Enjoying Life Together

Accomodations

Justin and Brian were standing next to each other in front of the large mirror in Brian's bathroom. Brian was shaving and Justin was adjusting his hair - operations that consumed approximately the same amount of time. They had just finished their communal shower, which Justin often mentioned "saved water." An efficiency expert could have told them that two 8-10 minute individual showers would not use as much water as the 45 minutes it took them to accomplish the task together, but they hadn't asked an efficiency expert. They were very pleased with their conservation effort as it stood.

They had spent the night at Brian's. Justin still had his own apartment but that would only be until the end of the month. Even Jennifer had wondered why they needed separate places when they didn't seem to be separate people. Ted had called them "Siamese twins" and they were willing to admit they wanted to be together all the time.

But Brian didn't seem to be particularly pleased that morning when he glared at Justin. "You're what?" he complained.

Justin responded in the tone of voice he used when he wanted to sound reasonable: "Brian, you know I have to go to New York. Four of my works are going to be displayed in the student art show at NYU. The school insists that I go, and it will give me a chance to meet young artists from other schools. I could learn a lot there. I will only be gone three nights and it's important. We are not always going to be able to be together every minute for the next fifty years so we may as well get used to it."

"That is not the issue," Brian replied.

"OK," Justin allowed, "but why shouldn't I stay with Ethan while I'm there. His place is walking distance from NYU and it will be nicer than the dorm."

"Nicer for whom?" Brian asked.

"Oh, Brian, don't get jealous. Ethan is no competition for you," Justin insisted.

"Of course he isn't," Brian remarked with a little sarcasm, "He isn't in advertising and I don't play the fiddle."

Justin ignored that response: "You know that there isn't anything between Ethan and me - never was. You know we're keeping in touch by e-mail and we are friends and we want to keep being friends. He's even developing a relationship with some guy named Tom. Tom plays the piano. Ethan thinks that it may go somewhere soon." Justin should have stopped there but he was Justin and he was 19, so he continued, "Of course, Tom didn't come into the picture until after I told Ethan that it was 'Brian and Justin forever' here."

Brian smiled at that and taunted back: "What makes you think I'll want you forever?"

Justin smiled too. "I'll see to that," he said.

The discussion was continued over breakfast in the loft. Justin said, "It might be good for us to be separated for three days. It'll keep us from getting stale. We'll be that much better when I get back. I'll be very busy up there but I'll think of you a lot. If I have any spare time, I want to hear Ethan perform and I'll get to meet Tom. You have nothing to worry about."

"You're right, of course" Brian answered, " And I can get some work done on my new contracts and spend some time with the guys. I might even spend a couple of the nights at Babylon. I'll think of you a lot while you're gone though. I'll be OK; don't worry about me."

"Babylon?" Justin repeated.

"Sure," Brian said, "I don't get to Babylon as much as I'd like because you seem to have lost interest in it. But I'll enjoy seeing the gang there. It'll be fun. You know I was never much for staying at home alone. I don't want you to worry about me being lonely."

"That's not what I'm likely to worry about." Justin responded.

"Well, I won't be spending three nights with an old boyfriend, will I?" Brian countered. That ended the breakfast discussion. Neither Brian nor Justin seemed to be too upset about the upcoming separation. Either they trusted each other or each of them had something up his sleeve. They did trust each other but each of them had held something back so far.

They were scheduled to have dinner at Melanie and Lindsey's that evening and then spend the night at Justin's. They came separately and spent a good part of their visit playing with Gus. Lindsey was very impressed that Justin had been chosen to exhibit. He was the first student from the Pittsburgh Institute ever to have been so honored. She was also very impressed that two of the works to be shown were from Justin's dark period after the bashing when he could only draw with the aid of a computer, while the other two were from the recent period when he had his arm mobility back. The whole thing was a bigger deal than Brian had figured. Brian was reminded of the rough time that this kid had gone through, what a tough kid he was under that vulnerable outer shell, and what a terrific talent he must be. Brian was very proud of Justin. Justin was thinking that, without Brian's encouragement and help, he would have given up his art entirely, and that he really had Brian to thank for his success thus far as well as any future success he might have.

As they were leaving, Lindsey called Brian aside. She had known Brian and loved Brian for most of their lives. She was so pleased that Brian had been able finally to find happiness in his life because of Justin. Still there were times when she would have liked to give him one swift kick. She whispered to Brian: "How could you not go with him for this showing? It's a great honor for him. You should be smart enough to know he'd want to share it with you."

"I'm smart enough," Brian responded, "Not to need advice from you." Lindsey thought he needed one of those kicks right there. Lindsey was wrong.

When they got to Justin's apartment, they both sat down in Justin's recliner. It was a large recliner; they were thin people; and they had no objection to being crowded together. If there were any problems between them about the NY trip, it was not noticeable. Brian held on to Justin, and Justin snuggled up to Brian like the love birds or Siamese twins or whatever they were. It had been an interesting day but things weren't yet settled.

Justin gave up first. He put on his pleading face, kissed Brian, and begged, "Come with me to New York, Brian. I don't want to be without you for three days. I don't even know if I could last the three days without you. I know I'll be busy a lot of the time. I won't be able to be with you even most of the time but I really want to have you near me. Couldn't you please come? You could stay at Ethan's too, or we could get a hotel or sleep in a tent or in the subway station or wherever. Please."

"What makes you think I could stay at Ethan's?" Brian asked, "I don't know that Ethan cares very much for me."

Justin looked pained: "Don't be mad at me, Brian, I love you, but I asked Ethan day before yesterday if you could stay there too if I could get you to come and he was thrilled. He said he would be glad to get to know you better. He knows how happy we are and he is glad for us. You'll like him, Brian, and he'll like you. Please come and don't be mad at me because I did all this behind your back. I know that was wrong. Why do I always do dumb things?"

Brian looked at Justin and said, "The only mistake you made was not asking me to go with you right at the beginning. Didn't you think I might just want to be part of this?"

"I didn't want to bother you with my little stuff, Brian, this is no big deal," Justin answered.

"Is it important to you?" Brian asked.

"Well yes, but…" Justin stammered.

"Then it's important to me," Brian said, gently.

Then, looking sterner, Brian went on: "You are a twat, little Justin, a major twat. Did you think for a moment that I was not coming to New York for your first big break? Did you really think I was going to leave you out of my sight for three whole days - and nights? I cleared my schedule the day you told me about it. Then I waited for you to ask me. If you did, I was going with you. If you didn't, I was just going to turn up and surprise you. But I was going, never any doubt of that. I even have my place to stay lined up."

It seemed that the happier Justin got the more he cried. "I am a twat," he whined, "I don't know how you put up with me. And sneaky too. Can I stay in New York with you? I don't want to stay with Ethan if I can stay with you. Please."

"Justin," Brian responded, "You may be a major twat but you are a minor sneak. Yes, you can stay with me. In fact, you'll just about have to stay with me because I'm staying at Ethan's."

"At Ethan's," Justin gasped, "But I …" Brian pulled Justin onto his lap.

"You wanna hear a story, little guy," he started, "Well there was once this very talented artist named Justin who was having an exhibit in New York … And when Justin's friend Ethan heard that Justin was coming to New York, he e-mailed Brian and asked him to come up and stay with him too. He congratulated Brian for making Justin so happy and said he wanted to get to know them as a couple. Ethan sounded like a great guy so Brian and Ethan cooked up this scheme. Maybe it was a little mean but … "

Justin flashed his sunshine smile and kissed Brian. "You big rat," he whispered in Brian's ear.

"A little mouse should never mess with a big rat," Brian replied.

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