A PRETTY PENNY
Title:A Pretty Penny
Written By: shibbyfangirl
Timeline: Season 4-5ish
Rating: PG-13 for language and sexual situations
Summary: Brian dares Justin to find a real job. It's short but sweet.
Author Notes:Thank you to my beta. Without her, I wouldn't have had the motivation to start or finish this.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Brian scowled, crushing his cigarette into the ashtray. He didn't like it when Justin of all people refused to listen to him.
"It means no, I'm not going to take your money. Haven't we gone through this in the past already? I'm 22; I don't like feeling taken care of." Justin sighed as he glared in Brian's general direction.
"Why don't you get a job then? I refuse to let you sit around on your ass doing nothing."
Justin grinned. "I thought you liked my ass?"
Brian's scowl deepened. That kid could still be a cock-tease even when it was irrelevant to the topic at hand.
"Nevermind. You won't take my money or even find a real job, even if I dared you to.So... just go out and do something, because you are driving me crazy just staying at home having no job at all."
Justin was about to open his mouth again to argue but he figured that it would do no good. There was no way in hell he was going back to simply working at the diner again, so he would have to go find a real, art-type job. Without Brian knowing of course, because that was exactly what he wanted.
*******
When Justin came back late for the third time from his shift at the diner, Brian wondered what was up. By the end of the week he was convinced that something was. Since Justin was obviously not going to tell him, it must be exactly what Brian had stressed to him last week: Justin was searching for a real job at last.
That evening when Justin sauntered in, Brian raised his eyebrows and gave him a look.
"How's the job-hunt going?"
"Honestly Brian, with those deduction skills I'm beginning to wonder if Rage is really a comic book character. It took you what, a week, for you to ask me about it? Are you really clueless about anything except your own ego?"
Brian frowned as he shifted slightly in his chair. "The kind of person that obviously doesn't give a shit, remember? What's got your panties in a bunch, Sunshine? Not finding a job?"
"Fuck you. But...yeah. No job. No one seems to be hiring," Justin complained.
Brian sighed and pulled out the list of companies he had been crafting for the past few days. It was clear that Sunshine needed some help before it became cloudy for good.
"You'll find a job, don't worry. You're an excellent artist, or did you forget that? Don't let it get you down. Here. A list of advertising agencies that may or may not be hiring but have reputations for good art departments. Not as good as Kinnetik of course but they still have pretty good reputations. You might want to check them out," Brian said, handing Justin the list.
He hesitated before taking the list from Brian. Normally he was too proud to accept help, but god forbid he be more proud than even Brian! Justin decided to let it slide. Brian was just offering him the means to find a job. Justin would technically be getting the job by himself.
"Ok. Um, thanks." After a week he was tired of getting rejections.
*********
"I'm sorry Mr. Taylor, but we don't really hire anyone who doesn't have at least a college degree."
Justin balled his fist up trying not to get annoyed. Was PIFA always going to bite him in the ass like this? He sighed, straightening up so he could get ready to leave.
"Well, thank you for considering me, ma'am," he said to the woman who had been conducting the interview.
*********
Justin slammed his cell phone shut, fed up with yet another rejection call.
"Argh! Your list doesn't fucking work, Brian. They aren't hiring. They won't hire me. Any of them."
Brian looked at him, pausing slightly from staring intently at the current Photoshop project on his computer.
"I never said it would work. I suggested you might try them."
Justin hated it when Brian was actually right.
The next day he went to another interview. This one seemed to have the hardest interview process thus far, so Justin did not anticipate much. He was quite surprised when he got a phone call on his cell phone the next day; the company wanted to hire him. They had been impressed with his creative talent, even if he was a bit inexperienced and lacking a college degree. This is what artists always like to hear, so he took the news to Brian, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Brian, guess what? They hired me," he said, raising the shit-eating grin to another level which has yet to be named.
"Congratulations are in order then, I presume? Come on, let's fuck. Everyone knows it's the best way to celebrate," Brian told him, raising his eyebrows suggestively and grabbing Justin's belt loops at the same time.
Afterward, Justin lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling. He felt so reliever to have finally gotten the job. This could be his major start into the art and design world, he mused, softly touching Brian's back.
