Disclaimer: If you are under 18 years of age, do not read this story. If you are offended by homosexual relationships, do not read this story. If you are looking for some quick jerk off material, do not read this story. If you are here to read the continuing story of two guys who fall in love, please read this story!
All characters and events in this story are fictional.
Copyright Alekz March 2001
Please email me and tell me what you think of this story. My email is alekzmarch@hotmail.com . Write me whether you like the story or you don't, and if you have any suggestions of things you want to see in the upcoming chapters, feel free to let me know.
Thanks for your time, and enjoy :)
-Alekz
Julian and Bryan, Chapter One
Wednesday morning started as it usually did for me. I ran from my apartment to the university, trying not to get too soaked. (I swear, it always rains in this city.) Then I showed up two minutes late for nine o'clock social history class, which earned me a wicked scowl and the everlasting enmity of my professor, Dr. Nimmones. Or as I prefer to call him, Dr. Nemesis.
Ninety minutes later I emerged groggy and only slightly coherent from the tastefully named 'Starbucks Auditorium'. (I just love corporate sponsorship, don't you?) Nemesis' class had it's usual sedative affect on me, so I gave into the pressures of advertizing and headed for some much needed caffeine.
Coffee time perked me up (pun intended) before I had even made it to the front of the line. Ryan, my favourite caffeine pusher was working this morning. To put it bluntly, Ryan the coffee guy is one of the most gorgeous creatures to ever grace the earth with his presence. As with most guys of his physical caliber, Ryan knew very well just how hot he was. He made no attempts to conceal the fact that he thought he was God's gift to women. His attitude never bothered me, however, since I knew that he probably is just that. If God were just a little nicer, maybe Ryan would have been his gift to gay men.
Unfortunately, tall dark and cocky Ryan was straight as an arrow. I've always assumed that this saying comes from the fact that if you attempt to make out with either straight boys or arrows, you're probably going to end up in pain, or at least pretty embarrassed.
Ryan smiled at me when he saw me. Actually it was more of a smirk, you know how cocky guys are. Either way he was pleased to see me, as he should be since I'm a great tipper. Maybe it's unfair to give better tips to cute guys, but I'm not going to worry about it right now.
"Hey Boss," Ryan greeted me. He always called me Boss. Sometimes I wondered if he called his boss Julian. "Large coffee, double milk, double sugar?"
"Gee, it's nice to know that I'm nothing if not predictable." I sighed heavily and pretended to be horribly wounded. "Someday I'm gonna surprise you man, I promise.
Ryan laughed. "Yeah, someday you might actually come out of a class looking wide awake."
I thought about it and shook my head. "Nope, never gonna happen.
"Yeah, I guess I should be more realistic." Ryan said with a laugh as he poured and mixed my coffee.
"Start with something simple, like me walking on water, or raising the dead."
"Water into wine?"
"I was thinking more like into coffee."
Ryan laughed, took my money and sent me on my way with his customary, "You're too much Boss." I turned and was about to make my to a table, but crashed full on into another guy instead. I'm not sure if it was an accident, or if fate thought it would be an amusing diversion, but for whatever reason the lid popped off my coffee on impact and soaked us both with scalding hot caffeinated goodness. Fortunately it wasn't hot enough to do any damage or even hurt much, at least not physically. As far as my ego was concerned, drenching myself and a perfect stranger, and falling flat on my ass was definitely a little hurtful.
"I am so sorry-" I began, then cut off completely as utter confusion set in. Somehow, I had bumped into, and soaked, Ryan the coffee guy.
"Are you alright?" Ryan asked me. I ignored him and stole a look behind me at Ryan, who was serving another customer and trying his damnedest not to laugh at me too hard.
"Not really." I replied to the new Ryan. "Apparently hitting your ass can make you see double too. I thought only hitting your head could do that."
Ryan 2 laughed, which was a good sign considering that by all rights he should be pissed that I ruined his shirt. It was when he laughed that I started to notice some differences. This man's smile was genuine, not a smirk like Ryan's but a bright, beautiful smile. There were other differences as well. His blond hair was longer and shaggier than Ryan's carefully gelled and sculpted 'do, and his chocolate coloured eyes were somehow softer, gentle even.
The winner of this year's annual Ryan the coffee guy look alike contest held his hand out to help me up, which I took gratefully. Either it was my imagination, or he held onto my hand just a second longer than is customary. Probably it was just wishful thinking, him being such a massively hot guy and all. But then hey, I'm no troll myself, so I guess I can give myself the benefit of the doubt.
