It didn’t take long for everyone to divide into groups.

Justin was catching up with Lindsay and Melanie, telling them about his life in New York.

Michael and Ben had JR in the corner enjoying the short time they had together.

Emmett was talking to anyone willing to listen about the fabulous wedding he was preparing for the sweetest couple of groomzillas in the world.

Debbie, Jennifer, and Blake had taken over the kitchen to plate the finger foods.

Brian was still on the couch with Nick on his lap, and Gus by his side. They were making plans for Gus’s annual stay with Brian, for a few weeks during summer break.

Sadly, Brian didn’t pay much attention to Gus, because his eyes were on Justin. He was talking animatedly with the girls, laughing and gesticulating as he usually did when he was talking passionately.

“Did you hear a word I said?” Gus groaned, punching Brian’s arm.

“Ow, you little shit!”

“Can you stop making goo-goo eyes at Justin? It’s gross. Though, I’m happy you’re back together.”

“I’m not making goo-goo eyes!”

“I think it’s cute. They are very happy,” Nick interjected.

Gus smirked, looking amused at the little boy, then at his dad. “It’s mind-boggling Justin has a kid.”

“Tell me about it.” Brian held Nick closer, stroking his back.

Brian looked after Justin when he left the room after his phone rang, and Brian was curious if the twat had more surprises up his sleeve.

Not a moment later, Justin waved him into the hallway, and Brian left Nick with Gus, joining his partner.

Justin covered the mouthpiece. “Uh, I need the exact address for Britin. I had it written in a notepad at home.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Is this about the pony?”

“There’s no pony,” Justin hissed. “It’s Lucy, she wants to send Nick a present.”

Brian didn’t bother asking who Lucy was as he rattled out the address, and Justin repeated it in the phone.

“Yes. Around the end of next week it’s fine. Don’t worry. How are you? How’s Barcelona?” Justin abandoned Brian in the hallway, heading upstairs for privacy.

“What was that?” Lindsay asked, coming over and touching Brian’s back.

“A friend of his wants to send a present for Nick’s birthday.”

“Oh, how sweet. He’s turning six?”

“Yeah.” Brian wrapped an arm around Lindsay’s shoulders. “Everything okay in Toronto? Need anything?”

“We’re fine, Brian. Stop worrying. Did Gus get to tell you about being on the soccer team?”

“He mentioned it,” Brian said softly, proud of his son for following in his footsteps. “He also mentioned he dropped the cello thing. Good for him.”

“If you don’t like classical music, that doesn’t mean he should dislike it.”

“He still likes it of what he told me. He tried to convince me to take him to see some violinist who is touring the States.”

Lindsay laughed. “The tickets were sold out as soon as they were available. I guess he believed you’d pull in some strings…”

Brian scoffed. “For football, basketball, hockey…you get the idea, not concerts. I had a client a few months ago who asked me to take him to the Madonna concert. What the fuck do I look like? Her PR?”

Lindsay giggled, patting Brian’s shoulder, then she turned to look behind Brian. “All right?”

Brian turned to see Justin standing at the foot of the stairs.

“Yeah. It was Lucy, Nick’s mother. I haven’t talked to her since November or something. She’s moved to Spain some years ago.”

“Sucks,” Lindsay whispered compassionately.

“Nah. It’s cool. She… she’s not close to Nick. She knew she was going to leave a few months into the pregnancy. So she didn’t want to get attached.” Justin covered the steps between them, wrapping an arm around Brian. “Did I hear Gus wanted to see a sold out violinist? I’m sure I can take a wild guess who it is.”

Brian bit on his cheek not to say something sarcastic and probably ruin the happiness floating in the air.

“David Garrett,” Lindsay explained. “Have you heard of him?”

Justin pursed his lips, staring at her blankly. “Are you forgetting I was married to a violinist? Of course I know David. He’s fucking amazing. And yes, tickets are tricky to find, but I know someone who can help.”

