Making Ends Meet- AU series Part 11/14

[guavejuice]

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Author:guavejuice
Pairing:Brian/Justin.
Other Characters:Lindsay, Mel, Ted, Gus, Micheal, Emmett.
Summary:
A freak injury forces 40-year-old Brian Kinney to do something he never thought he would ever do: seek unemployment benefits. When he loses his job as a mechanic, will he ultimately wind up gaining something else much more precious?
Beta:Kim predec2 can't thank you enough!!
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Disclaimer:I own nothing but this story.
Comments are love.


Part 11

Justin feels restless. It's 1 a.m. on Friday morning, but he can't sleep. He rolls towards the side of the bed where Brian's magnificent, naked body was resting in post-coital bliss two days ago. He can't deny the itch in his cock, but it's not just that. He knows it's fucking ridiculous to long so much for someone he'd only met a few days earlier. So they had amazing sex; so what? Brian was obviously getting cold feet contemplating the idea of shacking up with a young rich boy who lives in a luxurious loft while he, the older man, is forced to figure out how to make ends meet and collect unemployment in the meantime.

Justin and Brian are clearly not in the same place when it comes to good fortune.

Justin's mom would gladly pick up a phone and arrange for him to work at any fine art department at the museum or at one of her friend's galleries, but he wouldn't have it. He didn't need another dirty old queer trying to get into his pants and then have him fired for refusing to cooperate. He wouldn't want to sit in another dreary office sucking up to administrators who didn't have one artistic bone in their body.

That's not who he is. He wants to be the best homosexual he can possibly be. He knows he's privileged enough to have a supportive, caring family but he's got other dreams and hopes for himself. It's been three years since he graduated from PIFA and it feels as though he still hasn't realized his dream.

He gets out of bed, walks into his open-spaced kitchen filled with stainless steel appliances and imported Italian counter tops. He makes himself a cup of herbal tea and shuffles his feet towards the living room. With his bare feet folded under him on his cream-colored, Italian leather sofa he's cradling the warm tea mug in one hand and playing around with his phone with his other hand. The same hand that creep Kip Thomas twisted violently when he tried to force Justin to give him a hand job in the men's room of the advertising agency two years ago. Justin sighs and tastes the saltiness of his tears as that bitter memory flashes in his mind.

He needs to talk to someone. He can't possibly talk to Brian. Not when Brian is probably scared shitless just as much as Justin is of facing his own raw emotions and admitting that somehow in ways he can't even comprehend their souls touched when they met two days ago in the unlikeliest of places.

That's why they were barely able to hold back and had to touch each other so deeply, intimately, and abundantly. That's the reason they felt as if they knew each other better than they knew themselves. They had found their match in each other.

So why had it been so short lived?

Justin was never one to keep long-term relationships. His six-week fling with James, the cute, redheaded art student from England, wasn't meant to last that long. That's why Justin left those black, Armani briefs in his drawer and never gave them as a gift to James before he returned home. The guy had a nice dick and a jolly cute British accent, but apparently it wasn't enough.

Justin shrugs and takes another sip of tea. The warm fragrant liquid calms his pulse from racing but doesn't stop his train of thoughts.

For all he knows Brian could have turned out to be a cold-hearted jerk as well. He never got a chance to know him that well. He got to know his glorious dick and his wonderfully warm, welcoming body as Brian discovered Justin's innermost, hidden secrets and desires, but it doesn't mean they would have gotten along outside the bedroom in the long run, especially since Brian sees Justin's loft, nice clothes and cool car as a threat to him and his self-worth.

If he only knew how worthless Justin felt being rejected every time, being told he's not talented enough or good enough or that he graduated with honors from PIFA only because his wealthy dad donated a hefty sum to the school board every year. It's not the same kind of helplessness as trying to juggle two jobs and living in a shitty apartment (which Justin is now sorry he wasn't able to explore first hand) but it still scorches the soul with the same burning emptiness. An emptiness only they knew how to fill in each other.

The ringing of his phone startles him. He reaches out to pick it up, thinking about the worst possible family scenarios, but the burden lifts off his shoulders when he sees the caller ID on his screen.

TBC...