A/N: Slight AU of season 2, episode 14. Probably should see/know that episode first.

"I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me." The Eagles

The Fifth Time

Babylon was full of drugs, so much so that it was just another part of the game. E was like candy, and Brian and Emmett and even normally uptight Michael would take it at least five or six times a week. No one really even noticed when Justin started taking it, too.

But Justin was so allergic to so many different drugs that he took them only rarely, and only when he knew for absolute certain what drug they were, because he was a guy who could die in minutes if he swallows the most innocuous things…Tylenol, Penicillin, Codeine. So he was always careful. Always.

Except for that night. The party that Sap threw was so not his idea of a good time, and after about a half-hour Justin became really uncomfortable (and he was never uncomfortable around hot, mostly-naked guys). Maybe it was the way people looked at him – not like those hot guys who would stare at him when he danced in Babylon, where they would look at him appreciatively, noting the smooth hardness of his body, wondering when they'd be able to pull that hot ass away from Brian Kinney.

Here, he was another object, like the furniture, or one of the many sex toys that was strewn around the apartment. People would come over and touch his shoulders, his cheeks, slide a hand up his shirt, and he wasn't cherry, or anything. He didn't mind good-looking men pawing him, but here, in this place…there was something wrong about it.

And then those drinks. The drinks that Sap pressed into his hands and he drank without thinking, hoping the alcohol would calm his nerves. All he had to do was get through this night and he'd have the whole weekend with Brian, the whole weekend to themselves, and maybe they'd never leave the loft, maybe Justin could finish his project and then just draw Brian naked (and Brian was his favorite subject by far.)

It was when they went on the "tour," when they went into that room, and there was another one of the young dancers in a sling…that was when he really started to wonder why Sap had invited him to this party, if his true purpose was something more than just "decoration."

Unfortunately, that's also when the whole room turned upside down.

There were men all around him, now, and with his shirt off they were touching him everywhere, pulling off his jeans, coaxing him into the sling. "No," Justin said, half-laughing (but why was he laughing? He wanted to be serious. He wanted to leave.)

Something was placed under his nose. Poppers? His legs felt weird, strange, and he collapsed, the men's arms tightening around his body. "No!" He said, more forcefully this time. He said something else, too, and the other men were making noises of protest, pulling him, but he was gone, already mostly out the door.

Sap called something, and if Justin hadn't been feeling so wrong he would have said "fuck you" in return, no matter what it was, but it was all he could do to stumble out of there and down the steps.

He felt weird. Weirder than weird, and the whole world was moving, shimmering, sliding. His feet could barely hold him, and although Justin knew he was only a few blocks from Brian's flat, he seriously doubted he could walk all the way there.

As he face-planted on the sidewalk on Liberty Avenue, he thought that he probably should have put his shirt on, because the pavement was kind of cold. He thought that this is kind of what his body felt like last time he had an allergic reaction, when he was thirteen and had a headache and bummed some Tylenol in school. He'd thought he was going to die then, too.

.***.

Brian never got into the car with Michael. He walked down Liberty Avenue, wondering if he should stop at Woody's and pick up some hot fuck tonight, but Babylon had mostly sated him and, besides, he wanted to get back to the loft before Justin.

Something wasn't right about this party that the little twat had insisted on going to (ironically enough, he'd gone only after Brian accused him of being a twat.) Sap was a sleaze, to be sure, and there was whispers and rumors that Brian wished he'd paid more attention to now.

So he'd slipped out of Babylon's back room (saying hi to the omnipresent Todd on his way out) around two in the morning, early enough for it to be early, and headed home, feeling positively like a breeder with a fucking predictable suburban life. Home by two. He was too young and too hot to be home by two.

He very nearly tripped over Justin's terrifyingly prone body, which was laid out in front of Brian's apartment. He couldn't have been there long – there were too many fags milling around for one not to have noticed him. But he was half-naked, and so still that Brian could only stare at the body for a second, the old flashback overlaying reality. Justin, right after the bashing. Justin smiling (and that's when he'd realized the truth in the nickname 'Sunshine') right before the bat came to his head.

Was this another bashing? Would someone be stupid enough to do it right on Liberty Avenue, in front of everyone? Brian dropped to his knees, wordless sounds already coming out of his mouth as he desperately clawed for Justin's neck. A pulse.

"Justin…" He moaned, slipping out of his jacket without thinking and putting it under the boy's bare back. "Justin, look at me. Justin!"

When those blue eyes opened…it was like something hot and sweet burst inside Brian's chest. It was like a small, soft something within in him died. "Bri -"

"Is everything all right?" Brian barely looked up at the pair who'd stopped, both dressed in club clothes with spiked hair and tight jeans.

"Call an ambulance!" Brian snapped, cradling Justin's head. He looked back down at his young lover, noticing for the first time how ragged Justin's breathing was. "Hey!" he said, jostling Justin's body ever so slightly. "Talk to me, Justin. Hey, no passing out. What happened? Are you hurt?"

There were bruises on his hips that extended above his pants, bruises that hadn't been there earlier. There were more on his shoulders, chest…but nothing, nothing that would seem to stop him from getting up to the loft. Nothing that would cause him to pass out.

"Cold…" Justin murmured, and Brian held him tighter, barely hearing the queers say something about the ambulance being only a minute away. All he could think of was that if this had anything to do with the party, he was going to kill the Sap. Period.

.***.

"Mr. Kinney? Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you." Brian scrubbed a hand over his face, looking anxiously at the hospital bed where Justin had finally, finally fallen asleep. "So this is just an allergic reaction?"

"There was evidence of drugs in his system, and Mr. Taylor's records indicate is allergic to a great many things. It is impossible to determine which one set off the reaction."

"But he'll be okay? You said he could go home." And Brian was so freakin' tired.

"You'll need to watch him, because the symptoms can return. And we'd like to keep him observation for a couple hours." Seeing Brian's murderous glare, the exhausted doctor pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course that's only a suggestion."

"I'll sign him out now." Brian growled, stalking off in the direction of Justin's room only to feel his wrist being grabbed by that fucking doctor. "Now what?" He barked, whirling around to realize for the first time that the doctor who had saved Sunshine's life was even younger than he was. Twenty-seven, maybe. And he looked just as tired as Brian felt.

"I just wanted to say that you did the right thing bringing your boyfriend here." The doctor's pale green eyes, a stark contrast to his dark skin, slipped down to the floor and his hand dropped from Brian's arm a second before Brian realized that this guy was hot. "You definitely saved his life."

Yeah, but would it have even been in peril if he hadn't known Brian in the first place? Kinney sighed and managed a tight smile for Doogie Howser. After all, it wasn't his fault that Brian's heart was beating out of his chest at the memory of Justin passed out cold on the sidewalk. Alone.

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