Justin's cell phone rang a little after eleven and he jumped from the noise. "Ethan? Where are you?" Justin reached for the lamp next to him and flicked on the switch.

"They make caller ID so that you can avoid these embarrassing mix-ups." Brian spoke coolly into the receiver as he paced in front of the large window at the loft. He'd set the empty bottle of Beam down on the windowsill on his last pass before the window. The last eight hours of watching Gus play and quietly contemplating the events of Ethan's earlier visit, had given Brian a taste for blood and there were a few things that he wanted to know from Justin's own mouth.

"Brian. Why are you calling me?"

"I'll give you a hint. I've been keeping company with Jack Daniels and Jim Beam and now I want some company from you. The three J's or something like that." Brian crossed the room slowly and let himself sink into an armchair.

"You're drunk. Where's Gus?" Justin rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked around for any sign that Ethan had come back.

"I'm not drunk and Gus is out like a light. Never doubt the power of cold medicine on a two-year old. Now like I said, we need to talk."

"You've never once said that sequence of words to me so you should just go to bed and sleep it off." Justin made a groggy attempt to hang up the phone but Brian's next words froze him stiff.

"You asked me a question today. Don't you want to hear what I have to say?" On his end of the line was Brian sober enough to know exactly how to bait Justin and he'd fully expected that this would be enough to pique the other man's interest.

"I shouldn't have said any of what I said today. It didn't mean anything. Like you said..."

"Justin. Call a cab and come over. I'll give you back the money for it when you get here." Brian hung up as soon as he'd finished these words.

"Bri..." Justin sighed deeply as he let the steady dial tone drown out the last bit of protest he'd planned to offer. He looked around slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the new light in the room. His watch told him that it was close to eleven o'clock and by the looks of things his earlier fight with Ethan hadn't been an unfortunate dream.

Justin swung his legs over the edge of the little sofa as he sat up. He'd dropped his cell phone on top of the rumpled pile of sheets next to him and now he pushed the sleeves of his pullover up his arms. Every nerve in his body told him not to go anywhere near Brian tonight and warned him that things could only get worse from this point on.

"What am I going to do?" Justin asked the empty apartment and the tenants sleeping on the other side of the paper-thin walls.

Almost in answer to his question, he'd heard the entry door slam shut a few floors below. The decision seemingly having been made for him, Justin stood and turned to face the door when he heard the key turning in the lock.

"You're still here." Ethan drew his brows together as he eyed Justin across the room.

"I told you that I would be." Justin stated matter-of-factly. It had suddenly and uncomfortably dawned on him that had he followed Brian's summons, he wouldn't have been here when Ethan got back. It had also dawned on him that he hadn't even listed this promise to stay as a reason not to go and see Brian tonight.

"Well...I'm kind of glad that you are here. Gives me a chance to finish what I started." Ethan's bag had been slung over his chest and he pulled the strap over his head as he moved toward Justin. Having deposited the bag and his violin case next to the still warm sheets on the sofa, Ethan came to stand directly in front of the other man. He was trying to think straight as he attempted to empty his mind of images of Justin's life before him. He'd been in Brian's presence and Brian's world for only a few minutes but it had been enough to mark him with some essence of Justin's life there. Ethan could see them together in that loft...on the sofa, in the bedroom. He could still remember Brian's height and Brian's size and all he could seem to see was a much smaller Justin disappearing into the strength of Brian's arms.

"There's nothing that you need to finish." Justin took one tentative step closer and hoped that it looked more natural than it felt.

"Yes there is. I've been thinking about how things really are, not just how I want them to be. We did this too soon and we did it all wrong Justin." Ethan focused on a spot on Justin's cheek as he spoke, not quite having the strength to meet his eyes. "You're with me to forget about him and I can't stop thinking about that. I'm a fucking distraction and I don't want to be. I don't want to feel like that." Ethan let out bitter half-smile as he spoke and he finally met Justin's stare when he finished his words. "He didn't make you feel good, so you left. You don't make me feel good, so I'm asking you to leave."

