~~October 25, 2006~~

Brian returned home from watching Gus one afternoon. Two minutes later there was a knock at the door.

"Justin. Come in."

"Brian, we need to talk."

"Yeah?" He motioned for him to enter and sit on the couch.

"I have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

Justin sighed. "My mom called and told me that the house she's having built isn't going to be done until the end of November. The trouble is she's ended her lease on the apartment in anticipation of being able to move to the new place."

"Can't she just extend the lease?"

"The apartment complex has already made an agreement with a new renter for more money. They've told mom that she has to be out by the end of the month, per the agreement."

"So, where the hell are she and Molly going to go?"

Justin looked at Brian with trepidation. "I was wondering if they could have your apartment."

"Oh, I see. And where the fuck am I supposed to go?"

"Live with me here, Brian."

"Oh, no." Brian turned to walk to the kitchen and Justin followed.

"Why not? I won't charge you any rent." He caught up to him. "We're together at least one night a week. There's enough room. I've already got the king sized bed, or we can move yours down here."

"I've been living alone for about twenty years. I'm not so sure…"

"I did live with you for a while, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." The memory of his time with teenage Justin came back to him in a flash.

"I'm not saying this has to be some great romantic combining of lives, Brian. I'm just asking that you do this for my mom."

"She's not my biggest fan. Nor am I hers."

"I don't want her to have to rent a motel room or something, but then again, I don't want to put you on the street, either. It's just until her place is done."

"Short term solution?"

"Yes. And if you can't stand me by the end of it, then you can have your own place back, or move out altogether. Whatever you want."

"So, you're kicking me out."

Justin put his arms out to his sides to show his exasperation. "I'm not kicking you out, asshole – I'm giving you an option to stay rent free at my place." He walked over to a window and looked outside with his arms crossed.

Brian watched him standing there. He smiled to himself. Justin was no longer the teenage boy who threw his clothes on the floor and wore his heart on his sleeve. This was a man. He went to college, worked towards the career he'd always wanted and achieved it. He did it all without Brian pushing him or helping him in any way. Justin was confident, sexy, smart, and accomplished; everything that Brian had wanted for him. "You've become your own man, Justin Taylor. You don't take shit from anybody, do you?"

The blond turned to him with a puzzled look on his face. "No, I guess I don't." He paused. "So, what do you want to do?"

Brian went up to Justin, smiled and put his arms around him. His put his left hand behind Justin's head as his fingers ran through the shaggy blond hair. "This is what I want." He placed his lips on Justin's and kissed him tenderly. "I want to live with you."

Justin smiled and hugged him. "Are you sure?"

"You might never get rid of me."

"I might never want to."

They kissed again. As the kiss ended, Justin looked intently at Brian. "We'll have to set up some rules."

Brian looked skyward. "Damn, I'm not going to like this after all."

Justin smiled. "Shut up. Just some guidelines … what we expect from each other."

"All right. Like what?"

"Are we going to be exclusive? I've already told you that I'm not chasing anyone else. As for you, you can hardly bring guys home for sex if it's our apartment now."

"So maybe I only fuck around when I'm out."

"Is that what you want?"

"I don't know. It's a lot to think about." He considered a better response. "I can't promise that I won't turn down a blow job from some guy at a bar, but nothing beyond that."

Justin smiled. "That's OK. I know you can't fully dive into monogamy, considering your history."

Brian shrugged, "Yeah, well…"

The blond looked up into his new roommate's face. "It's fine. It'll be great having you here, being with you every night." His hands sensually slid from Brian's lower back to his ass.

"Am I going to have to put out every night to earn my keep?"

"You bet your ass you will."

"I'd rather bet your ass."

They smiled at each other and kissed. A deal was made.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Brian's journal ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

October 28, 2006

Today I moved in with Justin so his mom and sister can have the upstairs apartment while their house is being completed. I managed to fit most of my stuff into the spaces he cleared for me. I'll go through my clothes and probably eliminate out of fashion things that have been lingering. Then I'll eliminate similar items from Justin's clothes. Although, I have to admit, his taste in clothes has refined a lot from the days to wearing long-sleeved tees with the number 23 on them, or "Too busy to fcuk".

