Sasha Martin Stanford (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beautifulday) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dreamlikenewyork2018-11-20 02:36 am
beautifulday) wrote in dreamlikenewyork2018-11-20 02:36 am
Entry tags:
- [character] cassidy cohen,
- [character] justin campbell,
- [character] lewis sheldon,
- [character] mark campbell,
- [character] sasha stanford,
- [character] tori kingston,
- [character] will jackson,
- [character] zeke wyatt,
- [scene] rp,
- [ship] cassidy/tori,
- [ship] justin/sasha,
- [ship] mark/gen,
- [ship] will/zeke
"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes."
Who: Sasha Stanford and Justin Campbell with Lewis, Cassidy, Tori, Zeke, Will, and later Mark
What: Getting back in the swing of things
Where: Casa de Campbell, Upper East Side
When: Friday
It had been a long-haul, but Justin was finally home from hospital. He had a week of intensive ketamine infusions and would go one day a week for the foreseeable future for them because there was no denying his bipolar had responded to it. On top of that, he had ongoing therapy with a psychologist and psychiatrist, as well as Ari working with him on therapy tactics in his everyday life to help him cope better both personally and professionally. Finally, Justin was on an upswing. In the last few days, he had been as stable as Sasha had seen him in a long time and he was champing at the bit to get back to some sort of work with his music.
That was why Sasha got home from school and his own quick doctor’s appointment to pick up new prescriptions for his migraine medication that he found Justin in their communal music/games/hangout room with Lewis doing some trial makeup runs with him. Cassidy and Tori were there watching too and when Sasha got further into the room, he saw Zeke and Will were there too. Justin was sitting on a stool by the window with a joint nestled between his fingers while he spoke to what sounded like Caden on the phone. The light breeze from the window was drawing the smoke through the small crack. All windows up this many floors in their house only opened enough to maybe get your hand out up to your elbow and nothing more. They were secured, and then doubled secured even more… a necessity with a suicidal person living there.
At the moment, Justin had to have a certain low dose of medicinal marijuana to keep his manic episodes at bay. The ketamine could help his depression and perk him up quite significantly on the more intensive dosing, so he had to regulate the other side of his rapid-cycling bipolar episodes. Sasha waved at the others. He was glad Zeke and Will had come around. Will and Luke’s apartment was just two blocks away and Zeke was going to be staying there for a few weeks so he could easily attend outpatient treatment without needing to drive back and for to the farm in Leonia. Now that Justin was going to try to be back in the swing of things, their hangout room here would inevitably go back to been a teen-hub for them all, a place they could converge and chill whenever they wanted.
Cas was sitting on another stool near Lewis, handing him things and keenly watching what he was doing. Sasha noticed why immediately. Justin wasn’t just having typical stage or screen makeup down he often had to hide how ill he could look sometimes or stop his face being shiny in bright lights. Lewis was working on full glam makeup on Sasha’s fiance and when Sasha noticed Justin was also wearing tight leather pants and sheer rainbow organza fitted button-up, he quite possibly would’ve been done-for if there weren’t other people in the room. There was just something about when Justin blurred the gender lines that really turned Sasha on. He wasn’t sure how closely he should analyse that fact. No other person in the world had ever had that effect on him. This was one of those moments he remembered he was in love with a legitimate celebrity.
Sasha watched a little longer from where he perched on the windowsill by the sofa Zeke and Will were sitting on listening to music. “How’re feeling, Zeke, dude?”
Zeke watched Sasha in amusement. He was watching Justin like he was a giant jar of Nutella and Zeke knew what a Nutella freak Sash was. When they were younger, he could literally sit and eat a whole jar with a spoon in one sitting without sharing. “Now? Pretty good. This morning? Disaster zone. But I got to come back here with J and his dad and we hung out watching TV until Lewis arrived. You so have a boner, oh my god,” he laughed, throwing a pillow at Sasha. “Is it his outfit or the makeup that’s doing it? Ladies and Gentlemen, our resident Ace.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Sasha laughed, feeling himself burn bright red when he grabbed the pillow and moved to sit on the piano bench with his over his lap. “I’m grey-ace, okay? I can’t help it that everything he does is somehow wired into my brainwaves. It’s the freaking makeup. It’s bloody hot when he blurs the binaries, as Blaize calls it. But this, on someone else? It wouldn’t do it for me,” he said, gesturing to Justin.
Will was snickering and shrugged. “Dude, get some looser pants. That’s all I can advise. Or don’t. I think he’s enjoying the show.” He nodded towards Justin, who was clearly mutlitasking checking Sasha out while continuing his business call that sounded like it had something to do with maybe some publicity trips, something along those lines. “He’s always done that, though. Blurred and pushed the boundaries. It’s why he’s so good at what he does. The time he did Frankenfurter. Holy shit.”
“Hold on… what?! When was this? Are you serious? I wanna see!” Zeke said with a grin and took a sip from his water bottle. Will had gotten him a huge one with his name on it and keeping fluids up was one of the deals of trying back on outpatient chemo. The good thing was, they had started him on a low-dose antidepressant and he had been feeling a lot better in general, coping better too.
Sasha gave a wave of his hand. “It’s on YouTube. It was a charity show. Just do not show it to me right now or I’m going to seriously come in my pants on top of all…” He gestured towards Justin. “... this.” Since Justin was getting better on the ketamine, things had heated up a little again with them. Justin was all healed from his operation and had new sexy scar to boot. Considering what an invasive surgery it was on his stomach, the scar was actually pretty neat and subtle. There’d be no issues for Lewis covering it with makeup for Justin’s warehouse scene where he rips his tank top off and does the hot-as-hell solo dance routine up and down off scaffolding. But from what Sasha had talked to Justin about it, trying to get out of him how he felt to have another scar related to his illness, Justin didn’t seem to want to cover it going forward. Having it on show wouldn’t impact on Ren’s character at all. Sex aside, Sasha was just relieved to see Justin getting back into the swing of his work. It was the biggest sign of how much better he was.
