Endeavor
Chapter Four: April

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.-John Ruskin

“So what does your fortune say?” Justin asked, crawling closer to Brian.

“You will succeed in your next business venture.”

“How generic,” Justin commented while opening his own fortune cookie. “How peculiar.”

“What? What does it say?” Brian asked, taking the small slip of paper from Justin’s fingers. “The same fucking fortune,” he laughed. “Cheap bastards.”

Justin chugged his wine and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “Well, I guess no matter what we put together for Doggoneit’s Dog Food, it’s guaranteed to be genius,” he spoke with a country twang.

“You really aren’t good at impersonating Mr. Lyle. Promise me that you won’t actually talk to him like that during the pitch.”

“Like I would.” Justin playfully kicked Brian’s thigh and threw a piece of chicken at him. “I’m not even going to be in the room while you pitch it. And you’re very wrong, Mr. Kinney. I’d make a good comedian.”

Brian gave Justin a skeptical look as he twirled noodles into his mouth. “Show me,” he ordered while chewing. “Say or do something funny.”

Justin stuffed a piece of chicken in his mouth and shook his head at Brian. “You’ll make fun of me and tell everyone at the office about it.”

“I don’t gossip.” Brian crossed his heart. “I won’t tell anyone how bad you are. I promise.”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Justin stood up from the futon and walked behind the sofa. “Well this isn’t really an impression,” he warned.

“Just do it,” Brian encouraged.

“How very ad man of you,” Justin joked.

“That wasn’t funny,” Brian remarked.

Justin stuck his tongue out and straightened his posture. “Okay, here goes.” He made a motion like he was walking down a flight of stairs until he was crouched behind the sofa for a moment and then popped up. “There!”

Brian was glad he’d swallowed the food in his mouth before Justin began, otherwise they’d be all over their notes and laptops. “That was fucking great,” he burst out laughing. It wasn’t the funniest thing in the world, but it was pretty surprising. Brian hadn’t ever actually known anyone that could do that. “Do you know the elevator too?”

Justin nodded enthusiastically and then showed Brian.

“The escalator?” Brian called out.

Justin performed the move, nearly falling on his face at the end. “That’s all for tonight,” he said. “I’m getting woozy from all the wine.”

“I think we’re done for the night then,” Brian declared.

“But we barely have any ideas written down,” Justin protested, walking back over to the futon.

“We’ll work on it tomorrow. Help me clean up and I’ll open another bottle of wine.”

“I can’t drink any more, Brian.”

Tipsy, Brian had no idea how perfect his look of disappointment came across to Justin.

Justin sighed. “Well, I guess I could just call a cab and get my car tomorrow.”

Brian smiled. “It was your idea to get two bottles of this shit.”
 

*****

Justin waved at his mother as she walked into the restaurant and spotted him over by the windows. As she reached the table he stood to greet her with a hug and a peck on the cheek. “I thought you were bringing Molly,” he commented as they took their seats.

Jennifer took off her jacket and placed it on the back of her chair while she took a deep breath. “She’s not very happy with me.”

Justin immediately noticed the huge ring on his mother’s finger as she clasped her hands on the table top. “Mom!” he gasped, having no idea what else to say. “Mom…”

“Tucker asked me to marry him on my birthday. We went to buy the ring last night.” Jennifer blushed and hesitated a moment before holding her hand out to Justin.

Justin held his mother’s hand and inspected the large diamond, surprised that a school teacher could afford such a lavish engagement ring. “Are you happy?”

“Happier than I’ve been in years,” Jennifer said twirling the ring once Justin released her hand. “He’s been saving for a long time for this.”

Justin gave his mother a genuine smile. “I’m happy for you, Mom. Congratulations.”

Jennifer laughed. “I thought you’d take the same position as Molly.”

“I might’ve had trouble accepting Tucker at first,” Justin admitted. “But unlike Molly, I know who Dad was and I don’t have him on a pedestal. I certainly don’t think that you should spend the rest of your life pining for him.”

“Thank you, Justin. Now, enough about me, tell me about your job. How is it going? Is that woman, Anna, still being a bitch?”
 

*****

The moment the door of Justin’s SUV was closed he dialed Daphne’s cell phone number

“Hey,” Daphne greeted. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting in my car,” Justin answered. “You?”

“In the hospital cafeteria eating lunch. What’s up?”

“My mom is getting remarried!” Justin announced.

