Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used in this story. All belong to CowLip & Showtime. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental and not meant to be intentional by the author. Copyright infringement is not intended.
A/N: I have a morbid fascination with writing stories from The Fiddler's POV and this is just one of what might end up being many. I don't know why I like to write from his character's perspective because well I kind of hate him. But anyways I hope you enjoy it!
It's his agent that suggests he go to the show so that he can make new contacts because even though it's an art gallery showing there's bound to be people who he can talk and schmooze with. He doesn't really know much about the show he's just told what day and time and where it is and some names that they know will be there for him to try and impress. So he figures he can just get by giving bull shit opinions on the art that he sees around and making sure to use the proper pro-nouns when talking about the artist. He makes sure he gets there an hour after the show is set to start because he doesn't want to look odd being at this gallery and having to make awkward small talk with whatever artist is being shown (he's had a bit of an aversion to artists ever since Justin walked out of his life). A man gives him a program and he sees that the show is entitled Later which doesn't make sense to him and he figures it'll be some weird art dealing with clocks or something. He heads inside pocketing the program that he's been handed and decides to give a quick overview of the paintings before going to find any of the names he knows he should be looking for.
The first he stops in front of is an abstract piece filled with shades of blue and orange that start in the corners and look to be blending into each other where they meet in the middle and bleed into a brilliant silver. The more he stares at it the more he can see that it is texturized and the blue and orange really do have the consistency of blood and the silver is thick and raised off the canvas slightly. It gives off a bit of a morbid feeling to him but he doesn't really understand completely why at the same time it makes him feel like everything is going to now be ok. He's so intrigued that he decides to actually read the program about the artist and stops cold when he reads the name underneath the title.
Because there in black and white it says Later by Justin Taylor and Ethan feels like he can't breathe for a moment. He opens the program to read the brief description of the show and biography of the artist and all the while his heart hammers in his chest. The program states that the show is one that the artist says has been a decade in the making that each painting represents different points and times in the past ten years that relate to the most important thing in his life. It's then that it hits Ethan that his agent has basically sent him to a show that is one giant love note from the one ex-boyfriend of his he's never gotten over to Brian Fucking Kinney.
Looking up from the program it's that moment that he spots Justin through the crowd and his first thought is that he still looks beautiful. He doesn't look a day older than when he last saw him and he's laughing and smiling as he talks to a tall man that Ethan knows he met on more than one occasion but can't remember his name. His hair is styled and looks like the sun has highlighted it recently but Ethan also watches as the light glints off a ring on his left hand and an arm wraps around the other man's waist. Justin looks up slightly then smiling even brighter than before and greets Kinney with a kiss as he's handed a glass of wine and then someone moves in front of Ethan and he loses sight of them. He decides that he won't approach either of them; he knows that this is an important night for Justin and he doesn't want to cause problems. Even though he hates Kinney with his whole being and aches to be the one whose ring Justin is wearing he can't shed any darkness that his presence might cause them.
Instead he decides to look at the paintings and finally really see what it is that had Justin kept just out of reach of him even when he had him. Of course he knows sex is a major factor in the attraction between them Justin said so himself once upon a time. It was out of the bedroom they had the problems that Ethan was able to feed off of. So he moves to each of the paintings and looks at each of them and wonders what Justin was feeling as he painted each one. A good amount of them are abstract pieces of art but there are some that have discernible figures such as one with a lone streetlight beaming down on an empty street. The one that stops him though is the one where he can easily discern that amongst thick angry strokes of orange, yellow, and brilliant white paint is the distorted outline of a violin and the words NEVER AGAIN are seen melting on the front of the burning instrument. He knows this is him but as he looks at it he doesn't feel like the anger is aimed at him but he feels it's probably aimed at Justin himself.
"Brilliant isn't he, of course I've known that since the first time he drew my cock." A voice says next to him and he doesn't have to look over to know that it's Kinney.
"Look I'm not here to fuck with Justin, my agent told me to come and I didn't even know it was his show until I got here. So just back off ok I'm just looking then leaving I wasn't even going to talk to him." He says glancing to his side and it makes him sick to his stomach to see the hand wrapped around a glass of wine has a ring on it as well.
"My my Ian no need to get so hostile I was just sharing my own insights on the lovely artiste himself."
"What exactly are you trying to do? Come over to rub in my face that he ran back to you and you gave him his happy ever after?" Ethan asks as he turns to look at the other man.
"The thought did cross my mind but you see Justin would frown upon me causing a scene and well then I wouldn't get any blowjobs for a week. No I just came over here to see what exactly you were doing here and made sure to have the man in question distracted while I did so just in case it turned out you came to cause problems. Because this is his night and he doesn't need it."
"Well like I said I'm not here to cause problems so you can go back to where you came from." Ethan says turning away from him and feels more than sees Brian walk away himself and he spends a few more moments staring at the violin painting before moving to the next one. As he's walking to it another piece catches his eye and he walks to that one instead. This one is blue, brown, green, white, black, with tinges of red and it's all swirled together in a way that should be unattractive but isn't. All Ethan feels when he looks at it is hope, happiness, and love and he wonders what event in the life of Justin and Brian inspired this one because he wants a moment just like it one day.
"That's the first piece I painted for this show." A voice says next to him and Ethan jumps a little and looks next to him to where Justin is standing staring at the painting almost in a trance and Ethan wants to say something but Justin speaks again, "I woke up one day and it just burst out of me and when I looked at it finished, I remembered my prom. It's the only piece I refuse to sell no matter how much money someone wants to spend on it."
"Well it's a beautiful piece." Ethan says and Justin looks at him a hint of a smile on his lips.
"Thanks."
"You don't seem surprised to see me here." He states.
"Saw the guest list the other night and your name was on it."
"Well like I told your worse-half I didn't even know this was your show until after I had gotten here."
"He mentioned that." Justin says and Ethan feels a bit awkward for a moment.
"So uh congratulations I guess. I was just heading back out." He points behind him and turns around but stops when he hears Justin's voice behind him say his name.
"It was nice seeing you."
"It was nice seeing you too Justin, goodbye then."
"Bye Ethan." The other man replies and he turns around and walks back out into the warm spring air finally closing a part of his life that he'd held open for way to long.