Then Justin ended the call and put his hands up in the air. “Caden’s secured sponsorship funding. Officially going on tour, bitches!” he declared, shooting a grin at Sasha, holding his hand out for him. “And you, gorgeous, are wearing my favourite jeans. C’mere…” When Sasha was close enough, Justin pulled him into an eager kiss and brushed his hand over Sasha’s knee up to his thigh.
“What?! Cas squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing on the spot. “A tour?! What sort of tour? Where, when-- okay, just answer me when you’ve finished sucking face.”
Lewis stepped back, smirking as he mixed some eyeshadow on the back of his hand and assessing the tone in the natural light from the window. “You’re lucky I’ve got top quality cosmetics or I’d be getting pissed about potential smearing right now.”
Justin’s hand crept further up Sasha’s thigh. Even if he had a few things on the boil here, what he really wanted was to grab Sasha’s hand and make a dash for their bedroom. He stood up and his hand moved to Sasha’s hip. “Lew, we’ll be back in, like, five minutes. Okay, maybe ten…” He was back to kissing Sasha again and they both somehow managed to move towards the door of the chillout room. But that was as far as they got before they bumped into someone and kiss broke apart. “Dad! What are you doing home?” he asked breathless, sweeping his tongue over his lips. It was true, Lewis had the best cosmetics out there and the lipstick he was wearing wouldn’t have a single smudge, meaning it wouldn’t have rubbed off on Sasha’s lips either.
Mark gave them both a smirk and then held up a glossy magazine. “Wanna explain this to me, son?” He showed Justin the page it was open to, one of those columns that reported on stars out and about. Not at all something Mark read unless there were articles about Justin in it. Usually, this stuff was dealt with by Justin’s on-the-ball publicist and he didn’t need to worry about any of it. This spread were photos from a red carpet a couple of weeks ago that Mark’s Executive Assistant showed him earlier. “This looks suspiciously like you. Unless you’re going to tell me you have an identical twin stashed out there somewhere.”
Sasha cleared his throat and shoved a hand into the pocket of his hoodie, trying to pull it down over his hips a little. He didn’t know the adequateness of Lewis’ makeup so he was reflexively trying to wipe his lips on the back of his other hand, peering at whatever it was in the magazine Mark was holding. He discovered it wasn’t only Justin but a picture of both him and Justin… on the red carpet for the opening night of the Bohemian Rhapsody movie, when Justin was supposed to have been in hospital. That was a sneaky little escaped Justin had been pretty sure his dad wouldn’t have found out about or suspected.
Justin looked at the photo and scrunched his nose up. “Dad, it was Bohemian Rhapsody. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to see that movie? Since before they ditched the Ali G dude! There was no way I was going to miss it. Besides, this latest hospital admission was voluntary for voluntary treatment and we didn’t go anywhere near fans, we didn’t go to any after parties. We just went and saw the movie, and that was it. C’monnnn, Dad… I paid my dues, time after time,” he started to sing, shooting his dad a smile.
Mark rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You’ll have to excuse us for a few, guys. I need to have a quick word with my two kids here.” He put his hands on Justin and Sasha’s shoulder and steered them out to the hall. “I’m not mad, I just need to clarify if this is because you thought I’d say no or there was some sort of spontaneous urge to recklessly escape hospital without a word when something could’ve happened to either of you and I wouldn’t have had a clue where you were. Because you’ve been on a highly intensive dose of a dangerous drug, kiddo, and we need to monitor how you are universally, okay? I also just got a call off Caden. So, cuppa and a chat, then you can go back to what you were doing.”
Justin sighed but he nodded resolutely. He hadn’t really done it expecting no outfall from it. He and Sasha had talked about that and Sasha queried - a lot - about whether he would be okay with all of it and asking if he thought the elevated excitement might have been a manic episode creeping in. “It wasn’t any of that. I’ve got, like, an epic medical team monitoring me too, remember? Uncle Alec checked me over before and after. He was the one who signed me out on gate-leave from the hospital. He came to the premiere with Aiden and they were near us the whole time. The reason I didn’t say anything is because I knew that you really wouldn’t want me to go and you’d worry like crazy because I know what my recoveries are like for you, Dad. I know they stress you out worrying about every tiny little thing. That’s fine, you’re my dad. I love you for it. But this was just one thing I really wanted and didn’t want to miss out on. You don’t get a do-over on an opening night, you know? It was pretty special I even got an invite to the New York premiere. I promise, I’m okay. I haven’t been this okay in a really long time.”
Sasha filled the kettle and put it on to boil while Mark was getting out the mugs. “And the silver lining, I got to see him in the Freddie Mercury homage suit Ajay picked out for him. Plus, we got to meet the stars, which was epic. He wasn’t manic. At all. He hasn’t been manic in while now. I think the regular low-dose weed is helping a lot. It seems like it really is working in tandem with the ketamine. He was feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy when we were leaving, but Alec said that would’ve just been side effects. He’s better. I can, um… tell.” He turned away to get the milk out of the fridge when he felt himself blushing.
Mark listened, leaning against the counter while they waited for the kettle to boil. He smirked at Sasha’s comment, knowing exactly what it meant. “Oh, you can tell, can you, mate?” He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, no lectures. I just had to get the full story and make sure it wasn’t a symptom. Of course I wouldn’t deny you any of it, kiddo. You got your love of Queen from the Campbell genes. I think it’s great that you went. I just wasn’t entirely sure you would’ve been okay. The ketamine’s been great but there has been side effects. Which brings me to the next part. I’m not sure about this tour, buddy. I’m really not. It sounds like a demanding schedule you want to go with and it might be too much. Footloose and solo shows? You might get fatigued and there’s always a risk with that possibly causing episodes. We still don’t really have a pattern of how you process the ketamine. It’s all so new. Plus, it’ll be a long time to be away from Sash.”
Justin’s smirk matched his dad’s where he had pulled himself up to sit on the kitchen island. When Sasha turned to the fridge, it gave him a perfect view of his arse in those skinny jeans and Justin perving on it was pretty much evidence of exactly what Sasha just said. “I’m pretty glad ketamine doesn’t fuck with my sex drive like my other meds, to be honest. Being stuck in a hospital bed, or on suicide watch, or with a gigantic wound in my gut, we’ve got lost time to make up for.” He tugged his lips to the side, taking in everything his dad was saying because he knew this chat was going to come. It had to. They all had to keep communicating about his illnesses so he had the best coping strategy around him. Everything that had happened to him in his relatively short life, of course his dad was super protective.