That Monday he started his new job. It sure beat working the diner, he thought, no offense intended to Deb. That morning, Brian had teased him about his choice of outfits. He had talked Justin into several different articles of clothing and even had time to talk him out of his shirt completely at one point. The day moved fairly quickly as he had the job explained to him in more detail, and also met his co-workers. They seemed okay. He was most excited about what his job would be. He would get to use, on an everyday basis, one of the computer programs that he hadn't really gotten a chance to mess around with much. The art department didn't seem quite as rigorous as Vanguard's or as what he assumed it would be under Brian's watch at Kinnetik, but it was challenging enough without being a pain in the ass. He couldn't wait for his first payday in two weeks. He would no longer be Justin the Busboy but Justin the Mature Adult with a real job.
Three weeks later, he was satisfied with the way his new life was going. Of course Brian was still included in it, but now he finally had a job, a purpose, and new friends to boot. He got along fine with the majority of his co-workers. Sometimes familiarity was good, but it was also good to get a fresh perspective on life. He had also been happy to deposit his first paycheck into his account. In two weeks was more than he had made in a month working minimum wage at the diner.
After work one day, he was hanging around gathering up his supplies when he overheard Denise, one of his co-workers, complaining about her funds, how they were running low and she didn't think she'd be able to buy groceries because of the high rent.
'What's wrong with her? Did she spend all her money on a purse or something?' Justin thought. It was more than enough to live by, in his opinion. Despite living with Brian in the loft and thus not having to pay rent, he was still amazed with the amount of his paycheck, more than he had ever gotten before.
That night, after he had just finished giving Brian what he thought of as spectacular head, he told Brian of his plan to work in the studio after hours. He would have a chance to develop his own work with high-end equipment. Of course he didn't think Brian would have a problem with it, but since moving in permanently with Brian, he wanted to check just in case there was the slightest chance Brian would disagree with his plan. He mentally kicked himself for being so unsure, at this late point in their relationship but Brian was still a difficult creature to read sometimes.
"Sure, it's fine, why would I care? Do what you need to do, Sunshine. Your art is the most important thing," Brian said, a bit offhandedly, while his hand started to make its way elsewhere.
"Maybe second most important thing," Justin said, making a nod in Brian's hand's direction.
Brian kissed him in response. Sometimes it was the easiest way to shut Justin up before he got unbearably maudlin.
Justin grinned and happily let Brian shut him up.
He started work the next day with a sense of renewal, that he was actually achieving something with this job. Of course some of it may have been the fact that he was going to be able to start doing his own art again, but that was beside the point.
When the work day drew to a close, Justin was slowly putting the final touches on his work assignment so he would be able to have fun doing his own project. Another co-worker was also still in the room, putting his things away.
"Hey, Justin, aren't you going to go home? What are you still doing here?"
"Oh, I'm finished with work, I'm just going to use the work space for a little bit, to do my own work."
"Really? We're allowed to do that?" the aforementioned co-worker asked, as he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door. "See ya." He shut the door behind him.
Justin thought it was a little weird. Why wouldn't they be able to work in the studio? He had asked his boss and was told personally it would be okay...
He was so engrossed in his work, he was surprised when he looked at the clock and it was already 8 pm! Time to go home. Despite he and Brian being a whatever non-couple thing they were, in his mind, Brian was his boyfriend--partner really--and Justin wanted to be home for him. So they could partake in conversation and other pleasurable things together. Justin liked doing pleasurable things to Brian. And having them done to him, of course.
Justin got home to Brian and they quite thoroughly enjoyed each other (in all respects) that night. The next day was Friday, the last day of work before the weekend. After working there approximately three weeks and four days, he couldn't wait for the week to be over so the whole weekend would be at his disposal. Near the end of the day, he was about to knock on his boss's door when he heard "...we'll get back to you on that, Mr. Kinney....thank you..." escaping out the cracked door. His boss was talking to Brian? Justin thought Brian had said this was a competing advertising agency. So why was he talking to Brian? Was Brian plotting something behind his back? He didn't like it when Brian did things without letting anyone know, but sometimes that was what Brian did. Or was it just a case of Brian having his boss as a client? He would have a few questions for him when he got home, at any rate...
He slid open the loft door and walked inside, to see Brian there, sitting at the computer desk. Before he slid the door completely closed again, he was greeted with a "hey" from Brian's direction.
"Hey, yourself," Justin said. He thought about speaking again but gave Brian an assessing look. Instead, he put his arms around Brian's neck and peered over his shoulders to see what Brian was so intently focusing on. It was a layout for another ad; a recent acquisition, no doubt.
