THE FORGET-ME-NOT-TWINK

Brian looked up from the newspaper he was reading to find that Justin had entered and was quickly, but quietly, getting out of his heavy wool coat. The weather was slowly going from bad to worse, an unusual occurrence, especially considering it was the month of April. What Brian wouldn't do to return to Palm Springs again... and change everything that happened that dreadful weekend, not so long ago. One week and four days, to be more precise.

After doing the stupidest thing he'd done in all his life - forgetting his condom supply - he'd gone on to do the unforgivable - reject his blonde employee. Justin was not one to forget such a thing and Brian realized that firsthand. Although they hadn't talked about it, it was understood that Justin wanted no memory about the unfortunate incident. His behaviour - making sure he was never alone with Brian; always keeping several inches away from him and allowing conversation to revolve around the silliest things - was a sure sign of his feelings.

"Want some?" Justin offered, a tall, plastic Starbucks cup in his hand.

Brian shook his head and pointed to his own cup. Mikey had been kind enough to pick up a Latte for Brian on his way into the office that morning. Although Brian suspected kindness didn't have anything to do with it.

After settling his butt on the chair opposite Brian, Justin removed the lid and sipped the steaming liquid, some of the creamy froth covering his upper lip. Before Brian could issue a warning, a slick, pink tongue emerged to slowly wipe it away.

Brian felt his balls tighten and gritted his teeth. This could not be happening. Brian sighed. He needed to get this fucking kid out of his system. Then, everything could return to normal; his fucking dick could calm itself down sufficiently. One fuck, that was all he needed. Ok, maybe two.

Looking up, he noticed Justin's eyebrows furrowed together. "Are you ok?"

"Don't I look ok?" he asked, instead of answering the question.

Justin wasn't sure how to respond. Brian always looked good to him. Presently, he just looked like he was in pain, somehow. Still hot but...

Justin pushed the thought aside and shrugged, took another sip of his hot chocolate.

Ever since Palm Springs, his relationship with Brian had taken a change for the... unusual. Their conversations were short and silly, revolving around inconsequential things... like the weather. Without fail, Brian would ask Justin about the weather ten times for the day, sometimes more. And Justin always answered the same - "It's fucking cold, Brian."

It was weird, no doubt about it.

"How'd you find the weather today?" Brian asked, as if on cue.

Justin rolled his eyes and stifled a snort. Like clockwork, he responded, "It's fucking cold, Brian."

When Ted walked into the agency later that day, he was surprised to find himself face to face with Michael's ass. Ok, so he exaggerated...or hoped... wished even. It was such a fine ass. As he stood there, staring at the jean-covered delight, he became totally oblivious to the man at his side.

Michael, feeling eyes on him, stood up from his task of trying to scoop up the peanuts he had just spilled on the floor.

"Oh, hey, Ted," he said with a wave. "I didn't hear you come in."

Ted gave him a shy smile. "I hope I didn't scare you?"

Michael returned to his position behind his desk and sat. "Not at all. Here to see Brian?" Without waiting for a response, Michael got Brian on the line.

"Mr. Schmidt's here," he said.

Less than a minute later, Theodore Schmidt was entering the sophisticated office of Brian Kinney and his crime-fighting partner, Justin Taylor.

Justin smiled broadly when he saw Ted. Brian's demeanor was less encouraging, his hazel eyes taking in the young man at Ted's side.

"What brings you to this part of town," Justin asked, taking over Brian's usual inquisitive duty.

"Patience, my dear Watson. Patience."

Ted handed Justin his coat and indicated for the other man to follow suit. When they were all seated, Brian and Justin facing Ted and his gentleman friend, things were discussed.

"Jean, I'd like you to meet Brian and Justin," Ted introduced.

Justin smiled at the stranger. Jean was a good-looking chap. He had shoulder-length brown hair with blonde highlights and light green eyes, which were surrounded by fine blonde lashes. His mouth intrigued Justin most of all, with its heart-shaped rosy lips. Of course, that was until Jean actually opened the said mouth.

"Bonjour," he said, his tone slightly higher than the average male. "Je suis si heureux que vous allez m'aider!"

Justin looked from Jean to Ted and then to Brian, the expression on his face priceless. "Huh?" he stupidly asked, mouth wide open, unable to shut itself.

Brian ignored him, as did Ted.

"Comment peux-je vous aider? Vous avez besoin de me dire tout." Brian asked, his French excellent, pronunciation and all.

