Alternate Universe by Teri
Rated R for language
Archive allowed at ATP and Always
Disclaimer-  I do not own any of the boys from QAF.
Obviously if I did, the world as we know it would come
to an end.  This is not for profit and is for private
entertainment only.

This is just a bit of silliness.  Please take it as
that.


It had been a long, hard day.  A collective sigh of
relief could be heard from each of the five men as
they passed through the door of the club.
Multi-colored strobe lights flashed in time with the
pulsating music that swirled around them.  The week
was behind them and the weekend loomed ahead.

"What the fuck?" Brian exclaimed, stopping so fast
that one of the other guys ran into him.  "Since when
does Babylon have a hetero night?"

"What are you talking about, Bri?  There's no such
thing here," the smaller brunette, the one that had
collided with him, stated, looking up at his chestnut
haired friend.

Brian snorted.  "Take a look around, Mikey.  It's
breeder central."

Another one of the group, this one a young blond with
an angelic face, agreed.  "It's all opposite sex
couples," Justin observed 

"When did they do this, Teddy?" the tall, thin one
asked.

"I don't know, Em," the man next to him said.  He was
the oldest of the group, had dark hair, and seemed a
bit on the shy side. 

"Let's go find out."  Brian led the way through the
crowd to the bar.  Upon reaching it, he took the
liberty of ordering beers for each of them. When the
bartender returned with the drinks, Brian motioned him
closer.  "When did you guys add a night for the
heteros?"

"Excuse me?"  The puzzled look on the bartender's face
irritated Brian.

"Since when does a gay club cater to the other side?"
Brian demanded.

"Sir," the man said, "Please keep your voice down.  I
really don't understand the question.  What gay club?"

"This gay club!" Brian shouted in frustration.
"Babylon!"

The bartender stood up very straight.  The guy on the
other side of the bar was obviously unstable and maybe
even delusional.  "Sir, Babylon is not and never has
been a gay nightclub."

Brian felt like he had been blindsided.  His jaw
dropped open in shock.  'I must be dead,' he thought.
'This is hell.'

He turned to his friends, two of them happened to be
staring up at the catwalk above the dance floor.  "The
bartender told me it's not a gay club," he reported.
That got their attention.

"What?" they all asked simultaneously.

"Seems it never has been," he said so quietly that
they almost didn't hear him.

Ted spoke first.  "I think we have other problems."

"How?"  Michael asked.  "How could there be more
problems than this one?"

"I think we are being cruised," Emmett said.  He
glanced up to the railing, and indicated a group of
women leaning on the bar, looking down at them.

Justin, with a keen eye, looked them over.  "Do you
notice anything different about them?"

"Besides the fact that they have tits and vaginas like
every other female, and they shouldn't be here?" Brian
said derisively.  "No, can't say that I do."

Justin smiled over at Brian.  "Well, I think you're
going to.  They are headed this way."

Five women made their way across the dance floor.  The
guys held their breath, hoping they were headed
elsewhere, but no, they made a beeline right for them.

The first one to say anything was a tall, slim woman
with hair the color of warm oak.  She smiled at all
the guys but her eyes lit up when they landed on
Justin.  "Hey," she said, moving towards him.  "I'm
Brianna."  She looped an arm around his neck and
whispered in Justin's ear.  His resulting blush was
easy to see in the neon light. 

A frown crossed Brian's face.  "Who did this girl
think she was, hitting on Justin like that?"  Even
though Brian and Justin had parted ways as a couple,
they were still friends, and he still cared about
Justin.  "Excuse me," Brian interjected grabbing a
hold of her arm.

"It's okay, Bri," Justin reassured him.  "She just
wants to dance."  He nodded assent and followed
Brianna out to the dance floor.

"Jeez, Brian, I didn't think anybody moved that
quickly except you," Michael said.  Brian raised an
eyebrow at his best friend.  "Well," Michael
explained, "I've seen you perform that maneuver about
a million times."

Slowly, Brian realized Mikey was right.  It was the
same pick-up move he had used for years.  The woman
was just like him.  He took another look at the women
standing in front of him, really looked. 

The rest of the group that was left, talking amongst
themselves right now, consisted of a small, petite
brunette with a blinding smile, a giggling blond,
dressed to the nines, a quiet brunette dressed very
conservatively, and a voluptuous blond with creamy
skin and bright blue eyes.

'It's us,' Brian recognized.  He wasn't sure yet where
they really were or how they got here, but a crazy
idea popped into his head. "Mikey, I gotta piss.  Come
with me."

"Brian, I don't need to go with you," Michael laughed.
 

"Now, Mikey."  Michael knew that voice.  It brooked no
argument.  He dutifully followed his friend to the
restroom.  That left the rest of the group standing in
an awkward silence.

Michael grabbed Brian's arm.  "Okay, tell me why you
needed an escort to the men's room."

"Mikey, something weird is going on here, but I can't
explain it."

Michael heard something close to paranoia in his
friend's voice.  "Calm down and tell me what."