“Oh.” Lindsay saddened, and reached out to hug Justin. “I didn’t mean to remind you…”

“It’s okay. I’m much better now.” Justin pulled back from her arms. “Brian has helped me heal,” he added, taking Brian’s hand.

Brian knew the deeper meaning of Justin’s words. He had helped Justin heal emotionally and mentally.

“I’ll talk to Gus about this later,” Justin offered. “I have to steal Brian,” he said with a smile to Lindsay.

She looked a little perplexed but returned to her wife’s side.

Justin pulled Brian up the stairs to their room.

“With the guests downstairs? I’m appalled, Sunshine,” Brian gasped.

“Don’t be an idiot. We’re not having a quickie. I brought you here so Nick wouldn’t hear, considering his hearing is trained to acknowledge words like ‘present’ and ‘birthday’.”

“Now, we are different in this department. I never cared for my birthday. But it must have been my dysfunctional family at fault.”

Justin smiled sadly, rubbing Brian’s arm. “We always made a big deal out of his birthday, but you’ll see. Not much impresses him.”

“So…what did you want to tell me?” Brian inquired.

“Right. So Lucy is sending over Nick’s present next week.”

“Spain is a long way from here,” Brian acknowledged. “What did she get him?”

“It’s a surprise. She said I would like it too.”

“Coloring books then,” Brian joked.

“Asshole,” Justin mumbled, leaning into Brian and kissing him. “I’m really sorry Nick is hogging your time with Gus.”

“I don’t mind it. It’s not like he interrupts us or anything. By the way, before I forget.” Brian threaded his fingers with Justin’s, squeezing his hand. “Gus usually comes over for a couple of weeks during summer break. We were thinking July. Maybe we can take him with us somewhere.”

“I still haven’t thought about where I want to go. If you still want South Florida, I don’t mind.”

“Okay, I’ll have a talk to my travel agent.”

“Make sure there are enough rooms booked,” Justin teased.

Brian scoffed. “Yeah, yeah. We’re keeping Nick here tonight?”

“Most likely. What about Gus and JR?”

“Gus called dibs on the sofa. His sister will probably stay with Mikey and Ben.”

“Lucky Linz and Mel.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

Justin pecked Brian’s mouth, tugging him out the room. “Let’s go, before they think we came upstairs to fuck.”

They froze at the top of the stairs when they bumped into an apprehensive Gus.

Gus grimaced. “They sent me to check on you.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Of course, so I’ll pay for years of therapy if you found us indeed fucking.”

Gus paled. “I stood here for five minutes, trying to hear something. It was quiet, so I was ready to go and disappoint everyone.”

Justin chuckled, patting Gus’s shoulder. “Tell them you found us naked.”

“Justin,” Brian cried out, surprised by the brazenness of his partner.

“What? I want to hear their comments and see their faces. Go ahead,” he urged Gus.

“Tell them we’ll be right there. I have to pull out,” Brian joked.

Justin slapped Brian’s forearm, laughing.

“You, freaks.” Gus hurried back down the stairs.

Brian led Justin downstairs, listening to Gus telling the family about finding them naked and how they had to detach in order to come down.

Justin stopped Brian before entering the living room, kissing him roughly and rubbing his hands through his hair, making it stand up in all directions. “There, so you look freshly fucked.”

“What sort of behavior is this, Justin?” His mother exclaimed, scandalized, when they stepped into the living room holding hands.

“I don’t know if I’m surprised or disappointed,” Lindsay muttered.

“I had faith Gus would find you simply talking. Now I feel bad,” Michael said, wincing.

“Christ,” Debbie moaned. “Can’t you see they are fucking with you? I’ll bet they put Gus up to tell you a story about how traumatized he is after finding them fucking.”

Brian touched his chest theatrically. “How you wound me, Deb.”

“Deny it,” she challenged him.

“Apparently our family can’t take a joke,” Justin said, amused.

“This is no joke,” Mel protested. “I expect anything from you two.”

