guavejuice | Days in the Sun- AU series part 10/10

guavejuice

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Author:

guavejuice
Pairing:Brian/Justin
Other characters:Ted, Emmett
Alternate POV's (Brian/Justin)
Beta:Kim

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A/N:
This is NOT a WIP.
Click here to read previous episodes.
Disclaimer:I own nothing but this story.
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Part 10

-FinalCut production office. Days in the Sun cast meeting, a couple of weeks later-

Brian's POV

Justin and I sit on opposite ends of the rectangular table with the script in front of us, waiting for Ted and Emmett to walk us through various details of our first big, on-screen sex scene. It is daytime TV, and we know things can’t be too revealing, but we're both still somewhat agitated. Ted and Emmett sit at the other end of the table. We're waiting for them to start, but then Emmett leans towards Ted and they both exchange a few quiet words out of our hearing range.

"Before we get to the scene itself,” Ted begins, “Emmett and I thought it might be a good idea to start a few pages earlier in the previous scenes. I hope you don't mind, boys?" he asks us.

Both Justin and I nod and say we don't really mind. In fact we're both a little tired from our late night fuckfest last night in which we celebrated Justin's official move into the penthouse with me, but we decide not tell anyone else about it just yet.

Ted nods back and advises us where to start the reading. He reads the introduction to the scene out loud rather matter-of-factly:

-A run down apartment building in town, day time. Luther Millian walks out of his luxury car into the building-

Justin picks up his lines as Luther.

Luther: "Max!! Open up, I know you're in there!"

-Silence-

Luther: "You can’t hide in there forever, Max. Can we talk?"

-A distressed-looking Max opens the door- Emmett's voice cuts in and we keep going right away:

Luther:" You didn't have to run away like this. Mom and Britney were beside themselves."

Max: "And YOU don't have to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, either. Get out!"

Luther: "We need to talk first."

Max: "I already told you, I don't trust you. And you can tell THEM I'm never coming home. I'll be staying here from now on. How did you find me anyway?"

Luther: "I called Chance. "

Max: "YOU had NO right to do that."

Luther: "So you still care about him? I know you went over to his place after you ran away from home."

Max: "Did HE tell you that? I wonder what else he said. Did he tell you that nothing happened because HE said he can’t take such a risk to his personal life and his business to be with me? Did he tell you THAT? Now get out! I don't want to see you or anyone else here. I want to be alone."

Ted reads the next segment in a detached manner.

-Max pushes Luther out the door and locks it behind him. Luther asks Max to open up. Max screams 'leave me alone!'-

Justin takes a sip of water from a glass on the table as we all flip to another page in the script and Ted reads the introduction to the next scene:

-Chance's apartment. A rather distressed Chance sits on his sofa and speaks on the phone.

I quickly pick up where Ted left off and start to read Chance's lines as Justin reads the part of Luther:

Chance: "It's been more than a week, Luther. Where is Max? You told me you know where he is."

Luther: “I'm surprised to hear from you, Chance. I didn't think you'd care."

Chance: "It's none of your business, but you promised to let me know where he is. It's been a week since I heard from Max. He's not answering his phone or replying to messages. I asked Britney and she has no clue where he is. What's going on, Luther?"

Luther: "Okay… I might as well tell you that I do know where Max is. He's in the back of my car."

Chance: "He is??? Why didn't you say that sooner? Where are you driving? I'm coming to meet you."

Chance: "Not so fast, Mr. Howard. I said he's in the back of my car, but I didn't say you could see him. He's dead, Chance. I killed him. I didn't want him to suffer an unrequited love for you so I took care of his problem. He's in an urn in my trunk. He’s at peace now."

Chance: "You really ARE evil, Luther. You’re lying! I'm calling my friend at the police department right now, and he’ll get to the bottom of this, do you hear me?"

Luther: "You do that, Chance. I don't care. Too bad you find it in your heart to care about Max now, but it's too late. You can come and get me. The address is 2012 Chestnut Lane. Don't bother knocking."

I lift my eyes from the script. The room is silent. Justin and I stare at each other. As we both take a few sips of water from our glasses, I swear I can detect a few tears in my partner’s eyes.
It's just a script of a daytime soap, I know, but I feel I must say something right away. I take a deep breath and turn to our writers/producers.

"So…is it over? Just like that?" I ask quietly. I’ve known SchmidtCutt for almost twenty years since I joined DITS, and I always trusted their decisions, but if they really ARE going to kill Max off I think they went a bit too far with the storyline. I guess that after the network bosses approved the gay sex scene they got cold feet after all and pulled the plug on us, so Ted and Emmett had no choice but to kill this storyline all together in more ways than one and go out in grand, soap-opera style.

I wonder what the network bosses would say or do if Justin and I came out in public? Justin and I discussed this issue just the other day. We decided that in a few weeks’ time before this season ends we would announce our big news ourselves, first to SchmidtCutt and then in a statement to the media.

"No, Brian. It's not over." Emmett reassures me to my surprise, clearly touched by the concern in my voice. "In fact, we'd like you to read your next scene with Luther. That should explain things a little more clearly. So if we could all turn to page twenty-four, we can pick it up from there."

"Are you okay with that, Justin?" I make sure to ask my partner.

I see Justin swallow, no doubt thinking the same thing that I was: that this was hitting a little too close to home. To his credit, however, he nods back at me with a soft smile of encouragement as I smile gently back at him in return.

We all flip to the page Emmett referred to and continue to read:

Chance: "Luther? Are you here? Open up right now! I've got a police detective with me."

Emmett takes over again to read the next few descriptive lines in an informative manner:

-Chance walks in, surprised to recognize some of Max's belongings scattered around the apartment. Luther enters from the kitchen and leans against the wall. Chance notices a sleeping form wrapped in a blanket on the living room sofa.

