Breaking The Rules

Wanting, Needing, Having

Brian's POV

I'm sitting at my desk and staring at the computer screen in front of me, but it's not really doing any good. I have been staring at the same sentence for the last 5 minutes. I think I've read it 20 times and I still have no idea what it says. My mind is elsewhere, and I can't seem to concentrate on work.

I sigh, put my computer on sleep mode, and turn off the monitor. It's been too quiet in the loft since Justin's been gone. Ever since the night we found Molly in his apartment two weeks ago, he's been staying at his mother's house, in his old room. He says he needs to be there for his family, which I understand. Still, I wish he would come back to the loft, if not just to get some much needed rest. I know he hasn't really been able to get much sleep. Molly's been having nightmares every night since the rape, and Justin seems to be the only one that can calm her down when they occur. It was only until two nights ago that Molly allowed her mother in the room to assist Justin in comforting her. I thought that it was odd that Molly wouldn't even let her mother touch her after a nightmare, but Justin explained to me the reason.

A few months ago he told me that during his senior year of high school, he was bashed by an asshole named Chris Hobbs. He was in a coma for two weeks and had nerve damage. The doctors said he would never draw again, but he proved them all wrong, pushing himself harder and harder; constantly exercising the muscles in his hand. Now when he draws or paints for too long a period of time, his hand starts to shake a bit, and cramp up. That was actually how I found out about the bashing in the first place.

I had gone over to his place to pick him up on our way to go to dinner, and he was working on a piece for his show. He had been at it for hours - how many I couldn't be sure. He said to give him a minute, and as I sat there on his sofa watching him create his beautiful art, I noticed that the hand he was painting with had started to shake. He cursed under his breath and shook it out a bit, and then tried to get back to his task, but it was a no go. His hand had had enough for one day, and I could see he was in pain.

When I asked him what was going on, he tried to gaff it off as nothing. I wasn't biting, though. I could tell that he was upset, but it was obvious he didn't want to talk about it, so I decided not to say anything just yet. After dinner, I asked him again about what happened, and he finally broke down and told me the about the bashing. I'm not a violent person at all, but after he told me what Chris Hobbs did to him, I wanted to find the little asshole myself and beat the shit out of him.

Justin told me that after the bashing, he had these horrible nightmares. Molly would hear his screaming cries in the night and would crawl into bed with him. She would hug him, and he would immediately feel comforted. She was the only one who he would let touch him when that occurred. The two siblings bonded over that.

After extensive therapy, and being accepted into PIFA, Justin's life slowly started to come back together for him. He was more determined than ever to be successful. When he found confidence again, and was able to take control of his life, his nightmares stopped for the most part.

The night that we found Molly in his apartment, I had never seen Justin look as shaken as he was. It was like he was reliving something. He was terrified for his sister. When I carried her trembling body out of the bathroom, we had no idea what had happened to her. Seeing his sister in that horrific state seemed to bring back memories of his own trauma all those years ago.

Now, it's like their roles have been reversed. Molly is having the nightmares, and Justin seems to be the only one she fully trusts. By being in the room next door he can be close by to hold her and calm her down when she wakes up screaming in the night. I know there's nowhere else he'd rather be, but I also know how hard it is on him. He's so exhausted, and has spent hardly any time away from his mom and sister.

I've spent a lot of my spare time over at Jennifer's, doing whatever I can to help out Justin's family, being there for them if they should need me. I have to admit, though. I deeply miss spending time alone with Justin. We haven't made love since he went back to his former home, and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't going out of my mind with sexual frustration. I know two weeks without sex may not seem long to some people, but when you're used to having some sort of sex at least 3 times a day or more, two weeks without it feels like an eternity. Using my hand to get by is just not the same.

Oh God, how I've missed the feel of Justin's soft, creamy white skin... his kissable lips... running my fingers through this silky locks... wrapping my mouth around his gorgeous cock... burying myself into his tight little hole... Fuck! I'm hot, painfully hard, and hornier than ever, and I miss my blond angel.

On that note, I reach for my cell phone which is sitting on top of my desk. Hopefully, I can convince him to come to the loft for at least couple of hours - or maybe even spend the night. When I dial his number, he answers on the second ring.

"Hey," he says quietly. His voice is like sweet honey to my ears, and he sounds pleased that I'm calling.

"Hey, yourself. How's everything going over there?" I ask.

