Endeavor
Chapter Two: February

People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get. ~Frederick Douglass

Justin hesitated outside of Brian’s office door when he heard Cynthia’s raised voice. He definitely didn’t want to walk in on one of her and Brian’s drama episodes.

“Karen told me you canceled your appointment again, Brian!”

“What are you, my mother?”

“What are you, an idiot?”

“Fuck off and while you’re at it, tell Karen she’s fired. She had no business telling you that I’d canceled the fucking appointment.”

“Don’t turn this around on her, Brian. She’s worried about you and so am I. Is there a fucking reason you’ve canceled the last two appointments?” Cynthia’s voice softened as she asked, “Are you afraid to go?”

“I’m not fucking afraid. I’m fine and Exhibition is busy as fuck right now. It’s more important to meet with Leo Brown than to go the fucking oncologist for a checkup that I’m going to pass!”

Justin shrank back against the wall and took a deep breath, his hands unnoticeably squeezing the ad board. Justin couldn’t believe that Brian was sick. He didn’t think he looked sick, but he was sick, with fucking cancer! Brian seemed so healthy and he’d never heard about that in the rumor mill. Lindsay and Melanie had certainly never mentioned it.

“That was the reason you missed the first one,” Cynthia said exasperated. “What the fuck was so important that you had to cancel the one a few weeks ago?”

“Excuse me if I’d rather keep a promise to my son instead of keeping an appointment that is now rescheduled!” Brian replied, his voice booming.

“Just make sure you keep the next appointment. If there is anything wrong, you want them to catch it early so you can be back to work. We can’t afford to have you be out of commission and neither can Babylon, not with the renovations still going on there.”

“Cynthia,” Brian spoke slowly, “I’m fine. I’ll let you know if I’m not. Speaking of Babylon’s renovations, could you call…”

“Your secretary’s name is Karen,” Cynthia spoke slowly. “I haven’t been your secretary or anyone's assistant since we worked for Vance.”

“What the fuck ever,” Brian muttered. “You’ve got shares in my play land too, so you can pick up the phone and call Hector the contractor. Tell him that I don’t want him to start on the upstairs bathroom renovations until Monday.”

“I guess I can do that,” Cynthia agreed.

“Thank you,” Brian said sincerely. “Now where the fuck is Taylor? I called him in here…”

“Sorry it took so long,” Justin rushed into Brian’s office.

“What’d you do, get lost?” Brian snarked.

“I didn’t get lost,” Justin said, hoping his voice’s pitch sounded normal. “Good morning, Cynthia.”

“Good morning, Justin.” Cynthia shook her head at Brian and gave Justin a smile before leaving the office and closing the door behind her.

“Let me see it,” Brian beckoned.

Justin placed the poster he’d been gripping tightly onto Brian’s desk. “I don’t like the font you chose,” he said honestly.

“I don’t like the crumpled edges. Were you even trying to be careful with it when you walked down here?”

Justin let out a deep breath of relief. Brian’s bitchy disapproval was something he could deal with. “It’s not like this is the final draft.”

Brian nodded. “What font were you thinking?”

“I thought Broadway would be much more fitting.”

Brian grinned. “For style and conception.”

Justin was smug. “Well, it is an advertisement for a theater chain.”

“That font wouldn’t look good in the purple but I want to stick with something dark.”

“I was thinking a charcoal color with a purplish glow behind it. Then we’re using both of the brand’s signature colors.”

“Perfect.” Brian rolled the poster up and handed it back to Justin. “Go make me a copy with those changes.”

“So you didn’t want anything else changed?”

“I noticed you changed the color of the popcorn container yourself, so no, I don’t.” Brian felt a headache coming on and rubbed at his temples. “Can you get that done in an hour?”

Justin silently told himself not to worry about the painful expression on Brian’s face or the dark circles under his eyes.

“Justin!” Brian barked.

Justin jumped. “What?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Brian asked. “I know you weren’t at Babylon last night. Did Eli keep you up late or something?”

“There are bars other than Babylon,” Justin said.

Brian raised one eyebrow. “Really?” he asked, astonished. “So the reason I’ve never seen you around Liberty is because you hide in those skank holes?”

Justin was sure he could sue Brian for what the man had just said to him, but he reasoned that it’d be too much trouble and he liked his job. “Since you enjoy delving into the personal lives of your employees, I’ll tell you what I did last night. Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Brian asked disbelievingly.

