The Fool On The Hill [COMPLETE]

[BRIAN SAMUEL EPSTEIN]

William's voice had been soft, inaudible. So much so that the first word he spoke Brian thought he had imagined it so he didn't immediately back away. When they finally registered he blinked, frozen, his face was now in front of William's, looking directly at him. "What?" He blinked, appearing childlike which was a rarity for him for he had seen and done way too much. "But you just told me to stay." The boy was confused. He didn't know what he wanted and so Brian was determined to make him know.

"Well which is it Willy? Stay or go? You've said each one at least once." He gave a nervous sort of chuckle that was barely heard. A little, humble smile on his face that tried so very hard to hide the nerves that he currently felt. He thought for sure that this one would be in the bag. He gave all the right signs! What gave?! William stepping away only plunged the knife deeper into the wound. Hell, it impaled it.

"Of course I do. It's a physical act and certainly one that we've both done before. In fact, I recall you enjoying it immensely." Another nervous little smile as he reached out to lightly caress the side of Will's face with just two fingers before bringing his hand down to rest on his ex's shoulder. "You were quite good you know." All of a sudden he had another flashback to the numerous amount of times he had uttered the phrase to George Harrison though under a completely different context. The youngest Beatle always needed constant reassurance in his validity. He always felt so out of place. He was a bit like Will in that regard though Brian could only ever see George as his baby.

"You're always doubting yourself. Always." He went on. "How do you know unless you give it a try? Just once. You've grown a bit... As have I. Why don't you give it a last go?" His voice was oddly gentle, perhaps even comforting. Perhaps it was one of the few reasons William had ever been attracted to him in the first place. It was certainly one of the reasons that the Beatles liked having him around. He catered to everyone's needs whether it be forceful or gentle. He knew exactly what each person needed to hear usually.

His back was turned and Brian could feel that he was losing. After a long quiet his voice came out as quiet as Will's had. "Fine." Fixing his suit coat he gave a curt nod. "As you wish." And after a slight moment of hesitation he began to make his way toward the door. He then stopped. Frozen. Who was he kidding? Brian Epstein never lost! Not when there was a breath of life left in his body! He wasn't sure his ego could take it.

"No." Turning on his loafer clad heel he marched right up to William grabbing him by either shoulder and forcably turning him around. This was a move that far better suited Noah but it seemed to inhabit Brian at the moment. "Look at me. You look at me and tell me to my face that's what you want." He demanded, still holding William firmly by the shoulders so he couldn't turn away.

"Go on."

[WILLIAM MARTIN EDELMAN]

Rarely did Will have the chance to see this side of Brian. Not much could throw the manager for a loop but it appeared that he was becoming just as confused as Will was by the whole situation. And the actor couldn't answer Brian's question because he still wasn't sure what the answer was. Too bad this was too momentous of a situation to settle by a coin flip. Then again, if Will did that he could blame the coin for ruining his life, instead of having to blame himself. But what a cowardly thing something like that would have been to do. He was a grownup. He had to make his own choice.

Before Will could stop himself, the words, "Was I?" came out of his mouth. He did know that the both of them were good together in bed but it's not like they ever talked about it or really complimented each other on their prowess in the sack. "Not that it matters," he hastened to add, "Because that's all beside the point." Not that Will exactly knew what the point of anything was at the moment.

That was a valid argument but just because it was valid didn't mean that it was right. Doubt was a good thing to have, wasn't it? If no one ever doubted anything, people would be jumping into things right and left without even bothering to think of the consequences. "The one thing I do know right now is that if I give it one last go I'm going to regret it. You can separate the physical and emotional when it comes to me; I can't." He hoped Brian could just understand that and move on to some other younger man who would be more than willing to fall for his tricks.

And, as he turned his back on Brian, he thought just that was going to happen. Brian's words definitely gave him hope. But, before Will even knew what was happening, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders and he was turned around to face the man he had just instructed to leave. Quite naturally, after being instructed by Brian to look at him, Will couldn't do it. Instead, he found an interesting spot on the floor to look at. "Yes," he said, rather weakly. But after only a moment's pause, he added, "No...I don't know."

