March 2009

"Surprise!"

Justin was indeed, surprised. He knew how Brian felt about birthdays. His opinion about that hadn't changed much since Justin had known him. He had gotten a bit better at trying though. After a few years of little to no celebration, Justin had finally put his foot down and declared that he wanted a bit more attention on his birthday; it was important to him to celebrate life. They'd had a small argument over it, mostly because Brian was stubborn. The argument had ended with them in bed, though, and after that, Brian had tried; as much as Brian could try. Each year was a little better than the one before and Justin loved Brian for the effort.

"Oh shit," Justin laughed with true surprise as he looked around the room at all the gathered faces of his friends and family. His mom and Tucker, Michael, Ben, Hunter, Emmett, Ted, Blake, Debbie, Daphne…he even saw Melanie and Lindsay. Not to mention many of his close New York friends. His heart swelled.

"What the fuck did you do?" Justin grinned and gently punched Brian in the stomach.

"Happy Birthday, Sunshine," Brian smirked, his eyebrow quirked. He lowered his mouth to Justin's, taking a minute or more to tease him with his tongue. Justin vaguely heard the room full of people cat-calling and whistling at their display.

Justin couldn't remember having a more spectacular birthday party; music, dancing, the most amazing cake. But the gift of all his friends and family in one place was the best part of it all; he was only slightly disappointed not to see Gus and J.R., but as Mel told him that night, she and Linds were only there for a day and they weren't comfortable bringing the kids into the city just yet, certainly not for so short a visit. She promised they'd all come back together in the summer and make a real trip of it; then she rattled off a list of sight-seeing destinations that had Justin dizzy with exhaustion just listening to it.

Later, when Justin learned that Brian had paid for everyone to travel to the city the love he had felt for him for the past nine years, grew even larger.

"And now for the first part of my gift," Brian presented Justin with a small, sleek envelope wrapped with a deep blue satin ribbon. Justin eyed it and Brian suspiciously before he took it, gently pulling open the flap.

He stared at in for a long moment, stunned.

"No way," he finally whispered, a grin spreading across his face as he looked into the smirking, self-congratulatory face of Brian.

"What! What is it, honey?" his mom prompted, grinning as well.

"Two First Class tickets to Ibiza," Justin shuffled through the various papers that he'd pulled out of the envelope. In addition to the tickets there were hotel vouchers, spa treatments, and invitations with guaranteed admission to the hottest night clubs there.

"I owed you the trip," Brian stuck his tongue in his cheek and Justin laughed knowingly.

"The travel dates are open-ended. We can go whenever you'd like," Brian added, moving around and draping his arms down Justin's chest. Turning his head to Brian, Justin's free hand touched Brian's cheek and traced his jawline as their lips met.

"It's about fucking time," Daphne's voice carried over the quiet group and both Justin and Brian laughed as they pulled apart.

"Thanks Daph," Justin reached a hand out and gently tapped his best friend's shoulder.

"And now, Sunshine, here's part two," Brian pulled his lips into his mouth as he pulled a large, flat, wrapped gift from behind the table.

"Part two?"

"There are many parts," Brian whispered in a conspiratory tone.

Justin eyed Brian skeptically, turning his gaze to the very large, flat gift that was now leaning against the front of the small table. Raising his eyes once more he took in the sight of what appeared to be a nervous Brian. Justin had no idea what could possibly be wrapped up to make him act so strangely. Brian Kinney never acted unsure…then again, Brian had only recently started giving out meaningful birthday gifts to the people in his life so…

Giving Brian one last curious smile, Justin crouched down and tore the wrapping paper, starting in the upper left corner and pulling across the width of the gift. As the paper tore away and what was beneath was revealed he felt his breath catch in his throat and his eyes immediately prick with the sting of tears.

He could vaguely hear all the guests behind him whispering with admiration.

"Holy shit, Brian," Justin sat back on his rear, taking it in.

A few seconds passed before he felt Brian's hand on his neck, his lips against his ear.

"You like it?" he asked, and Justin could still hear some apprehension in his voice.

"Fuck," Justin sighed, "yes."

"I love it," Justin shook his head with awe as his eyes moved across the images before him. He'd never seen them like this before, and his memory traced each one. Images flew through his mind as he remembered where he was, what was happening in his life, and who he was with, for each one. Most importantly though it was an illustrated roller-coaster ride of his relationship with Brian, playing out before his eyes.

