Kindred Love

Meet And Greet

Brian, Justin, Michael and Josh were all sitting in Michael's room on the floor and were laughing as they started to put away the scrabble game they had been playing.

"Wow, you guys really battled that one out!" Michael said laughing at Brian and Justin.

"Yeah, I can't believe how good you guys are at that game. I guess I'll need to drastically brush up on my vocabulary in order to be able to play with either of you," Josh said. Brian and Justin just laughed, and then looked at each other.

"Justin and I used to play this game all the time. It got to the point where we would always have our little dictionaries handy, and I guess it was a good thing. Both of us always got A's in English and Vocab in school as a result," Brian told them.

"Well, Bri, I know you won this one, but you know, I was just warming up. The next time we play, I intend to leave you in the dust," Justin told Brian with a mischievous smile on his face.

Brian smiled and rolled his eyes at the blond in response. "Yeah, we'll see about that," he told Justin.

Michael and Josh watched the interaction between the two. They were so similar. Despite the time they had spent apart, it hadn't seemed to affect their friendship at all. They still seemed as close as Brian had explained them to be before he left Philadelphia.

Justin looked around Michael's room, curiously.

"Michael, who is that superhero guy that you have all over your walls and bedroom?" He asked.

"None other than Captain Astro, the greatest comic book superhero ever," Michael said with a proud smile. Josh looked at his boyfriend, and smiled at him. He thought he was so adorable when he got all excited about his comic book hero.

"Here we go," Brian said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What?" Justin asked as he looked at them.

"Come on you guys. We all have things that we're into. Brian, you have soccer. Josh, you have your guitar; and I..." Michael reached over and picked up a Captain Astro action figure from his desk and held it up. "have comic books, or rather, Captain Astro," he finished.

"Come on, Mikey, you know we love you. But even more, we love to give you a hard time about your obsession," Brian told his cousin and mussed Michael's hair with his hand.

"So what's the deal with Captain Astro?" Justin asked.

"Well, he's a gay super hero," Michael said, proudly.

"Really? Wow. I never knew there was one," Justin admitted.

"Well, I have every single issue made. Feel free to borrow them any time if you want to read any," Michael offered.

"Thanks, I might take you up on that, Michael," Justin smiled.

"So Justin, what is it that you're into?" Josh asked.

"Uh, I draw and paint," Justin said shyly.

"Yeah, you guys should fucking see some of his stuff, he is awesome," Brian raved, which caused Justin to blush profusely.

"Cool. Did you bring some of your art with you?" Josh asked.

"Yeah," Justin replied.

"We'll have to be sure to check it out some time," Michael said enthusiastically.

"Sure," Justin said. "So, do I get to meet the rest of the gang tomorrow?" Justin asked, wanting to take the attention off of himself a little.

"Yeah, I called Emmett, and he said for all of us to meet at the diner tomorrow afternoon for lunch," Michael said.

"Speaking of food, I could sure go for a bowl of ice cream," Josh said.

"Mmm, me too. Ma just bought some Cookies N' Cream today. Let's go get some!" Michael said standing up and grabbing Josh's hand, pulling him up from the floor.

"You guys coming?" Josh asked Brian and Justin.

"Nah, I'm still full from dinner," Brian said, rubbing his belly.

"Yeah, same here," Justin said.

Josh shrugged at them. "Oh well, more for us," he winked at Michael. "I bet I can come up with some new and interesting ways of eating ice cream," he then added in a low voice and kissed Michael right under his ear, and start to suck on his neck.

Brian smirked, while Justin's mouth dropped to the floor. He'd never seen gay people interact intimately before. He couldn't believe that he was really seeing it. It was rather arousing, and he felt his stomach do a flip-flop.

"Josh," Michael giggled, blushing from what his boyfriend insinuated in front of the other two boys. Not that it didn't turn him on, though. He was already imagining licking off dripped ice cream from the other boy's chest, and other places, and felt himself get hard.

"Well, how about that ice cream," Michael said, pulling Josh out of the room, who was smiling like a fool.

Brian started laughing at Justin, who still had a look of shock on his face. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Especially around those two," Brian said.

"I didn't mean to seem so freaked out," Justin said softly.

"Don't worry about it. I don't think they even noticed. They were too busy drooling over each other," Brian said rolling his eyes.

"Are they always like that?" Justin asked.

"Oh, yeah. We all give them a hard time about it, but really, I'm happy for Mikey. I kind of admire what they have. I mean, it must be nice to feel that way for someone, and have the other person feel the same way back," Brian said.

"Yeah," Justin said as he avoided Brian's eyes nervously. "Brian, do... have you had a boyfriend?" Justin asked.

"Uh, no, not really. I mean, I have... friends," Brian said.

Justin gave him a confused look. "What you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I have messed around, but I've never had a boyfriend," Brian said.