“I was wondering when Tucker would get off his ass and finally ask her,” Daphne commented.

“Molly’s pissed of course; she won’t even talk to Mom.”

“She’s not a little kid anymore; you two should just tell her the truth about Craig. Then she probably wouldn’t be so sour about your mom marrying someone who actually treats her right and loves her.”

“The question is, why am I sour about it?” Justin asked. “I still haven’t shed a tear for Craig, it’s not like I want my mom to forever carry a torch for him, so why am I freaking about her getting remarried?”

“Justin, you shed plenty of tears for your mom and sister, they were enough,” Daphne told him gently. “You’re worried and you want to protect your mom. No matter how perfect Tucker or any man could be for her, you want to be the only man in your mom’s life because you know you won’t hurt her.”

Justin’s mouth hung open for a moment before he could speak. “What! Are you suddenly studying to be psychologist?”

Daphne laughed. “Sorry honey, I'm just your best friend and I’ve known you since kindergarten so it gives me special insight into you.”

“I love you.”

“I know you do and I bet once they’re married you’ll stop freaking out.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yup. So, has she set a date yet?”

“Yes, she’s already got the church booked for June 21st. You’ll be getting an invite.”

“Justin,” Daphne said his name slowly.

“What?” Justin whined. He could tell by the tone of her voice that Daphne was about to bail on the wedding.

“That’s during the time that I’ll be in California for the Pediatric Infectious Disease Conference,” she mumbled.

“That totally sucks,” Justin whined. “I was hoping the wedding would be a good excuse for you to come see me again.”

“You could come and see me too,” Daphne pointed out.

“It’s different when you come here; you know a whole bunch of people you can visit while I’m working. I don’t know anyone in Philly and you’re almost always on call or at school. I’d probably never see you.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll come see you as soon as I can unless you make it out here first.”

“My mom’s going to be really disappointed that you’re not coming.”

“She’ll probably be so caught up with Tucker and the other guests she won’t even know if I’m not there.”

“Oh yes, she will,” Justin assured her. “She made me promise that you and I would dance together.”

“All that money wasted on dance lessons,” Daphne mused. “Did our parents actually think we’d become ballroom dancers?”

“Until I sprained my ankle falling down our basement stairs,” Justin replied, laughing at the memories. “And then you conveniently broke your arm right when I got better.”

“You always act like I wanted Kimmie Lawrence to unhook my legs from the bar on the jungle gym!”

“Daphne, how many times did you flip off that thing and land perfectly fine?” Justin teased.

“I’m so not spending my lunch break talking about this,” Daphne spoke in a warning tone but started giggling. “I didn’t do it on purpose, but I’m not sorry we got out of those dance classes.”

“Only to be stuck in Mister and Miss courses,” Justin groaned. “I don’t know what was worse.”

“I hate thinking about that stuff. Our parents really had no idea how to just let us be kids.”

“Molly has no idea how lucky she has it. Mom is so different now that she doesn’t have someone around dictating every move she makes.” Justin got a sick feeling in his gut and needed to change the subject. “So, tell me about that hot doctor you pretend you’re not interested in.”

“Speak of the extremely hot devil,” Daphne whispered.

“Did he walk into the cafeteria?” Justin asked.

Daphne gulped loudly. “Yes, and he’s heading this way. I’ll call you later.”

“Bye, Daphne. Good luck and say yes if he asks you out!”
 

*****

“You know, this isn’t fair,” Justin told Brian as he carried the pizza they’d ordered over to the bar.

Brian came out of the bedroom now dressed in an outfit Justin had seen him wear many times; faded blue jeans and a white v-neck tee. “What isn’t fair?”

“This is like the sixth time we’ve brought work home, but we’ve come to your place. You get to get all nice and comfy while I practically freeze and hope I don’t get food on my good clothes.”

“It’s not freezing in here,” Brian defended but checked the thermostat anyway. “It’s seventy degrees.”

“And its April and for some reason it’s snowing outside.” Justin pulled his suit coat tighter around him.

“The reason is global warming,” Brian replied, as if Justin didn’t know.

Justin was sick of hearing about global warming and every other thing that had to do with the environment. All Eric talked about since being given his award last month had to do with the environment and how he could continue the fight for a cleaner Earth. Thankfully, Brian mentioning it was just a fluke. “I just don’t know how you walk around here barefoot,” Justin bitched. “I bet your toes have frostbite.”

