The short man Justin presumed was the owner exclaimed, "Brian! I never thought we'd see you again! How long has it been? Six months?" Justin thought he could perceive disapproval in the man's voice. Then the man's voice shifted. Filled with cheerful insinuation (of the wink wink, nudge nudge variety), he asked, "So who's your friend?"

Justin's eyes had started widening from word one – at this point, he had to make an effort NOT to gape. He noticed some puzzling details.

1) "Brian?" How did the owner know Brian's name?

2) "Six months?" Brian had given the impression that he'd only come here the one time.

Justin looked over at Brian. He wouldn't meet Justin's eyes. Clearly he was embarrassed. The question of the hour was … why? Did he NOT want to introduce Justin as his boyfriend? Or did Brian NOT want Justin to hear details about Brian's coming to this restaurant on a semi-frequent basis? Justin didn't have to wait long for the answer because, to Justin's delight …

Brian cleared his throat almost imperceptibly and replied, "Allain, this is Justin." Brian paused. Too long of a pause to not be obvious, but not so long that Justin felt pressed to fill the silence himself. Then Brian continued, "My boyfriend."

Justin beamed.

Allain laughed. He laughed like Santa, a joyful booming belly laugh. He patted Brian on the shoulder. "Congratulations!" He turned to look at Justin. He actually checked Justin out, not like a potential lover, but maybe that potential lover's friend. He nodded. "He's quite handsome, and he has kind eyes. John, Patrick, and Ruben will be devastated."

Justin's smile dimmed a bit. He glanced at Brian, who seemed more confused than embarrassed (not that Brian would be embarrassed about tricking). Justin asked Allain, "John, Patrick, and Ruben?"

Allain looked over at Justin, his eyes meeting Justin's, tilted his head, and gestured helplessly. "Brian and Ruben had a … bit of a tryst. John and Patrick were jealous … and hopeful."

Justin's voice rose in pitch. "A tryst?"

Allain scrunched his nose. "Eh … a few passionate encounters … in the bathroom, the kitchen, the alley …"

Justin was surprised. Brian didn't seem like the type to do repeats. Justin looked at Brian, trying to catch his eyes (to verify this new piece of information), but Brian was deftly avoiding Justin's glance.

Brian smirked, though he wasn't quite feeling it (he figured this was the best way to put this to bed). "Ruben … is that his name?"

Allain tsked and muttered, "Chaud lapin."

Only then did Brian risk actually looking at Justin. He looked perplexed. Brian, sensing at least part of the source of his confusion, explained, "Pretty sure he just called me a ho."

Allain nodded solemnly, which caused Justin to start grinning. Then Allain grabbed the menus. "You don't need these. I'll prepare you something special. We must commemorate this night – I, for one, would not have believed it possible if I had not seen it with my own eyes."

Once Allain had departed, Justin stared at Brian somewhat expectantly.

Apparently, Brian had some explaining to do. This wasn't the first time others had expected an explanation for his behavior. It wasn't even the first time he was prepared to explain (to some degree), though that was much rarer. However, it was probably the first time he had not minded doing so. But he didn't really know where to start, what Justin wanted to know. So he acted contrary to his own "alpha-male" nature and … asked. "What do you want to know?"

Justin laughed. He had to bite his lip to stop himself from uttering the first word that came to mind ("Everything"). He knew he had to be careful. He didn't want to seem possessive or inordinately eager. So despite the volume and persistence with which another word resounded in his mind, he did not ask about what he wanted to know the most (Ruben). Instead, he replied, "When you told me about this place, I got the impression that you'd only ever been here once …"

Brian nodded slowly. He'd given that impression on purpose. When he'd initially decided to bring Justin here, he honestly didn't know whether he'd been hoping Allain WOULD NOT notice him or that he WOULD. Now that Allain had come and gone, he realized he'd wanted to introduce Justin to Allain. Allain may have thought Brian wasn't in the settling down stage, but whatever the man said, Brian felt sure Allain believed Brian eventually would. And he seemed genuinely happy for Brian. That had not been the case in the Pitts. But Brian had seen that coming a mile away. Everyone there loved him too much or too little to be genuinely happy for him. "My first two years here, I came every Friday night."

Justin couldn't hide his shock and jealousy. Brian had fucked Ruben 104 times? That wasn't a tryst. That was a relationship. Justin looked down at the table and started fiddling with his silverware, which he'd already liberated from the cloth napkin. Justin felt sick. This was a fun fact about Brian's past Justin was going to have to willfully "forget." He tried to bring the light back to his eyes by remembering the night before, when Brian had purposely, unnecessarily, led Justin out into the living room, holding his hand, as a fuck you to Seth because he'd been jealous. That memory did the job. He smiled. When he lifted his head, his eyes widened, and his heart stopped. Brian was staring at him with an intense (almost wild) look in his eyes. The look seemed a little sad. This perception turned out to be spot on: Brian actually tried to make Justin feel better about the "tryst." He said, a little helplessly, "I didn't even know his name."

Justin was now openly gaping. After a couple moments, he closed his mouth, swallowed hard, and shook his head as if to clear the fuzziness Brian's declaration had caused. Then he laughed. "It's not like I haven't been with other people. We both have a past."

Brian wondered about that. Had Justin been with anyone besides his "mystery man" and Brian? Brian smirked. "Do we?"

Justin looked at Brian like he'd asked whether they were on planet Earth. "Well, yeah."

Amusement in Brian's voice, he asked, "Care to elaborate?"

Justin turned slightly pink. He suddenly felt uncomfortably warm. "About mine?"

Brian nodded.

"You want a list?"

"Let's make it interesting. For everything you tell me, I'll tell you something."

Justin bit back a smile. He didn't want to seem too excited. "Something about what? Your sex life or your life life?"