"Still working? Long day at the office?" Brian briefly looked up at him and nodded in response. Then he kissed Justin, since he really couldn't resist a Sunshine.
"And how was your day?" Brian said in the sing-songy way that appeared to show he didn't really mean the question or was even interested in hearing the answer to that particular question. But Justin knew better.
"Just fine," Justin said, smiling that million-watt smile. He would wait until later to drop the bomb that he knew Brian's Secret.
As he waited for Brian to shut off the loft's lights and get into the warm bed with him, Justin simply watched Brian. He had always liked looking at Brian, and recently even more so. He was just appreciating what he had, since Brian had actually asked him to move in with him.
"So," Justin said when Brian had finally gotten into the bed. Brian was currently kissing down Justin's neck but Justin figured he could talk anyways. "I heard something very interesting at work today. Seems like they were talking on the phone with a Mr. Kinney."
Brian didn't reply but continued moving down Justin's body.
"I don't get it...When are you going to be man enough to let me find a job completely on my own?"
"When are you going to be man enough to know when to ask for help? You wouldn't take my money so I helped you get a job.I thought you told me that people should be able to ask for help," Brian shot back. "So, maybe I bribed the CEO to give you more money than average. But...get over yourself."
Justin tried not to over-react because he knew that sometimes "Get over yourself" meant "I love you" in Brian-ese, since the older man had, on occasion been known to really care about Justin.
"Okay, fine, whatever" Justin said and rolled over onto his stomach. "But wouldn't you rather have me working under you instead of some other company? We could be serious competition for Kinnetik!"
Brian rolled his eyes, and started to move in on Justin now that he was on his stomach. "You're...working under me right now, dumbass. And, as long as you're happy working there, it's fine with me. But you know you could just sit at home and do art all day if you really wanted to."
Justin sighed. "I'd rather do you all day," he told him, laughing.
"You wish." Brian grabbed a condom, and thus ended the conversation. He would most likely agree to quit the bribes, and so Justin would quit complaining. In the end Brian would get his way, which was just to see Justin happy, whatever that meant. This was the way their relationship worked. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
The End
Written By: shibbyfangirl
Timeline: Season 4-5ish
Rating: PG-13 for language and sexual situations
Summary: Brian dares Justin to find a real job. It's short but sweet.
Author Notes:Thank you to my beta. Without her, I wouldn't have had the motivation to start or finish this.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Brian scowled, crushing his cigarette into the ashtray. He didn't like it when Justin of all people refused to listen to him.
"It means no, I'm not going to take your money. Haven't we gone through this in the past already? I'm 22; I don't like feeling taken care of." Justin sighed as he glared in Brian's general direction.
"Why don't you get a job then? I refuse to let you sit around on your ass doing nothing."
Justin grinned. "I thought you liked my ass?"
Brian's scowl deepened. That kid could still be a cock-tease even when it was irrelevant to the topic at hand.
"Nevermind. You won't take my money or even find a real job, even if I dared you to.So... just go out and do something, because you are driving me crazy just staying at home having no job at all."
Justin was about to open his mouth again to argue but he figured that it would do no good. There was no way in hell he was going back to simply working at the diner again, so he would have to go find a real, art-type job. Without Brian knowing of course, because that was exactly what he wanted.
*******
When Justin came back late for the third time from his shift at the diner, Brian wondered what was up. By the end of the week he was convinced that something was. Since Justin was obviously not going to tell him, it must be exactly what Brian had stressed to him last week: Justin was searching for a real job at last.
That evening when Justin sauntered in, Brian raised his eyebrows and gave him a look.
"How's the job-hunt going?"
"Honestly Brian, with those deduction skills I'm beginning to wonder if Rage is really a comic book character. It took you what, a week, for you to ask me about it? Are you really clueless about anything except your own ego?"
Brian frowned as he shifted slightly in his chair. "The kind of person that obviously doesn't give a shit, remember? What's got your panties in a bunch, Sunshine? Not finding a job?"
"Fuck you. But...yeah. No job. No one seems to be hiring," Justin complained.
Brian sighed and pulled out the list of companies he had been crafting for the past few days. It was clear that Sunshine needed some help before it became cloudy for good.
