Justin's Choice

As fate would have it, Tony never made it to the health care summit in Washington. Instead, that weekend, like the following one was spent attending to Justin. Unaware of Tony and Brian’s confrontation, the binding member of The Royal Trio was enjoying being doted on by his two princes. With Brian away at Kinnetics all day, it made sense for Justin to convalesce at The Plaza where Tony’s office was but an elevator ride away in the event of any unforeseen emergency. Justin and his gal-pal Daphne stood in front of the glass balcony doors of penthouse four.

“Look at this view. Look at this place. In my next life I want to be a gay man.” Daphne sighed.

“It is nice, isn’t it? I remember the first time Tony brought me here. He got me drunk, and I ended up spending the night sleeping on his chest.” Justin smiled.

“I remember you telling me that.” Daphne giggled.

“Needless to say, it wasn't one of my proudest moments.” Justin braced his arm across his bandage, and moved away from the glass doors.

“Are you alright? Maybe you should lay down,” Daphne suggested.

“I've been in bed all morning. The doctor says I should move around more.” Justin shuffled along.

“Didn't the doctor give you anything for pain?" Daphne asked.

“Vicodin." Justin winced.

“So why aren't you taking them?” Daphne asked.

"Because I've got something better." Justin stopped, and pulled a joint from the breast pocket of his robe.

"We can't smoke that here. The scent will go into the hall," Daphne whispered.

"I thought about that. Let’s go in the bathroom. We can turn on the vent.” Justin smiled.

The two best friends took their private party into the master bathroom, where Justin turned on the vent before taking a seat on the edge of the spa sized bath tub. Daphne sat down next to him, and fired up the marijuana cigarette. Hummm, she filled her lungs, before passing it on. Justin in turn took a deep drag, and held the sweet smoke inside for as long as he could. Slowly he exhaled, and watched the white spirals float upward toward the vent.

“So, tell me about that night on Tony’s chest. You never gave me any details.” Daphne grinned.

“There's not that much else to tell. It was just another one of those nights when Brian had pissed me off. Only this time I ran into Tony. He brought me back here to penthouse four, we drank champagne, I got drunk, and fell asleep.” Justin offered his Reader's Digest version of the event, and passed the joint back to Daphne.

“So you guys didn't fuck at all that first night?” Daphne took a drag.

“No. We made love the next morning.” Justin said.

“Justin, do you know what you just said? You said that you and Tony made love the next morning.” Daphne passed the joint back to Justin.

"We did." Justin took another hit.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard you say that,” Daphne pointed out.

"Say what?" Justin held the smoke in.

“Whenever you talk about having sex, you always call it fucking. This is the first time I’ve ever heard you say that you’ve made love with a man.” Daphne reached for the half smoked joint.

“Semantics.” Justin exhaled.

"Bullshit." Daphne begged to differ. "Even now when you talk about having sex with Brian, you still call it fucking. Why do you call having sex with Brian fucking, and having sex with Tony making love?"

"I hadn't noticed until you just mentioned it," Justin said.

"You know, there’s a reason for that," Daphne theorized.

“Yeah, the reason is because you’re high. Are you going to hit that? If not, then pass it back." Justin reached for the joint.

"Who would you choose, if you could only have one?" Daphne asked.

"What?"

"If you had to give up one, which one would you give up, Brian or Tony?" Daphne rephrased the question.

"That’s a stupid question." Justin dismissed her.

"Why is it stupid?" Daphne frowned.

"Because it is!" Justin took a last hit of their joint, and handed the remainder to Daphne to finish.

"The world is changing, Justin. It's only a matter of time before Proposition 8 is repealed, and gay marriage becomes legal. Unless the three of you are planning on becoming Mormons, and moving to Utah, you're going to have to make a choice. You're going to have to choose between Brian, and Tony. So which one will it be? Which one would you marry?" Daphne played devil's advocate.

"I'll worry about that when the time comes," Justin decided.

"I remember when you first told me about Brian. You said that you were in love with him. Then I met Brian, and I saw how he treated you. It was obvious that he wasn't in love with you," Daphne recalled.

"That was a long time ago, when we first started fucking," Justin said.

"See, there you go again. You said fucking," Daphne pointed out.

"That's what it was. At that time it was just fucking. I'll admit it took Brian a while before he realized that he loved me," Justin defended his partner.

Daphne tilted her head the way she always did when she was confused. "But you always knew that you loved him?" she asked.

