"It wasn't a date, Brian, I was just helping him out with some math."
"Really? Because it kind of looked like a date from here. Unless math now involves quiet laughter and conversation for several hours, with surprisingly little amount of movement from pencils. On that note, you're technically an hour and a half late for work, but I think your boss will let it slide just this once."
"What? Are you serious, that much time passed?"
"I guess time flies when you're on a hot date," Brian goaded.
"Go screw yourself," Andy replied cheerfully, taking Brian's spot at the register.
--
"Damn Brian, I hope you're not turning into a nerd on me," Corey teased, emerging from his personal gym, covered in sweat. "Not too late, want to join me?"
"Not today, Corey, I'm beat, my head hurts like hell," Brian lied. They didn't even manage to get any math done today. I don't feel like it today… I just want to sort things out.
"Aww, is math breaking my poor baby's brain?" Corey cooed, trotting over to Brian to greet him properly. "Damn, son, you reek like coffee." He gave Brian a quick kiss, pulling away quickly, grimacing slightly. "Ugh, I hate it black. Where'd you go, anyway? I didn't think you were a coffee kind of person."
"I'm not. I barely had more than a few sips, Andy drank the rest. He asked if we could do it at the Starbucks by the school from now on, since he works them after school or something."
Realization and fear flashed through Corey's face. That's where Brian works. "That's cool, I guess. I know a lot of people from Liberty work there. See anyone you know?"
"Not really," Brian lied, a slight wrenching feeling developing in his gut. It's too late to take that back, why do I keep lying to him?
'He's lying to me…' Corey thought, his feelings slightly hurt. "I'm going to go finish up, Brian, want to at least take a shower with me? Sweat and coffee is going to make tonight kind of awkward."
"Sounds good," he replied, already heading towards their bedroom. "If you don't mind though, could we skip the crazy sex for tonight? Andy left with me a boatload of -
homework, and Mrs. Yang's actually going to check it for correctness. I'll make it worth your while tomorrow, promise."
Corey had to do a double-take, not really sure he was hearing Brian correctly. That's… a first. "Oh… alright. You better keep your side of the bargain though."
An hour later, Corey finished his workout, heading to his room to shower off. He smiled, seeing Brian fast asleep on the couch, a book open on his lap, a pencil still in his hand. The smile turned upside down though. Upon closer inspection, the paper in his book remained almost blank, except for the problem numbers that Andy assumedly assigned to him. His frown deepened, seeing a certain spot of the paper that was creased and smudged by what appeared to be repeated eraser marks.
'Wow, you really care about this, don't you?' Corey mused, picking up the book, paper, and pencil from Brian's lap, replacing them with a blanket from his closet. Out of curiosity, he read a few questions, and scoffed. Easy. He set the book down on his desk, and before he knew it, he finished up the entire assignment, smugly scrawling a note lightly in pencil before retiring to his bathroom, tired of reeking like sweat. 'It's late…'
What's going on with you, Brian?
--
Brian's eyes opened grudgingly from the beeping of Corey's alarm, a small headache prodding at his skull from oversleeping. He tried to get up, but the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't in the overly comfortable bed he was used to, and that there was a sleeping lump pinning him down to the couch. "Corey… come on, get up, I have to shower too, you know."
"Mm… no, you go to school smelling like coffee. Your fault. Too comfy, wake me up when we're late."
Brian took a short moment to notice the irony that he was trying to wake up Corey up, before using a tactic that always worked on him. "Your shower's awfully big for just one person you know… we could make up for some lost time…"
"You're not playing fair," Corey groaned, shaking the sleep from his eyes before stumbling blindly to the bathroom. Brian chuckled. He didn't even notice that Corey was already naked.
A good while later, the pair emerged from the bathroom, a small cloud of steam emptying from the room.
"Mm, that was one hell of a shower!" Corey said, a beaming grin stapled to his features.
-
"Don't know about how much cleaner I got, but yeah," Brian added, quickly throwing together clothes. "We're going to be late, thanks."