"I don't want to leave." Justin stepped in close and grabbed for Ethan's face as he spoke. He'd held the other man's face in his hands and tried to make Ethan see him and hear him. "I don't want to leave."

Ethan stepped back and away and held his hand up in warning to Justin, not to come any closer. "He probably won't bother you so you can use the time to figure yourself out. Figure out what you want and who you want it from." Ethan pushed his hair out of his eyes as he turned to move away.

"What are you talking about?" Justin followed and Ethan headed toward the bathroom.

"I went to see him. Told him this was all bullshit. He probably won't bother you for a while and so this'll give you a chance to..." Ethan had kept his back to Justin as he went rifling through the small medicine cabinet in the bathroom. He'd stopped speaking when he had found what he was looking for. Gravol in hand, he hadn't even noticed that Justin, who had been hot on his heels, had now stopped dead in his tracks.

Ethan slid the mirrored door to the cabinet shut and took in Justin's reflection.

"You went to see Brian. To tell him what?" Justin's brow had furrowed and part of him couldn't identify why the simple fact that Ethan had gone to see Brian made his face feel so hot.

"To tell him to give you a chance. No bullshit games, no using you against yourself. Just to give you a chance to figure things out for yourself and to leave you alone."

"Why the fuck would you do that? I told you what I wanted. Why isn't that good enough?" Justin pulled his hands out of his pockets and braced them against the frame of the door.

"It doesn't matter what you say. You've got to see that if Brian wants it that way, you'll go back. No matter how many reasons there are for you to stay away. If he wants it, you'll go back. I don't even know him and I can see that, why can't you?"

"I'm not a child so don't treat me like one. You don't have to take care of me or look out for me where my non-relationship with Brian is concerned. I'm telling you what I want and that should damned well be good enough for you." Justin slammed a palm against the doorframe as he turned to walk away. He'd felt Ethan following him and had turned around when he felt the other man's hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know what it is, but you can't seem to see what's going on here. I don't want to be second best Justin. I don't want to be your distraction. It won't last. You'll get tired of it and I'll get tired of it and all of this, everything I feel for you will have been for nothing." Ethan's breath came out hot and fast against Justin's face. "I want you to go and figure out what you want. I want him to stay the fuck away from you so that you have a chance to do that. I don't want you to stay here and pretend anymore because I can hear you when you try to turn his name into a moan while we're fucking and I can see you when you look through your sketchbook at his face." Ethan jerked his hand away from Justin's shoulder and dumped himself into the nearest chair. He hadn't meant for any of those last few words to come out and he'd been pushing himself to keep his eyes dry until Justin left.

There was no denying any of it when spoken so bluntly and Justin forced himself to sit down across from Ethan. He'd lowered his eyes a little and found his sneakers where he kicked them off before falling asleep in his clothes. Justin methodically pushed one foot and then the other into his shoes and laced them without looking up at Ethan's face.

Shoes on, Justin leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs as he spoke quietly. "If you had been listening to me so carefully over these last few weeks, you would have heard me tell you what I hated most about the way Brian did things. I hated that the person I was with could go through an entire conversation with both of us talking and never once hear a word that I'd said. I hated that he would underestimate the things that I felt and would decide for me what he thought best. I never once thought that two people so different from each other would have this much in common."

Justin stood up and grabbed for his backpack before heading toward the door.

Twenty-minutes later, Justin tried Daphne's intercom repeatedly before crossing the street to use the payphone. He waited for the tone to follow his friend's all too cheerful greeting before leaving his message. "Daphne? Where are you? You haven't had a date for a month and tonight is the night you pick to not be at home." Justin turned around in the telephone booth to look out at the busy street. He'd thought Daphne his best option for the night and was more than sure that she would have been there to answer his call. "Sorry. I don't mean to sound like an asshole, I just needed a place to crash tonight...As you can imagine, I've once again found myself homeless...Don't try calling my cell if you get this, I forgot it at Ethan's. I'll call you tomorrow since I might need to use your couch tomorrow night anyway." Justin replaced the receiver and dropped his head against the back of the booth as he thought out his next move. A third taxi had passed him in as many minutes and he gave some thought to going to the loft. His better judgment still told him to stay away from Brian and the fact that his own feelings confirmed Ethan's suspicions about Brian, somehow made Justin all the more angry with Ethan.