“Nothing,” Justin assured. “Eric was at his apartment and I was at mine, sleeping.”

“Well, you aren’t very quick today,” Brian commented. “And your personal life is boring.”

“I’m glad you think so.” Justin shrugged. “So what was it that you were asking me before you started throwing out assumptions?”

Brian liked Justin’s spunk, sometimes. “I want you to have a copy with the changes back to me in an hour,” he spoke slowly. “Can you do that?”

“Of course,” Justin said. “You don’t have to talk to me like I’m three. The changes should only take a few minutes.”

“Okay,” Brian waved Justin off. “Get to it.”

Justin walked out of Brian’s office and walked toward his own, wondering why in the fuck he’d be worried about such an insolent man. How dare the man talk to him like a child, make accusations about his sex life and then call him boring! Even if Brian was right, he had no business commenting about his personal business.

When Justin reached his office, he heard his cell phone ringing from the pocket of his jacket, which draped over the sofa. After closing the door and placing the test board on his desk, Justin sank onto the sofa and flipped open his phone. “Hey, Daph.”

“Hey. Why do you sound so fucking depressed?”

“I’m not depressed, I’m aggravated.”

“With Eric?” Daphne guessed.

“With my job…my boss, Brian Kinney.”

“I thought you loved it there and at least it’s just one of them giving you shit.”

“True,” Justin said, thinking of how different his work relationship was with Cynthia than with Brian. “I do love it here. But… he seems to know exactly how to get under my skin.”

“Well that’s probably a good thing.”

“Why would that be a good thing?”

“Because it means you’ll be kept on your toes and things won’t get boring.”

Justin started laughing and could hardly control himself.

“What? What did I say?”

“Nothing,” Justin said, calming down. “So what are you doing after your mom’s birthday dinner?”

“Hanging out with you, unless you’ve made plans with Eric.”

“I haven’t. So, what do you want to see?”

“I don’t want to see a movie, that’s the same old same old. I want to go out; I want to see Babylon.”

“No way.”

“What? When I told you I was coming, you said we could go there. It’s your boss’ club, right?”

“Yeah and that’s…”

“Then we’re going. You promised. Hell, you were the one who was all excited to go. You couldn’t stop talking about how bad you wanted to try out that spinning dance floor Ted told you about.”

Justin was amazed at how Daphne seemed to remember every detail of every conversation they ever had. “Fine, fine, I guess we can go there.”

“Do you think Brian and Ted will be there?” Daphne asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think Brian should be going out.”

“Why?”

“I overheard a conversation between him and Cynthia a little while ago. I don’t know exactly what to make of it, but I think Brian might have cancer. I mean, I know he did, at one time. But I think that it is back.”

“Wow. Do they know you heard them?”

“No, they don’t. I get the feeling that Brian’s kept it a secret.”

“Jesus.”

“I don’t think Lindsay and Melanie know. I’m certain they would’ve mentioned it to me.”

“Maybe not,” Daphne reasoned. “It’s not like you knew him.”

“Yeah, but it’s not just them never saying anything. Brian told Cynthia that the reason he canceled one of his check-ups was because he had to go to Gus’ school for something. If Lindsay knew, I’m sure she’d be making certain that he went to all of his doctor appointments and kept himself healthy. If she knew she’d probably be at Exhibition every day making sure he wasn’t overworking himself.”

“It sounds to me like she’d be smothering him,” Daphne said.

“Which is another reason not to say anything,” Justin pointed out.

“Well, you can’t do anything about it,” Daphne told Justin. “It’s not like you can ask Lindsay if she knows, so don’t worry about it. If she does know and wanted you to know I’m sure you would’ve.”

“I guess. I just feel like I’m betraying her. They share a son; she should be getting him genetically tested.”

“Justin, you’re getting ahead of yourself. You don’t even know what kind of cancer it was that Brian had and you don’t know if Lindsay knew. You shouldn’t have been eavesdropping on Brian’s private conversation so you need to forget about it.”

“You’re right,” Justin admitted. “It’s not my place. So, why did you want to know if they’d be at Babylon?”

“It’d be nice to know some other people there, that’s all.”

“I’m not enough for you?” Justin feigned a teary voice.

“Shut up. I can only be the hag to one fag at a time, you know that. It’d just be nice not to be stuck sipping drinks while you’re picking up guys.”

“I haven’t ever done that,” Justin told her. “I’m definitely not going to start tonight.”

