Justin walked out that night, with everything he had at Brian's place stuffed into all the bags he could find. Brian didn't say anything. He didn't stop Justin. He just continued to watch television.

At first, Justin held out hope that Brian would come to his senses, get his shit together, call and apologise.

He didn't.

He knew that Brian had commitment issues and was allergic to the idea of a two-person future, but he thought that they were working through that. Meeting Michael and Ben, being included more and more in Brian's life…Justin had considered it progress.

And now here he was, all alone.

He messaged Brian, saying that they should talk. There was no response. He called Brian, and his calls went unanswered. He emailed Brian, and was met with silence.

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, Justin called his mom and told her that he'd be coming alone. Too embarrassed to tell her the truth, he just said that Brian couldn't get away from work.

Brian wasn't just throwing one of his usual tantrums, Justin realized. This was it. He had been cut off.

Justin was so mad at himself, if he were capable of assaulting himself, he would have. This was entirely his fault. He had misunderstood, miscalculated, mistimed and spooked Brian away. He was a fucking moron.

And the problem was, he didn't know how to fix it.

"We should have just stayed at home." Justin complained.

Eric, his roommate from Dartmouth, frowned at him. "Are you still moping about your breakup? We're seeing you after ages. You never come to Pittsburgh anymore. We have to be out, having fun, just like old times. Besides," Eric said grinning, "the best way to get over someone is to get under someone! Look at this place – so many hot young men to choose from. We didn't come out to a gay club for no reason."

Justin drained his glass too quickly, and looked around the club. "I'm not looking to get over – or under – anyone, thank you very much."

Daphne, his oldest friend from school sighed, and offered him the rest of her beer.

"What are you looking for?"

"A time machine. So that I can go back in time, hit Past Justin over the head and ask him not to say or do stupid shit and ruin my fucking life."

"I see. Well, I can't help you with that. You could leave, you know. Your contract is up soon, right?"

"I asked for a temporary three-month extension. Just until I sort my shit out. But…yeah. I'm thinking that I might pack up and come to Pittsburgh. Start afresh."

"It's not your fault that you're a normal human being, you know. Blaming yourself is absurd. He's a fucking dick to treat you the way he did. Using you like that. Come on. Justin, so you fell in love. So he broke your heart. It's heaven, then it's hell. That's how love is supposed to be. Trust me." Daphne started sipping Eric's drink, since they were now three people with two drinks, and nobody wanted to head to the bar for more. "You're going to be fine. Just be miserable for a while, and then you're going to snap out of it, just like that. That's how life goes. That's how love goes. You're going to find somebody else before you know it."

"If you keep falling in and out of love with different people all the time, it's clearly not love you're falling in." Justin responded morosely.

"Ooo-kay. Eric, some help here?"

"Don't look now, but this guy at nine o'clock, he's been checking you out for a long while now. He's been staring at you all evening. And, I'm no gay man, but I think he'd be considered very hot."

Daphne looked around wildly. "Where? Where? Your nine or my nine or his nine?"

"Who cares? Because I don't." Justin said.

Then his heart stopped beating for a second. He thought he saw Ben, picking up a drink at the bar. He looked around, and saw Michael walking towards Ben.

"Eric, where is this guy?"

"I knew you'd be tempted! He's at my nine."

Justin dropped his napkin, and bent down to pick it up, surreptitiously turning his head. "That's Brian."

"What?"

"That's Brian. He fucking came here for Thanksgiving after all. Goddamn him. Goddamn him to hell."

"Maybe we should go." Daphne was looking at Eric for support.

"Yeah…this wasn't my best idea. Let's just go home and watch movies or something."

Justin barely heard the two of them.

He was so angry that he was shaking. For all that, Brian had been planning to be in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving anyway. And here he was, in a fucking club, with his friends, staring at none other than Justin himself. 'We are not some fucking couple' my ass, he thought.

"No, let's not. I'm going to talk to Brian."

He was going to give Brian a piece of his mind. But, livid as he was, Justin didn't want to make a huge scene, so he looked once again to make sure that Ben, and now Michael as well, were at the bar. Brian was alone, leaning against a railing, while men milled past him.

"Jus…" Daphne swallowed whatever else she wanted to say, and she and Eric watched in apprehension as Justin sauntered over to Brian.

Brian saw him coming, and to his credit, made no attempt to escape.

"Justin. Enjoying the evening, I hope."

"Fuck you."

Brian raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Justin would have thrown his drink in Brian's face, except that he didn't have a drink.

"Fuck. You. How fucking dare you? How fucking dare you act as if I did something wrong? How dare you ignore me, as if you never knew me, as if we never shared anything? When you came back early from your trips. When you fell asleep holding me. When you said you missed me. How fucking dare you act as if that was all a hallucination inside my head? How dare you stare at me all evening, after telling me that we weren't some fucking couple? This is your problem, not mine. You're the one who's too chicken shit to deal with his issues. You're the one too immature to deal with adult relationships, so don't you fucking dare punish me and act as if I'm to blame for screwing things up. This is all on you. All your misery, and all my misery – it's all on you. It's all your fucking fault."

Justin turned around to go find Daphne and Eric, and found them close behind him. He didn't want to know what Brian's reaction was, and he didn't want to hear any bullshit response that Brian might have.

"I'd really like to go home now."