Justin thought about going to Debbie's and then thought against it as well. The last thing he wanted was for Debbie, his mother or Brian to find out what had happened with Ethan. His turning up on her doorstep at close to midnight would ensure that Debbie would update each person on that short list about the details of this failure within hours. Having decided that an open studio at school was his best bet for shelter tonight, Justin hailed the fourth cab he spotted.

He planned to pretend he was working on a project if he ran into anyone there and find a quiet spot to tuck in for the night when he was sure he was alone in the place. He'd been thinking hard about what he would do from this point on and he'd given the driver the address that he wanted to go to.

The last time any student or faculty at P.I.F.A. checked, the address of the campus wasn't, "...six Tremont."

"Justin, where are you?" Brian huffed into the receiver as soon as he heard the line open on the other end. He had cut off the other voice that had spoken up and made an "embarrassing mix-up" of his own. He'd been steady enough on his legs and in his head to process the fact that it had been an hour since he'd spoken to Justin, but he'd been blurry enough to miss the fact that it wasn't Justin on the other end of the line.

"I'll bet you that hundred dollar bill that you dropped in my case that he's on his way." Ethan spoke flatly before snapping the little phone shut and tossing it back atop the pile of sheets.

Several blocks away, Brian hung up and dropped the portable beside his outstretched legs. He'd been sitting in one of the armchairs in front of his muted television and he stroked a hand over his lips as he replayed Ethan's words and tone.

The bastard had been stupid enough to tell Justin they had spoken and now Brian wondered what he had started in calling Justin to the loft tonight.

Justin closed his eyes and let his thoughts fade away as the cab glided through the dark streets. He'd come alive only when the driver announced that they were there and he immediately wished himself dead when he realized what he'd done.

He had enough money for a ride from Daphne's to the campus and had he been more alert, he would have realized that the ride was taking much longer than usual. Now Justin had only enough to cover this ride, but not enough to pay the driver to take him back to where he'd been picked up, let alone to P.I.F.A. Resigned to his fate, he paid the man quickly and got out. Staring up at the lighted windows on the top floor, Justin swallowed hard and convinced himself that he could do this.

Brian wanted to give him some answers that he wasn't sure he wanted and if he were lucky, their discussion would eat up some of the night and leave only a few hours in which he'd have to sleep in the park.

Justin fished his key to the building out of his pocket and then put it back. He walked over to the intercom and dialed the numbers slowly. He hadn't had to use this method of entry in a long while and he'd actually had to think hard to remember the code that rang in Brian's loft.

Four floors up, Brian had watched the cab pull away and then crossed the space to the door. He'd listened to Justin announcing himself and had unlocked the entry door without so much as a word of his own.

Brian had gone back to check on Gus before returning to the living area and pacing small circles in front of the couch. It had taken the sound of the elevator reaching his floor, to make him settle down and sit down.

"It's open." Brian called out and watched Justin quietly slide the door back on its tracks and step inside. "Why didn't you use your keys?"

"Because I don't live here anymore." Justin answered brashly as he reached into his pocket, pulled some keys off his key ring and deposited them on the table in front of Brian. He raised his eyes to meet Brian's stare only after he was done.

"You gonna sit down?" Brian had watched him with a slight detachment before he spoke up again. He could feel his heart hardening just that extra bit more as Justin complied.

The younger man had lifted his bag off his shoulder and set it on the floor between his knees as he sat down in a chair facing Brian. The distance between them was occupied by a coffee table, two keys that represented the past and a silence that had cost them so much already.

