Queer As Folk - What Happened Next?

35. Bare And Raw

A single croissant lies in the box on the table as Brian's extended fingers search for it from his lowly position on the beanbag. He keeps missing it and swearing softly each time his fingers touch and manage to push it away. Justin chuckles at the goings on next to him, watching the muscles in Brian's back ripple as he reaches up, propped on one elbow.

"It's as slippery as fuck!" He complains as he misses it again, not helped by Justin kissing the back of his ribs.

"It's a croissant, how slippery can it be?" Justin murmurs into Brian's skin, running his nose up his tanned back, dropping little kisses as he goes.

"You try then!" Grumbling, Brian lies back down with a huff to let Justin have a go.

"I can't even reach the table from here!" Justin tells him, grinning as he leans over Brian to reach up, proving his point; his fingers waggling in thin air about six inches from the table top.

"Shorty."

"I've never heard you complain about my length before!"

"Don't you mean height?" Brian asks, his lips twitching.

Justin looks down at him, his arm still suspended in midair and raises his eyebrows. "I'm not answering that. Come on, lift me up then!" he commands, choosing to ignore Brian's remark.

Pretending to grumble, Brian slides an arm under Justin's waist to pull him on top of him and then, clumsily and with a lot of huffing and puffing, he pushes Justin up into the air for a split second before everything goes pear shaped and Justin lands on him with a whoosh of air and a thump.

"That went well." Comes Justin's muffled voice, as he lays spread eagled on top of Brian, before he squirms around and lifts his head to see Brian looking at him in some amusement. "Remind me not to do that again."

"Don't do that again."

"Ha, ha. Very funny." Justin responds to Brian's sardonic wit by rolling his eyes and readjusting himself deliberately so that he's lying full length on the man, pushing the air out of him slowly every time he moves.

"For someone so short you weigh a lot," Brian puffs, deliberately winding him up. To which Justin bounces on him, forcing more air out. "Ugh, stop!"

Teasing him with a smile, Justin asks, "Do I take your breath away?" Only expecting to get a glib answer in reply, he's taken aback when Brian looks at him completely seriously and even more surprised when Brian reaches up with a hand to take a lock of hair, running it between his fingers.

"You always take my breath away..."

Brian's words hang in the air as they both gaze at one another. No words are said. There's no need to say anything, the time for words can come later.

They meet in the middle, Brian's head coming up to meet Justin's. These moments of suspended silence between them are rare but are always filled with the rawest of emotions that hit them both deep in the gut. There's a bond between them that runs so deep that sometimes it's hidden even from them. Justin is the person that Brian trusts implicitly; no matter what he does he knows he'll always have his back and it's the same for Justin with the absolute knowledge that Brian will always be looking out for him.

The mutual esteem that they both hold for each other can be underestimated, even by them, until times like this when everything is laid bare and raw. There's no bluster or theatre, no cover up or playing it down. Just two men in complete and utter love and acceptance with each other. Just as Justin's about to close his eyes to fully enjoy the feeling of Brian's lips on his, Brian opens his mouth to speak, taking both of them by surprise.