January 3

Justin sat back in the Diner booth with a sigh, already exhausted, and it was barely noon. Why he thought it would be a good idea to go window shopping with Brian after their appointment, he had no idea. But he blames himself for forgetting that with Brian, it never sticks to window shopping. It always means, “I need to go in for just this one thing.” Which ends up being ten things and by the time they were done, all the greedy…he means good little shop keepers were personally thanking them for their visit.

He should have learned by now, but it was difficult to say no to Brian when he was that happy.

Rubbing his hand over his stomach, Justin could almost imagine he felt a swell, despite knowing due to Brian’s ‘daily examinations,’ as he called them, that it was still as flat as the day they’d met. Closing his eyes, he smiled to himself and couldn’t wait to find evidence of their child; he couldn’t wait to see Brian’s face when that first swell of life became evident.

To see Brian’s eyes light up with excitement and joy, just as they did when Justin had first told him they were going to have a baby. And what a day that had been. Justin had been feeling sick for a couple of weeks, throwing up and feeling generally nauseous during the mornings, and had finally caved in and went to the doctor’s after his mother threatened to drag him herself.

One examination, and a couple of tests later, the doctor was giving him the good news and congratulating him. Excited by the news, he'd immediately drove over to Kinnetik, and burst into the conference room that he knew Brian would be using for the day and blurted out the news to all assembled.

Of course, he hadn’t planned on Brian being in the middle of a presentation when it happened; he’d thought it would be over by then. Luckily, the clients, caught up in the good news themselves, had all smiled and wished them well, and Brian had managed to snag the account despite the interruption.

“So, how did you do it?” A familiar snide voice demanded, bringing Justin back to the present. Justin sighed internally and opened his eyes to Michael's sneering face. Well, the day had started out well at least.

“Do what?” Justin asked in a bored tone, one brow arched.He wasn't going to give the little weasel the satisfaction of seeing his confusion.

“How did you trick Brian into having a kid?” Michael spat, spittle flying out of his mouth and hitting the table between them.

“Excuse me?” Justin asked incredulously, wondering if he heard the asshole correctly. What business was it of his?

“You heard me; how did you trick him? Did you poke a hole in the condom? Did it break? Did you inseminate yourself with his…” Michael babbled on, his eyes spitting fire.

“I heard you the first time,” Justin cut in scornfully, his own cheeks heating with anger. “I’m just trying to figure out how you think it’s any of your business?”

“Brian is my best friend,” Michael said, beginning his infamous litany, and growing angrier when Justin blatantly rolled his eyes at the statement. “And it is my job to make sure that not taken advantage of by gold diggers…”

Justin opened his mouth to retort, but then quickly shut it as he noticed an enraged Brian standing just behind Michael. Not that anyone but he could tell just how pissed off Brian really was; he’d always been skilled at hiding his emotions. Michael, of course, was oblivious.

“Please tell me I did not just hear you refer to my husband of five years as a gold digger, Michael,” Brian said in a cold, steely voice that sent a chill down Justin’s spine; and Brian’s ire wasn’t even directed his way. Michael frozeand his eyes widened, a hint of fear filling them as he slowly turned to face Brian. But Brian didn’t care, continuing in chilly tone. “My very successful artist husband, I might add, who makes five to ten grand, if not more, per painting; and sells out at nearly every show he’s taken part in.”

“Nearly?” Justin asked, trying to defuse the scene with a bit of levity; it wouldn’t do to have Brian murder the dickhead; even if he deserved it. At least, not with so many witnesses present.

“Well, you can’t really be held accountable for L.A.,” Brian smirked, knowing full well what Justin was trying to do, and playing along for the moment. “It’s not your fault that Californians have no taste.”

“Nice,” Justin said, a sardonic grin on his face; what Brian forgot to mention was that L.A. had been cancelled. Not because the gallery didn’t wanted him to show, but because some idiot had tried to have him show with Sam Auerbach not realizing there was bad blood between the two artists.