Brian ran his foot up the inside of Justin’s leg, coming dangerously close to touching his crotch. He cleared his throat and stepped away from his employee. “They’re warm.”

Justin gulped and turned away from Brian to open the box of pizza. “Whatever you say, Brian.”

“Well, what do you want me to say?” Brian asked, growing annoyed at Justin’s tangent.

“It isn’t fair that we always come here to work.”

“Well it’s not like you’ve ever suggested that we go to your place. Why is that? Would Arron get jealous?”

Justin grabbed a slice of pizza and elbowed Brian as he did. “Eric and I have our own groups of friends. I don’t tell him when I invite friends over to my apartment and I don’t care who he has at his.”

Brian refrained from saying anything about Justin calling them friends. “So the next time we decide we’d rather work at home, we’ll go to your place. As long as you promise you have heat, running water and cable internet.”

“I do,” Justin laughed. “Just so you know; I’m holding you to it.”

“Whatever.” Brian grabbed himself some pizza on a paper plate and took it over to the sofa. “I’m going to trust you to not spill anything,” he warned Justin as he sat beside him.

Justin mocked Brian by pretending to drop his plate. “Don’t worry; I’ve had table manners for awhile now.”

Brian chuckled. “I bet you learned them at that private academy you attended, didn’t you?”

“No,” Justin grumbled. “My mother made me take a Misters course at the country club.”

Brian almost choked on his bite of pizza. “What the fuck is a Misters course?”

Justin felt himself blushing with embarrassment but he explained the manners course to Brian anyway. The whole time, Brian paid attention to what he was saying without interrupting him, for once, and it freaked him out. “Did I blow your mind or something? No remarks? You’re not even tempted to make fun of me?”

Brian shook his head. “I’m still trying to process that they actually have these courses in this day and age.”

“Chivalry isn’t dead.” Justin spoke with a mouthful of food. “Or so my mother tells me.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure she’d be proud to see you talking about manners with your mouth stuffed.”

“Vuk you,” Justin griped and swallowed. “I’ll have you know, my mother is very proud of me.”

“What about your dad?” Brian closed his mouth tight the moment he asked. It wasn’t his character to ask anyone, especially an employee about his family, it’s not like he cared.

Justin looked down at his plate. “My father’s dead. He died a few weeks into my senior year.”

This was exactly why Brian never asked about family. He had no idea what to say next. “Your senior year at CMU?” he asked, finally figuring out something to say, though wishing like hell he could drop the conversation.

Justin shook his head. “High School. A drunk driver hit him as he was coming home late one night.”

Brian tried to read Justin’s expression, but it was completely blank. “That must have been hard for you.” Brian thought that he sounded like a lame ass shrink with that remark but Justin didn’t seem to care.

“Yeah. It really devastated my mom and my little sister. Especially because afterward we found out that Dad wasn’t at work, he’d been cheating on my mom and was coming home from his secretary’s house. If he hadn’t been cheating on my mom, he wouldn’t have had any reason to be on the street where he was killed.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Life sucks.” Justin took a long drink of his beer. “You know what really sucks?”

Brian couldn’t imagine what the fuck Justin was going to say so he just shrugged his shoulders and asked, “What?”

“The guy that hit him, his name is Kip Thomas. I mean, what kind of name is that? Kip Thomas. It sounds like a kid’s name and now whenever I think of my dad that fucker’s name is tied to him forever.”

Brian’s eyes widened. “Kip Thomas?” he asked slowly and counted back the time in his head.

“Yeah, who in the fuck names their kid Kip? It pretty much guarantees that they’re going to act like a child for the rest of their life. He was out joyriding after he left a bar or something and was just over the legal limit. He ran a stop sign, plowed his truck into my dad’s suburban and that was that.”

“That guy, Kip Thomas, I sort of knew him,” Brian revealed.

“What?” Justin gasped. “Don’t tell me you two…”

“No,” Brian interrupted. “I remember when my boss, Ryder, told me about what Kip did. He’d just gotten hired at the agency maybe a month or so before. He tried to get us to testify for his character.”

“Did you?” Justin asked.

“Of course not,” Brian said. “Ryder wasn’t going to let him drag the agency into it. We barely knew him.”

