Love Story
A/N: Although I'm not all that fond of her, start humming Taylor Swift!
"Hey Rye." I bounced over to the little table tucked into the corner of the only café on Liberty Avenue where a tall dark handsome man was holding a newspaper in his big sexy hands. Sigh.
"Well, you're a bouncing ball of sunlight this morning." Ryan smiled as I plopped into the seat across from him and propped my elbows on the table.
"I'm happy to see you." I replied as I leaned forward to kiss his coffee laced lips, stealing some of the taste for myself. Ryan was a few years older than me but I didn't mind it, it just made him more experienced and handsome. We'd met about a month ago when I went down Liberty for the first time with a friend. He found us wandering around lost in front of Woody's and helped us out, though I was the one he took home. I guess I kind of attached myself to him after that, but he never seemed to mind.
"Hey Ryan, got yourself another twink for the day?" a voice from the table next to us made me look up from Ryan's muffin I'd been picking apart. Ryan glanced over to the man dressed in form fitting designer jeans and blue open necked shirt, draped casually over his table and looking like he was a picture out of a magazine.
"Not really," Ryan's calm demeanor developed a slight edge to it as he shook out the paper still in his hands and disappeared behind it.
"What's a twink?" I asked curiously, causing the man at the other table to raise his eyebrows.
"It's…hard to explain." Ryan's voice said dismissively from behind his paper.
"It's what you are kid. A twink is just some random guy you pick up to fuck, or blow you. Once you're done with them you move on to greener pastures." The other man felt inclined to inform me.
"I am not a twink!" I exclaimed angrily, causing the other man to chuckle and get me more annoyed.
"Do you think Ryan over there loves you? Or that you're the only thing he fucks?" he questioned me. I just stared at him silently before turning to see Ryan's dark eyes looking at me apologetically. "Welcome to twink town kid."
"Ryan?" I asked hopefully, hoping he'd assure me that this guy was nuts and on drugs or something.
"I really didn't want you to find out this way." Ryan said quietly, darting a lethal glare at the other man before continuing. "I didn't-"
"What he's saying is true?!" I nearly shouted, feeling as if my entire body was sinking through the floor.
"I was at Babylon last night and-" before Ryan could even start to explain himself I'd whirled around and basically ran out.
I ended up in a park. Don't ask which one because I did not pay attention to nor care about which direction I was going. I just needed to get away from there. Now, sitting collapsed on a park bench and trying to catch my breath, I let the crushing disappointment grip me in its suffocating hold.
I knew it was stupid, but for the past month I had been naïve enough to let myself believe that Ryan was all mine forever. Hell, he was probably just putting up with me because he thought I was pathetic. And I am. I'm the most pathetic excuse for a queer that ever had the misfortune to live.
"You okay kid?" a voice asked as I felt a weight next to me on the bench.
"Fuck off." I growled without looking up, recognizing the voice of the evil man who'd shattered my dream. Or illusion. Whatever.
"You would have found out sooner or later, and to be honest it would have been better if you found out after the first time." He leaned back into the bench, making himself comfortable.
"Why?"
He looked at me with eyes that had obviously seen a lot in their time, even if he did look no older than Ryan. "Because it's only when you don't have any illusions that you can grow up." I just blinked at him, not processing an ounce of what he said. "You believed in fairytales and true love didn't you? When you were younger?" he asked upon seeing my blank look.
I blushed and turned away.
"Can I tell you a story?" he was actually asking in a polite manner, so I nodded my head yes.
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We all know the story of Romeo and Juliet, right? Well, this is a different version of the story. For one thing, Romeo is gay. Bet you didn't know that huh? And Juliet? His name is really Julian. And this is the real story that happened.
"Julian! Julian for god's sake get your behind out of bed."
Julian groaned and buried his head under his pillow, trying to block out the sound of his nurse bustling around his room getting his clothes out. He'd been having the best dream, filled with smoldering hazel eyes, a wide firm chest, strong arms…and then the nurse's grating voice shattering the dream.
Peeking out from under his pillow, Julian's sparkling blue eyes were greeted by the fresh sunshine that now spilled into his room, the curtains having been drawn by his nurse. At even the slightest hint that her charge was waking up the redheaded elderly nurse pounced and tugged the covers clean off the bed before Julian could hide under them again.
"Good nurse, you know I love you more than I ever could my parents, but for god's sake give me my covers back." Julian groaned, curling up like a cat in an attempt to go back to sleep.
