Justin watched Brian. Period. It was just something he did unconsciously at first, but after awhile, he realized that Brian's actions said far more than any words could. He loved watching Brian while they were having sex. It was where he had discovered his new favorite pastime. Brian made the best faces right before he came. The way his eyes would close and his head would tilt back just right, and the guttural noises he made would push the blonde right over the edge. He always tried to keep his eyes open during their sessions, but sometimes pleasure won out and Justin would tell himself there was always next time.

It wasn't only during sex though there was also the diner, at Babylon, Woody's, breakfast, the list could go on and on. Just suffice it to say that Justin watched Brian. He memorized every motion, every tilt of Brian's head, and would find himself doodling on anything he could get his hands on. Brian was all over his homework; his eyes were in the corners of his math assignments, his hands and lips adorned the chemistry journal, and his dick was any place that didn't have to be turned in. Justin had never realized his love for art before probably due to the fact that he'd never actually taken the time to draw, but with Brian he just felt compelled.

The one thing Justin had always wanted to draw was Brian sleeping, but since he was a teenager and loved to be anywhere but in reality, he never found himself awake before his older counterpart. Thus, the opportunity never appeared until now.

"What are you doing?" A gruff voice mumbled into the pillow.

"I was sleeping, no thanks to you." Justin replied.

"You were not." Brian answered as he turned to look at the clock. "You've been staring at me for like, fifteen minutes."

"Have not." Justin grumbled. "And if you knew that then why didn't you get up?"

"I've been up." Brian grinned, slipping his hand under the sheet. "And now so are you."

Justin stifled a moan when he felt Brian's smooth hand encase his stiff prick; he didn't want the man to think he was that easy. Justin tossed his head back allowing Brian to move closer leaving a trail of open-mouthed kisses along the expanse of his throat. Brian worked his way up the blonde's neck while his hand continued the taunting ministrations underneath the sheet. He licked slowly along the boys jaw line, nibbling softly on his earlobe, which produced the desired affect. Justin let out the moan he'd been holding in and was surprised at how good it felt.

"Brian…" Justin groaned, clawing at the older man. "Fuck me."

Brian slowed and whispered softly in the boy's ear. "I can't hear you."

"Please, Bri!" Justin cried. "Fuck me!"

"I heard that, but I don't think the neighbors did and you know how much they like our shows. We have to please them." Brian teased as he stopped his hand all together.

"Fuck!" Justin cried thrusting his hips in Brian's motionless hand. "Me!"

"All you had to do was ask." Brian stated as he reached into the drawer of the nightstand. Justin sighed when he heard the usual crinkle of the wrapping and felt Brian lifting his hips. Instinctively, Justin rolled onto his stomach and waited for Brian.

"Roll over." Brian ordered, slapping Justin's ass.

Gleefully, Justin did as he was ordered, but tried his hardest not to show it. Brian concentrated on the task at hand and sighed with contentment when he felt himself entering Justin. The blonde below him watched every move and tried to memorize the lazy smile that played across Brian's lips during that first thrust and the half-lidded stare the boy received after a kiss. He wanted to capture those little insignificant details that everyone always takes for granted when you see them all the time, but Justin knew that maybe they really weren't insignificant at all.

Brian was moving his hips faster, grunting louder, and Justin knew that the man wouldn't last much longer. He felt Brian's hand snake around his cock and willed his eyes to remain open.

"Oh, fuck it." Justin mumbled as he leaned his head back and exposed his throat to Brian's tongue. He always had next time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You're late." Daphne whispered during chem. class. "Miss. Wolfe has been on a rampage looking for you."

"What the hell would she want?" Justin asked, his mind trying to find any reason the art teacher would need to see him.

"I don't know, but she's been trying to find you all morning."

"Well, she didn't look in the right places." Justin grinned.

"I don't think the faculty has access to Brian's loft, let alone his bed." Daphne smirked and then returned her attention to the chemistry lesson going on in the front of the room. Justin, on the other hand, was having a hard time concentrating with what had happened that morning and now with this news of a rampaging teacher. He honestly had no clue as to what she wanted, but it wasn't long before he found out.

"Mr. Taylor." A voice called from beside him as he exited the chem. lab.

