Title: I knew I loved You before I Met You
Rating: P.G 13 For language
Summary: This was a 3 part song fic, about how Brian and Justin met long before they actually met . . . You'll get it eventually.
Authors note: Due to reasons beyond my control I have been forced to take down the lyrics of " I knew I loved you before I met you" by Savage Garden. Apparently disclaimers aren't enough. You can find the lyrics at any site that posts lyric's. The first verse and chorus represent the first chapter, the second verse and chorus will represent the second chapter and so on and so forth.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
"Get out!" Jack Kinney yelled at his twelve year old son Brian as he pushed the bruised and beaten boy out of the house and into the cold.
The scrawny boy fell into the grass, that was lightly coated with what was left of the last snowstorm, with a loud thump. The blood that dribbled down the corner of his mouth he quickly wiped away as he pulled himself onto his bare feet. From out the corner of his eye he could his sister Claire watching form the living room window, an evil grin plastered on her face. This was all her fault, if she would've just left him alone he wouldn't have had to hit her and they, or rather he, wouldn't be in this predicament. Searching for an ally he turned to his mother Joan, who just stood there in the doorway next to his magenta faced father sipping a martini, her drink of choice. It was 3:30 P.M and she already had that glazed over look in her eye's which meant she wouldn't be a help . . . she was never any help.
"Go you fucking faggot freak!" Jack yelled screamed throwing his black and white Converse sneakers and his dirty leather jacket at him.
Brian quickly seized his favorite jacket and pulled it around his sunken shoulders. This act wasn't new Jack routinely threw son and occasionally his wife and daughter out of the house in all kinds of weather without regret. Neighbors that were salting their walk ways or looking out of the window at the commotion acted usually, as if they didn't see or hear anything.
"Don't come back!" Jack snarled before slamming the door shut.
He'd be back, they all knew it. Either Joan would bitch and moan until Jack got off his ass to come look for him, or they'd tell the cops he was a runaway and get them to find him. Whatever the case it'd be a few hours until it happened. So he laced up his old sneakers and started walking down the street, avoiding the eyes of his neighbors and vice versa. He'd only walked a few feet before a pain shot through his body, he figured it was a spasm and pressed on but soon enough it hurt again, this time even worse. He brought his finger to his abdomen and poked until he found the spot, the pain was so intense his knees almost buckled. He knew this pain very well and guessed if one of his ribs wasn't broken from when Jack pushed him down the stairs it was at least cracked. Until the pain dulled he held onto the gate fence for support, then continued on his trek. He would go to his best friend Michael Novotny's house , his mother Debbie would help him she always did. Due to his injury it took a lot longer than the 15 minutes it usually took to get there but he made it none the less. Climbing the stairs carefully he began to knock on the door, something unusual then happened he didn't get a response and he always got a response because there was always someone at the Novotny home. So he knocked harder and harder for what seemed like forever.
"Debbie!" he called his voice cracking in the process "Debbie! Michael! Mikey! . . . Vic!"
Calling them he quickly found wasn't the answer and that this was just his luck . . . no one was home.
"Great!" he grumbled leaning on the bright red door for the support he couldn't provide himself.
His first instinct was to stay there and wait but a strong and very cold wind made him think otherwise. The only other place he would go in this situation was the mall and that was on the other side of town near his all time favorite place on earth: Liberty Avenue. It was the center of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and no matter what he was accepted there. Brian had always known he was gay the same way he knew Michael was gay also. This made them both outcasts at school and ultimately brought them together, they'd been inseparable ever since. He was also pretty sure Debbie knew they were gay too after all she grew up with her brother Vic who was also gay. He pondered this as he rode the train downtown, he'd jumped the turnstile but had paid for it with intense pain in his ribs afterwards. The train let you off inside the large building, so he was right in the heart of the mall when he stepped out of the station downstairs. He was glad instantly that he'd made he decision to come here and he spent the first twenty minutes there warming up and taking in the familiar sights and sounds. After a little while he stepped into a Rite-Aid and stepped out with a bottle of painkillers and a soda. Shoplifting had come as a second nature to the short chestnut brown haired boy with the hazel eyes and pouty lips. He was naturally good at it. He wandered around the familiar place once the pills took their effect, it was aspirin and it didn't do what his dads painkillers did, but it helped. With his mind off of the pain in his chest he focused on the pain in his stomach, he hadn't eaten since yesterday. He went up to the food court where he began salivating at the many smells, his stomach really jolted awake then. Reaching into his pants pocket he found he only had two dollars and that wasn't enough to but anything in the food court.
