OCTOBER 28TH Brian growled deep in his throat as he pushed away from his desk. He was running out of sources of information. Running his hands through his hair, he paused to think. Losing it would only mean losing time. He needed to think this through carefully, logically. He needed a fucking drink. Brian switched on the television as he walked to the bar. A TV ad came on for Police Chief Jim Stockwell. He was running for Mayor of Pittsburgh. Brian smirked at the lackluster campaign ad. If Stockwell was his client he knew he would have done a much better job of selling the Stockwell and his platform of more police protection and using all available resources to solve crimes. Brian had to admit that if the polls were right Stockwell didn’t need his advertising genius. Stockwell would most likely be the next Pittsburgh Mayor. Pouring himself a double shot of beam, he leaned on the island in his kitchen, watching television and considering his next step. Brian wondered if open, unsolved cases were available for perusal by the general public. Looks like he was going to give the Pittsburgh P.D. a visit. ~*~ “Hi, I was wondering if I could get some information about a case.” “It depends. A lot of our files are confidential for obvious reasons.” “This is an old case, unsolved. From 30 years ago. It was really hyped up. The Justin Taylor murder. I’m trying to do a project, for my doctorate,” Brian turned the charm on, smiling at the woman behind the counter. Sure enough, she blushed prettily, and smiled back. “Look, I can ask about it. Give me a second.” She turned and disappeared into a room in the back. Brian turned, and leaned against the counter, looking at his nails. He really needed to look into a manicure. “Excuse me, can I ask what you want with the Taylor file?” Turning, he looked into the face of a balding, middle-aged man. “I’m doing a project. It’s for my dissertation.” “Yeah? What’s your major in? Where you study?” “Sociology. Penn State. I’m doing a study on violent crimes committed against upper class whites through the decades beginning in the 50’s up until present day.” “Yeah? Why this case then? I ain’t seen you around here asking for information before. Ain’t no logs saying someone came asking about nothing before.” “I won’t lie. The whole mystery around this particular case peaked my curiosity.” “Take your curiosity elsewhere. It ain’t public.” Nodding once, Brian turned and walked out of the police department. As he walked out the doors, the old cop picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. “Hello?” “Someone’s sniffing around. I told you it was bad to bring that business up again.” “Don’t call here again,” and he heard the dial tone. ~*~ Brian went to Woody’s with Michael and their friends that night. He was getting sick of having to justify his actions, or lack there of, to his friends. They were playing pool, joking around, when he spotted a previous trick out of the corner of his eye. He had a flashback to the back of a cop car, and using the Billy club for activities other than what it was intended for, he was sure. Walking away, he heard his, well, friend (as much as he hated to admit it), Ted say, “And so it begins. The Brian Kinney mating dance.” Spotting him before he reached him, the trick smiled sexily as he looked Brian up and down. “I was wondering if you’d --” “No,” Brian cut him off before he could continue, “I need a favor.” Looking put out, and pouting, the trick looked at him defiantly, “What makes you think I care?” “Five hundred bucks?” Sitting up a bit straighter, the trick looked him in the eye, “So maybe I care a little bit. What do you want?” “You’re a cop for the Pitts. I need a file.” “No, that’s illegal.” “A thousand dollars.” “I could lose my job!” “Fifteen hundred.” “What file?” Brian smiled. He was in business. “The Justin Taylor Murder. It happened 30 years ago. Call me when you have it, and I’ll have the cash.” He handed the man his card, then turned and walked back to his friends. Reaching Michael, he grabbed the man by the neck and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Grabbing his jacket and putting it on, he muttered, “I know your night won’t be the same, but unfortunately for you, I’m leaving. Yes your stock will plummet, but perhaps you’ll find some desperate fool all the same.” “Brian! You just got here!” “Bye, Mikey.” Leaving the bar, he decided it was time to head over to Penn State and visit with a certain co-ed. ~*~ He knocked on the room door and heard someone moving to answer it. As it opened, he found himself looking into the eyes of a short, little Asian girl with long black hair and brown eyes. “Daphne?” he asked. Looking him up and down appreciatively, she smirked, “No, but I can be.” Grinning back, tongue-in-cheek, he heard a giggle come from within the room. “Jenny, who is it? Is