EMMETT

Justin called to ask if there was a place he could store his stepfather’s present until the wedding. Drew offered our garage, wanting to see the bike. I kept my comments on boys and their toys to myself when Drew stared at the bike like it was the holy grail.

“I'm willing to forgo the car for one of these,” He jokes to Justin.

“I almost decided to keep it when we were testing it on the track. I’m thinking of making one for Brian, since we had to pry him off of it when he took it around,” Justin tells us.

The doorbell rang while Justin let Drew start up the bike, so I left them to fawn over it and went to see who was at the door. Seeing David didn’t shock me, since he and I had gotten along when he and Michael were together. It’s just, with what had been going on, I really thought he’d be too busy making sure Michael knew the story they were going to tell everyone. Apparently no one was sure if there was any truth to anything they had been told. I went to let Drew and Justin know I’d be busy, before coming back to see David making himself at home.

“Sorry, Drew’s excited about seeing the bike that we’re storing for a wedding I’m doing. What can I do for you?” I ask.

“I was hoping that you would know where to find Michael. I talked to Deb, but she doesn’t seem to know where he could be,” He tells me.

“Likely, avoiding having to answer any questions, which he does when he thinks he can get away with things,” I tell him.

“He can’t avoid this mess. I tried talking to Brian, but he won’t budge on this. I don’t understand why he’s willing to hurt my son and Michael,” He tells me.

“But it’s okay that they were doing this to Brian? Why shouldn’t Brian make sure they both understand that there are consequences to what you do?” I ask.

“I offered to pay back the money,” He tells me.

“It’s not about the money. For once, it’s about showing Michael he can’t abuse Brian’s trust and not be held accountable for what he does,” I tell him.

“I’m trying to protect my son too. Brian doesn’t seem to care that my son is going to be hurt in this too,” He tells me.

“If anything, this will teach your son that doing something illegal means dealing with the fallout. You told Brian you wanted to teach your son responsibility, didn’t you?” Justin says from the doorway.

“I’m sorry, but this is a private conversation,” David tells Justin.

“I’m sure you want it to be, but it involves my fiance, who you seem to think believed everything you told him. My grandfather pointed out that if you were trying to protect your son, then putting most of the blame on him didn’t make sense, when you would have been better off to putting the blame on Michael. Was it an attempt to play on Brian’s sympathy as a father, or were you worried about something else? If it’s nothing more than protecting your son, then even I could understand and sympathize with you. Emmett’s right about one thing, it’s not about the money. Brian was willing to leave the whole situation alone, if it hadn’t been for Michael trying to take my place in Brian’s life. Other than your son’s involvement, why are you still trying to save Michael?” Justin asks him.

“What Michael did is nothing compared to what Brian did to keep Michael from walking away from him. Brian made it so Michael threw away a life with me, because he made Michael think one day they would be together. Don’t paint Brian as if he’s innocent in this, because he did everything he could to break Michael and me up,” David tells Justin.

“Interesting way you have of trying to avoid answering the question. I could guess why. Do you want me to?” Justin asks.

“Sure. I’d love to hear what Brian told you to think,” David says condescendingly.

“Here’s what I THINK. You're more worried about what you have to hide. Everything you do and say seems to point to your son, but how did your son come up with it, that’s really the question we are all asking.” Justin tells him.

“Emmett, you should tell Justin exactly what kind of man he’s involved with,” David tells me.

“I know exactly who Brian is. The question is, do you?” Justin tells him.

BRIAN

Vic called me and asked Ted and me to meet him at a storage unit, saying it would answer some questions we had about where the money went.

“I want you to know, I had no idea this was why Michael asked me if he could store things here. I came to clean it out, since I didn’t need it anymore,” Vic tells us as he unlocks it.

He led us to the back of the unit where there were boxes full of comics and some of the one of a kind things Michael always gushed about wanting to own. I looked at the things Michael valued more than our friendship, and wanted to burn it all.

“Brian?” Ted asks, as I crumpled the first edition of the Captain Astro comic book I had given Michael.

“What were you planning on doing with all this stuff?” I ask Vic.

“I asked, and because it’s stored in my unit, it belongs to me or the person who takes over the lease to it. My lease ends today,” He tells me.

“I handle getting it in your name,” Ted tells me, leaving to get it done.

“Why tell me?” I ask Vic.

He took the present I had bought Michael out of my hand. “Because none of it was bought by Michael, but by stealing from you. He doesn’t get to have the things he wants when he was hurting you to get them,” He tells me, hugging me.

MICHAEL

David was standing at my apartment door when I got home from the comic convention I had gone to. I figured Brian would get over everything in a couple days, and then I could talk to him. Although, David being here would remind Brian that he could lose me if he stayed with Justin, so maybe I should have stayed and let Brian get jealous over David again. David didn’t say anything when I opened my apartment door.

“I’ve been here trying to get Brian to back off, and you were out buying comics?” He asks, angry.

“I was giving Brian a chance to calm down, once he does he’s not going to do anything. You should have just stayed in Portland and let me deal with Brian,” I tell him.

“I don’t think Brian is going to calm down. In fact, I doubt anything you say is going matter,” He tells me.

“Why, because he found blond boy ass? He’ll get tired of him,” I tell him.

“Blond boy ass, as you call him, comes with a family that protects their own. Since Brian is apparently marrying into the family, I doubt he will give you what you wish for. Although, I’m sure you can continue to live your fantasy through the pictures of the life Brian is about to have in a modern version of Camelot, while you and I hope to keep from going to jail,” He tells me, slamming out of my apartment.

BRIAN

Cynthia let me know when we got back to my office that I had another couple of unexpected visitors. Hank was sitting in my office with his mother and asked to talk to me alone. He was fidgeting in the chair when I walked in and for a second all I saw was a scared kid, until he reined it in and showed he learned arrogance and entitlement from his father. His mother, on the other hand, looked ready to strangle both David and Michael.

“You do realize that all anyone is going to see is that you were conned by a kid, don’t you? It would probably make people question whether or not you were someone they should be doing business with,” He tells me.

“Hank, you're in enough trouble. I brought you here to try to help you,” His mother tells him.

“It’s fine, I understand ‘angry at the world’,” I tell her.

“He’s angry at everyone, lately,” She tells me.

“In my business, my clients only care that they get the revenue I promise them. You on the other hand should realize that any future you have is going to be flushed down the toilet, because criminal records aren’t really what Ivy League colleges want on the kids who attend their hallowed halls. Do you want to know the only thing about all of this that bothers me? It’s that a kid will end up being hurt because he wanted attention,” I tell him.

“Michael said you don’t give a shit about anyone, so, sorry if I don’t believe you care anything about me,” He sneers.

“I’m sorry,” His mother tells me.

“He's asking the right questions. Why would I care about him, a kid I don’t know. Maybe because if you care about someone, you don’t let them do something that could hurt their lives. When Michael let you help him, he didn’t care that you could end up in trouble, only that he got what he wanted. Caring means wanting to protect the person you care about, not involving them in something that could change their life for the worse,” I tell him.

“It’s going to hurt my dad too,” He tells me.

“You're going to help Brian help you, tell him the truth,” His mother tells him.

“All the doctors that work with my dad are involved in the same kind of billing. He knew what Michael was doing and thought you would go easier if he said it was my idea,” He tells me.

“I want my son protected from the fallout. This proves David knew about it and set up the account,” His mother tells me, handing me a folder.

“You like comics?” I ask.

“Yeah, it’s one of the things Michael and I had in common,” He tells me.