“Small world,” Justin commented. “It’s bizarre how things work out. The night of the accident I was over at Daphne’s and we were waiting for her parents to fall asleep so she could sneak out and drop me off on Liberty Avenue. I hadn’t ever been there before and I’d been working up the courage to go there for weeks. Daphne’s house phone rang as soon as I got ready. Her mom was so upset when she came to tell us that she didn’t even notice that Daphne and I had changed out of our pajamas. I knew my dad would flip out when he found out I was gay; he wanted me to marry Daphne, go to business school and take over his business. If my Dad hadn’t died and I didn’t get a share of the civil lawsuit settlement, I probably wouldn’t have been able to go to the school I wanted and I probably wouldn’t be working for a guy who once worked with the guy that killed him.”

Brian had to agree that when Justin said it all like that, it definitely made life seem bizarre. He saw Justin’s plate shaking in his hands and placed Justin’s and his own on the coffee table. “You okay?” he asked, feeling extremely awkward.

Justin couldn’t move or talk, he was trying hard not to start crying. It had been years since he talked about the details and repercussions of his father’s death with anyone and he was embarrassed that after all this time he’d actually feel the need to cry for him.

“Come here,” Brian whispered. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled Justin close and held him, though the embrace was at first stiff and awkward, Justin soon settled against him.

Justin didn’t cry, but he let his emotions ebb and flow within him and took comfort in Brian’s embrace. “It’s stupid, getting so upset over a man who hated me,” he mumbled against Brian’s shoulder. “I’m sure he had his suspicions, but he didn’t know I was gay. He hated that I never lived up to his expectations. He barely knew me, but he hated me.”

“My dad’s dead and he hated me too,” Brian confessed emotionlessly.

Justin pulled back from Brian and wiped his watery eyes. “Because you’re gay?” he asked.

“No.” Brian felt his skin crawling with unwanted recollections. “So what are your ideas for the lozenges ad?”

Justin could tell that Brian needed to change the subject and whatever he’d been talking about had hit home for him. Brian so rarely talked about emotions or showed any kind of weakness to anyone. Justin was sure that like himself, Brian hid his feelings and rarely trusted anyone with them. He grabbed his messenger bag from the floor, opened it up and grabbed out his work pad. “I’ve sketched out a few things already.”

 

*****

Justin unlocked his door and walked inside his apartment. “So this is it,” he announced. “Well the kitchen anyway.”

Brian hesitantly looked around the galley kitchen. The table and chairs weren’t too bad, but the paint color on the wall was terrible. “That paint color is terrible and it does nothing for your paintings.”

Justin shrugged and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “You want one?”

“Yeah,” Brian answered and grabbed the beer from Justin. “Seriously, you need to repaint that.”

“I don’t have the time,” Justin said. “I’d rather paint canvas. The color was here when I moved in and I don’t think it looks bad.”

Brian was curious to see the rest of Justin’s apartment if this was how it started off. Especially because Justin had ribbed on his loft the first time he’d seen it. “So show me around,” he said, placing his briefcase on the kitchen table.

“It’s not much,” Justin said, walking down the hall. “I got the corner unit though and my balcony is bigger than everyone else’s.”

“The paint color in here isn’t much better,” Brian groaned.

“Yeah, thanks,” Justin said sarcastically. “I was trying to match the paint color in the kitchen. Blame Home Depot.”

Brian walked past the dining set, which he couldn’t complain about and took in Justin’s furniture. “That sofa looks like something that should be in your mother’s house.”

Justin laughed. “Actually, it was. But it was free and it pulls out into a sofa bed so I’m not complaining.”

“Who do you need a sofa bed for?” Brian asked, walking about the room. Justin had a decent view of the park but he noticed that the balcony faced the parking lot for his building.

“You are so nosey,” Justin said, hitting Brian’s shoulder. “Daphne stays here when she visits.”

Brian picked up a framed photo from beside the television. “So this is him? I thought he’d be older.”

“Brian, that picture is really old. It was taken on our first date.”

Brian was not jealous that Justin looked as though he hadn’t aged at all. Nope. “Aww. How romantic. Let me guess, you two were roommates at CMU?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I met him at a stupid frat party Daphne forced me to go to. He was a virgin, actually.” Justin smiled at the memory of the first time he fucked Eric on top of all the breeders’ coats.

“That’s even sweeter,” Brian teased. “What about you? Were you a virgin?”

“These really aren’t questions that a boss should be asking his employee,” Justin teased back.

Brian ignored that. “So I take that as a yes.”