Justin was shocked. Brian never ceased to amaze him... in the brief time he knew the man anyway. He was studying Jean ever so slowly, a fact that was not going unnoticed by Justin. But Justin refused to react. He had no right to. Brian was not his man.

Ted nodded to Jean to continue and the man did. "J'ai rencontré une semaine dernière d'Canadien à un club. Il était un joli garçon, comme moi. Nous étions similaires. J'ai pris le soutient à ma salle d'hôtel et à nous... avait le sexe. Quand je suis réveillé le matin prochain, il a été allé... mais il part ceci."

Brian leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Pourquoi voulez-vous trouver cet homme?"

Jean took a deep breath. "Je n'ai jamais reçu pour dire au revoir. Je.. J'aimerais le voir un dernier temps avant que je me retourne à la France."

Brian nodded. "I see."

"That makes one of us," Justin grumbled.

Brian gave him a warning look. To Ted he asked, "Where did you find him?"

Ted grunted. "Wouldn't you like to know? Isn't he gorgeous?"

Justin waited for Brian's response. But all the other man did was shrug and mutter something under his breath.

"How much money is he willing to pay to find the twinkie?" Brian asked.

Ted grinned. "Five grand. Split three ways, I'd say..."

Brian laughed. "I'd say you were full of shit."

Justin watched Jean from the corner of his eye, his distrust in the fellow obvious.

Turning his attention back to Jean, Brian said, "Nous vous aiderons... pour une somme raisonnable. J'ai besoin de vous me dire que votre ami a eu l'air de et quoi qu'autrement vous savez de lui."

Jean nodded his head and pulled out a wad of Canadian dollars; placed it on the table. Justin's eyes lit up.

Jean bit his lip before saying, "Son nom est Joshua. Il est un petit plus court que je suis; les cheveux noirs courts; les yeux bruns; très maigre.. Je me souviens de lui la démonstration m'un tattoo de quelque genre... il a ressemblé à yeux... mais il planifiait sur recevoir un autre celui. Il était un tel bel homme."

"A tattoo?" Brian questioned, lost in thought. "Justin, remember: his name is Joshua and he has a tattoo... with eyes of some sort."

Justin wrote the information on his notepad. "Anything else?"

"Black hair; brown eyes; skinny; about your height." Brian stopped and motioned for Jean to continue.

"Je ne peux pas me souvenir de beaucoup autrement. Nous n'avons pas reçu pour parler beaucoup. Nous avions tout ce sexe," Jean added.

Brian and Ted laughed, but Justin was left un-amused.

"What?" he asked, his frustration evident.

Brian took Justin's notepad and placed it in front of Jean. "Noter le nom de l'endroit vous avez rencontré Joshua."

Jean did as he was told and handed the notepad to Justin, who repeated what was written, "Babylon? What's this about?"

"It's a club," Brian told him. "A gay club."

Justin's eyebrows furrowed together. "I've never been."

Brian cocked a brow and smiled slightly. "We'll have to change that."

As soon as Jean and Ted left, Justin attacked Brian.

"What's going on?"

"We just got hired," Brian replied. "I thought that was pretty obvious."

Justin huffed. "So give me the run down. Not everyone is as sophisticated as you."

Brian grinned at his bitchy remark. "I thought you lived in Europe? You should know another language."

"Posso parlare dell'italiano," Justin said smartly, the smirk not leaving his face.

Brian grinned. "Ciò è buono. Che lei può parlare l'altra lingua?"

Justin lost his smirk. "Fuck you, Brian!"

"Temper, temper," Brian returned with a laugh.

With an exaggerated sigh, Justin plopped himself on the seat opposite Brian, his feet propped up on the brown mahogany desk.

"I'm hoping we can get this done and over with by the end of the week," Brian said as he got up to pour himself a drink. Justin refused, as he usually did.

When he returned to his seat, he lit up a cigarette and said, "I want you to go down to Church Street and check out all the tattoo parlours. We're looking for a guy named Joshua. I told you what he looked like already, so..."

Justin nodded and got to his feet, grabbing his coat in the process.

"I don't know how the hell you expect me to find this guy," he complained. "There's got to be hundreds of fags in Toronto named Joshua!"

Brian blew a whiff of smoke in his direction. "I know you won't disappoint me."

Justin snorted and walked out. "I'm buying myself lunch," he called behind him. "With your money!"

Before Brian could respond, he was gone.

"I'm looking for someone called Joshua," Justin repeated his request, for the fifth time that day.

The girl on the other side of the desk looked him over suspiciously. "What's he gone and done now?"

