A Storm's Gonna Come - Chapter 22
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: None.
Summary: Five years post-513. This story is anti-angst medication. Nothing bad ever happens here (that’s not completely true, but it’s definitely kept to a minimum).
Disclaimer: I’ve read somewhere that, since disclaimers have no legal footing, they’re merely an expression of the author’s guilt. I don’t feel guilty.
Beta: silvaofhope
Previous chapters:
[Ch 01] [Ch 02] [Ch 03] [Ch 04] [Ch 05] [Ch 06] [Ch 07] [Ch 08] [Ch 09] [Ch 10] [Ch 11] [Ch 12] [Ch 13] [Ch 14] [Ch 15] [Ch 16] [Ch 17] [Ch 18] [Ch 19] [Ch 20] [Ch 21]
Present, December 2010
Justin couldn’t sleep. He had woken up some time before the sun came up and lay awake beside the sleeping form of Brian, trying to think. He was desperate. Since the visit to Kinnetik and Brian’s flare-up, Justin was feeling increasingly paranoid. Every time he tried to make Brian talk, Brian would deflect. What angered Justin most was that Brian was acting as though nothing was wrong, even though the brunet knew perfectly well that Justin had figured out something was up. He could have dealt better with the entire situation if Brian would tell him that he didn’t want to talk about it instead of denying the existence a problem. Justin feared they were back in a time when Brian would keep things to himself, like, years ago, the fact that he had cancer.
The day before, when visiting Michael in his comic book store with Gus, Justin had even asked Mikey if Brian had told him anything. It was indicative of just how desperate Justin was, for he knew that nowadays Justin was the one Brian would first come to for a talk. Michael’s first suggestion had been that the cancer was back. However, it was not time for a checkup. Brian’s last one had been only four months ago and came up perfectly clear.
“I can hear your brain rattling all the way over here.” Brian suddenly said and flipped over onto his side to face Justin.
“Because you won’t talk to me.” Justin replied accusatory.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Brian insisted.
“Don’t lie to me.” Justin was losing his patience. He breathed heavily in an attempt to calm himself. “Fuck.” He added, more calmly, then, “Brian, I’m this close to going to Ted behind your back and asking him what’s wrong.”
“Justin, just-“ Brian was getting impatient, too. “Fuck.” He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower. You coming?”
“Just tell me you don’t want to talk about it and I’ll back down.” Justin pleaded, not ready to drop the conversation at such an unsettled point.
“Fine, I don’t want to talk about it. You coming?” Brian finished with a forceful tone.
“Be there in a minute.” Justin’s voice sounded sad and resigned.
In the shower Justin grabbed Brian’s face with both hands and shook his head back and forth, telling him, “I love you. I fucking love you. Don’t you know that by now?” Hoping to make the older man understand that whatever the issue was, they could talk about it.
Brian heard him loud and clear.
“Explain to me one more time why exactly we have the Christmas dinner at our house?” Brian whispered into Justin’s ear, coming up behind the blond and wrapping his arms around his middle.
Justin smiled. Brian still was reluctant to talk about what was bothering him but with the Christmas Eve dinner coming up they both were distracted enough and silently agreed to forget the problems for a while. Justin, not seeing any other way to deal with the current situation, decided to push it aside and ignore it as good as he was able to. He hoped it wouldn’t take Brian too much longer to finally come out and talk to him.
“I don’t know if you noticed but our family has grown fucking huge. Thankfully, our place fits all of them comfortably.”
“How many are we?” Brian asked.
“Counting all of us, including children and respective life partners or current boy- or girlfriends, I believe we reached twenty-eight. Why?”
“When Emmett and Drew decide to buy a house together I’m going to suggest a big dining room.” Brian explained.
“Come on, you love it. The twins are at my Mom’s,” Jennifer and Tucker would bring them back when they’d come for the big Christmas dinner, “we have a minimal amount of actual cooking to do,” since Deb and the rest were bringing food, the only thing left to do for Justin was cook the turkey, “and the only thing left for you to do is supervise the decorating staff which you secretly love, so stop complaining.”
