It's super vague and I'm not sure at all about the details, so I don't have much hope someone will recognize this. But here it goes:
- Brian receives a phone call or a voicemail while he's at Britin.
- It's either Michael or Lindsay. They are either bitchy, mean, asking for money, dismissive of his relationship with Justin, telling him Justin won't ever come back or something of the kind.
- It makes Brian reassess his relationship with Michael/Lindsay and how he wants his relationship with Justin to work.
- Brian calls Justin or visits him or asks him to come to Britin/Pittsburgh so they can talk.
- They decide to make changes, possibly with Justin leaving New York for good once he has fulfilled his current work commitments.
- They have a strong relationship, of the them-against-the-world kind.
I hesitate to include this, because I'm even less sure that it's in the same fic: it's possible that Justin confesses that his artwork has suffered from being in New York. He's too stressed, maybe because he also has a job as a waiter, and misses Brian and his family. He's depressed or not sleeping well. He didn't want to give up on NY because he felt he would disappoint Brian. But what he really wants is to come home.
EDIT: it's
That Happy Feeling by Rizabeau. Thanks everyone!