"There has to be something here" he told himself walking around to the different eateries. So preoccupied with this was he that he didn't watch where he was going and he bumped into a lady with her baby in a stroller.
"Ow!" he yelped holding his ribs
"Oh watch where you're going" she instructed not exactly glaring at him. He saw that her eyes were an intense color of blue, that had to be the most beautiful color of blue he'd ever seen.
"I . . .I'm sorry" he stuttered hoping the child inside wouldn't begin to cry. And he did to everyone's dismay.
"Aww Justin sweetheart don't cry" she cooed "It's alright honey"
Leaving her to her motherly duties he walked away with a twinge of guilt taking over him, he was sure his mother never did that for him. He went to Pittsburgh Pizza their slices were $2.25 maybe the guy would let him go for a quarter.
"Slices are $2.25" The teen with perfectly combed short black hair said in a nervous tone
"But I have $2.00" Brian pleaded
"I understand but the slices are $2.25"
"C'mon man its just a quarter"
"They're $2.25" he said more sternly
"What the hell can I get for $2.00 then!" he asked getting agitated
"Well you can get the small soda and um . . . that's it"
"What!"
"What'd you expect?" he asked
"Ah-hem!" A large rude man standing behind Brian said loud and obnoxiously.
Brian calmly turned around and looked the man, who probably had eight inches and two-hundred pounds on him, and said "What?"
"People are waiting"
"Honestly Sir do you think you need any more pizza?" he asked completely serious about it before turning around back to the skittish teen who looked horrified that this was happening while he was there. "Look . . . Ted" he said reading the tag "I have the two dollars and I'm really, really hungry can you please grow some balls and-"
"I'm sorry but they're $2.25, there's nothing on the menu you can get for $2.00 besides the small soda so do you want that?" Ted asked his voice rising ever higher
"No" Brian answered stiffly
"Then can you please let the next customer through so he can order?"
"Please" The man behind him added prompting Brian to turn around once more
"You just wait a minute jumbo"
"You're going to stop disrespecting me you little smart ass" The man snarled
Brian waved him off as other customers began to moan and groan also "Listen Ted-"
"Schmidt!" A larger angry looking man barked making the already nervous teen jump "What is going on here!"
"Th . . . This kid here wants me to get him a slice for $2.00 even though they're $2.25. I keep telling him I can't and he's been holding up the line for fifteen minutes!"
"And you let him!"
"B . . but Mr. Franklin I've been telling him y . . you can ask anyone on the line" he tried to explain quickly
Get in the back Schmidt I give you one chance on the register and you go and let some little punk come and hold everyone up. You're losing us customers! Go!"
His head hung low Ted made his way to the back leaving his angry boss in Brian's face.
"Next"
"I'm not finished"
"Oh yes you are" the man said "Next"
Brian slammed his twelve year old fist on the counter and declared "I'm Not Done!"
"Next!" the man repeated
The guy behind him pushed past the boy and ordered leaving Brian standing to the side fuming.
Fuck you!" he said walking away his lowly two dollars clutched in his hand.
He was really hungry and officially desperate. Over on a table he saw that there was a half eaten slice on a plate there. He stood there looking at it for quite a while contemplating whether he should eat it or not, his thoughts were cut short when the janitor cleared the table. He dropped his head and sighed.
"You weren't going to eat that were you?" a familiar sweet voice asked from behind him.
He turned quickly to see the woman he'd bumped into and her baby. "Umm no" he said turning to walk away.