Brian slapped Justin’s ass and moved to the living room where the decorators were currently setting up the tree. Brian specifically requested blue and silver lights only and went to make sure his directions were executed as planned.
Jennifer, Tucker, and the twins were the first guests to arrive since the girls needed to be changed and dressed before the rest of the family would invade Britin. Jennifer went to help Justin with the kids while Brian welcomed Molly and her current Beau who’d followed Jen and Tucker in a second car.
“Hey, Brian, can I ask you a favor?” Molly asked him with a grin on her face.
Brian raised his eyebrows and listened.
“Since Robert here is not yet used to our crazy family, could you and Justin keep your respective bodily fluids to yourself tonight? We don’t want to scare him away.”
“I don’t know, Little Taylor, if he can’t stomach the view, are you sure he can stomach the talk?”
Molly wrinkled her forehead. Apparently she forgot to mention how loud and obnoxious the family could be at times. She hurried away with a muttered, “I better go warn him.” Brian grinned at her retreading back. This would be a trial by fire kind of evening for the new contestant. Brian couldn’t wait to see how he would hold his ground. Brian would readily welcome him into the family should he prove worthy. However, not many men did when it came to Molly. Not unlike her brother, the littlest Taylor was something else and Brian was watching every guy she brought home with to meet the family with a hawk’s eye. So far, not one of them had measured up.
Soon after, an entire convoy arrived. Debbie and Carl were followed in another car by Michael and Ben, and in yet another car by Hunter and his girlfriend. All three cars were loaded to capacity with uncountable dishes in or on plates, trays, casseroles, bowls, and pots. Lindsay and Gus, who had gone to pick up Melanie and JR pulled into the driveway behind them and helped unload all the food.
Minutes after that, the doorbell rang again. Justin opened the door to welcome a newly reunited happy couple. Emmett and Drew both happily greeted Justin at the door. They’d met again in a department store only six months ago and decided to give their relationship another try. So far, they were still enjoying their newly found love, making puppy dog eyes at each other and smiling from ear to ear in general. Justin led them through to the living room where the rest of the family, or part of it, was already assembled. Emmett gasped at the decorations and completely forgot to scold Brian and Justin for not hiring him.
Trish, the housekeeper slash occasional babysitter, completed the self-appointed kitchen staff and together with Debbie they set out to put all the food on the table in the dining room.
Ted and Blake arrived at the same time as Cynthia and her lover. Molly went to open the door and took their coats while directing the guests to the living room. “Just follow the voices.” She advised.
Cynthia went to greet Brian because she knew he was dying for an update. Since Gus came to visit, Brian hadn’t had the time to come into the office or even call in. She found him on a couch in the back of the room, arms full with the twins who were unusually shy seeing so many people at once even though they knew all of them individually and spent enough time with each of them on a regular basis. Still, it was a little bit overwhelming for the little girls to take everything in and they were still adapting, watching their surroundings with large eyes.
Cynthia eyed the girls with a soft smile and said to Brian, “They look definitely more like the Taylor side of the family, don’t they? Especially Alex. She’s a perfect copy of Justin. If I try really hard I can see some of Maddie in Emma, but it’s probably just my imagination.”
“It’s not. Emma has her shade of blue if you look closely. More greenish than Justin’s. And her hair is curly, as you can see. The rest though? Jennifer says she’s another Molly.” Brian elaborated and Cynthia nodded thoughtfully. “How is Maddie? Have you heard from her?”
“Yes, actually. We talked a few weeks ago on the phone. She called me.”
“What exotic places is she gracing with her presence right now?” Brian asked.
“Seattle.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
“If she’s in the States, didn’t she want to come here? Maybe spend Christmas with us?”
“She wouldn’t want to. You know my sister, Bri. That’s just how she is.”
Brian nodded and Cynthia hurried to change the topic of conversation when she was interrupted by another bell ring. Brian got up. “Will you watch them for a minute?” He told Cynthia and went to open the door.
