The End Justifies the Means

Chapter 18 - Epilogue

It was exactly one year to the day that Brian and Justin got married. Justin awoke earlier than he had planned and made his way into the bathroom to relieve his bladder. He quickly washed his hands and then glanced into the mirror and smiled.

The past year had brought many changes for not only him, but several members of their family. Justin glanced back at the bed where Brian lay peacefully sleeping and then just sat on the closed toilet seat. He laughed at himself as he thought about painting The Thinker on the toilet but realized it had probably been done before.

He snorted quietly as he thought of Emmett truly becoming Pittsburgh’s premiere party planner. Although he still hadn’t hooked up with his Prince Charming the embers were reigniting with the arrival of a letter he’d received on hotel stationary just two months earlier. It said, I’ll be home at the end of the season to celebrate my 21st birthday. Can I count on you?. There was no signature but Emmett’s been smiling and whistling ever since. In the meantime Debbie keeps complaining that Emmett is always locked in his room talking on the phone.

Ted and Blake are still dating but they’re taking it very slow. Justin recently asked Ted, “Why aren’t you and Blake settling down together yet?”

His response was simple, “For the first time in my life I want to love someone and know that I’m equally loved in return, for all the right reasons. Blake and I have a very rocky history at best, and we want this to last.” Then he’d added, “Justin, you of people should know that patience is the key to making a relationship work. When we’re both 100% sure this is it, we’ll take the plunge.”

Justin had smiled and nodded realizing for the first time just how much Ted and Brian had in common.

Debbie and Carl continue to be an interesting pair. It seemed that Michael decided that Deb’s lack of desire to get married because he couldn’t legally was ridiculous. He appealed to her, whined and coerced her, but she wouldn’t budge. Finally, Michael took out the big guns and said, “Knowing how fragile life is, as we both do, is this how you want to spend the rest of your life…NOT married to the one man you love?”

Michael’s message must have come in loud and clear. With Jennifer by her side and Michael by Carl’s the four traipsed down to the County Court house the very next week and Debbie and Carl finally tied the knot. It was long overdue, and despite his best efforts to control Debbie’s happy cooking frenzy, Carl gained the typical hetero-newlywed’s 10 pounds. While he complained about it, he never stopped forking in Debbie’s delicacies.

The thought of Hunter made Justin almost laugh out loud. That shitty little kid who used to hit on Brian was dating one of his female classmates at Allegheny Community College. Hunter worked at the comic store during the day and went to class three nights a week. He and his girlfriend were filling out applications for Carnegie Mellon as psychology majors. They were glued at the hip, and since they studied together the two were getting straight A’s in all their classes. Justin was really happy for him and was actually amused watching Hunter develop into a happy, hetero man.

Jennifer continued dating Tucker and shared with Justin that she might think about living with him at some point, but right now she loved the feeling of having her own home and her independence. Having gone straight from her parents’ home to Craig Taylor’s home left her no time to enjoy being an independent woman. With Molly spending more and more of her teen years dating, going to parties and socializing with her friends, Jennifer didn’t want to give up all that she had missed out on. It made Justin realize how important those times apart from Brian were during their tumultuous first five years.

Lindsay and Melanie both purchased condos in the same neighborhood, in the Pittsburgh suburbs. Now that Jenny Rebecca was a toddler and knew all three of her parents (well four if you include Ben) she happily went to any of their homes on any occasion. She loved spending time with Michael and Ben, including frequent overnight stays.

Lindsay and Melanie worked fairly peacefully to come up with a schedule that enabled their children to grow up together. They shared custody and the children spent three nights with one parent and then three nights with the other. The important thing was that they remained united siblings. The seventh night was negotiable. For Jenny it was always Michael’s home and for Gus it was either with Brian and Justin or possibly an overnight with one of his friends. As the children got older Lindsay and Melanie knew that they had to be open-minded about including JR and Gus in decisions about where they chose to live.

While Justin felt a bit sad that the lesbians couldn’t make their marriage work, he remembered that they were always fighting and never went a year without a major issue that nearly broke them up. That was no way to live, always wondering which partner would fuck up their life next. While many things were escalated out of proportion, the key was that the two of them couldn’t compromise, and that was their biggest downfall. They would sooner point fingers at each other rather than listen and hear.

It seemed that as friends and co-parents they were able to be civil, but as partners they were clearly not compatible. As time went on either Mel or Linds would bring a date to a family event. That was inevitable; but for the time being they had kept their private lives private for the benefit of the children and the whole family.

Then there was Michael and Ben. Sometimes they made Justin gag because they really did behave like Stepford fags, but most of the time it was just nice to see them happy together, especially since just a year ago Ben nearly died. While it was never spoken of, everyone knew that Ben had been at death’s door, and this shaped Michael and Ben’s attitude as they moved forward.

