Chapter 3 – The Holidays

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Justin couldn't get away for Thanksgiving weekend. It was the busiest shopping weekend of the year. The restaurant was too busy to let any of their waiters take time off. So, Brian flew out to New York and spent as much time as he could with Justin. He visited from Thursday through Monday. Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving. Justin had the day off, so the guys spent it at Brian's apartment. Justin bought a small turkey and cooked it in Brian's little kitchen. They managed to put together a decent meal with both of them working on the side dishes. Brian grumbled a little about being domestic, but Justin could tell that spending the day cooking, eating and … other things, suited Brian just fine. By the end of the day their stomachs were full and they were satisfied in other ways, too. They lounged on the couch and made out while watching old movies. After one more round of love making, they slumbered peacefully in each other's arms.

The rest of the weekend Justin had to work a lot of hours, so Brian busied himself with shopping for toys for Gus. He found something for Jenny Rebecca, too. Then there were the Gucci and Prada stops, too. He purchased a few things for Justin. Gotta make sure he has something nice to wear. Justin was fun to shop for and always appreciated whatever his partner bought.

Brian felt bad that their arrangement was such that he wasn't allowed to support Justin financially in any way. But, that didn't mean he couldn't buy his partner some nice clothes to wear. Brian was proud of Justin. The kid was earning enough money to pay rent and keep food on the table. Justin had sold two paintings at galleries and did a commissioned piece for a local doctor's office. Justin had even worked out a deal with a local art agent who'd been trying to line up more work for him. It seemed that the New York art world was, indeed, starting to take notice.

So, that Thanksgiving weekend, Brian always made sure there was something for them to eat by the time Justin got 'home' from work. Brian would either pick up take out or heat something up available from a local store. Justin enjoyed relaxing at the apartment and having the evenings with his lover. After spending all day on his feet, Justin appreciated Brian's new talent in the area of foot massage. The backrubs were nice, too. Of course, all of the rubbing turned into something more, but all of that was a pleasure to both.

Friday morning, December 23, 2005

The Pittsburgh airport was busy with holiday travelers. In amongst all of the activity, Brian sat waiting in the baggage claim area. Justin's flight had just landed and Brian was there to pick him up for his holiday visit. Then Brian saw the familiar blond figure walking towards him. They walked toward each other and embraced.

Brian had arranged for a car. They met the car out in front of the airport and were dropped off at the loft. After they got there, Justin took his coat off, threw his backpack on the couch and flopped onto the floor pad. Brian put Justin's pilot case in the bedroom and joined his boyfriend reclining on the floor. "Feeling at home?"

"Yeah, I guess. Although, I realize that I really feel like New York is home for me now. I'll always be comfortable here, but …"

"You have a new home now."

"I know that I just have that little apartment with Regina, but it's just big enough and I like it. I love the big city." He looked into Brian's hazel eyes. "It's even better for me now that you can be there more often."

"I'm doing what I can to spend more time with you." They kissed.

Brian looked into Justin's face and brushed his cheek. "Listen, I want to talk to you about … Britin. I have the loft here and Babylon is rebuilt and going strong. The apartment in NYC is half paid for by Kinnetik, but, having the house in West Virginia is too much. I've been leasing it for the last six months, but I'm going to have to sell it, Justin."

"I see. I understand."

"At one time it was this great dream to have a castle for my prince, but …"

"You don't have to explain. It was a wonderful thing you did for me. If we'd gotten married and I'd stayed here it would have been wonderful to have the grand country estate. But, we didn't and I didn't and ..." Brian was looking down and Justin pulled his face up to meet his. "We both have places in New York now, let's be happy with that. Like I was just saying, I feel that that city is my home now."

"Maybe we can live together again someday." Brian said hopefully.

"I would love that. When you are with me there … those are my happiest times."

"Mine, too." Brian leaned forward and they kissed. He decided to change the subject. "You're here until Wednesday, right?"

"Yeah, then I have to get back."

"I'm planning on flying back with you that day and staying in New York until … next year … flying back here Sunday, New Year's Day. OK?"

Justin hugged Brian and kissed him. "That sounds great! The restaurant is open until 8 pm New Year's Eve, so I'll be able to ring in the New Year with you. Shall we do Times Square?"

"I'll have to think about that."

"We'll figure it out."

