Aftermath, Part 2 (You & Me Series)
Mar. 25th, 2011 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soulmatejunkeeTitle: Aftermath, Part 2 (You & Me-Series)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
soulmatejunkee
Fandom: Queer as Folk US
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Timeline: Post 5.13; POV's
Word Count: 3.229
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. It’s all CowLip and Showtime.
Beta:mander3_swish - thank you so much!
First of all: I'm so sorry for all the trouble I caused because I locked the comments to only friends. I had to do that, because there was a lot of spamming. It was never my intention to cut anyone out - especially not of this story.
As always: Every comment is welcome. I Love to read what you think. Thanks!
01. Listen to me
02. Trust me
03. Babylon Part 1 | Part 2
04. Find a way Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
05. ...remember what's missing?
06. The Party
07. Thanksgiving 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
08. 1 wedding, 4 rings... 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
09. The first Webcam Sex Chat
10. The first call
11. Expectations - Happy Valentine | Revenge
12. March 18th 2006
13. Aftermath - 1 | 2 |
Justin's POV
I was totally lacking in concentration at work. I was still shocked and angry and… yes, I was also scared. I didn’t expect anyone to storm into the house to try to kill or attack us, but fuck, it was my house, it was my safe place and they ruined it. And there was nothing I could do.
It didn’t get better once I got back to New York either. Every time I heard an unfamiliar noise, I jumped. I hated that. The last time I felt this way was after I got bashed. Back then I was afraid to leave the house alone, to walk on the streets alone. It wasn’t that bad now, but I was a little scared again. I didn’t want to be. I never wanted anyone to have such a power over me.
The cut on my foot had healed very well. After two days I only needed a small bandage. But the memory was still there; not only about the stone and the glass, but also about the bomb.
Thank god I was almost done with the project I was working on; I wouldn’t be able to mess it up too much from my lack of concentration.
I liked my job, a lot. It was fun and it was creative and the people were really nice. Zack was a very cool guy, especially when he found out that Brian Kinney from Kinnetik in Pittsburgh was my boyfriend. Since last week I was working on a photo spread our client wanted to have created as an animation-video. It was a small one, but I was happy about my work. And so was Zack.
It’s great to have your own little project from the beginning until the end. It was way more fun than I expected it to be, and most of our clients were really nice. It was different than working at the diner or the coffee shop or even the gallery, and I had to admit that it was also more fun. The pay check was also way better and it made me feel better, more independent. Luckily, some things I learned at art school helped me out on the job, but I also learned a lot of new stuff.
Sometimes when I came home after work I started to draw. I hadn’t done that for months, apart from the drawings for Rage. It felt good, and I was hoping that the inspiration would come back soon. But then the last weekend happened and now I felt different again.
It was only Tuesday morning, but I was already waiting for Friday to see Brian again, to have him here again. At the moment, New York felt safer that Pittsburgh. How weird was that?
My website was still working out. I had sold three paintings since Christmas, small paintings, but I was happy and proud of it. So far the two new paintings Sidney had shown at his gallery hadn’t sold yet, but he said that there was a show coming up in a few weeks and that he was positive about my stuff selling then. With my lack of inspiration it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen that the paintings weren’t sold so far.
Zack asked to meet with my after lunch. I thought he would give me a new client, since I was almost done with my current project, but instead of that he had an amazing offer for me.
Brian's POV
I stood in front of the house and stared at the scarlet-red letters “FAGGOT” someone had scrawled all over it. The flower bed was trampled down and the door had obviously been egged. Fuck!
We had already lodged a complaint against persons unknown, and I called the police again and they sent out two officers who took some photos.
I knew they couldn’t do anything, so I decided to help myself. I wasn’t scared, I was angry. We didn’t do anything to the neighbours, we barely saw them, and the ones we had met so far had been very nice.
When my cell phone rang, I cleared my throat. It was Justin. I wouldn’t tell him anything about the newest attack, I would just fix it. “Hey.”
“Hey!” he said. He sounded totally euphoric. At least it was something. He had been really depressed about what had happened when we talked on Monday night. “You won’t believe what happened!”
It seemed to be good news. “Tell me.”
“You know I’m working as a computer animator, right?”
Mh… I raised an eyebrow; of course he couldn’t see that. “Yes, you’ve told me all about it.”