Justin heard the bell go off in his head - he had finally gotten somewhere. He hoped anyway. It was cold and he was sick of searching the street for tattoo shops and Joshua look-alikes.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "I..." Fuck. He couldn't think up an excuse now. It was too much on the spot. "I wanted to talk to him about a tattoo," he told her.

She seemed to think his explanation reasonable enough because the next minute, she shouted, "Josh! Another one of your tricks is out here!"

"Huh?" Justin shook his head. "There's a misunderstanding."

A man walked out of the back room and Justin found himself glancing at his notes and at the guy to see if there was a match. And there was. He just needed to see the tattoo and then it would be a definite.

"He ain't one of mine," Josh said after looking Justin over, chewing on his bubble gum. A huge, pink bubble popped close to Justin's face as Josh moved to stand next to him. "He's cute though. What's your name, baby?"

Justin inwardly groaned and tried to move back slightly. He hated when guys called him 'baby'.

"Just..." He thought better of giving this freak his real name. "Just Brian." It was the first name that he could think of.

Joshua grinned. "All right 'just Brian'. How can I help you?"

"I want a tattoo," Justin replied.

"Anything in particular?" Josh walked towards the room he had earlier come out of, motioning for Justin to follow.

"Um... something with eyes?" Justin asked, uncertain of how else to describe the thing.

Josh leaned against a table. "Snake eyes maybe? I can do snake eyes."

Justin chewed on his lower lip. "I don't suppose you have a tattoo with... eyes?" God, did he sound as dumb as he felt?

Joshua grinned. "As a matter of fact," he said with a grin. Lifting his shirtsleeve, he showed Justin a tattoo of a super-hero's masked face; the eyes scary as hell.

Justin sighed, relieved. Now he could go back to the office and tell Brian he had succeeded. Mission accomplished. He would get paid and could go shopping this weekend.

While he was lost in his own thoughts, Josh led him to a recliner able chair and strapped him in.

"Maybe you could take a look at these?" Josh had a leather bound book in front of Justin's face.

"Huh?" Justin looked up at Josh then down at himself. "Oh fuck! Stop! Stop!"

Josh raised his brows. "Calm down, dude."

"I don't want to go through with anymore," he said, the fear in his voice obvious.

Josh grinned. "I know what would look good on you," he said huskily. "It's all the rage and all the boys have one."

Justin's curiousity was caught. He leaned close to Josh to ask, "What? What is it?"

Josh winked. "A nipple ring. It's seriously hot. I bet your boyfriend would shit if you got one!"

Justin found himself wondering if Brian would be interested in his nipples. He pushed the thought aside and was about to get out of the chair when Josh added, "It's as sexy as hell. I love it when he rubs his fingers against mine while we're fucking. I feel like I'm in another fucking world. It's so intense. I can cum by just touching it." Josh lifted his shirt to show Justin the nipple ring, his index finger gently stroking the pink bud.

"Stop," Justin said quickly. He didn't want Josh cumming while he sat here. He was intrigued though... enough to say, "I hope this doesn't hurt much."

Josh proceeded to show him the pains of obtaining his very own nipple ring.

Brian was on the phone with Lindsay when Justin returned later. Taking one look at the teary-eyed blonde, Brian told Linds he had to go and hung up.

"What the fuck happened?" Brian was on his feet, walking to greet Justin.

Justin sniffled dramatically, but didn't respond; opted to take off his coat and show Brian instead.

"What the... What the fuck is that?" Brian moved to touch the stain on Justin's shirt, but the blonde pulled back.

"Don't," he protested. "It hurts."

"What is it?" Brian demanded. "What happened?" His concern was at an all time high.

Justin dropped his coat on the coffee table and moved to sprawl out on the leather sofa. "I... I got a piercing."

Brian, who was now sitting on the table, gaze locked onto Justin's, couldn't help but repeat, "You got a what?"

Justin grumbled an inaudible response under his breath.

Sighing, Brian said, "I sent you to find a fucking twink, you come back with a fucking piercing?"

Justin glared. "Is that all you're concerned about? Your precious twink?"

Brian refused to be baited. Pushing aside Justin's inconsequential problems, he asked, "Did you find Joshua or not?"

Justin sat back up, his blood pressure rising. "Yes!" he yelled. "I found your fucking twink! We made plans to meet at Babylon tonight, so you can let Jean know."

Brian nodded. "Good."

Justin bit on his tongue to stop from screaming at the older man. Brian was the most uncaring bastard he had ever had the displeasure of associating himself with! As soon as he got his balls back, he'd tell him that too!