"It was your idea for once. Don't forget your school crap. I put it on my desk."
"SHIT! I knew I forgot something!" Brian cried, smacking his forehead in frustration with himself. "Mrs. Yang's going to be pissed."
"I wouldn't be worried about it too much," Corey said cryptically, laughing to himself as he ran out of the room, adamant on not being in the room when Brian understood what he meant.
'Shit… no way, Corey, did you do this for me?' Brian thought, seeing both sides of the used-to-be empty paper sitting neatly on top of his book.
On the back, in Corey's handwriting, was written, "You'd better be a freak tonight, Brian. You owe me double."
"Shit, I'll give you triple!" He joked to himself, hastily erasing the note from his paper before shoving everything in his bag and heading out to catch up with Corey.
--
Brian drove into his parking spot, getting accustomed to not having to wait for a certain snide bitch to greet him good morning. He ran to Corey's spot, barely caring if anyone saw him glomp Corey. "Dude, I love you!"
"So I've heard," Corey replied weakly, rolling his eyes. "Keep it inside though, we're lucky, the school apparently forgot about Prom already. Don't expect me to do that for you again."
Brian was beaming. He was afraid that there would be hard feelings between him and Corey after the last afternoon. Things were still the way they should be though. More enthusiastic than usual, brimming with energy from not having exercised and actually getting enough sleep, he was jittering in his seat of their Marketing classroom.
Andy arrived without Garret, which he's been making more of a habit lately, and to Corey's surprise, Brian got up to greet him good morning, which he'd never done before.
"What's up, dude?"
"Not much," Andy replied, yawning. "How'd you do on that stuff that I assigned you? I know we really didn't get much done yesterday, sorry about that, I guess I can run my mouth. Hope you didn't have too much trouble with it."
"Nope, actually, could you check off on it? Mrs. Yang's counting it for a grade."
Andy blinked several times, knowing that he couldn't be hearing this right. "Let me see that," he said, snatching the paper. The handwriting was too neat to be Brian's, too deliberate. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. Andy furrowed his eyebrows, sending a look straight at Corey, who wasn't even looking in their direction. "It's not your handwriting. I can take a stab at whose it is, but I won't rat. Just don't do it again," he snapped, signing the top begrudgingly.
"I didn't ask him to do it," Brian replied weakly, accepting the paper back from him.
"Whatever, just meet me at Starbucks after school." This can't be the same Brian I saw. What happened to him?
--
When Brian arrived at the Starbucks, he found Andy brooding moodily over a Venti sized drink.
"Oh, you're here," Andy greeted, his face lighting up. "I'm sorry for snapping at you this morning, it's just that—"
"No, I'm sorry for trying to trick you like that," Brian admitted.
Andy smiled, looking over towards the counter, where Brian was amusing himself with his cell phone, doing his best to ignore the both of them. "Well, we're both sorry people. This is kind of awkward. Do you want anything to drink?
"Na, I guess we could get started."
"Just one more thing," Andy said, pausing to try to find the right words for what he wanted to say. Their small row this morning, it reminded Andy that there was somet
hing wrong with Brian, and he owed it to his friends to at least figure out what. He remembered back to Garret's theory, and after these months, everything pointed to him being totally correct; it would explain mostly everything. I don't want to give Christine false hope though. I have to know for sure. "There's no point in hiding anything anymore. I know you live with Corey, and I know you're not straight. And… I know that you're interested in me. Are you and Corey dating?"
Brian was taken aback by his directness, not sure how to answer his question. Dating? No, we're not. We're more than that, less than that, but we're not dating. "No," he answered nonchalantly. As long as Brian himself thought that he wasn't lying, Andy wouldn't be able to see any differently.