“And today Zack told me that he had talked to an old school friend who’s working for a cable TV station, and they were looking for something shocking, something new, something groundbreaking. Zack told him about Rage, and now that guy wants to turn Rage into a computer animated comic for TV. Isn’t that great?!”
I was still staring at the wall. Fuck them! Whoever did it, I would find them! Obviously I was distracted and inattentive to what Justin had told me.
“Okay, maybe you didn’t hear me. They…”
“No I heard it, it’s great,” I said and closed my eyes briefly.
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
“I’m just… I’m in a meeting right now,” I lied. “I’ll call you back, okay? It’s great news. Have you told Michael?”
“No, I wanted to call you first, but I hope he’s going to be more excited about it.”
“Tonight.”
He sighed. “Okay, call me.”
He was disappointed. He had some good news - probably even fantastic news - and he wanted to share it with me. Again, I hadn’t been as excited as he wanted me to be – as he deserved I should be. Fuck! Fuck the idiots who ruined my windows and my flowers and my mood!
I had to do something.
Justin's POV
I had an unwelcomed déjà vu when Brian didn’t even answer me when I told him that I had good news. It felt like the moment I had shown him my website. It seemed like he didn’t even care. It hurts. Fuck him!
I called Michael and yes, he was excited about it. So far it was just an offer, there weren’t any details talked out yet. I didn’t want to do that without Michael; actually I doubted that I was allowed to. I knew he would be excited about it, and so we fixed a date with Zack and his friend in New York for Wednesday. In the end I had no idea what Michael was more excited about, the Rage-stuff or coming to New York.
Later, I had dinner with Noelle (who graciously changed my bandage) and she was also very happy and excited about the news. Afterwards, I went to my room, took off my clothes, got in bed, and turned on my laptop including the webcam. Brian was already online and waiting for me. “What took you so long?” he asked.
Asshole, you owe me more, I thought and shook my head. “I was talking to someone who was happy about the good news I had. Sorry, I must’ve lost track of time, it felt so good to share my happiness.”
He rolled his eyes. “I told you, I was in a meeting. So… tell me about it.”
“I already did.” I looked at him and sighed. He had this don’t bitch at me, I’m listening look that makes me feel like a stubborn child. So I laid down and told him again what Zack had offered me.
“Sounds great,” he said.
“You’re still not excited.”
“I am.” He shook his head. “I mean it. It sounds great and I really hope it works out. Rage deserves to get a voice and a 3D-body, too. Not to mention a 3-D-dick.”
3-D… that was a great idea. I would use that. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Don’t say it’s nothing.”
“It was just a little stressful today, that’s all.”
“A new client?”
“So to speak.” He smiled at me, “I’m happy for you … and Michael.”
“Hopefully it’s going to work out better than the movie,” I sighed. Not one of my best memories. Hollywood – so many promises, so many failures. It was obvious that he was worrying about something. “Want to talk about the new client?”
“Not really.”
“You look tired.”
“Like I said, it was a little stressful today.”
“Is everything okay?” I hated it when he was like that. I knew something was wrong, but he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “Really. How are you? How’s your foot?”
“Better. Well, I’m still a little… shocked, I guess.”
He nodded. “The new windows are going to be installed tomorrow.”
I tried to smile, I tried to relax. It was a weird feeling and it was an unfair feeling, too. It’s not that this couldn’t have happened at the loft, too. “Maybe we can buy some kind of alarm-system?”
“I’ve already ordered one.”
I bit my lower lip and looked at him. “Why am I not surprised?”
“You owe me a hand job, remember?”
He changed the subject. I laughed. “Subtle, much?!”
“It works.”
Remembering back to before the stones through the happened, I had his cock in my hand, his hand was all over my own cock. “It was hot.”
“Yeah it was.”
Brian's POV
A few minutes later I came all over my hand, and then watched Justin come, too. This webcam rule was absolutely hot.
“Wow,” Justin sighed breathlessly, his eyes still closed.
“Yeah, we’re getting better.”
“What do mean, we?” he said and looked at me incredulously. He loved teasing me with our first webcam experience, of course he did – I would, too.
“Remind me to spank you as soon as I get close enough to your hot little ass!”
He laughed. “Are you going out tonight?”
“I have a little work to do,” I answered. I was waiting for a call, but I wouldn’t tell him unless there was something to tell. I had no intention of frightening him even more. The windows, the door, and the wall (including the flowers) would be all done by the time Justin returned to Pittsburgh.
“Wish me luck for tomorrow,” he said.
