Mechanical Michelangelo chapter 49
I'm really sorry about the time between updates, I hope ya'll haven't forgotten me;) this is just a short one I'm afraid!
Forty Nine THE LAND OF NOD
Brian pressed the button to the elevator with his left hand, clutching his cell phone to his ear with his right. “And you’ve OK’d it with the club?”
“Bar, it’s a rock bar, Brian, and yes. It’s all sorted on this side.” Brian rolled his eyes, but then realised Bren couldn’t see him. “The full size Rage, Zephyr and Ink posters you sent over are amazing.” There was a slight pause. “It’s good to see our boy can still use his talent.”
“Yeah-shit, my god damn elevator is stuck.” Brian said giving the button another sharp jab.
“Use the stairs. The Serpent will be packed for the launch, nearly every customer we’ve had come into the tattoo shop has brought a ticket.”
“Yeah, well, having it in New York better be a good idea. Do you know how much planning I’m going to have to do to get everything sorted, to get our whole god-damned family sorted so they can come over and witness the great launch party?”
“Don’t give me that, Brian, you’ll get your secretary to do it.”
“And she’ll expect a raise.” Giving up on the elevator Brian jogged up the steps to his apartment, letting himself in, and standing wide eyed in shock. “Jesus…” He muttered, more to himself than to Brendan.
“What’s wrong?” The tattooist asked.
“My whole apartment looks like a bomb of paper and ink has gone off.”
Paper covered every possible floor surface, drawings were piled neatly, all numbered and in some haphazard order known only to comic geeks and artists. Brian didn’t know where to tread. The piles seemed to be set in a semi circle and he followed that circle inwards, towards his bed.
The feelings; the anger and other emotions Brian didn’t let himself believe in, crashed over him as he saw his best friend and lover fast asleep on his bed, both curled towards each other, Mikey’s hand resting lightly over Justin’s hip.
“Hello, Brian, you still there? Brian, you OK?” Brian could hear the faint buzz of Bren’s voice and slowly lifted the phone back to his ear.
“I’m here.” He didn’t explain more than that, but looked from the men on the bed to the drawings invading his space. Anger swallowed the hurt until he could tell himself he hadn’t felt hurt at all.
Why they couldn’t do this shit in Mikey’s apartment, he didn’t know. Why they had to use up every foot of floor space, why they had to fall asleep on his bed before tidying it up. Why they had to fall asleep together…
“What’s happened? Is it Justin, is he OK?” Bren sounded worried and Brian took a deep breath.
“He’s fine. They’ve got storyboards all over my fucking apartment.”
“They’re just setting it out, getting it ready, no harm, huh?”
“They’re both now fast asleep, on my bed. How cosy they look-touching each other.” He walked to the side of the bed, stepping over more drawings, resisting the urge to stamp all over them.
They still didn’t wake up as he moved closer. The two men who were more attuned to him than anyone else he knew, didn’t realise he was there.
“Don’t do anything stupid. They’re both exhausted. Justin phoned me this morning, they’re working flat out to get this comic sorted. Neither are cheating on you. Especially with each other.”
He snorted and clenched his cell tighter. He didn’t know how Justin put up with the older man’s so called wisdom, it was annoying the fuck out of him. “I’m not in the kind of relationship where fucking another guy is ‘cheating’. We’re not breeders you know.”
“Stop being a dick, Bri, wake them up, and tell them to move all their shit.”
“Gotta go, later.” Brian flipped his phone shut and threw it onto the bed, both men moved, turning away from each other which diffused the situation slightly.
Brian saw Justin’s hand twitch in his sleep, saw how his fingers were swollen and how the support brace the doctor had given him seemed to be cutting off blood supply.
He kicked the mattress with his foot. “Wake up sleeping beauties,” he said, only the smallest hint of anger hidden in his words.
Justin woke first and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand in a similar manner to Gus. He blinked up at Brian, realising how he’d fallen asleep, and what state they’d left Brian’s apartment in.