“There’ll be time between cities to rest. There’ll be no back-to-back consecutive days of performances. Some of the time, I’ll fly to destinations to give myself more time. The only fan meet-and-greets will be competitions, make-a-wish arrangements, or VIP tickets SoV have given to people using their services. I’m not going on tour tomorrow, Dad. By then, we’ll definitely know the pattern on ketamine. I can have a medical team with me in case anything goes wrong. I just feel like I have to do this while I can because… because… I just don’t know about the future.” He left it at that. He didn’t have to spell anything out about not knowing he had a future or what it would look like if he survived to have one. “Sash wants to come with me. I wouldn’t even consider it if he couldn’t be. Not for any length of time. If I do it, I want to share all the memories with him.”
Sasha nodded, placing the tea canister on the counter. “There’s no way I would miss it. Depending on the timeframe, I can either get a tutor or I can take a gap year before I start college. Not just because he’s my fiance or because I care for him when he’s ill but this will be one of the biggest events in his life and there’s no way I’d miss it. Footloose touring, a simultaneous solo tour, and a potential record deal. I’m so freaking proud of him, I don’t even have enough words to say how much!” He stepped up to Justin, grinning, and gave him a kiss. “And it won’t just be for him. He’s going to make memories for his fans they’ll literally remembering and cherish for the rest of his life and I want to see it. I know it’s going to take a lot of planning and probably an army of people to pull it off, but it’s… just incredible.”
Justin loved Sasha to the end of the universe and back for loving him and supporting him with whatever he did. He couldn’t help it when the kiss intensified. Sasha ended up standing between his legs and Justin hugged them around his hips, trying to pull him closer. It was only evident how much teenage hormones who had been on ration recently had gotten the better of them when his dad cleared his throat and asked if he was having tea alone. Sasha turned around but stayed where he was standing and Justin wrapped his arms around him, resting his head on Sasha’s shoulder. “Sorry…” he said with a sheepish smile.
Mark took his wallet out and gave Justin one of his credit cards. “Book yourselves into a nice hotel for the weekend. I think you’ll do us all a favour, You’ve both earned private time alone together after everything. Jus, I know you want to jump right back in, kiddo. I do. I get it. You’re feeling good with the ketamine and your music is always what you’ll want to return back to as soon as you can. But nurture this first,” he urged, gesturing between them as he poured the tea. When Dory came trotting through to see what was going on, he gave her a treat from the ever-present jar on the counter. “I know Lewis has got to get you sorted for a few commitments you have coming up. But once you’re done, take the time together. Work can wait a bit longer. Take care of things that matter more first.”
“Sash, Dad thinks sex matters more than work. I really must be a Campbell,” Justin laughed, rubbing Sasha’s chest, slipping the credit card into Sasha’s hoodie pocket. “We better remind him a Campbell guy fell in love with an Ace guy. We were talking about getting away for a few days anyway. I mean, don’t get us wrong, we love having everyone around. We love sharing where we live with everyone. But hospital, then Vermont which was really tough, then hospital again. It’s all been about me being sick and keeping me alive. Not a whole lot of romantic us stuff. He’s the most important to me out of any of it. Seriously, if all we do is climb into the fluffy bathrobes and go to sleep, I’m totally down for private time alone. But I know before we do that, you wanna talk about this other stuff, so hit me with your dad worries. I promise I can contain myself not sucking on Sash’s face for five minutes. Even if I could feel he was totally into it,” he added, grinning.
And Sasha was back to blushing again. Nothing Justin was saying was inaccurate. “Hey, I’m Grey-Ace. I would like to emphatically point out that I am very much in the grey area right now. I was in the grey so long in the shower this morning that I was late to school. Then I come to him like this and I can barely walk straight. I’m all up for private time. Oh, shit. I did not mean to say it like that,” he added hastily, putting his hand over his face.
Mark laughed, shaking his head in amusement. It did surprise him whatsoever that his son had found someone who was his mirror in many ways but they complimented each other so well. They just had a natural groove that many couples had to work to achieve. Gen was so excited that Sash was going to be her son in law that he had to keep reining her in when she got all up in her mom game and talked about Justin’s future wedding. They all know the boys didn’t plan on marrying until they were out of their teens and Sash had at least a couple of years of med school under his belt. That, alone, told them how smart they were as a couple. It was far from just young puppy love. He picked up the teapot. “Come on, you two. Come sit in the living room. I promise I won’t grill you for the rest of the day.” Once they were settled - complete with Dory clearly deciding Sash and Justin needed time together too and chose Mark’s lap to sit on - he sipped his tea. “I need to talk to you about your entourage, Jus. Namely, if you want to employee a PA or if you’re okay with Ari being your medical aid and Sash helping out when he’s around. I don’t want to bring you down or anything like that but if you’re thinking of getting back to work, we need to start the ball rolling.”
Justin shook his head. “No. Sash is my fiance, not my staff. Even if he’s part of my care team, it’s a different story when I’m working. Besides the fact, he’s not always there when I’m at work. He’s studying to get into Med School, he’s always the first on-hand when my head starts fucking up. He’ll do whatever he can to help and I’m not going to overload him. He deserves downtime and he can’t be overloaded because we all know how much his migraines can take him down. So, if he’s there with me while I’m at work and happens to get me a cup of coffee, he’s my fiance getting me a coffee, not my PA. That is a huge gaping line I want drawn in the sand. I have to take care of him too, even if that balance isn’t always equal. So, that means I need a security guy to replace Andre, a PA and an Assistant Manager to help Aiden now everything’s getting bigger. But this time, I want Sash involved in the whole recruitment process. He has a whole fine-tuned gut-feeling thing and he’ll know if anyone is a dick.”
