The blackness was a living thing; he felt cold breath on his skin. Slowly (so slowly) his vision revealed a face. It's features smudged, the burning edges of paper.
He didn't know anything for a second. The nearly invisible edge between one moment and the next.
His mouth opened and closed attempting to pronounce an inaudible word. Words were meaningless until they weren't. He found one floating and gripped it with as much certainty as a fractured mind could allow.
"Briii…" he tested his voice. "Brriiiiann." It came again, in a motion slow enough to show the underside of his tongue.
Hazel eyes widened at the sound, Justin's voice. His Justin's voice. Albeit delayed, the word was warm. He guessed he shouldn't have expected any less from Sunshine.
He couldn't determine if his rapid heartbeat was from fear or excitement. He decided to feel both. He moved from beneath the blond, gently he pulled his legs to him and slid out of reach.
That that was once Justin struggled to sit. A delayed jarring movement that was too angular and unnerving. Nothing similar to the fluid way that Brian knew so well. The graceful rhythm with which the blond danced, made love.
He stared at him now, watching as he pulled himself upright, still handcuffed to the table. The boy from the lamppost now met Brian's eyes. They sparked with as much admiration as they did that first night outside of Babylon.
A different shade but just as beautiful. He couldn't help wonder how he appeared to Justin now. The blond had always been one to look at Brian in a way that made him feel valuable, a precious artifact. The piercing gemstones his eyes were now still held that regard.
It comforted him. It confused him.
He recalled one restless sunset, his fingers tracing lightly against Justin's arm. They'd contemplated this very wonder. The sight of the dead. ("The whole world will look like that one song that always makes you cry. Sad but significant.") Justin told him and the loft. Both hadn't answered, the darkness of the space and Brian's arm wrapped closer.
Fighting against the self-preserving nature that had led to his current position, Brian started forward. He heard Michael's panicked voice calling out a warning; he ignored it. His friend had had a point, just not one Brian had liked.
He slid soft toward Justin, like approaching a strange dog with a bone. As he neared his heart leapt again, a fluttering thing breaking loose.
Justin was smiling. It was bewitching and bright, and in that time Brian saw not the darkness around him. He was giving it to Brian, the most important gift he'd ever received.
"Justin?" he whispered.
'Justin?' The brunet's voice inquired, his eyes a shimmering expectancy.
His voice was soothing and sent something like a tingle about his body which up until now had felt little at all. The voice was sweet and smooth softening as it went, poured honey in the sun. The voice sounded like it would taste good.
He moved as forward as he could bound by metal. He'd been tugging since he'd first sat up. The harsh edge digging into his wrist, it hadn't hurt. Seeing Brian inching nearer had increased his need to move his hands.
The haze that dimmed his mind had lifted entirely. He knew this man who was but inches from his own face.
He remembered how he smiled and cussed him out when Justin tickled him. Knew his weakness for French fries and Gus' pouty face. Knew how soft his skin felt in his bones.
Thump. Thump. He pulled again against the restricting handcuffs. The aged worn table top prying loose. The circular silver pulled over the pole that had held it captive.
Gasps and words accompanied the action, but no one in the diner moved forward. Brian too, stilled. He held his breath, eyes wide as he watched his partner's delicate fingers travel to him; his clasped hands shaking as they did so. The metal clinked.
Brian's eyes tracked the motion while Justin gauged his reaction to touch.
The living man flinched when Justin's fingertips found his cheek. "Briiiann." He said again.
A close relative of relief welcomed him, Justin was not the nightmare he'd dreamed for this moment. He blinked several times perhaps expecting to awaken. He did not.
Brian's smile and skin were warmer than Justin had ever felt them. Hellfire beneath heaven.
'Bran loved him.' And he loved him too. 'Love.' His brain flashed a scene, two others holding hands. A redhead and brunet. It flashed too that same couple dancing close under a star-fall of glitter.
Un-guarded, the brunet had not withdrawn when he moved closer to his lips. The other man's lips felt slack offering a kiss. Justin closed his eyes. 'Just a taste.' When he hadn't felt his lips meet his partner's, his eyes flicked open.
The brunet's head was now worriedly accessing the diner. The group (to which now, Justin guessed he belonged) had finally re-broken through the storefront. Loud crashing, yells and shouts rang out once again.
Second verse, same as the first. Brian sat too stunned to act. 'For fuck's sake, like they didn't have enough problems.' His lean toward Justin had taken a detour. The vicious crowd he'd lead to them, now threatened almost everyone he cared about in the hollowed shell of what the world used to be.
'And it was his fault.' He couldn't stop the thought from rubbing salt in his wounds. He could hardly hone in on the gut-wrenching action. Sounds of battle and absolute fear filled his ears so fast they almost muted altogether.
His broken heart cracked further still as he watched Mikey grab Ben's palm. There they stood, poised, scared but praying for the best. A 'best' Brian knew was going to be the worst of all.
Hell. It had broken loose. Finally it was free to rise and greet them.
The sea of them poured into the diner in a steady stream, no biblical hero to part it.
Justin could wait not one minute more. He caught the glimmer of fear that danced in hazel before he went to eat his promised kiss.
At first, Brian met Justin's mouth with eager greed. Too far past bliss to register the pierce of his bottom lip. Brian lost himself. Justin's tongue tasted the blood that spilled from his lip.
Secondly, Brian, who had found himself in utter disbelief, met Justin's eyes and stinging tears. He too tasted the blood that pooled from the blond's bite.
His head was spinning fast enough to catch his racing heart. He heard a cry and muffled shatters from the dining room. His fleeting coherence knew his family's fight raged on. He didn't know who still fought, who still breathed. He only hoped them all; but hope was no solution.
He let himself look again. He wished he could speak, to say…something. No words came. Then no light, a star winking from existing in the universe. This alternate one, cast in shadows and death.