“That’d be a no,” Justin told him. “I’d fucked a couple guys before that.”

Brian licked his lips as he imagined Justin taking Eric’s virginity. He quickly placed the photo down and cleared his throat. “So, show me the rest of your apartment and then we can get started on the Celestial ad.”

“You only want me to show you so that you can make fun of me,” Justin acknowledged.

Brian didn’t deny it and smiled evilly behind Justin’s back as he followed behind him.

“Obviously this is my bedroom,” Justin rambled. “I had to repaint everything myself because I needed contrast for when I am painting. Different colors change how the light is absorbed in the room so I usually paint in here in the afternoons or after work. Otherwise I’m in the living room in front of my windows.”

“This is nice,” Brian admitted. He refrained from commenting about how much he hated the lockers Justin obviously used to store some of his clothing. However the red dresser on the opposite side of the room which matched the cabinets of Justin’s desk area got his seal of approval. Justin had taste, Brian decided, he just strayed sometimes. “It’s almost stylish.”

Justin rolled his eyes at Brian’s semi-compliment. “Over here is the bathroom. It’s the reason I bought this place.”

Brian walked behind Justin and nearly fainted when he saw the cramped quarters and the horrendous tile work. “I can’t believe I hired you to be Exhibition’s Art Director!” Brian said, unable to keep quiet. “It looks like Tommy Hilfiger chewed the labels off his clothing line and threw up in here. And that tub… that tub is…”

Justin angrily pulled Brian out of the bathroom and closed the door. “That bathtub is awesome and I love the tile work. It’s unique.”

“Unique? You could hang a Norman Rockwell painting in there and call it a day!” Brian berated. “I’ll be afraid to use it. Surely that isn’t the only bathroom.”

Justin laughed and beckoned Brian to follow him out of the room. When they stood just outside the bedroom Justin halted him and pointed down the hall. “Where exactly would another bathroom be, Brian?” he asked, walking back toward the kitchen.

Brian followed Justin, grabbing the beer he’d abandoned on the kitchen table and taking a long swig.

“Are you trying to get drunk so we can’t finish the project?” Justin asked seriously.

“No,” Brian retorted. “I’m going to need to be buzzed so that when I do have to piss, I’ll be so focused on aiming into the toilet that I don’t notice the American flag bathroom.”

“I’m so glad I brought you here,” Justin bitched, guzzling his own beer. “You know, at my age, I doubt you had an apartment that looked this good.”

Brian couldn’t deny that Justin was right about that. “Nope, cause I was saving so that in a few years I could afford what I have now.”

“I knew that it reminded me of the 90’s and now I know why!” Justin exclaimed. “You kept all your décor the same since you moved in there almost twenty years ago!”

“Fuck you,” Brian growled.

Justin felt his body heat up in reaction to Brian’s words and the predatory glare he pinned on him.

Growing tired of the sexual tension that would go absolutely nowhere, Brian made for the fridge and grabbed a fresh beer. “So how did you afford this place, anyway?”

“What money didn’t go to paying for school from the settlement I coupled with some money I made selling a few paintings at the Emerging Artists show at Lindsay’s gallery a few years back,” Justin explained as they walked back into the living room.

Brian took a seat in the red chair, testing it out before settling into it.

Justin noticed Brian’s behavior and told him, “It’s not going to swallow you, Brian.”

Brian glared like the five-year-old child he felt like he was whenever Justin used what he silently referred to as his ‘mommy’ voice.
 

*****

“Everyone in the art department thinks we’re fucking,” Justin told Brian as they walked into the Liberty Diner.

Brian laughed. “Not that I’ve ever met him, but don’t they know you have a boyfriend?”

Justin followed Brian toward an empty booth and sat opposite him. “You’ve never met Eric because you high-tail it out of my apartment whenever he calls to tell me he’s coming over.”

“I don’t high-tail it anywhere,” Brian groused. “It’s polite not to intrude upon your personal time.”

“Have you forgotten that Saturday you woke me up in the middle of the night and demanded that I sketch out your idea for that fucking knife ad?”

“You were snoring on my couch and I couldn’t sleep. Either way, I had to wake you up,” Brian defended.

Justin bristled. “I don’t snore and I’m a little bit bothered that you were awake thinking about knives with me in the next room.”

“Yeah, killing you was my only other option of getting you to stop making that horrible sound which you make when you snore.” Brian smirked and imitated a loud honking noise. “You do that when you pass out from smoking pot.”

