No Degrees Of Separation
No Degrees Of Separation
When Ben is introduced to the gang, no one expects him to alreay know Justin.
No Degrees Of Separation
Brian followed Justin off the dance floor to the bar. Justin still wouldn't look at him. He watched as Justin made a futile attempt to get the bartender's attention. Brian stood behind Justin and leaned over his shoulder to ask in a sing-song tone, "You fucked him, didn't you?"
"Who?" Justin feigned ignorance, still looking toward the bartender. Brian just rolled his eyes.
"Who do you think? Ben."
Justin finally turned toward Brian, a picture of innocence. "Where did you get that idea?" Brian rolled his eyes for Justin's benefit this time. He turned his back toward the bar and leaned against it so he was standing at Justin's side.
"I know you, and I know your type."
Justin gave up the charade and shrugged his shoulders, "Well, he is pretty hot."
"How many times did you fuck him?"
"I don't kiss and tell, Brian."
"Yeah right, Sunshine." Justin turned fully toward Brian and moved closer to him.
"I'll tell you all about it…later." Justin tried walking past Brian toward the dance floor. But a hand on his wrist stopped him and pulled him back.
"Now, Justin."
"In the middle of Babylon? I don't think so."
XXXXXXXXXX
Justin's head was buried in a pillow, and he was seconds away from falling asleep after a very rousing round of sex when he heard Brian next to him.
"Weren't you going to tell me a story?"
Justin just groaned into his pillow, "Brian…" He felt Brian's hand trail down his back to rest just above the waistband of his underwear.
"So, how was he? No, wait, let me guess--"
Justin rolled onto his back and looked at Brian. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you actually cared."
"Good thing you know better. Now quit stalling."
Justin sighed and got himself comfortable. Brian's fingers were absently drawing small circles on his stomach, and he tried not to let it distract him. "Our school was having a college fair. It's a big deal at St. James. Admissions people from all the Ivy League schools came. We didn't have to wear our uniforms. They expected everyone to come in dressed to impress. I was the only one not wearing a suit. Well, there was Ben too. He was sitting at the CMU table. And of course, no one was talking to him. CMU's a good school and all, but no one wants to stay in Pittsburgh."
Brian's hand stilled on Justin's stomach. "Justin."
He knew he was rambling and went on with the story. "Right. Well, we started talking. I think I spent the whole time talking to him. After it was over we said goodbye, he left. And I followed him."
"You stalked him." Brian said it with a smirk, and Justin just smiled.
"Do you blame me? He's only like the hottest guy I've ever seen."
"So, back to the story, he took you home and fucked you?"
"No, he invited me for coffee. You know, some guys actually like to know who they're putting their dicks into." Justin held Brian's gaze for a second before continuing his story. "We went out for coffee, talked. He went to the bathroom. He was washing his hands when I walked in. I pushed him against the wall, kissed him, and told him to 'take me home and fuck me.' He didn't want to at first, but I was persistent."
"Always are."
"He took me back to his apartment. We didn't even make it to the bedroom. He fucked me on the living room floor. He was so out of control. He was so put together and calm when we were talking at school and the coffee shop. And a couple hours later he was fucking me on his living room floor, talking dirty in my ear. It was hot. He came, didn't even lose his hard-on. We moved to the bedroom. He fucked me again. We fell asleep, and I left in the morning. It was nice."
"Nice?
"Yeah, nice. Ben's a nice guy. You know, he even sent me flowers and a card when I was in the hospital. He'd read about it in the papers, felt weird about visiting, but wished me well. Told me if I ever wanted to talk about it, I could call. Gave me his number. He's a good guy." Justin looked at Brian with a small smirk, "I don't know what he's doing with Michael."
XXXXXXXXXX
Justin joined Brian, Ted and Emmett at the pool table. He tried paying attention to their conversation about Pittsburgh's A-Gays, but he really wasn't interested. Instead he watched the patrons of Woody's. A tall brunet walked by, giving a small wave in his direction. "Hey, Justin."
"Hey, nice to see you again."
"You know him?" Ted sounded shocked, and Justin rolled his eyes. They'd always seen him as an extension of Brian.
"Yeah, very well," he replied, sounding more cocky than he should have considering he and the stranger had only fucked once last spring.
Ted took a swig of his beer. "Huh, small world."
Emmett's curiosity was peaked, "What, you did him too?"
"No, but I went home with Luscious Lips over there who spent the night on Paul Mountain who used to chow down on Justin's love muffin."