“Kids, cover your eyes. You, undress and bend over,” Brian said sternly, making a show of lifting Justin’s shirt.

“Brian!” Justin hastily smoothed his shirt, feeling his cheeks burning in embarrassment. He took a few steps away from Brian. “I guess, after a certain age, people lose their minds.”

“I wouldn’t know. You should ask Theodore,” Brian said cheerfully.

Blake narrowed his eyes at Brian. “Ted ages like fine wine.”

“Some wine turns into vinegar,” Brian bit back.

Ted touched Blake’s chest. “You know better than to start an argument with Brian.”

“I was talking about you, dear,” Justin said sweetly, rubbing Brian’s arm. “Definitely memory problems. You can’t even do basic mathematics. You wanted all of us to fit in this tiny place.”

“I love being insulted on my birthday, did I mention that?” Brian sneered.

“Dang. I missed the occasion since it was yesterday. We’ll have to wait until next year now,” Justin said, amused.

“You’re a twat,” Brian muttered, strolling to the couch and falling next to his son.

“I’m hungry,” Nick said loudly, shuffling to his father’s side.

Justin stared at his son in surprise. It was rare when he asked for food, but he probably hadn’t eaten much in the past day.

“How about we all eat?” Justin asked.

#

Ben and Drew took over the meat while Justin coaxed Nick to eat some cold cuts in the meantime.

Debbie and Jennifer came to the rescue when Justin was at the end of his wits.

He leaned back in his chair, watching as Nick’s grandmothers, as he had named them, tricked him into trying some of the food before the main course.

“Relax,” Brian whispered into his ear, cupping his shoulder and leaning down to kiss him.

Justin looked up at his man, touching his hand. “Sit.” He pointed to the chair next to him. “Everything okay?”

Brian sat next to Justin, placing his phone on the table. “Cynthia just said the new kid is starting on Monday.”

“What? Only now? I heard you talking about this last month.”

“It was a few weeks ago, Justin. The plan was for him to start at the beginning of June, but Cynthia wants to have him prepared for the big accounts I have scheduled to meet in June.”

“I see. What can I say…good luck?”

“I’ll need it. Especially considering I have a new potential client coming over on Monday.”

“Good. Throw him into the lion’s den.”

Brian laughed. “I’d like to keep him, to make sure Cynthia remains sane.”

Justin pursed his lips. “Can we not talk about June, though? For some reason, I’m nervous as fuck.”

“It will be okay.” Brian rubbed Justin’s arm. “You’ll be amazing.”

“You’re hogging the birthday boy,” Michael said from behind their chairs.

“We wouldn't want that.” Brian rolled his eyes, tugging on Michael’s arm, making him lean over Brian’s body. “Join us, while Ben is showing everyone his grilling skills.”

Michael shook his arm free, pulling a chair closer. “So…Jenny wants to go to Disney.”

Justin nudged Brian’s knee with his, grinning.

“No way in hell!” Brian shuddered.

“When do you want to take her?” Justin asked, turning all the way to face Michael.

“Well, I don’t know. We haven’t discussed this.”

Justin beamed. “We were talking about taking Nick and Gus to South Florida for the summer break, but a stop to Disney World is not a bad idea.”

“It’s a terrible idea! Besides, everything is expensive as fuck, it’s hot as hell, and way too crowdy,” Brian complained.

Michael gasped. “Right. You took Gus some years ago.”

“You did?” Justin started, amazed, at Brian.

“It was the worst experience of our lives. If you ask Gus, he’ll probably rather have his nails pulled than go there again. I’m surprised he didn’t tell his sister about it.”

“As if Jenny ever listens to him…or anyone,” Michael mumbled.

Brian clicked his tongue. “She takes after someone I know.” He wrapped an arm around Michael’s shoulders, pulling him closer. “Must be tough to be faced with the mirror image of yourself.”

“You’re one to talk,” Michael huffed.

“Gus is nothing like me.”