“Whatever.” Justin grabbed a menu from beside him and started flipping through it. “I do not.”

“It’s true,” Brian assured. “That was the third time I heard you do it and it’s always after you get too high.”

“Well then you shouldn’t ply me with weed, thinking it will make me creative long after my bedtime. By the way, my earlier point was that you don’t care about intruding on my personal time. I think we can agree that sleep is personal time no matter where it occurs.”

Debbie came out of the kitchen, spotted Brian and immediately made her way over to him. “Hi, Brian,” she greeted him but her eyes were on Justin. “And you are?”

“Uhmm…”

“Justin, this is Debbie. She’s my best friend Michael’s Mom. Ma, this is Justin Taylor, he’s the Art Director at Exhibition,” Brian introduced. “Can I get some coffee and a BLT?”

“Nice to meet you, Debbie,” Justin said, smiling.

“You too, Sunshine. Be sure he doesn’t work you too hard.”

“He doesn’t,” Justin said, half lying. There were days that Brian scheduled after work, work hours that Justin wished he could turn down.

“And what about you, Justin?”

“Uhm, I’ll have the tuna melt and a coke,” Justin ordered. “Can I have seasoned fries with that too?”

“Sure. Anything else?”

“No thank you,” Justin replied.

Debbie used her body to scoot Brian over in the booth. “So, Justin. Where you from?”

“I’m from Pittsburgh,” Justin answered.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Debbie pressed. “Cause if ya don’t, I’m sure…”

“Debbie, we only have one lunch hour,” Brian said testily.

“Don’t be rude,” Deb chastised Brian as she stood beside the booth glaring at him. “I’ll go put in your order and get your drinks.”

When Debbie was far enough away Justin leaned over the table and asked, “Do you come here often?”

Brian laughed at Justin’s question which sounded like a cheesy pick up line. “Yeah, this is usually where I go for lunch with my friends.”

“So we’re friends now?” Justin implored.

“You’re annoying,” Brian said. “You overthink everything.”

“I just like to know where I stand with people, especially my boss.”

“What does that have to do with anything? It’s not like I’m going to give you special treatment at work because we’re friends.”

“I wouldn’t expect any. It’s just that there are certain things you don’t tell your boss but you do tell your friends. It’s weird.”

“You’re weird.”

Debbie arrived back at the booth carrying Brian and Justin’s drinks and placed them in front of them. “Your food should be out shortly, we’ve been slow all day.”

“Thanks,” Brian said, giving Debbie a real smile.

Debbie made a move to ruffle Brian’s hair but his grimace stopped her hand and she patted his cheek instead before walking away.

For a split-second, Justin saw Brian’s cheeks flush with boyish embarrassment. “So how long have you known Michael and Debbie?”

“Since I was fourteen.”

“Is Michael going to be here for lunch too?”

“No, he and his partner Ben are on vacation.”

“What about your other friends, you said you meet them for lunch here?”

Brian checked his watch. “It’s still too early for Emmett, and Ted’s back at the office fixing some fuck-up for the Brown account.”

“Ted Schmidt?” Justin asked. He knew that he and Brian had a mutual respect for one another, but he definitely wouldn’t have pegged them as friends. “You guys are friends?”

“Yes and yes. It is possible and perfectly acceptable to be friends with your employees.”

“I guess,” Justin grumbled.

Brian really was extremely annoyed at Justin’s insistence about how absolutely wrong it would be if they were friends. He didn’t care less if Justin was his friend or not, he was perfectly annoyed with the ones he had. Brian decided that if Justin was going to be a shit about it, he’d just treat him the exact same way he treated each and every other employee outside of the office.
 

*****

Eric kept Justin’s come in his mouth as he climbed up on his lap and shared it with him in a deep kiss. Realizing that Justin was barely partaking in the kiss he pulled away and sat on the couch beside him. “What’s wrong with you?”

Justin tucked himself back inside his underwear and zipped up his jeans. “Nothing.”

“Now that you’ve settled into your job and aren’t working or out fucking late every night I thought you’d be more relaxed.” Eric massaged Justin’s left shoulder. “I just gave you a blowjob and you’re tenser than you were before I gave it to you.”

“I’m just tired.”

“It’s Saturday,” Eric groused. “You slept until noon.”

“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?” Justin asked, getting up from the couch. He grabbed the jacket off the back of it and put it on.