"Not a chance my dear, you need to get ready for the party tonight." The nurse reminded him as she gave him a light slap on the rump to get him up.
"Oh, you know this party is just a ploy my dear parents came up with to get me married off." Julian complained as he stretched his lean but strong body.
His nurse bustled back into the room from the adjacent bathroom carrying a basin filled with warm water and a washcloth. Julian sat up and allowed her to set the basin in his lap before starting to wash his face.
The nurse stood back and watched her handsome young man with his blonde hair tousled from sleep. She'd raised him since he was a babe and now he was approaching his seventeenth year. Julian had always been a kindhearted boy who seemed to make all those around him love him, but he'd never had anyone special in his life. The nurse knew she wasn't getting any younger, and more than anything she wanted to see her dear Julian find someone to be happy with.
"Nurse?" Julian had finished washing up and noticed his nurse looking at him with tears in her eyes.
"Oh my dear boy!" she cried, flinging herself at the startled young man and hugging his head tightly to her bosom. "I have loved you from the day you were born, and I only wish that there was someone who loved you just as much." She said tearfully as she stepped away again.
"As wonderful as that sounds good nurse, I really don't think that there's anyone out there for me." Julian smiled ruefully.
Across the town from where this scene was taking place another one was unfolding in the light of early morning, this one involving three friends lounging about on the rough stone steps to the small hut they shared.
"Mercutio, what in god's name are you wearing?" the most muscular but gentle one of the group asked as he and Romeo were taking a smoke, watching their friend parade out wearing this pink sequined gauzy thing that some would pass for a dress.
"The Capulets are having a party tonight, I figured we should go and shake a tail feather on the dance floor in front of all those handsome rich boys." Mercutio spun around, letting his dress bellow around him.
"Drag queen," Benvolio laughed as he took a drag of his own.
"Call me Marcy." Mercutio giggled.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Marcy, but we can't go." the dark and mysterious Romeo informed his flamboyant friend, watching him wilt like a flower.
"Why?" Mercutio pouted.
"Because Lord Montague stole a butt load of money from Lord Capulet, and that old geezer can hold quite the grudge." Benvolio grinned.
"Even after dear old daddy bit the dust High and Mighty made sure to inform me the wanted my balls cut off." Romeo sighed dramatically.
"But I was really looking forward to going." Mercutio continued to pout.
"Sorry Marcy," Benvolio patted his friend on the shoulder.
"I heard that Lord Capulet's son is really good looking." Mercutio tried to spark Romeo's interest.
"I could have any guy I want, and they don't come with a pissed off father ready to slit my throat." Romeo reminded him.
"But you haven't had anyone lately, ever since those dreams started." Mercutio pointed out.
"Hey, that's right." Benvolio's brows knit together. "They started over two weeks ago and you've been celibate ever since. Must be one hell of a dream."
Romeo simply shrugged, not really wanting to tell his friends that he dreamed of a blonde angel. They'd laugh their asses off.
"Please Romeo?" Mercutio batted his eyelashes. "If you kept to the shadows and out of Lord Capulet's way no one would know you were there."
"Then what's the point of me going?" Romeo questioned.
Mercutio and Benvolio exchanged glances.
What's the point of me being here? Julian wondered to himself over and over again as he skirted the outside of the grand ballroom currently filled with guests dressed up in all their finery. There were crystal chandeliers hanging from the mural painted ceiling that overlooked smooth marble flooring and twirling couples. The Lord and Lady of the house were mingling with their high profile guests and failed to notice that their son was lurking out of sight.
"Isn't this the best party you've ever been to?" Mercutio gushed as he and Benvolio entered with Romeo trailing behind. "And you wanted to stay home." He grinned over his shoulder at the not so happy Romeo.
Mercutio went spinning off onto the dance floor while Benvolio headed to the drink table. Romeo considered making a break for it but decided to stick around for a while. There was free food and some nice eye candy to browse through, so as long as he stayed out of Lord Capulet's sight he might as well stay.
"Oops, excuse me." a quiet voice murmured as something bumped into Romeo in the shadows.
Romeo turned towards the voice and felt his breath catch in his throat. Standing before him with downcast eyes was the most beautiful blonde angel he'd ever seen, the angel from his dreams. Forgetting entirely his need to stay unrecognized, Romeo reached out to gently run his fingers through soft golden locks, causing the bluest eyes he'd ever seen to look up at him.
"Would you like to dance?" Romeo asked, feeling a smile creep onto his lips upon seeing a blush color the younger man's cheeks that, on anyone else, would look foolish but on him was the most endearing thing Romeo had ever seen.
