It had been several days since Michael had seen either Brian or Justin.  He didn’t know exactly what that meant, but he did have hope.  Hope that they were together.  Hope that they were trying to fix themselves.

He sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and pretending to read the paper he had in his hand.  Ben sat down across from him snatching the paper out of his surprised lover’s hands.

“Penny for your thoughts.”  Ben said softly as he sipped his tea.

“I haven’t seen Justin around the diner for a couple days.”  Michael began.  “And Brian hasn’t returned my calls for as many days.”  Ben nodded thoughtfully.  “I just wonder is all.”

“I know.”  

“What if I pushed too hard?  What if they broke it off for good and both of them are sulking somewhere?  What if. . .”

“Knock it off.”  Ben said softly.  “It’s the ‘what ifs’ in life that’ll kill you.”  Michael let out an exasperated breath.  “You can’t control what Brian and Justin do and I know how frustrating that can be, but, when they want you to know anything, they’ll tell you.  Right?”

“I know.”  Michael looked at his watch. “I gotta get to the shop.”  He shrugged on his jacket.  “Meet me at the diner for lunch?”

“Sure thing.”  Ben confirmed.  “Noonish?”  Michael nodded as he headed out the apartment door.

--

The morning crawled by as Michael had waited to meet Ben for lunch.  Every possible scenario for the reunion or breakup of Brian and Justin had run through his head.  He was a nervous wreck when he walked into the diner.  He did a double take when he looked at Justin.  The teen was smiling his 100-watt smile and laughing with some of the customers.  Then he saw Brian at the end of the counter.  Brian’s smile almost as bright as Justin’s.  Michael sighed with relief and made his way to the counter.

“Mikey.”  Brian called when his best friend sat down next to him.

“Hey, Brian.”

Brian moved closer to Michael and whispered in his ear, “Took your advice.”  Michael pulled back and smiled.  

“So, you guys are. . .”

“Yeah, we are.”  Brian smiled in Justin’s direction.  “It wasn’t easy.  I argued with myself forever.”  Brian continued to watch Justin flit about the dinner.  Michael had to admit to himself that the teen looked radiant.  “Then it just hit me.”  Michael turned back to Brian.  “Life is too fucking short, you know.”  Brian’s eyes went misty.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just, I was watching this news thing a couple nights ago.  About September 11th.”  Brian pressed his lips together.  “And, then I got to thinking about not having Justin in my life.  All the things I hadn’t told him.  What if something happened and I never got a chance to tell him?”  Brian sniffed.  “I don’t know how, I just ended up at his dorm.  I half expected him to slam the door in my face and yell ‘fuck you’, but he didn’t.  We sat up ‘til dawn just talking and crying and yelling and arguing.”  Brian looked Michael directly in the eye.  “I told him, Mikey.  I finally said the words.  You should have seen the light go on in his eyes.  It was brighter than the sunrise.  I had forgotten how much I missed that look.”  

“That’s great, Brian.”  Michael said with a shrug.  “I’m glad for you.”

“Liar.”  Brian teased.  Michael snorted a laugh then hugged his best friend.  They separated just as Justin whizzed by.  He buzzed Brian on the lips and hurried off to put in an order.

Then Ben moved in front of Michael and Michael smiled up at him.  Michael hadn’t seen his lover come in the diner.

“Hey.”

“Hey you.”  Ben looked at Brian and then back at Michael.  “Did I miss something?”

When Justin whizzed past them again, Brian grabbed his wrist pulling him into a long lingering kiss.  When Brian finally let Justin go, the teen laughed and pulled away.  

“Just the sunrise.”  

The end.