- Text Size +

JUSTIN 

 

Brian left to pick up Gus and we made it so he could pick up Gwen too. Since we didn’t make it out of bed today, he said he'd pick up dinner for all of us. It wasn’t like we didn't plan to do something, but I realized Brian and I haven’t had a day where we just spent it lounging in. So instead of trying to find things to do we just sat around talking, making out, and watching crap TV together.

 

He got dressed, telling me he'd pick up the kids, and it made me see what having a partner was like. For years it was just me doing everything for Gwen, not that I minded, but it's nice to have someone to depend on. My doorbell rang in the middle of that thought and I wasn’t sure what to think of Blake standing there. I know him only because of Poppy, and got to know him a little more the other night, so it's not like I expected him to come over.

 

“Can we talk about what happened? I was hoping you’d hear me out and give Brian another chance. What you saw wasn’t what you thought,” He tells me, as I let him in.

 

“You're here to help Brian?” I ask. 

 

“Yes, and sorry for just showing up here without calling but I tried your office and Mary said you took the day off. Normally I try to stay out of everyone's relationship, but in this case I kind of have prior experience with things like last night. Maybe it could help you to change your mind about seeing Brian again,” He tells me. 

 

“Why do you care?” I ask. 

 

“Because Brian would talk to me if there were problems for me and Ted,” He tells me.

 

“You care a lot about Brian?” I ask. 

 

“He makes it easy. He never held our past mistakes against us. He gave Ted a job, when no one would. When Ted and I finally got back together he didn’t act like Ted could do better than me, when for a while the rest of them did. Well, no that's not exactly true. Emmett was hurt, but at least worked at meeting me halfway. Mel and Lindsay were wary but welcomed me. Even Deb was nice, but warned me she'd have my balls if I did anything to hurt Ted. Which leaves us with the reason you took off. Michael,” He tells me. 

 

“I don’t understand why Michael has a problem with me. From what all of you said, he's constantly trying to get Brian in a relationship,” I tell him. 

 

“One of his choosing, which you weren't. I wasn't who he wanted with Ted either, so I also got some of what you saw. He's never taken it this far until Brian met you. If you want my opinion as to why, I'll tell you,” He offers.

 

“Go ahead, because it's the part that confuses me the most,” I tell him. 

 

“Brian and Michael were friends from the time they were fourteen, and Michael treated it like the most important thing in the world that he was Brian’s best friend. For years, if Brian was anywhere, you'd find Michael there too, and just to lay it all out there, Michael was in love with Brian,” He tells me. 

 

“Did Brian feel the same way?” I ask. 

 

“I honestly don't know. Ted said possibly, but he also said Brian didn’t offer Michael anything but friendship. Emmett says if nothing happened in all the years they knew each other, he didn’t think Brian loved Michael as anything but a brother. Deb said Brian knew it wouldn't work with Michael, and didn’t pursue anything. From what I've seen, there just isn't any chemistry between them. As strange as it sounds, Michael loves Ben, but can't seem to let Brian have a life if it doesn't include him. Ted said it was because, for years Brian never cared what Michael did, because he didn't want a relationship,” He tells me. 

 

“Now that he does, Michael wants to ruin it?” I ask. 

 

“He probably thinks he's helping Brian, like in the past. Only Brian isn’t the person he once was, and Michael has a hard time with anything changing. I think a lot of it has to do with him being worried that if Brian gets involved with someone he doesn't know, than Brian won't be around for him. He uses Brian as a safety net in his life,” He tells me. 

 

“What about his husband? Why marry someone if they aren't the person you go to for safety?” I ask. 

 

“It could be that as much as he loves Ben, he also knows Ben might not be around forever,” He tells me. 

 

“HIV isn’t a death sentence. It's manageable now, not like years ago,” I tell him, since I knew about it. Michael filled up pages of history on him and Ben.

 

“He knows that, but when something happens with Ben, he expects Brian to be there holding his hand. If Brian’s involved with someone, what are the chances that he'll drop everything for Michael? It's really why I think he's bothered by you,” He tells me. 

