As Justin followed Louis into his spacious loft, he felt like the years had rolled back and he was seventeen again, following the beautiful stranger into his incredibly glamorous lair.  When Louis went straight to his refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, Justin had to stifle a giggle as he imagined Louis pouring it over his elegant self.  Smiling broadly, he shook his head when Louis held a bottle up inquiringly.

“Do you want something to eat or....”

This was always the awkward point, Justin reflected.  Both of you knew you were there for one thing, but neither wanted to look like all he wanted was sex. However, Justin wasn’t that seventeen year old any longer and he knew how to cut the awkwardness short. While Louis was busy, looking into his refrigerator and suggesting different beverages Justin might want, Justin was also busy. Taking off his clothes.

Justin walked over to the kitchen area, and stood a few feet from Louis’ back.  When Louis turned around, he was so startled, he dropped the Gatorade bottle he was holding. Good thing it was plastic, Justin thought, biting back a grin. A grin just didn’t go with the mood he was aiming for - which was hot, and sexy.

“I think maybe I’m not so thirsty after all,”  Louis murmured as he moved forward and wrapped his arms around Justin, one hand threading through his silky blond hair, the other pressing against the small of his back. Justin awarded mental points to him for not grabbing his ass at the first opportunity.  Louis was a good kisser – really good – enough so that Justin stopped analyzing his moves and simply  relaxed into the embrace. His hips were pressed against Louis’ hard muscled legs and he could feel the other man’s erection against his stomach.

“I think you’re overdressed.” Justin slid his hand between their bodies so that he could unfasten Louis’ belt.  As their passion rose, they feverishly worked on getting the rest of his clothes off.  They didn’t even make it to the bedroom.  Louis fell back onto the sofa, pulling Justin on top of him, still kissing him deeply, still running his hands up and down his back and finally venturing down to the rounded curve of his ass, eventually a cheek with each of his large hands.

“Condom?” Justin asked, lifting his head away from those talented lips briefly in order to scan the room for the essentials.  No bowl full of prophylactics sitting out in this elegant loft, he noted, thinking that there was a lot to be said for accessibility, even if it didn’t fit into the Home and Garden look of the perfect bachelor pad in the City. Fortunately for their momentum, Louis had long arms, and he reached back to fumble in a side table drawer, pulling out a condom and lube. Warm brown eyes met Justin’s blue gaze. 

“Which position do you prefer?” 

That was a bit of a shock – Justin had assumed that someone who came on as strong as Louis would be an avowed top.  Rather than get into a deep discussion about positions, however, given that he was hornier than hell, he simply smiled and said, “I’m versatile,” as he took the condom from Louis’ hand and ripped the package open with his teeth. He then sat up, his knees straddling his partner’s thighs, and put the condom on the long, thick cock that was rising up to meet him. Picking up on Justin’s oblique answer, Louis applied some of the lube to his fingers and used it to ready Justin for his entry. Justin took control of the pace for lowering himself onto that impressive cock, pressing down as soon as he was nominally prepared, enjoying the burn that soon morphed into intense pleasure as he moved atop the other man.

Louis clutched at Justin’s hips, slowing the pace and deepening his thrusts.  They were silent, the only sound their harsh breathing as they moved closer to completion, the slap of flesh on flesh.  Justin’s hands were splayed across Louis’ chest, his head thrown back so that the light from the kitchen – the only one on – gleamed on his neck and face, giving him an ethereal look.

Afterward, they moved to the bedroom, and... started all over again.  Louis was exhausted by the time they finally agreed it was time to rest. Still, he was awake long after Justin had closed his eyes and fallen into a deep sleep.  He was haunted by a nagging worry that everything wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. He stroked the silky blond hair of his bed companion while he tried to figure out what was wrong. Surely he wasn’t troubled by Justin’s sensuality – he loved it. He’d just thought that for this first time back to his place, things had perhaps moved both faster, and yet slower, than he’d expected.  He’d thought that they would share a bottle of wine, talk, get to know each other. And then fuck like there would be no tomorrow. 

