Promise Me

A/N: Okay people, here we go, first chapter fic I'm doing. Justin, Bri, I am sorry in advance if I accidentally kill either of you. I will try hard not to. To my Beta: good luck. To all of you reading this: please review!!

Chapter One:

Justin's POV

I had been on planes before, so there was nothing too special about being on this one. But it did feel different this time, all the other times it had just been a normal flight that only meant I was flying from one place to another. This time it was an escape where my mind and spirit were lifted away from the ground and all the troubles that awaited me down there.

"Thank you." I said quietly to the stewardess who had just set my in-flight meal down in front of me. I tried to give her a smile and actually managed a ghost of the one I used to have. It was the best one I had given in weeks.

As I picked at my food and moved it around my plate without really eating it I thought about my new life in New York. At first it had been overwhelming being in such a big, bustling city. I had to really work hard to get a roof over my head and a lumpy mattress to sleep on. I had taken on so many little jobs to keep myself alive that when I got home I'd be lucky to even make it to the mattress. Dodging pipes and hanging wires at three in the morning just to get to your dingy apartment that was so tiny you could stand in the middle, stretch your arms out and touch the sides, that wasn't much fun either.

Pretty soon though I had made enough money to buy the basic art supplies I'd need and started really focusing on my art. Once that started to take off I dropped a couple of the jobs I had needed to sustain myself and really concentrate on what I had come to New York to do in the first place. I was finally able to get a decent place to live where the pipes were actually in the wall and a decent night's sleep for the first time in months. Having a bigger place also meant I 

had a bigger place to paint and eventually my art brought in enough that I didn't need any of the other jobs.

Now I was going back home, my real home, for a visit. New York was a great new experience for me of course, but I missed seeing my mom and Molly, getting crushed by Deb every time she saw me, staying up late chatting with Daphne, going to the diner and Babylon with the gang… walking into the loft to find Brian waiting for me. I missed Pittsburg.

"Ladies and gentlemen," and queers, I thought with a slight smile. "We will be landing in approximately half an hour." I sighed as I leaned my head on the window. I was glad to be going home, but I was also nervous about what I'd have to say to everyone once I got there.

No, I wasn't going to think about that yet. I still had half an hour of carefree suspended serenity left, better enjoy it while I still could.

Brian's POV

"Hey Brian," Mikey greeted me as I wearily stepped into the relatively empty diner and accepted the hug he gave me. "Where have you been lately? You look like absolute shit." Gee, thanks a ton Mikey.

"I already told you, he never leave the office anymore." Ted muttered as I sat down with them, my muscles practically sighing at finally getting to rest.

"Aw, he misses his Sunshine." Emmett took one look at the glare I was giving him and decided to use Ben as a human shield.

"Can you really blame him? They're living states apart now with only the telephone as communication while Sunshine goes off and conquers the art world." I would have growled at Debbie for saying that if she hadn't poured me coffee at that point to distract me.

"I wish you guys would stop worrying about me. I'm perfectly fine without him and he's in New York. I've never been better." I didn't even bother to try and put effort into that lie, there was really no point in it anymore, my appearance said it all. I didn't even need a mirror to know that all the goddamn sleepless nights were taking their toll on me along with the late nights at the office when I stayed as long as possible just so that I wouldn't have to go home to an empty loft.

It had been a few months since Justin left for New York and for the first few days I was sort of confused for a while every time I woke up or came home and didn't find the blond waiting for me. It'd take about three minutes of confusion before I remembered that he wasn't there. After a week the painful loneliness started settling in and everywhere I went there was always something that reminded me of Justin, the diner, alleys, Woody's, Babylon (where I had first met him and finally told him I love him), but most of all was the loft. Even when I tried to escape to my office there were memories of seeing Justin come walking through the door.

A sudden crash and ear-piercing shriek brought me out of my thoughts. "What the fuck-?" I stopped short when I saw Debbie rush by the table to attack someone who had just walked into the diner.

For a moment I felt my heart freeze as it was suspended in a universe where time didn't exist as I caught sight of who it was that was bring crushed by the faux red head. Blond hair that had grown a bit over the months fell gently into blue eyes that were as familiar to me as my own. The second our eyes locked I instantly felt the outside world disappear (I really am turning into a damn lesbian) as the only sound audible to me was the steady thumping of our hearts beating in time with each other.

Then Debbie has to snap us out of our moment by exclaiming, "Sunshine! We haven't seen you forever! How's New York, how's the art? Why haven't you called? How are you doing? How's your apartment or whatever you're living in? Why are you so thin? Do you not feed yourself or something?"

"Ma, let the boy breathe." Michael and Ben are prying Justin out of her deathly vice like grip when we notice the slightly shocked and apprehensive look on his face.

"It's nice to have you there to hug again Deb, I've missed that." Justin hugs the slightly wilted red head, making her perk up again and crush him in a painful looking hug. Once she releases him again and he turns to give his two saviors hugs he walks over to the booth.

"Hey baby, how've you been?" Emmett asked as he sat down next to me and I instinctively put my arm around his shoulders, making him give me a small smile.

Though he told the others that he was doing well I could just tell that something was wrong. Not only was Debbie right about him being so thin that I could feel his ribs and his normally fitting clothes were quite baggy on him, but I had also noticed something in the small forces smiles he gave. In all the time I had known him I had never seen him go this long with his friends and not give one of those face cracking, room lighting, Sunshine smiles. Even the smile he gave me earlier looked sad and a bit haunted, by what I didn't know, but it was probably the same thing that was haunting his normally carefree and joyful blue eyes.

"So Sunshine, how long are you planning on staying in Pittsburg?" Debbie asked, having taken a ten minute break to join the conversation.

"Just a short while. I thought I'd come back before…" his sentence stops as he realizes what he was about to say.

"Justin, you sure you're okay?" I asked him gently as I finally remember when I've seen that haunted look on him before. The only other time he's looked like his world was a collapsing black hole was right after the bashing when nightmares would haunt him. Shit. If he got bashed by some fucker of a homophobe again I swear I'll be on the next plane to New York or wherever the fuck I need to go and-

"Bri, it's not like that." Justin stops my inner rant, knowing exactly what just flew through my mind, as always. "It's just been a bit rough in New York, at first anyway. Now everything's fine. 

Except that," I notice his hand shaking and take it into my own to calm him. "I only have a few months to live."

Everyone around the table was deathly silent as we stared into watering blue eyes that slowly turned to look into my frozen ones. It wasn't what he said that scared me, not the actual words themselves anyway. What had me actually scared was that in his eyes I saw sad resolve.

He had given up.

A/N: Well, what do you all think so far? If you're thinking anything tell me! I think this is going to be maybe three parts.