"Molly just went to bed about 20 minutes ago," he says, and I hear him yawn.

"I miss you, baby," I whisper into the phone.

"I know. I miss you too. I wish you were here with me, but I understand that you have work to do," he says quietly.

"Actually, that was why I was calling. I couldn't get my mind off of you, and it looks like I'm not going to get any work done here. Do you think you could come to the loft for a while?" I ask him.

"I don't know, Bri. She just went to sleep. What if she has a nightmare?" Justin says hesitantly.

"Justin, you're exhausted. I'm sure your mom can handle it if something happens. Why don't you take a break? I really need to spend some time with you," I tell him. I know my voice sounds desperate, but I really don't care. I just want him with me.

"I want to spend time with you too... I need you, Brian. I need you so much right now," Justin sniffles, and I know that he's crying.

I breath a big sigh of relief that he's reaching out to me. I know how difficult it is for him to do that. I may have broken down a lot of his walls these past 6 months, but some of them remain sturdy and standing. He still has a hard time saying how he really feels sometimes.

"Do you want me to come and pick you up?" I ask him.

"No, it's okay. I'll come to you. I'll tell my mom that I'm going to the loft and then I'll be over. I'll see you soon," he says, sounding a lot more uplifted.

"I can't wait," I tell him, and then we both hang up. I smile, knowing that in less than a half an hour, my Sunshine will be in my arms.

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

Justin's POV

As I'm driving to the loft, I feel myself getting more excited to see Brian. We've hardly spent any time alone since Molly's rape. I've been sleeping in my old room at Mom's house so that I'll be close by in case they need me. It's been a very exhausting two weeks.

Molly still refuses to name who raped her. Even though she never admitted who is responsible, I'm almost positive that Grant is the one who is responsible. I knew there was something off about that guy, and now just thinking back to the way he kept staring and flirting with Molly sends a chill down my spine. For some reason though, she won't say it was him. I have a feeling that part of the reason is because she's afraid of what her friend Jenna will have to say about it. After all, Grant is her boyfriend. Maybe Molly is afraid that Jenna will blame her, or think she is lying.

Molly hasn't even told us what happened that night. We were able to get her to go to the hospital to have her checked out, but she refused to talk about what happened or who raped her. We keep hoping that she'll open up to us eventually. I have a feeling that partly the reason her nightmares are occurring is because she hasn't talked about the incident at all. She's been keeping everything bottled up inside.

She's tried to fool us all, by trying to act as if nothing ever happened and that she is okay, but when you see her, it's clear to see that she is definitely not okay. She doesn't have that light in her eyes when she speaks. Mom didn't think she was ready to go back to school so soon, but Molly insisted she wanted to go back. She was determined to keep things as "normal" as possible, in other words, remain in the state of denial, not to mention school and homework would help to keep her mind busy.

Aside from school, she hasn't left the house for any reason. She's kept her distance from her friends and has ignored the messages they have left for her on her cell phone. She's been dressing in baggy clothing, mostly sweats and over sized T-shirts. She hasn't been wearing make-up either, which may not sound too out of the ordinary, but you'd have to know Molly, to know that she lives for fashion and looking her best, and rarely goes a day without putting her make-up on. Her logic was simple:

"You never know who you might run into... maybe I'll be walking somewhere and I'll drop something, and the man of my dreams will pick it up, and when he hands it to me he'll realize that he's fallen madly in love with me at first sight! I want to make sure I look my best for my soul mate."

She had giggled as she batted her eyelashes and dramatically sighed at her perfect vision of romance. I laughed at her, knowing that she probably really did think that may happen and had actually admired her willingness to trust in fate and to find true love.

My mind has been so preoccupied with Molly that before I know it, I've arrived in front of Brian's building. I park, and turn off the ignition. I turn my rear view mirror to face me, wanting to check out my appearance before I leave the car.

Christ. I have bags under my eyes, and my face looks tired and pale. I look like shit! Oh well, hopefully Brian will still love me when he sees me in this state, instead of slamming the door in my face and running to his bed to hide under the covers.

I laugh out loud at myself and shake my head at myself for being such a drama queen.

I go into the building and take the elevator to the top, and before I even have a chance to knock on his door, Brian's already opening it, and pulling me inside. He closes the door behind him and smiles at me before leaning in to give me a sensual kiss. We both moan at the contact, and I wrap my arms around him tightly, not wanting to ever let him go.

