Healing Hearts at Heartland

By: Ryu Katanna

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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter One

Justin's shoulders slumped as the door to the loft slid shut with a soft bang that seemed to echo around him. He sighed as he adjusted his bags and slowly made his way down the stairs. His heart ached, and his mind felt muddled as he tried to figure out what had just happened and where he could go now. His nails dug into his palm as he stepped outside of the building on Tremont when he realized he had very few to no options.

He couldn't go to Daphne's now as her parents were unlikely to let him stay the night. Not while she was grounded because of helping him out the last time. He couldn't go home. His mother seemed to want him to come back, but there was no way he would go back unless he wanted to pretend to be someone he wasn't. He would rather die on the street. There wasn't really anyone else unless he asked someone he'd met through Brian, but that wasn't an option either. Not once they'd heard about Brian's loft being broken into.

Justin didn't want to hear what anyone else had to say about their relationship, or non-relationship, as the case may be. His life was a mess, and he had few options if he didn't want to live on the street. He loved Brian. Truly, he did. He wanted to be with him, but how much more of this was he willing to take? He wasn't even sure if the man would even speak to him again.

The fact was that Justin was only seventeen, and he knew that as much as he would never regret coming out of the closet, he hated that it meant losing the support of his family. He was still in high school and dependent on his parents since he hadn't needed to work while he was still in school. His family had always been well off, so there hadn't been a need for him to do so.

He hated admitting it even to himself, but without Brian's grudging help, Justin knew it could have been worse. He could have gone home with someone else that first night. Someone who wouldn't have taken the time to make his first time such a good memory.

'Maybe we just met too soon.' Justin thought miserably as he walked slowly down the street toward the bus stop.

He was starting to believe that. At the same time, Justin couldn't regret it. Would never regret going home with Brian. He couldn't. Not when he had never felt this strongly toward anyone else before.

Reaching the bus stop he paused to think about what he was going to do now. He could sleep there on the bench, but that wasn't very safe. If only there was somewhere else he could go. That's when he thought of two more people he had met recently that had been kind to him before.

'I could ask Melanie and Lindsay if I can crash on their couch for tonight. They've let me stay the night before, but I really don't want to hear what Mel would say. That's not a viable solution for the real problem though.' He thought as he checked the bus schedule to figure out when the bus would arrive with no destination in mind.

Seeing that it would still be another hour before the bus should be there, Justin took a seat on the bench to wait. Luckily it was still early fall and so the nights hadn't started getting too cold. Checking his backpack, Justin sighed upon seeing that he had been in too much of a hurry to grab his uniform for school. He'd left most of his books in his locker so at least the backpack wasn't overly heavy, but it did have the one thing he needed. Justin pulled out a sketch pad and pencil before zipping his backpack once more and flipping to a fresh page.

'Should I try getting a job? Even if I do it would take a few weeks before I'd have the money to rent a cheap apartment, and with school, I might not be able to work enough hours to support myself. I also would need a place to sleep in the meantime.' Just thought as he idly started sketching.

'I don't have any other friends that I could stay with. I don't have anywhere else when I can't stay with my family because of dad.' He thought as he bit his lip.

'Dad will never accept that his son isn't straight, and mom has to think of Molly too. Even if she tries to understand, it's not like she can ever accept it. I don't have any other family in Pittsburg after grandma died last year...' He thought before pausing.

'Would she accept me? I used to spend summers there all the time when I was little. Should I call Aunt Lisa? She's always been really accepting...' Justin thought before he was interrupted by the flash of lights from a passing car.

Grabbing his backpack he stashed his sketch pad back in his bag. He knew what he needed to do. Now he needed to find a phone. He knew where an old payphone was just off liberty, but he didn't have any money to make the call.

"Hopefully she'll take a collect call." Justin sighed under his breath as he grabbed his bags and left the bus stop.

It wasn't too far to walk. Fifteen minutes later, Justin set his bags down by his feet before lifting the receiver. Hearing the dial tone he let out a breath of relief. Punching the numbers to call collect, Justin then enter a number he had memorized.

"Justin Taylor." He stated his name when prompted before waiting for the call to connect.

"Justin? Why are you making a collect call? Is everything alright?" A woman's voice answered sounding deeply concerned.