 

“I wouldn’t tell Brian to ignore his friends,” I tell him. 

 

“I'm not saying you would, but Michael was upset when Brian turned down any invitations from him to spend time with you. If Brian was with someone Michael picked…” He shrugged.

 

“Then Brian would be where Michael wanted him to be, instead of leaving him to do things with me,” I tell him. 

 

“Michael can be possessive when it comes to his friends, but not like he is with Brian. When Ted and I were seeing each other in the beginning, Michael would act like I wasn't in the room. He never said anything, but he made it obvious he didn’t want me around Ted. There were reasons,” He tells me. 

 

“Unless Ted had a problem with you, Michael shouldn't have gotten involved,” I tell him. 

 

“That's just the way he is, he butts in, thinking he knows what’s best for everyone. It doesn't matter if it's none of his business. Until the recently, I wasn't on Michael’s ‘approved list’ for Ted,” He tells me. 

 

“What changed his mind?” I ask. 

 

“Ted pretty much told him that he wouldn't put up with Michael treating me like shit anymore. If Michael wanted to stay friends then he accepted me as the person Ted loves. After we adopted Poppy, Michael saw it us as jumping on the bandwagon of showing queers could have everything straight people did. We just wanted a child, not a platform,” He jokes.

 

“So far all I'm hearing are reasons to stay away. Why should I bother if Michael isn’t going to leave us alone?” I tell him, feeling bad because I can see Blake really wants me to give Brian a chance. Which I already did.

 

“Brian is different around you. He's happier. Until you, he got easily bored with the guys he went out with. He never called any of them or even seemed to remember them. You breaking up with Brian was different, because Brian didn’t even show up for work, and no one can find him. It's scaring the hell out of Ted and Cynthia, because even when Brian was sick, he showed up,” He tells me. 

 

Now I really felt like an ass for letting him go on and not telling him Brian and I made up. “He's been with me. He showed up last night and explained what I saw,” I tell him. 

 

“He came here?” He asks, surprised.

 

“He told me he didn’t want to lose me. Then explained everything that happened last night. We agreed to try again, but we didn’t want everyone to know, yet,” I tell him. 

 

“I won’t tell anyone, Well, it would help if I could tell Ted. He's really worried about Brian,” He tells me, as Brian and the kids come in the door.

 

“I'd say I'm surprised to see you, but then I'd be lying. Is Theodore worried about me?” Brian asks Blake, as he leans down to kiss me.

 

“What do you think? I'm here aren’t I? Not that you needed me to convince Justin to talk to you apparently,” Blake tells him, smiling.

 

“Tell Ted that as usual, I can deal with everything on my own. I'll be in Monday,” Brian tells Blake.

 

“Ted won't be a problem once he knows you two worked it out, but you know Deb expects you at dinner on Sunday. If you two plan to keep this quiet, it's not going to be easy at dinner,” He tells Brian. 

 

“I have a plan for that too. In fact, call Ted and Deb to come here for dinner tonight. It's time to let Michael squirm,” Brian tells him. 

 

“Are we having people over?” I ask. 

 

“Yes, we are. Call Emmett too, because he'll help,” Brian tells Blake.

 

“What are you going to do?” Gus asks, as if ready to help.

 

“I want to know too,” Gwen tells Brian. 

 

BRIAN

 

After telling everyone to wait, because I hate repeating myself, Blake made the calls. It took him a while when he got to Emmett, because Emmett has to question everything before just doing what you asked. Deb just agreed to come over, saying she'd bring dinner and Carl. Justin told me he needed to talk to Daphne because I was still on her shit list, instead I told him to tell her I'd pick her up. Justin wasn’t going to defend me, when Daphne only did what she did because everything pointed to me being the asshole in this situation. I left while Blake and Justin took the kids to pick up dessert for everyone. 

 

Daphne was waiting on the curb at the hospital when I pulled up. She got in, slamming the door. “How did you get him to listen to you after last night?” She asks.

 

“I told him the truth. My birthday turns me into a raving asshole and being with him made me happy,” I tell her. 

