THE ENDS REQUIRE THE MEANS
 

Chapter 12 – Evolution

Three months passed as mid-June arrived, warm and sunny. Gus graduated from the second grade and Brian and Justin were preparing to take Gus for his third visit with Lindsay. This trip was also wrapped around a special exhibit at a prestigious West Village Gallery that Justin had been invited to show in, as the featured artist. Maggie had brought his current portfolio entitled, “Evolution” to the gallery and they created an entire show around his work.

Other local artists, including a couple of pieces by a new entrant on the scene, Lindsay Peterson, would be added to the show.

“So, Sunshine, does this mean I’m finally going to see the paintings that you’ve been concealing from me all these months.”

The two were alone in their apartment, having dropped Gus off at Lindsay’s place an hour earlier.

“Yes, Brian, you’ll finally see the mystery series.”

“You know I can’t help wondering what I’m in store for. Should I be worried?”

“Not in the least,” Justin smirked.

“I’m glad the show’s tonight. My curiosity is definitely peaked at this point.”

“Well, you’re very good at showing restraint and I truly appreciate it.” Justin winked at Brian and turned towards their bedroom. “You know I think I’d like to take a nap before the show but I’m way too awake. Can you think of something that can tire me out?”

“Hmmm, that’s a tough one,” Brian smirked. “How about some warm milk?”

“Nah, I don’t think that’ll do it. But I’m sure if you follow me, we’ll think of something.”

“I always knew you were a clever devil.”

“I learned from the master.”

“Indeed you did.”

The two made their way to the bedroom. The only light in the room was the filtered light coming through the accordion blinds.

Brian approached Justin and gently drew him in for a kiss. When Justin started to unbutton Brian’s shirt, Brian moved his hands away. “This is for you.”

Brian continued to place soft kisses all around Justin’s face, neck and shoulders as he slowly undressed him. Then after placing a final kiss squarely on Justin’s lips, proceeded to undress himself.

Guiding Justin to the bed, the two lay down together. Although Brian intended to supply all the passion as a gift to Justin, the two began to let their natural instincts and deep love for one another take hold. They each took turns touching, kissing and caressing every part of each other’s bodies from lips to toes. No spot was left unkissed, including their cocks and balls.

Justin began to moan slowly as Brian began to work his way up his body, sucking on his nipples and making his way back to Justin’s beautiful full lips. The meeting of their tongues in a deep kiss escalated the intensity of the love they were both sharing.

Propping himself on one arm, while increasing the passion and pressure of each and every kiss, Brian began to stroke both their cocks together. It was hard to tell who was moaning more as the sounds of sex were merged in each kiss.

Finally when Brian pulled slightly away, Justin looked at him. His eyes were filled with lust, need and something greater, much more powerful…love. Lubing his fingers with their pre-cum, Brian rubbed the outside of Justin’s hole. As he pressed one finger inside, slowly at first, Justin’s moans became louder and when a second finger entered his channel, he arched his back asking for more.

Brian removed his fingers and then seeing Justin’s need, and feeling his own desires increasing, smeared the remaining drops of pre-cum up and down his hard shaft. He gently pressed into Justin’s hole and when Justin moaned his pleasure and nodded, Brian pushed in slowly the remainder of the way.

As Brian started to thrust, he began rubbing the edge of his cock over Justin’s prostate. Justin grabbed Brian’s hair and pulled him down for a mind-blowing kiss. The intensity of Brian’s thrusts increased until Brian felt Justin’s entire body shudder as he tightened around Brian’s cock. It was unclear who moaned louder through their orgasms but both could be heard calling out the other’s name.

Exhausted and sated, Brian lay on top of Justin, resting his head to the side, in the crook of Justin’s neck until his cock, fully softened. Then he moved slightly to the side and the two silently held each other tight as they recovered from the intense orgasms they had just experienced.

Brian, atypically, was the first to break the silence. He stroked Justin’s hair as they looked at one another, “You really are so beautiful. And to think, with all you’ve got going for you and all the baggage I come along with, I’m still the one who gets you all to himself.”

“No one is more beautiful than you, inside and outside. I’m just smart enough to see it.”

“I love you, Sunshine.”

Justin kissed Brian tenderly, “I love you so much, Brian, baggage and all.”

The two held each other close. Just before he fell asleep, Brian set the alarm clock so they wouldn’t oversleep and miss the gallery opening.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 

While Lindsay was a bundle of nerves, Justin was enjoying the pre-show atmosphere. Sam and Brian supplied Lindsay with just enough wine to take the edge off and Justin watched from the sidelines with amusement. After all the shows that Lindsay had single-handedly arranged, including Sam Auerbach’s, for galleries in both Pittsburgh and Toronto, she was falling apart with the thought of people seeing her work for the first time.

Justin remembered feeling nervous, but he had a feeling that Lindsay knew this was probably her last shot at notoriety. Maybe she hadn’t totally screwed him over when she orchestrated his move to New York City all those years ago.

Gus was having a great time getting to preview all the paintings in the gallery, and telling all the employees who were checking the exhibit one last time, which ones he thought weren’t hanging perfectly straight. If he wasn’t the son of two of the artists showing they would have been more than happy to tell him to go sit in a corner…at the very least.

“Hey, Sonny Boy, what are you looking at?”

“Dad said I can be the first to see his new series of pictures. Daddy, look, it’s us!”

Brian turned to the elusive series that he’d been waiting to see for three months. He thought he should wait for Justin, but when he caught his eye Justin smiled and nodded his approval. Brian gazed at the paintings and finally understood the title of the series, ‘Evolution’.

The first was a much more mature painting of the sketch Justin had done of Lindsay nursing Gus all those years ago. It progressed to paintings of Brian holding a crying Gus at Justin’s first Pride Parade and continued on and on. The last two canvases stopped Brian dead in his tracks. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from them.