"You'll find a job, don't worry. You're an excellent artist, or did you forget that? Don't let it get you down. Here. A list of advertising agencies that may or may not be hiring but have reputations for good art departments. Not as good as Kinnetik of course but they still have pretty good reputations. You might want to check them out," Brian said, handing Justin the list.
He hesitated before taking the list from Brian. Normally he was too proud to accept help, but god forbid he be more proud than even Brian! Justin decided to let it slide. Brian was just offering him the means to find a job. Justin would technically be getting the job by himself.
"Ok. Um, thanks." After a week he was tired of getting rejections.
*********
"I'm sorry Mr. Taylor, but we don't really hire anyone who doesn't have at least a college degree."
Justin balled his fist up trying not to get annoyed. Was PIFA always going to bite him in the ass like this? He sighed, straightening up so he could get ready to leave.
"Well, thank you for considering me, ma'am," he said to the woman who had been conducting the interview.
*********
Justin slammed his cell phone shut, fed up with yet another rejection call.
"Argh! Your list doesn't fucking work, Brian. They aren't hiring. They won't hire me. Any of them."
Brian looked at him, pausing slightly from staring intently at the current Photoshop project on his computer.
"I never said it would work. I suggested you might try them."
Justin hated it when Brian was actually right.
The next day he went to another interview. This one seemed to have the hardest interview process thus far, so Justin did not anticipate much. He was quite surprised when he got a phone call on his cell phone the next day; the company wanted to hire him. They had been impressed with his creative talent, even if he was a bit inexperienced and lacking a college degree. This is what artists always like to hear, so he took the news to Brian, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Brian, guess what? They hired me," he said, raising the shit-eating grin to another level which has yet to be named.
"Congratulations are in order then, I presume? Come on, let's fuck. Everyone knows it's the best way to celebrate," Brian told him, raising his eyebrows suggestively and grabbing Justin's belt loops at the same time.
Afterward, Justin lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling. He felt so reliever to have finally gotten the job. This could be his major start into the art and design world, he mused, softly touching Brian's back.
That Monday he started his new job. It sure beat working the diner, he thought, no offense intended to Deb. That morning, Brian had teased him about his choice of outfits. He had talked Justin into several different articles of clothing and even had time to talk him out of his shirt completely at one point. The day moved fairly quickly as he had the job explained to him in more detail, and also met his co-workers. They seemed okay. He was most excited about what his job would be. He would get to use, on an everyday basis, one of the computer programs that he hadn't really gotten a chance to mess around with much. The art department didn't seem quite as rigorous as Vanguard's or as what he assumed it would be under Brian's watch at Kinnetik, but it was challenging enough without being a pain in the ass. He couldn't wait for his first payday in two weeks. He would no longer be Justin the Busboy but Justin the Mature Adult with a real job.
Three weeks later, he was satisfied with the way his new life was going. Of course Brian was still included in it, but now he finally had a job, a purpose, and new friends to boot. He got along fine with the majority of his co-workers. Sometimes familiarity was good, but it was also good to get a fresh perspective on life. He had also been happy to deposit his first paycheck into his account. In two weeks was more than he had made in a month working minimum wage at the diner.
After work one day, he was hanging around gathering up his supplies when he overheard Denise, one of his co-workers, complaining about her funds, how they were running low and she didn't think she'd be able to buy groceries because of the high rent.
'What's wrong with her? Did she spend all her money on a purse or something?' Justin thought. It was more than enough to live by, in his opinion. Despite living with Brian in the loft and thus not having to pay rent, he was still amazed with the amount of his paycheck, more than he had ever gotten before.
That night, after he had just finished giving Brian what he thought of as spectacular head, he told Brian of his plan to work in the studio after hours. He would have a chance to develop his own work with high-end equipment. Of course he didn't think Brian would have a problem with it, but since moving in permanently with Brian, he wanted to check just in case there was the slightest chance Brian would disagree with his plan. He mentally kicked himself for being so unsure, at this late point in their relationship but Brian was still a difficult creature to read sometimes.
"Sure, it's fine, why would I care? Do what you need to do, Sunshine. Your art is the most important thing," Brian said, a bit offhandedly, while his hand started to make its way elsewhere.
"Maybe second most important thing," Justin said, making a nod in Brian's hand's direction.
Brian kissed him in response. Sometimes it was the easiest way to shut Justin up before he got unbearably maudlin.