it Tucker?” “No, it’s our very own Adonis, and he’s looking for you,” opening the door wider, she smiled sweetly at the other girl in the room, adding, “Bitch.” Turning to look at who was at her door, Daphne’s smile faded as she saw the stranger in their room. “Who are you?” “A friend of Justin’s.” He watched as her eyes widened. Pushing the chair back, she stood up and went to her closet. Pulling a jacket out, she put it on and zipped it up. “Let’s go for a walk.” ~*~ “I’ve tried to get more information about it. The articles get pretty vague towards the end. There isn’t much to go on. I tried asking questions but someone didn’t like that,” Daphne sucked deeply on the cigarette her hands shaking at the memory. Nodding, Brian took a drag off his own cigarette, “I know. Justin told me. I ran into a wall when I tried to request the file. Now, I’ve got a friend getting me the police file. Maybe it’s something in the file that they never revealed to the public.” “No shit! Wow. I never thought of that. That’s awesome!” She paused to look up at him, “So how did you get involved in all of this? How’d you see him?” Looking out into the sky, he wondered himself. Turning to her, he explained, “My car broke down. I saw a light on in the house and went there for help.” “You saw a light?” Glancing at her sharply, he asked, “Yeah, why is that so fucking hard to believe? He asked the same thing.” “Well, it’s just that no one’s ‘seen’ anything from that house in years. It’s like, cosmically sealed or something. I don’t know. It just doesn’t happen. Justin explained it to me once, but I didn’t get it. It was something about a prophecy, or curse or something. The violence needing to come full circle or some shit like that so he could rest in peace.” “Full circle? Can you remember any of it?” he asked heatedly. Daphne shrugged and squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to remember. Rubbing her palm against her forehead, she snapped her eyes open, and began explaining as it came back, “He didn’t see his killer because it wasn’t supposed to happen. Justin shouldn’t have died that night. It was like, some cosmic accident or something.” “What? He didn’t tell me any of this shit.” “Yeah, like, the night it happened, he was going to see his boyfriend. The asshole was cheating on him though, and he walked in on him fucking someone else. It was a big mess and Justin ran off. He shouldn’t have been home that night, but he was and he got killed because of it. It happened though, and because he ‘interfered’ he has to make it right or something.” “How the fuck is he supposed to do that?” “Well, I guess there’s someone out there born at the exact same time as he died, so they’re halves of the same soul. It’s a lot of this really deep cosmic destiny type of shit. He was telling me all of this one night when I was getting high or something. I don’t remember all of it, and half of it doesn’t make sense to me.” Nodding, Brian threw his cigarette down on the ground, and stepped on it. It was beginning to make sense to him and all that he didn’t make sense he’d find out about. “Thanks. I have to get going.” As he turned to walk away, Daphne called out to him. Turning, he looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “I hope you can help him. I’ll miss him if he’s gone, but, he deserves it. I don’t want him to spend eternity here alone. You know?” Nodding again, Brian turned and headed for his car. ~*~ OCTOBER 29TH The ringing phone woke Brian the next day. Stumbling out of bed, he glanced at the clock. It was 11 in the morning. He was going to have to start setting his alarm. He couldn’t let himself get used to all this sleep. “Kinney,” he said into the phone. “Hey, it’s Chip.” “Chip?” he asked, the name not registering. “Yeah, you know. The cop. From the bar last night.” “Chip? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” “Don’t go there. Look, I have the information you want. I don’t want to get caught with it here, so I can bring it to your place around 12 when I go on my lunch break,” he rushed on nervously. “Fine. I’ll have your cash.” “You know, I’ll have time for a quick --” Brian didn’t give him a chance to finish before he hung up. Showering and dressing, he ran out to the bank to get the cash ready for the cop. When he arrived, Brian didn’t even buzz him up. He took the file and gave him the money, and shut the security door on the ground level in his face. Opening the file, he began skimming it as he rode the elevator to his floor. He made a quick mental note of the date and time of death. October 31st, 10:31 p.m. Walking through the door he’d left open – No. He hadn’t. On guard, he looked around the loft, checking for anything that may have been out of place. He was positive he’d shut the door when he’d gone downstairs. He walked into the kitchen, dropping the