“Hypothetically, how would you feel if someone on your staff had an affair with someone you know who is in a relationship with someone else you know?” Mark had to ask. He hadn’t even broached this with Ari or Trey yet. He wasn’t even sure if it was true but someone told someone who told someone else who told Mark that Trey and Ari were spotted kissing. “Hey, no objections here with Sash helping out with the process. I wish I had a Sash with the multitude of fuck ups I racked up in my life.”
Sasha had been playing with Justin’s fingers, something he liked to do when they were holding hands. He stopped as soon as Justin’s dad said that and Justin gave him a WTF side-eye. “Uh, Dad… why did you even bother with the ‘hypothetically’? Who’s boning who? You can’t just drop that on me and not give me the details. Is it going to fuck anything up for me?” He didn’t really have an issue with people on his staff sleeping with people he knew. That was their business. Even if it was some sort of affair, it wasn’t his position to point fingers or punish anyone. He just didn’t want anyone he cared about getting hurt. And he kind of didn’t want anything awkward going down on his staff because awkward was a pain in the arse.
Sasha’s mind was ticking over all the possible people Mark might be talking about. He held up his finger, about to say something, but he chickened out. But Mark noticed and raised his eyebrows expectantly at him. He looked between Justin and Mark. “I’m not saying it’s them or anything but when Jus was in hospital, Trey came to see him because he needed to update a confidentiality agreement or something. I told him the infusions were wiping Jus out. Anytime he had them, he crashed. Trey said he didn’t mind coming back later and told me to get Ari to shoot him a text to make a time Jus might be up to it. Which is fine. I mean, Ari takes care of a lot of that sort of stuff when Jus is ill. I went to get a soda a bit later, and saw both of them up the corridor having a pretty intense conversation. I just didn’t think anything of it at the time. But now I think about it, it might’ve been, uh, sexual tension I was seeing…”
Justin started laughing and shook his head. “Seriously? But…” He didn’t have to say it. Everyone knew. Ari was dating Trent and Trey had been with Brendan for as long as Brendan had been living in New York. They lived together with Kyan and Reecy, because their twin bond was tight. Justin asked Reecy about it after she got married to Kyan but they all lived in a big place and it worked fine. Kyan and Trey were Yin-Yang twins. Total opposites, but fit together perfectly as brothers. Would literally die for each other. “Um, like, I think Ari and Trent are open. He said that awhile back when I asked him about needing to help me so much. But Trey and Brendan… fuck. Then again, Brendan’s been back in London for ages. It’s just, he’s going to be family when Uncle Sam gets married to Lisa. Like, he’ll be Codie’s big brother. Whoa, mindfuck. I dunno how I’m supposed to feel…”
Mark shrugged. “Well, kiddo, it got back to me that they were seen kissing. I’m not going to draw any specific conclusions. It doesn’t bother me who’s fucking who, just so long as they keep doing their job how it needs to be done. I wouldn’t be surprised if it came about because of everything going on with you, buddy. While you were at your worst, they had to work closely together and it was intense work, I’ll say that. The aftermath of everything that happened, we needed to make sure you were as protected and safeguarded as possible. Trey’s proven to be just as on the ball and cluey about your case as I anticipated he would be. They would’ve had to spend a lot of private time together, that’s all. I want to give them the chance to disclose it, even if they want it kept hush. You’re right, though. Brendan’s family. But there might be a lot more to this story than we know. But if it’s a problem, we can bring it up sooner. With all the changes with your management going on, it’d be a good time to lay cards on the table.”
“I’ll talk to Ari. But, Dad, all I’d really want is Trey to be honest with Brendan. I don’t care if Ari’s boning everyone on my staff, I just don’t want anyone hurt. Hell, they can have their own tour bus and turn it into a sex cave. Honestly? I’m nervous about all the changes. I know I’m now more fucked in the head than I ever have been and it just feels like more and more people are involved or affected, you know?” Justin started bouncing his leg, biting the corner of his thumb nail as a little flare of anxiety ignited now he was having some of these things highlighted to him. “Do you think they’re having an affair because they needed to, like, escape all my shit? I know it’s a lot of shit.”
Mark gave a small smile, bemused. “Jus, I’m sure there a lot of ways it impacts on your loved ones but your illnesses absolutely do not cause someone’s dick to accidentally slip into a hole. There’s something else, kiddo. And I don’t want you to feel pressure or obligated in any way. But, Autumn’s back. She’s moved back permanently. Before your mind grabs that and runs with it, just hear me out for a minute. She’s quit the acting business and has a Master in entertainment management, something along those lines. She contacted Aiden to ask if she could get some sort of work experience. Now, I know she left on bad terms with everyone but something you might be able to consider is employing her in a similar capacity to Ari, but taking care of your day-to-day professional business. Like a PA, just more hands-on in managing the general work affairs. You know her, she knows most of your background. It’s something to think about.”
Justin knew his dad didn’t like leaving him blindsided because that had forever been one of Justin’s biggest triggers over the time. It hit like a mini bombshell, though. It was the last thing he could have expected his dad to say. “Fuck, I don’t even know if I want to--”
As Sasha was sitting there listening to the conversation, he started to feel that telltale splice of pain that felt like it ran from behind his eye towards his ear. The aura was there too. Little warning flashes in his vision. Really bad timing too. He wanted to be involved in all these changes and planning that was going on with Justin’s career and branding. He patted Justin’s knee, cutting him off, and leaned over to put his tea on the coffee table. “Sorry, baby. I need to take my meds and lie down. A migraine’s coming.”
The thoughts about Justin’s other stuff was quickly set aside and he looked at Sasha’s face closely. Autumn and Ari boning Trey could wait. “Oh, shit, you’re white as ghost, darlin’. Let me help you. Can you stand?” He stood up to take Sasha’s arm in case he toppled over. The migraines that hit quick like this could rapidly morph into one of those freaky horrible ones where Sasha’s body went partly paralysed and he stopped being able to form sentences or speak properly. “What do you need? You need to be sick? Dad, can you get his pills from the safe?”