Justin tried not to take in too much of the place and kept his attention narrowed on Brian. He'd felt nostalgia and genuine homesickness from the minute he entered the creaky freight elevator. Instead of looking around, Justin focused on the look of Brian's face in this slightly dimmed light and noticed details that seemed new to him even though he'd last seen the man only that morning. Brian had put one foot on the coffee table in front of them and Justin took in the way the fabric of the black pants Brian wore stretched over his thigh and leg; the unbuttoned black of Brian's shirt providing its own sharp contrast to the warm coloring of the man's chest and the exposed nipple that Justin could see.

"Did you leave for good?" Brian spoke and Justin took in the deep gray tone that Brian's eyes had absorbed in this lighting.

Justin's thoughts had wondered back to the last time he'd made note of this gray and he could see Brian and he together in the bedroom that he refused to look at. He could see Brian holding him in the doorway and he could feel the man's lips touching down on the bare skin on his neck and back. He could see himself backing away from Brian and laying himself out on the bed naked and open for anything Brian wanted. He could see Brian watching him and smiling while unbuttoning a gray shirt that matched this exact shade and Justin remembered thinking himself luckier than even Brian. He was luckier than Brian because Brian didn't get to see how beautiful he looked in moments like these.

"That's none of your business Brian." Justin responded softly. Not even a second had passed since Brian had asked his question and Justin still managed to process the fact that the man knew about the state of affairs with Ethan. Justin had answered without giving away any of his thoughts.

Justin watched Brian roll his lips into his mouth before taking a breath. Brian had been running slow circles across the fabric of the sofa under the pads of his fingers and Justin recognized the slow and deliberate movements for what they were. If Brian Kinney ever did `nervous' or `uncertain', this is what they would look like.

The two sat in silence again and Brian considered his options. He'd had to regroup after calling Justin's cell and now he didn't quite know what the plan was. Having called Justin over here initially in a half drunk hope to punish him some more, punish them both some more, a slightly more sober Brian didn't know where to go from here.

"Don't you want to know what I said to him earlier when he was here?" Brian offered. His tone had taken on a slight teasing. He'd hoped to get some insight into exactly how much more trouble had developed in paradise over the last few hours.

"No. It doesn't matter." Justin wanted to silence Brian's train of thought. He'd also been well versed on how Brian reacted whenever he was nervous or uncertain about something. Brian would bite back and Justin was familiar with the fact that Brian's bite could be a million times worse than his bark.

"I told him not to tell you that he came here. The little fucker obviously didn't listen."

"You deciding what's best for me again?" Justin replied hotly and more loudly and Brian tried to gauge which nerve he'd hit.

"Keep your voice down or Gus'll wanna join the party." Brian dropped his foot away from the coffee table and stood up. He crossed the room to turn off a light on his desk and room grew a little dimmer around them.

"Brian, what did you want me here for? It's after midnight and you didn't give me a chance to say no. Not that you ever do but..." Justin spoke pointedly again and let the last of his words hang in the air.

Brian had been moving back to his place on the sofa and on hearing that last comment, he stopped as he passed close to Justin. "I always gave you choices. You did with them what you wanted. Stay or go. Do or not to do. It was always your choice." Brian spoke slowly as he pushed a hand through his hair. He hadn't turned to face Justin as he spoke.

The other man raised his head to see Brian's face and disregarded the genuine discomfort that seemed to be written there. "You didn't give me a choice. Or at least not the ones you thought." Justin dropped his eyes away from Brian's face and leaned back in the chair.

Brian turned and studied Justin for a moment before raising his own eyes and looking across the room. Justin wasn't leaving much room for Brian to be kind tonight and the man felt his own pain lurking somewhere below the surface; that same pain that had been following him all these weeks and that Brian had been reacting so badly to.

"You had no choice huh?" Brian laughed a little. "This is starting to sound familiar. Fucking blame it all on Brian, right?"

"I'm not blaming anything on you. I apologized for what I did even though I know that means shit to you. I'm just telling you how I felt."

"Brian wasn't nice to me so I had to find someone else to play with. The fiddler was nice to me so I had no choice but to play with him." Brian teased out his words in a singsong tone as he crossed the room to kitchen. He occupied his hands with locating the remains of his Jack Daniels friend and pouring himself some cool comfort.