That was it, he realized just as sleep claimed him. They’d fucked like two men who didn’t expect there to be a tomorrow. And a day after that.  He’d fix that problem in the morning, he decided, starting with cooking Justin a delicious meal to break his fast and replenish his energy – cooking being just another skill that Louis Vanderhaas had honed to an art form.  He fell asleep as he planned a wonderful gourmet brunch for his lover.

Too bad his lover was long gone by the time Louis woke up the next morning. 

 

*****

 

“You mean you just walked out without saying goodbye or thanks for the sex, or anything?”

Cyprian sat cross-legged on the floor of her small studio apartment. He was busy whipping eggs for the two of them. He’d come over early, after leaving Louis’ fancy Manhattan loft, and after raiding the open air market in the Village for fresh ingredients for one of his killer omelets.  He looked over his shoulder at her, his expression amused.

“What’s wrong with that?  Should I have left a note or something? Tell me, Miss Manners, what is the proper etiquette for the morning after a good fuck?  I put the cap back on the toothpaste after using one of the new toothbrushes Vanderhaas keeps in his bathroom for just such occasions. Come to think of it, that was very nice of him and I should have left a thank you note.  All the very best homosexuals keep spare toothbrushes around, after all, but he also had different brands of toothpaste on hand. He even had several brands of shampoo and conditioner as well. Very thoughtful of him.” Justin smirked at Cyp’s flabbergasted reaction.

“You are cold, Jus, too cold!  I would think, at a minimum, you’d kiss him goodbye or something. You told me you had a great time and....”

He interrupted her.  “Correction. I told you we had great sex.”

She laughed.  “Are you going to tell me that there’s a difference? Great sex doesn’t equal a great time?”

He grinned as he waved the whisk at her. “Well, sure. You and I have great times together. We’re friends. With a trick, you either have great sex, or you have less than great sex, but it isn’t like it affects anything afterward. In fact, now that I’ve had Vanderhaas and whatever...attraction...we had for each other has been burned out, I can focus on the man I love – Juan.”

Cyprian gave him a shrewd look. “Is that so? 

“Yes, that is so,” Justin told her, getting slightly annoyed. “What’s the big deal with you? You’re usually nagging me to get out and have fun, to stop moping over my fucked up love life, and yet when I do, you act like it’s a bad thing.”

“I want you to be happy, my friend. One night stands have never been known to make you happy – or did I miss a memo and it’s a new, harder Justin who’s burning the eggs?”

“Fuck!” Justin turned his attention back to the stove while Cyprian laughed.  She got up to walk over to where Justin stood by the stove. Together they stared at the brown mass in the pan.

“Maybe we should go out for breakfast,” she suggested.

“No. I got plenty of stuff, I can salvage something or at the very least, start over,” Justin insisted, dumping the burned omelet into the sink. Cyprian thought of reminding him that she didn’t have a garbage disposal, but taking another look at his harassed expression, she stayed quiet. She could clean that mess out later, she figured.

Eventually, they were sitting down to two perfectly prepared omelets. They were perhaps smaller than Justin’s usual creations, but Cyp knew better than to comment. Instead, she turned the conversation to the museum visit.

“So...how was the exhibit at the museum? Did you get to see everything you wanted to? I’m so jealous that you got to see the exhibit ahead of the rest of us – hobnobbing with the hoi polloi is like having an AmEx card, huh?”

When Justin looked at her blankly, she intoned solemnly, “Membership has its privileges.” She grinned at him. “You know, like the guy says in the commercial.”

Justin laughed. “Well, I’ve been a MOMA member since moving here, but never got invited to an affair like this one. It was really glamorous, Jenn. I saw some celebrities even.”

Cyprian squealed, as he expected, and was diverted by his descriptions of the New York City A List whom he’d seen. He didn’t describe Louis’ mother – he wasn’t quite sure what to say about her, charming as she seemed. She just didn’t seem like a mother, somehow, and he was a bit unsettled over her leaving with the Martinez twins. At first he thought maybe he was just annoyed that he lost his chance to spend more time with Juan, but upon further examination of his feelings, he realized with dismay that he was bothered by Miguel and her being so close as well. He’d known that Miguel was bi, but he wasn’t happy with it. He had absorbed Brian’s mistrust for bisexuals – which was ironic, given that Brian was involved with a man who was known to swing both ways. Getting to that point, he’d decided not to give it any more thought.

