Title: Now That I've Found You
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Warnings: Alternative Universe; One-Shot
Story notes: This is the sequel to 'Keep On Missing You' so you need to read that before reading this.
Summary: It's Summer, one year later the end of 'Keep On Missing You' and a big change awaits the boys...
Now That I've Found You
New York City – Summer – August – 2004
Justin sighed for the millionth time while looking at the boxes piled up in a corner of his apartment.
"When did I find the time to get all this crap?" He asked to no one in particular. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms closed around his waist and a deep laugh resounded in his ear.
"There is just no way in hell that you're taking all this to the new house." Brian let him go, taking a step back and turning the blond around.
It was summer, and not just any day of the season, but August Holiday which meant that it was too hot to do practically anything. But Justin needed to leave his apartment before the end of the week and this was why they were staying there, putting things into moving boxes.
Justin frowned. "God, it's a fucking manor, I could bring all this and it wouldn't even be a quarter full."
Brian rolled his lips inside his mouth and sighed. "But it's crap you're not gonna use. Therefore, find a place for it that is not our house or you have two choices. One, I throw every thing away and you will have to bitch and moan about it, or you're staying here with all your crap and you're gonna bitch and moan about it." He turned his back to the blond and started walking back towards the kitchen.
"If you're gonna boss me around, I won't marry you," Justin shouts from the living room. He heard a laugh coming from the other room followed by a sarcastic, "Yeah, sure, whatever."
It was hard to think back about how they got here. Twenty-three years of waiting, of continuously missing each other, and now they were about to get married. He still couldn't believe it sometimes.
It had been a year since his mother's wedding and it didn't take them long to realize that they simply couldn't stay away from each other. Oh they had tried to take things slowly. At first Justin didn't want to be in a serious relationship with him because he was absolutely sure that Brian wasn't ready for that. But one night Brian had been so jealous of a guy Justin was dancing with he hit the poor man.
That had been a wake up call for both of them. They were ready to be together and they were sure about it.
What they didn't know was how quickly it was gonna happen…the big change.
Pittsburgh – Winter - Christmas Eve – 2003
"Tell me again what the hell we are doing here." Brian sounded annoyed and bored. Justin looked at him and huffed.
"I didn't want to spend Christmas Eve in Babylon, but with our families." The blond used a tone very much like the one a parent would use with their kid. "Now, stop acting like you're walking in front of a firing squad." With that said, Justin grabbed Brian's hand and practically pulled him up the steps of his mother's house.
Well, the house was actually Tucker's, but he didn't want to think about that.
He rang the bell while Brian kept huffing. He could feel a headache coming. "Please, just for a couple of hours."
Before his boyfriend could say anything, Jennifer came to open the door with Joan. They were both smiling happily. "Look at them Jen," Joan Kinney said.
"I know, aren't they cute together? Their first Christmas as a couple."
Brian scowled at his mother, pushing his way inside with a simple, "Hello ladies," before going in search of his father. Justin, on the other hand, rolled his eyes and sighed. "Please, just try not to make him run away before the midnight toast."
He walked inside while Jennifer and Joan smiled softly at him. The blond took off his coat, his blue wool hat uncovering his tousled blond hair and then took off his blue scarf, handing everything to his mother.
"How did you manage to convince him? I forget the last time he spent a Christmas with his family," Joan asked him softly while they made their way to the living room where everybody else was.
"I used some secret weapons," Justin half joked remembering the treat of going to the BoyToy alone to find himself a 'bear-dad'. Brian's face had been priceless.
Joan laughed. "You're definitely something else," she said before letting go of his arm to go back inside the kitchen were she was putting the final touches on hers and Jennifer's dinner.
Justin looked around the living room. There was Clair with her husband and her family, some relatives of Brian's that he had never met before and some of his own that he hadn't seen for a very long time. Then there was Tucker with some of his friends and Jack. He smiled warmly. He had always loved having a house full of people.
He felt a pair of arms coming around his waist. "Hey there, Love," he smirked turning around and finding one of his oldest friend. Mario kissed Justin on both of his cheeks and then took a step back. "You're looking dazzling," he said to the blond.
"Thank you."
"So," Mario pretended to be looking around curiously for a moment. "Where's this boy that Jennifer has been talking about? And why didn't you say anything when we were on the phone last month?"
"I..." Justin was cut off when he felt a chill running up and down his spine. He sighed inwardly.
"Yeah why didn't you tell him, Love?" Brian's sarcastic tone, made Mario smirk.