"Fuck you." Justin lowered his eyes and shook his head slightly. This condemnation of Brian didn't have any power behind it or any of the hotness with which Justin had spoken just before. He hadn't even really been addressing his words to Brian. It was more of same that he'd already experienced tonight. Someone else identifying and categorizing his motivations even though he'd told them how dead wrong the assessment was.

"You know Sunshine, I just couldn't get to sleep tonight without asking you one thing about what you said this morning." Brian was aware that this was the one and only time he'd made any admission that he was having trouble sleeping because of something relating to Justin. "The fiddler said everything you wanted him to and more. Fucked you every which way to Sunday and then some...Correction...Made love to you every which way to Sunday." Brian eyed Justin wickedly as he pushed off from the counter. He took a deep swallow from his glass before speaking up again. "I'm sure he fucking stuffed your face full of carpet picnics and gave you roses whenever he could beg, borrow or steal them. So why aren't you giddy with joy? Why the fuck did you say you weren't happy?"

Brian was walking toward Justin again and his movements were slow and even. There was nothing betraying that seething rage that many had come to recognize in the last little while. Justin hadn't had the benefit of seeing that flash of fire go off behind the man's eyes when he'd uttered his `fuck you' a few moments before. He'd been looking down and he'd missed it when Brian gave in to the demon that had been haunting him. Not having received any warning about the increased tension of this situation, Justin would now plow on blindly through this conversation.

"I told you that what I said before was bullshit. Call it a moment of weakness. A moment of fucking stupidity and leave it at that." Justin stood up and pulled his backpack up on his shoulder. "You obviously called me over here to stick some more pins into my eyes so I'm gonna go now." He'd had to move toward Brian to get around to the other side of the chair and get to the door and the other man intercepted him easily.

Brian had reached out to close a hand around the strap on Justin's shoulder. "Stay." He'd maneuvered Justin backward to the chair before pushing him slowly to sit down.

"What do you want from me Brian?" Justin watched as Brian dropped his backpack beside the coffee table and turned to face him again. Brian had set his glass down there as well and Justin folded his palms together as Brian approached again. Justin watched as Brian stood in front of him before bending over to rest both his hands on the arms of the chair. He had further trapped Justin into place.

Justin could feel goose bumps rising on his arms and he could feel a ghost of a touch reeking havoc with the fine hairs on the back of his neck. The temperature in this room had increased by several degrees in these last few seconds since the heat and liquor on Brian's breath started to be the only things he could feel or smell. Justin swallowed a little as Brian bent himself to eye-level with the seated man before kneeling down in front of where Justin sat. Justin had asked his question of Brian again and watched in his peripheral vision as the man's hands trailed up his arms to come to rest on his shoulders. Justin could feel the weight of Brian's hands on him and he'd been struck in that moment by the fact that he wouldn't be able to move from this spot until Brian was finished with him.

Now Justin was fighting the urge to break eye contact with Brian. One of Brian's hands was on his chest while the fingertips of Brian's other hand grazed over the skin on Justin's neck. "Let me get up Brian." Justin managed weakly and Brian only blinked.

He stopped his movement over Justin's chest for only a second or two before closing his finger around the zipper at the neck of Justin's pullover. Dragging it slowly down its track, Brian tightened his grip on Justin's shoulder and intensified his focus on the other man's eyes. Brian pushed a hand into the space the zipper had revealed and stroked his fingers over the thin fabric of Justin's t-shirt. He could feel Justin's heartbeat drum-rolling in this proximity and now he remembered what he had wanted to do to Justin with this visit. Now Brian remembered why it had required the change of wardrobe, the grooming and the soft lighting.

Brian moved both hands up to Justin's face and pushed back to get Justin to lean all the way back in the chair. Justin's body offered no protest but the level of alarm in Justin's eyes had risen significantly as Brian reached down to pull Justin's hips forward.

