Brian and Justin noticed the seething, near-crushing mass the line had become at nearly the same time. Justin first and then Brian.
Justin happened to glance up and toward the door to see how fast the line was moving and observed in horror that potential club goers were EVERYWHERE. They resembled atoms in boiling water, moving this way and that ostensibly at random, some very quickly, and changing directions every other second. No rhyme or reason to their trajectories at all. And they had gotten loud to counter the thumpa thumpa pounding out through the walls, to make themselves heard above the rhythmic boom of the bass.
Justin turned his head to the right and the left. He no longer saw individual forms, but a swirling mass that revolved and rotated, going round and round and through, creeping ever closer, like a thick suffocating smoke. He struggled to take in even a single breath. The sound of the bass and the cacophony of voices rose higher and higher until the sound was deafening. These impressions came quickly, almost simultaneously.
Heat clawed its way to the surface, heating to melting Justin's entire face, but then turning ice cold a moment later. Justin's breath came in shallow gasps, and he started trembling. These changes Brian noticed seconds after Justin observed the crowd. He cupped Justin's right wrist gently with both hands and started rubbing his thumbs on the right and left underside of Justin's wrist. (After Justin had mentioned pressure points as a way to reduce anxiety, Brian had done a little research.) While applying this pressure, Brian leaned his head against Justin's cheek and whispered (his mouth right up against Justin's ear), his voice husky, "Fuck, you're beautiful."
The combination (of pressure and Brian's words and tone) pulled Justin back a bit from the edge. Brian stopped massaging Justin's wrist and let one hand fall, but he still held onto Justin's wrist with the other. Then he beseeched (his voice actually held a vulnerable note, a pleading), "Kiss me …"
Justin's brain was still muddled, but on some unconscious level he responded to the need in Brian's voice, his body turning toward Brian without Justin's being fully aware.
Just as Justin finished the 180 turn but before Justin could tilt his face toward Brian's, Brian slid Justin's hand over his (Brian's) heart and gazed (yes gazed) into Justin's eyes. Brian smiled a small but genuine smile. His eyes twinkled. He leaned close, so close, to Justin, his lips a hair's breadth away from Justin's and whisper-drawled, "You wanna come over and play, Sunshine?"
Justin's head still ached like it housed a hammer factory, but the dizziness had started to recede.
Brian pressed his lips against Justin's, so gently, just a brush, but that was enough. Justin didn't have to think at all. His body responded reflexively. He pushed his tongue into Brian's mouth and tilted his head, drinking Brian in.
When Brian broke their kiss a few moments later, he could still feel Justin trembling, so he asked, his voice all concern (but not panic). "Are you cold?"
Justin had the presence of mind to answer. "I'm not cold." He was starting to understand what Brian was doing. Or he thought he was.
Brian protested, his voice still concern but now with an added dash of confusion. "But you're trembling ..."
In that moment, the pounding haze lifted. And Justin remembered his line. The tremble seemed to leave his body and enter his voice: "It's just you. I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you right now." His voice broke on the last few words.
And despite the fact that they were re-enacting part of their first meeting, Justin realized that the words he spoke were just as true now as they had been then. Brian had seen Justin struggling and reached out a steadying hand, using bits and pieces from their first night. Justin had never had that. A person who loved him without judgment, a person who could be counted on to just love him, to just help him. Tears sprung to Justin's eyes.
Then without meaning to, Brian continued the re-enactment. He was looking at Justin so intently, so tenderly and seriously, that Justin felt sure Brian had somehow read his mind. Then Brian lifted his free hand (one was still holding Justin's hand against his heart) and touched Justin's cheek, slow and soft. He whispered, "I …" He paused and looked directly into Justin's eyes. Then he continued, "I feel the same way, Sunshine."
A nasally drawl, an infuriated nasally drawl, pulled them both out of the moment and prevented their lips from making contact (Brian had been moving in for a kiss). Mikey exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing?" Then more quietly, Mikey added, a note of concern and urgency in his voice, "Everyone's watching, Brian!"
Brian felt Justin tense up slightly (Justin's body was flush against his own). Brian shrugged. "Fuck em." Then he turned back to Justin and planted a LONG passionate kiss on him.
They heard a delighted squeal, but then everything outside each other faded to black.