file on the counter and heading for his drawers to find a weapon. The wind was knocked out of him as he was thrown against his refrigerator. Condiments rattled and cans fell to the floor and counter from the force. He heard things being slammed around inside the cooling machine. Brian punched the intruder only to be pushed from behind by a second man. The second assailant pulled him away from the refrigerator and threw him to the ground. He didn’t have a chance to react before he saw the glint of a knife as it was plunged into his shoulder. He shouted in pain as the steel sliced through his skin and muscle barely missing bone. The masked intruder leaned down and whispered harshly into his ear, “You’ll lose this curiosity of yours, or you’ll lose your fucking life.” His assailants stood up, and just when Brian thought they were leaving, they turned and kicked him in the face. That’s the last thing he remembered. ~*~ Justin was concentrating on the painting of Brian. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get the color right in Brian’s russet tinted hair and amazing green, gold, brown eyes. He was using all of his energy to finish this painting. To capture the beautiful man on canvas. He smiled as he remembered how mercilessly Daphne had teased him today when she’d seen all the sketches he’d done of Brian and the portrait that he was now working on. She told him that he had it bad. Justin’s smile grew wider. Daphne was right he did have it bad. From the first moment his eyes had locked with Brian’s, he’d seen past the smirk and the arrogance and saw the real man, the man behind the mask. The man that he thought he loved. He stepped back and admired his work. He wasn’t satisfied with it. He lifted his hand to add another touch of russet to Brian’s hair and a burning pain shot through his shoulder. The paintbrush flew out of his hand as he clutched his shoulder. He didn’t know what had happened but he knew something was wrong. Very wrong. ~*~ Everything was a blur to Brian. He vaguely remembered Mikey’s shrill scream in his ear. He thought he mumbled *shut the fuck up and dial 911.* Then a ride in the ambulance. From that point forward he was floating in and out of consciousness. He thought he remembered a detective trying to talk to him. The man was medium height, balding, overweight, terrible dresser. Brian remembered thinking the guy needed a makeover. The man tried to ask him a question but Brian couldn’t answer him. He was so groggy from all the drugs he’d been given he could barely form a coherent thought more less words. He did remember a doctor telling him he was fine that they were only keeping him over night for observation. After that he slipped in to sweet oblivion. ~*~ OCTOBER 30TH He was in pain and he couldn’t move his arm or else it felt as if it was on fire. Groaning, he opened his eyes. “Brian! Brian! Oh my God! You’re ok! I’m so glad!! I thought you were dead!!” Michael sobbed. “I’ve got to called Ma and Uncle Vic, Lindsey, Melanie and the guys. I promised them I’d call as soon as you woke up.” He clutched at Brian and the brunet made a grunting sound of pain as his shoulder was jarred. “Sorry!” Mikey jumped, crying even harder. “What the fuck happened Mikey?” “I…I…I don’t know! I walked into the loft and the door was open! I saw you on the floor! You….you were bleeding!!” he paused to sniffle, sounding snot filled and disgusting. He continued, “The knife was still in your shoulder. I called the ambulance.” “Fuck!” Brian tried to sit up carefully, managing it eventually. His mouth felt tight. He brought a hand to it and found that he had stitches close to the corner of it. “You have 12 stitches inside your lip. You have 56 where the knife went in, and 27 where it kind of went out the back. You lost a lot of blood but they said you should be ok.” “Shit!” Brian groaned as he tried to sit up. “How long have I been out?” He asked as he gingerly swung his legs over the side of the bed. “All day and night.” Brian ran his hand over his face, “Mikey, this is important. Do you remember if there was a file on my counter? On the kitchen counter?” “No, there was nothing. Just a lot of cans and other stuff.” Sighing, Brian cursed again, “FUCK! Are you sure?” Mikey dried his eyes and nose with the back of his hand and nodded. “Why? Did they steal something? There was a detective here that wanted to talk to you about that. His name was Horvath. He left his card.” Brian nodded and leaned back on the bed. “Whatever,” he closed his eyes, pissed. He hadn’t had a chance to really look over any of the file. The only thing he could remember was that Justin had died on October 31st at 10:31 p.m. His eyes flew open. His conversation with Daphne replayed itself in his head. “Well, I guess there’s someone out there born at the exact same time as he died, so they’re halves