Crossing The Pond V

Changes
by elfin

Michael stood in the driveway of David’s house.  The last week had felt almost surreal.  He’d spent almost every hour with Brian, simply being there because he was needed.  And now he’d come back here, to the place he’d tried for months to call home, to tell his lover - his soon-to-be-former lover – that he was moving out.  They were breaking up.  He wondered if David would be the least bit surprised.

He felt oddly calm as he put the key in the lock and turned it.  Whatever happened, he knew he couldn’t stay here any longer.

Stepping into the lounge, he wasn’t surprised to see David sitting on the couch, the sports channel switched on, a mug of coffee in his hand.  “Michael.”  He moved to stand, then obviously thought better of it.
“Hi.”  He stepped into the room, sitting down on the edge of the armchair nearest to him.
David watched him, dread overwhelming him once more as it had every few hours since he’d last spoken to Michael.  He knew what was coming.  “This isn’t the reunion I’d had in mind,” he volunteered quietly.
“I know.  But I had to come and tell you… I’m moving out.”  He looked up from his hands to watch his lover nod slowly.
“I can’t compete,” David shrugged.  “Brian only has to call and you go running.  I’ve tried to change that but I can’t.”
Michael was looking up, brows furrowed, eyes big.  “He was raped!”
“Michael, he fucks a different guy every night!”
“What’s that got to do with it?”  Michael shook his head, heart pounding.  “I know you hate him but he’s hurting, David.  For the last week he hasn’t slept with a different guy every night, he’s slept with me.”  He said it deliberately, cruelly, but needing David to understand.  “I’ve spent the nights holding him.  And I’ve realised that I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

David sighed deeply.  “Michael… you can’t see it can you?  He’s using you like he’s always used you.  He needs you at the moment but once he’s recovered, once he’s over having some bastard’s cock up his ass, he’ll dump you again.  He will break you heart over and over for as long as you let him!”  He leaned forward.  “I love you!”
“And I love you.  But not enough.  You were right, that night.  Being with Brian, all the history, the memories.  That’s my life.  He’s my life.”
Shaking his head, David spread his palm.  “You could be so much more, Michael.”
"I already *am* more.  I just want to be who I want, do what I want."
“You mean, you want to spend more time with Brian.”
“He’s my best friend.”  Michael tried to put the usual emphasis behind the words, but he’d said them so often he was becoming tired of trying to explain.  He wanted to be back, living with Emmett who teased him about his love for the Wicked Stepmother figure in their lives.

David, in turn, was tiring of hearing the mantra.  He sighed.  “So… you’re moving in with him?”
“Brian?!”  Michael almost laughed.  “I don’t think he’s ready for a roommate.  I’m going back to my apartment, once Em’s cleared my room of his clothes.”
“But are you and Brian…?”
“Very little’s changed between me and Brian.  I don’t know what’s going to happen.  He needs friends right now, not lovers.”

David could only watch Michael as he stood.  “I’ll clear my stuff after work on Monday, if that’s okay.  Emmett and Ted have offered to help.”
“Not Brian.”
“He thought… it was best if he stayed away.”
David’s eyebrows rose.  “He actually had a kind thought?”
Michael rolled his eyes.  “He’s done more to keep us together than we have.”
“Bullshit.”
“Whatever.”  Heading upstairs, Michael threw some clothes in a bag.  He’d been over at the start of the week for some clothes, this time he took more.

Walking back down the wooden stairs, bag in his hand, Michael looked around.  His gaze came to rest on David.  His eyes were moist with tears.
“I’m sorry.  I didn’t ever mean to hurt you.”
“I know.”
“I just… I can’t do this any more.”  Taking the final step, he walked to the door and left without looking back.

*

“Did he cry?”  Emmett couldn’t help stroking the material of Brian’s posh Italian sofa.
Michael frowned.  “Almost.  Probably, once I was gone.”
“Look, you know how I feel about the gorgeous doctor, but… well, if this is going as well as it seems to be….”  He glanced back to the bedroom where Brian was presumably still getting ready.  They’d been waiting almost half an hour.
Michael shook his head.  “This isn’t going at all.  Nothing’s changed.”
Emmett stared.  “So you’re dumping the doctor for… what?”
“For myself.  I can’t be who he wants me to be.”
 