Out of habit, Andy sent his piercing gaze into Brian's eyes, but he was confounded to find that, unless Brian got really good at hiding it, he was telling the truth. He stared blankly, trying to recalculate everything. They aren't together? But it made so much -
sense… But I guess this makes sense too, now that I think about it. Corey was pretty polite at Prom, even when he saw us dancing, and he doesn't dislike me any more now than he did at first… I just can't believe that Garret was wrong, he's never wrong.
"Are you still there?" Brian asked carefully, not really sure what he could be thinking about. I think he just asked me if I was single… and I think I just said yes. He knows I like him… does this mean he likes me back? "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you want to do the math even less than I do."
"Huh? Oh, crap, I'm sorry, you're right, we have to get started," Andy muttered, his thoughts interrupted.
"No, really, I'm fine just talking. It'll just be between you and me; no teachers have to find out." Or Corey.
"No, come on, get your book out, don't you care that you're going to fail this class?" Andy pleaded, trying to buy time to get his thoughts straight again. What did I just do? Did I just let him think that I'm interested back? Is that so bad? He's single, this changes everything…
"Well, the way I see it, I don't think I can really take you seriously until I… know you better. We have plenty of time, and I really like just talking with you."
"I really like talking with you too…" Andy replied, his own feelings confusing him. "I guess we could take this one night off. I'll take the heat from Mrs. Yang just this once."
Brian smirked cockily, knowing that he just won the battle. "Want to take a walk? My legs are stiff from sitting all day."
"Sounds great," Andy said distantly, still unsure where all of this was headed.
Brian, his back still turned to the pair, was secretly listening to the entire conversation, his mouth wide open. 'Not dating Corey!? I guess that's true, since they're practically fucking engaged. Brian, you're messing with someone who really doesn't like to be messed with… Corey would never hurt you, but you're not the one I'm worried about… Damn it, Andy's going to be late again, too. Tonight just keeps getting better and better.'
--
Brian came home, a fuzzy feeling in his chest. He looked around the house for Corey, but a note on his door simply stated, "Running." Is this a crush? Have I ever crushed on anyone before?
-
Brian wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes, trying to find something to busy himself with. When was the last time I was ever bored outside of school? What do I normally do for fun? Oh, duh, my fun is running around somewhere on the estate.
Feeling useless just sitting around, Brian took a shower, not even bothering to put on clothes after he expunged the scent of coffee from his skin. He nestled comfortably in his spot in Corey's bed, picking up his cell phone to see if Andy was able to take any texts. He would normally just call, but he had a feeling that Brian-stick-in-the-mud wouldn't take too kindly to that.
Hey, hottie.
U no im working, do u hav a question, or r u just burning time?
I dont feel like workin out… theres nothin to do…
Shit, quit txting, boss on to me. I thnk hes pissed.
Hes a pushover… u no u dont want 2 stop talkin to me :-P
Brian laughed, for the first time understanding how people could do this for hours. Texting was addicting. He was staring at his phone for a while, surprised that he didn't respond right away. Was he being serious? His ringtone went off though, and he eagerly picked it up, dropping it silently after he read the message.
This is brian. Dont freak out, im deleting this msg after I send it. Stop distracting my workers, not all of us hav multibillionaire fiancees. Think about that.
Brian stared at his phone as if it were going to grow teeth and bite him. 'What the fuck did he mean by that?' His text ringtone rang again, and he flipped his phone open, glad to see that it was Andy again.
Rly sry about that, ass stole my phone. What did he say?
Brian was in the process of replying, when the door swung open, causing Brian to jump, startled. He quickly shut off his phone, throwing it into his drawer.
"Brian, you back?" Corey called, stripping off his sweaty clothing as he walked towards the bathroom. He turned to have a look around when he didn't hear a response, reassured when he saw Brian on their bed. "What's wrong, you look you just saw ghos—wait, you're naked. What's going on?"
"Uh… I thought we could get started early tonight? I owe you double, remember?"
A smirk blossomed on Corey's face when he realized what he meant by that. He hurried up with removing his clothes. "Give me three minutes!"