of the same soul. It’s a lot of this really deep cosmic destiny type of shit. He was telling me all of this one night when I was getting high or something. I don’t remember all of it, and half of it doesn’t make sense to me.” Fuck! “Mikey! I have to get out of here now. I want to get out of here.” “Brian, you can’t! The doctor said that…” “I don’t give a fuck who said what. I want to leave!” “Fine, fine. Shit. I’ll go find the doctor and I called Det. Horvath. You aren’t going home though. You’re going to come back to me and Em’s apartment. It’s not safe to go back to the loft.” “Whatever the fuck. I don’t care. I just need to get out of here now.” He settled back on his bed as Mikey went off in search of the doctor. He knew what he needed to do now, and he was more determined than ever. Fuck whoever thought they could scare him off. ~*~ He had to sneak off from Mikey. He should have felt bad but he didn’t. He had things to do and he knew Mikey would get in his way. So, as soon as he could he ditched him. Mikey was probably losing his mind right now looking for Brian. Coming up to the now familiar house, Brian struggled to twist his body so that he could shut off the ignition and pull the key out. He managed to shut the car off, but he gave up on trying to remove the key, opting to just leave it in the ignition. He stormed up the steps, foregoing any knocking, and continued straight up to Justin’s room. Throwing open the door, he saw Justin turn quickly, eyes wide in shock. Brian let out a sigh of relief as he saw him. He now understood where the pain had come from. Brian had hurt himself. Justin was afraid to asked Brian what had happened. “What are you doing Bri --” “Why didn’t you tell me?” Justin stiffened. He attempted to sidestep the question, “I don’t know what you mean.” “The fuck you don’t, Justin! Don’t lie to me! You knew that first night. The very first night…and you didn’t say shit! Hell, I knew. I’ve never reacted to anyone the way I reacted to you!” Justin turned, his mouth set in a thin line. “And tell you what exactly, Brian? Huh? Like I told you before, if I had said I was a ghost, you would have laughed in my Goddamn face! I couldn’t imagine what you would have done if I started ranting and raving about anything else. As it was, when I couldn’t believe that you’d seen the lights in the house, you thought I was fucking high! What could I have said to you that wouldn’t make me look like a raving idiot?” “You could have told me that second night.” Sighing, Justin turned his back on Brian, “It’s not something I can tell. If it was that simple, do you think I’d still be here? Do you think I’d let all my countless opportunities just vanish? If I could grab some random kid that walked through my door and say, ‘Hey! I need your help,’ don’t you think I would have done it?” Justin turned back to face him. All Brian could think was that those beautiful blue eyes were so sad…so haunted. Justin’s gaze went to his shoulder. “What happened? This is because of me isn’t it. They tried to hurt you. To warn you to stop. DAMN!! I knew this would happen. That’s why I didn’t want you involved in this. Everyone that I care about gets hurt trying to help me.” His hand moved to the brunet’s shoulder, forgetting momentarily that he couldn’t simply touch without concentrating. Brian watched, fascinated, as the alabaster hand went right through him. He gasped at the icy cold sensation that coursed through his arm. Stepping back slightly, Justin stammered, “S-sorry. I forgot.” “How do you grab things? How do you make yourself move things?” Brian asked. “I have to focus. Make myself just think about becoming solid – becoming real – for a moment.” Brian nodded once, then turned abruptly to go look out the window Justin always seemed to be standing by. “Tell me.” Not wanting to address the issue, Justin attempted to shelve it by playing stupid, “Well I have to think about what I want to touch…” Turning, you couldn’t see the change unless you looked in his eyes. Brian was outraged. He was almost killed trying to help Justin and Justin wanted to play games with him. Brian decided to end the entire thing. In a terrifyingly calm, quiet voice despite it all he spoke. “Fuck you. I’m not here to play games Justin. If you can’t trust me then forget it. Fuck! You!” Brian slowly inched toward the door, his hazel eyes never leaving Justin’s face. Finally, he tore his gaze away and continued towards his destination, determined to leave and just drop this. If Justin didn’t give a fuck, then neither would he. “Wait!” Justin’s voice called out. Brian told himself to keep going; to just leave. His life had been amazingly and wonderfully uncomplicated up until now. It could continue to be if he just kept putting one foot in front of the other. And yet, he paused. Because as those thoughts flittered