Brian stared at his reflection in the full-length mirror.  After studying his wardrobe for what felt like forever, he’d decided on a white cotton shirt over tight black jeans.  The plan for tonight was simple.  Find a guy.  Take him into the back room at Babylon.  Get a blow job.  Leave with Mikey.  The way he saw it, it was his first step to getting over what had happened.  He had to do this, like getting back on to a horse, so to speak.

Snatching his cell from the bed, he called Vince once again.  The phone was switched off, as it had been all day.  Presumably Vince and Stuart were working out the finer details of their new relationship.  Brian was jealous as hell.  It wasn’t an emotion he was used to.  He usually got whatever he wanted, so jealousy never really featured in his life.  Vince was someone he couldn’t have.  Vince was different from all the others, with the exception of Michael.  His feelings, his heart, was very clear for all to see.  He was very open with his emotions whereas Brian hid them all behind a mask very few ever saw or looked passed. Michael had been around before the lies, saw through every disguise.  Vince had swept them away without even trying.

Grabbing his leather jacket, pocketing the cell phone, Brian pushed open the partitions.
 
Emmett was still staring.  “So you and Brian aren’t...?”
“He and Brian aren’t what?”  The object of their discussion glanced from Emmett to Michael.
“We’re not sleeping together.”
Brian grinned at his best friend’s tone.  His little Mikey was starting to grow up.  “Not yet, we’re not.”  He wiggled his eyebrows and exacted a happy smile from the other man.

*

Ted met them at Woody’s and they moved on to Babylon after a couple of beers.  Brian seemed distant to Michael, but Brian was often distracted and the best way to handle him was usually to let him be.

It was relatively early when they walked into Babylon and the dance floor was just starting to fill up.  They sunk a couple of beers then let the music guide them to the floor in amongst the hot, semi-naked bodies of the other dancers.  Michael lost Brian early on, but that was Brian’s way sometimes.  He was a law unto himself and there was no point in trying to pin him down or telling him to be careful.
 

Brian spotted his prey the moment he walked into the club.  Tall, blond, slim but not skinny.  He wore a black T-shirt with black jeans and Brian loved the simplicity.  While they’d been in Woody’s, the apprehension and nervous excitement had almost driven him crazy, but now he was here, and the hunt was so familiar to him that the knots in the stomach had eased and he approached the guy with his usual confidence.

For half an hour they danced, almost like a mating ritual.  Brian made his way deftly through the gyrating crowd until he was chest to chest with the man who’d caught his eye.  He had a genuine smile; Brian liked that.  The sensual bass of ‘Absurd’ left them dancing groin to groin, each with one hand on the other’s hip.  As the heavy beat faded into another track, Brian leaned forward and whispered a few words that weren’t as important as the hard-on obvious in his jeans.

The answer to his suggestion was a smile and a nod.  Brian took the guy’s hand and led the way through the dancers to the backroom.  They found a spot in the darkness among the slowly thrusting bodies and Brian pulled the stranger’s mouth down onto his own.  The guy could kiss.  Brian felt the violation of his tongue as deeply as he would the thrusting of his cock.  He shivered, putting that thought out of his mind.

He was kissed again, then that talented mouth started down his throat while skilled fingers unbuttoned his shirt and played across his skin.  When his felt his nipples pinched, Brian dropped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.  One hand remained at his right nipple while the other dropped to unzip his fly and take out his hard cock.  Brian bit back the gasp, thrusting once in that hand before combing his fingers into the guy’s hair and directing him downwards.  He went without hesitation.

Feeling his cock swallowed to the hilt, Brian began gentle thrusting movements.  This guy was good.  When he pulled back, his tongue grazed the exposed head of Brian’s thick erection, when he pushed forward, Brian could feel throat muscles contracting around him.  He was close, on the verge of a fierce orgasm, when he felt another pair of hands stroking his thighs.  That was cool.  Back to the wall, he felt safe enough to keep his eyes closed while the new comer made his presence known to Brian’s body.

The first guy stood up again, wrapped one hand around Brian’s neck and thrust his tongue deep into his mouth.  At the same time, a new mouth took him in, sucking as hard and as thoroughly.  It felt better than good, it felt incredible.  He could taste himself in this stranger’s mouth and that as much as anything pushed him over the edge.  He came hard, reaching down to hold the other man’s head in position as he spilled himself down the guy’s throat.

