Choosing Sides

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Fast and Furious franchise and I'm not making any money from this fic

Summary: Follows Striking a Balance. Dom and Brian reunite after Letty's murder

Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for the first four movies in the Fast and Furious franchise; violence

Pairing: Dom/Brian - slash, non-explicit

Author's Note: AU during the fourth movie. I bumped up some of the events a bit and modified others. This story takes place shortly after Brian arrests Mueller

It was typical of how his relationship with Toretto had been that seeing Dom again had raised all sorts of feelings inside Brian... feelings that he'd thought long buried after he'd walked out and left the man he loved. He hadn't allowed himself to think about it... but when they'd raced together, everything had come up again.

But there'd been no chance for Brian to talk to Dom... and he was fairly certain Toretto had been avoiding him. Not that he could blame Dom. After all, he had left him.

Racing Dom had been exactly like old times. Just before Dom had won the race, Brian had imagined his ex had also remembered. Certainly, there had been something in Dom's expression that Brian had wanted to respond to... would have responded to, if they hadn't been in such a dangerous situation.

It didn't help that his superiors still wanted to bring Toretto in, even if he wasn't a top priority. And, of course, Brian dreaded Dom finding about his involvement with Letty's murder. If they ever talked, though, Dom was going to find out. Brian couldn't see himself doing anything other than blurting it out... partly due to how ashamed he was of what he'd done; partly because he still loved Dom.

Even though he'd tried to ignore those feelings.

Since leaving Dom and the rest of them, Brian had become used to telling himself that he was fine living on his own. His apartment was small, but at least it was quiet. And if there were times he missed listening to them? That he missed them all... especially Dom...? Well, he'd made his bed. Now he had to lie in it.

At least arresting Mueller had given him a way into Braga's gang. But one person... a good person, one who Brian cared about... had lost her life already. Brian understood Dom's need for revenge, but revenge wasn't justice.

And he found himself circling back round to the reason why he'd left Dom in the first place.

Had Dom attempted to find him? Brian wasn't sure. The letter he'd left had been a lie. He hadn't told Dom about his struggle to find a balance... to do the right thing. Instead, he'd accused Dom of needing to be in control (which was true) and stated that he couldn't face having to answer to him for every little thing... and that he didn't care about him... and not to try to find him.

Which was ironic, because that was exactly what Brian had wanted, even if only on a subconscious level.

Yeah... he really couldn't blame Dom for not speaking to him more than he had to.

Brian moved through to the bedroom, aware that he needed to get a proper night's sleep if he was going to go back to working undercover. Although how he was going to face Dom again was another problem altogether.

The ringing of Brian's cell phone caught him by surprise. He picked it up and checked the display, frowning when he realised the display was flashing the name LETTY.

Who could have grabbed Letty's phone and be calling him? One of Braga's people? Brian quickly discarded that notion. Sure, there might be dirty cops... but if one of them had taken the phone, going undercover would be a pointless danger.

"Yeah?" Brian answered the phone.

There was a moment's silence, then, "O'Conner." Dom's voice was a harsh whisper.

Brian winced. He didn't have any go-to responses for this. "Dom..." His voice trailed off. He didn't know what to say.

But there was silence on the other end and Brian realised Dom was gone.

Putting his phone away again, Brian wasn't surprised when he heard a loud knock on the apartment door several minutes later. When he opened the door, he didn't bother even trying to dodge the fist that came at his face. He stumbled back into the apartment and Toretto followed, taking another swing at him.

Brian grunted at the fist that ploughed into his stomach. He didn't lift a hand to defend himself... maybe he was just in shock at facing Dom and his anger after all this time. Dom was shouting at him, but all Brian could think of was Dom's promise from before about not putting him in the hospital.

Dom was clearly angry enough to forget that promise... but although the punches were painful, Brian could tell that he was holding back enough on the force so as not to do too much damage.

Brian stumbled from another hard punch, even as Dom burst out, "She was working with you?!"

"She did it for you!" As guilty as Brian felt... for Letty's death; for walking out on Dom... he couldn't hold back his response. "She just wanted you to come home!"