through his mind he knew he would never be the same. Bright blue eyes, alabaster skin and a Sunshine smile would always haunt him. “I’m sorry,” he heard it whispered quietly as the blond began to sniffle. “Brian I don’t know everything. I wish I did. This is new to me too.” “Don’t cry,” he replied gruffly, turning around to face Justin. “I’m not, it’s allergies.” Brian smirked, his tongue-in-cheek, “Ghosts have allergies?” Justin tried to hide a grin as he rolled his eyes, “Fuck off.” Brian chuckled quietly as he walked back into the room. He watched as Justin looked over his arm, immobilized by a sling, tentatively. “They hurt you because of me.” It was more of a statement than a question. The older man looked away, considering his words carefully. He wasn’t a liar, and Justin needed – deserved – the truth. “I’m not doing anything I don’t want to. I’m not doing anything that I haven’t thought over. Coming in I knew your killer was still out there, still free. I knew the risks. This isn’t your fault, got it?” It was the blonde’s turn to look away. Eventually he nodded and looked up at Brian again. “That’s why I didn’t tell you about all the cosmic destiny shit. I’m not sure how it really works myself. That’s why I didn’t want to get you involved in this. Brian I didn’t die of an accident or natural causes. Someone murdered me. Someone looked me in the eyes and pumped two bullets in me and let me bleed to death on the floor.” “I know,” Brian said quietly. He’d read the newspaper articles. He could only imagine the fear Justin must have felt as he was faced with his impending death, the pain he must have felt as he was shot. Brian was determined of find who had done this to him and make them pay. “Brian, I didn’t want you to get hurt, but I guess it happened anyway,” Justin let out a sigh of regret. “What did the doctors say?” “They said I’d heal and I don’t want you to blame yourself. This is not up for discussion.” Justin shook his head absently. He could tell Brian didn’t want to talk about his injuries so he changed the subject. “So what do you do when you’re not out being a superhero?” “I convince people to buy shit they don’t need.” “Ah, yes,” Justin grinned, “an ad-man. Are you any good?” Brian grinned confidently as he arched an eyebrow, “Do you like cock?” The quickly spreading blush on Justin’s features rewarded him. God he was beautiful, Brian thought. “I never would have figured that a ghost could blush.” “We can’t. Blushing is caused by the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, which causes the small blood vessels in the face to dilate. Since I’m dead, there is no arousing the sympathetic nervous system. It doesn’t work. It’s like, out of order,” Justin explained. “Ok Dr. Taylor,” Brian replied sarcastically, “you’re still red in the face.” “You’re just seeing things. It’s ok. They say eyesight’s the first to go. I mean, you ARE turning thirty.” “Yeah--hey! Fuck you!” “Don’t I wish you could,” the blonde answered, grinning. “You’d be the first,” he muttered under his breath. “What did you say?” Brian asked. “Nothing,” Justin answered quickly. Brian watched as Justin turned almost beet red. He thought the kid said, *You’d be the first.* Maybe he was hearing things. Maybe in was all the excitement, fear and the medication. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off he was feeling tired. “You sure you didn’t say anything?” “Like I said hearings the first thing to go,” Justin teased Brian smirked, “Better my hearing than my dick. Oh and I would steer away form the cracks about old age.” “And why is that?” “If you think about it, you got about 18 years on me. Technically you’re almost fifty.” Justin laughed. “You got a point.” Justin noticed Brian’s pained expression. “Why don’t you lay down for a little.” Brian didn’t argue. He was too tired. “Yeah, sounds like a good idea.” Brian walked slowly to the bedroom area and gingerly sat down on the bed. He motioned Justin over with a tilt of his head. Moving slowly, Justin eased himself down next to the brunet, their eyes locked the entire time. The grin slipped from his face as he felt the intensity of Brian’s gaze. Leaning closer, until they were inches apart, the older man whispered centimeters from Justin’s mouth, “Focus on me, just me, right now.” “Brian, what are you--” “Just do it,” he interrupted, a little more forcefully than intended. He watched as Justin squeezed his eyes shut tightly. For a few seconds he just watched, and then he felt the change. It’s like the air settled a bit and warmed a few degrees. Seizing the opportunity before it passed he tangled his fingers in Justin’s long blonde locks and used it as a means to close the tiny gap between them. Justin gasped, and Brian used that as an opportunity to slide his tongue into the blonde’s mouth. He moaned as the kiss became