Brian collected his thoughts for a moment.  "Justin
was right when he said those women were different." He
pause, but Michael didn't say anything, so he
continued.  "Those girls are us, Mikey.  Somehow, some
way, I think we are meeting ourselves."

Michael was staring at Brian like he had grown another
head.  "You're crazy, Brian.  What kind of drug did
you take this time?"

"I'm not drugged!" Brian defended.  "I'm not even
drunk, although I wish I was!"  He took a deep breath,
closed his eyes and willed himself to calm.  "Mikey,
do you think that we are in some kind of alternate
universe or something?  You're the expert on this type
of thing, what do you think?  Do you think we woke up
this morning somewhere else?  And if we did, can we go
back?"

"Why would you think I'm an expert on that?"  Brian
just looked at him, one perfect eyebrow arched.
Michael sighed.  "I don't know, Brian.  I suppose that
alternate or parallel universes could exist, but I
don't think that's ever been proven.  I really don't
have any answers for you, but I think you are
overreacting just a bit.  Don't be such a drama
queen."

This remark coaxed a small smile from Brian.  "Maybe
you're right, Mikey."  He leaned his forehead to his
friend's.  "It's probably my imagination, but could
you keep an open mind?"

"Yeah, I can do that," Michael replied then gave Brian
a brief kiss.  "Let's go see what the rest of the guys
are up too."

When they rejoined the group, Emmett introduced them
to the rest of the girls.  "Girls, this fine specimen
of manhood is Brian Kinney."  While all the girls
nodded at him, he noticed that the petite brunette
smiled shyly, and then blushed.  Emmett continued,
"And this," he motioned to Michael, "is one of the
nicest guys you could ever meet, Michael Novotny."

Turning to his two friends, Emmett introduced the
girls to them.  "Brian, Michael, this is Miki," he
said, indicating the petite brunette.  The rest of the
group consisted of Justine, the blue-eyed blonde,
Emma, the giggling fashion plate, and Theodora, (or
Teddy as she preferred to be called), the conservative
brunette.

When Brian shot a significant look over to his friend,
Michael just shrugged.  Justine moved over by Michael.
 "So, what do you do for a living, Mike?"

"I own a comic book store and author a comic that
Justin illustrates," he answered.  "And you?"

"I'm an artist too!" Justine exclaimed, and then
added, "Well, I'm an art student."  She looked a
little thoughtful.  "That's kind of strange, isn't it?
 I'm an artist and Justin is an artist."

"Isn't it though?" Brian interjected.  "Miki, what do
you do?" he asked, afraid he already knew the answer.

Miki blushed and smiled at Brian.  "I manage a book
store."

"I see," he couldn't help but smile back. For a girl,
she was incredibly cute and did remind him a bit of
Michael.  "What kind of book store?"

"A...a...comic book store," she stuttered out.

Brian noticed that Ted had taken Emma to the dance
floor, while Emmett and Teddy had wandered over to the
bar for fresh drinks.  Michael seemed to be deep in a
conversation with Justine now about the trends in
illustration, so that left Brian to contend with Miki.

For a few minutes, they stood silently, side by side.
Brian watched her out of the corner of his eye.  Her
hair was almost black, and her translucent complexion
seemed to make her dark eyes glow.  A spattering of
freckles across the bridge of her nose just added to
the overall cute effect.  He caught her once, glancing
at him, a little smile on her face and pink staining
her cheeks.  'Too much like Mikey,' Brian thought.
'Well, when in Rome...' He leaned over and Miki's
silky curls brushed his lips as he whispered, "Let's
dance."  With a hand on the small of her back, he
guided her through the crush.

Michael eyes flickered briefly over to Brian as he
watched his friend lead Miki to the floor.  "Do you
want to dance?" he heard Justine ask.  He focused back
on the pretty blond.

"Why not," he shrugged.  They made their way through
the couples crowding the area.  Wedging into a spot
near where Brian and Justin were with their partners,
Michael turned to Justine and started moving to the
beat.  The girl danced like she didn't have a bone in
her body.  She actually danced a lot like Justin, very
provocatively and to get everyone to notice her.  As
Michael was moving with her, Brian's earlier theory
floated through his brain.  If somehow Brian was
right, then he was dancing with Justin, well kind of.
And this girl in front of him did remind him a lot of
his business partner.  So if he was dancing with
Justin, then Brian was with...him.  He looked over to
where Brian was dancing with Miki.  She had a look of
absolute worship on her face, looking up into hazel
eyes that Michael could picture in his mind with very
little effort.  Did he look at Brian like that?  He
had a funny feeling he did.

"Would you rather dance with Miki?"  Justine asked in
his ear, bringing Michael's attention back to her.
"She is really cute."  Michael smiled softly and shook
his head.  "Maybe you'd rather be dancing with Brian?"
 She smiled at his shocked expression.  "It's not hard
to see that you love him.  It's written all over your
face.  I take it he doesn't know?"

"He knows."  Justine just nodded understandingly at
the sad tone in his voice. 




