Pairing: Howie and Brian
Words: thrusting; leather; impure; clove


AJ knew how to get people.  Anyone, male or female.  Tight leather
pants, a barely there shirt, a bit of thrusting against them on the
dance floor, and they were his.  Completely.  Without question.

So why had Brian just pushed him away and said he couldn't do this? 
Couldn't do what?  Everyone wanted to do him.  The only question
was whether AJ was going to let them.

He wanted Brian; Brian apparently didn't want him.  What was up
with that?

****

Brian leaned his head back against the seat of the limo.  "Forgive
me, Lord, for I have had impure thoughts about a bandmate," he said
to himself, and thumped his head back, hoping that would get rid of
the images.

"Are you all right?" asked a concerned voice.

Brian jumped, then identified the speaker.  Howie.  He'd thought
the limo was empty.  "Um, yeah.  Just fine."

"You sure about that?  You, ah, seem a little shaken."

Brian smiled ruefully; Howie'd heard the impure thoughts comment. 
"Yeah, well, maybe a little.  AJ... ah..."

"Hit on you?"

"Pretty much.  Yeah."

"Did anything... um, happen?  I can have a talk with AJ if he did
anything..."

Watching Howie try to spare his sensibilities was almost painful. 
"No, it was just your basic come-on.  I wasn't offended.  Just...
married."

"And straight."

Brian arched his eyebrows.  "Straight, and lusting after AJ."

Howie laughed.  "Everyone does it.  I don't think it's anything to
have a crisis of sexuality over."

"Even you?"

"Sure.  AJ's sexy, and he knows it.  And, unlike you, I'm not
straight."

Brian shrugged.  He'd known that, but it wasn't something they
really talked about.

"He also has good taste.  If you weren't straight and married, I'd
consider doing the same thing."

Brian blinked.  Howie was looking at him with an intense
expression.  He'd really meant that.  Both Howie and AJ hitting on
him.  This was... unexpected, and a little threatening.  Maybe he
should start stuffing his pockets with cloves of garlic or
something.  Stop with the regular bathing.  "Howie..." he began,
trying to figure out how to turn his friend down gently.  He
couldn't walk away while trapped here inside the limo, and, in any
case, Howie wasn't trying to simulate the sex act on the spot like
AJ had.

"It's all right," Howie said, and then his eyes were just eyes
again, and Brian wondered if he'd imagined the look of want before. 
"It just seemed like the right thing to do.  To let you know that
AJ isn't the only one who finds you attractive, and that it's
possible to think that without trying to... hmm... leap on you like
a starving wolf?"

"Somehow, I don't think AJ is starved for lack of sex."

Howie laughed.  "No, I don't think so either.  So, friends still?"

"Brothers," Brian agreed, nodding, because of course, that went
without saying, even for AJ, much less Howie.  Howie reached out,
and they clasped hands for a moment before letting go.  He felt
better.  Reassured even, despite that, on the surface, AJ and Howie
had done exactly the same thing.  Funny how that worked.

****

AJ bounded up the stairs of the bus, nodded to the driver, and
headed back to surprise Brian.  The other man had been friendly,
but distant, since the incident at the club, and AJ wanted a chance
to make things normal between them.  Maybe better than normal.  He
grinned.  Brian was different than his usual type, and worth the
effort of the chase.

He stopped short when he saw something he didn't expect to see. 
Howie was sitting on the couch, Brian tucked under his arm, the two
of them sleeping together as cozy as could be.  What the?

It wasn't that they hadn't all done similar things from time to
time, especially when space and time were short, but this was
Brian's bus.  And Howie had his own, with plenty of room to sleep
in that didn't have Brian in it.  Plus Howie had his hand in
Brian's hair, and Brian had his tucked against Howie's chest. 
Intimately.  Suspiciously intimately.

AJ frowned.  He didn't like this at all.  It looked like Howie had
stolen the prize away from him, which didn't make sense at all,
because *he* was the drop dead sexy one, and if Brian didn't want
*him*, well.  No.  Howie was not more sexy than him.  No, no, no.

It had to just be platonic.  If Brian didn't want him, then he
couldn't want Howie either.  And so this wasn't sexual, which meant
it wasn't anything to be jealous of.

Still, it looked kinda sweet though.  Cuddly even.

AJ sat down on the floor in front of the couch, leaned back against
Howie's legs, flipped on the TV and waited for them to wake up.