The Age of Aquarius
 

Justin is spending a month in Pittsburgh when the fish appear. Brian comes home from a late meeting to find a tank filled with five fish of varying sizes and colors in the middle of his dining room table. His immediate litany of complaints about assumptions and aesthetics are cut off by a wave of Justin’s hand as he mutters something about color and light and movement.

Brian notices then that Justin is sketching, and it’s enough to buy his silence, at least for the moment. Justin finally booked a show at a respectable gallery, but a crushing lack of inspiration came on the heels of signing the contract. When he showed up unexpectedly at Kinnetik one afternoon, he confessed that he’d thrown out every painting he’d started in the last two weeks, and he planned an extended visit in the hopes a change of scenery will help.

So far, the only thing it’s helping is their sex life. While Brian’s cock still inspires genius level creativity, it’s all of a physical nature. If it takes fish to get Justin working again, Brian can live with them. When it becomes obvious Justin’s attention is divided between the fish and whatever he is drawing, Brian orders a pizza and looks for a more unobtrusive place to put the tank.

Despite what Michael and Gus think, the fish are not pets. They don’t have names, and Brian doesn’t even know what species they are although their bright colors lead him to suspect they are tropical fish. Gus’s hours of research during his next visit confirm this suspicion, and also reassure Brian that none of the fish are likely to eat each other or mate.

Once Justin goes back to New York, he doesn’t ask about the fish, but Brian imagines he expects them to be cared for so he pays the cleaning lady an extra fifty dollars a week to deal with them. The next time Justin visits, Brian catches the subtle glance he gives the tank and his slightly relieved smile when he sees it’s not empty.

The paintings that come from this purchase are stunning, vibrant and truly suggestive of movement, subtle and sensual in some pieces, frenzied in others. Over Justin’s objections, Brian buys his favorite for Kinnetik’s lobby, and when he returns to Pittsburgh he increases the cleaning lady’s fish allotment to seventy-five dollars a week provide she ensure the number and type of fish remain constant. If on some late nights, Brian pours himself a drink and spends the evening staring at the tank, that’s between him and the fish.
 

Return to Jule