Noticing the emotions running through Justin's face, Brian sighed and nudged the boy with his knee. "Let's get you cleaned up, eh?"

Justin looked into the hazel eyes and immediately felt horrible for thinking such bad thoughts about Brian. He really wasn't that bad. At times. Rare times.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

Brian dug through a cabinet and returned with peroxide and cotton.

Sitting opposite Justin again, Brian uncapped the bottle and said with a commanding voice, "Take off your shirt."

It hadn't occurred to Justin that he'd have to undress. Damn. Slowly and carefully, so the silver nipple ring wouldn't hook onto his shirt, Justin removed his shirt so his pale chest was on display.

Brian poured some peroxide on the cotton ball and leaned closer to Justin to apply the colourless liquid on the boy's bleeding nipple.

With sturdy fingers, Brian lightly touched the hard nub. He heard Justin's gasp and quickly looked up to make sure everything was ok.

"It burns," Justin explained.

Brian nodded and told him there was no getting around that fact.

While Brian continued to clean up the blood, Justin stared at him. Brian's eyes were focused on his task, lips pressed together. Justin inhaled his musky scent and inwardly sighed. He wished he could feel Brian's tongue against his own again. He craved it. Without giving it a second thought, he leaned forward to brush his lips against Brian's... but he didn't get a chance to join lips. Mikey barged in, a file folder in his hands.

"Brian," he said. When he saw the shirtless Justin, his eyes narrowed angrily. "What's going on?"

Brian turned to look at him. "I'm playing doctor. What the fuck does it look like?"

Mikey snorted. "Here's the file you asked for. The number you want is highlighted at the bottom."

Brian thanked him. "It looks much better now," he told Justin.

Mikey came over to inspect the situation. "Is that a nipple ring?"

Justin nodded.

"Wow. It looks hot. Did it hurt?"

Brian got up to throw away the cotton and return the peroxide to its shelf.

"Thanks," Justin replied. "And yeah, it still fucking hurts."

"Every fucking brainless twink has one," Brian grumbled. "I don't know why anyone in their right mind would get one of those things."

Justin's eyes narrowed.

"Well, I like them," Mikey defended.

"You would," Brian snapped. "Don't you have work to do? I don't pay you to come in here and chat. And Justin, put your fucking shirt back on, would you? You're not paid for your good looks."

Mikey and Justin exchanged looks. Someone was in a bad mood all of a sudden.

"I say keep it," Mikey told Justin on his way out.

Justin was about to put on his bloodstained shirt when Brian tossed a white tee at his head. "You can use this instead."

"Thanks."

"Now why don't you go home and relax? I'll pick you up at around ten tonight."

"Where are we going?"

"Babylon."

"Yet another mission accomplished," Brian told Justin. "I'm impressed."

The two men were leaning against the bar at Babylon, their eyes on the couple dancing in front of them - Jean and Joshua. The boys had their arms wrapped around each other as they gazed into the other's eyes lovingly, swaying to the beat of the music.

Justin sighed and took a sip of his beer. "I try my best."

"Although... I'm almost afraid to send you out again," Brian added, the mocking tone evident in his voice.

Turning to face him, Justin raised a brow questioningly.

"Wouldn't want you to come back with a cock ring," Brian said with a grin. He downed his tequila shot, blinked a couple times before licking the salt off his hand and sucking on the sliver of lime.

Justin watched him in awe. He was in his element, Brian was. Dressed in tight black jeans and an equally tight sleeveless tee, Brian looked fucking amazing. Justin wasn't one to compare, but his baggy blue jeans and chest hugging, long sleeved tee just didn't do anything for his image. He had to admit though - he had been getting a number of looks all night. But his interest revolved around one man and one man alone.

He decided to fuck reason and give into his urges. "You wanna dance?" he asked Brian.

Like Justin, Brian was sick of always 'doing the right thing'. He leaned down and rubbed his forehead against Justin's. "I thought you'd never ask."

He gripped Justin's hand in his own and pulled him onto the dance floor. Slipping an arm around the blonde's neck, Brian used his other hand to ensure their bodies moulded together perfectly. And they danced the night away.

14/03/03

- top - [ Authors Notes ] [ Introduction ] - home -
[ Case 1 ] [ Intermission 1 ] [ Case 2 ] [ Intermission 2 ] [ Case 3 ]
* * *
[ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 2 ] [ Chapter 3 ] [ Chapter 4 ] [ Chapter 5 ]