"Hello?"
Michael giggled into the mouthpiece of his cell phone as Ben placed gentle kisses along his jaw line and neck, stopping to nibble on his ear.
A shaken, tear-drowned voice answered. "Mikey?"
Michael set a gentle hand on Ben's shoulder, his suddenly concerned expression stopping Ben's show of affection for a moment. "Brian? What's the matter?"
"Mikey I need you..." There was a long pause on the line, followed by the sound of a glass shattering and an angry sob. Brian hung up, unable to continue and speak coherently at the same time.
Michael paled and closed his flip-phone. He stuffed it back in his pocket and stood. "Ben, I have to go and see Brian. Something's wrong."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "You don't suppose promiscuity finally got the better of him, do you?"
Michael shook his head, totally oblivious as to rhyme or reason...
...Brian paced the loft. Justin's body had been removed after a mournful, sobbing call to the police and to the mortuary. Without a question, they took the corpse away and even cleaned up the puddle, Brian having earlier taken care of the small mess in the bathroom and from the bathroom to the puddle.
He lay curled up in the center of his bed with one of Justin's cute little tee shirts. Once in a while he'd take in the boy's scent, tears brimming in his eyes. He heard the door of the loft roll open again, and he lifted his head, suddenly expecting Justin to walk through.
"God!!!" He sobbed and curled up tighter, seeing that instead, Michael rushed across the floor toward him.
Michael stopped in his tracks. His heart nearly ceased to beat in his chest at the sight of Brian reduced [emotionally] to nearly nothing. "Brian, what the fuck happened to you?" He very slowly willed himself further forward and sat beside his friend, pulling him gently up into an embrace.
Brian was hesitant, at first, to touch Michael, but soon, his arms were wrapped around the other man, his head tucked safely into the place where his shoulder and neck meets.
"Mikey... Something happened that I don't think I can explain." Brian stopped simply to breathe, as though the words were dragging precious breath away from his body.
"Tell me?"
Brian pulled away and looked into Michael's eyes. "I think I killed Justin."
Michael's eyes widened and glazed over, his head suddenly swimming.
"He's... dead?"