The only ones left to join the party were Daphne and her husband and son. They completed the gathering of friends that long ago had become family. Brian returned to the couch relieving Cynthia of her momentary babysitting duties and watched as the people laughed, drank, cheered, and simply had a nice time. Emma was the first one who dared to leave the security of Brian’s arms and slipped from the couch to mingle in the crowd. She was immediately picked up by Emmett and, as soon as she finished serving the vast amounts of food, Debbie - who insisted on greeting her properly with a bone-crushing hug. It went on until Alex too slipped from Brian’s hug and made her way over to Gus who immediately grabbed her tiny hand. Brian looked at the loud and happy crowd - his son who was beaming down to Alex, Emma who was being the center of attention which, as usual, made Brian smile. His best friend who couldn’t stop watching JR as she made first contact with Daphne’s son Henry, and who looked like the proudest father on earth. Brian’s eyes found Justin in the crowd. The blond was joking with Daphne and Molly’s boyfriend. Some indescribable feeling was trying to swim to the surface and Brian didn’t know what to name the sudden emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. A sudden voice behind him jerked him out of his contemplations.
“God loves you, Brian.” Debbie told him quietly, leaning over the backrest of the couch.
“He does?” Brian replied, not able to keep the sudden surge of bitterness out of his voice. Watching his children, his own memories of childhood had come bobbing up and were drifting too close to the surface.
“Yes, with no doubt whatsoever. Look at all the things that you’ve accomplished, everything that you have. And I’m not talking about good looks, money, brains, success, or a big cock.” Brian smirked at that. “Look at all those people. They love you, they respect you. You have your son’s unabashed loyalty. And Sunshine and the girls? They adore you and worship the ground you walk on - still, after all those years. Even more now, I’d say. You finally have everything you ever wanted.”
“And more.” Brian added when his eyes rested on Justin.
“You did good, kiddo.” Deb smoothed a hand over Brian’s hair and stood to order everyone to take their places around the dinner table.
Brian lay on the duvet, clad only in his boxers and watched Justin undress. Debbie’s words were still fresh in his mind when his eyes followed Justin’s every move. The blond stripped down to his underwear and went to check on the door for the last time. He stood in the middle of the room, going through everything in his mind, checking that he didn’t forget anything while scratching lightly behind his ear. He looked so fucking adorable; Brian couldn’t help but smile and lick his lips. All his. Sometimes the idea still threw him.
“In a couple of months, the advertising awards are coming up. People say Kinnetik is going to win at least one of them if not more.”
Justin came closer and sat on the bed when Brian started talking.
“With the new accounts we were able to land this year, Cuylen and some others, Kinnetik has made some fucking great profits. And the upcoming award ceremony will provide us with just enough publicity. According to Ted the time couldn’t be more perfect.” He elaborated when Justin blinked, clearly not following the train of thought. “Ted has been pestering me about a New York office.”
Justin stared unblinkingly when all the puzzle pieces fell into place. So, that was what’s been troubling Brian. This was huge. Justin knew exactly how big a dream of Brian’s this was.
“So, you want to go to New York.” He stated. Brian didn’t answer and Justin asked, “Do you want to go to New York?”
“I don’t know.” Brian said. “No?” The last bit came out as a question.
“You always wanted to go.”
“That was then. This is now.” Brian said.
“What’s different now?”
“What’s different now?!” Brian asked incredulously. “Us? Everything?” Brian rubbed his hands across his face. Their timing was always shitty. “We’re a family now. I can’t just leave everything and go away to try my luck somewhere else. We have Alex and Emma to think about. And Gus and Lindsay. This isn’t simply about what I want anymore.”
Justin crawled over to Brian and wrapped his arms around the older man’s shoulders. He was moved that Brian would beat himself up because he wanted something and wasn’t sure how to break this to his partner. “But you want to know if you’d make it. In New York.” Justin understood.
“I want Kinnetik to be the best it can be.” Brian replied simply.
“Then you have to go.” Justin said.
“No. I won’t have a long distance relationship. Not again. We said, not again. Remember?”
Justin remembered. “When the ArtForum article appeared, you told me I had to go. This is your ArtForum, Brian. You need to go.”
“I’m not going to leave you. Or the girls.” Brian was adamant in his decision.
“I’m not asking you to leave us.” Justin replied.
“What are you saying then?” Brian wanted to know.
“Who’d run Kinnetik here when you’re in New York?”