 

“So you partied the night away with another guy, because Justin makes you happy? Dude, you need help,” She tells me. 

 

“I didn’t party the night away with another guy. Until Justin showed up, the only person I had danced with was my former best friend. Who thinks Justin isn’t who I should want,” I tell her. 

 

“As long as he understands, then I'm fine with it. I will say though, if you ever screw with his head, I know how to use a scalpel,” She tells me, looking at my crotch.

 

“I like the one ball I have left,” I tell her.

 

“What happened to the other?” She asks.

 

“Cancer. But luckily I'm clear now. It's one of the reasons I made changes in my life. One of them being that I'm tired of being alone,” I tell her. 

 

“Justin isn’t the answer, if you just don't want to be alone,” She tells me. 

 

“That isn't why I want to be with him. I love him,” I tell her, not looking at her.

 

“That's all I need to hear,” She tells me.

 

TED

 

Emmett picked me and Poppy up, wanting to know if I knew anything. 

 

“Emmett, we're only a couple minutes away,” Drew tells him. 

 

“Honey, until Blake called I really thought Brian was losing it,” Emmett tells him. 

 

“Let's just wait and see. Right now none of us know anything,” I tell him. 

 

“Other than Brian and Justin must have made up,” He tells me.

 

“Why would they need to make up?” Poppy asks, not happy.

 

“It was just a little tiff, sweetie. Nothing for you to get mad about,” Emmett tells her, mouthing ‘Sorry’ to me.

 

“It better be, because Gus, Gwen, and I are trying to get them married. Auntie Emmy, maybe you could help, since you marry people,” Poppy tells him. 

 

“I plan the weddings, Sweetie,” He tells her. 

 

“You said you always know who should get married, and if Brian marries Dr… Uncle Jus then we get to keep him,” She tells us.

 

“I'll get right on that, but maybe we should wait for them to date a little longer,” Emmett tells her, laughing.

 

We pulled up as Deb was getting out of the car. “Guys, help me bring things in,” She yells at us.

 

Blake opened the front door, stopping Poppy to ask about her day. She rushed through her day, and took off to find Gus and Gwen. Blake led us to the kitchen, and told everyone to help bring chairs out to the patio. Deb left it to us and went to see Justin. 

 

“I told you to not judge anything my son does on me, but do Brian a favor and apply it to him too,” Deb tells him. 

 

“He isn’t holding it against me,” Brian tells her, coming out with Daphne.

 

“Why are we all here? I've been as patient as I can be,” Emmett asks.

 

“It's time to show Michael what interfering with my life does. Justin gave me a chance, but I don't want us to have a repeat of last night. We originally weren’t going to tell anyone we were back together, but if we didn't tell all of you, then I'm assuming Justin would be bombarded with all of you trying to help,” He tells us.

 

“I want you happy,” Deb tells him. 

 

“Why don’t we let Brian explain what he needs us to do,” Carl tells her.

 

“I want Michael to sit through Sunday dinner thinking he broke us up. I need Deb to understand why I don't want Justin or the kids there,” He tells us. 

 

“Why not let me tell Michael he isn't invited?” Deb asks.

 

“Because right now Michael still thinks you don't know what he did,” I tell her, catching on.

 

“And?” Deb asks. 

 

“You let Michael know that Justin said he wouldn't come, but I promised to show up. It's time he and anyone he brings, sees the Brian that Michael was always protected from.” Brian tells her. 

 

“You're okay with this?” Emmett asks Justin.

 

“If it gets Michael to leave us alone, yes,” Justin tells him. 

 

“It's something you should have done years ago. It might have made it so he stopped treating your life like only what he wants is what should happen,” Carl tells him. 

 

“Let's hope he gets it, because if he messes with my dad, he deals with us,” Gus tells us, with his posse nodding.

 

“I'll make sure he understands that, Mr Kinney,” I tell Gus.

 

“Lord help my son, he's got Brian-in-training after him,” Deb laughs.

 

 

You must login (register) to review.