“Eric probably won’t be going with us, will he?”

“Eric hasn’t seen the inside of a gay establishment besides the GLC since he started teaching,” Justin complained.

“You stopped tricking together?” Daphne gasped.

“This isn’t exactly news, Daph. He has to be careful about where he goes. I understand that; even if I were in his position I probably wouldn’t go to the lengths he goes. He prefers to pick up guys at parks, I prefer to pick them up at bars, and it’s no big deal.”

“You two are just so different.”

Justin thought that was the understatement of the century but he wouldn’t admit that to her. Daphne had a way of overexaggerating every tiny little obstacle in Justin and Eric’s relationship and making things a lot more complicated than Justin liked them to be. “I’ve got to get back to work. Come by my place when you’re finished with your Mom’s dinner and tell her I said Happy Birthday, okay?”

“Will do,” Daphne replied. “Bye.”

“Bye, Daph.” Justin hung up his phone and allowed himself a few moments of self-pity. The last thing he wanted to do that night was go out to Babylon and run into Brian Kinney.

*****

“This place is awesome!” Daphne yelled.

Justin held his hand over his left ear. “You practically just busted my eardrum!”

Daphne grabbed Justin’s arm and pulled him toward the bar. “Stop whining and get that bitter expression off your face.”

Justin plastered on a fake smile as he allowed Daphne to drag him behind her through a new crop of men Justin had yet to try out. He reminded himself that he’d promised Daphne he wouldn’t leave her to go off fucking but now that he was here and saw all the lust coming his way, Justin realized it was a promise that was going to be very hard to keep.

“What do you want to drink?” Justin asked, pulling out his wallet.

“Just a beer for now,” Daphne answered.

“Two High Life’s,” Justin told the bartender.

“Coming right up,” the hunky bartender replied, neatly flipping the caps off the bottles before placing them in front of Justin and Daphne. “That’s gonna be $12.50.”

“It’s on the house, Sam.”

Justin’s neck broke out in goosebumps as he turned and looked at his boss. “Thanks,” he said without emotion, putting his wallet away.

“Is this your boss?” Daphne asked, pushing Justin to the side so she could get a good look at the man beside him.

Before Justin could say anything, Brian offered his hand and gave his friend a charming smile, which made him want to puke.

“I’m one of Justin’s bosses, yes,” Brian replied, taking the girl’s hand. “Brian Kinney.”

Daphne giggled. “Daphne Chanders, I’m Justin’s best friend.”

“I’m sorry,” Brian spoke seriously.

“About what?” Daphne asked, confused.

“That you’re Eeyore’s best friend,” Brian explained, cocking his head toward Justin.

Justin chugged his beer and reminded himself that he liked his job and wanted to keep it.

Daphne laughed, clearly impressed with Brian’s humor. “So what does that make me?”

“I’ll have to ask my son. I’m not exactly on top of whom Eeyore’s best friend is.”

“I doubt an almost eight-year-old knows or cares about that,” Justin remarked.

“Is he always so bitchy?” Brian asked, signaling for the bartender.

Justin gave Brian an evil stare but kept quiet. Maybe then, his “best friend” would realize how uncomfortable he was and stop talking to the enemy.

Daphne smiled warmly at Justin but looked back at Brian and nodded enthusiastically. “That’s why I love him.”

Justin continued to scowl and list reasons in his head why he still needed a best friend.

Brian tried his best to draw Justin out of his own ass but it looked like he wasn’t budging. “Three double JB’s, Sam,” Brian told the bartender. If Justin insisted on keeping the stick up his ass where it was, Brian would have to show him a good time. It wouldn’t be right to let Daphne leave the newly remodeled Babylon without having the full experience first.

*****

“A Daphne Chanders is on line one for you, Mr. Taylor,” Karen told Justin.

Justin debated avoiding her call once again but figured that talking to her at work was probably the safest bet. “Thanks, Karen, I’ll take the call,” he said hanging up with her and pushing the flashing button on the phone. “Taylor.”

“Why haven’t you answered your cell?” Daphne griped. “It’s been almost two weeks!”

“I’ve been busy,” Justin replied.

“Too busy to call your best friend and make sure she made the drive home to Philly safely?”

“I texted you, remember?” Justin asked.

“Well, you should’ve called.”

“Daphne, I’m busy so if you…”

“I can’t believe you’re actually mad at me for making you have fun.”

