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Justin slowly woke up feeling a hand stroking his stomach and small kisses being left on the back of his neck and behind his ear. He put his hand above Brian's on his stomach and snuggled closer to Brian laying behind him.
-"Hey, you're awake. Let's take a shower and get ready to go."
Brian was always clingy whenever he had the occasion even if he would die before admitting it in front of anyone who wasn't Justin. He was always touching Justin one way or the other.
Justin loved it and felt quietly thrilled every time Brian unconsciously put his arms around him while talking with someone or when he gently put his hand on the small of his back whenever he was standing next to the younger.
They both got out of bed and headed to the shower. After washing each other's hair like they always did, Brian took Justin's hand between his and started to massage it.
-"Does it still hurt?"
-"A bit. I think I won't be able to fully use this hand for at least the next two days."
Brian brought the hand to his lips and kissed it softly.
-"You have to be careful otherwise you will only worsen the seizures and will end up not being able to use it at all. Stop overworking your hand sunshine. I know how frustrated it makes you to not have full control over this but there's nothing you can do besides taking it easy. You have to listen to what your body tells you."
He let go of his hand and gave him a long and slow kiss before turning the water off and stepping out of the shower. Justin followed him, taking a big fluffy towel and putting it around his body.
-"I know, I'm sorry. I'll try to take better care of myself. Thank you for being there for me."
He got closer to where Brian was standing drying his hair with a towel and put his arms around his chest, hugging him from behind.
He then let go and went to the bedroom to get dressed. Brian did as much and soon they were ready to go.
Dinner at Deb's was always quite messy. Someone had always some dramatic thing going on and they somehow always expected Brian to handle whatever mess they were into.
Usually, Justin knew how to cut out whatever shit they were saying but today, Justin was not in the right mindset to deal with Brian's friends being their usual selves and making him feel like he was a waste of Brian's time.
Once they were in the car, Brian could feel how anxious Justin was. He took his hand, holding it and looked at Justin for a second before bringing his attention back to the road.
-"You wanna tell me what's on your mind?"
-"I feel anxious about tonight's dinner."
Brian gave a squeeze to his hand, encouraging him to go on.
-"I know most of the time they like me, and i like them too. But sometimes I feel like they don't want me hanging around with you. I feel like they want me gone and out of their lives. Especially Linds and Micheal. And I had a really shitty day so I don't feel like I can take this today."
-"You wanna go back? We can still tell them you didn't feel great, which isn't a lie since you are like super tired right now, and we can stay at the loft tonight. Order food, watch a movie if you want. Whatever you want, say the word and i'll turn the car around.
Justin felt his heart flutter at that. He was so thankful for how understanding Brian was. However, he also didn't want to have to ignore the whole family whenever he felt emotionally tired. This wasn't a healthy way to live and he wanted to at least try and set things straight tonight.
He put his head on Brian's shoulder, still holding his hand.
-"I'm okay. I don't want to have to hide from them whenever I'm not up to dealing with all the bullshit they're gonna give me. I think I want to talk to them tonight."
Justin was subconsciously playing with Brian's hand, folding each finger and unfolding them slowly.
-"Yeah I was planning on having a little chat with Micheal tonight as well. Maybe we can decide tonight's our 'let's tell everybody to fuck off' night."
Justin chuckled at that and was feeling a bit less anxious about this. He knew that whatever happened, Brian and him would stand on the same side tonight, and that was enough to make him feel a little better.
They arrived at Deb's and got out of the car. They knocked and Mel opened the door. She was holding Gus and the little boy's face lit up as soon as he saw his dad.
-"Hey you.", Brian said taking Gus in his arms.
They stepped into the house and greeted everyone. They were the last to arrive. Ted and Emmett were on the couch with Linds and Ben. Deb was in the kitchen and Mel went back to help her.
Micheal practically ran from where he was standing to say hello to Brian. He almost ignored Justin, which he did pretty often to be honest. He started babbling about how he never got to hang out with Brian lately and how sad he was that his best friend was spending so little time with him.
Deb came right at that moment and told Micheal to go help in the kitchen. She hugged them hello and told them dinner was almost ready.
They sat down in the living room and were having casual conversations. Linds was asking Justin about his art, Emmett was talking about this guy he met last week and Brian was playing with Gus.
Everything was going pretty smoothly for once. Brian decided that he needed to talk to Micheal before dinner because Justin would most likely tell what was on his mind once everyone finished eating.
-"Hey Micky, let's go outside for a minute."
Micheal looked at him with sparkling eyes and followed him without any question. Before stepping outside, Brian looked around and only Justin was watching him. Everyone else wasn't paying attention so he gave a little smile to the younger and closed the door.
-"Hey, what's up? Is everything alright?"
-"I don't know, you tell me. I think I've been way to accepting of the way you were acting and now it's gotten out of hand."
-"Brian, I don't understand. What are you talking about?"
Brian hated when Micheal did that. Acting all clueless and like he had never done a single bad thing in his life. He never paid attention to this before but now he regretted never saying anything. Because now Micheal thought it was perfectly acceptable behaviour to be so mean to Justin and act all innocent in front of Brian.
