Title: When The Thaw Comes
Author: msjudi (phobosgirl@earthlink.net)
Date: 4/13/05
Rating: G
Authors notes: Totally off the cuff and unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine alone. Feedback is more than welcome and can be sent to phobosgirl@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, CowLip does and I want no fight with them!
Complete: you betcha

When The Thaw Comes


Justin looked up from where he’d been sitting on the floor at the light cube, sketching out some preliminary drawings of the new Rage storyline Michael had submitted two days ago. He rubbed his right hand absently, feeling the familiar dull ache, a now accepted consequence of working too hard for too long.

He blinked, trying to readjust his eyes to the dim lighting in the loft, and smiled over to where Brian lay smoking, stretched across their bed, his long, lean body a mere silhouette.

Resisting the urge to simply sit and gaze at Brian, he lowered his eyes again to the work before him, and put pencil to paper. The evolution of their main recurring villainess, Ice-Tina, had taken a turn neither he nor Michael could have anticipated when she had first been conceived. Her personality had progressively begun to dovetail with that of Brian’s own mother, Joanie, and her almost maniacal need to punish Rage for his unapologetic lifestyle and affection for JT was spookily similar to the various hells Joan had inflicted on her son.

Justin shuddered, remembering the one time he’d met his partner’s mother. Granted, it wasn’t an ideal way to come out to even the most gay-friendly parent, let alone one as rabidly homophobic as Joan, but the way she’d looked at Justin, her steely blue eyes so unlike Brian’s warm hazel, had made his blood freeze in his veins. How Brian had ever survived in a household where her kind of “love” was measured and then metered out based on how much she’d had to drink and how cozy she was feeling with God on any particular day was horrifying for Justin to contemplate.

As his mind wandered to suppositions of Brian’s childhood, the sketch before him began to crystallize.

In it, Ice-Tina, intent once again on harming Rage in the most painful way possible, stood her ground before a city bus, her icy finger poised to freeze the driver and lone passenger, JT, who’d been innocently returning home from working the night shift at the Gayopolis Diner.

In the background, flying in low with a menacing growl on his brow, was Rage, coming to rescue his blond boy. Justin emphasized Rage’s musculature and the determined expression on his face, and somehow, being both creator of and witness to Rage’s obvious protective devotion to JT, the ache in Justin’s hand seemed less.

In the bedroom, Brian cleared his throat softly, drawing Justin’s attention again. Over the glare of the light cube, he could see that Brian had rolled onto his side and was watching him, his head propped up on one long arm.

Brian smiled quietly when their eyes met and Justin’s heart leapt into his throat. He returned the smile and without thinking, laid aside his pencil and began stacking his sketches neatly. He stood up from the floor, stretched his back with a groan, and made his way to where Brian waited for him.

Ice-Tina might be able to freeze everyone in her path with an imperious wave of her fingers and Joanie might be able to do the same with a mere glance, but her son had still prevailed. He had defeated her by learning the hard way how to thaw the ice she had instilled in his soul- and how to melt the heart of his JT.

The End