“You don’t need luck, you have talent.”
He smiled at me. “I’ll call you after the meeting.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Bye.”
I cut the connection and laid back. I never expected his plan to work out so well, but it did. We were in a totally different (and better) place than before Christmas. I looked at the ring on my finger and I couldn’t help but smiling. This ring was like a magnet for guys. Whenever I’ve been out, and there’s a guy flirting with me, he’s checking out my hand. Maybe it makes them feel somehow special… I’m sure they expect me to be married and cheating on my husband when they blow me. Poor idiots.
I still had no idea where Justin and I would end up, nor did I know how long this would work. Who knows where we will be five years from now, but now I’m able to not care about it. Like he said… there was no reason to wait for it to end. So far we were together and happy and saw each other every weekend and that was all that mattered.
My cell phone rang at 1.30 AM. “Mr. Kinney, we got them.”
Justin's POV
Michael was totally euphoric about the Rage thing. That superhero was his baby. He was very proud of it, and he loved it. He also was sceptical because of what had happened with the movie. They had promised us a lot and in the end we had nothing.
Kurt Myers reminded me a lot of Brett Keller. He was a little older, but he also had a vision of what he wanted to do and he had big plans.
“Since there are 8 issues out so far, there are two possibilities”, he said. “We could do movies, one for every issue. With that we would be done after 8 and have to wait for the next. Or we could do a show, but then we would need more stuff – a lot more stuff. My boss would prefer to do a show, and that’s why I’m here today, to make you an offer. We want to buy Rage with everything that belongs to him.”
Michael and I looked at each other and then back to him.
“What does that mean?” Michael asked.
“That Rage wouldn’t belong to you anymore,” Kurt answered.
Okay, that was so not what I had expected, and also not what I had in mind. “But we created him,” I said. “He’s based on our ideas, on our lives.
Kurt nodded. “Your names would be showed on every show. As you said, you two created him; we’re only using him and all the other characters.”
“Using them to do what?” Michael wanted to know. He was obviously as confused as I was. I thought we would be a part of this Rage show and so did he; just as we were a part of it in Hollywood, but Myers wanted to buy us out.
“To create storylines,” Kurt said. “We would try to stay close to the original as much as possible. We would use the storyline you’re already developed, but like I said, so far there are only 8 issues. That’s not enough, and after one season we would be done. If the show was successful, there would be another season and more storylines would be required for that, too. So we would use your characters to create new storylines.”
“And we wouldn’t be allowed to have say any say in those new stories?” I asked. “Whatever you wanted to do, you could do it. You could Rage turn into a straight guy? You could kill Zephyr or J.T. and replace them… and we couldn’t do anything to prevent that?”
He shrugged. “Well, yes, but so far we have no intention to destroy what you have built. Otherwise we wouldn’t want to buy it from you. We could just create it ourselves.”
“Well, then that’s what you’re going to have to do,” Michael said.
So much for a great offer! If Zack would’ve told me this from the beginning I could’ve told him “No” back then. Michael wouldn’t have had to come all of this way then.
Kurt seemed to be surprised by Michael’s answer. Obviously he had expected us to be happy about the offer. “You… okay, I think you don’t really get my offer.”
“No, I think we do,” Michael interrupted him, “but I don’t think you understand what giving away Rage would mean for us.”
I felt sorry for Michael, he seemed almost desperate. I admit that I probably would have thought about the offer more, but I could understand that selling Rage wasn’t an option for Michael. He was the comic freak, he adored the characters we created and he wasn’t ready to let it go.
“You would always have an interest on the show,” Kurt said. “We could give you a percentage. If the show ended up becoming a success, that could be a lot of money for you.”
“Yeah, but…”
I put my hand on Michael’s arm and cleared my throat. “Look, Kurt… I’m sorry, if I had known what this meeting was all about, I could’ve told you that we wouldn’t agree to your offer. If you really want to work with Rage, there’s no way that you will do that without us. Nothing will happen to the characters we created without our permission. We also won’t give up our rights to the comics, the characters, or the storylines. We would be happy if you wanted to make a show out of Rage, but… you won’t do that without us.”
Michael looked at me, thankful, and then nodded to Kurt.
“Well,” Kurt sighed, “that’s no exactly what we had in mind.”
“I’m sorry for that,” I said. I was… I really was. I had no idea what they were willing to pay us to get the rights to Rage… I’m sure it was a lot. “But that’s all we can offer to you.”