Brian was aware of the fact that he enabled this situation. He was aware that he should have said something at the very beginning but he didn't. However, now he was decided on making all of this stop.
-"Alright, I'm going to tell you some things tonight and I want you to listen very carefully because this is something you need to get through that thick head of yours. I don't know why you think it's okay to act like a fucking arsehole when it comes to Justin but this behaviour stops right now. I want you to stop telling Justin all this bullshit about how I don't care about him and how you are the only person that knows me this well. Because if you want to hear it I'll tell you right now: Justin is the only person that knows the real me. He is the only person whose opinion i care about. You'll never know me how he does and you can't do anything about it."
Brian was talking very calmly. He wasn't yelling at Micheal but his tone made it obvious that he wanted this conversation to be taken very seriously.
-"I know you have this weird fantasy about ending up with me and it drives you crazy to see Justin breaking all the rules I have about no repeats and 'no feelings only fucking'. Those same rules you never succeeded in breaking when it comes to me. But I'm telling you right now, even if I never met Justin, you and I never would've ended up together. I don't feel that way about you Micheal and I never will. So stop being fucking ungrateful and disrespectful of your relationship with Ben and let go of me. Let go of me the same way I did when I wanted you to be happy with David."
-"Brian... I didn't mean it that way ! You know how dramatic that little shit is. He obviously made it way more serious than it really is. You know me, I'm your best friend ! I wouldn't do anything to keep you from being happy."
-"Stop trying to manipulate everyone. You are so pathetic it's making my head hurt. And just so we're clear, I do care about Justin more than I've ever cared for anyone. He is the most important person to me and if I hear that you've been giving him shit again I will cut you out of my life for good. Am I making myself understood?
-"Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I won't do it again, even if I really don't understand why Justin took it the wrong way when I didn't mean anything bad."
-"Yeah okay, keep that in mind and stop being so pathetic. If you don't stop being so involved with my relationship with Justin, you can say goodbye to our friendship. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go inside and let you think about all of this for a moment."
And with that, Brian went back inside the house. Justin was listening to Gus talk very animatedly about something and it made Brian smile.
He walked to Justin, put his hands around his neck and kissed him, sighing deeply after the kiss and resting his forehead against Justin's. He took him by the hand and lead him to the table. They sat next to each other and waited for everyone to be seated before starting to eat. Micheal came back inside and sat next to Ben.
Dinner went without any big drama. Everyone ate and talked peacefully. Brian was however feeling Justin getting more and more anxious nearing the end of dinner.
He put his hand on Justin's tigh and squeezed softly, giving him the courage that he needed to start talking.
-"Okay so I want to say something. It's something that's important to me so I would like for everyone to listen."
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Justin, waiting for him to continue.
-"I know I get along well with everyone here most of the time and I'm really grateful for meeting all of you when I did because I don't know what I would've done without you when I left my parent's house, especially without you Deb. But sometimes you make me feel like you want me gone. Especially Micheal and Linds. I know I should've said something years ago because now it became fucking common behaviour to make comments about how your lives and Brian's life would be better without me being here."
Briand held his hand under the table, silently showing his support.
-"But i'm fucking tired of this. I won't allow it anymore because this is really weighing on my mental health. I don't expect you to suddenly become super nice to me, I just want you to stop talking about me and about my relationship with Brian."
Micheal was glaring at him and Linds looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but here. The others were just listening and trying to understand everything he was saying.
-"I don't care about what you all think of us. I don't need your constant comments about me and about how I should leave Brian alone and stop nagging him. You don't know anything about us so just stay out of it."
Justin felt relieved as soon as he said all of this. It was like a burden was taken away from him.
-"That's all. You can go back to whatever conversations you were having. I'm gonna step outside for a second."
And with that, he stood up and left the house. Brian followed him and saw him standing in the front porch, looking at the sky.
He stopped next to him and put his arm around his neck. Justin snuggled closer and with a big sigh, all the tension left his body.
-"I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself."
-"Thank you for making me feel safe enough to do this. Two years ago I never would've done this because I know you would've been on their side. I'm happy we came this long."
Brian turned him around and kissed him. He put both his arms around the younger who was now standing in front of him, his hands playing with Justin's hair.
They stayed outside for a moment, kissing and holding each other, making sure that they were okay.
After that, they went back inside to say goodbye and left. Justin was quiet on the car back to the loft but he seemed relaxed so Brian didn't worry.
They both felt like this was an important moment in their relationship. It showed how mature they had gotten over the years, how much they could now trust each other to not hurt each other. It showed a certain growth in their relationship that they were both proud of.
Once at the loft, they went to bed immediately, Brian needed to show Justin just how much he cared about him and how he felt about him.
Justin wasn't as concerned about Brian not saying the words as he was in the past. He was aware of how much Brian's actions said the words for him. And even if some people would argue that Brian must not care at all since he never publicly showed his feelings, Justin was satisfied with knowing the truth and didn't need anyone else to see it.
After that, they both fell asleep, holding each other close and tangled up together. They both felt a kind of peace knowing that tonight, they went to bed being stronger as a couple than they were the day before.