deeper, more urgent. Justin couldn’t believe what he was feeling. The last person he’d kissed had been Ethan; before the whole cheating and him dying thing of course. Even then, it had never felt this way; this intense. He moved his hands to Brian’s neck and wrapped his arms around. He felt himself slowly leaning forward, until they were lying down on the bed, his body atop Brian’s. They continued that way, lips on lips, tongues exploring. Suddenly, Justin could feel his solidity fading away slowly, and he kissed Brian more urgently, trying to force his mind to take a mental picture of this moment; to file away these sensations so he could relive them later. Again, Brian could sense the change that was occurring. Not just by the sudden change in intensity initiated by the other man, but by the subtle changes occurring. The air around him began cooling slowly and the weight of Justin’s body got gradually lighter. Brian opened his eyes at the same exact moment as the blue ones above him did. It was just in time for him to watch in amazement as Justin became translucent and sank into his body. Literally, just sank. Brian jumped from the shock of cold and, well shit, from the shock of seeing someone just disappear into him. Justin rolled away quickly, but Brian’s little jolt was enough to jar his shoulder and pull at his stitches. He hissed in pain. “Brian?” Justin pushed himself up on his elbow. He was still slightly transparent. “I’m fine, I just pulled at the stitches a little.” He stared at Justin intently. “I can see right fucking through you.” Justin sighed, “Yeah. Solidifying takes a lot of energy.” Brian mumbled a response as his eyes slowly drifted shut, the events of the day taking him over. Justin smiled softly, brushing a lock of brunet hair off of the older man’s forehead. “Please be careful. I want you forever, but not like this; not like me,” he whispered to the sleeping man. Laying his head down on the pillow next to Brian’s, he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to overtake him. OCTOBER 31ST Brian woke slowly. He was in a little pain. His eyes slowly adjusted to his surroundings. It didn't take him long to realize where he was. Then he felt the solid weight of a body next to his. He turned slightly. Justin was cuddled up next to him sleeping peacefully...or whatever ghost did when they rested. He hesitantly touched Justin. First quickly and when he realized that Justin's body was solid he allowed his fingers linger over his him. He traced the contours of Justin's face. His skin was soft, smooth and abnormally cool to the touch. Brian guessed it was because he was a ghost. Justin stirred. His eyelashes fluttered and he slowly opened his eyes to stare up at the man staring up at him. He smiled shyly. "I guess I floated for a little while." "What does that mean?" Brian asked. "When a human needs to rest you sleep. When I need to rest or reenergize…rejuvenate. It takes a lot of energy to hold on to my form whether transparent or solid. So, when I get tired I sorta float between consciousness." "Oh, so you use a solid form while you…rejuvenate?" "Not normally, just only on this day. For some reason on the date of my death I’m alive, I’m real...or whatever you want to call it, until the time of my death. Afterwards I'm really weak and it takes weeks…sometimes months to regain my strength." "Why does that happen?" Justin shrugged, "I'm not sure. I guess it's because at my death is when my spirit floated from my body and got trapped. So, it's weak because it doesn't travel to where is should be." "So every October 31 at 10:31 p.m. you get weak." "No, Every October 31st I relive my death…all the fear all the pain. Everything. No matter how hard I try not to it happens. The night that I was murdered I arrived home at 10:12 p.m. So, that’s when it starts every October 31st. At 10:12 p.m. my body is pulled downstairs and I retrace my every step until the bullets slam in my body and I die…again." Brian grimaced, "I didn't know that. Justin there has to be something that will end this for you." Brian looked over at the clock on the nightstand. He idly wondered why a ghost needed a clock but he shrugged off the thought. It was 2:33 a.m. a little over 21 hours to find your murder and put an end to what is keeping you here. We need to get busy." "That's what I want to do," Justin said huskily as his finger traced Brian's lips. "Finding my murderer has waited 30 years, it can wait a little while longer… but this can't." He raised up and placed a tender kiss on Brian's lips. "What does that mean?" Brian asked. “This.” Justin said as he captured Brian’s lips again. There was nothing tentative about his kiss. It was carnal and hungry. He slipped his tongue past Brian's surprised lips and devoured his mouth. Bringing his hands up, he tangled his fingers in Brian's