All The Rage was received well by the community after all the publicity and fanfare surrounding its Grand Opening. The store was doing well and making money and Rage was at the printers, as it was being readied for release of its 12th issue, with online pre-orders reaching heights that were beyond expectations.

During Ben’s Spring Break the previous March, Ben, Michael, Hunter and Hunter’s girlfriend went to Disney World. While Brian made plenty of jokes about their plans, it was obvious he was happy for them and when the four came back they seemed relaxed and re-energized, toting personalized mouse-ears for everyone.

Ben recently resumed his full class schedule (with his doctor’s seal of approval) and he was fortunate to never lose any of his health insurance benefits.

Michael and Ben were clearly trying to live their lives to the fullest and both, well the whole family, planned to have them around as an annoyingly perfect couple for many years to come.

The insurance from Michael’s store took care of the rent and refurbishing of the new store and the money he made from selling the collectables that Brian willingly contributed, enabled him to begin to replenish his own collection of special edition comics. With Ted acting as his advisor, Michael purchased a much more appropriate insurance policy for All The Rage and its contents.

Michael did put a fire-safe vault in the back of the store to keep the most valuable pieces in his collection, as well as one sentimental piece, the first edition of Rage that Justin presented to him. A picture of the presentation, at the Grand Opening, hung in the main store area behind the counter, but the actual comic lived safely in the vault. Some lessons are learned the hard way, but learned they were.

Thinking of learning things the hard way, Justin thought about how far he and Brian had come. He looked at his ring and thought about the wonderful weeks they spent visiting the finest art museums and shopping areas in Italy and France. It was wonderful and the two were able to develop a rhythm of life together, as they were without the rest of the family during those four weeks.

Upon their return, Justin continued working on his new series and Maggie took slides of his work to several big name galleries. Three were bidding on Justin’s innovative, modern work and the end result was a show that started in Los Angeles, traveled to Chicago and ended in New York. It placed a lot of pressure on Justin as he felt the need to add extra pieces, in case a purchaser wouldn’t allow their painting to continue on to its next destination before the showings were completed. Fortunately, Justin was incredibly inspired by day and re-inspired by night.

Kinnetik continued to add more and more clients to their list and Brian made some good national and regional contacts on his stays in New York City with Justin. From time to time a client didn’t like a presentation and found it too risqué, but Justin was always able to convince Brian, in his own special way, that they weren’t worthy of Kinnetik’s genius. Brian knew it was definitely a good thing having Justin around full-time.

Brian and Justin had their ups and downs. There was the night that Brian wanted to feature a new contest at Babylon and Justin felt he really needed to complete some work so he went off to Britin without consulting Brian. Brian was furious at Justin for not making himself available and called Ted to join him at Babylon. His initial intention was to give Justin the big Fuck You, until Ted whispered in his ear, “You know Brian, I recently discovered that no matter who I’d ever been with, even during that incredible time after my surgery, Blake is always able to satisfy me better than anyone. And the strangest thing is that when we’re angry at each other, for some reason, the sex is even hotter.”

Brian looked at Ted, finished his double-shot of Beam, and smiled. “Thanks Theodore, I knew there was a reason I called you.”

“I knew, too, boss.” Ted smiled back and watched Brian leave. Ted followed suit less than five minutes later.

The make-up sex had been incredible and Brian and Justin discovered that arguing must be one of those things that all couples do, but the key is to fight it out together until an acceptable compromise is reached. While cooling off for a short while is okay, separating was not an option.

Justin heard Brian stirring from the bedroom. It was lovely getting to spend so much time at Britin, but when the winter really started to rear its ugly head, they’d be spending more time at the loft for convenience.

Although today was their first anniversary, Justin had no illusions about Brian’s attitude towards celebrations. It just meant they were together a year and there would be many, many more after that.

Brian plodded into the bathroom, half-asleep and used the toilet. After he washed his hands and splashed his face with water, he turned to Justin and said, “By the way, Sunshine, there was a delivery for you yesterday. I must have forgotten to tell you about it. It’s in the bottom of my closet.”

Justin looked at the smile on Brian’s face and replied, “You know that’s a strange coincidence, because I signed for a delivery for you yesterday, too. It’s hanging in my closet.”

“Happy Anniversary, Sunshine.”

“I love you, Brian. Happy Anniversary.”

Brian left the bathroom to go retrieve the new set of professional artist’s brushes that Lindsay told him were the best in the world.

Just before Justin left the bathroom to give Brian a Prada suit, tie and shoes, ordered from Brian’s favorite shop in Italy, he glanced at the mirror one more time and smiled.

No more red eyes, Justin’s eyes were bright blue on a white sea. And the inspiration for a new painting was born.

[The End…for now]
 

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