But still...someone’s mother? His errant mind kept returning to that point. It’d bothered him when his own mother became involved with a guy not much older than him. He still didn’t like it. But he knew that if he mentioned it to Cyprian, she’d just accuse him of being sexist. Or an “ageist”, which was another of her coined phrases. And that was totally wrong, because he’d been involved with two men who were significantly older than him. He just thought mothers should stick to people their own age. Last night’s episode with Louis’ mother and Justin’s former lover just reinforced that.

At least he knew that Juan wasn’t bi, he thought with a grin.  Juan was one man who loved his men, just another thing that they had in common. One night while drunk, the two of them had exchanged the tales of their forays into heterosexual sex, and Juan’s was pretty much like Justin’s. Tried it once, no thanks to seconds.

Cyprian took advantage of his mind wandering to turn the conversation back to where it had been.

“So...how will you act when you see Louis?”

Justin shook his head at her single-mindedness.

“I’ll treat him normally, duh. What do you think I’m going to do? Fall at his feet? No, I made it clear from the beginning, Louis Vanderhaas can take me, or leave me. But I’m not changing who I am for him or anyone anymore.”

She gave him a shrewd look. “That all sounds great, Jus, but what counts as ‘normally’ with Louis? This is a guy you’ve met a handful of times, no, make that less than a handful of times, and you’ve walked out on him, let him take you to lunch with him, gone to a fancy schmancy affair at his invitation, and then screwed him half the night. Which is normal? The taking or the leaving?”

Justin shrugged as he cracked some more eggs into a bowl. This was definitely a two omelet morning, he decided.

“Normal is whatever happens when I see him again. But...” he smirked at the frying pan. “It won’t be screwing him half the night. I don’t do repeats...with tricks.”

“Justin!”

 

*****

 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the City, Louis was having a similar conversation with Juan. Similar in that it was about him and Justin. Beyond that, it diverged a bit.  Louis had gone to the twin’s apartment looking for Justin, as he’d gotten the vague impression that Justin spent a good bit of his time there. Instead, he found Juan...and his twin.  Miguel had stayed over when the bar-hopping had finished up too late for him to take a second cab home to his own apartment.  He came out from the bedroom just when Juan had convinced Louis to sit down and have a cup of coffee.

Miguel took one look at the handsome man, who was looking rather haggard for someone who usually looked like he’d just stepped away from a high fashion shoot, and asked, “Didn’t your night go the way you wanted it to? Poor Louis – Justin escaped your clutches?”

“Not exactly,” Juan explained, shooting his twin a quelling look. “Justin ran away....”

“What the fuck did you do to make him have to....”

Juan put a hand on Louis’ shoulder and upped his look at his brother to a glare.

“Louis didn’t do anything to Justin. He was trying to discover from me if I know where Justin is because after a lovely night, um....”

Louis looked sourly at Miguel. “He booked. I woke up...after a great night, I’ll have you know...and Justin was gone. No note, no goodbye, no go to hell...nada.”

Miguel burst out laughing. Juan threw a roll at him (Louis having brought some delicious breads and pastries with him on the off chance that Justin was there).

“It isn’t funny, Miggs. The way I see it, there’s two possible explanations for Justin disappearing like that. Either he had some emergency come up that he had to rush away for, or....”

“Or he just wasn’t that into our good Louis, and left after a one night stand.”

“Which is the other possibility,” Juan continued smoothly, “in which case, Justin must still be so fucked up from the two of you breaking up that he’s incapable of being with someone new.”

Miguel threw himself into a chair and grabbed a gulp of Juan’s coffee before even attempting to answer that. Seeing that Juan was still glaring at him, he put the cup down. Hard. “What are you talking about? Justin and I ended things by mutual agreement. We’re still good friends. How in that soap opera mind of yours, brother, does that equal me fucking him up?”  He turned to look at the morose Louis before continuing. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe he just wasn’t that into you, Vanderhaas?”