He slightly pulls away, and holds my face in his hands, as he looks into my eyes.

"God, I've missed you. I've missed us," he whispers. I nod at him and smile.

"Show me," I whisper back hoarsely.

His lips crash against mine desperately, and we somehow make it to the bedroom. Our clothes are flying off in every which direction and we are completely naked in record time. He's sheathed and pushing into me, before I know it. We both moan, both having missed the feeling of our bodies being this close, and it feels electric every time a part of him touches my skin.

All worries, stress, frustration, anger, depression... it has all melted away as our bodies move in unison; our connection stronger than ever. I'm home.

As he looks into my eyes while we're making love, I feel an intense burst of emotions flow through me. There's no doubt in my mind that this man loves me. It's written all over his face. Maybe absence does make the heart fonder.

I feel myself getting closer to completion, and we still haven't broken eye contact. I'm lose myself in his dilated hazel orbs as I feel him fucking me harder and faster. We're both panting furiously, needing release. It's been too long...

I finally feel my hot essence leave me, shooting in streams between our bodies. I'm cumming without him even touching my cock, and I cry out from the intensity of my feelings for Brian and my orgasm as I ride out the waves of ecstasy.

"I love you," I whisper, without even thinking. I see a tear in Brian's eye, and then hear him cry out as well, knowing that he's finally releasing his seed deep inside of me. He's kissing me tenderly and lovingly, and we just lay holding each other for a few moments, not saying anything; the only sounds being our heavy breathing and our lips lightly smacking together as we kiss.

When we've come down from our "high" a bit, and I'm snuggled against his chest, I think about the words I let slip out of my mouth as I came.

"I love you too," he whispers right then, and I smile against his chest.

"I uh, didn't plan that. It just came out," I admit, burying my face into his chest, feeling a little vulnerable.

"That's how I know you meant it," he smiles, and kisses my temple and wraps his arms tighter around me.

"I do," I tell him.

"Baby, will you stay here tonight?" he asks, as he lightly strokes my hair. He knows I love it when he does that.

"I don't think I could get up if I tried," I laugh.

"Good, because I wasn't going to let you go anyway. You really need to get some well-rested sleep," he tells me. On cue, I start to yawn, and he chuckles.

"See? I know what I'm talking about," he says, tapping the end of my nose lightly with his index finger.

My eyelids are heavy, and I feel myself falling into a deeper state of relaxation, as I enjoy the warmth of our bodies resting against each other, and the security of his arms around me.

"Do you need to call your mom and tell her you're not going back to her house tonight?" Brian asks softly, and I barely catch what he's saying as I feel myself getting closer to my slumber.

"No. Told her I was staying," I mumble, my eyes now completely shut.

"Night, baby," he whispers.

"Mmmm..."

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

Justin's POV

I awaken to the smell of that delicious coffee that Brian makes. I stretch my arms over my head and then roll over to glance at the clock, and my eyes go wide seeing that it's after 10:00 a.m. I wonder what Brian is even doing home when he's supposed to be at work. I pull on my boxers and make my way to the kitchen, seeing a pot of coffee and a mug sitting out for me on the table.

"Hey, what are you still doing here, and why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I ask Brian, who is sitting at the table with his laptop open.

"Good morning to you too," he says with a smirk. I smile at him and then walk over to him and lean down to give him a soft peck on the lips. "There's some fresh croissants from that bakery down the street that you love so much," Brian said, pointing them out on the table.

"You didn't have to do that," I say with a appreciative smile, then take a seat in the chair next to him.

Brian never ceases to amaze me. He's so thoughtful, and always loves to do these types of things for me. They're small gestures, but they mean so much because really, it's the little things that count. He goes out of his way to make me happy, and it makes me feel so... loved.

"Just trying to keep on your good side - it ups my chances," he says with a wink, before turning his attention back to his laptop screen. I know he's only teasing, but I understand exactly what he's referring to. He's still waiting for me to give him an answer as to whether or not I'll move in with him. He's been so patient with me. It so happens that I have finally made my decision and planned on talking to him about it soon, it's just that with everything going on with Molly it hasn't seemed like the right time.

"Well this certainly does earn you some brownie points," I tell him as I happily pour myself some coffee and add all the usual stuff to it. I then pick up a croissant, and moan in pleasure after I take my first bite.

"Mmm. They're still warm," I mumble. Brian laughs at me.