"Thanks." I smiled at him, trying to keep him in his good mood. "Okay, now I'm really sorry, and pretty curious."
Mystery man laughed, and it was a delightful sound that I could really get used to hearing. He was one of those guys who laughed from deep down inside, someone you could tell never faked a laugh, because they were almost always amused.
"My name's Bryan Anaheim." So, mystery man has a name. "I'm Ryan's brother."
"Identical twins, I'm guessing?" I have a natural talent for stating the obvious.
"You're pretty quick." Bryan said with a laugh. From anyone else I would have taken that as sarcasm. From Bryan it seemed more like amusement. Okay, and maybe a bit of sarcasm, but it was good natured at least.
"What can I say, I'm a regular Sherlock Holmes."
Bryan shook his head. "No, nobody ever mentioned Sherlock Holmes having such a killer smile."
Boy did that catch me off guard! Wishful thinking be damned, I've got a live one here. My smile must have slipped off my face in my surprise, because the next thing I knew cute accident boy was apologising to me.
"I'm sorry, apparently I read you wrong." Bryan began. "Just be flattered and forget I said it."
I shook my head and spoke up quickly. He wasn't getting away that easy.
"No, no. You just surprised me. You read me just fine, you're an excellent reader. Very literate." I said I spoke quickly, I said nothing about speaking eloquently.
Bryan's smile returned, and I was struck by another observation. Ryan had nothing to be cocky about! Not when his brother was God's gift to man, woman, child and beast! I'm not a truly religious person, but I said a little thank you just the same. Apparently God was in a good mood today. He obviously didn't have to sit through one of Dr. Nemesis' classes, not if he was feeling this benevolent.
"I'm glad to hear that." Bryan said. "In that case, are we going to a movie tonight, or are we going out to dinner?"
Note the lack of a third option here. This boy was confident! Not cocky like his brother, he seemed to nice for that, but nonetheless he knew damned well I wouldn't say no.
"Dinner." I told him. Two could play his game. I grabbed a napkin and a pen from my backpack and wrote down my phone number and address. "Pick me up at seven?"
"I wouldn't miss it."
Bryan turned and left, leaving me standing in the middle of the lobby smiling like an idiot and drenched in coffee. I stayed that way for a moment or two, before I realized that nearly half of the cafe lineup was either smiling or openly laughing at me. I grinned sheepishly at them and made my way outside. It was still raining, but I was pretty wet already, so I decided to head home without bothering to fish my jacket out of my backpack. I always found the rain relaxing, which was a good thing since it rained nine days out of ten.
The apartment that I shared with my brother, Justin, was only a few blocks from the university. By the time I arrived home the rain had washed off all of the coffee, and I was feeling pretty good, although a little cold. I needed to warm up, and I'm always looking for an excuse to take a bath, so I lit some candles in the bathroom, poured myself a glass of red wine (one a day is good for you, you're only an alcoholic if you have one every hour and say it's good for you), layed back and relaxed.
As far as I'm concerned, long, hot baths are one of the greatest things in life. People who don't understand this are really missing out. Hot baths come in just after sex and chocolate on the 'greatest ideas of all time' list.
I must have fallen asleep in the tub, something I do fairly often, because the next thing I knew I heard Justin coming home from school. My brother is in his final year of high school, so I knew it had to be around three o'clock.
Justin is eighteen, but he has lived with me since he was sixteen. Our parents died three years ago just after my eighteenth birthday, so I became his legal guardian. I had our parents house sold, split the money with Justin, and had enough for an apartment for a few years, and university on top of that. Free room and board and free school is alright, but all things considered I'd rather have parents.
Since I knew Justin would be banging to get into the bathroom any minute, I got out of the tub, dressed, and went out to greet him. As I guessed, he was just raising his fist to knock the door down when I opened it.
I have to take a minute to describe my baby bro. He's adorable, plain and simple. This might be a bit arrogant though, since he looks almost exactly like me. He's got the same jet black hair and pale skin, and the same dark blue eyes that I do. The eyes came from our mom, but the skin and hair we got from our dad. He was Japanese, mom was German. Personally I've always liked the Eurasian look my brother and I share. You can only tell that we've got Japanese blood if you look really closely. Otherwise we just look like two slight, kind of short guys with really clear skin and glossy hair. Guys have always loved my look, and girls have always loved my brother's, so I guess we both lucked out.