"You mean you've, you know..." Justin whispered.

Brian laughed. He forgot that Justin was two years younger than him sometimes. He still mentioned sex like it was the forbidden word.

"No, I haven't done that yet," Brian said.

"Oh," Justin nodded, feeling his tense muscles relax.

"Well, there's this one guy..." Brian started. Justin's eyes darted up to look into Brian's, and he felt his heart fall. Brian was interested in someone.

"What guy?" Justin asked.

"His name is Todd. He's a friend, but we mess around a lot. Our other friends don't really understand what the deal is between he and I. It's complicated," Brian said.

"Well, do you like him more than a friend?" Justin asked, hoping that Brian didn't.

"No, not really. I mean, I care about him. He's a good friend, but I don't really want him for a boyfriend," Brian said. Justin inwardly sighed with relief.

"Do you think he wants you for a boyfriend?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think so. But, you know, if I was going to choose someone to lose my virginity to, I think I would choose him. At least I know I would be safe and could trust him," Brian said. Justin suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"Jus, are you okay?" Brian asked, seeing the expression on his friend's face.

"Uh, yeah. I think it's just indigestion. I'll be right back," Justin said.

"Um, okay. If you need some Pepcid AC or something, it's in the medicine cabinet, Brian told him.

Justin nodded without a word and quickly left the room, heading straight for the bathroom, and then locked the door behind him. He stood with his back against the door, and took some deep breaths, feeling a tear go down his cheek.

"Stop it. Don't do this to yourself," Justin whispered, as he wiped away the wetness from his face. It was proving more difficult than he thought to be this close to Brian again. He had all of these feelings coursing through him, and he couldn't do anything about it. He had revealed one secret to Brian, but the fact that he was in love with his best friend was something that he couldn't bring himself to tell him.

Hearing Brian talk about losing his virginity to some other boy - to someone he could trust, as he had put it, really just tore Justin apart. He wanted that other boy to be him. He wanted to be the one that Brian put that kind of trust into.

Justin splashed some cold water on his face and then took a deep breath, trying to get himself together. When he opened the bathroom door he was surprised to see Brian standing there in front of him.

"Are you all right?" Brian asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. False alarm," Justin said with a small smile. He started to walk back towards Michael's room, when he felt Brian pull his arm to stop him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Brian said. Justin looked at him questioningly. "Michael and Josh just went back in there, and they looked like they were ready to eat each other up," Brian smirked.

"Oh," Justin said. That was the last thing he needed to see.

"So I guess you're sleeping in my room tonight," Brian smiled.

It took everything he had to give Brian a smile. How was he going to be able to sleep in the same room as Brian? In the same bed?

"All right. Uh, you mentioned an air mattress..." Justin said casually.

"What's the matter, are you afraid I might try to ravish you in your sleep?" Brian teased.

Justin gave him a stunned look. "I... no... I..." he stuttered.

"That was a joke, Justin," Brian said. He frowned at the blond. "You've got to loosen up," Brian said, lightly squeezing his friend's shoulder.

"Sorry. I guess everything is just overwhelming to me right now. It's been a long day," Justin admitted. He was telling the truth about that.

"You want to go to bed?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired," Justin said.

"All right, I'll go grab the air mattress. I'll be right back," Brian told him.

After they set up Justin's bed on the floor, Brian turned out the lights and jumped into his own bed. It was silent in the room for a moment.

"Justin," Brian called softly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're here," Brian said.

Justin smiled. "Me too."

"Good night," Brian whispered.

"Good night."

Justin made up his mind that he would have to pull himself together. He would just have to force himself to either get over Brian or try to ignore his feelings for him. He was going to be visiting for a month. He needed to be strong, and not let his emotions get the best of him. He was determined to have fun while in Pittsburgh. He wouldn't let anything ruin this trip.

Brian, lay in the dark thinking. He could definitely tell something was bothering his friend. He had never seen him act so tense before. Justin was usually the calm and collected one. "Oh well. If there's something wrong, he'll tell me when he's ready," Brian thought to himself.

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

Brian, Justin, Michael and Josh were sitting at the table eating cereal when they heard the doorbell ring.

"Jesus Christ, how many more fucking kids are coming over today? This place is like a theme park!" Debbie said as she walked to answer the door. Michael just shrugged. He knew his mother loved the house to be full of people, and she liked all of his friends. Most of them were like her own kids.

"Michael! Emmett's here," Debbie yelled from the living room.

"We're in here, Em!" Michael yelled back.

"My, my. Did we have a little slumber party?" Emmett said as he walked into the kitchen and stood at the foot of the table. He wore a pair of lowrise blue jeans and a hot pink shirt with a sparkley rainbow across the front. As usual, his dirty blond hair was spiked up, and the tips were pink. He wore a little glitter on his face, and his lips were shiny from gloss. He immediately noticed Justin and licked his cherry flavored lips, and walked right over to him.

