They had moved in a week before school was due to start. The kids didn’t seem to mind the new living arrangements because they loved the house. Most of the time the kids could be found at the pool or in the gym. The tennis court was pretty bare of children until Mitch had asked him to teach him to play. Justin remembered all his lessons when he was younger at the club. He hated sports but couldn’t really turn his son down. Thankfully, after a few pathetic attempts to teach Mitch to play, Gus had seen and taken over. Mitch was in awe of his new stepbrother, which made Justin happy.

Then there was Krista who had been smiling so much Justin thought she was a pod-person. She hadn’t been this happy in a long time. She told him that she was excited to start the new school. Not all the kids were happy to be going to a new school but there were none that hated the idea.

Justin had spent all day yesterday buying school supplies not just for his kids but also Brian’s kids. He spent more than he did on a van payment to get everything. Backpacks, lunchboxes, pencils, pens, crayons, paper, binders and the list goes on and on. He had twelve school lists to follow from the everyone under high schoolers then he just had to guess with all the high schoolers. It was a pain. Now he had to take them to get clothes for the new year. Brian had not been a help at all. Justin had to take a few vacation days from his work to get all this done. He was starting to feel like Brian didn’t want a husband, he wanted a maid/nanny.

This morning he was taking Logan, Alicia, Noreen, Natasha, Sadie, Mitch and Lucas to get school clothes. He wasn’t going in alone though; he had called in reinforcements. Daphne and his friend Robin were meeting them at the store. He told the older kids not to kill each other and went on his way.

As he drove his mind went back to a problem he had been ignoring. Ted, not Ned, was Lucas’ father and also Brian’s employee and friend. He should have told Brian the truth that first day when he saw Ted, but he kept his mouth shut. He was too worried about what would happen if Brian found out. But Justin didn’t know Brian at the time, it was way before Bea had been conceived.

Brian was working on saving an account that one of his underlings was close to losing. He had gotten up early and left before Justin had woken up. He needed to get this done and he thought if he waited Justin would try and talk him into going back to school shopping with him. It wasn’t really his strong suit. For three years he had to do it, but he mostly just did it online. Justin had a different way of doing things.  

One thing he was glad about was not having to go clothes shopping. He loved going clothes shopping for himself, but his kids were monsters who didn’t care about fashion…except Lola. Justin and he had made a joint bank account for them to use for things for the kids. His job was to put money in it, Justin could take care of the getting things. Sure, Justin put money in from his own job, but Brian made way more than Justin did.

He grabbed his phone and called Ted. “Get your ass in here,” he snapped when he answered.

A few minutes later Ted came in looking pissed. “Geez, Brian, I do have a job.”

“Glad to hear it. But I have a question that’s been bugging me.”

“What?”

“Why have you been shifty since you met Justin?”

Ted looked down at his shoes and Brian narrowed his eyes. He had been quiet about this since the dinner. But that was weeks ago and now that Justin and he lived together he wanted to know what was going on. He wasn’t a jealous person…alright that was lie he was a very jealous person, but he did his best at people not knowing.

“It’s nothing, Brian.”

“Tell me. Now.”

“We had a one-night stand years ago. It was nothing.”

“Just sex?” He couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to have sex with Ted, but he didn’t care that they had sex.

“Yeah, and it was just the once. I haven’t seen him since that night until the dinner. It’s just awkward you know.”

He did know, he had sex with Ben before Michael knew him. He thought it was stupid that Michael got upset but now he was seeing a little what Michael felt. He was glad he was worried over nothing. In his mind he had worked up crazy ideas like Ted and Justin having some kind of bond or relationship, but sex was just sex.

Brian left work late that day, he had too much work to do to leave earlier. Because it was late already, he decided to head over to Woody’s to have a drink. Justin being home with the kids was a huge relief.

Once he was a few drinks in, he started to get attention from a guy around his own age. He wasn’t interested because he had a sexy as fuck husband. The new guy wasn’t really listening to him when he told him to fuck off. Soon Michael, Ted and Emmett showed up. He had just texted Michael but was glad his friends had come and chased the freak off.

“Why aren’t you at home?” Emmett asked after ordering a drink.

“Just because I got married doesn’t mean my life ends. I was out more when I was married to Lindsay.”

“I thought this was supposed to be a real marriage?” Michael asked.

“It is.”

“And he let you have the same kind of freedom Lindsay did?”

“Let me?” He was getting pissed off, no one let him do anything.

Just as he was about to let Michael have it, his phone rang. It was Justin, he ignored it. It rang a few more times and finally he turned it off and shoved it in his pocket. He wasn’t some dickless robot who came running anytime Justin called, it was best Justin learn that now. He ordered another round.

Justin texted Brian for what felt like the tenth time. He tried to call him but soon it just went to voicemail, then he texted but it didn’t show up as seen.

“I’m taking her to the emergency room. If your father calls, tell him where I am,” he told Eric, who looked just as worried as Justin.

Justin wasn’t a new father; he didn’t get freaked out with sniffles or even high fevers, but Leia was clearly having a bad allergic reaction to something. The kids didn’t know she was allergic to anything so it must be new. He rushed out the door with Leia in his arms, taking Brian’s van because it was the one, he used earlier. He didn’t want to wait for an ambulance.

Once he rushed Leia in the to the ER, she was taken back right away. He explained he was her stepfather and thankfully wasn’t given any problems. Once they gave her an epinephrine injection it was a waiting game. She cried and wanted her father, but Brian still wasn’t answering his phone. He wanted someone as far from like Ethan as possible and got someone exactly the same.

Brian was laughing and having a good time when two familiar faces walked through the front door of Woody’s. It was Eric and Nina, they looked worried.

“No kids in here,” the bartender shouted.

