Tax Refund
Justin studied the paper in front of him. He carefully ripped off the check from
the page that verified the calculations he had made to receive this income tax
refund. It was a nice sum of money, for a poor art student who earned minimum
wage working at a diner.
He studied the check trying to decide how to use it. He knew he wanted to do
something special for Brian, but the question was what.
He pulled up Google on his computer and typed in the name of Brian’s anti-aging
cream. He knew the French shit as Brian called it was expensive, but he nearly
fell off his chair when he saw the actual price for a small container of the
stuff. Justin studied the computer screen and then his check. That cream would
use up most of his tax refund. Justin wasn’t even sure Brian would appreciate
it. If he bought anti-aging cream for his lover, it sort of implied that Brian
was getting older, aging, and Brian always hated any reference to his age.
Scratch anti-aging cream.
Justin leaned back in his chair and thought long and hard. What would Brian
like? What did he need? What could Justin afford to get him? Justin waited for
the answer to appear on the computer screen, on the ceiling of the loft, on the
palm of his right hand, in smoke in the air around him. Nothing.
Justin typed in expensive and unusual gifts for men on the Google screen. What
came up boggled his mind. There was more useless crap out there than anyone
could ever imagine. Having gone through page after page of such shit on the
computer screen, Justin sighed and leaned back. None of this was what Brian
would like.
Maybe he should go for a designer tie. Brian was such a label queen. Justin
typed in some of Brian’s favorite label names – Prada, Armani, Zegna – and
looked at ties. They were certainly expensive enough. Some were very striking.
But something was a niggling way at the back of Justin’s mind. And then it hit
him, he used to buy his father ties for his birthday every year. He shivered
involuntarily. Scratch ties!
Justin flipped through several sites on the internet trying to find something
that Brian might like. Anything he found was either way too extravagant and
expensive, or it was something that Brian would likely tell him he shouldn’t
have bought. Justin was very annoyed. It shouldn’t be this hard to spend some
money.
Finding that he was getting nowhere … fast, Justin picked up his sketchbook. The
thought of Brian in his suit and tie had conjured up some interesting images in
his head. He began to draw Brian in his favorite Prada suit with his red shirt
and tie. Brian looked so sexy in that outfit. Justin let out a little groan of
longing as Brian began to take shape on the page in front of him.
When Brian was drawn to Justin’s satisfaction, he looked critically at his work.
It needed something. He thought for a moment and then began rooting through his
collection of pencils. Unable to find what he wanted, he set down the
sketchbook. An idea was forming in his head.
Justin picked up his check, grabbed his jacket and left the loft.
*****
Justin heard the loft door slide back. He smiled to himself and gently touched
the box that lay on the coffee table in front of him.
“Hey,” he called out.
“Hey,” Brian responded in a tired voice.
“Hard day?”
“Kind of.”
“I made dinner.”
“Great,” Brian said dropping his briefcase and hanging up his coat. He headed
for the bedroom. He reappeared shortly after wearing his favorite jeans and a
wifebeater.
Justin had dished up the dinner he had made and opened the bottle of wine he had
purchased. They both dug in.
In spite of being tired, Brian knew he should thank Justin for dinner. It was
really quite good. “The shrimp are excellent,” Brian said.
“Thanks.”
“You don’t have to cook, you know.”
“I know, but sometimes I like to cook, and I get tired of takeout.”
Brian nodded indicating that he did too. “So, what did you do today … besides
cook?”
Justin smiled. He had been waiting for this. “Actually, I had a good day,”
Justin said proudly.
“Did you?” Brian asked looking up at his lover.
“Yep, I got my income tax refund.”
“And you blew it on dinner?” Brian asked hoping that was not really true, but
fearing that it might be. Shrimp, wine, whatever, would not be cheap.
“Only a small part of it,” Justin said with a chuckle.
“Good, you shouldn’t be wasting any of it.”
“I don’t consider food a waste.”
“You wouldn’t,” Brian replied with that crooked grin of his.
“I … wanted to get something for you … for all you’ve done for me,” Justin said
hesitantly.
“You don’t need to get me anything,” Brian chided. And he meant that.
“I wanted to,” Justin said standing up. He walked over to the coffee table and
retrieved the box that was there. He returned and handed it to Brian. Brian
looked up at him quizzically. Justin had decided not to wrap his present, since
Brian would think that made it more than it actually was.
“What’s this?” Brian asked staring at the box.
“Open it and see.”
“Justin, I don’t want you spending your money on me.”
“Open the damn thing,” Justin ordered getting annoyed.
Brian set the box on the table and lifted off the lid. He moved the tissue paper
aside and stared at the contents of the box.
After a minute or two, with Brian saying nothing, Justin had to ask, “Do you
like it?”
Brian lifted the plain dark wood frame from the box. “It’s … amazing.”
Justin’s smile went off the megawatt scale. “I love it too.”
Brian stared at his image drawn in pencil and shaded beautifully. But the red
tie he was wearing stood out incandescently amongst all the dark pencil strokes.
It made him look powerful, commanding, successful.
“I decided I wanted to get you something with my tax check, but I couldn’t find
anything I thought you would appreciate.”
“I’m glad you didn’t buy me anything.”
“I bought you dinner,” Justin reminded Brian. That earned him a smile from his
partner.
“That you did.”
“And I bought you the frame for the picture, and I bought you a set of really
nice coloring pencils.” Justin produced the package from behind his back.
“For me?” Brian asked with a smirk.
“That’s how I got that wonderful red color for the tie in your picture,” Justin
said with his own smirk.
“Thanks so much,” Brian said handing them back to his lover. “I’m sure I’ll
get a lot of use out of them.”
Justin chuckled at Brian’s thank you – so snarky, so Brian. “I thought that
drawing would be great on the wall next to the door of your office,” Justin
explained. “It would be the last image of you that clients would see as they
left your inner sanctum.”
“Good idea, Sunshine,” Brian said admiring the drawing once again.
“And I opened a bank account into which I deposited the rest of the money from
the check.”
“How prudent of you.”
“It’s the basis for paying you back over time.”
“You don’t have to pay me back.”
“Yes, I do, but it will be like an emergency fund too, in case I really need
something.”
“That’s good,” Brian agreed.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing I got - for dessert.”
“You know I don’t do dessert,” Brian countered.
“It’s ice cream and it involves kisses and some other … stuff,” Justin said with
a wicked grin.
“Hm, I’m suddenly in the mood for dessert.”
“I thought you might be.”
“And Justin,” Brian said catching Justin’s wrist before he could head to the
fridge for the ice cream, “I do love what you did. You’re turning into the best
homosexual of all.”
Justin smiled one of those smiles that took Brian’s breath away. Justin knew
that for the rest of the night he was going to show Brian just how good a
homosexual he had become.
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