He finally did glance up to look at Brian. "I wish I knew what I wanted...I really wish I knew. But you can't expect me to drop my pants for you when you decide on a whim to come backstage and see me for the first time in eight years." He was still trying his hardest to get Brian to see things from his point of view. That was the only way he could see of getting Brian to back off for the time being. However, something inside of Will instinctively knew that even that wouldn't be enough. Either tonight was going to end with him dropping his pants or with no hope of him and Brian ever becoming friends.

[BRIAN SAMUEL EPSTEIN]

So this was really it. Will had changed... Somewhat anyways. The fact that he was so desperately trying to look at some uninteresting thing on the floor to keep from looking directly at him was not going unnoticed. Brian could be rather observant even in moments of passion or whatever the hell this was. Maybe he was just trying to prove a point. To William. To himself. Truthfully he wasn't even sure anymore though his hands were still firm on the young man's shoulders.

"You don't know a thing because you're too scared to even give it a go." Brian's voice sounded urgent like he was fearful his head might implode if he didn't get a suitable answer soon. By golly he would make it a suitable answer because he was running out of options that pleased him. Brian had made the effort to come backstage to the dressing room to speak to him and he was definitely not leaving empty handed.

"You stubborn git. I'll make you make up your mind." He whispered in a hushed, rushed voice before moving to press his lips right against Will's in a kiss. It had been sudden though not necessarily unexpected. There was some heat to it, and definitely a desire, after all it had been nearly a decade since the two of them had talked let alone done something like this. But it was this something that Brian was the most comfortable with. He knew how to do this. It was one of the few things in his life that he felt content with: His ability anyways.

Brian wasn't an inhibited man behind closed doors especially when he knew the other bloke wanted him, or at least some attention. And he was fairly certain that was the case with William. And so his hands found their way to either side of the poor man's face as he pulled him closer, whether Will wanted it or not. All the while he had managed to cause William to step backward (a semi mixed message of a push and pull concept) and caused him to nearly trip over the chair he had been in front of. Still guiding the way he managed to somehow maneuver the man around so that Brian could drag him onto the couch (Brian sitting and Will... wherever he would fall. Truthfully Brian didn't care one bit.).

Breaking the kiss he reopened his eyes, looking right at Will, more so monitoring his reaction to it though the manager managed to pass it off as just general curiousity. "Still want me to leave?"

[WILLIAM MARTIN EDELMAN]

That fear had a role to play in tonight's events had never even entered into Will's mind. All the fear he had been thinking about had been Brian's one of commitment. Will had never considered it a factor in him not wanting to have a one-night stand with his former lover. But he supposed it made sense, although he wasn't about to admit it out loud to Brian. He was afraid that if he did this it might make him more emotionally attached to Brian than he wanted to be--that it would bring up the old childish him, clinging on to all of Brian's sweet words, anxiously awaiting each meeting with his lover.

Stubborn was the only thing Will could be in this situation; it was the only way he could protect himself. And Brian didn't give Will any time to process his final words before his lips were against the actor's. Will didn't kiss him back. Even if he wanted to he couldn't because he was too busy trying to keep from falling down and remaining relatively uninjured as Brian dragged him across the room to the couch. His mind, however, was screaming at him to nip this in the bud right now. Push Brian away...Fight back...Scream 'rape!' at the top of his lungs if he had to...Just do anything but worry about keeping his balance.

Thankfully, Brian landed on the couch. Not so thankfully, Will landed on top of him. Will placed his hands on either side of Brian to keep most of his weight off of the man. Well, this was it. Now was Will's chance to get up and command Brian to get the hell out of his dressing room. Now was the time to take full control of everything happening. But when Brian broke off the kiss to speak again, Will found himself doing nothing but smiling. He was confused, afraid, and everything else that Brian had accused him of being. Now was the time to show Brian differently.

One hand went up to run through Brian's hair. "Oh, why not stay for a little while longer?" he said, "I could use the company." A flirtatious wink followed. He leaned down to start the kiss again, this time being able to return it with all of the passion his body could muster. Will's hands moved up to the back of the couch as he positioned himself more comfortably on Brian's lap. He had missed this...He had really, really, really missed this.

(OOC: I believe the password is needed now...hahaha...or we could just fade to black...Up to you. Either one is fine with me!)

MOVED TO ANOTHER BOARD - WILL BE CONT'D HERE AT LATER DATE

[WILLIAM MARTIN EDELMAN]

...