Julian nodded at the handsome man's request and accepted the outstretched hand offered to him. Never in his wildest dreams could Julian had ever envisioned himself walking onto a dance floor with the gorgeous man of his dreams. People parted before them as they made their way to the center of the room and a slow waltz began to play.
Julian had taken dance lessons before upon his parents' request, but never before had a dance partner sparked the feeling coursing through his veins as he was carried across the floor as if it weren't even there.
Romeo wasn't thinking. He wasn't thinking about how he was exposing himself in front of a room full of Capulets who wouldn't hesitate to run a sword through him. In fact, he didn't even care. All he cared about was the light-footed blonde sweeping and spinning along with him.
This must be what heaven is, in the arms of a beautiful stranger. Julian thought to himself. I could drop dead right now and still be the happiest person ever to live.
Then the moment shared by the two of them was shattered with an angry roar from Lord Capulet as he and his Lady came storming towards the pair. Julian looked up and almost instinctively moved closer to the man he still didn't know the name of, for he'd never seen his father's eyes so enraged before.
Oh shit, Romeo thought when he saw the murderous look Lord Capulet had on his face. His blonde angel seemed to be trying to hide himself inside Romeo so he tightened his grip on the smaller man as the Lord of the house stormed closer.
"What is the meaning of this Julian? How dare you shame me by associating with the remaining filth of that cheating Montague?" Lord Capulet raged.
Romeo and Julian looked at each other simultaneously.
This is the son of the man my father hates so much?
This is the son of that bitch?
"Dorothea!" Lord Capulet shouted for the nurse, who came hurrying over. "Take Julian to his room, he has disgraced us enough tonight." Lord Capulet glared at his son.
"Actually, I think there's room for a little more." Julian glared right back before turning and crushing his lips to Romeo's, causing the entire room to gasp out loud. Romeo was only stunned momentarily before kissing Julian back with fervor.
"That's it!" Lord Capulet actually pulled Julian from Romeo before shoving him towards the nurse. "You are to stay away from my son or I will have you killed." With that threat Lord Capulet spun on his heel and stalked away, leaving Romeo standing there looking curiously at the spot he'd just been.
"And you said you didn't want to come." Marcutio giggled as he breezed over.
"Shut up Marcy."
Julian had changed out of the uncomfortably finery he'd been forced into for the party and threw on a light cotton open necked long sleeve white shirt to go out in the gardens. The Capulet gardens were filled with roses of every possible color and Julian loved to walk among them when he needed to calm his mind. Tonight he walked barefooted down the garden's winding stone path bathed in moonlight and surrounded by the sweet scent of roses in full bloom.
Taking his time to sniff at the delicate flowers, Julian relished the peaceful quiet the night brought with it. It was always quiet out here at night, nothing but the sound of nature and, "Julian."
Julian pulled back to look quizzically at the flower that he could have sworn just whispered his name.
"Julian, don't be such a blonde." The voice had a smile to it as a body emerged from the roses.
"Romeo!" Julian instantly rushed forward to throw his arms around the taller man and bury his head into Romeo's firm chest, inhaling his scent of something spicy yet sweet.
"Wow, such a warm welcome. You sure you're a Capulet?" Romeo teased, causing the blonde in his arms to laugh.
"I'm a Capulet who doesn't care what your last name is or who your father was. I'm the Capulet who just had the best night of his life." Julian said the first part with conviction, the second with quiet tenderness as he looked up into Romeo's dark eyes shining with moonlight.
In response to Julian's heartfelt confession Romeo slowly dipped his head until his lips met Julian's in a light caress, much slower and sensuous than their first lip crushing kiss but definitely not lacking any amount of the passion.
This time there was no one to pull them apart so they took their time, letting their lips and tongues feel each other and their hands memorize the feel of the other's body. When they had to part for air, Romeo leaned his forehead against the blonde's, wanting to keep the connection between the two of them.
"Romeo? Do you believe in true love meant to be?" Julian asked quietly, letting his fingertips skim lightly over the skin on Romeo's taut back.
"Before tonight, no. But after seeing you I may have to rethink that." Romeo replied.
Julian wordlessly took Romeo's hands in his and led the way back towards the house. Julian had a balcony off his bedroom overlooking the gardens with a stone stairway leading down. Julian and Romeo silently climbed the stairs and slipped into Julian's candle lit room. Julian gently pushed Romeo down onto his bed before standing back to slowly undress in front of dark hungry eyes. Romeo watched as the flickering candlelight lit up Julian's pale skin as it was slowly revealed bit by bit.