"Well that's good"
"Yeah I guess . . . I gotta go" he said feeling very ashamed
He basically took off in a run before she called him back. "Wait"
Usually he would've kept on but this time he turned back and called back "What?"
"Come here" she said
He stood there unsure of what to do, she seemed nice enough so he walked back to her, face red and head lowered.
"Are you really that hungry?" she asked
He turned around again, he didn't want to answer that. His pride was at stake and she seemed to understand.
"How about I buy you some pizza?" she offered placing her hand on his shoulder
"The slices there are $2.25" he informed
"I have that" she said smiling and squeezing his shoulder softly
She began to lead him back over to the eatery line when he stopped. "You don't have to"
"I insist" she said
He looked at her questioningly before continuing on "Thank you . . . Um"
"Jennifer, Jennifer Taylor"
"Um thank you Jennifer. I should let you know the guy at the counter is a bastard"
They both laughed at that. Brian looked down at the blonde baby in the stroller and asked.
"What his name?"
"Justin" she answered
"Oh" he said. He'd always been fond of that name.
When it was their turn at the counter the once angry man instantly perked up. "Ma'am I told your son that the slices were $2.25 and he-"
"Oh he's not my son, we're . . . Friends" she answered looking at him and smiling "Um anyway let me get a small pie with . . What topping?"
"Sausage" he answered meekly "A pie?"
"Sausage" she repeated then looked down at him "You can take the rest home"
"Drink?" he asked
"A diet coke for me and for you?"
"A coke" he said
"$11.75" he calculated
As Jennifer paid, Brian watched as the baby woke up and fell asleep, he'd done this a total of 5 times before they got to a seat. Brian instantly ate two slices before slowing down enough to answer Jennifer's question.
"My names Brian and I'm . . . 14"
She must've noticed Brian staring at Justin and asked "Would you like to hold him?"
Brian for a split second wondered if she was crazy. Letting a total stranger, a kid, hold her baby just seemed a little out there. But he'd never held a baby and answered yes. She placed him in his arms, he fit perfectly.
"You're a natural" Jen said smiling
Brian chuckled lightly. He noticed the child possessed his mothers blonde hair. His hair reminded him of the fuzz on baby chicks, that's how soft it was. He was asleep currently and smiling his toothless smile in his dreams. That brought a smile to his face and he knew that if he saw a smile like that everyday life wouldn't seem so dark, it'd be like the sun shining.
"Sunshine" he whispered under his breath.
"Excuse me?" Jennifer asked
He looked up, he'd forgotten she was there. "Oh . . . nothing"
She took the baby from his arms then and somehow his arms felt empty. As soon as he was in his mothers arms he began to cry and she began to comfort him once again.
"Shh, shh Justin I think he likes you"
Brian lifted his hand to his nose and still could smell the baby powder. "Yeah I like him too"
After a few minutes he began to calm down and Jennifer went on talking about some real estate job she was going to school for before Justin was born. That was when he heard a high pitched voice call out for him. He turned to see Michael, Debbie and his father coming toward him.
"Brian!" Michael called being the first to reach him. "Your dad caught us when we were coming home, he was looking for you"
"Great" he said halfheartedly
"What are you doing bothering this woman?" Jack asked
"I'm not" he said
"What did you say!"
"He's not bothering me" Jennifer said
Jack stared her up and down before taking Brian by his collar "Did you make her buy you this Pizza?"
"No!" he squealed as he was pulled up sharply
"Don't you lie!"
"I'm not!"
"I offered" Jennifer explained
"Jack please Brian can come to my house" Debbie offered
"No Debbie he's coming home stop trying to undermine me, and listen lady my son doesn't need handouts" he growled "I'll fix you out here begging! It's bad enough you're an embarrassment what if someone would've see you?"
He began pulling him out of the food court with Debbie and Michael protesting as he did. Brian caught one more glance of the lady holding her baby before he turned the corner, back to his cold dark life, his little piece of sunshine gone.