"Didn't your mom ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full?" he says. After I swallow my food, I smile at him and shrug

"I must admit I wasn't big on listening to my mother when I was younger," I simply tell him. "So are you ignoring the questions I asked when I first came in here?" I ask him.

Brian closes his laptop and then turns all of his attention to me.

"I didn't wake you up because you needed to sleep. You were exhausted. I talked to your mom this morning and she said she wanted you to get some rest this weekend. It's Friday, and I thought we could spend the weekend together," he tells me.

"You mean I can stay?" I say playfully, pleased that I would be getting a break from being at my mother's house.

"As long as you earn your keep," Brian teases.

I get up to sit in his lap and kiss him deeply. "I promise," I whisper. He smiles and starts to kiss my neck, and then I frown when something else occurs to me.

"Wait - you didn't answer my other question. Why aren't you at work?" I ask.

Brian continues to kiss and lick my neck, making me moan.

"Well, I didn't have much going on at work today, so I decided to stay home and do whatever work I could from here," he says softly. "We deserve some quality time together, don't you think?" he asks as he stops his assault on my neck and looks into my eyes.

"Thank you," I whisper.

He doesn't say anything in response, he just captures my lips once again, and I can tell he's up for some quality time in the bedroom when he finally breaks our kiss with a growl and then drags me in that direction.

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

Brian's POV

Last night was amazing. I have made it a silent promise to myself that I will not ever let that much time go by without making love to Justin again. It was just too long, and we need each other too much to be apart that long. Then again, waiting does have it's good points. It was probably one of the most intense lovemaking we've ever had. As we moved together, all I could think of was that the only time I ever feel complete is when Justin is with me. He is home to me. This is where he belongs.

When he said he loved me for the first time last night, I got a little emotional. I've never expected him to say it to me. I know that he has a hard time trusting people and also with expressing his feelings, though he has been slowly been progressing with that. I feel grateful that he has done so, and that he trusts me that much to really open himself up to a person, after experiencing what he has in his past.

It's been a long, lazy day today, and Justin and I have made the most it by fucking and making love as much as our bodies have been willing to let us. It's nearing 6:00, and I figure that we should probably get out of the loft and do something other than each other, so I suggest going to Babylon. Justin is up for it, and we both shower and get dressed and finally head out for a night of drinking and dancing.

After arriving at the club and getting our drinks we spot Michael and Emmett and walk over to talk to them.

"Hey baby! It's good to see you again," Emmett says happily and gives Justin a hug.

"You too, Em," Justin smiles.

Michael looks at me with a slight frown.

"Where have you been? I've tried to call you like a hundred times," he says and I can see that he's a little put out.

"A lot has been happening Mikey," I simply tell him.

"Like what?" he asks.

I glance at Justin and see that he looks a little uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry I can't really get into it. It's a personal matter," I tell him. Justin turns to me and gives an appreciative smile. I give him a slight nod and squeeze his hand. I'm not about to tell Michael what happened with Molly; it's none of his business.

Michael looks like he's about to say something, when Justin suddenly turns his attention to him.

"So, um, where's Ben?" Justin asks him, changing the subject.

"Oh, he's at home working on his book," Michael answers.

By the way Justin changed the subject pretty quickly, I can tell by the expression on Michael's face that he understands that the personal matter has to do with Justin as well, and is probably not going to push for answers, thank God. I'm hope so.

"So sweetie, I hear you have another show coming up," Emmett pipes in, and I'm grateful that he has. Justin nods at him.

"Yeah, in a couple of weeks," he answers with that shy smile of his that makes me want to eat him alive. I wrap my arms around him from behind and kiss his temple.

"I'm so proud of my successful little artiste," I say with a smile, and I see him blush.

"Brian," he says with an embarrassed grin. I then laugh at him. He's so easy sometimes. I love his modesty. He knows he's good, but he never brags about it or is ever full of himself, which is more reason for me to give him praise.

"What, Sunshine? I'm proud of you, and there's nothing wrong with bragging to my closest friends about how wonderful you are," I tell him. His smile just about lights up the whole damn club, and then he grabs the back of my neck and pulls me down for a sensual kiss.

"Don't you two ever stop?" Michael laughs, rolling his eyes at us. Little does he know that we've hardly even seen each other much in the last two weeks. It feels so damn good to be close to Justin again, that I find myself touching, kissing and caressing him every chance I get, not wanting to break the contact.

