Justin grinned down at his target – one Brian Kinney – and took careful aim. The snowball splattered against the side of Brian's head with a satisfying thud.

Brian yelped as the snow slid beneath his collar, then shook his head, sending snow flying. "Oh, you are so going down, Justin," he growled, scooping up a large handful of snow, not bothering to make a snowball. He stalked up the hill toward Justin, who started backing up, hands held up in supplication.

"Now, Brian, I hit you fair and square." When Brian didn't slow down, Justin muttered, "Oh, fuck!" and took off running toward the ski lodge. Brian chased after him, his longer legs easily closing the distance between them.

Brian reached out a hand, snagging Justin's jacket. Justin stumbled backward into Brian and they both went down in a tangle of arms and legs. They rolled down the hill, finally coming to a halt with Brian on top.

Grinning wickedly, Brian held up the handful of snow then rubbed it on Justin's face.

"You asshole!" Justin sputtered.

Chuckling, Brian got to his feet and held out his hand. Justin looked up at him cautiously, then allowed himself to be pulled upright. Brian checked his watch. "We have time for one more run, if you're interested."

Justin nodded. "Sounds good." He flashed a mischievous grin at Brian. "Last one down the slope gives the first blowjob!" he called out as he pushed Brian back into a snowdrift and took off toward their equipment. "Come on, old man!"

Brian just sat there, laughing as he watched Justin race away.

Brian frowned as the voices downstairs grew louder and shriller. How in the hell was he supposed to study with his parents shouting at each other? He pulled the textbook closer and tried to concentrate on the next math problem.

He'd almost finished solving it when he was distracted again, this time by laughter coming from next door. Standing, he flicked the curtain aside and smiled at the sight in the Phillips's front yard.

Ten-year-old Justin, bundled up from head to toe, was stalking Michael across the yard, several snowballs in his mittened hands. Michael acted oblivious, allowing Justin to get within a foot or so before taking off again. Justin threw one of the snowballs and hit his prey in the back of his head.

Brian glanced at his math book then back outside, tempted to go outside and join in the fun. Just then, his mom screamed an obscenity at his dad, and he thought, 'Screw this!' Grabbing his jacket, he hurried out of the house.

"Hey, Brian," Michael yelled as he tossed a snowball toward his friend. "You can help me get Justin here. He's got a mean throwing arm."

Dodging the missile, Brian bent down and made a snowball of his own, glancing at Michael with an evil smile. "Oh, I don't think so. Everyone's on their own."

Michael laughed and ran to stand behind Justin. "Justin will protect me."

Brian and Justin looked each other, Brian's eyebrow raised in question. Justin nodded with a grin.

"Now!" Justin screamed, turning, and pelted Michael with snow. Suddenly the air was filled with flying missiles, with both Justin and Brian targeting Michael. Michael did his best, but for every hit he made, he got blasted by at least three others. Soon he was covered with snow.

Finally, Michael raised his hands in surrender. "I give up! You win!"

As Justin jumped up and down in a victory dance, Robert appeared at the front door. "There's hot chocolate and popcorn ready, guys. Come on in and get dried off."

The three friends traipsed inside, stomping the snow off boots and shaking out coats. Brian grinned down at Justin, who was pink-cheeked and bright-eyed. "Great shooting there, kiddo."

Justin giggled. "We make a good team, don't we?"

Brian ruffled Justin's blond hair. "Yeah, we do."

"That wasn't fair, you two teaming up against me," Michael muttered good-naturedly as they went into the living room where Robert had set up the snacks. There was a fire burning in the fireplace and towels were sitting on the hearth. Michael picked one up and began to dry his hair. "Did you have to hit me quite so much?"

"All's fair in love and war, Mickey."

Michael dropped onto the floor beside Justin and reached for the bowl of popcorn. "Speaking of love, how'd your date go the other night?"

Justin glanced up from his hot chocolate, a wide grin on his face. "You got a boyfriend, Brian?"

"Naw," Brian shook his head at Justin before he looked at Michael. "And the date was... okay, I guess."

"But do you like him, Brian?" Justin asked with a small frown. "Cause if you do, then he's your boyfriend."

"Yeah, Brian, do you liikkkee him?" Michael teased, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Brian threw a handful of popcorn at Michael. "Don't be an ass, Mickey. Jacob's all right, but we probably won't be going out again." He wasn't about to admit the date had been a dud, and that he'd dumped Jacob for the hot waiter at the restaurant.

Justin scooted over to sit next to Brian, his small body leaning against his friend. "That's too bad, Brian. We need to find you a boyfriend."

"I'll pass." Brian nudged Justin with his elbow. "How about you, kiddo? Anyone at school you like?"

Scrunching up his nose, Justin thought seriously about the question for a moment before answering. "Well, I like Daphne, but I don't think I like like her, ya know? She's just a friend."

"How about the boys?" Michael asked. "Any of them cute?"

Justin shook his head. "The boys don't like me much; they tease me 'cause I like to paint and draw instead of playing ball and soldiers."