hair, gripping tightly causing pleasure laced pain in Brian. Right as Justin began to doubt his actions due to Brian's lack of response, the brunet moaned deep in his throat and slowly leaned back, pulling Justin down over him. Allowing himself to be guided, Justin made a conscious effort to be careful with Brian's injured shoulder. Supporting his weight on his forearms, he didn't miss a beat in their heated kiss. Wanting to taste more of the older man beneath him, the blond began kissing his way down to Brian's neck. Suckling and licking, he focused momentarily on the spot where the neck became the man's broad shoulders. Brian moaned and arched up, grinding his hips against Justin's. The friction they caused elicited simultaneous groans of pleasure from both of them. Rearranging himself so he was further down Brian's body, the younger man pushed the shirt up Brian's body and placed open-mouthed kisses around his abdomen. Nipping just below the belly button, Justin grinned at Brian's sigh, knowing it was due to pleasure. Moving up, he swirled his tongue around the dark nipples, biting down gently. Brian grunted his approval. Justin chuckled quietly, bringing his hand up to rub Brian's stomach. "Can I touch you? Are you feeling alright? How's your shoulder?" Brian’s eyes opened and widened in shock. They quickly shut to tiny slits, "You better fucking touch me after all that. I'm fine. Get to it." He grabbed Justin's cold hand and moved it onto his cock. Grinning, Justin rubbed Brian unabashedly before moving both hands to the button of the man's jeans. Making quick work of it, he slid his hand inside, pleased to find Brian completely free of any underwear. He wrapped his long, thin fingers around Brian's rigid dick and before he could continue anything, he heard a sharp intake of breath. "What happened?" he asked, worried that Brian had jarred his stitches or hurt himself. "You're fucking dead, no circulation. Your fingers are God damn icicles." Justin turned away, blushing. He was about to pull his fingers away when Brian put the good hand over his own, "Don't even think about it, Sunshine. I'll adjust. Only, forgive any...deficiencies due to uncontrollable circumstances," Brian teased, tongue-in-cheek. ~*~ Brian woke with his young lover in his arms. He brushed Justin’s long damp bangs from his forehead. Fucking Justin had been the most incredible physical experience in his life. He’d never felt like this before. He never felt as close to another man as he felt with Justin. And he knew Justin felt the same. The first time he made Justin cum Justin had screamed ‘I love you.’ He wasn’t the first man that had professed his love to Brian, but he was the first man Brian believed. Most importantly it was the first time hearing ‘I love you’ actually mattered to Brian. Justin stretched and looked up adoringly at the man that given him the most mind blowing pleasure of his existence. He blasted Brian with a radiant smile. He knew more than anything in this world or any world he was in love with the man staring down at him. Brian had shown him how earth shattering it was to have a man…no to have the man you loved ‘make love to you.’ He’d never thought it would be like that. He didn’t know if he’d be able to leave his realm now. To cross over and leave Brian. He loved him so much. If he had to stay in this state of being for eternity as long as he was able to share his time with Brian he’d stay. Justin laid his head on Brian’s good shoulder and gently stroked his chest. “So that was what I was missing for the past 30 years.” Justin’s body hummed in pleasure. He was sore, pleasantly sore, but more importantly he was no longer a virgin. He almost blushed thinking of the things Brian did to him. Brian had a very talent tongue and mouth…Justin smiled wickedly …very talented. “Was it everything you imagined?” “Yes, yes, it was and then some. But for some reason I can’t imagine that it would have been like that with Ethan,” Justin said with a chuckle. Brian smirked, “I’d hope not.” Brian remembered that Ethan was the boyfriend that had cheated on Justin and sent him running home to his untimely death. Brian didn’t know Ethan but he hated what he did know about him. “Brian if I could have any wish I’d want to be with you forever,” he professed. Brian smiled, “Ditto.” “Brian?” “Hmmm,” he mumbled caressing Justin’s arm. “Happy Birthday.” Brian smiled. He had almost forgot, “Thanks.” “I wish I had a gift to give you,” Justin said. Brian kissed his forehead, “You gave me all the gift I need.” Justin leaned up and kissed Brian. “So when can we do it again,” Justin asked seductively. “Hold on there, us mortals need a few minutes to recharge, but trust me I am not done with you yet.” Brian was true to his promise, he was taking full advantage of being able to touch and feel Justin at his leisure.