"Right now all I want to figure out is what I'm going to do to you in what order." Brian snarled into Justin's neck.

"Have you formulated a plan, then?" Justin said with a knowing smile.

"I'm working on it." Brian said as he kicked off his shoes and started undressing Justin.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Christmas Eve was spent at Debbie and Carl's place. Lindsay and Mel were there with the kids. Also in attendance were Michael, Ben, Hunter, Emmett and Calvin. Brian and Justin showed up with a bottle of wine and a cake that Justin baked. They ate and then exchanged gifts. Brian loved watching Gus open his gifts. Some of Gus's favorite things that evening were the toys that Brian bought on his Thanksgiving trip to New York.

Brian wasn't 'into' Christmas that much. To him, the holiday was associated with being dragged to church by his mother and the family arguments. He'd never received that many presents as a kid. The best Christmas experiences he had were when he'd ducked out to go to the Novotny household with all of Deb's over the top decorations. There was always plenty of food and she and Michael always had a gift for Brian.

In the last few years, though, Justin tried to squeeze a little more Christmas spirit into 'Scrooge'. Justin would put up a small tree at the loft, make a holiday meal, and buy a couple of small gifts … little things that would warm Brian's heart towards the holiday. And then, once Gus started figuring out that the holidays meant getting presents, it was a joy to Brian to buy gifts for his son.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

On Christmas morning Brian and Justin had all morning to spend at the loft. They were due to go to Jennifer's early that afternoon. They'd saved their presents for each other to be opened that morning. After breakfast they sat on the couch and opened each other's gifts. Brian gave Justin the clothing that he'd bought for him during Thanksgiving break in New York. There were two sweaters, grey dress pants and a pair of Gucci loafers. Justin was thrilled with the nice clothes that he couldn't afford for himself.

Justin handed Brian a large envelope for his gift.

"What do we have here?" Brian asked.

"Just open it and see." Justin was obviously excited to see Brian's reaction.

Brian opened the envelope to find two 8"x10" photographs. The first photograph was of a painting that Justin had done of Brian and Gus together at Halloween. Gus was in his cowboy outfit, looking up at his dad, who was looking lovingly back at him. They both had soft smiles on their faces and you could see the joy in the moment through the painting. The second photograph was that same painting hanging above the couch at Brian's NY apartment.

"This is … beautiful. And it's hanging at my apartment?"

"Yeah. I finished it a couple of weeks ago. It was too big to try to bring here, so I hung it up there. I thought it was a way of making you feel at home when you're in New York."

Brian chuckled. "I see you strategically avoided painting my horns on me. I seem to remember that I was wearing them when you were taking pictures."

Justin crinkled his nose. "I thought it was more likely that you'd leave the painting up if you were horn-less. You like it?"

"I love it." Brian kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Later, they went to Jennifer's townhouse for dinner. Jennifer greeted them both with hugs as they entered. Brian brought a bottle of wine and Justin had baked a cake for his mom, too. Tucker was there helping Molly set the table.

Tucker had been dating Jennifer for almost a year. Justin, despite his early objections to his mom's May-December romance, had begrudgingly admitted lately to Brian that Tucker was good to Jennifer. Tucker seemed to really appreciate her and care for her. There was more affection and romance than Justin had ever seen his mom get from his dad. He could see the looks that Tucker and Jennifer would exchange and could see the love there. Justin was happy for her.

It made Jennifer smile when she saw how often Brian and Justin would show signs of affection to each other. There would be a kiss or a hand squeezing that they'd exchange. She even caught Brian surreptitiously grabbing Justin's butt as they were putting plates in the kitchen sink, which just made her smile. She knew about Brian's apartment in New York and was glad that he was there to look out for Justin. Although her son had been doing well on his own, she appreciated the fact that Brian was keeping an eye on him.

At one point Brian had a few moments alone with Jennifer and he asked her to do the listing for Britin. She could sense his disappointment in having to sell it, but she told him that other opportunities would come up. He told her about thinking of branching out Kinnetik to cover New York City too, opening an office there. He told her to keep it to herself, though, because he was going to tell Justin later. She just smiled at Brian and gave him a hug, which he willingly returned.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Three days later Brian and Justin flew to New York together. Brian worked on Kinnetik business for a couple of days, while Justin worked at the restaurant. They'd spend the nights at Brian's little apartment.