“But Nick is a lot like you. It’s scary sometimes,” Justin supplied, laughing.

“I’ve noticed, and especially how close they are.” Michael smiled, stroking a hand through Brian’s hair.

Brian slapped his hand away, but he didn’t seem upset.

Justin watched them with a smile, enjoying seeing them so happy. He reached over and took one of Brian’s hands, squeezing it.

Michael glanced at the natural gesture, amazed how at ease both Justin and Brian were.

“So…a big no to Disney. If you want to join them, be my guest. Gus and I will wait for you in the hotel room,” Brian said.

“I’ll think about it and let you know, Michael,” Justin said seriously.

Nick squeezed in between them. “I need to pee.”

“I’ll take him,” Brian laughed. He took Nick’s hand, leading him out of the kitchen.

“Damn…” Michael stared after them, intrigued.

“I told you. They clicked from the first moment. Maybe it was when Brian gave Nick his phone to listen to classical music to fall asleep, or Nick’s compassion for Brian having his foot injured.” Justin shrugged, picking his glass with a contraption made by Emmett. It had more alcohol than juice.

“Classical music on Brian’s phone?” Michael repeated loudly.

“Yes. On the first night at Daphne’s. Nick couldn’t sleep…and Brian offered him his phone, selecting a violin music playlist. Nick was so thrilled, he kept praising my kind friend.” Justin rolled his eyes, making Michael laugh. “I kept telling Nick that Brian wasn’t my friend. I’m sure he was confused when we moved in with Brian, and he saw how close we got. But thankfully, he likes and accepts Brian so much he wanted us to get together.”

“I’ve heard.”

“I’m grateful he took to Brian. It would have been horrible if he didn’t like Brian. You know…”

“Yeah, I can imagine. Is he better? With the whole thing?” Michael asked carefully.

“Sometimes he still asks about Ethan, but it got much better.” Justin looked up when Brian returned with Nick. His son rushed back to his grandmas, while Brian was laughing his ass off. “What happened?” He stared at Nick who was gesticulating wildly, explaining what happened.

Brian fell in his chair, wiping his eyes. “I haven’t laughed so hard in my life.” He glanced at Justin. “Let’s leave it at…Nick got a stiffy and wagged it at me, almost pissing in the whole bathroom, in his eagerness to show me what happened.”

Justin covered his face with his hands. “It’s not the first time, but it’s hilarious, I know,” he mumbled.

“This never happened with Gus, and obviously I don’t remember that far back into my childhood,” Brian said, still laughing.

Justin shook his head, catching his mother’s eyes. She was probably remembering all of Justin’s embarrassing childhood memories.

He was saved by whatever Jennifer wanted to share with the room by Drew bringing the grilled meat to the table.

Nick sat in the chair Michael had left empty between Justin and Brian, accepting food from both adults. Until Brian offered him some of the chicken on his plate.

It happened during a moment when it was quiet around the room.

“I don’t like breast,” Nick said loudly.

“Good for you,” Emmett cheered, earning disapproving looks from Justin and Drew.

Nick didn’t understand the dirty joke, and smiled at Emmett. “It’s all yucky!”

“I completely agree.” Emmett nodded firmly.

“Well, I disagree,” Mel added, grinning.

“Mel,” Lindsay gasped, scandalized.

Gus banged his head to the table, his cheeks red.

“Can’t you see you’re traumatizing this poor child?” Brian groaned. “It’s okay, Gus. Just ignore Melanie.”

“What part of the chicken do you want to eat?” Justin asked Nick, hoping to steer the conversation out of the chaos zone.

“The ass.”

Brian threw his head back, laughing loudly. “Why am I not surprised?”

“You’re all a bunch of pervs,” Justin muttered, placing the desired piece of meat on a plate and handing it to Nick.

“That’s a bad word,” Nick said seriously.

“Just eat.” Justin turned to his plate, unsure how all conversations in their group of friends turned sexual in the blink of an eye.