guavejuice | Ex Factor- AU series Part 1/8 (Reply)

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Author:

guavejuice
Pairing:Brian/Justin
Beta:Kim

predec2 Can't thank you enough!!
Other characters:Debbie, Emmett,Lindsay, Mel, Gardner Vance, Gus (mentioned.)
A/N:This is not a WIP. I'll be updating regularly.
Disclaimer:I own nothing but this story.
Comments are love.

Part 1

"Why the long face, sweetie?" A tall, slim guy smiles whole-heartedly towards a blond guy who's sitting on the hardwood floor in his office surrounded by stacks of papers with his laptop on his lap.

"Do you really need to ask, Emmett?" Justin Taylor, the younger of the two, answers in a sharp tone.

"Slow down. Don't get all worked up," Emmett says softly. He should know, he's been Justin's personal assistant and close friend for over five years.

Shortly after Justin arrived in New York City, he took part in a small group art show in Tribeca and was immediately swamped with commissions and requests from larger galleries and other projects, so he needed someone to coordinate everything for him.

Lindsay Peterson, a gallery owner and a mutual friend, introduced Justin to Emmett Honeycutt, a PR guy who's been working in town for quite a while.

Justin and Emmett have been working together ever since. Emmett had an artistic eye but was very business savvy so that Justin could trust him with various negotiation details and just the right amount of ass kissing while navigated through the ruthless jungle that is New York's art world. Emmett knew enough people in high places and knew everything that was going on in the glitzy New York scene but was always discreet about it.

Emmett immediately became Justin's confidant as well as his assistant. He knew exactly how Justin liked his iced green tea in summer or double latte in winter. He knew where to take him shopping for cool, edgy outfits or another piece of furniture or an interesting artifact for when Justin and his boyfriend were refurbishing their fabulous country house.

Emmett himself was single, but just as much as Justin he was a romantic at heart. He was never judgmental when Justin ranted to him about his love life more often than not.

Each time Justin vented about his boyfriend Emmett was there with a warm, understanding smile, a blueberry vanilla cupcake and an offer to spend the day shopping or the night partying away.

He was always there on a Monday morning when Justin walked into his spacious office with an evil grin to confide in him about a mind-blowing make up fuck he and his boyfriend had participated in over the weekend.

Not this morning, though.

"I guess I have no other choice but to get all worked up, since it's all that's left for me to get," the blond chuckles.

Emmett shrugs and lets out a sigh. He's been there for Justin through quite a few roller coaster rides with the boyfriend over the years. Justin rarely behaves as the moody artist or a drama queen, but there have been quite a few times when the blond and his ragged duffel bag had found themselves on Emmett's doorstep late at night.

It hadn't all been bad, though.

Emmett was there a year ago, the first to offer Justin a warm hug, when the blond told him that after few years of a long distance relationship Brian had finally proposed and they had gotten engaged.

This morning Emmett suspects they're in for yet another bumpy ride, but it turns out to be much worse than anything he had ever seen before.

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Emmett is an information junkie. First thing he does with his morning coffee is to catch up on everything on his Twitter feed. Then he moves on to other major 'insider' hot sites and finishes off with one final glance at the more mainstream sites such as E!News and People.com.

Nothing eludes him. He needs to be aware of everything to be on top of his game as Justin's Taylor's PR person.

This morning, though, he almost choked on his freshly brewed Colombian, free- trade coffee and freshly baked bread roll at Campanellie's when his eyes caught a piece of disturbing news.

He fervently hoped that his friend was exuding the same type of hesitation and disdain he always exhibited toward social media sites and was staying away from them like he normally did, even though Emmett was constantly extolling the virtues of using such accounts to further his art career. This time, however, he apparently had veered from his normal pattern, to Emmett's dismay.

The three large bags at the corner of Justin's office are way too big this time and the expression on Justin's face is way more serious this time for it to be just another lover's quarrel.

Emmett tries to brace himself.

________________________________________

"Have you made any progress with the epic triptych you're working on?" Emmett asks as he tries to ignore the elephant in the room.

"Fuck that! My life is a big, fucking mess right now! Who needs a fucking epic triptych?" Justin's voice trembles with anger