The second to last was one of Justin’s most realistic renditions on canvas. It was entitled ‘Dada and Sonny Boy’ and depicted an oil on canvas version of the photograph Michael took at the hospital the night that Gus was born. The final painting was the backs of three people heading away from the viewer. Brian immediately recognized the images as Justin, Gus and himself, with Gus in the middle, hands held by both adults. It was less realistic, but no less obvious to him. The title of the final painting was ‘Daddies and Sonny Boy’.

Justin came up behind Brian and put his arms around Brian’s waist. “Happy Fathers’ Day, Dada.”

“It’s just another commercial holiday to get people to buy cards and gifts that they don’t need.”

Brian was trying to be bold despite the impact of the art. He was glad that Justin had given him a slightly new focus for fear that he couldn’t contain his emotions. While it was okay to share with Justin…most of the time…he didn’t want to demonstrate his newly evolved emotional side in a room filled with virtual strangers.

“Well, I figure,” Justin continued, “that you becoming such an amazing father is definitely an accomplishment worth celebrating.”

“You know, Sunshine, this may be one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. But aren’t these for sale?”

“No, if you’ll note in the gallery program these are exhibition pieces; however, patrons are invited to commission my work if they like what they see. Maggie always knows how to work a dollar into everything.” Justin smiled over his wine glass.

“Well, I guess you really are quite the clever devil.” Brian leaned in and kissed Justin.

“I guess I am.”

“I can’t wait for the gallery to release my Fathers’ Day gifts so I can hang them in a place of honor.”

“And where would that be, Britin?”

“No one will see them there…I was thinking that I have a very long and empty wall at Kinnetik that they’d be perfect for.”

Justin gave Brian a firm hug, knowing that sharing these intimate paintings at Kinnetik demonstrated just how much family now meant to Brian. They had worked long and hard to reach this moment and it was everything Justin hoped it would be.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 

Later, when the hour arrived for the gallery to close its doors for the night, Brian and Justin took a cab back to their apartment. Lindsay would have Gus for one more night as she was looking forward to spending some quality time with her son. The following day was actually Fathers’ Day and Brian and Justin would pick up Gus in the early afternoon and have some quality ‘Dad time’ with him before heading back to the gallery for one more evening of special guest viewing.

“You know, I thought Lindsay would have a heart attack when one of her paintings sold.”

“Are you surprised, Brian?”

“Not really, I always knew she was talented, her work just didn’t appeal to me.”

“I don’t think she was motivated to explore her art when she was with Melanie. That was one of the biggest downfalls of their relationship.”

“Oh really, Dr. Phil?” Brian snarked.

“Listen to me. When I first met Melanie and Lindsay it seemed that each one of them worked too hard to please the other and do what they thought the other wanted. Then they seemed to spend all their time in an atmosphere filled with tension and arguments. Neither of those environments is conducive to artistic exploration.”

“I see your point. It’s too bad. I guess Lindsay wanted a family to make up for the stilted WASPy world she grew up in.”

“Maybe, but we all have free choice. I’m just glad that we respect each other.”

“Me, too, Sunshine. Oh, and Justin, I didn’t forget it was Fathers’ Day.”

Justin looked at Brian curiously.

“You know I don’t believe in recognizing commercial bullshit holidays.”

“Yes…”

“Well this holiday has some redeeming qualities.”

“Such as…”

“Such as knowing when someone has excelled at something that they should be recognized for. Justin, you really are an amazing father to Gus. You stood by me as we battled for Gus’ best interests against that fucking asshole, Brandon, and you give Gus more time and love than any ten other men possibly could. Here.” Brian handed Justin a fairly flat wrapped package, slightly larger than the size of a standard piece of computer paper.

Justin looked at Brian and couldn’t find his voice. He took the package and tore the wrapping away. Inside was a document, framed in a simple diploma-style frame. Justin looked closely and an unchecked tear streamed down his cheek.

Brian wiped it away with his thumb. “It’s a copy, of course. The original is filed with the state.”

“It’s the signed page of the guardianship agreement.”

“Yes, this is so no one will ever deny that you’re Gus’ father…ever. Happy Fathers’ Day, Justin.”

“Oh fuck, thank you so much.”

The two clung to each other and kissed more and more passionately. They retired to the futon on their living room floor and shared the depth of their love that couldn’t be expressed in words.

After they made love…repeatedly…the two lay on the futon relaxing.

“You know, Brian, we may actually owe Brandon after all the shit he put us through.”

Brian looked at Justin with an expression akin to shock. “How the fuck do you figure that?”

Justin laughed, “Calm down, if we hadn’t worked so hard to get our rights to Gus, we wouldn’t have realized just how valuable they were.”

“Are you kidding, Sunshine?”

Justin smirked, “Well, maybe a little.”

Brian poked Justin in the ribs and they both laughed, knowing that the anxiety, stress and fear they’d had over three months earlier had only been a force that further solidified their bond to each other and their family.

“I wonder what Brandon is doing now,” Justin thought out loud.

“Probably saying, ‘Would you like fries with that,’…at least I hope so,” Brian snarked.

Justin huffed a little laugh, “Hey, I used to say that.” He paused before continuing, “Well we know he’ll never be practicing law again.”

“That’s for fucking sure, thanks to Mel’s friend.”

“Oh, and guess what, Brian.”

“Just fucking tell me…you sound like Emmett.”

“Ha, ha. Mel is dating that friend who’s one of the leaders of the Pennsylvania Bar.”

“A match made in heaven,” Brian snarked.

“You…”

Brian kissed Justin and decided to distract him from any further discussion with a little aerobic exercise…in their bed.

[The End…for now]
 

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