Mark was up and standing at Sasha’s other side. He patted his back softly. “I’ll get your meds, mate. Jus, we can talk about this again soon. Just think things over, write them down if you need to. There’s no urgency. We’ll get it all sorted before you’re officially back at work.” But when he watched the head up the hall to their room, he scratched his forehead, feeling nervous about Justin getting back into the swing of life. It could go either way and right now, he was scared his son wasn’t quite as emotionally strong as he used to be.
LOG, COMPLETE
What: Getting back in the swing of things
Where: Casa de Campbell, Upper East Side
When: Friday
It had been a long-haul, but Justin was finally home from hospital. He had a week of intensive ketamine infusions and would go one day a week for the foreseeable future for them because there was no denying his bipolar had responded to it. On top of that, he had ongoing therapy with a psychologist and psychiatrist, as well as Ari working with him on therapy tactics in his everyday life to help him cope better both personally and professionally. Finally, Justin was on an upswing. In the last few days, he had been as stable as Sasha had seen him in a long time and he was champing at the bit to get back to some sort of work with his music.
That was why Sasha got home from school and his own quick doctor’s appointment to pick up new prescriptions for his migraine medication that he found Justin in their communal music/games/hangout room with Lewis doing some trial makeup runs with him. Cassidy and Tori were there watching too and when Sasha got further into the room, he saw Zeke and Will were there too. Justin was sitting on a stool by the window with a joint nestled between his fingers while he spoke to what sounded like Caden on the phone. The light breeze from the window was drawing the smoke through the small crack. All windows up this many floors in their house only opened enough to maybe get your hand out up to your elbow and nothing more. They were secured, and then doubled secured even more… a necessity with a suicidal person living there.
At the moment, Justin had to have a certain low dose of medicinal marijuana to keep his manic episodes at bay. The ketamine could help his depression and perk him up quite significantly on the more intensive dosing, so he had to regulate the other side of his rapid-cycling bipolar episodes. Sasha waved at the others. He was glad Zeke and Will had come around. Will and Luke’s apartment was just two blocks away and Zeke was going to be staying there for a few weeks so he could easily attend outpatient treatment without needing to drive back and for to the farm in Leonia. Now that Justin was going to try to be back in the swing of things, their hangout room here would inevitably go back to been a teen-hub for them all, a place they could converge and chill whenever they wanted.
Cas was sitting on another stool near Lewis, handing him things and keenly watching what he was doing. Sasha noticed why immediately. Justin wasn’t just having typical stage or screen makeup down he often had to hide how ill he could look sometimes or stop his face being shiny in bright lights. Lewis was working on full glam makeup on Sasha’s fiance and when Sasha noticed Justin was also wearing tight leather pants and sheer rainbow organza fitted button-up, he quite possibly would’ve been done-for if there weren’t other people in the room. There was just something about when Justin blurred the gender lines that really turned Sasha on. He wasn’t sure how closely he should analyse that fact. No other person in the world had ever had that effect on him. This was one of those moments he remembered he was in love with a legitimate celebrity.
Sasha watched a little longer from where he perched on the windowsill by the sofa Zeke and Will were sitting on listening to music. “How’re feeling, Zeke, dude?”
Zeke watched Sasha in amusement. He was watching Justin like he was a giant jar of Nutella and Zeke knew what a Nutella freak Sash was. When they were younger, he could literally sit and eat a whole jar with a spoon in one sitting without sharing. “Now? Pretty good. This morning? Disaster zone. But I got to come back here with J and his dad and we hung out watching TV until Lewis arrived. You so have a boner, oh my god,” he laughed, throwing a pillow at Sasha. “Is it his outfit or the makeup that’s doing it? Ladies and Gentlemen, our resident Ace.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Sasha laughed, feeling himself burn bright red when he grabbed the pillow and moved to sit on the piano bench with his over his lap. “I’m grey-ace, okay? I can’t help it that everything he does is somehow wired into my brainwaves. It’s the freaking makeup. It’s bloody hot when he blurs the binaries, as Blaize calls it. But this, on someone else? It wouldn’t do it for me,” he said, gesturing to Justin.
Will was snickering and shrugged. “Dude, get some looser pants. That’s all I can advise. Or don’t. I think he’s enjoying the show.” He nodded towards Justin, who was clearly mutlitasking checking Sasha out while continuing his business call that sounded like it had something to do with maybe some publicity trips, something along those lines. “He’s always done that, though. Blurred and pushed the boundaries. It’s why he’s so good at what he does. The time he did Frankenfurter. Holy shit.”
“Hold on… what?! When was this? Are you serious? I wanna see!” Zeke said with a grin and took a sip from his water bottle. Will had gotten him a huge one with his name on it and keeping fluids up was one of the deals of trying back on outpatient chemo. The good thing was, they had started him on a low-dose antidepressant and he had been feeling a lot better in general, coping better too.
Sasha gave a wave of his hand. “It’s on YouTube. It was a charity show. Just do not show it to me right now or I’m going to seriously come in my pants on top of all…” He gestured towards Justin. “... this.” Since Justin was getting better on the ketamine, things had heated up a little again with them. Justin was all healed from his operation and had new sexy scar to boot. Considering what an invasive surgery it was on his stomach, the scar was actually pretty neat and subtle. There’d be no issues for Lewis covering it with makeup for Justin’s warehouse scene where he rips his tank top off and does the hot-as-hell solo dance routine up and down off scaffolding. But from what Sasha had talked to Justin about it, trying to get out of him how he felt to have another scar related to his illness, Justin didn’t seem to want to cover it going forward. Having it on show wouldn’t impact on Ren’s character at all. Sex aside, Sasha was just relieved to see Justin getting back into the swing of his work. It was the biggest sign of how much better he was.
Then Justin ended the call and put his hands up in the air. “Caden’s secured sponsorship funding. Officially going on tour, bitches!” he declared, shooting a grin at Sasha, holding his hand out for him. “And you, gorgeous, are wearing my favourite jeans. C’mere…” When Sasha was close enough, Justin pulled him into an eager kiss and brushed his hand over Sasha’s knee up to his thigh.
“What?! Cas squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing on the spot. “A tour?! What sort of tour? Where, when-- okay, just answer me when you’ve finished sucking face.”