"I don't know what to do, Aunt Lisa. I can't go home. Dad's gone insane." Justin's voice grew thick with emotion as he choked out the admission.

"What do you mean you can't go home? Are you in some trouble, Justin? Where are you right now?" Lisa asked worriedly, and Justin could hear some noise in the background that sound like the clopping of hooves.

"I found a payphone near Liberty Ave. It's the queer district. Mom found out that I'm gay, and she told Dad. It's like he went crazy." Justin said quickly in an effort to explain, but with his emotions running so high he was almost babbling.

"Slow down, honey. I only heard a little of that. Take a deep breath and calm down. Now tell me what's been happening." Lisa said soothingly and Justin did as she told him before speaking.

He told her everything. He started by telling her about how he'd met Brian. How his mom found out, and how she'd reacted. How she'd told his dad, and it was like he'd gone crazy. He told her about how and why he suspected his dad had rammed Brian's jeep. How he'd gotten into a fight at school, and how he was being harassed. That his dad had threatened to send him to military school, what he'd said in response, and how his dad hit him.

Then he told her about how he'd had to pull his dad off of Brian the other night, and about his dad's ultimatum as well as his response. How Brian had taken him home to talk to his parents and what had happened there. He finished by telling her about talking to his mom that day, and what she'd said. How he'd found that Brian's loft had been broken into when he got back and how Brian had kicked him out. Though he still swore he'd set the alarm and locked the door.

"I don't know what to do, Aunt Lisa. There's nowhere else I can go, and I can't go back home. " Justin said as he wiped at his eyes before he could cry.

"I understand why you can't. I'll find a hotel and get you a room tonight. Is there a restaurant or something nearby where you can go in and sit down?" Lisa asked as she kept her tone gentle even as Justin could hear what sounded like typing.

"The Liberty Diner is just down the block." Justin answered as he sighed with relief that his Aunt would get him a room for the night

"Alright. I found the number. Go find a booth and get warm. I'll make some arrangements and call the diner." Lisa said and Justin couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, Aunt Lisa." He said quietly.

"Be careful, Justin. I'll talk to you again in a few minutes." She said gently as he heard more clicking coming from her side of the phone.

"Okay." He replied before hanging up the payphone with an internal cringe at how long they had been on the phone.

Aunt Lisa hadn't said anything, but he knew the charge for that call was going to be ridiculously expensive. They'd been on the phone for at least thirty minutes. Collect calls were about three dollars a minute, but there would probably be an additional charge for international calls. He would have to try to pay her back when he could for both the call and the room she was paying for. His Aunt was well off, as most of his mother's family was, but he didn't want to feel like he was taking advantage of her.

Picking up his two bags, Justin walked the block over to the Liberty Diner. He bit his lip as he looked in through the window. Debbie was working tonight. Thankfully it looked like neither Brian nor any of his friends were there at this time. Debbie, at least, would understand why his Aunt would be calling the diner if he explained to her.

"Sunshine!" The cheering woman greeted him as soon as he walked in the door.

"Hey, Debbie." Justin replied as he slid his bags

"Oh... you're not smiling. What did that asshole do now?" Debbie asked with a scowl as she clenched her order pad and put her hands on her hips.

"Please don't, Deb. It's not his fault. I'm just tired. I talked to my mom today, and it wasn't... Then Brian's loft was broken into while we were gone. He's pretty mad at me right now." Justin sighed tiredly as he saw her eyes widen.

"Are you both alright?!" Debbie asked loudly as she looked him over.

"Physically, yeah. Brian's pissed. He threw me out. Michael was there. I'm sure he'll be by to tell you all about it." Justin told her as she slid into the booth across from him since the diner was quiet at the moment.

"He kicked you out? That little asshole. Don't you worry. You can come to stay with me and Vic, Sunshine." Debbie offered easily causing Justin to smile at her generosity.

"Thanks, Deb. I really do appreciate it, but I'll be okay. I called my Aunt. She's going to put me up in a hotel tonight. She said she would call here at the diner for me once she'd made the arrangements to give me the information. I hope that's alright." He said and Debbie nodded as she tapped his cheek.

"More than alright. The offer is open if you need it though. Ah. That might be her." Debbie said as she stood quickly when the phone behind the counter started ringing.

