Almost But Not Quite

Chapter 1

Fall 2000

Justin Taylor, seventeen year old virgin, horny and looking to get laid, set his foot on Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the very first time. The night was damp and cool. It had rained earlier and little puddles of water lay in the street and along the sidewalk.

Justin pulled his jean jacket tighter around himself. He was shivering, but he knew it wasn't from the cold. It was from anticipation, from what he was planning to do, from what he hoped was going to happen.

He had been dropped off near Liberty by his friend Daphne Chanders. She had to rush back home before they found out that she was missing, and that she had taken the family car without permission. Daphne had wished Justin good luck before she took off. Justin prayed that her good wishes would come true.

He walked along the sidewalk studying the people who passed by. He had never seen anything like it. People who looked like women, but were over six feet tall. People in skimpy costumes with their asses hanging out. Same sex couples who laughed and kissed and seemed to see nothing strange about what was going on around them. For Justin it was all new and … wonderful.

He stopped on the sidewalk looking around. He was trying to decide what would be the best way to proceed. Some of the people walking by him he found rather frightening. They were too bizarre or too preoccupied or too fierce looking for him to talk to. Some wore leathers that made them look sinister. Some wore next to nothing, and that was frightening in its own way.

Justin wondered if he had made a big mistake in coming to Liberty Avenue. He pulled the cigarette from behind his ear. He thought it would make him look older than his seventeen years if he was smoking. He lit the cigarette and took a puff making sure not to cough. That would be a dead giveaway that he really didn't know what the fuck he was doing.

He looked across the street and saw a man leaning against the street sign. He was old…er, but he was wearing normal clothes, a T-shirt and jeans. He looked … safe, compared to a lot of the people he had seen already. Taking a longer drag on his cigarette and steeling himself for what he was going to do, Justin stepped off the sidewalk into a shallow puddle of water. He heard the squish as his running shoe pushed the water aside. He started across the street towards his target.

About halfway across the street a man bumped his shoulder turning him part way around. Justin looked at the guy who totally ignored him, seemingly oblivious to having run into him. It made Justin wonder if he was invisible or maybe too unattractive to gay men to rate a simple "sorry". He felt his resolve waver, and he almost turned around and went back. However, he knew he wanted something from Liberty Avenue this night. He had no intention of leaving without it.

Justin stepped up to the man leaning against the sign post. "Excuse me," he began. "Uh, could you tell me … like … where's a good place to go?" Justin held his breath waiting for an answer.

The man looked him up and down. Justin felt his cheeks grow red. Finally the man said, "Depends what you're looking for. You want twinkies, go to Boy Toy. You want leather, go to the Meathook. You want snotty, conceited assholes who think they're better than everyone else, try Pistol." The dark haired man gave a smile as he sized up this young interloper on Liberty Avenue. Maybe it was worth a try. "It's kind of late to be out though, isn't it?" He smiled with his version of ingratiating. "Especially on a school night," he added. "Why don't you come home with me?" He placed his arm on Justin's shoulder and cupped his neck, rubbing suggestively with his thumb.

"No thanks," Justin said quickly and stepped back so that the man's hand would no longer be in contact with his skin. This was definitely not what he was looking for.

The man smirked knowingly. "Go on home to your mommy," he said sarcastically. "Go on!"

Justin flinched at the words. This wasn't at all the way it was supposed to be. He had merely wanted some information from the man, not to be propositioned and touched. He quickly turned away and started back across the street … to safety. He had made a mistake. He should not have gone up to that man. He should not have come to Liberty Avenue. His dream of what would happen this night on Liberty Avenue was quickly swirling into the proverbial toilet.

Everyone seemed to know he was a kid, inexperienced, green, not worth the time or effort … except for that guy he had talked to. He walked across the street, taking a puff of his cigarette which he remembered was still in his hand. He hoped it would calm his nerves.

Dejectedly Justin walked along the street, sucking on his cigarette from time to time. He felt defeated. His big plans to begin his life as a gay man had all been shot to hell. He had wanted to get laid, but not by just anybody, certainly not by that guy. He shuddered involuntarily at the thought of the man's touch. He took a last puff on the cigarette. He felt the familiar burn in his lungs and savored the heat. He was suddenly very cold. The cigarette suddenly tasted like shit and he threw the butt into a puddle where it fizzled and died, just like his dreams.

Justin walked a little further wondering what he should do now. He couldn't go home. He wasn't sure he could go back to Daphne's, but he decided that maybe that was what he was going to have to do. He walked over a vent that was spewing steam and felt the damp warmth envelop him. That was when he realized he was shivering.

With a sigh he leaned against a lamppost that was close by. His head fell to one side as he pondered what to do next. All his former plans were useless.

 

*****
 

Brian Kinney, the stud of Liberty Avenue came down the steps of Babylon carrying his leather jacket. He was pissed. The fucking asshole that he had taken to the back room had been a major disappointment. Calling him mediocre would be way too generous. And Brian wasn't feeling generous. He was still horny, and generally pissed off with everything.

He walked up behind his friend Michael Novotny and threw his arm over Michael's shoulder, letting it rest there.

"That was quick," Michael observed. He had ventured into the back room to find Brian because Ted and Emmett, their other friends, were ready to leave Babylon. He had found Brian with his dick out and some guy ready to suck him off. That had barely been five minutes ago, quick even by Brian's standards.