Dom's hand stilled, even as his other held Brian by the collar of his shirt. "But you didn't want that."

"Does what I want matter?"

Dom put his face close to Brian's... close enough that he could have kissed him if he wanted. "Did what I want ever matter to you?"

"You read my note."

"For someone who did a damned good job of deceiving me when you joined my gang, you don't lie very well in letters."

Brian shook his head. "If you thought I was lying, why did you let me go?"

Dom's grip shifted on Brian's shirt... though he didn't release him. "You didn't exactly make it easy for me."

"You did try to find me?" Brian wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"You gonna tell me the real reason you took off?"

"I don't think it'll make a difference."

"Might make a difference to how severely I beat your ass."

Brian made a half-hearted attempt to pull away, not surprised when Dom tightened his grip. "I didn't know they were going to kill her. I'm sorry, Dom... those were my actions that put her in danger."

A very real look of pain came across Dom's face, but he spoke in a quiet voice. "No one could force Letty to do something she didn't want to do."

"If you don't blame me, why did you punch me?"

"Because you should have told me and I was angry." Dom placed a hand on Brian's neck, thumb idly tracing over his pulse point. "But that's not why I'm gonna be taking my belt to you."

"Because I left."

"You lied."

"I couldn't find a balance, Dom." Brian was sick of pretending like he was fine. Leaving had been one of the worst mistakes he'd ever made and he had hoped that Dom would come after him. If he was going to get a second chance, he'd take the worst Dom could give out. "I didn't think it would work... a cop and a criminal?"

"What do you think now?"

"That... I hope I can get another chance. And that I made a mistake," Brian admitted. "I'm sorry, Dom."

"Come on." Dom wrapped his arm around Brian's shoulders, leading him over to the couch.

Brian followed without argument. "You want me to bend over the couch?"

"Not this time." Dom sat down on the couch and drew Brian round to his side.

With one tug on his wrist, Brian found himself across Dom's lap. He drew in his breath sharply, but held still... even though he felt himself blush as his jeans were tugged down, along with his boxers. He tensed up when he heard the unmistakeable sound of Dom removing his belt.

The first strike was hard enough to make Brian jerk. With the second strike, there was another pulsing burn just below the first.

Even though the strapping was painful and burned as Dom worked thoroughly over his backside, Brian actually began to feel better... at least on the inside. His legs jerked as Dom brought the belt down again and again, covering his entire bottom and thighs with the burning stripes.

Tears began filling Brian's eyes. The strapping was painful enough, but there was something about the childish position over Dom's knees... about being punished by Dom... that made Brian react faster than he had before. "I'm sorry...!" The words left him with an almost choking sound.

"If you'd taken off because you didn't want to be with me any longer, I would have respected that." Dom's voice was harsh as he continued, "You left and you lied about why you left. We could have worked this out. Instead, you decided to strike out on your own. And is this what you really wanted?"

Brian started to reply, but the belt was coming down harder and faster and he was lost in the pain he was suffering from; the pain he'd caused Dom. The sobs began to come harder now... faster. He slumped across Dom's lap, unable to fight what he knew he deserved.

Two more burning strikes landed and then Dom stopped. Brian hardly realised the strapping had stopped, but then Dom was drawing him up and into his arms. And Brian couldn't help but respond, wrapping his arms around Dom and resting his head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"Yeah, I know." Dom touched Brian's chin, drawing his eyes up to his face. "You ever take off like that again? I'll come after you and use my belt every night for a week."

"I'm not going to leave," Brian said quietly. "But we need to work together to take down Braga."

Dom nodded. "Together sounds best. But now?" He leaned forward, allowing his lips to graze Brian's in a kiss that was soft at first, but steadily deepened. "Now... I think there are other things we can do."

Brian sighed as he finally felt forgiven and pressed closer to Dom. "I can think of a few." He pressed deeper into the kiss, but knew Dom wasn't going to yield to him. Dom was an unmovable force.

And Brian had finally figured out whose side he was on.

The End