Justin crossed his arms and glared at Brian.  “You did kiss me.”

“Shut the fuck up.  I didn’t.”  Brian yelled.

“You are lying.”  Justin hissed.

Brian closed his eyes and started to rub his temples.

“I’m not going to tell anyone.”  Justin told him.

“That’s not the point.”  Brian told him.

“Then what is the point?”  Justin crossed his arms and waited for Brian to tell him.

“God!  You are so fucking annoying.”  Brian got up from the sofa with the intention of leaving but Justin pulled him back and made him sit down again.

“Talk to me, Brian.  What do you want?”  Justin asked.

Brian looked at the floor and wondered what he wanted.  There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted Justin.  But he wasn’t going to put himself through that again.  He had seen plenty of people including himself get hurt before.

“Brian.”  Justin leaned closer.  “It’s okay.”

“Don’t push me.”  Brian whispered.

Justin looked up at Brian and didn’t know what to say.  He didn’t know what Brian was telling him.  Did it mean that if he waited, things would grow into more than a friendship?  Justin was racking his brain trying to figure out what Brian meant by that.

“You are my friend and I don’t want to fuck that up.”  Brian got up and walked away.

Justin sighed and shook his head.  “I will just wait, Brian.”  He said to himself.  He wasn’t going to push Brian…too hard.

***

Justin and Brian were pushing each other at the edge of the pool.  Justin almost managed to push Brian in when the cell phone's ringing distracted him.  Brian laughed as he managed to push Justin instead.  He ran to the table and saw that his phone was the one that was ringing.

“Hello, Chris.”  Brian said smiling.

“Hey, man.  How are you doing?”  Chris asked.

“I’m okay.”  Brian told him.

“You are an asshole!”  Justin screamed.	

“Who is that?”  Chris asked.

“Some guy.”  Brian told him.  “I’m at the mall and he bumped into me.”

“Oh.”  Chris said.  “How are you doing?”

“Okay.”  Brian put his fingers on his lips as he looked at Justin.

Justin nodded and kept quiet.   He sat down in one of the pool chairs.  He hated that they had been interrupted.

“I miss you, man.  Hayden is driving us nuts.”  Chris said.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”  Brian told him.

“Ah, it’s okay.  Nothing we're not use to.  He's an asshole.”  Chris said.

“You don’t have to tell me.  I know.”  Brian said as he looked at the water in the pool.

Brian looked back at Justin who was staring at him and he smiled.  Justin smiled back and leaned back on the chair putting his hands on the back of his head for support.

“I’m sorry you are not here.  You could be having a great time.”  Chris told him.  “It was my fault.”

“Don’t say that, man.  It’s okay.  I’m okay.”  Brian assured him.  He really didn’t mind at all being here with Justin.

“Do you want me to bring you anything?”  Chris asked.  “I bought a few things already.  You are going to like them.”

“We’ll see.”  Brian told him.	

“So, guess what?”  Chris told him.

“Just tell me.”  Brian told him.

“Jenny is going out with William.”  Chris said.

“Good for her.”  Brian told him.

“Who do you like, Brian?”  Chris asked and laughed.  He wasn’t giving up so easy.  He was going to get it out of Brian.

“I told you I wasn’t going to tell you just yet.”  Brian said.  He rolled his eyes when he heard Chris laughing like a maniac.  He looked at Justin and his heartbeat accelerated.  He still could feel his lips against Justin’s.

“So, you haven’t done anything to go after this guy?”  Chris asked.  “You are a slow worker.”

Brian frowned and swallowed hard.  “I told you I wasn’t sure.”  Brian snapped.

Chris stayed quiet for a moment.  He sighed not sure what to say to the brunet.  “Forget about what happened, Brian.” Chris told him.

Brian took a deep breath.  “It has nothing to do with that.”  Brian told him.

Justin wondered what Brian was talking about. He wished he could hear the conversation on the other side too.  He wished he could read minds.  It would be so much easier to understand Brian.

“Well, let’s hope not.  Look, I have to go.  I’ll call you later.  I think Hayden did something to Jonathan and Kyle.”  Chris explained.

Brian shook his head.  He was glad that he didn’t have to deal with anything regarding Hayden or anyone else who wanted a fight.  He really was taking a vacation of his own.

“It’s okay.  Bye.”  Brian told him.

Justin looked at Brian and smiled.  “Your friend talks a lot.”  Justin told him.

Brian shrugged and put the phone on the table.  He crossed his arms and turned around to look at the pool.  He was just trying to get the conversation with Chris out of his mind.

“Is everything okay, Bri?”  Justin asked.

Brian nodded.  