“You didn’t make me have fun. I know how to have fun all on my own. You insisted that we hang out with my boss all evening and proceeded to flirt with him, even though he’s gay, all night. You made him dance with us, which he does horribly; you had him buying us drinks, getting us drunk so that you could tell him all about our childhood. Now, little Justin’s naked painting is the latest gossip at the water cooler.”

“But Brian said that he wouldn’t tell anyone,” Daphne stammered. “I can’t believe he did!”

“Well, he didn’t,” Justin said. “At least not yet. But I certainly didn’t want my boss to know details about my childhood. We’re not even friends and now he knows almost as much about my adolescence as you do!”

“You two seemed friendly by the end of the night,” Daphne informed Justin.

“We weren’t anything more than cordial strangers.”

Daphne laughed. “You’re such a freak.”

“So when are you coming to visit me again?”

“You actually want me back?” Daphne joked.

“Even if you do embarrass me, yes, I want you to come back.” Justin felt a lot better now that he’d bitched at Daphne.

“Well I’m not sure when school and work are going to coincide with me having a few days off in a row. The next time they do, I’ll be down there visiting. Maybe then you won’t be such a shit to me?”

“Maybe,” Justin laughed. His phone began to beep and his other line started to flash. “I’ve got another call; I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye, Justin!” Daphne said, disconnecting.

Justin switched lines. “Taylor.”

“Mr. Taylor, this is Anna. I’m having trouble understanding the instructions for the Larson ad.”

“What exactly are you having trouble with, Anna?” Justin asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well it’s your job to oversee the final product, so couldn’t you just come down here?”

Justin took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Anna, I know perfectly well what my job is. Perhaps an infraction slip will remind you of what your job is and how exactly you should speak to your superior? I’ll be right down with it.”

*****

Cynthia closed the door to Justin’s office quietly. “The whole office is talking,” she said.

Justin was busy putting together the final touches of the Larson board and hadn’t seen her walk in. He practically jumped in his chair. “Ms. Prescott, you startled me.”

“Please call me Cynthia, Justin.” She smiled as she neared the desk. “Isn’t that something the lead project manager should be doing?”

Justin continued to fix the final photo to the board. “I don’t mind it. I sort of miss the really hands on stuff like this.”

“Do you plan on demoting Anna Ritter?” Cynthia asked.

“I plan on giving her this last chance before I do. The next infraction I will demote her. Daniel Grove is very capable of having her Liaison position and I let Anna know this.”

“If she’s still a bitch to you after that don’t hesitate to fire her, Justin. She’s one of Cade’s hires and I never thought she was anything special.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Justin replied. “So what do you think?” he asked of the advertisement.

“Brian’s going to love it, Justin. You certainly know how to take his ideas and make them reality. You should go show it to him, it might cheer him up,” Cynthia suggested.

“I’ve still got to print out the title and get that placed, but as soon as I do I’ll go see what he thinks,” Justin told her. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

*****

Justin stopped by Karen’s desk and asked, “Is Mr. Kinney free?”

“He is,” Karen answered. “Go on in.”

Justin walked down the hall and opened Brian’s office door. He was completely unprepared for the sight before him. “Uh...Brian?”

Receiving no response, Justin closed the door behind him, placed the ad board beside Brian’s desk and walked over to the couch. He tapped the sleeping man on the arm. “Brian, wake up.”

Brian’s eyes popped open and he found himself staring at Justin Taylor upside down. “What the fuck?”

Justin would’ve laughed if he at first hadn’t noticed the dark circles under Brian’s eyes and his pale skin. “I came to bring you the final board for the Larson account,” he explained. Justin was careful not to look at the skin above Brian’s waistband, which the man had unknowingly been showing off in his sleep.

Brian sat up and tried to wake up as he righted his clothing. “What time is it?”

Justin glanced at the clock on the wall. “3:15.”

“Shit.” Brian grabbed the papers that had scattered around the floor next to the sofa. “I was reading this shit at lunch.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Justin asked gently.

Brian gave Justin a murderous glare and demanded, “Who told you?”

Justin gulped. “Told me what? Do you have the flu or something?”

Brian sighed in relief and stood up. “No. I had Gus over last night and didn’t get much sleep.”

“Was it the giant do-do bird or the alligator?” Justin asked.

“The alligator,” Brian said. “Three different times.”

“Poor little guy,” Justin commented. “At least you were there with him.”