As the orgasm faded, Brian ended the kiss and looked down to at least catch a glimpse of the new comer.

His stomach clenched and the euphoria of orgasm soured to nausea.  The face grinning up at him from just in front of his limp, used cock, was that of the man who’d raped him a week ago.  Lifting his leg, Brian kicked out, planting the sole of his heavy boot into the guy’s chest and pushing hard.  He wasn’t expecting it and fell back from his crouching position.  For a moment, Brian thought he would kill the guy, there and then.  Put his boot onto his throat and crush the life from him.  The thought made him feel physically sick, and instead, he bolted.

He’d stuffed his cock back into his jeans and zipped up before he exited through the rear fire door of the club.  He threw up once in the alley, before getting the hell out of there, running until he was standing on the pavement out front.

The Liberty Diner was across the road and up.  Brian ran the short distance, composing himself enough to walk inside.  When he did, the smell of food hit him and his stomach lurched again.  He hurried to the men’s room and managed to make it into a stall before he vomited.

Brian sat on the cold, tiled floor, at once thankful and amazed that there was no one else around.  This was a quiet time of night for the diner.  Reaching up, the pulled the handle and dropped his forehead to the rim of the toilet, relishing the cold porcelain.

“Brian, Hon?”  He looked up, not in the least surprised to see Deb standing over him.  “Are you okay?”  It wasn’t asking the obvious, it was simply her way of asking if he wanted to be left alone.  A moment’s hesitation, and he shook his head.  “I’ll get you some water.”
She returned a minute or so later with a glass and some napkins which he took gratefully.  After giving him a few minutes to clean himself up, Deb put a hand on to his shoulder and crouched down next to him where he sat on the hard floor, back against the cubicle wall.

“What happened?”
Brian closed his eyes, tasting bile in the back of his throat.  Lifting the glass to his lips with a trembling hand, he swallowed several gulps.  Thirty seconds later, he threw it back up again.
“Take it easy,” Deb soothed him, concerned.  They all got drunk, all took drugs, but not since he’d been fifteen had she seen Brian Kinney vomiting.  She handed him another napkin and glanced away as he wiped his mouth and deposited the tissue in the toilet, flushing it a second time.

This time when he took up the glass she gave him instructions to sip the water.  Lightly, she stroked a lock of damp hair back from his temple.  “Wanna talk about it?”
Closing his eyes, Brian shook his head, but the words seemed to tumble out of their own accord.  “It was him, the bastard that raped me.”  He stumbled over the word.
“You saw him?”
A choked laugh escaped him.  “On his fucking knees in front of me.”  Deb didn’t need any further explanation.  Wrapping her arm around his shoulders, she pulled him against her, figuring even Brian Kinney needed a hug now and again.
“Honey, you should call the police.”
“No.  They don’t give a shit.  They haven’t found him in a week, they’re not going to.  Some faggot gets one up the ass that he doesn’t want, what’s it to them?”

Deb felt his tears fall to her neck and held him a little tighter.  “Ssh, Honey….”

He pulled himself together quickly, sitting up, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.  She left her arm around his shoulders for a while, watching while he pulled the tatters of his dignity back around him.
“Where are the others?” she asked quietly.
“Babylon.”
“Want me to call Michael?”
He snorted.  “Shit, I’m wrecking enough of his evenings this week.”
Deb shook her head.  “You think he cares about that, Sweetheart?  He cares about you, he’d kill me if I didn’t call him.”

Standing, she reached down and offered her hand, smiling when Brian took it and hauled himself to his feet.  “You feeling okay?”
“Yeah.  Thanks.”
“I’ll call Michael and make you a hot chocolate.”  He knew he didn’t have a say in either of those things.

Once she’d gone, Brian crossed to a basin and turned the cold tap on full, splashing his face with the icy water.  Lifting his head, he stared at his own face looking back at him.  Taking a deep breath he fought the rising emotions back behind the crumbling walls and turned from that accusing glare.
 

Michael lifted the bottle to his lips, scanning the dance floor for Brian.  “Where the hell is he?” he shouted to Emmett as his friend came to stand next to him.
“I’m assuming you mean Brian.”
“Yeah.  I’ve….”  He stopped, his eyes widening.  It took a moment before he realized it was his cell phone vibrating in his trouser pocket, and nothing more perverse.  Giggling to himself, he pulled the compact phone from his jeans and glanced at the screen.  ‘Mom Diner’.  He didn’t stand a chance of hearing her over the line in the noise, but it was odd she should ring.  Typing a short text message, he sent it.