Justin got up frowning.  He walked next to Brian and the look on Brian’s face told him that the brunet was thinking about something that was troubling him.  “Are you sure?”  Justin asked as he caressed Brian’s cheek.  “You don’t look too happy.”

“I’m okay.”  Brian told him grabbing Justin’s hand.  He looked at it before letting go of it.

Justin nodded and then smiled.  “There is something very important that I have to tell you.”  Justin said.

“What?”  Brian asked arching a brow.

Justin leaned forth and made as if he was about to tell Brian a secret.  Brian bent down a little and Justin smiled and pushed Brian into the pool.   The only thing was that Brian managed to grab hold of him and both of them ended in the pool.  When they surfaced, they were both smiling.  They were having the time of their life.  Justin was doing the best he could to keep Brian’s bad thoughts away and make him enjoy the time they had together.

***

“How pathetic is this?”  Brian asked coming out of their science class.  “You and I were the only two seniors in that room.”

Justin nodded and shrugged.  He really didn’t care.

“I am going to die.”  Brian told him.  “I’m not coming tomorrow.”

“You have to.”  Justin told him.  “We have a test.”

Brian groaned.

“Look at it this way.”  Justin said.  “We will be ahead of everyone else.”

Brian looked at Justin and shook his head.  He really didn’t care about being ahead of everyone else.  He wished he could stay at home with Justin and do absolutely nothing; not have to come to school every damn morning.

“This sucks big time.”  Brian said.

“Mr. Kinney and Mr. Taylor.”  Mr. Bloom said smiling.  “What miracle is this that you are not ripping each other's throats out?”

Justin looked at Brian and smirked.  He and Brian had changed a lot in the past few weeks.  With each day that passed, he felt the urge to choke Brian less.  “We’ll save that for lunch.”  Justin joked.  “We want to give everyone a show.”

Brian smirked and nodded.  The teacher laughed and shook his head.

“I’m glad to see that the two of you are making progress.”  Mr. Bloom told them.  “You are both good students.”

“Thank you.”  Justin said.

Brian didn’t say anything.

“I’ll see you around.”  Mr. Bloom said leaving them there.

“Wow.”  Justin said.  “He is right.  We are not killing each other.”

“That’s so strange.”  Brian mocked.  “The world must be really in its last minutes.”

Justin laughed and shook his head.  He looked at the schedule that had been made for them to follow.  “We have math now.”  Justin told him.

Brian shook his head.  If he could, he would cut class, but he knew he would only get Justin and himself into more trouble.  “This is so not fair.”  Brian told him.

Justin agreed and they started walking towards the classroom.  Brian bitched all the way while Justin tried to be positive about the whole thing.  Justin saw the positive side of it all very well.  It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that they would be ahead of the others, it was simply that Brian was there.

***

Justin sat down on the chair next to the brunet.  He looked at Mr. Kern who was working on some files.  He wondered if they were going to be sent on some kind of adventure, cleaning one of the messiest rooms or just left sitting there for hours trying not to fall asleep.

“Do you need help, Mr. Kern?”  Justin asked.

Brian rolled his eyes.  He looked at the blond and shook his head.

“No, that’s okay.”  Mr. Kern told him.

Justin shrugged and took out his sketchbook.  Brian put his head down but didn’t go to sleep.  He just stared at the blond and saw him concentrate and do a lot of faces as he drew something.

“What are you drawing?”  Brian asked Justin after a while.

Justin looked at Brian and bit his lower lip.

“Aren’t you going to tell me?”  Brian asked.

Justin didn’t really wanted Brian to see what he was doing.  

“Justin, I’m talking to you.”  Brian turned his body on the chair and arched a brow as he looked at the blond.

“I know.  I’m not deaf.  I can hear you.”  Justin said and went back to his drawing.

“Are you going to answer me then?”  Brian asked.

Justin looked at Brian and sighed.  He nodded at Brian.  “When I’m finish, I’ll let you see it.”  Justin told him.

Brian smiled and nodded.  He went back to resting his head on the desk.  He waited for what seemed like an eternity until Justin said he was finally done.  Brian lifted his head and looked at the drawing.  He was amazed to see himself on the page.

“Wow.”  Brian said.

“Do you like it?”  Justin asked.

Brian smiled and nodded.  He couldn’t believe that Justin had managed to trap him in the drawing.  “It’s fucking great.”  Brian told him.

“Thanks.”  Justin said.

Mr. Kern got up and pushed the chair towards the desk.  He looked at his watch and knew they should be there for another half an hour but the boys were getting better so he was going to ease up on them a little bit.  “You can go gentleman.”  The Principal told them.