Emmett and Teddy had gotten their drinks from the
bartender, and were surveying the crush around them.
Something about the girl reminded him of Ted for some
reason.  Not the way she looked, her hair was about
the same color as Ted's but had a slight wave to the
short bob.  But the way she carried herself, slightly
self-consciously.  She was pretty..for a girl.  But
she was so serious.  Their conversation so far had
been mostly about work.  It turned out Teddy was an
accountant.  "An accountant?  Really?  That's
interesting,  Ted used to be an accountant."  Emmett
frowned, trying to wrap his brain around something but
it wasn't quite there, so he decided they should be
having a good time.  "Do you dance?" he asked her.

"Not really," she answered.  "But thanks, Emmett."
She smiled slightly at the man next to her.  "But you
go ahead, if you want to.  Don't feel like you need to
keep me company.  I'm quite used to standing here
alone actually."

"That's it!" Emmett exclaimed.  He grabbed her hand
and pulled her along.  "I will not allow you to be
such a stick in the mud, Teddy.  You are going to have
fun if it kills you!"



Ted eyed the flamboyant Emma as they danced.  She kind
of reminded him of Emmett for some reason.  Maybe it
was just the colorful clothes. 

"Ted, you really need to loosen up some," She said in
his ear as she looped her arms around his neck.
"You're not at a Shriner's Convention for christ's
sake!  It's a party, c'mon have some fun!" 

Ted grinned.  "You sound just like Emmett!"  Emma
smiled.  "He's always trying to pull me into things,
says I'm not adventurous enough."

"Well, let's make sure that dancing with me is an
adventure!"  The bump and grind she did made Ted
blush.




Justin was in Brianna's embrace, her hands on his
hips, swaying to the music.  She leaned close, he
could feel her warm breath in his ear.  "So Justin,
you wanna get outta here?" 

He smiled up at her.  "Brianna, I'm gay.  Didn't you
figure that out?"  She shook her head.  "Well, I am."

"Why did you agree to dance with me then?"

Justin shrugged.  "To have a good time."

Brianna grinned.  "You are a beautiful boy, Justin.
If you ever decide to...y'know...well, you come find
me."

"Deal," Justin laughed.  "But don't hold your breath."





Brian smiled down into the big brown eyes that were
gazing up at him adoringly.  He just couldn't help
liking this girl, probably because she was Mikey's
alter ego.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" he heard Miki ask, her
mouth near his ear.  He glanced down.  The sight of
her on tiptoes charmed him.

"No."  He saw hope flare in her eyes.  "I have a..."
How could he put this?  "I'm queer."  Now she wore a
puzzled look, but understanding dawned and with it,
hurt.  Brian was sorry he had to do that to her.

"Oh," she said in a small voice.

"Hey, Miki."  He put a hand under her chin and lifted
her eyes to his.  "You're great, okay?  I just happen
to like someone else."  He couldn't help but glance
over at Michael.

Miki grinned.  "I see.  Have you told Michael that you
love him?"  Brian's gaze snapped back to hers.  "I
take that as a no.  You should.  Love is too precious
to waste."



Regrouping at the bar, they all got fresh drinks.
Conversation flowed easily between the new friends. 

Teddy took out a compact and applied some lipstick.
"Emmett, could you hold this for me?"   She handed him
the lipstick tube and powdered her nose.

Brian glanced at his watch.  "Well, I've got an early
meeting tomorrow."  He looked pointedly at his
friends, who stuttered excuses about having to get
home.

"We need to get going to."  Brianna smiled, "Gotta get
our beauty sleep."  They made promises to look each
other up in the near future as they said their
goodbyes.



The next morning, the five men gathered at the Liberty
Diner for breakfast.  They were settled with coffee,
waiting for their food. 

"I had the strangest dream last night," Brian started.
 They looked expectantly at him, waiting for him to
continue.  "We were at Babylon but it wasn't right.
It wasn't a gay club.  There were all these women
there."  Surprise was on four faces but no one said a
word.  "And there were these five girls, Brianna,
Miki, Justine, Emma and Teddy.  It was so weird.  We
were dancing with them.  But they were us!"

"That's ridiculous, Brian," Emmett said, reaching into
his pocket to get some cash for the bill.  He opened
his hand and in it laid a lipstick tube.  He opened
it.

"That's not your shade, is it, Em?" Ted asked slowly.
Emmett shook his head in disbelief.

"No way," Justin murmured.

They all stared at the lipstick like it was an alien
artifact.  "It was a dream," Brian said.

"Of course it was," Emmett confirmed.  Ted nodded in
agreement.

"It had to be," Michael said softly.  Brian's eyes
shot to Michael's.

After a moment of silent wondering, they all started
talking at once, divvying up the check, and gathering
their things to leave. 

As they exited the diner, Brian, watching Michael
tease Justin, grew thoughtful.  Somehow, in spite of
the evidence to the contrary, it had to have been a
dream.  But even so, Miki had been right.  Love was
too precious to waste.

But now, not only did he have to contend with various
guys sniffing around Mikey; he had to worry about
other dimensions too?

"Mikey!  Wait up!" Brian called.  Dark eyes turned and
met his.  "I gotta talk to you!"