“Don’t leave.” Eric hopped over the back of the couch and blocked Justin’s way to the door. “I don’t want to fight. I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” Justin insisted, knowing he was lying.

“Not that I’m complaining, but you’ve been coming over here every day after work for the last two weeks.”

“Well, if I’m crowding your space…” Justin made a move to pass Eric but his boyfriend stopped him.

“I told you, I wasn’t complaining. You know you’re welcome to come over whenever you want.” Eric held Justin’s hands in his own. “Tell me what’s going on. If I didn’t know you so well I’d say that you’re depressed.”

“I’m not depressed.” Justin dropped Eric’s hands and took off his jacket. “You want to do the rest?” he asked, holding his arms out.

Eric licked his lips and nodded as he began to unbutton Justin’s blue dress shirt. He knew that there was something going on with his boyfriend, but he was confident that Justin would talk to him about it when he was ready.
 

*****

Justin poked his head around Brian’s half-open office door. “Wanna get lunch?”

Brian shook his head and looked back down at his laptop, half expecting Justin to leave.

“Do you want me to pick you up something?” Justin asked, walking in.

“That’s not in your job description.”

“Obviously.” Justin hated that Brian’s behavior caused him to feel nervous whenever he was in his presence the last couple of weeks.

“You better go before your lunch hour is up. We’ve got a meeting with Locke at 2:00,” Brian advised, barely acknowledging that Justin had walked into the office. He knew exactly what he was doing and it amused him to no end.

Justin bit his lip, refraining from asking Brian what the fuck had crawled up his ass and taken residence there the last couple of weeks. He was trying to be friendly, offering to get Brian something for lunch but obviously the man had developed PMS. “I’m trying to be a good friend and make sure you eat, Brian.”

Brian’s head popped up and he met Justin’s eyes with a curious stare. “We’re friends now?” he asked in a genuinely surprised tone.

“Uh… other than like the first month I worked here and the last couple of weeks that you’ve been acting like an ass.”

“Look, I’m not interested in being ‘your friend’ if you’ve got some crazy rule about it. I wouldn’t want you to sacrifice your morals for me,” Brian snapped. “I guess.”

The last words Brian spoke brought Justin to clarity. He had been an asshole, especially because truth be told, Justin didn’t really have any other friends besides Daphne and Eric, and Brian had been a good one to him. He’d let his idiotic rules get in the way and had obviously hurt Brian. He was not only surprised that Brian cared, but that he cared too. He knew he’d have to play it off as though he didn’t realize how much Brian cared, he knew Brian.

“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, because you’re my boss. But since you’re my friend too, which for the record I am glad to say you are, so I’ll say it anyway. I can be the stupidest person on the planet, Brian. Sometimes I have no idea why you even decided to hire such a dumb twit like myself.”

Brian began laughing at Justin’s dramatic self-hate. “All right, Sunshine.” He stood up and checked his watch. “Hurry up, just cause you’re friends with the boss doesn’t mean you can be late coming back from break.”
 

*****

“What are you doing here?” Brian asked as Justin let himself into the loft.

They’d exchanged keys under the pretense that when they had late nights or stayed on the couch at each other’s places, they’d be able to lock up when they left.

Justin stopped in the doorway, confused. “Uh, yesterday you said that now that I have a key I could just come in.”

Brian nodded from where he was at the counter, making two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

“Are you expecting someone?” Justin asked, closing the loft door behind him.

“Gus is coming,” Brian answered.

“Well I can go,” Justin offered, though he would like to see Gus. It’d been months since he’d seen the little boy and he also wanted to see Brian with him.

“No, no. I’d rather you stay. I’m sure Melanie and Lindsay would rather you stay too.”

“They know that you’re perfectly capable of watching your son,” Justin told him. “If you want to be alone with your son…”

“I promised Gus I’d take him to the park today. You can tag a long and then I’ll at least have someone to talk to when he goes to play.”

Justin heard the pleading in Brian’s voice and agreed. “All right. But you’ll have to make me one of those sandwiches too.”

Brian reached for the bread bag and pulled two more slices out. “Grape or Strawberry?” he asked.

“Strawberry, I’d choose strawberry over any flavor.”

The buzzer for the loft rang. “Would you get that?” Brian asked Justin.

“Sure,” Justin said, excited to see Brian’s interaction with Gus. No, he would not dwell on why exactly that was.
 

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