Justin and Brian got up quickly.  Justin started to put his things inside his bag and Brian waited.  Mr. Kern picked his things up too and looked at them for a moment, stunned at what he was watching.

***

Peter looked at Derek like he was out of his mind.  He didn’t want to believe what he was hearing.  He shook his head and knew that his husband was way past the line of sanity.

“Are you sure?”  Peter asked frowning.

Derek nodded.

“I don’t know.  It doesn’t sound right.”  Peter told him.

“I’m telling you what I saw.”  Derek said to Peter.

“I think you are crazy.”  Peter told him.

“I’m serious.”  Derek said.  “They got up and started talking about something.  I think.  I don’t know.”

Derek got up and took his plate to the sink.  “Then Justin looked up and smiled at Brian and Brian pushed Justin’s hair away from his face.”  Derek told him.  “And I swear to you that I saw two guys in love.”

Peter frowned not sure what to believe.  He had seen Brian and Justin growing closer and the fights had stopped.   He just didn’t know about his husband’s theory.

“I don’t know.”  Peter said.

“Watch them close.”  Derek told him.

Peter shrugged and kept on eating his food.  He decided that he would keep a closer watch on Brian and Justin and see if it was true.

***

Justin opened his eyes to someone knocking on his door.  He rubbed his face and then looked at the clock.  He groaned and got up, wondering what was going on.  Then his heart started racing when he remembered that Brian hadn’t stayed with him.  He didn’t know what had happened.  Thing were going so well and then Brian got mad and left.  He rushed to his door and opened it.

“Mr. Taylor.”  Dora said.  “Brian is out there and he is looking for you.  He won’t come in.”

Justin took off running.  Dora was following him as fast as she could.

“He said it was an emergency.”  Dora shouted after Justin.

Justin nodded and wondered what was going on.  Then he was standing in front of the door.  He unlocked it and went outside.  He looked around in the darkness and wondered where Brian was.  “Brian.”  The brunet had assured him that things were going to be okay, but he shouldn’t have let him go.  “Brian?”  Justin asked again.

“I’m here.”  Brian whispered as he stepped out of the shadows.  “How did you know it was me?”

“Are you okay?”  Justin walked over to the brunet and stopped merely inches in front of him.  He pulled Brian’s hoodie away and saw the bruise with the little light coming from the moon.

“Justin, I…”  Brian said but didn’t finish.

“Shhh.  You don’t have to say anything.”  Justin said.  “Come on inside.”

“I don’t want anyone seeing me.”  Brian protested.

“Susan is away and Dora is the only one here right now.  Nora comes in the mornings and you don’t have to get out of bed.”  Justin told him.  “Dora is not going to say anything.  I think she even went back to her room.”

Brian nodded and walked inside with Justin.  He should have stayed with the blond but he was losing all his control around Justin.  Now, because of that, he had Justin looking at him like some weak kid.  Justin looked back at Brian and smiled.  He wasn’t going to let the brunet out of his sight anymore.

***

Brian knocked on the door and waited.  Lola opened the door and let him in.

“Could I speak to Mrs. Novotny?”  Brian asked.

Lola nodded and left.  She came back with Debbie and then left them alone.

“Hey, Brian.”  Debbie said hugging him and kissing him.  “Oh my god.  What happen to you?”

Debbie grabbed Brian’s face and saw the bruise adorning his face.  Brian frowned and pulled away from her.

“I was looking for Vic.”  Brian told her.  “But I didn’t find him.”

“Is there something wrong?”  Debbie asked.

“No, I just wanted to talk to him.”  Brian told her.

“I see.”  Debbie told him.

“I tried calling his cell, but he won’t answer it.”  Brian told her.  “Do you know where he is by any chance?”

“He is in New York, sweetie.”  Debbie told him.  “You missed him.  He came here to say goodbye to me a few hours ago.  He will be back in a couple of days.”

Brian frowned and nodded.

“He changed his cell phone number because he was having some trouble with the one he had.”  Debbie told him.

“Oh.”  Brian said.

“Maybe I can help you.”  Debbie told him.  “Come on.  Let’s go sit down.”

They sat down and Lola brought them something to drink.  Brian just kept staring at the floor not sure what to say.

“Brian, you are going to come and stay with me.”  Debbie told him.

Brian smiled at her.  “I’m staying with a friend.”  He told her.  “Thanks anyway.”

Debbie nodded.  “What did you want Vic for?”  She asked him a little bit worried.

“I just wanted to ask him some things.”  Brian told her.  “Really, it’s nothing big.”

“Ask me then.”  Debbie said.

Brian turned red and shook his head.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”  Debbie asked him.

Brian bit his lower lip and looked at her.  He might as well tell her before he exploded.  “It’s just that I like someone.”  Brian told her.