Lewis stepped back, smirking as he mixed some eyeshadow on the back of his hand and assessing the tone in the natural light from the window. “You’re lucky I’ve got top quality cosmetics or I’d be getting pissed about potential smearing right now.”
Justin’s hand crept further up Sasha’s thigh. Even if he had a few things on the boil here, what he really wanted was to grab Sasha’s hand and make a dash for their bedroom. He stood up and his hand moved to Sasha’s hip. “Lew, we’ll be back in, like, five minutes. Okay, maybe ten…” He was back to kissing Sasha again and they both somehow managed to move towards the door of the chillout room. But that was as far as they got before they bumped into someone and kiss broke apart. “Dad! What are you doing home?” he asked breathless, sweeping his tongue over his lips. It was true, Lewis had the best cosmetics out there and the lipstick he was wearing wouldn’t have a single smudge, meaning it wouldn’t have rubbed off on Sasha’s lips either.
Mark gave them both a smirk and then held up a glossy magazine. “Wanna explain this to me, son?” He showed Justin the page it was open to, one of those columns that reported on stars out and about. Not at all something Mark read unless there were articles about Justin in it. Usually, this stuff was dealt with by Justin’s on-the-ball publicist and he didn’t need to worry about any of it. This spread were photos from a red carpet a couple of weeks ago that Mark’s Executive Assistant showed him earlier. “This looks suspiciously like you. Unless you’re going to tell me you have an identical twin stashed out there somewhere.”
Sasha cleared his throat and shoved a hand into the pocket of his hoodie, trying to pull it down over his hips a little. He didn’t know the adequateness of Lewis’ makeup so he was reflexively trying to wipe his lips on the back of his other hand, peering at whatever it was in the magazine Mark was holding. He discovered it wasn’t only Justin but a picture of both him and Justin… on the red carpet for the opening night of the Bohemian Rhapsody movie, when Justin was supposed to have been in hospital. That was a sneaky little escaped Justin had been pretty sure his dad wouldn’t have found out about or suspected.
Justin looked at the photo and scrunched his nose up. “Dad, it was Bohemian Rhapsody. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to see that movie? Since before they ditched the Ali G dude! There was no way I was going to miss it. Besides, this latest hospital admission was voluntary for voluntary treatment and we didn’t go anywhere near fans, we didn’t go to any after parties. We just went and saw the movie, and that was it. C’monnnn, Dad… I paid my dues, time after time,” he started to sing, shooting his dad a smile.
Mark rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You’ll have to excuse us for a few, guys. I need to have a quick word with my two kids here.” He put his hands on Justin and Sasha’s shoulder and steered them out to the hall. “I’m not mad, I just need to clarify if this is because you thought I’d say no or there was some sort of spontaneous urge to recklessly escape hospital without a word when something could’ve happened to either of you and I wouldn’t have had a clue where you were. Because you’ve been on a highly intensive dose of a dangerous drug, kiddo, and we need to monitor how you are universally, okay? I also just got a call off Caden. So, cuppa and a chat, then you can go back to what you were doing.”
Justin sighed but he nodded resolutely. He hadn’t really done it expecting no outfall from it. He and Sasha had talked about that and Sasha queried - a lot - about whether he would be okay with all of it and asking if he thought the elevated excitement might have been a manic episode creeping in. “It wasn’t any of that. I’ve got, like, an epic medical team monitoring me too, remember? Uncle Alec checked me over before and after. He was the one who signed me out on gate-leave from the hospital. He came to the premiere with Aiden and they were near us the whole time. The reason I didn’t say anything is because I knew that you really wouldn’t want me to go and you’d worry like crazy because I know what my recoveries are like for you, Dad. I know they stress you out worrying about every tiny little thing. That’s fine, you’re my dad. I love you for it. But this was just one thing I really wanted and didn’t want to miss out on. You don’t get a do-over on an opening night, you know? It was pretty special I even got an invite to the New York premiere. I promise, I’m okay. I haven’t been this okay in a really long time.”
Sasha filled the kettle and put it on to boil while Mark was getting out the mugs. “And the silver lining, I got to see him in the Freddie Mercury homage suit Ajay picked out for him. Plus, we got to meet the stars, which was epic. He wasn’t manic. At all. He hasn’t been manic in while now. I think the regular low-dose weed is helping a lot. It seems like it really is working in tandem with the ketamine. He was feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy when we were leaving, but Alec said that would’ve just been side effects. He’s better. I can, um… tell.” He turned away to get the milk out of the fridge when he felt himself blushing.
Mark listened, leaning against the counter while they waited for the kettle to boil. He smirked at Sasha’s comment, knowing exactly what it meant. “Oh, you can tell, can you, mate?” He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, no lectures. I just had to get the full story and make sure it wasn’t a symptom. Of course I wouldn’t deny you any of it, kiddo. You got your love of Queen from the Campbell genes. I think it’s great that you went. I just wasn’t entirely sure you would’ve been okay. The ketamine’s been great but there has been side effects. Which brings me to the next part. I’m not sure about this tour, buddy. I’m really not. It sounds like a demanding schedule you want to go with and it might be too much. Footloose and solo shows? You might get fatigued and there’s always a risk with that possibly causing episodes. We still don’t really have a pattern of how you process the ketamine. It’s all so new. Plus, it’ll be a long time to be away from Sash.”
Justin’s smirk matched his dad’s where he had pulled himself up to sit on the kitchen island. When Sasha turned to the fridge, it gave him a perfect view of his arse in those skinny jeans and Justin perving on it was pretty much evidence of exactly what Sasha just said. “I’m pretty glad ketamine doesn’t fuck with my sex drive like my other meds, to be honest. Being stuck in a hospital bed, or on suicide watch, or with a gigantic wound in my gut, we’ve got lost time to make up for.” He tugged his lips to the side, taking in everything his dad was saying because he knew this chat was going to come. It had to. They all had to keep communicating about his illnesses so he had the best coping strategy around him. Everything that had happened to him in his relatively short life, of course his dad was super protective.