It was finished. Will couldn't quite believe the events that had just transpired. It had all almost been too surreal. Even as he sat on the couch next to Brian, pants on but still bare from the chest on up, he couldn't believe that it had happened. He had thought so many times about what their reunion would be like, and never had he thought that it was going to end up being Brian shagging him in his dressing room.

Nor did he really think about the awkwardness that would come afterwards. What was he supposed to say to an ex that he had just had a one-night stand? Was he supposed to make small talk with him? Was he supposed to kick him out of the room right away? Was there even a guidebook for scenarios like this? Of course, all of those questions could have easily been avoided if Will had never caved in in the first place. But he couldn't help it that Brian had known--still knew all of the right buttons to push.

What was done was done; there was no point in sitting here in relatively awkward silence because what they had done may have been a little bit unorthodox but that didn't mean it deserved to be made so awkward. But Will still wasn't sure of what he should say. Thanks? It was nice seeing you again? Why did I do that? All were reasonable options. The actor finally settled on a weird conglomeration of all three ideas. He looked over at Brian, a small smile playing on his lips, saying, "I'm glad you decided to come visit tonight because I really needed that but it can never happen again. We need to be on the same page about that."

Doing it once was a sort of forgivable mistake. If Will did it again, he was an idiot. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself. It was as simple as that. Hopefully, Brian would get that. Will wasn't the kind of man who could continually have casual sex with someone like that. If he was going to have any kind of long-term sexual relationship with someone the emotional part of the coin needed to be there as well. And Brian didn't do so well in that area, and Will definitely wasn't going to try that bit with him again.

[BRIAN SAMUEL EPSTEIN]

So there it was. It had been done. The game was over. The outcome certain (at least for the evening). But now what? Now came the feared awkward 'morning after' except it was right after the climax and the two exes had to 'deal' with one another. Even for Brian who had dealt with situations like this numerous times it was incredibly awkward. Usually it wasn't for Brian but with Will, as always with William, things were different. Brian was fairly certain that he hated that.

Once they had finished Brian was quick to put his clothes back on not out of shame for the act but because that's what he always did post coital. He hated being naked. He hated having to look at his body and he certainly wasn't going to subject anyone else to the horror (even if they had already seen it... numerous times). Sitting on the couch beside his sexual partner Brian was still, quiet for a few moments, unmoving. His eyes focused straight forward desperate for something of interest to lock onto. Alas: Nothing.

Strangely enough passive aggressive Will was the first to speak which caused Brian to look up. At his comment Brian blinked, a wave of confusion showing in the orbs that still seemed so surprised. "That? You never want that to happen again? Surely you're kidding." A little smile played at Brian's lips as he felt the game revving up once again. Vroom. Vroom. "You can't tell me that you didn't enjoy that. I certainly know that you did." The manager teased lightly reaching over to gently, yet firmly squeeze Will's thigh, egging him on. Yes, round 2 of the game had just begun and Brian would get Will to agree to another trist.. Soon.

"Oh come off it. Don't be so bloody difficult Will. You missed me, you know that you did." He craned his face so that he was able to get in Will's ine of vision. He used the aid of his own fingers which lifted Will's chin so he had no choice. "Admittedly I missed you as well." Yep, he'd buy that especially if he tacked on a boyish smile just after it... Which he did. Charming really.

"What do you say to stopping by the boy's flat sometime? Say hello, give a hoot and a holler? See what they're about?... As friends." He added firmly, knowing that Will probably needed that reaffirmation to keep himself from exploding in paranoia.

[WILLIAM MARTIN EDELMAN]

So much for Brian being understanding! "Of course I enjoyed it," he answered, "But just because you enjoy something it doesn't mean that something has to happen again." Will's rational mind was slowly starting to kick back in gear again. But his mind wasn't rational enough to realize that Brian was only playing a game with him. In some deep recess Will might have unconsciously realized it but the better part of him wanted to believe that over the intervening years Brian had changed too.

And now Brian was forcing the young actor to look at him and...No. Will couldn't believe those words. "Is eight years some kind of magic number then? You didn't miss me last year...or the year before that...or the year before that?" If Brian had missed him so damn much, why hadn't he come to visit sooner? It made no bloody sense. The way Will saw it all, Brian had waited until now to come visit because up until now he had had no problem finding other men to be at his beck and call to fulfill certain needs but when he couldn't get any tonight he figured Will would be an easy target.