When the bathroom door was shut, Brian exhaled in relief, glad that Corey's libido overrode his inquisitiveness. He stared apprehensively at the drawer containing his phone, unbelieving that he was thinking what he was actually thinking. Maybe because this is so new... I can't believe I can even think about texting when I'm two minutes from having crazy wild sex with the man I love.
Brian imagined a devil and an angel on his shoulders, ignoring how messed up someone has to be to conjure up little people on one's shoulders for advice.
"Brian," said the devil. "Do you love Corey?"
"Of course I do..."
"Then what's the problem?! You know you want to get into Andy's pants! You were screwing Abigail for who knows how long…"
"Stop!" Demanded the angel. "You know this isn't right Brian… Corey's been faithful to you this entire time, you can't pursue Andy…"
"Fuck you, prissy-wings," taunted the devil. "You have the hots for Andy too."
"Of course I do, the man is walking perfection. Oh, what I'd love to do to—"
"Hey, hey," Brian interrupted, once again ignoring that he was definitely talking to himself right now. "I thought you were supposed to be helping me out here?"
"Hey, we're just manifestations of your own thoughts, bub. You're pretty fucked up," the devil joked, and both figures poofed away as Corey emerged from the shower, almost sprinting towards the bed.
Corey's trademark smirk was still on his face, straddling Brian's body below his as their eyes met. "I heard voices, were you talking to someone?"
"Must have been your imagination," Brian whispered, letting the haze of desire overtake his thoughts.
--
Their alarm beeped, and like usual, Corey angrily slapped at it until the offending machine shut up. At first, he was just upset that he didn't wake up embracing Brian like he was used to, but upon further inspection, Brian wasn't even in the bed with him. 'What… he never wakes up early…'
-
Brian was currently outside, running, sprinting as fast as he could, nowhere, everywhere, tears in his eyes, feeling like he was about to vomit. I'm so sick… I can't do this to him, I can't…
'You were fucking Corey, but you were thinking about Andy, weren't you?' A voice in his head chastised venomously.
"Shut up… shut up… SHUT UP!" Brian shouted to no one in particular, just running, hoping that if he could tire himself out enough, he could just stop thinking.
'He'll stop loving you… Andy will reject you… you'll be all alone…'
"BRIAN!" He yelled, seeing him fall from across the estate field. When he finally reached him, Brian's face was half covered in mud, but the other half was flushed red from the strain. He slapped him gently on the face, to try and wake him up.
His eyes fluttered open, and once the disorientation faded, the first sight to greet his eyes was a double-vision version of Corey, staring at him with a petrified look of fear on his face. He felt something trigger in his gut, and he quickly rolled over to his knees, emptying the contents on his stomach into the grass.
"Thank God, I thought you were hurt," Corey breathed, holding out a hand to help Brian up He didn't accept the hand, instead attempting to stand up on his own, which was turning out to be a very trial-and-error feat. "Brian, what's wrong with you?"
"I can get back by myself," Brian insisted, unable to see straight. The world seemed to be spinning around him, and everything was doubled up.
Corey heard the slurred speech, and despite Brian's protests, he cleared away the mud from his face before propping up the drunken man with his arm. "Brian… why are you drunk? How long have you been up?"
"Couldn't sleep after… sex—" Brian fell again, dry heaving into the grass, his stomach already empty.
"So you drank yourself stupid and decided to go running?" Corey asked disbelievingly. Brian didn't reply, and they made the remainder of the walk to Corey's bathroom in silence.
Brian was having a hard time gathering the coordination to even get the shirt off his own head, so Corey decided to help, ignoring Brian's meager protests. He got rid of his -
own clothes before taking them into the shower, blasting the water as hot as was tolerable.
'This isn't like you, Brian…' Corey thought, helping the still silent Brian clean himself up. Any time that Corey strayed past just helping Brian clean himself, he would tense up awkwardly, so Corey decided to back off for now, not wanting to risk him throwing up again. There would be time for questions when he was sober.
Freak Page 23