“I don’t think it mattered much,” Brian replied, picking up the board and fixing it up on his desk.

“Sure it did,” Justin assured Brian. “Every time I’ve ever watched him and he’s had a nightmare, he always wants you there to comfort him.”

“He does, huh?” Brian smiled sadly.

“Yeah,” Justin assured. He noticed how vulnerable Brian looked and changed the subject. “What do you think?”

Brian crossed his arms and examined Justin’s work. “It’s perfect.”

Justin grinned. “Thank god. 'Cause I really didn’t want to stay late at work tonight.”

“Big plans with Aaron?” Brian joked.

“Eric and I don’t have plans. I have plans with my couch, a tub of popcorn and a bath.”

“So you two don’t give one another love notes, chocolates and flowers on Valentine’s Day?” Brian asked.

Justin’s insides took a nosedive. “Fuck.”

Brian laughed. “You do celebrate the breeder day but you forgot!”

“Fuck,” Justin ran his hands through his hair. “I haven’t even gotten him anything yet.”

Brian took pity on Justin but only because he’d done a superb job on the Larson account. “You’re done today.”

“Huh?”

“You can go home if you want. Maybe then you can make it to Hallmark and get the wife something nice.”

“Fuck you,” Justin said, rushing out of Brian’s office. Brian’s loud laughter boomed through the halls of Exhibition, taunting Justin until the elevator doors closed.

*****

“Is Justin going to Babylon tonight?” Ted asked in between bites of his burger.

“Why would I know?” Brian asked.

“Who is Justin?” Michael asked.

“This cute blond who Brian was hanging out with at Babylon a few weeks ago,” Emmett answered.

Brian knocked the french fry Emmett was about to take off his plate out of his fingers. “How would you know about that? Weren’t you with Drew in fucking L.A.?” Brian glared at Ted. “Spreading office gossip, Theodore?”

“Don’t look at me,” Ted replied, waving his hands. “I didn’t say a word.”

“What’s with the secrecy?” Michael persisted from beside Brian.

“It’s no secret,” Emmett said. “Everyone was talking about it and it just made it to my ears a few days ago.”

“He works at Exhibition,” Brian explained. “He’s my new Art Director.”

“Brian, please tell me that you’re not dipping your quill in the office ink,” Michael groaned.

“Would you all shut the fuck up?” Brian barked. “Justin is an employee. I haven’t and won’t be fucking him. He went to Babylon a few weeks ago with his friend Daphne. I happened to dance and hang out with them because they didn’t know anyone else there and Justin didn’t want to leave Daphne alone while he pissed.”

“The rumor mill said you two were all over one another,” Emmett countered.

“It’s called a ‘rumor mill’ for a reason,” Ted pointed out. “I asked if Justin was going to be there tonight because I had something work related to talk to him about.”

“So you’re not seeing him?” Michael asked, looking at Brian closely.

Brian heaved an aggravated sigh. “Don’t’ worry, Mikey. You can go home to the professor tonight. I don’t need you to be my guard dog.”

“Your guard dog?” Michael asked. “Brian, if you actually found someone you wanted to be with, sure I’d want to meet him and make sure he wasn’t an asshole, but I want you to be as happy as Ben and I are.”

“I am that happy,” Brian said, smiling dreamily. “Alone,” he clarified. “I don’t need someone else to make me happy.”

“Right,” Emmett spoke up. “He’s got a tight fist and long fingers.”

Everyone laughed at Emmett’s joke and for revenge; Brian threw a handful of fries at his friend. He joined in the laughter as he saw a large grease stain form on the brand new sweater Emmett had been showing off minutes before.

*****

“Shit!” Justin grabbed for a napkin and wiped barbecue sauce off his lips.

Eric tried to help wipe away the dollop of sauce that splattered Justin’s jeans but he only succeeded in spreading the ‘would-be stain’ around. “I’m sorry,” he said through his laughter. “I guess feeding one another ribs isn’t the most romantic idea I’ve ever had.”

“Kiss me and it’ll make up for your oversight,” Justin teased, using his sticky hand to bring Eric’s head toward him.

Eric sucked the sauce from Justin’s top lip as he skimmed his barbecue sauce laden hands under Justin’s sweater, pushing it up. “Come down here,” he requested, kneeling beside his chair.

Justin dropped down on his knees and waited for Eric to make the next move. It was rare for Eric to be the aggressor and Justin wanted to give the man free reign of his body tonight. He wanted to let himself go, let all of his fears and inhibitions evaporate.