Justin grinned and happily let Brian shut him up.
He started work the next day with a sense of renewal, that he was actually achieving something with this job. Of course some of it may have been the fact that he was going to be able to start doing his own art again, but that was beside the point.
When the work day drew to a close, Justin was slowly putting the final touches on his work assignment so he would be able to have fun doing his own project. Another co-worker was also still in the room, putting his things away.
"Hey, Justin, aren't you going to go home? What are you still doing here?"
"Oh, I'm finished with work, I'm just going to use the work space for a little bit, to do my own work."
"Really? We're allowed to do that?" the aforementioned co-worker asked, as he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door. "See ya." He shut the door behind him.
Justin thought it was a little weird. Why wouldn't they be able to work in the studio? He had asked his boss and was told personally it would be okay...
He was so engrossed in his work, he was surprised when he looked at the clock and it was already 8 pm! Time to go home. Despite he and Brian being a whatever non-couple thing they were, in his mind, Brian was his boyfriend--partner really--and Justin wanted to be home for him. So they could partake in conversation and other pleasurable things together. Justin liked doing pleasurable things to Brian. And having them done to him, of course.
Justin got home to Brian and they quite thoroughly enjoyed each other (in all respects) that night. The next day was Friday, the last day of work before the weekend. After working there approximately three weeks and four days, he couldn't wait for the week to be over so the whole weekend would be at his disposal. Near the end of the day, he was about to knock on his boss's door when he heard "...we'll get back to you on that, Mr. Kinney....thank you..." escaping out the cracked door. His boss was talking to Brian? Justin thought Brian had said this was a competing advertising agency. So why was he talking to Brian? Was Brian plotting something behind his back? He didn't like it when Brian did things without letting anyone know, but sometimes that was what Brian did. Or was it just a case of Brian having his boss as a client? He would have a few questions for him when he got home, at any rate...
He slid open the loft door and walked inside, to see Brian there, sitting at the computer desk. Before he slid the door completely closed again, he was greeted with a "hey" from Brian's direction.
"Hey, yourself," Justin said. He thought about speaking again but gave Brian an assessing look. Instead, he put his arms around Brian's neck and peered over his shoulders to see what Brian was so intently focusing on. It was a layout for another ad; a recent acquisition, no doubt.
"Still working? Long day at the office?" Brian briefly looked up at him and nodded in response. Then he kissed Justin, since he really couldn't resist a Sunshine.
"And how was your day?" Brian said in the sing-songy way that appeared to show he didn't really mean the question or was even interested in hearing the answer to that particular question. But Justin knew better.
"Just fine," Justin said, smiling that million-watt smile. He would wait until later to drop the bomb that he knew Brian's Secret.
As he waited for Brian to shut off the loft's lights and get into the warm bed with him, Justin simply watched Brian. He had always liked looking at Brian, and recently even more so. He was just appreciating what he had, since Brian had actually asked him to move in with him.
"So," Justin said when Brian had finally gotten into the bed. Brian was currently kissing down Justin's neck but Justin figured he could talk anyways. "I heard something very interesting at work today. Seems like they were talking on the phone with a Mr. Kinney."
Brian didn't reply but continued moving down Justin's body.
"I don't get it...When are you going to be man enough to let me find a job completely on my own?"
"When are you going to be man enough to know when to ask for help? You wouldn't take my money so I helped you get a job.I thought you told me that people should be able to ask for help," Brian shot back. "So, maybe I bribed the CEO to give you more money than average. But...get over yourself."
Justin tried not to over-react because he knew that sometimes "Get over yourself" meant "I love you" in Brian-ese, since the older man had, on occasion been known to really care about Justin.
"Okay, fine, whatever" Justin said and rolled over onto his stomach. "But wouldn't you rather have me working under you instead of some other company? We could be serious competition for Kinnetik!"
Brian rolled his eyes, and started to move in on Justin now that he was on his stomach. "You're...working under me right now, dumbass. And, as long as you're happy working there, it's fine with me. But you know you could just sit at home and do art all day if you really wanted to."
Justin sighed. "I'd rather do you all day," he told him, laughing.
"You wish." Brian grabbed a condom, and thus ended the conversation. He would most likely agree to quit the bribes, and so Justin would quit complaining. In the end Brian would get his way, which was just to see Justin happy, whatever that meant. This was the way their relationship worked. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
The End