Once Julian stood before him naked Romeo placed his hands on Julian's hips to pull him towards the bed. Starting on the tip of Julian's manhood, Romeo placed slow kisses all over Julian's body, saving the wet open mouthed ones for Julian's sensitive stomach and neck.
Julian's blue eyes were closed as his hands snaked into Romeo's hair, occasionally letting out a soft moan when Romeo hit a spot. Normally Romeo never spent this much time kissing someone before bedding them, but every time Julian's skin trembled or fluttered under Romeo's lips it just made him want to do it over and over.
"Romeo, enough teasing. I need you inside me." Julian gasped out after Romeo had become fixated on the stiff, throbbing appendage that Julian was finding to become quite painful with need.
Divesting himself of his clothes, Romeo took Julian into his arms with as much care as he would a glass figurine. Laying his beautiful Julian down onto the covers, Romeo let his eyes drink in the breathtaking sight before him of lust darkened eyes, kiss swollen lips, perked up nipples, and a weeping cock just begging for attention.
Placing Julian's legs securely on his shoulders, Romeo leaned down to place a searing kiss to Julian's lips as he slowly slid inside his waiting hold. Romeo's lips muffled the groan that escaped from Julian's once Romeo was fully embedded in his lover.
Wrapping his arms around the man above him, Julian felt his eyes close as they started to rock against each other to the heights of ecstasy.
When the early light of dawn entered the room and woke Romeo from his deep slumber he wanted nothing more than to stay where he was, holding Julian, forever. Letting his eyes wash over Julian's sleep warmed skin bathed in the weak rays of the still sleepy sun, Romeo saw Julian's beauty fully shown with the glow of the sun. Romeo had a beauty heightened by the dark of the night, while his angel was a creature of light.
Pressing soft kisses along the pale neck before him, it didn't take long for the blonde to awaken with a moan of pleasure and stretch of smooth muscles.
"Good morning my sunshine." Romeo whispered into Julian's ear before kissing it, causing a soft smile to rest upon Julian's pink lips. "Julian, I've been thinking." Romeo started slowly, causing Julian to fully wake up and turn to cast his lover a worried look. "No, nothing like that." Romeo quickly assured. "It's just, if we're ever to be together your father can't hate me, and the only way he will forget what my father did is if he gets his money back. I have a friend in Verona who could get me a job, so I could make up the money. I want us to be together Julian."
"I want us to be together too, more than anything." Julian replied, brushing some hair out of Romeo's eyes and wishing there was some other solution that wouldn't separate them. "How long do you think you will be gone for?"
"Two months, three at the most." Romeo assured, holding his angel closer to him as if to assured Julian of the truth of the words.
"Make love to me before you go?" Julian asked quietly.
"Of course." Romeo whispered before kissing him with all the passion he possessed.
It would be two years before they meet again.
"Julian! Julian dear hurry up, your father is getting impatient." Dorothea knocked on Julian's door for the third time.
"I'm here nurse, no need to shout." Julian said quietly as he opened the door and stepped out. Dorothea looked into Julian's eyes and saw the sadness that clouded them and the sleepless nights that extinguished the light that had once burned so bright. It broke her heart to know that her Julian had carried this unknown pain within him for almost two years.
When Julian descended the stairs to the formal dining room he heard his father talking to someone in quite a cheerful tone, and the other person…his voice sounded so familiar. The tone, the lilt, the deepness of it and the hint of an underlying smile… That's when Julian saw him, the man he'd been dreaming about every day for two years.
"Romeo." It was said barely above a whisper, but the second the name left Julian's lips Romeo's eyes looked up as if Julian's voice had been shouting. Hazel eyes met sapphire blue, and suddenly the entire world melted away until it was only the two of them.
"Ah Julian, there you are." Lord Capulet's voice broke the moment, bringing Julian back to the reality of seeing his father and the man who could only be Julian's soul mate sitting at the table with a fair haired woman that Julian had never seen before. "Romeo here was just visiting with his new wife to repay the money Lord Montague borrowed from me. We were saying how ridiculous it was to…"
But Julian didn't hear any of his father's words. The only thing that penetrated the fog in Julian's mind was wife. Romeo had a wife. The soaring happiness he'd felt upon seeing Romeo again suddenly came crushing down to make it very difficult for Julian to breathe. All he could hear over and over again in his head was that Romeo was married. He had a wife.