He told us that he had to talk about this with his boss and that he would call us.
“Somehow I doubt that he will call us again,” Michael said sadly when we got into a cab.
“Yeah.”
“Would you have done it?”
I looked at him. “I would’ve loved to hear the offer. What do you think it would’ve been worth to them?”
At least I made him smile again, when he said: “As long as there aren’t six zeros behind the first number it’s not enough.”
His flight back to Pittsburgh was later that evening, so we had dinner together, and then we said our goodbyes.
Later, I got a call from my father, as he did now regularly every week. It was getting better, more comfortable, even though I was still unsure what to think about everything that had happened.
“Are you still happy with your new job?” he asked. He really tried to do the small talk – every time. I appreciated that. It was all on me that our calls were still weird. So I decided that I had to give him a chance – a telephone-chance.
“Yes,” I answered. “The job is really great. It’s way better than I expected. It’s fun, and I’ve learned a lot of things. What I’ll ever use this new knowledge for in the future, your guess is as good as mine.” That was probably the longest answer I had given to him since he started calling me.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to use it for other stuff,” he said, obviously happy that I was willing to talk. “How was your weekend? I mean, except for the event at the club. It was all very sad and touching.”
I clicked my tongue. “Yeah. Actually later that night someone threw stones through our windows with messages on them that said we don’t want you here faggots. I got hurt by the glass.”
“Did you call the police?” he asked.
“Of course we did, but they said they can’t do anything since we had no idea who it was. It was dark outside.”
“You don’t have any idea who it was? Maybe a neighbor? Someone who felt… provoked or something?”
Someone who felt provoked? What the fuck?! I closed my eyes briefly. “Of course… it must be our fault. The stupid fags deserve to be mistreated. I forgot.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Fuck you!”
“Justin!”
I hung up and threw my phone on the bed. Asshole!
He called back, but I sent the call straight to voicemail. After that I turned my cell off. I’m sure Brian might have tried to call me, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to hear anything more! Fucking idiots, homophobic assholes!
I was angry, I was pissed off, and I wanted to destroy something.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
I was so tired of it! They ruined my life! Chris Hobbs, my father, the bomber, and now those fucking idiots!
The last time I felt like that was when I met Cody.
TBC
Author:
soulmatejunkee Fandom: Queer as Folk US
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Timeline: Post 5.13; POV's
Word Count: 3.229
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. It’s all CowLip and Showtime.
Beta:
mander3_swish - thank you so much!First of all: I'm so sorry for all the trouble I caused because I locked the comments to only friends. I had to do that, because there was a lot of spamming. It was never my intention to cut anyone out - especially not of this story.
As always: Every comment is welcome. I Love to read what you think. Thanks!
01. Listen to me
02. Trust me
03. Babylon Part 1 | Part 2
04. Find a way Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
05. ...remember what's missing?
06. The Party
07. Thanksgiving 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
08. 1 wedding, 4 rings... 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
09. The first Webcam Sex Chat
10. The first call
11. Expectations - Happy Valentine | Revenge
12. March 18th 2006
13. Aftermath - 1 | 2 |
Justin's POV
I was totally lacking in concentration at work. I was still shocked and angry and… yes, I was also scared. I didn’t expect anyone to storm into the house to try to kill or attack us, but fuck, it was my house, it was my safe place and they ruined it. And there was nothing I could do.
It didn’t get better once I got back to New York either. Every time I heard an unfamiliar noise, I jumped. I hated that. The last time I felt this way was after I got bashed. Back then I was afraid to leave the house alone, to walk on the streets alone. It wasn’t that bad now, but I was a little scared again. I didn’t want to be. I never wanted anyone to have such a power over me.
The cut on my foot had healed very well. After two days I only needed a small bandage. But the memory was still there; not only about the stone and the glass, but also about the bomb.
Thank god I was almost done with the project I was working on; I wouldn’t be able to mess it up too much from my lack of concentration.
I liked my job, a lot. It was fun and it was creative and the people were really nice. Zack was a very cool guy, especially when he found out that Brian Kinney from Kinnetik in Pittsburgh was my boyfriend. Since last week I was working on a photo spread our client wanted to have created as an animation-video. It was a small one, but I was happy about my work. And so was Zack.