He’d heard that same idiot had been fired quickly after that.

“Brian, I didn’t know you were…” Michael said faintly, his face pulling into an all too familiar hang-dog face, complete with puppy eyes.

But the act didn’t fool Brian, whose eyes grew flinty as they settled on Michael; fuck, he so wouldn’t want to be in Michael’s shoes right now. Brian had become obsessively overprotective since their announcement for some reason and Justin didn’t envy the other man at all.

“Here?” Brian asked, that cold, steely tone returning to his voice; accompanied by a look that would have surely bludgeoned Michael across the floor if it were at all possible. “I noticed; and I’m still waiting for an answer.”

“Well, something must have happened.” Michael insisted petulantly, obviously not sensing the danger he was in.

“Yeah, it did,” Brian agreed; and Justin had to roll his eyes at the smug smile that spread across Michael’s face; one that died an ignominious death as Brian continued in sarcastic tone. “It’s this crazy thing called planned pregnancy. Imagine that! Who knew that when you stopped using condoms, and your husband goes off his birth control, you get pregnant. It’s quite wild and I can’t believe it happened. It’s a miracle!”

“What?” Michael stared at Brian, utterly stunned.

“Yeah, who knew, right?” Brian said again, pretending he didn’t know just exactly what had thrown Michael.

“You’re doing it raw?” Michael spat, garnering the attention of everyone in the diner; well, it wasn’t like they hadn’t already been discreetly listening in, but now they’d all stopped the pretense of minding their own business and simply stared at them in fascination.

Fucking Michael.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes, we are fucking raw,” Brian stated, arching a brow as if asking ‘and what exactly does this have to do with you?’ It always amazed Justin just how much Brian could express with a single gesture or expression. “Have been for four years; the only difference now is that Justin isn’t on birth control.”

“Four years?” Michael asked in a hushed tone, paling dramatically at the implications; for some reason, Michael had thought that Brian was still tricking. Brian hadn’t seen the need to correct his assumptions.

“Yup, when I finally got him to say ‘I do’,” Brian said, smirking at a rapidly flushing Justin. “I tied his ass down with monogamy, waited a year to make sure there were no issues and tossed all our condoms away.”

“Brian,” Justin chided, watching as Michael went from white to purple in the matter of seconds; as amusing as it was to toy with idiot, he didn’t want him to drop dead from an aneurism.

“Okay, no, I didn’t,” Brian snickered; Michael looked relieved, obviously misunderstanding what he was saying until Brian continued. “I gave them to Hunter. Your kid is gifted by the way. Not that I’ve seen it, but you hear things.”

Justin face-palmed, shaking his head in utter despair as Michael turned red once more. Brian was enjoying this far too much.

“Raw?” Michael asked again, as if still not quite believing it. “But you said…”

“Things change, Mikey,” Brian said, growing serious for the first time. “I figured I broke every other rule for my blond boy ass…” Brian laughed and ducked as Justin squawked and threw a carrot stick at his head. “…what was one more. You got a problem with it?”

“I…” Michael opened and closed his mouth several times, clearly at a loss of what to say.

“Yes?” Brian prompted as he walked around Michael and sat down in the booth, opposite to Justin.

“I gotta go,” Michael hastily said, spinning on his heel and heading for the door, stiffening as Brian called over his shoulder.

“You do that.”

Brian turned back to Justin and shrugged, utterly unconcerned of his ‘best friend’s’ plight.

“You’re evil,” Justin said, shaking his head at his husband’s antics.

“Amazingly enough, you like me that way,” Brian grinned and picked up the menu; although, why he did when he ordered the same damned thing every time, Justin didn’t know. “Now what did you want to eat? Or do I want to know? You aren’t going to dip your apples in teriyaki sauce again, are you? Because I don’t think I can handle that today.”

Justin just rolled his eyes and studied the menu, determined to find the weirdest food combination he could, no matter how gross, and force himself to eat it for that comment alone.