It was kind of useless to be thinking all of those things right now; maybe half an hour or so they would have been helpful in helping prevent Will from falling into his trap. But Brian was relentless, now inviting Will to come meet the band he was managing...as friends. At least he was kind enough to tag that on. Who was this band again? The Beatles? Yeah, something like that.

Will shook his head in the negative. "I can't...I won't...I don't want to." There. That covered almost every way he could say no. "I'm sure they're great people but your life is your life and my life is my life. I don't want there to be any intersecting again like that." He wasn't going to drag himself around to meeting Brian's clients again like that. No, sir. Will was quite happy with the life he had built for himself. The last thing he needed was to be dragged back into Brian Epstein's life.

[BRIAN SAMUEL EPSTEIN]

"Well then if you enjoyed it then what's the problem with having another go?" Epstein questioned though of course the comment had been rhetorical seeing as he thought that the answer was fairly obvious. Ontop of all of that he honestly didn't care what Will's answer was. They *would* be doing this again. He had already won him over numerous times and it was likely that he would again and again until he got tired of him and moved on. Brian that is. "It doesn't have to. It's just going to. You want it to." William was right to worry about gaining an emotional attachment because Brian certainly didn't have any intention for anything long term.

"And who the hell says that I didn't miss you?" Brian shot at the man, a frown curving at his lips. "Would I be here if I didn't miss you? Maybe I just didn't think you'd want to see me. Ever think of that?" It was about half of a lie but he was hoping that he was being convincing enough. With gullable Will who still believed that people were really good beneath it all it was very likely. "Just think on it Will. If you were me, and things ended the way that they did, would you be so quick to come back? Hm?" Also he had the whole 'managing the Beatles' thing but he decided that mentioning that might cheapen the sentiment.

"You can't or you won't?" Another playful little smile spread across Brian's face. Reaching out he gave Will another little nudge hoping to knock some 'sense' into him but only the kind that would get him to agree. Should be easy enough. "Come on Willy. Just once. I won't ask you again if you completely hate it." Yeah. Hate the Beatles. Like THAT would ever happen. Had Edelman been completely snoozing the last year or so? Likely...

"I won't ask again." Honestly Brian had already got his and he didn't need to be there anymore. His offer was purely polite and if Will wanted to refuse that was solely his perrogative. In fact Brian secretly wondered why he hadn't left already.

[WILLIAM MARTIN EDELMAN]

He still wasn't getting through to Brian. What on Earth did Will have to say to make him see things through his point of view? The actor didn't catch that Brian's question wasn't rhetorical but he still wasn't going to bother answering it because what was the point? Why waste the breath when he knew Brian would just disagree with every single word he uttered? But he could address his next statement. "I most definitely do not want it to happen again," he said, adamantly. "Having sex with an ex is a terrible enough idea the first time around." If Will had been able to utter those words earlier in the night they would have saved him a lot of grief.

Well, Brian certainly had a point there. Will had been rather upset with their breakup and hadn't bothered to hide those feelings from the man who did the breaking up part. Will couldn't blame Brian for being reticent about visiting his ex. "I wouldn't have stayed away for eight years," he replied. He wasn't going to agree with Brian on anything anymore tonight. Agreeing with him seemed to mean nothing but unnecessary trouble in his life.

Oh, what was that about not agreeing with him anymore? Meet the Beatles. One time. Won't ask again. Those words were ringing through Will's head. What was the harm in meeting with some famous band that he didn't know all that much about? Besides the fact that his ex was there manager, that is. He could survive a couple of hours of idle conversation with however many members of the band there were. And it would get Brian to shut up and hopefully leave his dressing room if he agreed to this meeting.

Will let out the smallest of sighs. "Fine," he said, resigning himself to the fate he had uncanningly weaved for himself tonight, "Just this once, I'll humor you." With those words said, Will stood up and picked up his shirt that was still lying on the ground. He turned towards Brian to speak again. "You should get going now. They'll be closing down the theatre for good tonight soon." He didn't want Brian having the time to humor him into doing anything else.

[EMMY ELIZABETH SILVIAS]

CLOSED