“There’ll be time between cities to rest. There’ll be no back-to-back consecutive days of performances. Some of the time, I’ll fly to destinations to give myself more time. The only fan meet-and-greets will be competitions, make-a-wish arrangements, or VIP tickets SoV have given to people using their services. I’m not going on tour tomorrow, Dad. By then, we’ll definitely know the pattern on ketamine. I can have a medical team with me in case anything goes wrong. I just feel like I have to do this while I can because… because… I just don’t know about the future.” He left it at that. He didn’t have to spell anything out about not knowing he had a future or what it would look like if he survived to have one. “Sash wants to come with me. I wouldn’t even consider it if he couldn’t be. Not for any length of time. If I do it, I want to share all the memories with him.”
Sasha nodded, placing the tea canister on the counter. “There’s no way I would miss it. Depending on the timeframe, I can either get a tutor or I can take a gap year before I start college. Not just because he’s my fiance or because I care for him when he’s ill but this will be one of the biggest events in his life and there’s no way I’d miss it. Footloose touring, a simultaneous solo tour, and a potential record deal. I’m so freaking proud of him, I don’t even have enough words to say how much!” He stepped up to Justin, grinning, and gave him a kiss. “And it won’t just be for him. He’s going to make memories for his fans they’ll literally remembering and cherish for the rest of his life and I want to see it. I know it’s going to take a lot of planning and probably an army of people to pull it off, but it’s… just incredible.”
Justin loved Sasha to the end of the universe and back for loving him and supporting him with whatever he did. He couldn’t help it when the kiss intensified. Sasha ended up standing between his legs and Justin hugged them around his hips, trying to pull him closer. It was only evident how much teenage hormones who had been on ration recently had gotten the better of them when his dad cleared his throat and asked if he was having tea alone. Sasha turned around but stayed where he was standing and Justin wrapped his arms around him, resting his head on Sasha’s shoulder. “Sorry…” he said with a sheepish smile.
Mark took his wallet out and gave Justin one of his credit cards. “Book yourselves into a nice hotel for the weekend. I think you’ll do us all a favour, You’ve both earned private time alone together after everything. Jus, I know you want to jump right back in, kiddo. I do. I get it. You’re feeling good with the ketamine and your music is always what you’ll want to return back to as soon as you can. But nurture this first,” he urged, gesturing between them as he poured the tea. When Dory came trotting through to see what was going on, he gave her a treat from the ever-present jar on the counter. “I know Lewis has got to get you sorted for a few commitments you have coming up. But once you’re done, take the time together. Work can wait a bit longer. Take care of things that matter more first.”
“Sash, Dad thinks sex matters more than work. I really must be a Campbell,” Justin laughed, rubbing Sasha’s chest, slipping the credit card into Sasha’s hoodie pocket. “We better remind him a Campbell guy fell in love with an Ace guy. We were talking about getting away for a few days anyway. I mean, don’t get us wrong, we love having everyone around. We love sharing where we live with everyone. But hospital, then Vermont which was really tough, then hospital again. It’s all been about me being sick and keeping me alive. Not a whole lot of romantic us stuff. He’s the most important to me out of any of it. Seriously, if all we do is climb into the fluffy bathrobes and go to sleep, I’m totally down for private time alone. But I know before we do that, you wanna talk about this other stuff, so hit me with your dad worries. I promise I can contain myself not sucking on Sash’s face for five minutes. Even if I could feel he was totally into it,” he added, grinning.
And Sasha was back to blushing again. Nothing Justin was saying was inaccurate. “Hey, I’m Grey-Ace. I would like to emphatically point out that I am very much in the grey area right now. I was in the grey so long in the shower this morning that I was late to school. Then I come to him like this and I can barely walk straight. I’m all up for private time. Oh, shit. I did not mean to say it like that,” he added hastily, putting his hand over his face.
Mark laughed, shaking his head in amusement. It did surprise him whatsoever that his son had found someone who was his mirror in many ways but they complimented each other so well. They just had a natural groove that many couples had to work to achieve. Gen was so excited that Sash was going to be her son in law that he had to keep reining her in when she got all up in her mom game and talked about Justin’s future wedding. They all know the boys didn’t plan on marrying until they were out of their teens and Sash had at least a couple of years of med school under his belt. That, alone, told them how smart they were as a couple. It was far from just young puppy love. He picked up the teapot. “Come on, you two. Come sit in the living room. I promise I won’t grill you for the rest of the day.” Once they were settled - complete with Dory clearly deciding Sash and Justin needed time together too and chose Mark’s lap to sit on - he sipped his tea. “I need to talk to you about your entourage, Jus. Namely, if you want to employee a PA or if you’re okay with Ari being your medical aid and Sash helping out when he’s around. I don’t want to bring you down or anything like that but if you’re thinking of getting back to work, we need to start the ball rolling.”
Justin shook his head. “No. Sash is my fiance, not my staff. Even if he’s part of my care team, it’s a different story when I’m working. Besides the fact, he’s not always there when I’m at work. He’s studying to get into Med School, he’s always the first on-hand when my head starts fucking up. He’ll do whatever he can to help and I’m not going to overload him. He deserves downtime and he can’t be overloaded because we all know how much his migraines can take him down. So, if he’s there with me while I’m at work and happens to get me a cup of coffee, he’s my fiance getting me a coffee, not my PA. That is a huge gaping line I want drawn in the sand. I have to take care of him too, even if that balance isn’t always equal. So, that means I need a security guy to replace Andre, a PA and an Assistant Manager to help Aiden now everything’s getting bigger. But this time, I want Sash involved in the whole recruitment process. He has a whole fine-tuned gut-feeling thing and he’ll know if anyone is a dick.”
“Hypothetically, how would you feel if someone on your staff had an affair with someone you know who is in a relationship with someone else you know?” Mark had to ask. He hadn’t even broached this with Ari or Trey yet. He wasn’t even sure if it was true but someone told someone who told someone else who told Mark that Trey and Ari were spotted kissing. “Hey, no objections here with Sash helping out with the process. I wish I had a Sash with the multitude of fuck ups I racked up in my life.”