“Cynthia, I think. She and Theodore already do it anyways. They have account managers for the clients. It’s only the really big fish I am involved in.”
“So, once Kinnetik NY is set up and running, Cynthia or someone else would be able to run it without you being present. You’d be supervising based on the weekly reports?”
“I suppose. If I was able to find another Cynthia that is.” Brian said.
“So, there you have it. The solution to our problem. We go to New York; you set up a new office, get some of your account managers transferred. Cynthia and Ted meanwhile will find and train people who would be able to take over once things are running smoothly. Split them. Send Cynthia to New York and keep Ted here. Cynthia would sure love being the boss in your New York branch.”
“We go to New York?” Brian asked.
“Did you hear the rest of what I was saying?” Justin laughed.
Brian kissed the blond, tasting the soft and full lips with the tip of his tongue. He rested his forehead on Justin’s. “So, we?”
“We all go. You, me, the girls. Brian, as long as we share the same bed every night, I can paint anywhere.” Justin said.
“I-“ Brian cleared his throat, “I kinda like the idea of Alex and Emma growing up here. At Britin.”
Justin smiled. He liked the idea, too.
“How long do you think it would take, setting up a new branch? How long would we have to stay there? Before you could hand the reigns over to someone else?”
“I don’t know. Six months? A year?”
Fuck! “Wow. Okay. Never mind. The girls are small; they won’t care if we live somewhere else for a year.” Justin had to get used to the idea, too.
“Sunshine, we’re not exactly the conventional parents. We only manage because we have people around who help us. In New York there’d be only us.”
Justin grinned wide. “I might have a solution to that.” He said and proceeded to kiss Brian’s neck and chest.
“Seems like you have a solution for everything.” Brian told him.
“Yeah.” Justin breathed, nibbling on Brian’s collarbone. “Brian?”
“What?”
“Next time - just talk to me, okay?”
“You bet.” Brian tangled his hands in Justin’s and rolled them over until he covered the blond completely with his own body. Nothing was decided. Yet. But Brian knew he’d be sleeping much calmer tonight.
Read Chapter 23
Warnings: None.
Summary: Five years post-513. This story is anti-angst medication. Nothing bad ever happens here (that’s not completely true, but it’s definitely kept to a minimum).
Disclaimer: I’ve read somewhere that, since disclaimers have no legal footing, they’re merely an expression of the author’s guilt. I don’t feel guilty.
Beta: silvaofhope
Previous chapters:
[Ch 01] [Ch 02] [Ch 03] [Ch 04] [Ch 05] [Ch 06] [Ch 07] [Ch 08] [Ch 09] [Ch 10] [Ch 11] [Ch 12] [Ch 13] [Ch 14] [Ch 15] [Ch 16] [Ch 17] [Ch 18] [Ch 19] [Ch 20] [Ch 21]
Present, December 2010
Justin couldn’t sleep. He had woken up some time before the sun came up and lay awake beside the sleeping form of Brian, trying to think. He was desperate. Since the visit to Kinnetik and Brian’s flare-up, Justin was feeling increasingly paranoid. Every time he tried to make Brian talk, Brian would deflect. What angered Justin most was that Brian was acting as though nothing was wrong, even though the brunet knew perfectly well that Justin had figured out something was up. He could have dealt better with the entire situation if Brian would tell him that he didn’t want to talk about it instead of denying the existence a problem. Justin feared they were back in a time when Brian would keep things to himself, like, years ago, the fact that he had cancer.
The day before, when visiting Michael in his comic book store with Gus, Justin had even asked Mikey if Brian had told him anything. It was indicative of just how desperate Justin was, for he knew that nowadays Justin was the one Brian would first come to for a talk. Michael’s first suggestion had been that the cancer was back. However, it was not time for a checkup. Brian’s last one had been only four months ago and came up perfectly clear.
“I can hear your brain rattling all the way over here.” Brian suddenly said and flipped over onto his side to face Justin.
“Because you won’t talk to me.” Justin replied accusatory.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Brian insisted.