“Shit, we wanted this all tidied by the time you got back.” He scrambled from the bed and started to pile up the pieces of paper. Brian stilled him with a hand to the shoulder.
“Leave it, and take off the brace before your hand falls off.”
Justin unfastened the Velcro, pulled the brace off and threw it back on the bed before following Brian to the kitchen. “We are sorry, you know. We did start out at Mikey’s shop, but there wasn’t enough floor space, and then we kept getting interrupted at his apartment. This was the only quiet place.”
“It’s fine. I find two men on my bed without me there, but it’s fine.” He gave a dry smile.
“It wasn’t very interesting, you know, lots if sleep, a little drool, and from Mikey, lots of snoring.” As if on cue Mikey let out a loud snore.
Brian listened to his best friend and pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge. “He always was loud in bed,” he drawled before unscrewing the cap and taking a large gulp.
“I’m heading over to Bruce’s later. He offered to let me keep my tattooing kit at his studio, thought I’d go practice. I’ve forgotten how it feels to hold a tattoo gun in the palm of my hand.” He frowned and ran his fingers through his tangled blond locks.
“Good idea, you can join us at Babylon afterwards.”
“Sounds like a plan. Come on, lets go wake Mikey.” Justin grinned mischievously and took the water bottle from Brian, stepping over their work.
Mikey lay on his back, arms spread over his head, snoring softly. Justin sneaked over to him and waited a few seconds, until he was sure he wouldn’t wake up, when he stayed in the land of nod Justin squirted him full in the face.
Mikey’s arms flailed as if he were drowning and woke up with a gasp, water dripping from the end of his nose. “You bastards!” He wiped his face and jumped off the bed.
“Ah-a, watch all our work, Mikey, you might drip on it.”
“I don’t believe you did that-I don’t believe you let him.” Mikey pointed at Brian making him smirk.
“Next time don’t fall asleep on my bed,” with my boyfriend was left out, but definitely understood, “We could have fucked right next to you and you wouldn’t have woken up.” Brian said taking the water back from Justin and draining the remainder.
Mikey walked to the bathroom to grab a towel, his face screwed up in disgust. “Oh please, do you want to give me nightmares?”
Forty Nine THE LAND OF NOD
Brian pressed the button to the elevator with his left hand, clutching his cell phone to his ear with his right. “And you’ve OK’d it with the club?”
“Bar, it’s a rock bar, Brian, and yes. It’s all sorted on this side.” Brian rolled his eyes, but then realised Bren couldn’t see him. “The full size Rage, Zephyr and Ink posters you sent over are amazing.” There was a slight pause. “It’s good to see our boy can still use his talent.”
“Yeah-shit, my god damn elevator is stuck.” Brian said giving the button another sharp jab.
“Use the stairs. The Serpent will be packed for the launch, nearly every customer we’ve had come into the tattoo shop has brought a ticket.”
“Yeah, well, having it in New York better be a good idea. Do you know how much planning I’m going to have to do to get everything sorted, to get our whole god-damned family sorted so they can come over and witness the great launch party?”
“Don’t give me that, Brian, you’ll get your secretary to do it.”
“And she’ll expect a raise.” Giving up on the elevator Brian jogged up the steps to his apartment, letting himself in, and standing wide eyed in shock. “Jesus…” He muttered, more to himself than to Brendan.
“What’s wrong?” The tattooist asked.
“My whole apartment looks like a bomb of paper and ink has gone off.”
Paper covered every possible floor surface, drawings were piled neatly, all numbered and in some haphazard order known only to comic geeks and artists. Brian didn’t know where to tread. The piles seemed to be set in a semi circle and he followed that circle inwards, towards his bed.
The feelings; the anger and other emotions Brian didn’t let himself believe in, crashed over him as he saw his best friend and lover fast asleep on his bed, both curled towards each other, Mikey’s hand resting lightly over Justin’s hip.
“Hello, Brian, you still there? Brian, you OK?” Brian could hear the faint buzz of Bren’s voice and slowly lifted the phone back to his ear.