Looking up, he caught the question on Emmett’s face.  “Mom,” he explained.
Emmett frowned.  “What did she want?”
“No idea.”  He glanced back down when the cell phone shook again in his hand.  Opening the text message, he read, ‘Brian’s here.’

Michael handed his half- empty bottle to Emmett.  “Brian’s over at the Diner, I’ll go see what happened.”
“Want us to come with?”
Michael looked at him, expression open.  “S’up to you.”
Emmett nodded once, looked over the crowd until he caught Ted’s eye, and signalled they were leaving.

Only when they were outside did Ted ask why their night had once again been cut short.  Emmett explained while Michael practically ran the distance between the club and the diner.  Deb was standing outside, waiting for him.  “Michael.”  She stopped him from going straight inside.
“What happened?”
“I’ll let him tell you.  But he’s upset, Honey.”  She didn’t have to say anymore, just let her son pass and smiled at Emmett as he grinned at her.

Brian was huddled into the corner next to the window, hands wrapped around a mug of Deb’s hot chocolate.  If he’d been thinking straight he’d have balked at the idea, but the warm liquid was somehow soothing his churning emotions.  Michael sat down on the same seat.  “You okay?”  Brian snorted before he shook his head.  “How about I take you home?”
Brain put the half-empty mug down on the table and scooted across the seat, pushing at Michael with his foot until his friend got up, not trusting himself to speak.

Emmett and Ted made themselves comfortable and Ted picked up the menu, scanning it despite knowing it by heart.  Neither were sure whether or not Brian and Michael were staying but both were certain that they wouldn’t be required to tag along.  As Brian edged out from behind the table, Emmett touched his arm, making sure his fingers stayed on the leather of Brian’s jacket and didn’t touch his skin.  Brian’s head snapped around.
“Babe… We’re your friends.  You need us, we’re here.”  Emmett held Brian’s gaze for another second, then turned and took the menu from Ted’s hands playfully.  Brian stared at him until Michael tapped his elbow.
“Coming?”
“Yeah….”
“Michael,” Emmett once again had Brian’s attention.  “Sunday lunch tomorrow at… our place?”
Michael frowned, then smiled.  “That’d be good.”

They were almost out of the diner before Brian turned back.  “Deb?”  She glanced up.  “Thanks.”

*

Michael drove them back to Brian’s loft.  Brian spent the entire journey staring out of the passenger window in silence, and Michael didn’t attempt to draw him into conversation.  Parking up, he followed Brian into the apartment building and watched him pull the elevator gate closed behind them.  Only when the short trip up had started did Brian start to talk.  He explained about the guy he’d taken into the back room, the second guy, the moment he opened his eyes and saw that face grinning up at him, a face he would never forget for the rest of his life.

He closed in his eyes.  “I came in his mouth,” he murmured, anguish screwing up his features.  Michael looked at him steadily, staying where he was, leaning against the opposite wall of the elevator that had stopped sometime ago.  “When I saw him there….”
“You threw up,” Michael supplied quietly.
“I managed to get outside first.”
Michael reached his hand out across the space and without hesitation, Brian took it, reaching to take that offered hand in his own.  They stood there for a long time, that single point of contact connecting them.  Michael had no idea what to say, but he was fairly sure that Brian didn’t need to hear anything.  He just needed to not be alone, and to not be with a stranger.

“Coming inside?” Michael asked finally.
Brian looked across at the door of his loft like he hadn’t been aware they’d reached the top floor.  “Listen, Mikey….  I wanted to say, about David….”
“Don’t.  It’s over.”
“I know that.  But I just… I was jealous, when you started to see him.  Not at the beginning cos I thought I could easily keep you.  But that weekend you went away to the country with him….”  Michael squeezed his hand.  “I do love you.  I know I treat you like shit, but I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
Michael stepped forward and closed the gap between them.  Silently he wrapped his free arm around Brian’s neck, pressing close to him.  He felt Brian’s arm come around his waist and hold him tightly.
“I love you too,” Michael whispered, finding the words so easy to say.  After all, it was what he’d felt for sixteen years.