“Don’t lie to me.” Justin was losing his patience. He breathed heavily in an attempt to calm himself. “Fuck.” He added, more calmly, then, “Brian, I’m this close to going to Ted behind your back and asking him what’s wrong.”
“Justin, just-“ Brian was getting impatient, too. “Fuck.” He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower. You coming?”
“Just tell me you don’t want to talk about it and I’ll back down.” Justin pleaded, not ready to drop the conversation at such an unsettled point.
“Fine, I don’t want to talk about it. You coming?” Brian finished with a forceful tone.
“Be there in a minute.” Justin’s voice sounded sad and resigned.
In the shower Justin grabbed Brian’s face with both hands and shook his head back and forth, telling him, “I love you. I fucking love you. Don’t you know that by now?” Hoping to make the older man understand that whatever the issue was, they could talk about it.
Brian heard him loud and clear.
“Explain to me one more time why exactly we have the Christmas dinner at our house?” Brian whispered into Justin’s ear, coming up behind the blond and wrapping his arms around his middle.
Justin smiled. Brian still was reluctant to talk about what was bothering him but with the Christmas Eve dinner coming up they both were distracted enough and silently agreed to forget the problems for a while. Justin, not seeing any other way to deal with the current situation, decided to push it aside and ignore it as good as he was able to. He hoped it wouldn’t take Brian too much longer to finally come out and talk to him.
“I don’t know if you noticed but our family has grown fucking huge. Thankfully, our place fits all of them comfortably.”
“How many are we?” Brian asked.
“Counting all of us, including children and respective life partners or current boy- or girlfriends, I believe we reached twenty-eight. Why?”
“When Emmett and Drew decide to buy a house together I’m going to suggest a big dining room.” Brian explained.
“Come on, you love it. The twins are at my Mom’s,” Jennifer and Tucker would bring them back when they’d come for the big Christmas dinner, “we have a minimal amount of actual cooking to do,” since Deb and the rest were bringing food, the only thing left to do for Justin was cook the turkey, “and the only thing left for you to do is supervise the decorating staff which you secretly love, so stop complaining.”
Brian slapped Justin’s ass and moved to the living room where the decorators were currently setting up the tree. Brian specifically requested blue and silver lights only and went to make sure his directions were executed as planned.
Jennifer, Tucker, and the twins were the first guests to arrive since the girls needed to be changed and dressed before the rest of the family would invade Britin. Jennifer went to help Justin with the kids while Brian welcomed Molly and her current Beau who’d followed Jen and Tucker in a second car.
“Hey, Brian, can I ask you a favor?” Molly asked him with a grin on her face.
Brian raised his eyebrows and listened.
“Since Robert here is not yet used to our crazy family, could you and Justin keep your respective bodily fluids to yourself tonight? We don’t want to scare him away.”
“I don’t know, Little Taylor, if he can’t stomach the view, are you sure he can stomach the talk?”
Molly wrinkled her forehead. Apparently she forgot to mention how loud and obnoxious the family could be at times. She hurried away with a muttered, “I better go warn him.” Brian grinned at her retreading back. This would be a trial by fire kind of evening for the new contestant. Brian couldn’t wait to see how he would hold his ground. Brian would readily welcome him into the family should he prove worthy. However, not many men did when it came to Molly. Not unlike her brother, the littlest Taylor was something else and Brian was watching every guy she brought home with to meet the family with a hawk’s eye. So far, not one of them had measured up.
Soon after, an entire convoy arrived. Debbie and Carl were followed in another car by Michael and Ben, and in yet another car by Hunter and his girlfriend. All three cars were loaded to capacity with uncountable dishes in or on plates, trays, casseroles, bowls, and pots. Lindsay and Gus, who had gone to pick up Melanie and JR pulled into the driveway behind them and helped unload all the food.
Minutes after that, the doorbell rang again. Justin opened the door to welcome a newly reunited happy couple. Emmett and Drew both happily greeted Justin at the door. They’d met again in a department store only six months ago and decided to give their relationship another try. So far, they were still enjoying their newly found love, making puppy dog eyes at each other and smiling from ear to ear in general. Justin led them through to the living room where the rest of the family, or part of it, was already assembled. Emmett gasped at the decorations and completely forgot to scold Brian and Justin for not hiring him.