Justin looked a little surprised when I opened the door, but soon his look faded into a knowing grin. I knew exactly what was coming.
"You met a guy."
I sighed heavily, and Justin laughed. He can always read me like a book, and I hate that. He loves it precisely because I hate it. He's like that, but I love him anyway.
"Yes, I met a guy. His name's Bryan and I'm going out with him tonight."
"That's great man!" Julian said with a smile. At least he's a supportive little guy. "How did you meet him?"
I shrugged. "I threw my coffee on him and nearly scarred him for life. How do you meet your dates?"
Justin gave me his patented 'I'm confused and you're crazy' look and closed the bathroom door behind him. Satisfied that I had gotten him back for making me feel predictable, I went to my room to do my homework.
Three hours later I finally finished Nemesis' latest assignment (a three thousand word essay on farm life in the Prairies during the great depression, ugh) and started getting ready. The first thing I did was go to Justin's closet.
"May I ask what you're doing?" Justin asked without even looking away from his computer. I tried not to notice that he was looking at faked nude pictures of Ally McBeal. At least he's got taste in clothes, if not anything else.
"Are you going to sit there or are you going to help me?"
Justin sighed, knowing I wasn't going to give up and came to help me. One of my main problems is that I never go shopping for cloths, so my wardrobe is usually at least two, even three years old. Justin's wardrobe gets recycled every six months or less.
Fortunately we're both the same height, slight builds without being too skinny, and both around 5'6". I had already snagged a pair of shiny black pants that I'd been trying to steal for a month when my bro held out a shirt for me to try on. It was black as well, with silver thread work along the collar and cuffs. I didn't think I had ever seen it before.
"That's nice man," I commented on it. "When did you get that?"
Justin's look told me clearly that I'd lost my mind.
"Dude, it's yours." He frowned at me. "You gave it too me a month or two ago."
I returned his frown in kind. "Are you sure? Why did I give it to you, I love it." I really didn't remember seeing it before.
"I don't know man, I don't question free stuff. Now take it and go get dressed before I change my mind about this."
I decided not to worry about it, and did as he said. After I had combed my hair and brushed my teeth, I checked out the total effect in the mirror in our hall. I was more than pleased with the look. The all black outfit combined with my black hair really made my eyes stand out, and I've always been told I have nice eyes.
"You look great." Justin told me. Then he smirked and added "Nice ass."
I rolled my eyes. "Bite me."
"Wouldn't you like that?"
"Stop that!" I protested. "We're related and you're too young for me anyway."
Justin just laughed and walked away. I shook my head and checked myself out again. I wanted to look great, and I was actually somewhat nervous. Aside from being super hot (which he was), Bryan also seemed like a nice guy from the brief time we had talked, and I wanted the night to go as best as possible.
My indulgence in narcissism was interrupted by a knock at the door. I took a deep breath, told myself to relax, and went to greet my date.
Opening the door, I had to stop and take another deep breath. This time merely to register the sight in front of me. If Bryan had looked great earlier in the day, now he looked phenomenal! He had combed out his blond locks, and unless I'm mistaken even gotten them trimmed a bit. He looked like he had shaved (something I'm lucky enough to only have to do once a week) and he smelled like sandalwood. To put it mildly, I was pleased.
Bryan's eyes widened just slightly, and I heard him breath deeply too. He recovered quickly and gave me a bright, wide smile.
"You look incredible." He said. I could feel myself blush, and he laughed.
"Thanks," I started. "You clean up pretty nicely yourself."
"I had too." He told me. "Clean up I mean, I did have coffee all over me if you recall."
I could feel myself blush even more, and Bryan must have noticed because he just laughed harder.
"Can I ask you something?"
I shrugged. "You just did, didn't you?"
Bryan sighed. "Don't get cute."
"Sorry, can't help it. Born this way."
He rolled his eyes at me and chuckled. Fortunately he ignored my joke and just asked his question anyway.
"What's your name? You never told me today and Ryan said he just always calls you 'Boss'."
"I'm Julian, Julian Tadeshi." I had a thought. "By the way, do you know Ryan's boss's name?"
Bryan gave me a questioning look. "Yeah, Irma. Why do you ask?"
I sighed. "There goes that theory." Apparently Bryan knew Justin, because he gave me my brother's same patented look. I just laughed, grabbed my jacket and closed the door behind us, not bothering to fill him in. He didn't seem to really mind.
To be continued...