dunno about that. But I managed to keep your interest long enough for them to do their deed. It had to be done, really. No point trying to put it off."
Smiling, Brian remembered how Stuart had kept kissing him while he gently, but relentlessly, rubbed Brian's cock with those long fingers. He remembered how amazing it felt . . . how well Stuart knew Brian's body, his desires and pleasure points. Brian remembered coming really hard and making a huge, splattering mess all over Stuart's lean body. He remembered almost passing out, the orgasm had been so intense and tingly. He remembered hearing Vince moaning and when he tried to turn around to look, Stuart had pulled him back again, rolling on top of him for some more languid, seductive kisses. Brian loved to be kissed right after a good come. Stuart must have remembered that.
"You wouldn't let me look," he said. "You kept turning my head away."
"I didn't want you to see," Stuart said.
"Why not?" Kate asked. "It's not like he didn't know what they were doing."
"No, but you should have seen him, Katey. His whole body got tense everytime Justin uttered the slightest sound. He was so tuned into that boy. It was completely primal. I really didn't know what he would do if I let him loose."
"Do you remember that, Bri?" she asked.
"Sort of. I know I didn't really WANT to move. I mean, it's not like I wasn't have a great time with you."
"Of course you were," Stuart said conceitedly and then he giggled. "But still . . . I knew you'd go `round the bend if you got a good at them."
"You were looking," Brian said, reaching for his beer again. His throat felt very dry. "What did I miss?'
Stuart took a long time to answer--so long, in fact, that Kate asked if he was still there.
"Yeah, I'm here," he said. "I guess I . . . was trying not to look too closely, either. I mean . . . I saw more than you but I wasn't WATCHING. Do you know what I mean? I was looking but not seeing."
"Wait," Kate said. "I'm confused. It sounds like both of you were feeling jealous and put out by this, right?"
Brian and Stuart both said nothing, which was as good as agreeing.
"So," she went on. "Why did you let them do it, then?"
"It's not like we could have stopped it," Stuart said.
"You couldn't?" she asked.
"It doesn't work that way," Brian told her. "Vince and Justin wanted each other enough . . .it had crossed over from being a flirtation to being a requirement . . . and there was no way to stop it."
"It would have been useless," Stuart said. "Better that we were there, in the room with them, rather than hearing about them having done it on their own. Like at the museum earlier that day or whatever. That would have been much worse. At least for me."
Brian said nothing, which again was as good as agreeing.
"So, if they had boinked sometime during the day and just never told you about it, that would have been worse than having to witness it?" Kate asked incredulously.
"Yeah," they both said.
She sighed. "Gay men are so weird. If it was me, man--listen! I wouldn't want to know. I would rather just tottle along thinking everything was fine and never know about it. Seeing it would burn the images into my head and I'd never get over it. I really would rather just not know."
"You'd smell it, though," Brian said quietly. "You would smell the other woman on Richard. Maybe not right away, but you would."
"And that, my luv, is definitely worse," Stuart finished. "Getting cheated on AND lied to together. Christ. That's much worse."
Kate took a deep breath, considering. "Do you guys really think they would have done each other? I mean, on their own?"
They were both quiet for a moment, then Stuart answered first.
"Vince told me he did it because he thought I wanted him to."
"Did you?" Kate asked.
"I . . . dunno, really. I wanted him to have that boy if it pleased him, but I wasn't particularly happy about it. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Vince shag." He laughed softly. "He's fantastic at it and he's brilliant to watch. But it was hard. I can't say I cared much for being a witness in this situation."
"Spoken like a true old married guy," Brian teased.
"Oh, fuck off! You were FAR worse off than me, mister. You were fuckin' GREEN!"
Kate chuckled and Brian rolled his eyes, very glad neither of his friends could see him just then. His cheeks were hot with blush.
"Bri, I don't know why you're so freaked about being in love," Kate said. "It's totally normal. It happens to everyone at some point."
He groaned and took another sip of beer.
Stuart laughed, but without malice. "Brian, don't be a twat. You love that boy. Just admit it. It won't kill you."
Brian said nothing but he had to bite the inside of his cheeks to keep himself quiet. He wanted to protest, but knew it would backfire. He wanted to admit but knew he couldn't. He wanted the subject to go away but knew it wouldn't. He wanted to erase the image of Vince holding his young lover on the end of that bed, but he knew that one was with him for good.
"Taking the Fifth is as good as admitting the truth in Brian Speak," Kate said playfully. "We'll let you go with that."
"Fabulous," he muttered.
Stuart breathed a soft laugh. "You're such a fucking baby, Brian. One day . . . you'll see. One day, you'll say it. That boy will get you to say it--and you know what?"