Feeling that he would die in that room, Julian quickly excused himself before dashing out of the room and out of the house. He didn't stop running until the sweet smell of roses filled his senses and the rays of golden afternoon sun shone down on the tears streaming down Julian's face.
Suddenly feeling as if his legs were made of jelly, Julian collapsed onto the steps leading up to his balcony that two years ago he and Romeo had snuck up, and just let himself cry.
He didn't know how long he'd been there, letting the sobs wrack through his body, when a warm hand rested on his back and he looked up. Blinking through his tears, Julian saw concerned hazel eyes looking back at him.
"Leave me alone." Julian grumbled, turning his tear soaked face away.
"Julian-"
"No! You have no right to talk to me." Julian shouted. "What was I to you Romeo? Just some pretty boy you felt like taking advantage of?" he demanded, only to choke on another round of tears.
"No! God no! Julian you know you were much more than that to me, that you're my entire world." Romeo grasped Julian's face between his hands so that he couldn't turn away. "Julian I love you, nothing is ever going to change that." Romeo felt a few tears escape his eyes as he wiped away Julian's.
"You have a wife." Julian nearly whimpered, trying to pull away but not succeeding.
"Not by choice!" Romeo shouted, causing Julian to jump. "Not by choice." He repeated almost bitterly. "While I was gone Mercutio and Benvolio couldn't make enough money for our landlord and we were in debt. He said that he'd kick us out and then we'd have nowhere to go, then he said that his daughter Lorelei had had her eyes on me for a while. The only way to keep my friends from living in the streets was to marry her Julian, I didn't want to." Romeo's voice is almost desperate.
Julian looks at him for a long while before closing his eyes and laughing with no humor whatsoever. "It's not like we'd have been allowed to marry, the church would have a coronary." He muttered almost to himself. Then he seemed to come back as he opened his eyes again, this time not hiding the pain embedded deep in them. "Why didn't you come back when you said you would? I waited every day and night for an entire year before finally giving up."
"Julian," Romeo breathed his name, feeling his heart shatter at the unveiled pain and sadness radiating from every fiber of the blonde's being, a pain and sadness he had caused. "I stayed longer because I had not realized how much my father stole. It took me nearly a year of working two jobs a day non stop to make it all up."
"And the second year?" Julian asked.
For the first time Romeo broke the eye contact he'd maintained with Julian to bow his head in silence. Julian watched as Romeo worried his bottom lip between his teeth, and inner battle obviously taking place within him.
"If you found someone else," Julian tried to help out though it killed him to say the words, only to be silenced by the most intense eyes he'd ever seen directed at him.
"There is no one else for me Julian." Romeo assured him. "I stayed because I wanted- I had to- get this." Romeo reached into a pocket and pulled out the most beautiful silver ring Julian had ever seen. It was studded with little sapphires and aquamarine crystals that shone in the sunlight. "I knew the moment I saw it that it could only be yours, that's why I stayed longer." Romeo said as he took Julian's hand and placed the ring in his palm before curling Julian's fingers around it.
"I'm so sorry Julian. I'll try to work this out. I'll fight until there isn't anything left in me. But I have to go now." Romeo placed one last kiss upon Julian's tear salted lips. "I'm sorry Julian. I love you." And with that he was gone.
Looking down and uncurling his hand, Julian sees there's an inscription on the inside of the ring.
I love you. Forever.
Drawing his knees up, Julian rests his arms upon them and then buries his head into his arms. If it weren't for the occasional shudder that ran through his body, he could easily have been mistaken for a frozen statue, destined to remain on those steps always.
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"That's it? That's how true love ends?" I'm sitting on the bench with my mouth open in shock. The man beside me turns to shoot me a glare, causing me to immediately shut up.
"Did I say the end?" he demanded. Not trusting my words to not piss him off I simply shake my head. "Besides, can't be a fairytale without its happy ending now can it?" he actually smiles.
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Julian was shipped off to the furthest outskirts of town, where he lived in a small castle like mansion with only his nurse for company. He would never talk and seldom eat, all he ever did was paint. He would pour everything he had within him onto canvases until there was nothing left. Then, when he was drained of all emotion he'd just sit on his studio's window ledge with the window open regardless of the weather. He would sit on that window for hours unmoving. He would just stare out across the meadow of wildflowers towards the horizon, almost as if expecting something to come across it.
