Chapter 2: The Meeting

The night was practically over for Brian and he decided to sit out on his balcony. He liked to stare up at the moon and the stars, wishing that he could be a bird and fly up to them. The doorbell rang so he had to part from the beautiful site to answer it. He slid the door open to find a blond, pale guy with piercing blue eyes.

"Uh, hey," the vision said. Brian gave a head nod and signaled him to come in. Justin stepped inside and put his bag on the counter. He followed Brian into the bedroom and said, "So, you want to get started?" Brian furrowed his brow.

"You like to get to the point, don't you? You want a drink?" He nodded as Brian poured him some scotch.

"Thanks." He gulped it down and asked again, "You want to get started?"

"And no foreplay?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing," he snuffed. He started to take off his shirt and jeans.

"Whoa! What're you doing?" Justin asked shocked.

"Getting started."

"You want me to draw you naked?" Brian got a confused look on his face.

"Is that what you call it?"

"Don't you?"

"Uh, no. Well," he said sarcastically, "start drawing." Justin grabbed his sketchbook and a pencil. "Shit, you're really drawing me."

"Yeah, it's to show you my true talents."

"Okay, then." For about 10 minutes Brian lay perfectly still while the young boy madly went at the paper. After making a few corrections, he let Brian see the pad. "Damn. That's really good. Where'd you learn to draw like that?"

"I've always been doing it," he said, getting more comfortable. "My parents say I've been drawing since I came out of the womb."

"Probably. Come sit next to me." He slowly got up and sat on the bed facing Brian.

"Wow, you've got really pretty eyes." Brian laughed. Justin suddenly got embarrassed and said, "I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."

"No, it's okay. Most guys that come in here don't even bother to look at my face let alone my eyes."

"Well, they should. So, you like the drawing?"

"Yeah, no one's ever drawn me before."

"You can have it," he smiled. "You can hang it somewhere among the better and more expensive pictures."

"Nah, this doesn't deserve to go on a wall. I'll put it on my nightstand, that way I'll always think of you." Justin blushed at the comment. They were silent for a few moments until Brian broke the silence and said, "You know, I normally don't say this, but I really want to kiss you right now."

"Yeah, weird, huh?" They leaned in to each other and lightly touched their lips. Soon the kiss got more intense and they felt tingling run up and down their spine. They parted, both breathless.

"I can't believe it. I'm…I'm in love with you, Michael."

"Michael?"

"I mean, I never believed I could fall in love, but…"

"Why'd you call me Michael?"

"Oh, do you prefer Mike?"

"My name's Justin. I'm the guy who's helping Emmett and Ted with the thing for Babylon." Slowly having it sink in, Brian jumped off the bed and got his clothes on.

"Those mother fuckers!" he screamed. "God damn it! I told them not to fucking send people up whenever they wanted! Now Michael's going to come up and find you, then tell Debbie, then I'm fucked! You got to get out of here!" He grabbed Justin by the arm and dragged him to the door. He looked through the peep hole and saw Michael standing at the door. "Shit! Go hide behind the curtain!" Justin ran and hid himself. Brian let Michael in and said, "You must be Michael." He smiled in an odd way to make Brian cringe inside.

'Please God,' Justin thought to himself. 'Please don't let him see me. Please don't let him see me.'

"You want a drink?"

"I think I'll skip the drink," he said, rubbing his hands on Brian's chest. "Let's fuck."

"Okay," he sighed. Justin could tell he was uncomfortable and wanted to get away. Michael practically jumped on top of him and ripped his shirt open. Justin peeked out and Brian saw. "Get out," he mouthed to him.

Justin grabbed a sheet of paper and scribbled: I'm not leaving you with him. Brian rolled his eyes. He wrote: Tell him you should wait until the New Year's Eve Party, the one I'm making signs to promote.

"Maybe we should wait."

"What?"

"Let's wait to do anything until the New Year's Eve Party. You know, what a way to bring in the New Year."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. Then I'll see you then?" Michael nodded and kissed him.

"I'll see you soon," he said, walking out.

Making sure he was gone, Brian yelled, "Are you insane! I just turned down my boss' kid and made him wait for two weeks!"

"Well, you didn't want to do anything with him anyways."

"It doesn't matter what I want! What matters is…" Brian hunched over and yelped out in pain.

"Brian!" Justin said, kneeling beside him. "Fuck, what's wrong?" Brian was whimpering from the jolts of pain flowing through his body.

"I forgot my coat," Michael said, coming back in. He immediately saw Justin. "Oh, I get it. You have another guy?" he asked angrily.

"No," Justin assured. "He…"

"He's the artist," Brian said weakly. "The one your mom hired." He struggled to get up, but Justin helped him. "I was just posing for him."

"Let me see your work," he said suspiciously. Justin got his pad and gave it to him. He looked over each of them carefully. "You did these?" He nodded. "What's your name?"

"Justin Taylor. I just moved here for school."

"And what exactly are you going to be doing with Babylon?"

"Um, I'll be designing posters for the New Year's Eve Party. It'll mainly focus on Brian since he's the star of the club."

"Yeah, I know who he is." Brian finally got the urge to speak up, but was quickly shot down. "I'm not done talking to your boy yet."

"Sorry." Justin suddenly felt extremely bad for Brian and gave him a look. To his surprise, he gave one back.

"Then I'll expect to see you doing your work and not playing favorites."

As Justin was walking back to his apartment, he just couldn't stop thinking about Brian. He decided to go back and see him. He got to his door and opened it quietly. Before he could call out his name, he saw him on the balcony. He was sitting on a chair with his head in his hands. He raised it up to stare at the stars and in the moonlight he could see a tear stream down his face.

"Are you okay?" Brian jumped at the sight of him and quickly wiped the tear away.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just had to ask you something. Did…did you mean what you said about…about loving me?"

"No," he snuffed.

"Oh, okay." He sadly turned around and headed for the door.

"It's not you, it's just…I'm not allowed to love anybody," he said awkwardly. "It's kind of this thing involved with what I do here."

"Okay, that's got to be the worst excuse anyone has ever given me."

"No, it's true. I'm not allowed to fall in love. Love distracts you, plus I don't believe in it. It's too commercial."

"Then why'd you say it?"

"I'm paid to make men believe that they love me and I them. Then they keep coming back, thus more business for the club, and if I fell in love I wouldn't want to keep lying to everybody."

"Well, it felt real."

"What can I say? I'm a good actor." Brian knew Justin saw right through him.

"I think that's bull shit," he said, coming closer to him. "I think I broke the barrier and made you fall in love. Tell me I'm wrong."

"You're wrong," he said, looking at the ground. Justin pulled his face up to meet his eyes.

"No, look me in the eyes and tell me." Brian was speechless. Justin put his hands on Brian's cheeks and passionately kissed him. Heat rose up from Brian's feet to his heart. He loved him and he couldn't deny it.

He pulled back and looking into his baby blue eyes he whispered, "You're going to be bad for business. I can tell."