Trish, the housekeeper slash occasional babysitter, completed the self-appointed kitchen staff and together with Debbie they set out to put all the food on the table in the dining room.
Ted and Blake arrived at the same time as Cynthia and her lover. Molly went to open the door and took their coats while directing the guests to the living room. “Just follow the voices.” She advised.
Cynthia went to greet Brian because she knew he was dying for an update. Since Gus came to visit, Brian hadn’t had the time to come into the office or even call in. She found him on a couch in the back of the room, arms full with the twins who were unusually shy seeing so many people at once even though they knew all of them individually and spent enough time with each of them on a regular basis. Still, it was a little bit overwhelming for the little girls to take everything in and they were still adapting, watching their surroundings with large eyes.
Cynthia eyed the girls with a soft smile and said to Brian, “They look definitely more like the Taylor side of the family, don’t they? Especially Alex. She’s a perfect copy of Justin. If I try really hard I can see some of Maddie in Emma, but it’s probably just my imagination.”
“It’s not. Emma has her shade of blue if you look closely. More greenish than Justin’s. And her hair is curly, as you can see. The rest though? Jennifer says she’s another Molly.” Brian elaborated and Cynthia nodded thoughtfully. “How is Maddie? Have you heard from her?”
“Yes, actually. We talked a few weeks ago on the phone. She called me.”
“What exotic places is she gracing with her presence right now?” Brian asked.
“Seattle.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
“If she’s in the States, didn’t she want to come here? Maybe spend Christmas with us?”
“She wouldn’t want to. You know my sister, Bri. That’s just how she is.”
Brian nodded and Cynthia hurried to change the topic of conversation when she was interrupted by another bell ring. Brian got up. “Will you watch them for a minute?” He told Cynthia and went to open the door.
The only ones left to join the party were Daphne and her husband and son. They completed the gathering of friends that long ago had become family. Brian returned to the couch relieving Cynthia of her momentary babysitting duties and watched as the people laughed, drank, cheered, and simply had a nice time. Emma was the first one who dared to leave the security of Brian’s arms and slipped from the couch to mingle in the crowd. She was immediately picked up by Emmett and, as soon as she finished serving the vast amounts of food, Debbie - who insisted on greeting her properly with a bone-crushing hug. It went on until Alex too slipped from Brian’s hug and made her way over to Gus who immediately grabbed her tiny hand. Brian looked at the loud and happy crowd - his son who was beaming down to Alex, Emma who was being the center of attention which, as usual, made Brian smile. His best friend who couldn’t stop watching JR as she made first contact with Daphne’s son Henry, and who looked like the proudest father on earth. Brian’s eyes found Justin in the crowd. The blond was joking with Daphne and Molly’s boyfriend. Some indescribable feeling was trying to swim to the surface and Brian didn’t know what to name the sudden emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. A sudden voice behind him jerked him out of his contemplations.
“God loves you, Brian.” Debbie told him quietly, leaning over the backrest of the couch.
“He does?” Brian replied, not able to keep the sudden surge of bitterness out of his voice. Watching his children, his own memories of childhood had come bobbing up and were drifting too close to the surface.
“Yes, with no doubt whatsoever. Look at all the things that you’ve accomplished, everything that you have. And I’m not talking about good looks, money, brains, success, or a big cock.” Brian smirked at that. “Look at all those people. They love you, they respect you. You have your son’s unabashed loyalty. And Sunshine and the girls? They adore you and worship the ground you walk on - still, after all those years. Even more now, I’d say. You finally have everything you ever wanted.”
“And more.” Brian added when his eyes rested on Justin.
“You did good, kiddo.” Deb smoothed a hand over Brian’s hair and stood to order everyone to take their places around the dinner table.
Brian lay on the duvet, clad only in his boxers and watched Justin undress. Debbie’s words were still fresh in his mind when his eyes followed Justin’s every move. The blond stripped down to his underwear and went to check on the door for the last time. He stood in the middle of the room, going through everything in his mind, checking that he didn’t forget anything while scratching lightly behind his ear. He looked so fucking adorable; Brian couldn’t help but smile and lick his lips. All his. Sometimes the idea still threw him.