When they parted, Michael opened the gate and Brian found his keys, letting them in.  “I need to shower,” Brian muttered, dropping his keys and his coat to the sofa and heading for the bathroom.  Michael let him go, taking off his own coat, kicking off his shoes and padding over to the kitchen to fill the kettle.  He was interrupted in his mug hunt by the ‘radar’ ring of Brian’s cell phone.  Taking it from the pocket of the leather jacket, Michael checked the screen.  ‘Vince’.

“Hi.”
“Michael?  Is everything okay?”
Michael glanced up to the bathroom, he could hear the shower running hard and hated to think Brian was trying to wash the touch of his rapist from his body.  “Vince… I think he’d like to talk to you, can he call you back in ten minutes?”
“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
“He’s okay.”  Michael tried to reassure.  “He’s in the shower.”  They were back so early that Vince had to know there was a problem.
“I’ll leave the mobile on.  Michael - did they ever catch the guy that raped him?”
He sighed.  “No.”
“Shit.  Get him to call me?”
 

Brian came out of the bathroom in his dark blue silk robe, towelling his hair dry.  The loft, still decorated with beer jugs of flowers, had the whiff of fresh chocolate.  “I made it to my Mom’s recipe.”
Brian snorted.  “I’ve drank more hot chocolate tonight than I have in the last ten years, Mikey.”
“It’s good for you.  Shut up complaining and drink it.”

Smiling, Brian pulled out one of the stools from the breakfast bar and sat down.  He spotted his cell phone on the work surface.  When Michael handed him a mug, he pointed at the phone, eyes asking the question.
“Vince called.  I said you’d call back.  I thought you might feel like talking to him.”  Reaching back, Michael grabbed the phone and placed it on the bar in front of his friend.  Brian stared at it.
“Why aren’t you jealous of Vince?”
The abrupt question made Michael smile.  “I’m never jealous of your lovers, Brian, I wouldn’t be able to find the energy.”
But Brian was shaking his head.  “Not the one-night stands.  But you were of Justin.  Vince means more to me than any of the others.”
“He’s also a thousand miles away.  And like you said, he’s in love with this Stuart guy as well as you.  And… I think I have more to thank him for than to be jealous of.”
Brian didn’t have to ask what that meant.  These last two weeks, he and Mikey had been drawing physically closer to one another, building on the emotional ties that had bound them for sixteen years. Vince had unknowingly driven that change because Brian had needed to do something about the alien feelings his English Rose had conjured up from within.

Brian picked up the phone and dialled.  Michael gave him some privacy, deciding to make use of Brian’s powerful shower.

Brian waited three rings before Vince answered, his – in Brian’s opinion – sensual accent as always having a soothing effect on Brian’s nerves.
“Hi ya, Bri.”
“I’ve been calling all day….”
“I know.  Sorry.  Things to sort out, sex to be had.”
Brian smiled.  “Okay, I forgive you.”
A delicious chuckle, then, “So you’re home early, and with Michael.  Again.”  He let it hang for a moment, teasing.  “So what happened?”
“I got a blowjob from a guy in the backroom of Babylon and when I opened my eyes, my rapist was grinning up at me with my cock in his mouth.”
There was silence for a long time.  “Bri….”
He realized what was happening.  “Vince, I’m okay, honestly.”
He wasn’t sure Vince had heard.  “Bri, I’m coming over.”

It took a while Brian to work out what was wrong with those words.  Michael had said them to him enough times over the phone.  But this was different somehow, and it was a moment before his brain caught up.  “Vince.”  His face broke into a smile.
“I mean it.  I have to see you, have to hold you.  You’re hurting….”  The words cut through the steel cage around Brian’s heart like a knife through flesh.  He knew Michael was thinking it, but he hadn’t said it.  Michael had natural defences around Brian – defences that had grown up with them.  They prevented him from saying certain things to protect himself from his best friend’s instinctive reaction.

But Vince had known him a couple of weeks.  He was a voice on the phone, words in an email.  He didn’t not say things because he was worried about what would be thrown back at him.  Vince said what he felt, that was something Brian had gotten to know over the last two weeks.  He often thought about Stuart, and mentally promised to fly straight over there and string him up by his testicles if he ever did anything to hurt Vince.  Then again, from what he’d heard, Stuart had been causing Vince pain for most of his teenage and adult life.  Sometimes the similarities scared him.