On the other end of this turn of events, Justin watched from ten miles away as his knees fell open with the change of position and Brian shifted so that he knelt between them. For a long minute or two, neither man moved and the frozen scene would have surprised anyone who knew them. The loft was dim and stark and there was no noise from Gus asleep in the other room. There was no movement but the shallow breathing from the both of them. Justin, with his arms lying languidly on the arms of the white chair, his smaller body pinned and unmoving by Brian's black-clad body pressed flush against him.

Brian between his legs and inches from his face. Neither man said a word but Ethan would have recognized the fullness of this silence, having witnessed it only hours before.

Brian shifted a little and pressed his erection against Justin's groin. He felt the thick push of air escape Justin's throat as he lowered his face even closer to Justin's.

"One question." There could be no mistaking the choices in this situation. "Do you want me to stop?"

"No." The word teased against Brian's skin and the man looked down from Justin's eyes to see the place where they'd come from. There was a thin layer of sweat across Justin's upper lip and Brian let his eyes settle into that little dip between Justin's nose and lip. He could see so many times before when he'd licked over that place just to taste Justin and tease him. Justin closed his lips to swallow just then and Brian moved in quickly, forcing them open again with the movement of his tongue. Brian pushed over the soft flesh and into the liquid heat of Justin's mouth. The kiss in the Jeep earlier had turned into something very similar to this one after a few seconds, but this kiss hadn't had to build to that intensity. Heat and the electricity had been moving through this kiss long before their skin touched.

Brian dove in deep and Justin did the same. Their tongues played over the wetness of the other's mouth and Brian moaned a little. Justin tasted sweet and salty and Brian charted every aspect of that taste.

Justin could feel Brian's hands on his sides and he pushed down to press closer to Brian's hardness between his legs. He could smell Brian's aftershave and that scent mixed up with the heat from Brian's skin, the liquor and cigarettes on his breath and the feel of Brian's hands on his body, almost made Justin come. He'd gasped suddenly and Brian pulled back to look at him, having recognized the urgency of that sound.

Pushed by Justin's reaction, Brian sat back and moved his hands to Justin's crotch. He undid the top button of Justin's jeans quickly and ran his fingers down the length of Justin's hard-on as he opened the zipper.

Justin watched as Brian's now gray green eyes changed their focus as the older man pushed the denim down and over his hips. Justin could feel the coolness of the air-conditioned room across his exposed skin and he had to close his eyes tight as the cool was replaced by Brian's warm breath and then Brian's hot mouth. Justin was reduced to shaking and moaning as he felt Brian's hand close on the base of his cock and felt Brian lips and tongue teasing over the head. Brian had swallowed him completely just then and Justin felt himself slip to the back of the man's throat.

"Oh God." Justin whispered and moaned to the space that was now filling all conscious thought in his head. He felt warm and liquid and he was more than sure that he couldn't stand on his own two legs again even if his life depended on it. Justin pushed small hits of air out of his lungs as Brian's deep-throating went shallow and then even deeper than before. The man had pushed Justin's shirt up over his ribs and now Justin couldn't feel the cool of the air conditioning anymore. All he felt was the bubble of heat that filled his head and made him forget all the reasons why this shouldn't been happening.

Brian pulled back a little and let Justin slip from his lips. He'd taken a moment to catch his breath and clear his head of the taste, touch and feel of the skin below his face. Justin had been stroking at Brian's head and hair for the last several minutes and Brian waited until Justin came back to the present and realized that he had stopped sucking. He sat back on his heels and watched as Justin's eyes opened slowly and focused first on the raging redness of his own hard-on before looking up to find Brian's face.

Suddenly back to reality, Justin thought he knew why Brian had stopped. He could feel the pain behind his eyes and he figured this to be Brian's last "pin in the eye" of the night. Brian had brought him to this point of nonsensical babbling before and then just stopped. Brian had stopped to show him once again what he used to have and what he could never have again.

"Please don't do this to me." Justin felt the words leave his body and he regretted every one as it was uttered. It was fruitless to beg for mercy before a determined executioner.