"Well, when you’ve had as much practice as he has…" Ted said in his rather lame version of snarkiness.

"I got bored," Brian stated as he started towards his Jeep, his arm still around Michael. He was tweaked and horny and generally pissed off. He could always depend on Michael to be there for him. He saw Michael look longingly up at him.

"I know! Getting your dick sucked can be so tedious," Emmett offered.

"He looked hot," Michael supplied.

"Anybody'd look hot to you," Brian said uncharitably as he threw his jacket into the back of his Jeep. Sometimes he wondered why he spent so much time with Ted and Emmett and Michael. They liked nothing better than to take pot shots at him, but then he did the same to them, only much worse. That was the nature of their relationship.

He glanced up the street before he climbed into the vehicle. That was when he saw him. Some guy, a kid really, caught his attention. He walked out of the mist from a vent, the lights of Liberty turning the mist yellow ... or golden. Brian snorted to himself. It was merely steam, but his drug enhanced vision was playing tricks on him. Out of that mist walked this man/boy/kid/twink, his next trick. Brian wasn't sure what the guy was, but he knew immediately that he was fresh meat, someone he had never seen before. And he wanted him.

Without a second's hesitation Brian started across the street. The others stared at this abrupt change of events, not knowing what Brian was up to or where he was going.

Justin felt eyes boring into him and he straightened his head and looked across the street. The most beautiful man he had ever seen was staring at him. And then the man began walking towards him. Justin felt his heart race. He knew he had stopped breathing but he couldn't make himself do anything. All he was capable of was staring into those mesmerizing eyes and watching them come closer and closer. This could be what he had come to Liberty Avenue to find.

Brian was almost to the sidewalk, his eyes locked on the potential trick. He walked right up to the kid whose back was pressed firmly against the lamppost. He deliberately invaded the guy's space getting as close to him as he dared, without actually touching him. He enjoyed the sexual power he had over men of any age. This one would be no different.

Justin sucked in a breath as the handsome man walked right towards him. He kept coming, their eyes locked on each other, until he was mere inches away from Justin. Justin could feel the man's breath on his cheek as they stared into each other's eyes. It was hot and smelled like cigarettes … and something else. It was a heady combination whatever it was.

Brian gave himself an inward shake as he looked into the bluest eyes he had ever seen. He knew he needed to say something. He needed to establish that he was the one in control, that he would lead and this boy would follow. Of that he had no doubt.

"How's it going?" Brian said, before he realized he sounded a lot like Ted. 'Fuck!' he chastised himself, quickly asking, "You had a busy night?" to cover that inadvertent Ted moment.

Justin tried to get some saliva to lubricate his mouth and he prayed his vocal chords would vibrate if he tried to answer. He wasn't at all sure that he could make his voice work. This beautiful man was so close to him. He could reach right out and touch him, if only he dared.

"Just, ah … checking out the bars," Justin managed to get out. He licked his lips, knowing that his mouth had gone bone dry. He hoped he didn't sound too young or naïve as he managed to get his voice box to actually produce sound. "You know, Boy Toy, Meathook." He rhymed off the bars that the guy had just mentioned to him.

"Meathook, really?" Brian asked with a raised eyebrow and a little chuckle. "So you're into leather?" he asked deliberately baiting the kid.

"Sure," Justin replied realizing how lame that sounded even to his own ears.

Brian smirked knowing that the kid had no idea what the leather scene was like. That didn't stop Brian from wanting him though. The soft full lips that were only inches away from his own were a very tempting sight. Brian wanted nothing more than to pull the kid against him and kiss those lips until the boy begged for more. And then Brian would oblige him in that too.

"Where ya headed?" Brian decided to ask, wanting to be sure that the kid was ripe and ready for the picking. He certainly gave that impression.

"No place special," Justin replied. The only special place he wanted to be was with this man, in his arms, in his bed, wherever the guy wanted to take him. He was ready to give himself to the handsome stranger. This was the man he had come to Liberty Avenue to find. He knew it.

"I can change that," Brian replied.

And they both knew that he most definitely could. He would change everything in Justin's young life, and that was exactly what Justin wanted him to do.

"Brian! Brian!" Michael was calling to him.

Brian felt the spell he had been under crack. He turned his head and looked away from the boy. "What?" he demanded annoyed.

"It's Mel … on the phone. Lindsay's having the baby."

"What?" Brian demanded. Suddenly he was interested. "The baby?"

"Yeah," Michael said. "They're at the hospital. They've been trying to reach you."

"My cell was off," Brian said looking from Michael to the young man waiting expectantly for him on the sidewalk.

"They tried my cell as a last resort," Michael explained. "Come on; we need to get to the hospital."

Brian looked one more time at the young man. He shrugged and gave a wry little smile. Then he turned completely around and ran back to the Jeep. He jumped in with Michael and they screeched away careening down the street.

Justin screamed inwardly, 'Don't go! You're the one! I need you!' But the handsome man, apparently named Brian, could not hear his silent pleas. He reached the Jeep and climbed in with the little man who had shouted to him.

Justin watched the Jeep disappear around the corner. Then he let himself breathe and tried not to scream in frustration.

 

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