Living here will be good, I think. We're still following our own schedules, but we'll try to have dinner together every night. After dinner, he'll go to the gallery for a while, but will be back in time for some quality time in the bedroom. In the future, it will be a little disconcerting, knowing that his mom and sister are a floor above us and can probably hear some of our louder vocalizations. We might have to be a little bit more discreet. Tonight, though, all bets are off and we're going full out. Life is good.

-B

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BJ

~~November 2, 2006~~

Justin went into the living room after dinner and found Brian typing on his computer. "What'cha doin'?"

"Finishing my journal entry for today."

"Journal? You? How long have you been doing that?"

"A few years. I was having trouble sleeping so someone suggested a journal to help me clear my head. It helped. Of course, it's also an excellent way of keeping track of any sexual conquests. They get rated on a five star rating scale."

Justin laughed. "I've been keeping a diary since I almost got bashed years ago. It's helped me work some things out, too. I don't keep track of guys on a 5-star scale, though." He smiled. "That's cool that you have a journal for your thoughts. Well, I will leave you to it."

"No, wait." Brian pulled Justin's arm. "I want you to read today's entry." As he pulled him to him, Justin straddled Brian's lap, facing him on the chair.

"It's your personal journal, Brian. I can't read that."

"It's OK if I ask you to read it." Brian spun the desk chair around so Justin was facing the screen. "Read it out loud."

"You're sure."

"Yes."

Justin focused on the screen. "I resisted living with Justin at first, but it's been OK. It's good having dinners together and sleeping together. The deal is that we could seek outside oral gratification, and I tried that once this week." Justin paused and gave Brian a quick glance.

Brian did a one shoulder shrug and said, "Some guy at a bar wanted to do me a favor, so I didn't turn him down."

Justin nodded and said, "OK." He focused back on the screen. "About 30 seconds into the session, I realized that I wasn't enjoying it at all. I told the guy, thanks but no thanks, zipped up and walked away.

Info: flirted with me, so I thought, 'what the hell?'

Cocksucking: ** (didn't finish)

Ass: ** (never went there)

Overall: 2 / 5 "

The blond smiled and crinkled his nose. "No good, eh?"

Brian was kissing the blond's neck. "No. He sucked. And not in a good, life-affirming way."

Justin chuckled and continued reading. "I'm going to tell Justin that I want us to be exclusive. I don't want to have anyone else and his ass is mine." He pulled back and looked at Brian. "Really, Brian? Do you mean that?"

"If it's in my journal, it must be true." Brian said before kissing him. After the kiss, he spoke again, "Read the rest of it."

Justin's eyes sparkled with happiness, his love for Brian overcoming him. He sighed and said, "OK." He looked again at the screen and continued to read.

"This is the only guy I'll ever want from now on. I lost him once, but never again.

Name: Justin Taylor, artist

Info: blond hair, blue eyes, slim, 5'8", great ass

Kissing: *****

Cocksucking: *****

Ass: *****

Overall: 5 / 5

This is my last entry. My search is over. I've found my true love, again.

- B "

Justin stared at the screen for a second and then looked at Brian. "I'm your true love?"

"Yes. I haven't found anyone like you, Sunshine. Perfect score – five out of five."

"And you love me?"

"Well, it says that you're my true love, but that doesn't mean…"

"Brian …"

Brian sighed and knew he'd been caught. This was the only man for him and there was no use fighting or denying it any more. "Yes, I love you."

"I love you, too." Justin pressed his lips to Brian's and they kissed with the emotion of the moment. They broke the kiss and smiled at each other. "You know, I want to be able maintain that perfect score, so I should keep my practice up." Justin climbed off of Brian's lap and started to head to the bedroom.

"That's not the only thing you need to keep up." Brian quipped as he followed.

"That's never been a problem."

"… Another reason you have a perfect score."

~ the end~