"I thought that we Italians were the jealous ones," he joked extending his hand. "I'm Mario. We never had the chance to meet."
Brian arched an eyebrow before shaking the proffered hand. "Yeah. I'm Brian."
Both pairs of eyes set on Justin. The blond gulped. "I just didn't know what to say. I never even had a long term relationship," he quickly answered. Then he turned around and left the two men standing there.
"I've never seen him acting so nervous," noticed Mario. "Anyway, he must really like you." He looked Brian up and down and smirked. "I can definitely see why."
Brian was trying very hard to identify the man in front of him. He was dressed like a businessman but did not act like one. He kept looking at Justin like he wanted to jump on him, but never acted on it and was even accepting of Brian in some ways. The man was very confusing.
"I... what are you doing in Pittsburgh?" Brian found himself asking.
"Oh, Jennifer called me last week and told me about this dinner. She asked me if I wanted to come since it was so long since we last saw each other. I used to come here with Justin all the time, but now," Mario gave Brian another smile, "he seems to be in other ways occupied."
Brian was about to tell him something, of what he wasn't sure yet, when Justin came back taking his arm and pulling him away from the living room. "I saw one of my cousins. He's a dick. He used to push me around all the time," he whispered while leading him towards the door that took to the backyard.
As soon as they were standing outside, they both sighed in relief. "Maybe it wasn't really a great idea coming here," murmured Justin.
"I think you should move in," Brian blurted out.
The blond looked at him stunned. "What? Move in where? Here?"
"Sometimes you really act like a blond," he murmured. He fixed his eyes on Justin and slowly said, "I meant move into the loft."
Justin opened and closed his mouth a couple of times and then waved his hands up in the air like he always did when nervous. "What? Just like that? When the hell did you think about it? Until three weeks ago we were fucking half of Pittsburgh together!"
Brian shrugged and looked away.
"Oh no, you don't get to do that." Justin moved until he was standing in front of Brian, looking into his eyes again. "You can't just say something like that."
"Forgive me," he said sarcastically, "next time I'll send a telegram."
"Oh now you even joke." He waved his arms again. "Where the hell do you come from?"
"Listen. It was just a question. Obviously you don't want to move, so let's just forget I ever said something like this." Brian turned his back to the blond and started to head back inside the house.
It was freezing outside and they were without their coats on.
"You can't just say something like that and then leave. Give me a minute here!" Justin called out for him. The other man turned around and studied him.
"Why do you always have to act like a character from a teen drama?"
The blond shrugged. "Because I'm like this. Sometimes I'm neurotic and overanalyze everything." Justin sighed and looked right into Brian's eyes. "You took me off guard. We said we'd take it slowly and..."
"You wanted to take it slowly."
Justin smiled. "Yeah and what did we get out of that? You've been almost sued for aggression." He ruffled his blond hair with his hand and then took a step closer to Brian. "Are you even sure about this?"
"You really think that I'd be asking you something like this out of the blue?"
"Yes," replied the artist laughing.
"Ok maybe you're right." Brian smiled softly at his lover before taking the steps dividing them to put his arms around the blond's neck. He leaned his forehead against the other man's. "But I'm sure nonetheless."
Justin searched his lover's eyes for a while before smiling softly and nodding. "Ok," he whispered before kissing the brunet softly. "Let's do it, but I'm keeping my apartment in New York."
Brian laughed. "Ok, Drama Queen."
New York City – Spring – May – 2004
Justin looked back at Brian and smiled softly for an instant before looking back up at the sky. "Do you realize that we're thirty one and sitting on the bonnet of your Corvette looking at the stars?"
"Yes. So what?" The other man smiled. "Are you implying that we're too old for lying on a car to watch the stars at night?"
The blond laughed. "No. It's just that, well, until two hours ago we were at one of your dinner meetings talking about multimillion dollar contracts, and now we're standing here like a couple of teenagers. It's crazy, but cool."
They were in New York for a business trip. Justin had to organize one of his shows and Brian had a meeting with one of the clients of the New York branch of his Advertising Firm.
After the dinner with the client, Brian had told Justin that they were going someplace special. The blond had been surprised, but just smiled softly at his lover before giving him a kiss. He knew that Brian didn't like being put on the spot.
They went back into a peaceful silence for a while. Then, in an almost imperceptible whisper, Brian asked, "What do you think is true love?"
His question came out of nowhere, while they were lying there, the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance.
Justin let several minutes go by in silence before turning his head to face him. Brian was still looking up at the sky, but his eyes were closed. The blond put his fingers on his lover's lips, gently tracing their borders that slowly turned up into a smile under his touch.