Dorothea worried constantly over the man that was slowly disappearing into nothing. She couldn't get him to eat as he would lock himself in his studio for days on end. The only times his door was unlocked were when he was at the window. She would enter the room but he'd never notice her as he continued to stare out the window. The paintings he did were splendid splashes of color, each stroke screaming of pain, anger, loneliness, longing, and everything else her young man was feeling. The only time Julian ever showed any signs of being human was at night when he would cry himself to sleep curled up on the cold floor of his room.
One afternoon the nurse found his door to be unlocked and found him staring out into the setting sun with a paintbrush held loosely in his fingers. Moving towards him she can see the silent tears marking their way down his cheeks and she gently removes the brush before cradling him in her arms like she used to when he was a young boy. And just like back then, Julian wrapped his arms around his nurse's waist and cried, wanting nothing more than for the pain to stop.
"Shh, easy love, you're okay. God knows you've cried enough tears for several lifetimes by now. Dry your eyes and tell your nurse what's been breaking your heart." she gently soothed him just like she did all those years ago.
"I love him, and he loves me. But he could never be mine, and now I don't even know where he is and he could never find me out here. Not that he would even try." Julian's voice is hoarse and scratchy from not being used in months.
"Who my dear boy?" the nurse asks as he absently fiddles with a ring that's held on his neck with a chain. "Are you talking about the young man who danced your heart away that night three years ago?"
"Who else?" Julian sniffs as he wipes his eyes.
"The man who is currently walking through the godforsaken fields your father banished us to?" the nurse smiles.
Julian whirls around to see that she is right, the vision he'd always seen through the window is now so much more real, because Romeo is as real as anything walking towards the prison that has held Julian captive in more ways than one.
Finding a strength he had not felt in a year, Julian runs through the castle and bursts out the door into Romeo's waiting arms. The two cling to each other so tightly that it would be hard for one to discern where one body ended and the other began. Finally pulled back, Julian looks up at his Romeo, the light finally back in his blue eyes even if only for the moment.
"You found me." Julian whispers.
"Nothing could keep me from you." Romeo replies with a smile.
"But why are you here? Don't you have your wife to-?" Julian has a confused look in his eyes now.
"I am no longer bound to her. Mercutio and Benvolio, god bless their little queer souls, saw how miserable I was and started saving up enough money to buy a better house that they actually own." Romeo is full out smiling now.
"So, does this mean…?" Julian hardly dares to hope, after years of pressing the hope down.
Romeo reaches up and unfastens the chain around Julian's neck. For a moment panic seizes Julian's body as he thinks maybe Romeo changed his mind about them. Then he sees his tall handsome Romeo kneeling before him holding the ring.
"Marry me Julian."
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My storyteller has fallen silent as he looks out unseeingly across the lake our bench is facing. I remain quiet for a moment before having to ask, "Are you Julian in that story?"
My bench partner laughs for a good long while before turning to me with a sparkle in his eyes. "That story is pure fiction kid." He assures me.
"Oh. Well, do you have a Romeo?" I ask instead.
"I wouldn't exactly call him a Romeo," the blonde beside me says slowly as he turns with a grin to watch a tall, devilishly handsome man dressed to kill walking down the park's pathway.
"Holy shit, that's-" I can't help but ogle at the man I'd only heard of in legends.
"Brian Kinney, my unconventional Romeo." The man who could only be Justin Taylor laughs before standing up to give his lover a searing hot kiss. I just stare at the blonde man who managed to tame Liberty Avenue's toughest top, wondering if this is all really happening. Then I realize something.
"Justin?" I ask tentatively.
"Yeah?" He turns away from Brian to look back at me with his blue eyes that seems to be able to see everything.
"Did Julian say yes?" after everything I just have to know.
"Why don't you tell me?" Justin grins, looking at something over my shoulder.
I turn around slowly and see Ryan coming towards me. I stay silent until he's standing right in front of me and decide to let him speak first.
"Dustin, I'm really sorry you had to find out about me the way you did, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you myself." He starts.
"Sorry's bullshit." I mumble. I hear a snort from behind me and then Justin telling Brian to be quiet and keep licking his neck, or something to that effect.
"But I swear to you I never meant to hurt you. And you're not just a nameless trick like they are, don't ask me why but there's just something about you that I can't help but lo-like." I cock my head at his obvious word stumble. "I've never been in a relationship before, always too scared to be." he confesses with his eyes trained on his feet before looking back up at me. "But I'm willing to try it with you. I want to try it. That is, if you're willing to try with someone like me."
I glance back at Justin held tightly in Brian's embrace with a wry grin before turning back to Ryan. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, gearing up to embark on my own love story.
"Yes."