It’s great to have your own little project from the beginning until the end. It was way more fun than I expected it to be, and most of our clients were really nice. It was different than working at the diner or the coffee shop or even the gallery, and I had to admit that it was also more fun. The pay check was also way better and it made me feel better, more independent. Luckily, some things I learned at art school helped me out on the job, but I also learned a lot of new stuff.
Sometimes when I came home after work I started to draw. I hadn’t done that for months, apart from the drawings for Rage. It felt good, and I was hoping that the inspiration would come back soon. But then the last weekend happened and now I felt different again.
It was only Tuesday morning, but I was already waiting for Friday to see Brian again, to have him here again. At the moment, New York felt safer that Pittsburgh. How weird was that?
My website was still working out. I had sold three paintings since Christmas, small paintings, but I was happy and proud of it. So far the two new paintings Sidney had shown at his gallery hadn’t sold yet, but he said that there was a show coming up in a few weeks and that he was positive about my stuff selling then. With my lack of inspiration it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen that the paintings weren’t sold so far.
Zack asked to meet with my after lunch. I thought he would give me a new client, since I was almost done with my current project, but instead of that he had an amazing offer for me.
Brian's POV
I stood in front of the house and stared at the scarlet-red letters “FAGGOT” someone had scrawled all over it. The flower bed was trampled down and the door had obviously been egged. Fuck!
We had already lodged a complaint against persons unknown, and I called the police again and they sent out two officers who took some photos.
I knew they couldn’t do anything, so I decided to help myself. I wasn’t scared, I was angry. We didn’t do anything to the neighbours, we barely saw them, and the ones we had met so far had been very nice.
When my cell phone rang, I cleared my throat. It was Justin. I wouldn’t tell him anything about the newest attack, I would just fix it. “Hey.”
“Hey!” he said. He sounded totally euphoric. At least it was something. He had been really depressed about what had happened when we talked on Monday night. “You won’t believe what happened!”
It seemed to be good news. “Tell me.”
“You know I’m working as a computer animator, right?”
Mh… I raised an eyebrow; of course he couldn’t see that. “Yes, you’ve told me all about it.”
“And today Zack told me that he had talked to an old school friend who’s working for a cable TV station, and they were looking for something shocking, something new, something groundbreaking. Zack told him about Rage, and now that guy wants to turn Rage into a computer animated comic for TV. Isn’t that great?!”
I was still staring at the wall. Fuck them! Whoever did it, I would find them! Obviously I was distracted and inattentive to what Justin had told me.
“Okay, maybe you didn’t hear me. They…”
“No I heard it, it’s great,” I said and closed my eyes briefly.
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
“I’m just… I’m in a meeting right now,” I lied. “I’ll call you back, okay? It’s great news. Have you told Michael?”
“No, I wanted to call you first, but I hope he’s going to be more excited about it.”
“Tonight.”
He sighed. “Okay, call me.”
He was disappointed. He had some good news - probably even fantastic news - and he wanted to share it with me. Again, I hadn’t been as excited as he wanted me to be – as he deserved I should be. Fuck! Fuck the idiots who ruined my windows and my flowers and my mood!
I had to do something.
Justin's POV
I had an unwelcomed déjà vu when Brian didn’t even answer me when I told him that I had good news. It felt like the moment I had shown him my website. It seemed like he didn’t even care. It hurts. Fuck him!
I called Michael and yes, he was excited about it. So far it was just an offer, there weren’t any details talked out yet. I didn’t want to do that without Michael; actually I doubted that I was allowed to. I knew he would be excited about it, and so we fixed a date with Zack and his friend in New York for Wednesday. In the end I had no idea what Michael was more excited about, the Rage-stuff or coming to New York.
Later, I had dinner with Noelle (who graciously changed my bandage) and she was also very happy and excited about the news. Afterwards, I went to my room, took off my clothes, got in bed, and turned on my laptop including the webcam. Brian was already online and waiting for me. “What took you so long?” he asked.
Asshole, you owe me more, I thought and shook my head. “I was talking to someone who was happy about the good news I had. Sorry, I must’ve lost track of time, it felt so good to share my happiness.”
He rolled his eyes. “I told you, I was in a meeting. So… tell me about it.”
“I already did.” I looked at him and sighed. He had this don’t bitch at me, I’m listening look that makes me feel like a stubborn child. So I laid down and told him again what Zack had offered me.
“Sounds great,” he said.
“You’re still not excited.”