“I’m here.” He didn’t explain more than that, but looked from the men on the bed to the drawings invading his space. Anger swallowed the hurt until he could tell himself he hadn’t felt hurt at all.
Why they couldn’t do this shit in Mikey’s apartment, he didn’t know. Why they had to use up every foot of floor space, why they had to fall asleep on his bed before tidying it up. Why they had to fall asleep together…
“What’s happened? Is it Justin, is he OK?” Bren sounded worried and Brian took a deep breath.
“He’s fine. They’ve got storyboards all over my fucking apartment.”
“They’re just setting it out, getting it ready, no harm, huh?”
“They’re both now fast asleep, on my bed. How cosy they look-touching each other.” He walked to the side of the bed, stepping over more drawings, resisting the urge to stamp all over them.
They still didn’t wake up as he moved closer. The two men who were more attuned to him than anyone else he knew, didn’t realise he was there.
“Don’t do anything stupid. They’re both exhausted. Justin phoned me this morning, they’re working flat out to get this comic sorted. Neither are cheating on you. Especially with each other.”
He snorted and clenched his cell tighter. He didn’t know how Justin put up with the older man’s so called wisdom, it was annoying the fuck out of him. “I’m not in the kind of relationship where fucking another guy is ‘cheating’. We’re not breeders you know.”
“Stop being a dick, Bri, wake them up, and tell them to move all their shit.”
“Gotta go, later.” Brian flipped his phone shut and threw it onto the bed, both men moved, turning away from each other which diffused the situation slightly.
Brian saw Justin’s hand twitch in his sleep, saw how his fingers were swollen and how the support brace the doctor had given him seemed to be cutting off blood supply.
He kicked the mattress with his foot. “Wake up sleeping beauties,” he said, only the smallest hint of anger hidden in his words.
Justin woke first and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand in a similar manner to Gus. He blinked up at Brian, realising how he’d fallen asleep, and what state they’d left Brian’s apartment in.
“Shit, we wanted this all tidied by the time you got back.” He scrambled from the bed and started to pile up the pieces of paper. Brian stilled him with a hand to the shoulder.
“Leave it, and take off the brace before your hand falls off.”
Justin unfastened the Velcro, pulled the brace off and threw it back on the bed before following Brian to the kitchen. “We are sorry, you know. We did start out at Mikey’s shop, but there wasn’t enough floor space, and then we kept getting interrupted at his apartment. This was the only quiet place.”
“It’s fine. I find two men on my bed without me there, but it’s fine.” He gave a dry smile.
“It wasn’t very interesting, you know, lots if sleep, a little drool, and from Mikey, lots of snoring.” As if on cue Mikey let out a loud snore.
Brian listened to his best friend and pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge. “He always was loud in bed,” he drawled before unscrewing the cap and taking a large gulp.
“I’m heading over to Bruce’s later. He offered to let me keep my tattooing kit at his studio, thought I’d go practice. I’ve forgotten how it feels to hold a tattoo gun in the palm of my hand.” He frowned and ran his fingers through his tangled blond locks.
“Good idea, you can join us at Babylon afterwards.”
“Sounds like a plan. Come on, lets go wake Mikey.” Justin grinned mischievously and took the water bottle from Brian, stepping over their work.
Mikey lay on his back, arms spread over his head, snoring softly. Justin sneaked over to him and waited a few seconds, until he was sure he wouldn’t wake up, when he stayed in the land of nod Justin squirted him full in the face.
Mikey’s arms flailed as if he were drowning and woke up with a gasp, water dripping from the end of his nose. “You bastards!” He wiped his face and jumped off the bed.
“Ah-a, watch all our work, Mikey, you might drip on it.”
“I don’t believe you did that-I don’t believe you let him.” Mikey pointed at Brian making him smirk.
“Next time don’t fall asleep on my bed,” with my boyfriend was left out, but definitely understood, “We could have fucked right next to you and you wouldn’t have woken up.” Brian said taking the water back from Justin and draining the remainder.
Mikey walked to the bathroom to grab a towel, his face screwed up in disgust. “Oh please, do you want to give me nightmares?”