"Hm?"
"You WON'T burst into flames." Stuart chuckled. "I promise."
He heard Kate laughing gently as well and for some reason, he wasn't bothered by their teasing. He knew they were right, even if he also knew he could never actually bring himself to say those words. He could show it all day long, prove it with actions `til the cows came home, but he could never say it. Brian just had to hope Justin was good at reading sign language.
"Where are your boys, anyway?" Kate asked. "Are you both on your own today?"
"Vince is having dinner at his mother's. I wasn't invited."
Right then, Brian heard the key in the loft door. "And Justin is just walking in."
"Oh, tell him hi," Kate said.
"Yeah," Stuart muttered. "Tell him I said to fuck off."
Brian laughed. "I'll talk to you guys later, all right?"
"Yeah, see ya," Stuart said.
"Bye, bunny!" Kate said and Brian hung up.
"Hey." Justin walked in with an armload of plastic bags from the market. "I hope you're hungry cuz I'm in the mood to cook BIG time." He went to the kitchen and deposited the bags on the counter. "I'm going to make pot roast."
Brian walked into the kitchen and inspected the contents of the bags. "Are we feeding twenty people?"
"No, but pot roast makes great leftovers. Trust me. We'll eat it all. Who were you talking to?" Justin began unloading the groceries.
"Kate and Stuart." Brian handed him things that had to go in the frig. Meat, butter, milk.
"Oh," Justin said. "Is she doing okay now?"
"Yeah, she's fine. And Stuart says hello."
The boy lowered his chin in disbelief. "Uh huh. Tell me what he really said."
Smirking, Brian said "fuck off."
"That's what I figured. He hates my guts."
"No, he doesn't." Brian finished the beer he'd been holding and reached around Justin to get another out of the frig. "He was just jealous."
Shoving a box of popsicles in the freezer between three bottles of Absolute, Justin grinned. "And you weren't?"
Brian shrugged. "I was wasted. I don't remember what I was thinking. I remember making out with Stuey and coming really hard and I remember hearing you get off. But . . . that's really about it."
Justin blinked at him. "You don't remember the ladybug?"
Brian blinked back. "Huh?"
Laughing, Justin shook his head. "You're kidding! That's how it all started. You don't remember that Vince found that ladybug you made me bring in the livingroom and he had it crawling on my arm? You don't remember any of that?"
Brian wrinkled his brow and thought back to that night at Kate's . . . back to when they were all sitting in the living room after dinner, all of them drunk on martinis and wine and all of them laughing and talking too loudly. He did remember something going on with Vince and Justin that seemed oddly intimate . . . they were speaking softly and sitting close together down at the end of the couch by the big picture window.
He did remember seeing Justin's arm extended and his sleeve pushed all the way up to his collar bone. Vince was tickling his naked skin, almost making a line along the fine blond hairs, and they were both watching . . . something . . .
"The ladybug was crawling on my arm and Vince was making a trail for it to follow. For some reason, wherever he pointed, the ladybug went. He made the bug crawl all the way over my collar bone and down my chest to my tummy. You don't remember this? Kate was gonna take pictures but you told her not to." Justin watched Brian's face closely during his retelling of the events. "You were upset, Brian. You got jealous. That's why I couldn't believe it when you told them to come in upstairs. Vince said he wanted to see the ladybug dance again. And you told them to come in."
Brian looked down at his fresh beer as those images crowded his mind like sheer ghosts. He did remember the ladybug and he did remember Kate trying to take pictures of it crawling on Justin's exposed torso. They had gone up to their bedroom right after and Brian had practically thrown himself at his young lover, molesting him with hard kisses and rough loving in an attempt to push away any desire he might have for Vince.
"You remember, don't you?" Justin said softly. "Do you remember the ladybug?"
Brian set his beer on the counter and reached for Justin's shoulders, pulling him into a full-body hug. He didn't say anything--didn't need to. But he made sure to hold Justin very close to him and touch him with soft fingers.
"Brian?" the boy said against his lover's chest.
"Shhhhhh . . ." Brian whispered into the warm bend of Justin's neck. He closed his eyes and felt his own lashes brush the boy's skin, stroking it so gently.
"I know you remember," Justin said, his tone slightly imploring. "You got so upset . . . That's why I couldn't believe it when . . ."
Brian cupped Justin's cheek and turned his head until their lips met. He held the kiss for a long, suspended moment, transmitting as much heat as he could. After what seemed like ages, he felt Justin relax against him, ease into the curves of Brian's body. His arms wound softly around Brian's back and held him close, letting Brian kiss him deeply.
Brian sighed, relieved that he had finally been heard.
The End
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