“In a couple of months, the advertising awards are coming up. People say Kinnetik is going to win at least one of them if not more.”
Justin came closer and sat on the bed when Brian started talking.
“With the new accounts we were able to land this year, Cuylen and some others, Kinnetik has made some fucking great profits. And the upcoming award ceremony will provide us with just enough publicity. According to Ted the time couldn’t be more perfect.” He elaborated when Justin blinked, clearly not following the train of thought. “Ted has been pestering me about a New York office.”
Justin stared unblinkingly when all the puzzle pieces fell into place. So, that was what’s been troubling Brian. This was huge. Justin knew exactly how big a dream of Brian’s this was.
“So, you want to go to New York.” He stated. Brian didn’t answer and Justin asked, “Do you want to go to New York?”
“I don’t know.” Brian said. “No?” The last bit came out as a question.
“You always wanted to go.”
“That was then. This is now.” Brian said.
“What’s different now?”
“What’s different now?!” Brian asked incredulously. “Us? Everything?” Brian rubbed his hands across his face. Their timing was always shitty. “We’re a family now. I can’t just leave everything and go away to try my luck somewhere else. We have Alex and Emma to think about. And Gus and Lindsay. This isn’t simply about what I want anymore.”
Justin crawled over to Brian and wrapped his arms around the older man’s shoulders. He was moved that Brian would beat himself up because he wanted something and wasn’t sure how to break this to his partner. “But you want to know if you’d make it. In New York.” Justin understood.
“I want Kinnetik to be the best it can be.” Brian replied simply.
“Then you have to go.” Justin said.
“No. I won’t have a long distance relationship. Not again. We said, not again. Remember?”
Justin remembered. “When the ArtForum article appeared, you told me I had to go. This is your ArtForum, Brian. You need to go.”
“I’m not going to leave you. Or the girls.” Brian was adamant in his decision.
“I’m not asking you to leave us.” Justin replied.
“What are you saying then?” Brian wanted to know.
“Who’d run Kinnetik here when you’re in New York?”
“Cynthia, I think. She and Theodore already do it anyways. They have account managers for the clients. It’s only the really big fish I am involved in.”
“So, once Kinnetik NY is set up and running, Cynthia or someone else would be able to run it without you being present. You’d be supervising based on the weekly reports?”
“I suppose. If I was able to find another Cynthia that is.” Brian said.
“So, there you have it. The solution to our problem. We go to New York; you set up a new office, get some of your account managers transferred. Cynthia and Ted meanwhile will find and train people who would be able to take over once things are running smoothly. Split them. Send Cynthia to New York and keep Ted here. Cynthia would sure love being the boss in your New York branch.”
“We go to New York?” Brian asked.
“Did you hear the rest of what I was saying?” Justin laughed.
Brian kissed the blond, tasting the soft and full lips with the tip of his tongue. He rested his forehead on Justin’s. “So, we?”
“We all go. You, me, the girls. Brian, as long as we share the same bed every night, I can paint anywhere.” Justin said.
“I-“ Brian cleared his throat, “I kinda like the idea of Alex and Emma growing up here. At Britin.”
Justin smiled. He liked the idea, too.
“How long do you think it would take, setting up a new branch? How long would we have to stay there? Before you could hand the reigns over to someone else?”
“I don’t know. Six months? A year?”
Fuck! “Wow. Okay. Never mind. The girls are small; they won’t care if we live somewhere else for a year.” Justin had to get used to the idea, too.
“Sunshine, we’re not exactly the conventional parents. We only manage because we have people around who help us. In New York there’d be only us.”
Justin grinned wide. “I might have a solution to that.” He said and proceeded to kiss Brian’s neck and chest.
“Seems like you have a solution for everything.” Brian told him.
“Yeah.” Justin breathed, nibbling on Brian’s collarbone. “Brian?”
“What?”
“Next time - just talk to me, okay?”
“You bet.” Brian tangled his hands in Justin’s and rolled them over until he covered the blond completely with his own body. Nothing was decided. Yet. But Brian knew he’d be sleeping much calmer tonight.
Read Chapter 23