"Mrs. Wolfe." Justin smiled. His teacher was a very eccentric lady. She loved kids, she loved art, and combining the two, she loved her job. Mrs. Wolfe, or Cherish as her students knew her, was known for her drastic changes in style and hair. She was the epitome of the modern artist. She wore flowy dresses and was always sing-songing about expressing yourself through your art. The latest change being her head was completely shorn, devoid of any hair at all. Her husband and she had decided to do it at the same time. Their reason being to focus on one's inner self rather than being worried about what is on the outside. In laymen's terms, to better oneself. "You've been looking for me?"

"All over the place." She told him with a toothy-grin. "That boyfriend of yours keep you busy this morning?"

"He's not my boyfriend, Cherish. He's just my…friend."

"Well, whoever he is to you, remind him that school starts at 7:30 not 8:15. Anyway, back to what I needed you for. There's going to be a gallery showing here at school -nothing big-- just a few pieces of the students art to show the other faculty and our esteemed Superintendent what kind of talent we have floating around this shit can."

"And you want me to what? Pass out flyers?" Justin asked curiously -he could be really daft at times.

Cherish rolled her eyes. "I want you to submit some of your drawings. You're the best artist we have here and I'll be damned if you're not in it."

"People seeing my stuff? I don't know. All I really have are drawings of Brian, and I don't know if he'd want them on display."

"Well, we'll choose some of your more, um, PG stuff. Maybe we'll tack a 13 onto the end of that just for shits and giggles." Justin didn't say anything at first, just continued to nod. He absentmindedly chewed on his thumbnail, which he often did during sessions of deep thinking. "Well, don't decide right now. Go home and talk it over with Brian, and then come back tomorrow and we'll take it from there."

"Thanks, Cherish." Justin said after a bit. "For understanding."

"That's what I do best, kiddo." And with that, she was gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Justin was sitting on the sofa when Brian got home and it immediately worried the older man. He didn't want Justin going back to his old routine of watching out the window all damn day. The boy had actually started to have fun for once by going out to Babylon and Woody's.

"What's up?" Brian asked, initiating what he assumed to be a never-ending conversation.

"Just thinking about some stuff." Justin paused. "You don't really want to know, so we'll leave it at that."

Brian rolled his eyes and set his brief case on the floor behind the cushion before rubbing the boys shoulders with his strong hands. He felt Justin sit up and relax a soft sigh escaping. Brian bent low and kissed the top of Justin's ear, slowly moving down his jaw line. Justin closed his eyes and leaned back turning his head to catch Brian's lips with his.

"I needed that." Justin moaned when the kiss was broken.

"Ready to tell me what's going on in that head of yours?"

Justin sighed and stood before starting his story. "My teacher stopped me in the hall today and said that she wanted to talk to me."

"Jesus, you're not in trouble for being late are you? I told you we shouldn't have fucked in the shower."

"Settle down, queenie. It's not that, she actually wanted to tell me that she was setting up an art gallery and wanted me to submit some of my stuff. She said that I'm the best artist the school has." Justin's voice grew quiet and he started to pace.

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Brian asked, confused. He knew that Justin had been drawing more and more lately and loved doing it. This was a big accomplishment for him and he told Justin so.

"I guess." Justin exhaled noisily. "I don't know why I'm being such a fucking princess about this. So, I should go ahead and submit my stuff? I mean, it is mostly of you. You don't care, right?"

"I've always wanted to be ogled by the masses." Brian grinned cheekily, resting his forehead against the blonde's. "Why don't we find some more positions for you to draw me in?"

"It's supposed to be a PG show, Bri. Any positions you have in mind definitely don't fall under that category." Justin smiled wickedly, allowing the older man to lead him towards the bed.

"Then we'll just have to have our own showing with some of your more risqué endeavors." Brian uttered before sweeping his tongue into Justin's waiting mouth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Finally, the day of the gallery opening arrived. The gym had been miraculously changed into a half-assed attempt at a showing. Easels stood sporadically with a few landscape paintings on them, some were done in oils and others acrylics, but they were nothing to be in awe over. Justin was standing in a corner, hiding underneath the shadows, scanning the room. He was nervous as all hell and kept ringing the program he held in his hands. Hanging on every free surface around the gymnasium were his charcoal drawings. The black and white pictures dominated the walls and the folded bleachers.