“Bri?”
“You can’t just come over!  You’re a thousand miles away!”
“3594 miles, to be exact.  And planes were invented a while ago now.  I know you live in Pittsburgh, so named because….”
“Yeah, I’ve heard it!”  Brian shook his head.  “You can’t come over.  You’re my stability.  If you came over, you’d become….”  He stopped himself saying ‘like everyone else’.  He could feel Michael’s presence in the loft and didn’t want to upset him.  Just for once.
“I need to see you, Bri.”  The serious note in Vince’s voice touched something within Brian.  What the hell was happening to him?  “Things are changing here,” Vince was saying, “Stuart and I….”
“You two fucked.”
“We made love.  All day.  We’ve been talking about… spending more days like this one.  And nights.”
Brian felt the weight in his heart.  “You’re….”
“I’m not dumping you, I’m not ending it with you.  I want to see you and hold you and taste you.”
“Won’t Stuart object to that just a little?”
“He’s had sixteen years of fun.  Now it’s my turn.  He said I could have you, just you.”
 

Michael stepped down into the living area as Brian closed up the cell phone.  “How is he?”
“He’s coming over.”  Brian thought he saw his own emotions mirrored in Michael’s eyes for just a moment.
“Coming over?”  His tone wasn’t what Brian had expected it would be.  Still, there was no bitterness, no anger like there always had been when they’d spoken about Justin.  There was only surprise.
“That’s what I said!”  Brian stared at his phone before dropping it to the breakfast bar.
“I thought he and Stuart….”
“They are.  That’s why he wants to come over.”
Michael went over to stand behind his friend, carefully wrapping his arms around Brian’s shoulders.  Pressing his lips into the damp hair, he breathed in Brian’s fresh scent.  “What?  He’s testing himself?”
“He says he wants to hold me.”
Michael couldn’t help but smile at Brian’s tone.  He tightened his arms.  “It’s okay, that just means this kind of thing.”
Brian smacked his forearm lightly, leaving his hand on the naked skin.  Almost as an afterthought, he turned to see what Michael was wearing.

Nothing.

“You’re naked.”
“So?  I couldn’t find a robe and you’ve seen it all before.”
Brian frowned.  “Still… it’s different now, isn’t it?”
Michael lifted his head, not too sure what was meant by that.  After a few moments, he decided not to think about it.  He did go back into the bedroom and threw one of Brian’s long white cotton shirts on.  Fastening the buttons and making sure it covered everything that it needed to.  When he turned around, Brian was standing between the transparent slats.  “You’re staying?”
Michael shrugged.  “I can go, or I can sleep on the couch.  I’m moving my stuff back on Monday so most of it’s….”
Brian shook his head.  “You can sleep with me.  I just….”  He looked away, spreading his palms in defeat.
“You don’t need anything sexual.  I know.”  Michael reached out and took one of Brian’s expressive hands in one of his, wondering when this had happened.  For years it had been never been an issue that anything sexual was going to happen between them.  Now… after last night… everything was changing.  But it was happening slowly, and seemingly of its own volition.  “It’s okay.”
Brian gazed at their hands for a long time.  Then he chuckled softly.  “It’s… unusual for me.”
Michael’s giggle joined Brian’s quietly.  “You don’t have to tell me that!”  Thinking for a moment, he backed up, pulling his friend with him until they both dropped to the mattress.

Brian curled onto his side, hand still held in Michael’s, in his lap where he sat crosslegged close by.  “You should call the police, Brian.”  He murmured the words, eyes caressing the gentle face.  "I know you don’t want them involved this time but….”
Brian was already, not surprisingly, shaking his head.  “I don’t.”
“Brian, he did it again!”
“I didn’t say no this time.”
“You would have done had you opened your eyes and seen it was him.”
Brian shrugged.  “He wasn’t bad.”
Michael’s eyes widened and he was about to make some angry remark when he saw the tears rolling over Brian’s nose, starting to drop slowly to the duvet.  He thought his heart might break.

Lying on his side, Michael moved close, nestled Brian’s head between his shoulder and chin, enfolding his best friend in his arms.  He stroked his hand over the drying, feathery hair, whispering everything and nothing.  He was worried.  But between the four – five – of them, they could usually accomplish miracles.  Maybe he would have to talk to Justin.

For now, Michael put the thoughts to the back of his mind and closed his eyes, lulling Brian, and finally himself off to sleep.
 
 

fin part five
elfin

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