Justin and I pick it up from there right away.

Chance: "You've got a hell of a nerve, Luther. You killed your own brother in a twisted attempt to prove a point to me, and NOW you're already having someone over?"

Luther: "Relax, it's not what you think."

Chance: "It's even WORSE! Arrest him, Detective."

Ted now reads the next passage with his usual dry business-like tone of voice:

-The person sleeping on the sofa rises slowly. Once seated the young man gazes at Chance, who takes a step back as he recognizes the guy's signature mop of fair hair.-

From the corner of my eye I can see Justin fidgeting with the bright yellow marker he'd used earlier to highlight his lines. He doesn't look back at me. He keeps his eyes on his script while we continue to read our characters's lines.

Chance: "Max? Is that you?? What in the name of God is going on here?"

Max: "I don't know, I just feel like I've slept for days."

Luther: "You only slept for eight hours. I put this little sleeping pill in your drink."

Chance: "Oh, so you did THAT to make me think you killed him?"

Max: "YOU killed someone, Luther? God, I can't believe this!"

Chance: "I know you're probably not going to believe this, Max, but Luther was pretending he killed YOU."

Max: "You did what??"

Luther: "I only wanted to prove a point to Chance. After you told me Chance said he can't take the risk of being with you I got so angry… then you refused to get out of the apartment for over a week. So that's when I knew that I wanted HIM to feel the same pain that you did, so he would know how much you really meant to him and he would regret what he said."

Max: "I already told you more than once NOT to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, you sick pervert! Get the hell out of here and don't come back ever again, or else I'll press charges against you and have you arrested for good!”

-Luther leaves the apartment- Emmett reads quickly.

Chance: "I guess we don’t need you after all, Detective. We'll take it from here."

-The detective leaves- Ted reads that line dryly as Justin picks up the next line:

Max: "I still can't believe you had to go through all that. I’m sorry."

Chance: "The worst part was when Luther told me he had you in an urn at the back of his car."

Max: "He's a sick, twisted man, Chance, but the truth is I KNOW you care about me."

Chance: "I do, but isn’t it too little, too late now?"

Max: "No, it's not. I was sitting here in my apartment for a week, just thinking about you, Chance, about US. I know we can do it. There's no other way. I'm willing to risk everything to be with you. Are you?"

I put my script down as Emmett continues to read the final segment in that scene:

-Max moves closer to Chance. They both hug and kiss passionately. They take each other's clothes off while they still kiss. They move towards the bedroom and sink into the mattress, holding hands.
-Fade out-

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

We all sit quietly a few more minutes after Justin and I finish the table read. I keep my eyes on Justin the whole time. I can see him snickering now. We are both extremely relieved.

"I LOVE it. I absolutely love it. Thanks, guys," He says eventually with a beaming smile.

"You both have quite a bit of work to do," Ted reminds us, pointing at the script.

"Ted's right, Let's go through all that first, and THEN you can thank us at the season wrap party," Emmett finishes his partner's sentence.

I know now is as good as time as ever to discuss what Justin and I had planned coming up, but I need to know he's totally on board with that before I speak. He's looking right at me and I can see so much love in those blazing blue eyes that I know this is definitely the right decision.

"We are grateful to both of you for supporting our characters’ development. As a matter of fact, we’d also like to make a big announcement of our own in front of the entire cast and crew, but we think you should be the first to know that… we're a couple. Officially," I say.

"I'm delighted to hear that!" Ted exclaims in delight.

"Good for you, darlings!" Emmett jumps up from his place at the other end of the table to rush over and kiss us both on the cheek.

"And… that's not all,” I continue. I take a deep breath before I take the plunge. "Justin, I think you know how I feel about you and I have reason to believe you care about me as much as I do you. So since we're about to make an official announcement anyway… I know this might come as a shock to you right here, right now, but… will you marry me?"

Justin is stunned as he faces me with tears in his eyes.

“Are you sure about this, Brian? Are you sure this is what you want?”

I nod, feeling an emotional lump in my throat. “More than anything. I... I love you, Justin. I have for a long time now. So…please say yes.” I hold my breath, thinking I know what he will say. But until I hear the words, my heart is in my throat.

Finally, he breaks out into a smile as he nods back at me. “Yes! Yes, of course I’ll marry you!” he answers as he throws himself into my arms and peppers kisses all over my face, oblivious to our audience.

I take the little box I had been hiding in my pocket all morning and present him with a platinum band, which I quickly slip on his finger. We kiss each other passionately to the cheers of Ted, Emmett and everyone else in the office who has walked over to see what all the commotion is about.

"I’m the co-writer and producer of one of the major daytime soaps, honey, but this is better than any script that I could write,” Emmett declares as he hands me a glass of champagne that mysteriously appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"I'll drink to that!" I declare as I take another glass from Ted’s hands and give it to my now fiancé. We grin at each other like two fools in love – in a way, I guess we are - before raising our glasses in a silent salute and drinking from them.

"It's just so happens that you have another reason to celebrate,” Emmett unexpectedly announces as he finishes reading a message on his phone. “I’ve just been notified that DITS has been nominated for best drama, AND that our own little Justin Taylor – your little honeybun – has just been nominated for best outstanding newcomer in a daytime drama for this year's Daytime Emmy awards!" Emmett hugs me and jumps up and down as the room explodes into a wave of cheers and applause.

I take that opportunity to pull the man I want to spend the rest of my life with out into the corridor just outside Ted and Emmett's office to do a little private celebrating of our own.

"NOT so little," I growl in my lover’s ear as I plant a deep, noisy kiss on his unbelievably soft plump lips, just to show him how proud I am of him - and how blessed I feel to have him by my side. And that is no act.

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