Boys Keep Swinging Chapter 3

[nothing_rhymes_with_ianto]

After three and a half years, Justin comes home from New York for good.
Chapter Summary/Teaser: Michael and Ben are having trouble, Babylon reopens, Justin plans to go back to New York for an interview. Brian gets a phone call.

 

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Emmett and Ted sat in a booth at a diner, watching Justin and Brian, who were seated at the counter, talking and laughing, all over each other. Brian leaned over and said something into Justin's ear, making Justin laugh before he kissed the blonde's neck.

Emmett smiled at them. "They're so cute! They're like newlyweds!"

Ted spooned vanilla pudding into his mouth. "So, how long do you think they'll last?"

Staring at the pair, Emmett sized them up. "I give it three more months."

"Ha. One month."

"Fine. How much?"

"Fifty bucks."

"You're on."

---

Something shrill was rocking through Brian's brain. Reluctantly, he tugged himself out of sleep enough to recognize the sound as the phone ringing and to feel the bed shift as Justin got up to answer it. He groaned and stuck his face back into the pillow. Afternoon sunlight was streaming through the windows and on to the bed, making it difficult to find sleep again.

"Brian!" Justin's voice called.

"Mmm huh?" Brian responded thickly. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

"Daphne called. I'm going to go over to her house. She's having boyfriend troubles and wants to talk."

"Mmprgffm…" He felt rather than heard Justin's indignant stomps as he entered the bedroom, then Justin was pulling the sheets away and rolling him over bodily.

"Get up, get dressed and get water into your system. That'll wake you up. You're dehydrated because someone forgot to supply themselves with water while fucking me into the mattress."

"Good for him."

"Get. UP!" Justin shoved him onto the floor. Ouch. Fine. Brian hauled himself up and into the shower. He heard Justin dressing and grabbing his satchel. "Bye!"

"Bye, Sunshine!" Brian quickly showered and dressed, wandering over to the kitchen to grab an apple. He glanced at the clock. Almost four. The phone rang and he strolled over, picking it up.

"Yeah?"

"Brian, it's me."

"Oh, why, Michael Novotny! How nice of you to grace me with your presence. Or, your voice, as it were."

"Wanna go to Woody's?"

"I thought you didn't party any more. I thought that you were too much of a high and mighty stepford fag to go out with the boys for a drink."

"Shut up, Brian. And don't call me that. I'm bored. I want to go out and do something."

"Okay. Well, what about the Professor?"

"Had to stay late. He's teaching evening classes now, too."

"Too bad."

"Do you want to hang out with me or not, Brian?"

Brian sighed. "Fine. When?"

"In, like, an hour?"

"See you there."

"Kay." They hung up.

Brian lined up his shot, rolling the cue between his fingers before pulling it back. A familiar pair of jeans walked into his line of sight and he looked up, then stood up with a smirk.

"Hey, Mikey."

"Hey."

"Get a drink?"

"Yeah." Brian put his cue down and they headed over to the bar, ordering drinks. Michael let out a long, slow breath, staring at his bottle.

"Mikey…" Brian waited while Michael picked at the label of his beer. He knew his best friend would tell him what was going on. He looked at Michael and counted in his head. Four, three, two, one.

"Ben is acting weird." Brian raised his eyebrows, silently asking for clarification and continuation. "He works all the time, and when he's not working, he's writing, or going to the gym, or something. He barely talks to Hunter and me, and I'm afraid he's going to make himself sick. Last week, he got word that an old friend of his who was positive had died, and now he's not really eating. I'm worried about him. I don't want him to start using again."

"Michael, he's…" God, he was so shitty at consoling people. "He's, I don't know, grieving. Let him get it out and then it will be fine."

"Yeah, I guess. But what about the next time an old friend dies? And the next? I feel like we're surrounded by death, this whole family. First Justin, then Uncle Vic, then you…." He trailed off, taking a long pull from his beer bottle before looking up at Brian again. "I just don't want anything to happen to him."

"It won't." Brian promised, pulled Michael into his arms. "It won't." Then he quickly changed the subject to something more lighthearted and Mikey was himself again, laughing and joking. That night, they went back to Debbie's and spent the night looking at comics from their childhood. Brian didn't get in until midnight.

---

"Deb! Coffee?" Brian called in impatience.

"It's coming. Don't get your balls in a twist." She bustled over, poured him more coffee, and hurried back to pick up an order.

Michael poked his head in between Justin and Brian's shoulders.

"Hey, Brian. Why didn't you come and show me the new drawings for Rage three weeks ago, like you said you would?" He asked Justin.

"I was kind of sick, so I spent the day in bed." He grinned. Michael rolled his eyes. "I'll come over later today if you want me to."

"Sure."