“Of course it did,” Louis answered. “But...there was no sign of that. I know you think I’m some kind of hardened case, Martinez, based on how I seemed to you when I was young...and foolish at times...but I swear, everything seemed to be going great with Justin. It wasn’t like I jumped his bones. Hell, he took the lead.”

“Ahhhh,” Juan said, while Miguel sat back, looking vindicated.

“What? What is ‘ahhh’ and why is your hardcase of a brother giving me that look?” Louis looked from one Martinez to the other.

Juan took a seat opposite him, grabbing his coffee mug back from Miguel. 

“It’s like this, Louis....” Juan paused, not sure of how best to put it.

Miguel had no such qualms. On his way to the counter to get himself some coffee, he gave Louis a patronizing pat on the back. “Justin left you in the wee hours, Vanderhaas, because that is how he was taught tricking is done. No lingering for breakfast, no morning after conversation, and most of all, no repeats.”

Juan was struck by how dumb even the smartest man looked when his mouth gaped open like that. He reached over and gently closed Louis’ for him.

“I would never put it quite so – so cheerfully – but in essence, Miggs is right, Louis. The only explanation for Justin just leaving like that is that he saw you as a one night stand, man. Sad for you...but true.”

“I don’t accept that.” Louis shook his head at the two identical men, who, at the moment, were wearing very different expressions. “Justin and I connected. I don’t mean to brag, but it wasn’t just sex, it was  incredible, a....”

Juan and Miguel looked like mirror images now, as they shook their heads in unison. “It was incredible sex,” Juan told him, “but just sex all the same.”

Louis was still frowning, his hands clenched, as he shook his head at them. Juan looked helpless to explain it, so Miguel stepped in. It wasn’t like he had any friendship with the guy to ruin, he reasoned. Besides, he thought it was poetic justice. The ultimate player got played. And it was all the more perfect because Justin wouldn’t have had any idea that he was doing it – he probably just felt like sex and Louis was handy.

Maybe he wouldn’t be quite that blunt in explaining it, he thought, seeing that Louis did look genuinely upset. Unlike Vanderhaas, he didn’t want any karma coming to bite him in the ass, Miguel told himself, not caring to admit that he was actually feeling a little sorry for the guy.

“It’s like this, Vanderhaas. Justin was involved in this very hot, very intense relationship when he was still a kid. Just seventeen. The other guy was older...a lot older. And he kind of taught Justin the ropes. But the ropes he taught him were those of an older, more jaded man on the town. The way he lived his life. Over the course of their thing, Justin adopted a lot of this guy’s attitudes about sex and love.”

“You’re not talking about Edward Simon, are you?” Louis’ face darkened. “That bastard corrupted Justin when he was just seventeen? I’d gotten the idea that Justin was older, out of school.”

Juan shook his head. “No, Miggs isn’t referring to Simon. That old creep was just an unpleasant bump in the road. Justin was with him less than a year. No, the man who basically molded Justin into the kind of man, the kind of homosexual, he was to be, was Brian Kinney, the King of their gay world back in Pittsburgh. He’s the one who instilled Justin with a lot of the ideas he still believes.”

“Sounds like a total asshole,” Louis declared.

“Well, in all fairness to Kinney,” Miguel interjected, “he doesn’t even follow a lot of those views himself any longer. But yeah, from what Justin told me about their relationship, he was a tough man then.”

Juan scoffed, “He was a total asshole and Justin got the brunt of it. I could tell you stories....”

“But you won’t,” Miguel said firmly. “It’s not for you to be sharing Justin’s secrets with Vanderhaas here, Juan. If Justin wanted to get to know him better, and have Vanderhaas know him better....” Miguel’s face broke into an unholy grin.  “Then he would have stayed long enough to at least fuck him this morning before he left.”

Louis really wished he had a good comeback to that...but he was afraid that, for once, Miguel had summed it up even a little more kindly than was the truth.

Justin had the chance to take me or leave me, Louis thought sadly, and he chose to leave.  But...that didn’t mean he had to take that as his final answer. 

“Pour me some more coffee, Juan...please?  And then sit down and tell me some more about this Brian Kinney.”