"I don't know..." he whispered. He took away his hand and put his head on Brian's chest before closing his eyes too. "I don't think people can tell when it's true love..." He took another pause looking for the right words to express what he was thinking. "Every time someone falls in love, for that moment in time, it's true love. It ends most of the time. It never last forever... it gives you vertigo and lets you fly high. Sometimes, it can even make you feel invincible but fragile at the same time. And what does remain in the end if not a bunch of memories and the doubt of ever being in love? Then someone else comes along the way and it all starts over. And you tell yourself, that maybe, until you find that right person, you have never truly loved."
Justin paused again. A soft wind blew lightly around them. He briefly thought back at the years spent in the City, the summers in the Hampton... he missed all that. He had no doubt.
He felt Brian's hand entwining with his and smiled again. He knew exactly at that moment that no matter if in Pittsburgh or in New York, as long as Brian was next to him, he was going to feel at home anywhere.
"I fell in love once when I was twelve. He didn't like me, but I was absolutely sure that it was true love. I fell in love at fourteen with a boy that I will probably love forever." Justin felt the hand in his tensing up and squeezed it before saying, "Because he was the first boy that kept me awake at night and filled all of my thoughts. But it didn't go as planned. I was sure that that was true love, the only love... then I understood that for me, true love is the sureness of being in love, to feel something epic about someone even if he hates me, even if it doesn't last..."
He wasn't totally sure that Brian had got what he was feeling, but he had done his best to explain himself.
"So, right now, do you have the certainty of being in love?"
Justin smiled. "Absolutely fucking sure."
"Good, 'coz I'd like to ask you to be mine. To marry me." Brian's tone was sure and confident just like the sentiments he was feeling in that moment. That he had been feeling for a very long time now and that had pushed him to ask that question. He was feeling the impending need to have the certainty that Justin couldn't just disappear like he had so many years before. He couldn't even stand the mere thought of that.
This time Justin had no doubt that his lover had been thinking about that question for a long time. He didn't even have to ask himself if he was sure that Brian was the right one because he simply knew. Because first in a childish way and then through the years while he was becoming a man, he had been always in love with the man that was now laying beside him, watching the stars in the sky like they were a couple of teens. His love for Brian was the only constant in his life alongside his art.
The relief of knowing that a simple yes was going to give him the right to call Brian his in some ways, that he could have the amazing opportunity to share his life with that incredible man, was undeniably what he had always dreamed of and bravely hoped for.
He turned his head to look at Brian's face. "Are you sure? I need to know," Justin asked, already knowing the answer he was going to get, but needing to hear Brian say it.
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
Justin sighed. "Ok."
"Ok?" Brian's voice sounded uncertain.
"Let's do it."
Justin heard his lover's chest shaking with laughter. "Say it!"
The blond smiled. "Yes."
"Yes, what?"
Brian raised his head meeting Justin's blue eyes that in the darkness of the moonlight looked as black as the deep water.
"Yes," he whispered quietly, "Yes, I will marry you. I will marry you." He felt Brian's fingers combing in his hair and his eyes were shining like he was sure his own were doing. They closed the distance between their lips with a kiss.
It was a slow, gentle kiss and when they came apart, Justin looked straight into Brian's hazel eyes while he was rolling his lips inside his mouth.
"What? Don't tell me you're having second thoughts."
The brunet shook his head. "No, not one."
New York – Summer – August 2004
"Hey, move your ass! The movers will be here in a couple of hours." Brian's voice shook Justin out of his thoughts. The sun was starting to go down and from the windows he could see the sky turning a darker blue. He looked towards the kitchen door and found Brian looking at him.
"I can leave some things here for the next tenants and some things we could put it in our basement, what do you think?"
Brian made his way over to Justin. "You suddenly decided that you don't need all this crap anymore?" he asked with a little smile before putting his arms around his lover.
The blond shrugged. "I just decided that I don't need a lot of these old things in our new house."
"Wise decision." Brian bent down to meet Justin's lips half way in a searing kiss. They kissed for a while just enjoining the quiet of the little apartment while the sun set slowly into the ground just outside the living room's windows.
If someone was to ask Brian if he ever thought about marriage, he would have said that no, until Justin came along twenty three years after their first meeting, he had never thought about it but that perhaps, if no one had ever last long enough to be referred to as a boyfriend, the reason was that he was waiting for the blond standing in his arms to find his way back to him. And he knew that now that he had found him, he was never letting go again.
– The End–