"Well, hello gorgeous," Emmett said to Justin, holding his hand out for him to shake it. Justin smiled at Emmett.

"Hi, I'm Justin," he told Emmett, shaking his hand.

"You sure are. Well, I guess you now already know that I'm Emmett. I'm also a Leo, my favorite color is hot pink, and I'm single," Emmett said. Justin looked at Emmett and gave a nervous laugh. He wasn't sure whether the other boy was joking around or being serious.

"Jesus, Em, will you give him some room? He just came out, you know. Besides, he's two years younger than you," Michael said.

"Really. I thought you looked kind of young. You sure are a cutie, though," Emmett said to a blushing Justin. "Well, honey, you just let me know if you're interested, and I'll teach you whatever you want to learn," Emmett told Justin with a wink.

Justin laughed. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," he told Emmett. He liked Emmett right away, even though he seemed a little out there.

"What are you doing here, Em, I thought you were going to meet us at the diner, later on," Brian asked, taking another bite of his cereal.

"Yeah, well, I thought it would be nice to come over and meet Justin first, and we could all hang out for a while, and then all go to the diner together," Emmett explained.

"So, Justin, tell me all about Philadelphia. Are the boys hot over there?" Emmett asked, taking the empty seat next to Justin. The blond laughed at Emmett's bluntness. Brian's friends were sure interesting.

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

The five boys sat in a booth at the Liberty Diner, chatting up a storm and laughing, while eating their late lunch. Justin was enjoying Brian and his friends giving him the scoop on some of the adventures they'd had during the school year. Justin couldn't remember when he had laughed so hard.

"So then Brian decided that he wanted to make synthetic cum, and he concocted this goo and put it on one of the toilet seats in the teacher's lounge. Little did he know, it turned out to be equivalent to super glue, and Mrs. Garretson got stuck to it!" Michael told Justin, laughing hard. He could barely get the story out between the giggling. Justin, along with everyone at the table was laughing hysterically.

"Oh, my God, Brian. I can't believe you actually did that!" Justin said trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard.

"Hey, I just came up with the idea for the synthetic cum. It was Todd who dared me to put it on the toilet seat," Brian defended.

"Did somebody say my name?" Todd suddenly appeared, smiling, and slid in next to Brian, and kissed him on the mouth. Justin was shocked by the boy's action, and he was starting to get that sick feeling in his stomach again.

Todd looked over at Justin and smiled. "You must be the infamous Justin," Todd said.

"Yeah. Hi," Justin replied, feeling a little uncomfortable, but still managing a forced smile.

"Brian's told us so much about you; I feel like I know you already," Todd said. Justin continued to smile but didn't say anything. "Shit, Brian, you didn't say he was hot," Todd said looking at Brian.

Brian frowned. "Well --"

"Do you guys have plans for tonight?" Todd asked, interrupting him. Everyone at the table shook their heads.

"My brother and some of his friends are going to party tonight at Granger Point. He said that if we behave ourselves, we can hang out out with them. There's going to be plenty of beer and weed to go around. You guys interested?" Todd asked.

Brian looked at Justin. "You want to go?" he asked him.

"Uh, sure," Justin shrugged.

"Count us in," Michael said, referring to himself and Josh.

"Me too," Emmett chimed.

"Cool. Around 7:00, tonight," Todd said.

"Oh, what about Teddy? Is he invited too?" Emmett asked.

Todd frowned. "Ted? Oh yeah. I mean if he wants to," he answered.

"Where has he been, anyway?" Josh asked.

"I don't know, I haven't really talked to him much lately," Michael said, staring down at his food, guiltily.

"Oh come on, Michael, you know what the deal is. Poor Ted has had a thing for you forever, and now he can't stand to see you and Josh here, pawing at each other all the time," Todd said.

"Shut up, Todd, you don't know what you're talking about," Michael spat, even though he knew it was probably true. He and Ted used to be close friends, but since he and Josh started dating, he hadn't really spoken to him much.

"Don't get mad at me for saying the truth. Ted has had a crush on you since, like the third grade."

"Come on, let it go," Brian said to Todd.

Josh remained silent as he started stroking the back of Michael's neck lovingly. Michael immediately relaxed at his touch.

Justin just observed what was going on and continued to eat the rest of his lunch. He had no idea who Ted was, but it was obviously a sore spot with Michael. If this Ted guy showed up at Granger Point tonight, things could get messy. He was going to be hanging out with a bunch of gay people, so he knew there was most likely going to be a lot of drama no matter what. He looked over at Brian, who gave him a reassuring smile, and he melted as he reciprocated a big smile in return.

It didn't matter. As long as he was with Brian and having fun, he didn't care what else happened around him. He had no idea that it would end up being a lot more complicated than he thought.