Justin attempted to explain. "Brian was the first man I had ever been with. Of course I was going to fall in love with him. Didn't you fall in love with the first guy you were with?"

"You mean YOU?" Daphne reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Justin blushed.

"Which brings me back to my point. Of course I can understand how you would think that you were in love with the guy who took your virginity. I thought I was in love with you for a minute, until you rudely reminded me that I was just a fuck!" Daphne hissed.

"Come on, Daph, that was just a 'practice run', and you knew it," Justin reminded her.

"And you went to Liberty Avenue that night in search of a 'practice run'. No doubt Brian felt the same way about fucking you that you felt about fucking me," Daphne speculated.

It was at this point that Justin wanted the conversation to end. He stood up from the edge of the tub, turned off the vent, and started heading back toward to the living room. "Man, I'm starving. How about you, Daph? We can call downstairs, and order lunch. What do you have a taste for?" he asked.

"It's Brian, isn't it? You would give up Brian. I knew it!" Daphne was hot at his heels.

Justin stopped walking, and turned to look at his friend. "I would never give up Brian," he said.

"So you'd give up Tony?" Daphne again seemed bewildered.

"No," Justin said with equal conviction.

"Do you know what I think? I think Brian is just a bad habit for you now. I don't think you're still in love with him at all. How could you be after the way he treated you, after everything he put you through?" Daphne concluded.

Justin could certainly see his friend's point. Daphne had been his confidante, and steadfast shoulder to cry on during Brian's early escapades. She knew too well of Brian flaunting his tricks in front of Justin’s face. She knew about the threesomes, the backrooms, and circuit parties that Justin went along with, just to please him. Over time Daphne had noticed a change in her friend. Justin’s dream of falling in love, and having a partner to call his own had been compromised. Not only was he acting more like Brian, he was starting to talk more like Brian as well. Of course Daphne never believed for one moment that Justin no longer believed in love. He wasn't fooling her when he said he was content to settle for being the guy that Brian fucked more than once. That resolution quickly changed when Tony came along.

Anthony Massey, the unwitting knight in tarnished armor. No doubt his intentions weren’t that much different than Brian’s. However his tactics left nothing to be desired. Tony wheeled his wealth like a weapon, wooing his pretty prey with gifts of gold, flowers, dinner, even a midnight flight on a private jet. It was a far cry from the cum-soaked walls of the backroom at Babylon that Brian offered. Justin was enchanted by the attention of the dashing older man, and Brian soon took notice. Unfortunately, by then it was too late. Justin had already bonded with Tony. The fight was on, with two very formidable opponents. With neither man accustomed to losing, one could argue that it was more about pride than it was about Justin. That was until Kevin entered the picture.

Daphne knew about the incident with Kevin, and like any good friend, she was not quick to reopen old wounds. She had waited until Justin felt comfortable enough to tell her about the rape.

Now it was time to tell her about the repercussions of that horrific event. Justin eased down onto the sofa, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. While the details of what actually took place in the holding room of The Plaza Chicago still remained unclear, Justin had managed to piece together a scenario that he now needed to share with Daphne.

"When Brian found out what Kevin had done to me, he went after him. Only, instead of going after Kevin, Brian went after Kevin's wife," Justin began.

"His wife?" Daphne interrupted.

"Leave it to Brian to be creative, even in revenge." Justin half smiled. "Brian fucked Kevin's wife, and knowing Brian, you can guess what kind of fuck he gave her."

"In the butt?" Daphne cringed.

"No doubt," Justin continued. "Anyway, when Kevin found out, he and Brian got into a fight that caused Brian to be fired from Vanguard. Brian needed help, and I didn't know who else to call, so I called Tony."

"So, it was Tony who got Brian his job back." Daphne filled in the blanks.

Justin continued, "Tony came through for me, Daph. He came through in a huge way. The very next day, Tony was in Gardner Vance's office soliciting Vanguard, specifically Brian Kinney to do an ad campaign for The Plaza Hotels. It was only then that Gardner offered Brian his job back."

"Wow, that's some story. For Brian to go after Kevin, then for Tony to come to the rescue of his rival....They must really love you Justin, but you still haven't answered my question. Which one do you love the most? If you had to give up one, which one would it be, Brian or Tony?" Daphne refused to let the question go unanswered.

This time Justin threw it back at her. "Which one would YOU give up, Daph, your champion or your champion's champion?"

Daphne's eyes drifted off momentarily as she tossed the question around in her head. Finally she answered. "Like I said earlier, in my next life I want to be a gay man," she sighed.

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