"Big game this week," Eric was saying as he and Brian walked towards the locker-room. "Reckon the coach is gonna have us learning some new plays."

"I doubt it," Brian shook his head. "He's just gonna rely on your speed like he always does. He hasn't got any other ideas. Defence is for shit."

"Just lucky offence is so talented then," Eric chuckled, pulling at his own jacket in fake arrogance.

"Asshole," Brian laughed, pushing his brother playfully in the shoulder so the other boy stumbled a little.

Eric just grinned back, pushing the door to the changing rooms open and walking through. Brian followed and was disgusted by what he saw.

Jack had one of his mates from the team curled up in a foetal position in front of some lockers as he carefully re-enacted what had happened with Justin.

"I kicked him here," he grinned proudly, slowly pushing his foot into his friend's stomach like an overly dramatic slow-motion replay. "You just pretend to cry like some pathetic faggot," he directed to the boy on the floor.

"Wah, wah, wah," the other boy joined in, and the team laughed. "I'm Gaylor and I'm such a fag I can't even throw a punch in a fight. Wah, wah, wah."

"That's likeness is uncanny," Jack laughed. "Then," he turned grandly to the team, "I dropped my knee into him, like this." He did another slow demonstration of his knee hitting Justin flush in the head and one of the boys cheered and clapped loudly. "And that was when Brian joined in," Jack said, looking through the crowd to find his youngest brother. "Where is he?"

Everyone just shrugged and looked around as though Brian might suddenly appear from within a locker.

"He was there a second ago," the captain, Joey Bridger, frowned and the others were equally confused, except Eric. He'd watch his brother get madder and madder before turning around and disappearing silently from the room.

::

Brian walked over to the tree at the top of the slope opposite and kicked it hard. He immediately regretted his decision as pain seared through his toes and burnt up into his ankle.

"FUCK!" He screamed, slumping onto the floor. He felt tense and angry and wanted nothing more than to run back into the changing room and punch Jack in the face but he promised himself there'd be no more violence whatever happened. His temper had already cost him too much.

He just sat for a moment or two, thinking and trying not to think about Jack's proud little performance in the changing rooms. And then he heard it, whistling. He looked up and saw the coach approaching in the distance. Shit. He was too pissed to play sport right now. He'd be reckless and crazy, he'd probably try to take down Jack regardless of teams and positions, so he jumped to his feet and ran to the nearest hiding place.

He spotted it straight away. The sports cupboard, perfect. No one would walk in there, no one would even think to look there. He pulled back the door and slid inside. Nothing on earth could have prepared him for what he saw.

"Fuck me," he whispered. And the two guilty boys looked up. Brian's eyebrow raised calmly. He felt cool and collected despite his guts telling him to run over there and rip Hobbs' head off, because what he'd found was Hobbs, eyes closed sat on the floor, with Justin jerking him off.

"It's not what it looks like," Hobbs said quickly.

"Course not," Brian laughed. He was angry, he was hurt, he felt a bit giddy. He was jealous, he was amused he felt like every single possible emotion was coursing through him and he wasn't sure which one to focus on first.

"It's not," Hobbs continued, "he jumped me."

Brian just laughed again, hadn't he used the exact same excuse, when Jack had caught him kissing Justin at the concert. Hobbs was on his feet now, zipping up his pants. Justin was scrambling to his feet too, refusing to meet Brian's eyes.

"It's not fucking funny," Hobbs shouted. "I'm gonna get him arrested for rape."

"You know that it's only rape when one party isn't consenting, right?" Brian said slowly. "Coz you looked pretty consenting to me."

"I'm not a fag!" Hobbs yelled, then he turned to Justin and pushed him hard. He fell against a cage and stumbled awkwardly, hitting his head hard. "You hear me Taylor, I'm not a fag!"

"I never said you were," Justin muttered, struggling back to his feet. "Christ," he grumbled, "what is it with jocks and not admitting who they really are?"

Hobbs saw red. "I said I'm not a fag," he seethed, picking up the nearest object, a baseball bat and swinging blindly for Justin's head.

Justin flinched, he put up his arms and closed his eyes. He heard a crash and a bang but he felt nothing. He opened his eyes again to see Hobbs flat out on the floor with Brian sat on his chest, throwing the baseball bat away to a safe distance before scrambling to his feet.

"What the fuck Bri?" Hobbs demanded, struggling to sit up. "Defending queers now? You a fag or something?" He joked.

Brian said nothing, he just looked at the floor and refused to answer.

"No fucking way," Hobbs said, stepping away from the pair quickly. "You're a cocksucker. You filthy, fucking queer. You wait til the rest of the team hear about this."

"Tell them," Brian said steadily, " and I'll make sure the whole school knows that I caught you getting a hand job of a fag."

The two boys glared at each other until eventually, Hobbs broke and walked away. "Fuck you Kinney," he shouted over his shoulder. "You'll regret this!"

And then there was just two of them standing in silence. There was only one question, who was going to speak first? Eventually, Brian opened his mouth.

"You truly have the worst taste in guys," he said steadily.

"What can I say," Justin shrugged, "I can't resist the thrill of trying to turn a straight guy."

"But do you have to keep opting for the psychopathic, homophobic ones?"

"I like a challenge."

"You're fucking crazy more like," Brian sighed, going to the wall and using it to slide to the floor.

"You think he'll tell anyone … about you?"

Brian shook his head. "He's more terrified of people finding out his dirty little secret than I am."