"Justin! Get your perky butt over here!" Debbie's call sounded from the back of the diner. Justin had taken up his old job in the diner, for a little extra cash and because he just loved Debbie.

"Coming!"

Suddenly, Ted was beside them. "Brian, I just got the confirmation. Everything's okay. You're set to open whenever you're ready."

"Open what?" Justin leaned over the table.

"Tell him, Bri." Brian grinned.

"I'm reopening Babylon."

"Babylon? But I thought it was ruined. Just a burned out shell."

"Well, it was. But I cleaned it up. I couldn't let a shithole like Popperz become the hottest place on Liberty."

"Of course." Justin gave him a look. Brian grinned. Ted smirked and joined Emmett ad Michael at the booth. Justin gave Brian a pointed look. "What's the real reason?"

"You got me, Sunshine." He held up his hands in surrender, then bent close, talking softly. "Because Babylon is where it began. And it's not over. So Babylon's not over." Justin's sunshine smile lit up, and Brian realized all the silent promises and declarations those sentences had just meant.

Justin took Brian's hand in his own and nuzzled his neck gently. Normally, Brian would have pulled away even now, but today he let it slide. "Do you want to open tonight?" Justin asked softly.

Brian grinned. "That's just what I was planning, Sunshine."

"Then let's go."

---

For weeks, there had been whispers and mumbles throughout Liberty Avenue about Babylon reopening. Of course, Justin had been much too preoccupied with Brian and with his art to hear that, and the family didn't really talk about it because they already knew it was definitely going to happen.

The gay thumpa thumpa was back, and fags flocked to the club just from the familiar sound of it. The line was all the way down the street, and Brian couldn't stop grinning. He and Justin danced, together, with other guys, it didn't matter. They were just glad to be in the familiar place again where everything was wiped clean by the soul-shattering beat that vibrated and spun every particle in your body and took control of you, making you move with abandon whether you wanted to or not. They were home, where everything had begun. Where life for both of them had brightened and been given meaning.

"God, I missed this!" Justin shouted over the music.

"Weren't there enough clubs in the Big Apple?"

"Yeah, but they weren't Babylon. And you weren't there."

"Oh, now don't get all mushy and lesbianic on me, Sunshine." Justin grinned at him and took the bump offered to him.

"Fine." He turned and ground his ass into Brian, then sauntered away toward the back room. With a low growl, Brian pulled Justin back to him, latching onto his neck, and walked them both into the back room.

---

Brian barely remembered the drive home. That was probably because Justin had been quite distracting, first trying to make out with him, and when that didn't work (they almost swerved into a lightpost), licking and sucking at his neck, then licking and sucking at his cock. But it was okay now because he had his dick in Justin's ass, and was fucking him into oblivion.

Justin reached back, digging his nails into Brian's thigh, urging him on.

"Brian, please. Harder. Please." Brian growled possessively at his lover's begging, tangling his fingers in the blonde hair and tugging Justin's head back to kiss and suck at the skin of his neck. He felt Justin groan and shudder beneath him, then Justin's ass was clenching him hard and he was coming, groaning, Justin's channel tight, milking his cock for more.

They collapsed in a heap on the bed, just lying there for a while before Brian pulled out, eliciting a groan of loss from both of them. Justin watched as he tugged off the condom and tied it, dropping it away before grabbing a cigarette and lighting. Brian sighed again. That had been a great fuck. And it had been made all the better because Babylon was back. For once, he was incredibly happy.

"Hey, Brian?" Brian blew a puff of smoke and looked at his lover. He raised an eyebrow.

"Mm?"

"I got a call from Roger. I have to go into New York next month."

"It's what you gotta do. You know I'm not going to stop you."

"I know. I'm just letting you know."

"Okay." Justin took Brian's cigarette from between his fingers and took a drag.

"Thief." He grinned. Justin grinned back and flopped his head onto Brian's shoulder.

---

Brian sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It had been a long day at Kinnetic, and for some reason everyone decided they were going to fuck up or be sick or something today. He really wanted to be home. He could hear Cynthia outside bitching out some new intern for him. Good. Again, he rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. It was a goddamn long, horrible day and he wanted nothing more than to be at the loft, fucking Justin.

His cell phone rang. Brian groaned and answered it without looking.

"Yeah?"

"Bri-Brian. I-I-It's me."

Brian pinched the bridge of his nose even tighter. Could this day possible get any worse? "What do you want?"

"Brian, i-i-it….I…she…" Brian could barely understand through the blubbering.

"Jesus Christ, Claire. Get a grip on yourself. What the fuck is going on?"

"I-It's Mom. She….she's gone."

"Okay, so she decided to skip town. Maybe she found herself a nice reverend fuck buddy."

"N-no, Brian. I mean, s-she's gone." Brian hung up the phone.

Chapter 4