Justin felt the need to but in. "Luscious Lips blowjobs are mediocre at best."
"Following in Brian's footsteps, I see," Ted muttered over the lip of his beer bottle.
Ben and Michael joined the group with a couple bottles of beer as Emmett slung his arm around Justin's shoulders.
"Justin's been delighting us with tales of his sexual escapades. Any other secret lovers we don't know about?"
Brian had been quiet up to this point. "Yeah, Justin, anyone else?" he asked with false enthusiasm. Justin's eyes flicked toward Ben before he shot a glare at Brian, who just shrugged his shoulders in reply and turned back to the pool table. Ben glanced at Brian before looking at Justin.
Michael felt out of the loop. "What?"
Ben made a decision, a very stupid one. "It was me."
Both Emmett's and Ted's jaws dropped open while Justin hung his head. Ted was the first to voice what everyone else was thinking, "Holy shit."
"I don't believe it." Everyone turned to Michael, waiting for his reaction. Michael gave a false laugh. "That's hilarious."
Ben looked at Michael. "I'm glad you think so."
Michael nodded his head. "Why shouldn't I? It's Pittsburgh. No degrees of separation, right?"
XXXXXXXXXX
"How did you two meet, anyway?" Michael closed the door behind him and walked into the living room.
Ben sighed and sat down on the sofa, pulling Michael down next to him. He knew that it was a conversation that they needed to have. He just wanted to get it over with and be completely honest. "I went to his school to talk about CMU. He approached me."
"And you just decided it was a good idea to have sex with a 17-year-old?"
"He was eighteen and persistent. He met me outside of the school. We got coffee at Kiva Han and he followed me into the bathroom, pushed me against the wall and kissed me in the bathroom." He remembered being surprised. Justin had cute and harmless written all over him. The assertiveness was a huge turn on.
"What about…"
"I told him I was positive before we even left the bathroom. I'd never have sex with someone without telling them first, Michael. So, I told him, and he went into PSA mode and started rambling about infection statistics and safe sex. He basically told me he knew what he was doing. I wasn't convinced at first, but he was persuasive… persistent…assertive. He obviously knew what he was doing. I didn't have a chance."
"You guys did it in the bathroom?" Michael didn't peg Ben as the public sex type.
"No. We went back to my place."
"What'd you guys do?"
Ben looked at Michael, trying to figure out exactly how much he actually wanted to know. "We had sex."
Michael rolled his eyes. "I know that. But…"
Ben sighed. "He was a teenager, constantly hard, full of energy. He…I know you all see him as the tag-along kid in your group, which is true, but I met him outside of that. And he's a decent guy. Intelligent, attractive, sexy, strong. I don't know what you want to hear, Michael. I'm not going to give you a blow by blow description. But Justin can hold his own. I don't think Brian would be with him if he couldn't."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Can you imagine Justin and Ben…in bed…together?" Emmett leaned against a workout bench as he spoke to Ted, loud enough for Brian to hear.
"I can't believe he didn't tell him that he was positive. I mean Justin's just a kid. He deserved to know." Michael walked in on the last half of Ted's statement.
"He did tell him."
"What?" Both, Emmett and Ted stared at Michael.
"Ben told Justin that he was positive. And Justin said okay. He just made his decision and did it. It took me weeks to be okay with it, and it took him twenty minutes." They all watched Brian get up and walk into the steam room. "Ben told me all about it last night." Michael sat down on the workout bench. "I think Ben let him top."
"What!?!" Emmett and Ted were both staring at Michael again.
"He said that Justin held his own, whatever the fuck that means."
Emmett looked away and Ted took a sip of his water so he didn't have to respond.
XXXXXXXXXX
"What the fuck were you thinking?" Brian had stormed into the loft minutes earlier, still reeling about what he'd learned at the gym.
"Brian, do you have any idea how many guys I've fucked? I'm sure some of them were positive. Hell, you probably fuck positive guys all the time. All you can do is be safe, and I was."
Brian visibly calmed down. He sat down on the edge of his bed and pulled Justin to him. "Why didn't you guys hook up again?"
Justin straddled Brian's lap. "Ben's hot and all, but it was just sex, Brian. It's always just sex." Justin kissed his neck, thinking back to that morning and chuckled at the memory. "I think I actually told him I was seeing someone."
The End
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Author's Notes: Gotta thank V for doing her beta-thing.