“I am.” He shook his head. “I mean it. It sounds great and I really hope it works out. Rage deserves to get a voice and a 3D-body, too. Not to mention a 3-D-dick.”
3-D… that was a great idea. I would use that. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Don’t say it’s nothing.”
“It was just a little stressful today, that’s all.”
“A new client?”
“So to speak.” He smiled at me, “I’m happy for you … and Michael.”
“Hopefully it’s going to work out better than the movie,” I sighed. Not one of my best memories. Hollywood – so many promises, so many failures. It was obvious that he was worrying about something. “Want to talk about the new client?”
“Not really.”
“You look tired.”
“Like I said, it was a little stressful today.”
“Is everything okay?” I hated it when he was like that. I knew something was wrong, but he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “Really. How are you? How’s your foot?”
“Better. Well, I’m still a little… shocked, I guess.”
He nodded. “The new windows are going to be installed tomorrow.”
I tried to smile, I tried to relax. It was a weird feeling and it was an unfair feeling, too. It’s not that this couldn’t have happened at the loft, too. “Maybe we can buy some kind of alarm-system?”
“I’ve already ordered one.”
I bit my lower lip and looked at him. “Why am I not surprised?”
“You owe me a hand job, remember?”
He changed the subject. I laughed. “Subtle, much?!”
“It works.”
Remembering back to before the stones through the happened, I had his cock in my hand, his hand was all over my own cock. “It was hot.”
“Yeah it was.”
Brian's POV
A few minutes later I came all over my hand, and then watched Justin come, too. This webcam rule was absolutely hot.
“Wow,” Justin sighed breathlessly, his eyes still closed.
“Yeah, we’re getting better.”
“What do mean, we?” he said and looked at me incredulously. He loved teasing me with our first webcam experience, of course he did – I would, too.
“Remind me to spank you as soon as I get close enough to your hot little ass!”
He laughed. “Are you going out tonight?”
“I have a little work to do,” I answered. I was waiting for a call, but I wouldn’t tell him unless there was something to tell. I had no intention of frightening him even more. The windows, the door, and the wall (including the flowers) would be all done by the time Justin returned to Pittsburgh.
“Wish me luck for tomorrow,” he said.
“You don’t need luck, you have talent.”
He smiled at me. “I’ll call you after the meeting.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Bye.”
I cut the connection and laid back. I never expected his plan to work out so well, but it did. We were in a totally different (and better) place than before Christmas. I looked at the ring on my finger and I couldn’t help but smiling. This ring was like a magnet for guys. Whenever I’ve been out, and there’s a guy flirting with me, he’s checking out my hand. Maybe it makes them feel somehow special… I’m sure they expect me to be married and cheating on my husband when they blow me. Poor idiots.
I still had no idea where Justin and I would end up, nor did I know how long this would work. Who knows where we will be five years from now, but now I’m able to not care about it. Like he said… there was no reason to wait for it to end. So far we were together and happy and saw each other every weekend and that was all that mattered.
My cell phone rang at 1.30 AM. “Mr. Kinney, we got them.”
Justin's POV
Michael was totally euphoric about the Rage thing. That superhero was his baby. He was very proud of it, and he loved it. He also was sceptical because of what had happened with the movie. They had promised us a lot and in the end we had nothing.
Kurt Myers reminded me a lot of Brett Keller. He was a little older, but he also had a vision of what he wanted to do and he had big plans.
“Since there are 8 issues out so far, there are two possibilities”, he said. “We could do movies, one for every issue. With that we would be done after 8 and have to wait for the next. Or we could do a show, but then we would need more stuff – a lot more stuff. My boss would prefer to do a show, and that’s why I’m here today, to make you an offer. We want to buy Rage with everything that belongs to him.”
Michael and I looked at each other and then back to him.
“What does that mean?” Michael asked.
“That Rage wouldn’t belong to you anymore,” Kurt answered.
Okay, that was so not what I had expected, and also not what I had in mind. “But we created him,” I said. “He’s based on our ideas, on our lives.
Kurt nodded. “Your names would be showed on every show. As you said, you two created him; we’re only using him and all the other characters.”
“Using them to do what?” Michael wanted to know. He was obviously as confused as I was. I thought we would be a part of this Rage show and so did he; just as we were a part of it in Hollywood, but Myers wanted to buy us out.