Sasha had been playing with Justin’s fingers, something he liked to do when they were holding hands. He stopped as soon as Justin’s dad said that and Justin gave him a WTF side-eye. “Uh, Dad… why did you even bother with the ‘hypothetically’? Who’s boning who? You can’t just drop that on me and not give me the details. Is it going to fuck anything up for me?” He didn’t really have an issue with people on his staff sleeping with people he knew. That was their business. Even if it was some sort of affair, it wasn’t his position to point fingers or punish anyone. He just didn’t want anyone he cared about getting hurt. And he kind of didn’t want anything awkward going down on his staff because awkward was a pain in the arse.
Sasha’s mind was ticking over all the possible people Mark might be talking about. He held up his finger, about to say something, but he chickened out. But Mark noticed and raised his eyebrows expectantly at him. He looked between Justin and Mark. “I’m not saying it’s them or anything but when Jus was in hospital, Trey came to see him because he needed to update a confidentiality agreement or something. I told him the infusions were wiping Jus out. Anytime he had them, he crashed. Trey said he didn’t mind coming back later and told me to get Ari to shoot him a text to make a time Jus might be up to it. Which is fine. I mean, Ari takes care of a lot of that sort of stuff when Jus is ill. I went to get a soda a bit later, and saw both of them up the corridor having a pretty intense conversation. I just didn’t think anything of it at the time. But now I think about it, it might’ve been, uh, sexual tension I was seeing…”
Justin started laughing and shook his head. “Seriously? But…” He didn’t have to say it. Everyone knew. Ari was dating Trent and Trey had been with Brendan for as long as Brendan had been living in New York. They lived together with Kyan and Reecy, because their twin bond was tight. Justin asked Reecy about it after she got married to Kyan but they all lived in a big place and it worked fine. Kyan and Trey were Yin-Yang twins. Total opposites, but fit together perfectly as brothers. Would literally die for each other. “Um, like, I think Ari and Trent are open. He said that awhile back when I asked him about needing to help me so much. But Trey and Brendan… fuck. Then again, Brendan’s been back in London for ages. It’s just, he’s going to be family when Uncle Sam gets married to Lisa. Like, he’ll be Codie’s big brother. Whoa, mindfuck. I dunno how I’m supposed to feel…”
Mark shrugged. “Well, kiddo, it got back to me that they were seen kissing. I’m not going to draw any specific conclusions. It doesn’t bother me who’s fucking who, just so long as they keep doing their job how it needs to be done. I wouldn’t be surprised if it came about because of everything going on with you, buddy. While you were at your worst, they had to work closely together and it was intense work, I’ll say that. The aftermath of everything that happened, we needed to make sure you were as protected and safeguarded as possible. Trey’s proven to be just as on the ball and cluey about your case as I anticipated he would be. They would’ve had to spend a lot of private time together, that’s all. I want to give them the chance to disclose it, even if they want it kept hush. You’re right, though. Brendan’s family. But there might be a lot more to this story than we know. But if it’s a problem, we can bring it up sooner. With all the changes with your management going on, it’d be a good time to lay cards on the table.”
“I’ll talk to Ari. But, Dad, all I’d really want is Trey to be honest with Brendan. I don’t care if Ari’s boning everyone on my staff, I just don’t want anyone hurt. Hell, they can have their own tour bus and turn it into a sex cave. Honestly? I’m nervous about all the changes. I know I’m now more fucked in the head than I ever have been and it just feels like more and more people are involved or affected, you know?” Justin started bouncing his leg, biting the corner of his thumb nail as a little flare of anxiety ignited now he was having some of these things highlighted to him. “Do you think they’re having an affair because they needed to, like, escape all my shit? I know it’s a lot of shit.”
Mark gave a small smile, bemused. “Jus, I’m sure there a lot of ways it impacts on your loved ones but your illnesses absolutely do not cause someone’s dick to accidentally slip into a hole. There’s something else, kiddo. And I don’t want you to feel pressure or obligated in any way. But, Autumn’s back. She’s moved back permanently. Before your mind grabs that and runs with it, just hear me out for a minute. She’s quit the acting business and has a Master in entertainment management, something along those lines. She contacted Aiden to ask if she could get some sort of work experience. Now, I know she left on bad terms with everyone but something you might be able to consider is employing her in a similar capacity to Ari, but taking care of your day-to-day professional business. Like a PA, just more hands-on in managing the general work affairs. You know her, she knows most of your background. It’s something to think about.”
Justin knew his dad didn’t like leaving him blindsided because that had forever been one of Justin’s biggest triggers over the time. It hit like a mini bombshell, though. It was the last thing he could have expected his dad to say. “Fuck, I don’t even know if I want to--”
As Sasha was sitting there listening to the conversation, he started to feel that telltale splice of pain that felt like it ran from behind his eye towards his ear. The aura was there too. Little warning flashes in his vision. Really bad timing too. He wanted to be involved in all these changes and planning that was going on with Justin’s career and branding. He patted Justin’s knee, cutting him off, and leaned over to put his tea on the coffee table. “Sorry, baby. I need to take my meds and lie down. A migraine’s coming.”
The thoughts about Justin’s other stuff was quickly set aside and he looked at Sasha’s face closely. Autumn and Ari boning Trey could wait. “Oh, shit, you’re white as ghost, darlin’. Let me help you. Can you stand?” He stood up to take Sasha’s arm in case he toppled over. The migraines that hit quick like this could rapidly morph into one of those freaky horrible ones where Sasha’s body went partly paralysed and he stopped being able to form sentences or speak properly. “What do you need? You need to be sick? Dad, can you get his pills from the safe?”
Mark was up and standing at Sasha’s other side. He patted his back softly. “I’ll get your meds, mate. Jus, we can talk about this again soon. Just think things over, write them down if you need to. There’s no urgency. We’ll get it all sorted before you’re officially back at work.” But when he watched the head up the hall to their room, he scratched his forehead, feeling nervous about Justin getting back into the swing of life. It could go either way and right now, he was scared his son wasn’t quite as emotionally strong as he used to be.
LOG, COMPLETE