"Hello, Liberty Diner. You must be Sunshine's aunt. He was just telling me you would be calling. He's right here." She said as she held out the phone for him to take once he'd reached the counter.

"Hey, Aunt Lisa." Justin said as he and Debbie shuffled around each other so the phone cord wasn't stretched too far.

"Sunshine?" Lisa asked with a light tone of humor.

"Ah, yeah. That's what Debbie calls me. She's Brian's best friend Michael's mom. She's been great with everything. She's even tried talking mom around, but... Well, you know how mom is." Just said as Debbie smiled at hearing Justin telling his Aunt about her.

"All too well. I have the information for the hotel if you've got a pen and paper." Lisa told him, and Justin turned to Debbie motioning for what he needed.

"Thanks. Alight, I'm ready." Justin said before quickly writing down the information for the hotel on the order pad Debbie had given him.

"Got it." He said before ripping the piece of paper from the pad and handing both pad and pen back to Deebie before stuffing the paper into his jeans pocket.

"I'll be taking the first flight out in a few hours, and will arrive in the morning. I'll come to the hotel and we can talk. We'll get something figured out, Justin. Even if you need to come and live with me." Lisa said, and Justin knew that she wasn't lying.

One way or another things would be alright.

"Thank you." He replied gratefully; knowing that she would help him figure things out.

His Aunt had taken the revelation of his sexual preference with ease. She had always been an accepting person. He'd always loved spending summers with her. Justin knew he would love to live with her, but that thought did trouble him as well.

Hudson was about an hour's drive from Calgary and was a six to eight-hour flight. It was far away from Pittsburgh. Far away from Brian. Yes, that man was angry with him right now, but Justin knew he didn't want to give up on the man. He felt so deeply for him, but maybe leaving for a while would be a good thing.

He didn't want Brian to start resenting and hating him.

"Now, I would like to speak to Ms. Debbie for a moment. Be careful getting to the hotel, and I'll see you in the morning."

"See you soon, Aunt Lisa. She wants to talk to you Deb." Justin said as he turned to hand her the receiver.

"Hello!" Deb smiled as she took the phone, and Justin went back to his booth.

Taking the paper out of his pocket he looked at the name of the hotel again. It was a good place, but he would have to try to catch the bus. That was alright as it was still early enough that they would be running for a few more hours yet. At least he had somewhere to sleep now, and then tomorrow his Aunt would be in the city.

That brought his mind back to what Lisa had said. His life was a mess, but at least he still had family who accepted him. It felt good to know there was still someone he could trust after what had happened with his parents. Oh, he still loved them, but things would never be the same after everything that had been said.

"What would you like to eat, Sunshine?" Debbie asked as she came to stand next to him.

"I don't have any money for dinner right now, Deb. I was just going to catch the bus and have an early night when I get to the hotel." Justin said as he tucked the paper back into his pocket.

"Cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake." Deb said as she wrote out the order and completely ignored him before turning to put the order in.

Justin sat there almost gaping before he smiled. He was worried. She'd just gotten back to work, but she seemed to be much better for the rest she had taken. It was only a few minutes until she was back with a plate and a shake before she bustled over to another table.

His thoughts turned inward as he started eating. It was a bit surreal to think that Aunt Lisa would be here in the morning. She traveled a lot between Canada and Europe and so it was rare for her to come to Pittsburgh. The last time had been when she'd picked him up for the summer several years ago; before he'd gotten old enough to make the flight alone.

It was thanks to her that he had such a love for horses. Lisa Stillman was his mother's sister who owned Fairfield Stables which were almost famous for the thoroughbred horses she bred. While she spent a lot of time overseas, she had always been sure to be there for summers. His mother had liked the idea of Justin experiencing life from a different perspective. His father had just been happy that Justin had found a sport he enjoyed in horse shows, though Craig had never thought it was 'masculine' enough like football.

Justin finished his dinner while lost in thought before saying goodbye to Debbie and heading for the bus stop.

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That's it for chapter one. This was a new plot bunny that just hit out of nowhere. It wouldn't leave me alone. I tried to ignore it, but next thing I knew I was taking notes and it was mapping itself out. I couldn't stop it. I have so many other stories currently i the works... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

Let me know what you thought!

~Ryu