“Lie back,” Eric requested, still lifting Justin’s shirt up as he gently pushed him to lie back on the carpet. He crawled between Justin’s legs, took his pants and underwear off, then dipped his head down and started licking a trail up Justin’s chest.

Justin writhed on the ground, his moans urging Eric to continue the pleasure, his dick rising as self-forbidden thoughts entered his mind. He quickly pulled Eric’s gray sweater off him and pulled him down on top of his body, making them both grunt as they momentarily lost their breath. Justin lifted his hips, grinding his erection against Eric’s leg, and scratched his nails up Eric’s back.

Eric nibbled along Justin’s neck as his hands moved under Justin’s back, to his ass and grasped it, his fingertips almost in his crack, but then he moved them up and held Justin’s head as he kissed him.

Both Justin and Eric began to rut against one another, kissing, biting and grabbing at one another as they flung their clothing off, finally exposing themselves completely.

“Fuck me.”

Justin’s legs were wrapped around Eric’s slim hips and his body shivered every time Eric’s cock head would nudge under his balls while they rutted together.

Justin watched as Eric grabbed the lubed condom and seconds later tore it open with his teeth. He held his breath as Eric crawled closer to him. Justin didn’t start breathing until the condom was completely secured on his own cock and Eric was straddling him, bracing himself with one hand on his knee and guiding Justin’s dick into his asshole.

Tonight Justin had wanted, needed something different. Instead, Eric was wildly riding his cock and loving every second of it. Watching Eric come, shooting all over his chest, was beautiful. Justin’s orgasm was small, barely noticeable to him. All he could think as he carefully pulled his dick from Eric’s ass was that he wanted to know what it was like to be beautiful for someone the way Eric was always beautiful for him.

*****

“No,” Justin grunted, taking a long pull from his cigarette.

“Justin, you haven’t given it enough thought,” Eric replied.

“I’ve thought about it, Eric. That’s why I was able to say no so quickly,” he assured, puffs of smoke blowing out of his mouth with every word he spoke.

Eric waved at the smoke and fake-coughed. “I wish you would stop smoking.”

“You didn’t have to follow me outside the gates did you?”

“Jesus, keep your voice down. There are kids sleeping in these buildings.”

Justin crossed his arms and gave Eric a steely glare. “This conversation is proof of why we should not live together.”

Eric was silent, his expression turning confused as he shrugged his shoulders.

Justin pointed with his cigarette between him and Eric. “This thing with you and me right now,” he said. “First, you hate me smoking. I love smoking but would like to quit one day. However, I get sick of hearing you bitch about it now that you’re Mr. Green Peace. You stress me out so I need a second cigarette while you’re bitching about the first. I don’t want to deal with that every time I want to smoke.”

“You won’t move in with me because I care about your health more than you do,” Eric pointed out.

“Ah… no.” Justin pretended as if he was oblivious to the fact that he blew his smoke right in Eric’s face. “That’s not it exactly, but also, I’m fucking freezing and I’m going to catch pneumonia because I have to walk a fucking mile to get from your apartment to outside the complex’s gates. How’s that for my health?”

Eric put his hands on his hips. “The complex is smoke free. I didn’t make that rule.”

“Whatever, even if we had a different place you would insist on bitching every time I lit up inside and I’d be forced to go outside. But I couldn’t even do that because you’d want to move somewhere that’s just as dedicated to living green as this place is. Can we get off the smoking thing now?” he asked.

Eric nodded. “You’re the one that brought it up.”

“It was just one of many reasons that you are showing me right now why we shouldn’t live together. Another thing, how about the fact that I said I needed a minute to think and you followed me out here anyway, basically demanding that I talk to you.”

“I wasn’t…”

“You couldn’t give me five minutes to think about it?” Justin asked.

“Fine, I’ll leave you alone,” Eric huffed and began to turn for the gate.

Justin grabbed Eric’s arm. “You wanted to talk to me so now maybe you should actually listen to me for once,” he pleaded.

“Fine. Tell me how wrong my wants for our relationship are.”

Justin rolled his eyes at the statement. “Do you know what I do when I don’t go out to the bars or over to your house after work?”

Eric shrugged. “Watch TV, sleep, sketch.”

“I paint, Eric. I turn on loud music and paint until the sun rises. Did you know that?”

“You never told me.”