“It’s alright, Dan,” he said, and the kids looked at him and rushed over.

“You’ve not been answering your phone,” Nina said. Brian saw she was close to tears.

“I turned it off. What’s going on?”

“Leia had an allergic reaction. She got all red and her face swelled up. Justin’s been trying to reach you all night. What the hell, Dad?” Eric asked.

Brian stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Why didn’t he tell me?” Both kids looked at him incredulously. “I’m going to the hospital. You two go back home.”

“How much have you drunk?” Nina asked.

“I’ll drive him, I haven’t drunk anything stronger than root beer,” Ted volunteered.

“You heard him, go home. I’ll call you later.”

Both kids looked at him and he felt like the lowest pond scum. They weren’t far off; he had turned his phone off and spent the night drinking like some college kid. Just because he married Justin didn’t mean he wasn’t a father anymore.

Leia had cried herself to sleep in his arms. He had been stewing over what to do about Brian. He had uprooted his children’s lives on a whim. He would have to continue to try to make this marriage work. Because of that, he decided to suck up his anger and bottle it up. He wouldn’t show how upset he was. Leia was fine now. He would have to make an appointment for an allergy panel for her, but they said in a few more hours they would be able to go home.

The door opened and he expected the nurse who kept coming to check on Leia. It wasn’t him though, it was Brian. Justin forced himself to smile.

“She’s alright,” he whispered, trying not to wake Leia up.

“What happened?” Brian demanded.

Leia woke and started to cry. Brian instantly came and took her out of Justin’s arms.

Justin stood up, shaking out his arm which had fallen asleep.

“She had an allergic reaction. I’m pretty sure it was from the strawberries.”

“Why did you give her strawberries?”

“I made a fruit platter for the kids to snack on after dinner. I thought it would be fun. You didn’t tell me any of them had any allergies. I did ask Gus and Eric, but they said they didn’t think any of them had an allergy. I’ll make an appointment tomorrow to get her an allergy panel.”

“I’ll do it, she’s my daughter.”

“Right, sorry, I’ve just been the one cleaning up her messes, feeding her, rocking her to sleep and drying her tears when you didn’t answer your phone. Give me your keys.”

“Why?”

“So, I can take your car and go home. You’ll need her carseat when they release her.”

“Ted brought me; I’ve been drinking.”

“Great. I’ll wait in the waiting room. For some strange reason, looking at you makes me sick right now.”

Justin turned around and left. He was so mad. Mad at Brian but mostly mad at himself. He promised himself he wouldn’t get angry at Brian, take what was thrown at him for his children. He just needed to cool off, he went through the double doors leading back to the ER waiting room. Found a seat and sat down, he pulled his phone out and sent a text to Krista that everything was alright, and Brian was there.

“This seat taken?”

Justin looked up and saw Ted. Great, just what he needed, another one of his children’s father.

“Free country.”

Ted sat down beside him but didn’t say anything. Justin could feel his eyes on him. Well, too bad for him, he didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now.

“I told Brian, so if he was a little short with you, that’s probably the reason.”

“You told Brian what?” Justin asked. Ted hadn’t acted any way towards any of Justin’s kids at the restaurant, so he was sure he didn’t know about Lucas.

“About our…you know.”

“Our one-night stand?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Why did you tell him?”

“Because he could sense there was something up. Brian is the most perspective people I know.”

“I see.”

“Look, I wasn’t even sure you remembered it.”

“Of course, I did, I don’t sleep around that much.” Hardly ever.

“I wasn’t saying you did. It’s just that men usually say I’m pretty forgettable.”

“You’re not forgettable, Ted,” Justin said, looking through his pictures on his phone until he found a good one of Lucas. It was a cute one of him a few days ago in the pool. He held the phone up so Ted could see.

“Yeah, cute kid,” Ted said looking at Justin like he lost his mind.

“I think so. He lost his first baby tooth the other day. He’s six.”

“That’s a good age,” Ted said conversationally.

Justin was going to have to be clearer. “He was born thirty-nine weeks after our one-night stand.”

Ted’s eyes shot to Justin’s phone, looking at the picture. “Are you saying you think he’s mine?”

“I know he is. If you want a DNA test, you can have it. He’s my child though. But one of my kids should have a father that cares.”

Grabbing the phone, Ted looked more at the picture. “Brian cares,” Ted said without looking up.

“Doesn’t feel like it.”

Ted handed him back the phone. “I will give you piece of advice about the great Brian Kinney. The more scared or out of his depth he feels, the more he lashes out. Brian needs control, if he doesn’t have it, he will take everything down with him. He was trying to prove a point tonight, and it blew up in his face. He was trying to make this marriage the same as his with Lindsay but there are two big differences. First one, Lindsay was in on their deal from the beginning. Second, I think he’s already starting to fall for you. These last few weeks, I’ve never seen him so happy.”

“Didn’t sound so happy a moment ago.”

“He was scared because of these new feelings, he shut his phone off and Leia paid the price. If it helps, he’ll never do that again. He won’t apologize right out but he will with actions.”

“You’re a good friend.”

“I try to be.”

“Do you want the DNA test for Lucas?”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Then I don’t need a test. I would like to get to know him though.”

“We’re having a pool party this weekend to close the pool for the year. Why don’t you come over? Lucas loves the pool, he’s a little fish.”

“I’d love that. Are you going to tell Brian?”

“I have to, don’t I?”

“I guess. Just be gentle, he may not like to think he’s the jealous type, but he really is.”

“It was nothing.”

“Thanks.”

Justin blushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know what you meant. So, you’re good?”

“Yeah, I’ll take his highness home and not drop him off on the side of the road.”

Ted laughed. “You’re really good for him, you just have to get through his prickly outer shell first.”

“If I survive.”

“Good, luck.”