Justin nodded and the silence engulfed them again. "So," Brian spoke after a short while, "do you like him?"

"Hobbs?"

Brian nodded.

"No," Justin whispered, "I mean, he's hot but…" he breathed in deeply, "he just reminded me of someone I do like. Someone I've been struggling to try and replace."

They looked into each others eyes, neither under any allusions as to how the other felt about them, and in a romance movie or a television drama or some great literary novel, this would have been the moment that they've have leant together and kissed. But Brian hadn't read much romance in his life, he didn't realise there were rules to obey, so he destroyed the moment by asking;

"are you talking about Ian?"

And Justin could only laugh at the ridiculousness of the question.

"No," he chuckled. "Not Ethan. Ethan was just a guy I tried to fall for. But he wanted all this bullshit love crap that I couldn't give him."

"Why not?"

"Because despite all the logic in me screaming at me that it was stupid, I love you Brian. I have since the second I saw you."

Brian was silent for a moment, staring at the dusty floor. "Shouldn't Hobbs have tidied this room?"

"Brian," Justin scolded, "can't you be serious for just a second?"

"I'm sorry," the other boy whispered. "I … I don't know what to do when someone says they love me. I'm not used to it, I don't understand it, it makes me nervous. I panic and I don't know what to say."

"Say what you feel," Justin beseeched. "Please."

Brian nodded, took a deep breath and, fiddling with the open zip of his jacket, he began.

"I don't believe defining this is going to make it better or worse. But I know that I'm a mess without you and that I've never cared about anyone as much as I care about you. And that scares me so much I can barely handle it." He stopped and Justin could see he was shaking. He reached over and squeezed his knee gently. Brian covered Justin's hand with his own and closed his eyes, and the words began again;

"I don't want to be tied down," he said steadily. "I've seen the underworld of Liberty Avenue and I love it. I want to be able to go there and fuck every hot guy I see. We're too young to get together now and call it forever but I can't to lose you. It kills me when I see you and I know I can't kiss you or touch you or hold you. I need you in my life … Justin. But I don't wanna promise you monogamy when … I don't know if I'm ready for that. I mean I'm a goddamn Kinney. I may never be ready for that."

"So we're together," Justin said slowly, "but we have the freedom to fuck who we want. But only once," he stipulated.

"Okay," Brian nodded.

"And then," Justin smiled that beaming smile that Brian had missed, "when we've fucked all the guys we want, and we've had our fun, then we'll buy a place a country and get married."

"I hope that one day that's possible," Brian mumbled.

"I know it is," Justin smiled.

Their lips meant gently and they both smiled as a tingling, neither of them had felt for far too long pulsed through them from the briefest of touches.

"To polygamy," Justin whispered as their tongues met in a dance of lust and love.

Brian started to unbutton Justin's shirt but the smaller boy stopped him.

"Not here," he shook his head frantically, "you never know who'll walk in."

"Fine, can we go back to yours?"

"Yeah but," the blonde blushed a little looking innocent and sweet before ruining it by saying, "take me to The Baths." Then pushing his lips to Brian's ear he whispered, "I want everyone to see you fuck me in public."

"You sure?" Brian said.

"Yeah," Justin beamed, "come on, lets go."

::

"You look happy," Eric commented as Brian waltzed in through the front door at around eight.

"I have made amends," Brian announced grandly, ruffling his brother's hair.

"No shit," Eric smirked, he was mildly impressed. He'd thought Brian was going to spend the rest of his life moping about his lost childhood sweetheart. "Well, I hope it was worth it, the coach is pissed that you missed training."

"That's okay, I'll just tell him I was having a different kind of cardio workout."Eric screwed up his face and went a bit green. "That was far more information than I needed."

Brian just smiled and sat on the other sofa, a stupid look plastered across his face.

Eric pulled an unimpressed face. "Stop grinning you fool," he groaned. "You look like a …," his brain struggled for an appropriate word but none came to him except, "fag."

"Uh-huh," he laughed. "Er, where's mom, dad and Jack?"

"Mom and dad went to bed, drunk and Jack went with Hobbs and a few of the other guys to that strip club in town."

"Really?" Brian smirked, "did Hobbs suggest that by any chance?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"I just figured he'd be trying to assert his heterosexuality."

Eric looked to the other boy with a puzzled expression. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Brian laughed a little, wondering whether or not to share his piece of gossip but then deciding fuck it he said, "you can't tell anyone."

"Scouts honour," he mocked.

"I caught Hobbs getting a hand job off Justin."

"Justin," Eric repeated dumbly. "Your Justin?"

"Well not my Justin, he doesn't belong to me."

"But we are talking about Taylor?"

"Yeah."

"And Hobbs?"

"Yeah," Brian smirked.

"Fucking hell," Eric whistled. "Isn't anyone straight anymore?"

"I guess not," Brian laughed.

"So what did you do to him?"

"Who?"

"Hobbs, you caught him being jerked off by your boyfriend. Did you threaten him at all?"

"Justin and I," Brian paused dramatically, "we have an arraignment."

"You can fuck outside the relationship?" Eric asked in disbelief.

"Yup."

"Christ, being gay really does have it's advantages, doesn't it?"

Brian just smiled wryly and got to his feet, "Budweiser?" He offered as he made his way to the kitchen.

"Please," Eric nodded.

Thanks for reading! xx

(Just read the bit in bold above and realised it sounds a bit like I could be ending the story so, just to warn you, there's still LOADS more to come! =D Sorry, you're not getting rid of this fic that easily!)