Brian replaced his hands on Justin's thighs as he leaned his weight over the other man's body once again. He kept his face and lips level with Justin's body as he licked and touched his way back up Justin's stomach and chest to his face. "Don't do what?" Brian stopped to stare hard at Justin's eyes. Justin had been partially right about what was going on here and Brian's cool look had confirmed that instantly. Heaving a breath, Justin closed his eyes and tried to sit up. Brian stopped him. "Don't move." Brian's breathy words found Justin's ear and the man's tongue followed shortly thereafter.

"Please stop fucking with me and let me go." Justin could feel the length of Brian's torso pressed against his and he could feel the softness and heat of the taut fabric over Brian's thighs against his own. He tried hard not to concentrate on the fact that Brian's shirt had fallen open and now the skin of the man's belly was also pressed against that of his own.

Brian pulled back to place his lips within a hair's breadth of Justin's before speaking slowly. "Why leave now Sunshine? The fucking hasn't even begun." Licking that little depression above Justin's upper lip, Brian felt all ability to struggle seep out through the tips of Justin's fingers and from the tips of his toes.

Justin opened his eyes just then and Brian felt a little bit of his cruelty seep away too. Justin looked defeated and betrayed. He'd been defeated by his own need to see how far Brian would take this and he'd been betrayed by how easily his feelings for this man could be brought to the surface. Brian watched the resignation fall over Justin's eyes and he didn't think he liked it. He pulled back a little further and studied Justin's face before standing and looking down at Justin. Eyes never leaving the other; Brian slowly shrugged off his shirt and dropped it to the floor as he rethought his plan. He let his jaw slacken and parted his lips a little before licking over the bottom lip absently. His hands at his waist now, Brian opened a first and then a second button as he watched Justin closely.

Brian planned to finish this and he wanted for Justin to want this, not just to resign himself to surviving it.

Still watching Justin closely, Brian undid all the buttons at his fly before pushing the snug fitting pants slowly over his hips and down his thighs. He watched as Justin's eyes found his hardness and he watched the coloring of Justin's lips deepen several shades.

Brian stepped out of his pants and stood naked in front of Justin, his eyes still never leaving Justin's face.

He'd reached a hand out for Justin and then waited for the other man to take it and let himself be pulled up. His face now inches from Justin's; Brian pushed Justin's loose jeans down his thighs and reached around to pull him closer. Not bothering to disentangle Justin's legs from his jeans, Brian pulled him in close and kissed him...eyes wide open.

A minute or two later, Brian held Justin as he stepped out of his jeans and underwear before pulling both t-shirt and pull-over over Justin's head in one movement.

Both naked and harder now, they swapped their previous clothed position in the chair for similar position on the couch. Justin had moved away from Brian and sat down there before reclining and waiting for Brian to come to him; so many things about these movements seeming entirely familiar and entirely new to Justin at the same time. Hands in hair and lips covering skin, Justin had let himself slip away again. As far as he knew Brian could and would stop this at any moment and he had no control of that and no desire to stop it first. He would let his happen and then reap whatever consequences came with it.

Justin exhaled sharply as he felt Brian settle all his weight atop him and bite into the skin of his neck. He fought himself not the break the skin on Brian's back with the intensity of his need to hold on to this man as tight as he could. Thrashing and moaning, Justin could taste blood in his mouth from the force with which Brian was kissing him and holding him down. They couldn't get close enough to each other and the bite marks and bruises were a cheap price to pay for that fact.

This wasn't about being rough or being punishing. For Brian, this was now strictly about the need that he'd denied for every waking minute of the last eternity since he and Justin had been in this place. He could feel Justin beneath him kissing and licking over his nipples and he pushed Justin back on the sofa to find his mouth with his own again. They had long since passed the point of no return and Brian reached down to find the undersides of Justin's thighs and pushed them up and then out. He settled against Justin's body and winced from the lack of control he felt. The sweat between them coated both hardness and softness in complete wetness and Brian had to catch himself before he pushed into that softness raw.

Eyes shut tight, Justin opened and then closed around Brian's body and Brian closed his own eyes as Justin's breath filled his face.

~To be continued~