"Where's your muse?" Cherish asked, sauntering over to Justin's hiding spot.

Justin smiled at her. "He said he'd try to make it, but didn't know if he'd get out in time."

"I see." She sounded skeptical.

"What?"

"I was just thinking that he'd be here to support you. I mean, if he is as good as you say he is."

"He's just busy, that's all." Justin looked down at the crumpled paper in his hand before returning his gaze to the meager crowd.

"They like your stuff, Justin. You see that man over in the corner." Cherish nodded to a dark haired man across the room. He was well built, probably in his mid 30's, with a head full of hair, wearing a dark pin stripe suit. "He is a gallery owner and a personal friend of mine. He also happens to be on the accepting committee at Pittsburgh Institute of Fine Arts. I think you should mingle your way over to him. He hasn't stepped away from your drawings the whole time he's been here."

Justin watched his teacher walk away and then decided that he'd take her advice. He made his way over to the man, shuffling his feet, fighting with himself the whole way.

"Excuse me?" Justin whispered. "My name is Justin Taylor."

"The artist." The man said, turning to shake Justin's trembling hand. "I'm Jake Monroe. I was admiring your work. You are a very talented young man."

"Thank you." Justin glanced around and not seeing what he wanted, returned his attention to the man. "Mr. Monroe."

"Please, call me Jake."

"Jake. Cherish told me that you are on the accepting board at PIFA. What do you think my chances are of getting in?"

"You have an excellent chance. I would enroll you today if given the choice." Jake smiled at the blonde and then looked back towards the work on the walls. "You seem to have one person in particular that you enjoy to draw. May I ask who he is?"

"My friend, Brian." Justin answered torn at what title he wanted to give.

"Boyfriend?" Jake prodded, suspecting as much and assuming he already knew the answer.

"Sort of." Justin sighed and then fell silent.

Brian walked into the high school gymnasium and immediately wanted to turn around. This was not his element and hadn't been for a long time. He scanned the room and saw all of what he assumed to be Justin's drawings on the walls. It was undeniable how talented the young man was even if he was too modest to admit it. Brian walked over to the nearest drawing and began his viewing from there.

"You must be Brian." A voice behind him spoke up.

Brian turned and found he was staring down at a very eccentric lady with a shaved head. He assumed she was Justin's art teacher from the little he could remember of the boy's incessant talking.

"I couldn't help but recognize you." She said, spanning her arms out indicating the drawings that surrounded them. "Justin speaks very highly of you."

"Cherish, was it? Justin's mentioned you a couple of times. You seem to have opened him up to his abilities."

"Outside of the bedroom." Cherish joked, chuckling a little. "I think you hold that department."

Brian smiled in spite of himself. "Well, when you're the best." Brian looked up and locked eyes with the blonde across the room. Brian immediately saw the smile that he put on Justin's face, It made him feel good and that surprised him. He excused himself and sauntered over to Justin, wrapping his arm around the boy's waist and greeting him with a kiss.

"You like what you see?" Justin asked, leaning back so he could look at Brian.

"Very much so." Brian answered, his voice low.

"I meant the drawings." Justin laughed playfully, pushing Brian away.

"I thought you preferred the real thing."

Justin smirked and slipped his hand into Brian's and felt chills run through his spine when their fingers intertwined. Justin led Brian over to his favorite picture and waited for the man's reaction.

"When did you draw this?"

"A couple of mornings ago."

Brian stared at the black and white charcoal in front of him. His eyes were closed, obviously sleeping, his hand laid gently across his stomach with the duvet covering his most prized asset. "It's a shame to cover such a work of art."

"Your ego could fill this room. You do realize that, don't you?"

"Only part of it. I'm pretty sure your talent would take up the rest."

The grin that Justin wore could have lit up a whole town and it didn't go unnoticed by Brian.

"Quit it, Sunshine. You know I love your work even more than you love my cock."

"I don't know if that's possible."

Brian cocked his eyebrow and wrapped his arm around Justin's shoulder. Justin felt like they were the only two people left in the room, and he wanted that feeling to stay.

Return to So Much Left to Learn