"Oh no, please don't," Emmett sighs, fanning himself with his hands. We both look over at Emmett and laugh at him.

"Em, if you keep gawking at us like that all night, we're going to have to charge you," I tease.

"Honey, it would be worth every penny," he replies. We laugh again, and I look over at Justin, so happy that he's having a good time tonight. I know he's really needed this.

After a while I pull Justin with me onto the dance floor, and we dance without stopping for over 2 hours, swaying and grinding together to the thumping beat of the techno trance music. The expression on Justin's face makes me so glad that I had asked him to spend the weekend with me. His eyes are closed, and his face relaxed and content as he moves his hips and body against mine. He's in his own world, and I can tell that at the moment his worries are forgotten.

I slide my hand down his back and over his ass, giving it a firm squeeze as I lick his neck, enjoying the taste of his salty skin. He pulls me closer to him and moans. I lick my way up to his chin and eventually get to his mouth, which is readily waiting to be kissed. We kiss and kiss, as if we haven't kissed in ages. Finally we pull apart, and Justin looks up at me with a mischievous smile and grinds his hardened cock into mine.

"Wanna get out of here?" he asks.

"Let's go," I nod, and practically pull his arm out of the socket as I lead us out the door of the club and to the car.

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

Justin's POV

Brian and I can't get back to the loft fast enough. We don't even make it to the bedroom once we enter his place. He pushes me onto the sofa, and immediately we attack each other, our clothes flying in every direction, and our kisses urgent. We end up falling off the sofa, but it doesn't even phase us. We just keep going at it on the floor, right where we landed, and when he finally enters me, I can only scream out in relief that we're whole again, and that he's filling me the way I need him to, in mind, body and soul. It's a fast, passionate, hard, fuck - and it feels absolutely amazing.

"Wow," I tell him, trying to catch my breath as he pulls out of me, discards the condom and then rests his head on my chest.

"Yeah," he agrees, breathlessly.

"Mmm, I think I'll keep you," I purr, as I lean down to kiss him.

"Good to hear, Sunshine," he tells me with a smile.

I sigh. I guess this is as good time as any to finally have our discussion.

"Speaking of..." I start to say, and he suddenly looks up at me nervously.

"Wait, before you say anything, why don't we shower and then get into bed. Most all serious discussions end on a good note when they take place in bed," he says with a smile, and pulls me up to my feet and into the direction of the bathroom.

We're mostly silent as we shower. Me, because I'm thinking about what I'm going to say when we get into bed and tell him my decision. Brian is probably strategizing what he's going to say to convince me I'm wrong in case I don't say what he wants to hear. Yeah, I know what he's up to. I know that the real reason he wants us to talk in bed is so that if I happen to say that I don't want to move in with him then he can try to change my mind with sex.

After we've dried off, brushed our teeth, applied deodorant and hopped into bed, we lay on our sides facing each other, our hands linked together. Brian looks a bit nervous still, and I give him a little smile to help calm his nerves.

"So, I've been thinking a lot about what you asked me," I start off.

"Okay," Brian nods slowly and stares into my eyes.

"And... I've decided that I really don't want to stay at my apartment anymore," I tell him, and see a look of relief on his face. "Especially since Molly's rape - I can't stand being there; not to mention it would be too painful for Molly to come visit me at the place she was attacked. I see no reason to live there anymore," I tell Brian. He nods in understanding, and he has a hopeful look on his face.

"And?" he asks.

I look at him, and caress his cheek. "And... something I've come to realize, especially lately, is that when I'm with you, that is the only time I ever really feel that I'm home. You are home to me," I tell him. He gets this huge grin on his face, and I return the smile, knowing that he's going to be happy with what I have to say.

"So..." he presses.

"So... what I was thinking is that I'll agree to move into the loft. We'll see how it goes for a while here, and then eventually when or if we both feel comfortable about it, maybe we could talk about looking for a new place for us," I say.

"Justin," Brian says beaming from ear to ear. He's looking at me like I've just made all his wishes come true, and suddenly I feel his lips on mine. We kiss for quite a while before finally pulling apart, and when we do, I've almost forgotten what we were talking about before. Almost.

"I take it you're pleased with my decision?" I grin.

"More than you'll ever know," he says, smiling back at me and stroking my cheek softly with his hand. "I love you," he whispers. My heart swells at his words, and I stare into his hazel orbs, seeing the truth in them.

