Brian and Justin stood outside the loft. They were huddled together in a scratchy, wool blanket that the firefighters had given them. Brian could see tears well up and cascade down Justin’s ashy cheeks. Brian wiped at the tears, which only caused a bigger smear of soot to collect on Justin’s chin. “It’s OK,” Brian murmured again and again, trying to calm Justin. He kissed Justin’s temple. “It’s OK.” Brian continued the mantra as he thought of all his prized possessions that were currently burning away. He thought of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion chair, his top of the line appliances, stainless steel countertops, his imported Italian light fixtures… Brian looked down at Justin, happy that he had saved his most prized possession. Justin peered up at Brian through the tears. “I can’t believe it,” Justin said barely above a whisper. Brian relived those first, frantic moments when he had awakened, choking on the smoke. He had fallen asleep in front of the TV again. He’d been having a few sleepless nights lately, and had taken to watching bad TV until the wee hours of the morning. His immediate thoughts had been of Justin. He had crawled to the bedroom on the floor, while shouting Justin’s name. He knew how soundly Justin could sleep. He had to get him out of there. Finally, after the third time Brian had choked out Justin’s name, he had heard Justin answer him in a scared voice. “Brian?! Where are you?” “I’m coming to the steps now!” Brian followed his way to Justin’s voice. The bedroom had never seemed so far away as it had at that moment. Brian felt the edge of the bed and his hands soon grasped Justin’s smooth arm. He wasn’t able to see anything—not even Justin who was right in front of him. Brian immediately pulled Justin to the floor. They crawled their way down the steps. They were both coughing furiously by then. Brian had walked the loft in the dark before. He knew that he could lead them to the door quickly. Brian pulled Justin to his feet. “Don’t let go of my hand,” Brian rasped. He ripped open the loft door, and they both ran down the relatively smoke-free stairs. Brian stopped to bang on his downstairs neighbor’s door. “There’s a fire! Fire! Get out!” Brian turned to a stunned Justin. “Get outside, Justin!” Just then his sleepy neighbor came rushing out in his bathrobe, and they all fled down the last flight of stairs. “Go to the phone right there!” Brian pointed out to the neighbor. “Call the fire department!” The neighbor ran toward the phone. There were no cars, so Brian pulled Justin across the street. They were both barefoot. Justin was wearing only his white briefs. Brian had been partially dressed in pajama bottoms. Justin was already starting to shiver in the cold. There was a little snow on the ground and the sidewalk was freezing. Brian furiously tried to warm Justin. He heard footsteps behind him. It was his neighbor. “They’re on their way. What happened?” “I don’t know,” Brian answered. “I just woke up to the smoke.” “Thank God you got out OK.” “Yeah.” Brian started shaking, but he didn’t think it was from the cold. He was just beginning to realize how lucky they had been to get out. Brian frantically tried to remember the last time he had checked the batteries in the smoke detectors. Evidently, it had been a while. Neither of them had gone off. “I’m Bob, by the way,” Brian’s neighbor said as he reached out to shake Brian’s hand. “What a terrible way to meet.” Brian nodded and shook Bob’s hand. “I’m Brian. And this is Justin.” Bob turned toward Justin, just now noticing the obvious sub-zero young man. “You must be freezing! Here, take my robe.” He quickly handed over his flannel robe to Justin. “Thanks,” Justin said through chattering teeth as he put on the warm robe. “I wish I had another one for you, Brian.” “I’m OK.” Brian turned to Bob. He couldn’t imagine what the neighbor was thinking as he watched the two men embrace for warmth. “Thank you so much for that.” “No problem.” Bob smiled genuinely at them both. A second later, they all turned to watch the fire trucks approach with their sirens wailing. ++++++++++ “It’ll only be for a few weeks at the most!” “No.” “You’re always complaining that Brian never spends enough time with Gus. This would be a great opportunity for them!” “No.” “And they can sit for us if we want to go out by ourselves…” “No…” “We can get away someplace warm before the baby comes…” Melanie sighs. “That would be great, but you know I can’t travel this late in my pregnancy.” “Still…Gus would love to see Justin everyday. He always talks about how much he loves to draw with Justin.” “Mmmm.” “You know that Brian must be desperate to agree to stay here.” “What do you mean by ‘agree’?” Melanie turns to confront Lindsey. “You’ve already asked them, haven’t you?” “Kind of…yeah.” Melanie shakes her head. “Against my better judgment, against everything I know to be true about Brian Kinney, they can stay.” Lindsey jumps up and down and hugs her partner tightly to her. “You won’t regret this! It will be fun! I promise!” Melanie frowns. “No more than three weeks!” Lindsey runs to the phone to call Debbie’s house. In all of the chaos last night, Brian and Justin had slept on Debbie’s couch. “Hey, Debbie. Get Justin on the phone! I have good news.” ++++++++++ “That’s the good news?” Brian asked. “Yeah, isn’t it much better than crashing on Deb’s lumpy, 70’s print sofa?” “Hmmm…no, not really.” Justin lightly smacked Brian upside the head. “A real bed is better, and you know it.” Justin straddled Brian’s legs on the lumpy couch and whispered into his ear seductively, “And we can close the door and fuck all we want.” “Mmmm,” Brian moaned a little with the soft breeze from Justin’s lips. Justin kissed Brian’s neck softly. “And we won’t be bothered or interrupted…” “Don’t let me interrupt anything!” Debbie exclaimed, barging into the front door. “I only went to get the mail, for Christ’s sake. You two couldn’t hold out that long!” Justin muttered into Brian’s ear, “I rest my case…” “Great news, Deb,” Brian began as he tossed Justin lightly onto the couch. They all heard a snap and a loud crunch from the old couch, which had apparently seen better days. “We’re moving on up. We’re going to stay with the munchers.” “Once you get a new place, you’re buying me a new couch, asshole! That was a one-of-a-kind couch, you know!” “Thank God…”