"I'll bet when you're grown up, all the girls AND boys'll like you plenty. You're going to knock 'em dead." Brian winked at Justin, who smiled shyly back. Brian finished his drink and set the cup on the floor beside him. "Now, who wants to play a game of Scrabble?"

Michael groaned. "Shit, now you both are going to beat me again. I can't win."

Everybody laughed as Justin went to get the game.

"You coming, Brian?" Justin called out.

Brian stood up and brushed off his clothes before walking over to where Justin was standing. He took his skis from Justin and holding them in one hand, tugged on Justin's jacket, pulling him closer. "You beat me down the slope, and I'll give you the best blowjob of your life," he whispered.

"You're on," Justin laughed and skied off to the lift.

Brian shook his head with a grin as he followed behind Justin. It really didn't matter who won, they'd both be winners.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The club wasn't as big as Babylon, but the dance floor was crowded with hard, sweaty hot-looking guys and the music was loud and fast. Brian was enjoying himself, but he noticed Justin kept glancing at his watch and frowning. Finally his curiosity made him ask, "What's wrong, Justin?"

Justin shrugged and took another drink of his beer. "It's almost midnight."

"So?"

"It's New Year's Eve, Brian," Justin announced, as though that said it all.

Brian frowned. "Ookay, I give. What's up?"

His fingers picking nervously at the label on his beer bottle, Justin took a deep breath and said, "Have you ever heard the saying 'whatever you're doing at the stroke of midnight is what you'll do all year long'?"

Brian gestured at the bar and the dance floor with his own bottle. "This looks pretty damned good to me."

"Yeah, you're right." Justin finished his beer and signaled the bartender for another. "It's just... Aw, fuck it. Never mind."

"Justin."

Leaning close to Brian, Justin whispered in his ear, "I want you to be making love to me at midnight, Brian. I want you inside me then."

Brian remained quiet, thinking. He watched the dancers on the floor, their muscles rippling in the ever-changing light. All those anonymous guys, waiting to be fucked, or Justin. The question was, did he want to stay with Justin, or keep his old life? He looked down into Justin's worried face and made his decision. Taking the new bottle of beer from Justin's hand, he placed it on the bar then grabbed Justin's hand and headed toward the door.

"Brian, where are we going?"

Brian didn't answer, just claimed their jackets from the coatroom. Once outside, he backed Justin against the brick wall of the club and gave him a hard kiss. "You want me to be fucking you at midnight, right?" When Justin nodded, he kissed him again, this time tenderly. "Well, I'm not going to do it in the backroom, not tonight, so we need to get back to the bed and breakfast."

"Really?"

"Really, so let's move, or you're not going to get your wish."

Justin smiled shyly up at him. "Cool."

Brian rolled his eyes and started in the direction of the bed and breakfast. Justin caught up with him and grabbed his hand. With a laugh, Brian began walking faster.

Thirty minutes later, low moans and gasps were the only sounds in the room. Brian rolled his hips slowly, Justin's tight muscles caressing his dick with every stroke. He leaned over and sucked gently on Justin's lower lip.

Justin lifted trembling hands, his fingers weaving through Brian's hair. "I love you, Brian."

Their eyes met for a second before Brian whispered, "I love you too, Justin."

The words, finally spoken out loud, triggered Justin's orgasm. His body arched as he came. "Ohgodohgod, Brian. Love you."

Brian groaned and with one last, hard thrust, came as well. He rested his head against Justin's heaving chest for a moment before pulling out carefully and tying off the condom. After a quick trip to the bathroom, he returned to the bed with a warm washcloth.

Justin opened sleepy eyes as Brian cleaned him. "Thanks, I don't think I had the energy to stand up after that."

"You mean the 'old man' has more energy than the teenager?" Brian teased, tossing the cloth toward the bathroom before he slid into bed.

Justin ignored the jibe as he wrapped himself around Brian. "Happy New Year, Brian."

"Happy New Year, Sunshine." Brian kissed Justin's hair and closed his eyes. It was promising to be a great year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 2, 2000

"Man, I don't want to leave," Justin griped as he followed Brian out of the bed and breakfast. He tossed his suitcase into the trunk of the rental car and climbed inside. Once Brian had started the car, Justin asked, "Can't we stay another day or so?"

Brian shook his head as he headed toward the airport. "Nope. I'm a partner now, and I've got several accounts that are due in the next couple of weeks."

"Great," Justin muttered. "I'll never get to see you, you'll be so busy."

Brian smacked Justin's thigh.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"You're acting like a spoiled brat right now. Don't forget, you're going to be busy too, with your last semester of school and the trail coming up."

Justin groaned. "Don't remind me."

"It'll be all right, Justin. Melanie's a good lawyer, she'll take care of you."

"I wish it was over already." Justin turned his head to stare out the window. "Will you... will you come to it?"

Brian took Justin's hand, twining their fingers together and squeezing. "I'll be there for you."