Brian chuckled. "I'm guessing you already know more about my sex life than you'd like."

Justin smiled and scrunched his nose. "Okay. But we get to ask a follow-up question if we feel not enough information is offered."

Brian shrugged. "Deal."

Justin took a big sip of his wine. "Well, you already know about my first time. And Daphne, although she doesn't really count. And I jerked off a classmate in high school, but …" He paused and frowned.

Brian knew Justin must be referring to Chris Hobbs. In OUT's profile in courage, Daphne hadn't mentioned the particular sex act Justin and Chris had engaged in, but Brian assumed Chris was the only classmate Justin had fooled around with. He had to get Justin off that train of thought, so he interjected impatiently, "Doesn't count if you didn't cum."

That had the desired effect. Justin laughed.

But just to be sure all thoughts of the bashing vanished, Brian added with a condescending smirk, "Look, if you've only fucked two people, just say so. You shouldn't be embarrassed. I mean, you're a pretty good fuck for someone who's so inexperienced."

Justin was no longer pink. Now he was scarlet. He laughed in incredulity. "PRETTY GOOD?" He was so offended he had to consciously lower his voice when he continued (he'd almost shouted). "I gave you head for AN HOUR! I brought you to near orgasm FOUR times before I finally let you cum."

Inside … Brian acknowledged that that took skill. Outside … he was having too much fun to stop. He shrugged. "I've been told I bring out the best in people."

Justin actually gave Brian "the hand" and turned away in disgust. When he could finally bring himself to look at Brian again, he said, half laughing, "You are SO fucking full of yourself."

Brian liked teasing Justin this way. So he added fuel to the fire. "So … MAYBE you're a natural. In any case, you shouldn't feel ASHAMED that you're basically a virgin. I mean, we all start out that way."

Justin ran his hands over his face and exclaimed in frustration, "Oh my god. You are … ridiculous."

Brian smirked. "If I'm wrong, tell me."

"You, Brian, are wrong. I've fucked plenty of people."

"For example …?"

"For example, I fucked a go-go dancer from Splash."

That gave Brian pause. Splash was a huge gay bar in Manhattan and on the more expensive side (in terms of covers and drink prices). And the go-go dancers there were all built. And a bit older than Justin.

Justin could tell that Brian was impressed. He pretended not to care, but, of course, he was loving it.

Brian hated that he had a follow-up question, but not enough to forgo asking it. "Was he a trick?"

"You mean, did I fuck him just the once?"

Brian frowned slightly. He plastered a fake smile on his face and said, "Yes, a trick is someone you generally only fuck once." And he said it in a voice that told Justin he was an idiot.

Justin frowned. So Ruben wasn't a trick? He sighed at himself (hadn't he already decided Ruben didn't exist?) and shook his head. Then he replied, "No I did not." What Justin did NOT say was that even though they had fucked many times, all of those fucks had occurred over the course of a single evening.

Now it was Brian's turn to frown. He did it automatically before he caught himself and schooled his expression. In a voice as light as he could make it, he asked, "Any good?"

Justin smiled knowingly. "You get ONE follow-up question. You already asked one. So your turn."

Brian paused, mostly for effect. He already knew what he was going to say. "I kept coming here because it was nice having someone who was happy to see me, who I could chit chat with." He couldn't keep the slight distaste out of his voice as he said the words "chit chat." It was far from his favorite activity.

Justin asked his follow-up without thinking he was so surprised. In fact, he managed to sneak in an additional question, since he asked them simultaneously. "You hate chit chat and you have Cynthia, don't you?"

Brian shrugged. "I do but I got used to it in the Pitts, from Mikey and Lindsey, and I kind of missed it. And Cynthia's great, but I do PAY her. Not quite the same."

Not for the first time, Justin thanked the universe that he had Daphne. He couldn't imagine doing this, living in New York, without her. Especially before he met Brian, but even after.

Brian inclined his head, as if to say, "Your turn."

Justin breathed out slowly. "Okay …" He blushed. He was kind of embarrassed about this one. "One night, on a dare, I went into a chat room … a BDSM chat room."

Brian's eyes widened. "Oh?"

Justin laughed. "Is that your follow-up question?"

Brian shook his head and scoffed. "Oh hell no! You haven't said who you fucked yet. You have to say something before I can form a follow-up."

Justin scrunched his nose. He was hoping he could leave it at that. "Fine. I went to an underground BDSM club to meet this guy. Never even knew it existed. He was older, about your age."

Brian glared at Justin.

Justin smiled sweetly.

Brian asked, facetiously, fully expecting the answer to be no, "Did he take you back to his dungeon?"

Justin blushed more furiously, but answered resolutely, "Yes. But he called it a playroom."

Brian had to work REALLY hard to keep the shock out of his facial expression. He suddenly had a great many questions.

Justin knew that was a HIT because despite the calm on Brian's face, he was looking off at nothing and had apparently forgotten it was his turn. Justin smiled. Then he prodded, "Brian? Brian? Your turn."

"Oh right." Suddenly Brian had a crazy impulse, one he couldn't stop himself from indulging, even though he knew he would probably suffer for it. He didn't like Justin having more power (he didn't like being the one who was dying for answers). So he smiled softly and said, "I know who your mystery man is."

Justin's jaw nearly hit the table. "What?" He had lost the ability to breathe. And think.

Brian's smile turned into a grin. "I'm counting that as your follow-up. Yes, I know who your mystery man is. I recognized him from your painting." That was true. Just not the whole truth.

Justin closed his eyes. REALLY tightly. He felt an unimaginable weight in his stomach. He prayed, "Please, please, please, please, please tell me Brian hasn't fucked him."

A/N: I promise…the next installment will finish the date.