“To create storylines,” Kurt said. “We would try to stay close to the original as much as possible. We would use the storyline you’re already developed, but like I said, so far there are only 8 issues. That’s not enough, and after one season we would be done. If the show was successful, there would be another season and more storylines would be required for that, too. So we would use your characters to create new storylines.”
“And we wouldn’t be allowed to have say any say in those new stories?” I asked. “Whatever you wanted to do, you could do it. You could Rage turn into a straight guy? You could kill Zephyr or J.T. and replace them… and we couldn’t do anything to prevent that?”
He shrugged. “Well, yes, but so far we have no intention to destroy what you have built. Otherwise we wouldn’t want to buy it from you. We could just create it ourselves.”
“Well, then that’s what you’re going to have to do,” Michael said.
So much for a great offer! If Zack would’ve told me this from the beginning I could’ve told him “No” back then. Michael wouldn’t have had to come all of this way then.
Kurt seemed to be surprised by Michael’s answer. Obviously he had expected us to be happy about the offer. “You… okay, I think you don’t really get my offer.”
“No, I think we do,” Michael interrupted him, “but I don’t think you understand what giving away Rage would mean for us.”
I felt sorry for Michael, he seemed almost desperate. I admit that I probably would have thought about the offer more, but I could understand that selling Rage wasn’t an option for Michael. He was the comic freak, he adored the characters we created and he wasn’t ready to let it go.
“You would always have an interest on the show,” Kurt said. “We could give you a percentage. If the show ended up becoming a success, that could be a lot of money for you.”
“Yeah, but…”
I put my hand on Michael’s arm and cleared my throat. “Look, Kurt… I’m sorry, if I had known what this meeting was all about, I could’ve told you that we wouldn’t agree to your offer. If you really want to work with Rage, there’s no way that you will do that without us. Nothing will happen to the characters we created without our permission. We also won’t give up our rights to the comics, the characters, or the storylines. We would be happy if you wanted to make a show out of Rage, but… you won’t do that without us.”
Michael looked at me, thankful, and then nodded to Kurt.
“Well,” Kurt sighed, “that’s no exactly what we had in mind.”
“I’m sorry for that,” I said. I was… I really was. I had no idea what they were willing to pay us to get the rights to Rage… I’m sure it was a lot. “But that’s all we can offer to you.”
He told us that he had to talk about this with his boss and that he would call us.
“Somehow I doubt that he will call us again,” Michael said sadly when we got into a cab.
“Yeah.”
“Would you have done it?”
I looked at him. “I would’ve loved to hear the offer. What do you think it would’ve been worth to them?”
At least I made him smile again, when he said: “As long as there aren’t six zeros behind the first number it’s not enough.”
His flight back to Pittsburgh was later that evening, so we had dinner together, and then we said our goodbyes.
Later, I got a call from my father, as he did now regularly every week. It was getting better, more comfortable, even though I was still unsure what to think about everything that had happened.
“Are you still happy with your new job?” he asked. He really tried to do the small talk – every time. I appreciated that. It was all on me that our calls were still weird. So I decided that I had to give him a chance – a telephone-chance.
“Yes,” I answered. “The job is really great. It’s way better than I expected. It’s fun, and I’ve learned a lot of things. What I’ll ever use this new knowledge for in the future, your guess is as good as mine.” That was probably the longest answer I had given to him since he started calling me.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to use it for other stuff,” he said, obviously happy that I was willing to talk. “How was your weekend? I mean, except for the event at the club. It was all very sad and touching.”
I clicked my tongue. “Yeah. Actually later that night someone threw stones through our windows with messages on them that said we don’t want you here faggots. I got hurt by the glass.”
“Did you call the police?” he asked.
“Of course we did, but they said they can’t do anything since we had no idea who it was. It was dark outside.”
“You don’t have any idea who it was? Maybe a neighbor? Someone who felt… provoked or something?”
Someone who felt provoked? What the fuck?! I closed my eyes briefly. “Of course… it must be our fault. The stupid fags deserve to be mistreated. I forgot.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Fuck you!”
“Justin!”
I hung up and threw my phone on the bed. Asshole!
He called back, but I sent the call straight to voicemail. After that I turned my cell off. I’m sure Brian might have tried to call me, but I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to hear anything more! Fucking idiots, homophobic assholes!
I was angry, I was pissed off, and I wanted to destroy something.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
I was so tired of it! They ruined my life! Chris Hobbs, my father, the bomber, and now those fucking idiots!
The last time I felt like that was when I met Cody.
TBC