I reply silently by kissing him again. I feel him reach for my naked cock and I moan into the kiss. I let him make love to me again. This time though, it's slow, gentle, and tortuous. Afterwards, we're laying in each other's arms, and I realize that this is the most relaxed I've felt in a long time. We lay there silently for a while, and I think that Brian must be dozing off, when I hear him sigh and then start to speak.

"Justin, I have a confession to make -- there's something that I've been keeping from you," he says softly.

I'm immediately tensing up now and my mind is running wild with worry. No. This can't be happening. Just when I've started to fully trust Brian and have allowed myself to be happy with him, he's going to spring some shit on me.

"Baby, relax. It's not as horrible as you're probably thinking," he assures me, with a little smile and rubs my back softly to calm me. I exhale, not sure what is in store for me. He pulls away from me and rolls over towards the end of the bed and reaches into the bottom drawer of the nightstand. He pulls out a little box, and I feel my pulse race as I wonder what is going on.

"Brian," I say nervously.

"Shhh," he says, and opens the box. I stare at what's inside and feel my eyes dampen at what Brian is holding out in front of me. "I believe you've been looking for this," he says, and hands me a ring. Wait a minute - that's my ring. The ring that I thought I lost that I've been going crazy over.

"You've had my ring this whole time?" I ask him incredulously.

Brian nods at me with a slightly guilty look on his face. "I noticed that it was in need of a little TLC, so I took it to the jeweler and got it cleaned up and added a little something to it," he admits, and hands the ring to me.

I take the ring, and see that it has indeed been cleaned and buffed, and that its previous scratches are no longer visible. I don't see any additions to it though.

"There's an inscription on the inside," he tells me with a smile. I hold up the ring, and see 'In Loving Memory of Benjamin Arthur Taylor' engraved in italics. I feel myself tear up, and then look over at Brian, who is watching my reaction tentatively.

"Brian, I can't believe you did this," I tell him.

I want to be angry with him. He took my ring without asking me, letting me believe that I had carelessly lost it. I about went out of my mind trying to figure out what could possibly have happened to the damned ring. I felt so awful about it being gone. It was given to me by my grandfather when I was 15, and is extremely meaningful to me. Grandpa Ben and I were always close, and I was devastated when he passed away from a heart attack just one year later after he had given me the ring.

Grandpa Ben was an amazing man, and I really looked up to him. We had this great bond that I guess he and my father never had. They never really got along. Grandpa was very open and liberal, which was one of the reasons he and my father clashed. I told Grandpa I was gay before anyone else, and I'll never forget his reaction. I was scared out of my mind as I waited to hear what he had to say about it.

"I'll always be proud of you, Justin," he told me with a broad smile. "Don't ever let anyone make you hide who or what you are. There are a lot of ignorant people in this world, and a lot of hate, and you will experience a lot of prejudice because of it, but you just have to say, 'Fuck 'em all,' and go on living your life as the person you truly are. You may lose friends, and even family, but if they can't love and accept you just because you happen to love in a different way as they do, then they aren't worth keeping around, nor do they deserve having a place in your life to begin with."

I remember how relieved and shocked I was at the same time after he said those words to me. He then gave me a reassuring hug, and said, "Now, why don't you show me all the recent sketches you've done?" And that was that.

My mind is brought back to the present as I hear Brian calling my name.

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

Brian's POV

He's just staring at the ring, seemingly lost in thought, and I can't tell for sure if he is upset with me or not for taking his ring.

"Justin," I call out to him softly, and touch his cheek softly. He looks up at me and then gives me a sad smile.

"Thank you, Brian," he says just above a whisper, and then slides the ring onto the finger it's always occupied.

"Your welcome. I'm so sorry if you were really upset about it being missing - I just wanted it to be a surprise," I explain.

"Oh, I was plenty upset, but I'm just glad that I have it back, and also that I'm not crazy," he tells me with a chuckle, and I laugh with him. His face then softens as he looks into my eyes. "And now, this ring is even more special because of your thoughtfulness that was put into it, and so now it holds sentimental value for two reasons," he says.

I hug him tightly now, relieved that he is pleased with my surprise, and that he is not angry over it. I wasn't sure how he was going to react, knowing how much this ring means to him. He's told me all about his grandfather and the close relationship they had.

We end up making love all throughout the night. We sleep briefly between rounds, then one or both of us wake up and rouse the other for another go. We just can't get enough of each other. I can't remember ever being so happy.