“Yeah.”  Debbie said.

“A guy.”  Brian told her.  “I think.  I don’t know.  I’m not sure.”

Debbie smiled.  “What do you feel when you see him?”  Debbie arched a brow.

Brian thought about it.  “I feel so lost.”  He took a deep breath and thought about Justin.  “When he is near me I just lose it.  I want…I want to kiss him but…I’m not sure.  He makes me feel things I never did before.  I don’t know.”

Debbie smiled at him.  

“I just don’t know what to do.  Even, even if we get to be together…well, it’s complicated.”  Brian told her.

“Don’t rush it, honey.”  Debbie told him.  “Just spent time with this person and see what happens.”

Brian just stared at her.

“If you guys are supposed to be together, then it will happen.  The rest doesn’t really matter.”  Debbie told him.

Brian smiled at her feeling a little less stressed.  He knew that she was right.  But he also knew it was easier said than done.  He shook his head and looked at his watch.  “I have to go, Deb.  There is someplace I have to go before going back to where I am staying.”  He got up and hugged her when she did too.  “Uh, thank you for listening to me.”

Debbie smiled and kissed him on the cheek.  “You are like a son to me.  If you need anything just let me know.”

“Okay.”  Brian told her.

“If anything happens just call me.  I’ll give Vic a call and tell him to call you.”  Debbie told him.

It was times like that when he wished that Debbie was his mother too.  He left the house and got in his car.  He was going to get some clothes at his house, hoping his parents didn’t give him too much trouble and then he had to go by the mall.  He looked at the time and hoped Justin didn’t worry.  He didn’t want the blond to go nuts thinking something had happened to him.  He frowned not knowing when the fuck he had started to care about what Justin thought.  He just knew that he had fallen for the blond.  He was going to have to work harder to keep the blond away.  He couldn’t get hurt again.

***

Justin was going out of his mind.  Brian had told him that he was going to pick up some clothes really quick but it had been hours now and the brunet wasn’t back.  He had tried calling Brian but the brunet wasn’t answering.  

“Hey.”  Brian said smiling at Justin.  He had come through the back of the house.

“Where were you?”  Justin asked a little angry.  He was mad that Brian drove him out of his mind with worry.  He was happy to see that Brian was okay.

“Just getting my stuff.”  Brian told him.

“You’ve been gone three hours.”  Justin told him.  “When you left, you said, 'I’ll be right back.'.”

“Sorry.”  Brian told him.

“Are you okay?”  Justin asked.  “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“Yeah.  My parents weren’t home.”  Brian told him.  “What is this?  Are we married?”

Justin rolled his eyes.  He was thankful that Brian’s parents hadn’t been there.  He didn’t want Brian to be subjected to his father’s abuse anymore.  “What took you so long then?”  Justin asked.

“I had to stop and talk to someone and then I wanted to be alone to think.”  Brian told him.

Justin licked his lips and nodded.  He understood that Brian needed to think about his life and wanted to be alone with no one bothering him.

“Also I…I…well, I went to the store to get something I had bought for you.  They were making a few things with it.”  Brian told him.

“You did?”  Justin asked surprised.  He couldn’t believe that Brian had gotten him something.  He was so happy but was trying to play it down.

“Yeah.”  Brian looked for it in his bag.

Justin watched Brian pull out a black velvet box.  Brian handed it to Justin and smiled.  Justin didn’t waste time in opening it.  He pulled out a bracelet that had his name on it and on the back said ‘Thank you’.  He smiled at Brian and then hugged the brunet.  Brian pushed him away, frowned and shook his head.

“Jesus, relax.”  Brian told him.   “What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”  Justin asked looking at his bracelet.

“I could have done without the hug.”  Brian told him.

Justin laughed.  “Okay.  This is great, Brian.”  Justin told him.  “Put it on me.”

“What am I?  Your boyfriend?”  Brian asked.

“No, but I only have two hands.  Come on, Bri.”  Justin said.

Brian rolled his eyes and took the bracelet from Justin.  He didn’t know what had possessed him to buy it for Justin but he had nonetheless and he wasn’t going to think about it.  He opened it and then put the bracelet on Justin.  “It’s platinum.  It will last forever.”  Brian told him.

Justin smiled.  “Thank you, Brian.”  Justin said.

Brian nodded and brushed his thumb over the bracelet.  He let go of Justin’s wrist and turned around to grab his things.  Then he went to the room he had been staying in and Justin stood there with a big smile, happy that Brian was okay.  There was no turning back now.  Things had definitely changed and they both knew it.



<hr>
I promise that in the next chapter there would be kissing and groping.  *Smiles*