"Mikey helped steal them for me," Brian added, moving to sit next to Justin, placing a kiss on his cheek as his hand stayed at Justin's neck, gently massaging and fingering the fine hairs there. For Justin, this simple gesture had become the symbol of their relationship and it was how he knew things were okay; that he was safe, and that he was loved. The simple touch meant so much to him and he hated to disrupt it but he had too as he slowly turned his head to find Michael in the crowd behind them.

"Thank you," Justin smiled, and Michael nodded.

Justin turned back to the gift. Leaning against the table before him, framed in sleek, heavy wood and protected beneath a plate of non-glare glass, was the original artwork for every Rage comic-book cover that he'd illustrated thus far – the complete run of Rage: Volume #1. The complex arrangement of the 14 comic covers was complimented by the rich, dual-layered matte that really drew your eye to the drawings and made the action within the art really pop.

"Can we see?" Lindsay hovered behind Justin, her eyes searching greedily at the gift.

Laughing, Justin started to stand but Brian hopped up more quickly and reaching down he pulled Justin up and into his arms, planting a hard, heavy kiss on his lips.

"The rest of your gift you'll get from me after everyone leaves," Brian whispered into Justin's ear, biting the lobe before releasing him with a grin that made Justin ache to feel him inside him.

"It's all yours. Look away," Brian grinned as he and Justin moved away from the crowd and to the back of the room.

They watched as Lindsay picked up the large piece and set it gently on the table, resting it against the wall so everyone could see it more clearly.

"God, Brian," Justin wrapped his arms around Brian's waist and nestled into his shoulder. "It's so fucking gorgeous."

"It's all you," Brian shrugged and Justin smiled to himself.

"It'll look fabulous in the new place," Brian added, smirking at Justin.

Justin knew that was a not so subtle reminder that he was on a deadline to make a decision about New York. Brian had told him it was okay if he wanted to stay there – that they could postpone the ceremony until Justin was ready to leave the city. Justin appreciated Brian saying that, and he knew that there was no pressure. Well, no pressure except that which he was putting on himself. He desperately wanted to marry Brian, and start their lives together but he was still in love with New York. He knew he wasn't ready to leave yet and that was his conundrum. He didn't doubt Brian would wait for him, but a part of him felt it extremely unfair for him to ask him to wait…

"We don't have a new place yet," Justin poked Brian in the ribs and the older man gave a barking laugh.

"We will," he whispered with a teasing tone.

Justin watched his friends and family examining the artwork and gushing over his talents. He smiled as Michael started exclaiming all his favorite storylines from the various issues.

"Well we can't tell them about the wedding until we know when you're coming home," Brian bit at Justin's ear again, causing another twitch at Justin's groin.

"Soon," Justin reached up and pulled Brian down to him, tenderly kissing him before slowly inserting his tongue and teasing him with it.

"I promise," Justin added, winking at his partner as Lindsay came over to them and interrupted by pulling Justin away.

Justin felt only slightly guilty that they hadn't shared the news of their commitment with anyone, yet. But after what had happened last time, it was safer this way, and the last thing either of them wanted was to be hounded by everyone for the date. A part of Justin was still scared that it would all disappear – after all, it was secret. If it ended no one would ever know it had even existed in the first place. That was scarier than the possibility of announcing it, then breaking it off after the fact, like they'd done before. But Justin also knew if they told everyone that Brian would bear the brunt of the pressure, and he couldn't sick them all, especially Emmett, Debbie, and his own mother on him like that.

Glancing back once more at Brian, Justin felt his heart leap in his chest. Brian stood there, arms crossed over his chest, the shadows in the apartment illuminating his strong jaw and chin. His gaze was fixed on Justin and his expression was…wistful? Peaceful? Content?

Happy.

Justin sighed inwardly.

No. This time it would work out. This time they were both ready and as Brian had said when he'd proposed, the reasons were right this time.

A/N: I am assuming Justin was born in the spring of 1983. Based on a few pieces of evidence given us in the show. He turned 18 late season 1 (after ep 14) which timewise was probably early 2001 – the episode aired April 1). In Season 2 his birthday episode aired May 12, and the episode prior to that one talked about Spring Break (usually in March), so I'm putting Justin's birthday in early April. Feel free to correct me if you think my estimate is wrong! Thanks for reading!

EDIT - A lovely reader pointed out to me that Ben and Justin share a birthday, and that Ben mentioned he's a Pisces, which would put Justin's birthday in March. So, I've updated the story to reflect that! :)