“After eight years, how could you not know? Even if I have to work on no sleep, I’ll get up in the middle of the night and paint if I need to. I paint or sketch or even fucking color with crayons. I don’t have anyone telling me to keep it down, to come to bed, to get sleep so I don’t suck at work the next day. I don’t have to worry about thin walls and neighbors with kids asleep because there aren’t any kids in the whole damn building.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Eric hushed, throwing his hands up in the air and walking away from Justin. “You’re happy the way you are and you don’t want me cramping your style.”

Justin wasn’t going to run after Eric and apologize for his honesty, he never did. He wasn’t going to feel bad for being happy with his life the way it way. It sort of sucked that this was how they had to end their Valentine’s Day, but Justin wasn’t about to do agree to move in with Eric because he knew it would put an end to their relationship or at least greatly fuck it up and he liked it just the way it was. The way it had been almost since it began.

*****

Brian grabbed Justin’s wrist and pulled him out of the hallway and into his office.

“What the fuck, Brian?” Justin complained, shaking Brian’s hand off him.

“What’s your problem?” Brian demanded an answer. “I heard you talking to Cynthia a minute ago. You need to apologize.”

“What?” Justin was flabbergasted.

Slowly, Brian answered, “Apologize to Cynthia for being a dickhead.”

“I wasn’t being a dickhead!” Justin shouted as he practically slammed Brian’s door shut.

Brian blinked, sure he was imagining Justin’s outburst. “Are you serious right now?” he asked, stepping up closer to Justin.

Justin closed his eyes and raked his hands down his face. “Fuck,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry.” He definitely felt foolish.

“Sorry’s bullshit,” Brian snarked.

Justin was in disbelief. “You just wanted me to apologize to Cynthia.”

“You need to. But that doesn’t mean you have to say you are sorry. Buy her a fucking latte or get her a bagel tomorrow morning.”

“I take it that’s what you do,” Justin guessed, smiling a little.

Brian raised one eyebrow. “Why are you being so bitchy to everyone this week? I have yet to get the brunt of your bitchy side. If you’re ever rude to Cynthia when she asks to see something for an account again, I will fucking fire you. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” Justin sighed, collapsing onto Brian’s sofa.

“One more thing,” Brian said, sitting down beside Justin. “You need to get over yourself, your mom or whoever the fuck pissed in your cereal. Oh, wait a minute. Did you and your wife have a wittle fight?”

Justin threw his head in his hands and whined, “No we didn’t.”

Brian tilted Justin’s face up and smiled evilly at him. “You did. So, tell me. What did you and Aaron fight about?”

“I’m not telling you,” Justin protested.

“Why not?”

“Because you’ve never even been in a relationship so you wouldn’t understand.”

“Conversely, that’s also why I’d be objective.” Brian really didn’t plan to give Justin any advice; he wanted to know what was causing his employee to be so bitchy so that he could go back to being the happy, annoying genius Art Director he usually was.

“Eric won an award for his environmental work with his students. Next month the governor is going to present him the award at a ceremony at his school. He invited his sister who is a homophobic bitch that refuses to be in the same room with me.”

“Who gives a shit about her, Justin? He’s your boyfriend; go see him get the award.”

“I’d like to, except that he didn’t invite me. Whenever he invites Missy, it’s a given that I’m not invited. Of course I don’t plan on being there as his partner and I understand why he’d be hesitant about that but I could’ve gone as a friend.”

“Then why don’t you?” Brian asked. “Show that bitch that you could care less about her because being there for Eric is what you want, right?”

Justin started cracking up laughing.

“What?” Brian asked, elbowing Justin.

“You actually gave me good advice. Who are you?”

Brian stood up abruptly and pointed to the door. “Say thank you and get out of my office.”

Justin stood up and grinned at Brian. “Thank you.”

“You want to know how you can give me thanks that I deserve?” Brian asked. As Justin backed up against his desk, he had to refocus his mind. He was so not imagining his Art Director naked, legs spread and begging to be fucked across his desk.

“What’s that?” Justin asked.

Brian cleared his throat and replied lamely, “Get the Dandy Lube graphics on my desk before you leave.”

“I can do that,” Justin promised, brushing past Brian before leaving his office.

The reason Brian walked over to his open door was to close it. It had nothing to do with the fact that Justin’s khaki pants seemed extra tight today and he needed to stare at his ass, imagining the seams bursting and revealing to Brian that Justin had gone commando as he suspected.
 

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