March 2

Brian stood back and admired his handiwork, sighing with relief that he was finally done with the project. And none too soon as Justin had started nosing around recently, wanting to know what he'd been working on out here in the stables. It had gotten to the point that Brian had to have the locks changed, otherwise the little twat would have figured it out and ruined the surprise. Sometimes Brian was certain that the saying 'curiosity killed the cat' was coined with Justin in mind as the brat just couldn't keep his nose out of trouble.

Standing up, Brian circled the crib and ran a hand over the stained and sealed wood checking for any rough spots or splinters. Although, there shouldn't be any given all the hours he'd spent stripping and sanding it down; but he didn't want to take any chances considering the precious cargo that it would hold eventually.

Smiling with satisfaction, he stood back and took all three pieces of furniture in – the aforementioned crib, a dresser and a changing table; proud that he hadn't lost his touch. You couldn't even tell that they'd once been baby pink rather than the lightly-stained oak that had been lying underneath all that hideous paint.

Looking up as someone came to stand at his side, he nodded to Carl and turned back to the baby furniture that would soon make its way up to the nursery that Justin was painting. He really couldn't wait to see it in the room; he definitely felt the natural finish was much more suiting to the room Justin was creating than the white paint that someone had originally suggested when they were looking at furniture.

"It looks good, kid," Carl praised, as he walked around the crib to inspect Brian's work; he whistled appreciatively as he ran his over the smooth finish. "You did a good job. Jen will be pleased when she sees it at the reveal."

Brian smirked and looked away, both uncomfortable, yet pleased with the compliment; although, he was more than happy to hear Carl's assessment of Jen's reaction, since she was the one who had given him the furniture. When Justin and he had been discussing what kind of furniture they wanted for Sunbeam's room, Jen had pulled him aside and offered up the furniture she'd used for both Justin and Molly; something that she'd stored away in the hope that one of them would use it for their own kids.

And after inspecting it, and noting that it was solid wood and in really good shape, if painted a hideous shade of pink; Brian decided to grab it, sand it down and refinish it as a shower gift for Justin. And looking at the results, he was happy that he'd done so.

"Deb and Vic taught me how to do this when I was younger," Brian explained, a soft smile on his lips as he thought of those long, summer days away from his childhood home. "They were always buying furniture at garage sales and secondhand stores; and then they'd bring them home, sand them down and re-stain or paint them. And every summer they'd put me in charge of a project; I think I refinished her buffet and hutch three times before I was out of college. She said it was because it got dinged or there was a rough patch; frankly, I think she was just trying to keep me off the streets."

He'd loved those times as a teen, and he'd been surprisingly good at it once they'd taught him the basics and he'd had some practice. In fact, when he'd first gotten his own place after college, before he'd had the money to purchase the loft, all of his furniture had been bought secondhand and refinished by him. No one had ever noticed however as he'd always had a good eye for quality and by the time he was done, his furniture looked as if it had been purchased in some of the best stores in Pittsburgh.

"More like she was trying to keep you out of the clubs," Carl snorted, shooting an amused look at Brian, who just rolled his lips between his lips and shrugged; it's not like he could deny it. Deb had always worried about his lifestyle choices back then.

That is, until Justin had sunk his claws into him and wouldn't let go; then she just sat back and laughed as Brian floundered, and fought it, until he couldn't deny his feelings any longer; and then she had the ill grace to laugh again and say, 'I told you so.'

Not that he blamed her; he supposed that he'd feel a bit smug too had the roles been reversed.

"That too," Brian smirked, picking up cloths and pieces of spent sand paper and tossing them into the trash. "I didn't think I'd be able to finish it all in time for the shower; with the way Justin's been nosing around and trying to get in, I've had to wait until he was gone, distracted by visitors or napping before I could get in here to work on it. It got to the point where I was begging anyone to get him out of my hair."

"Who'd you sacrifice this time?" Carl laughed, having run afoul of Justin's determination a time or two himself.

"Well, luckily, Emmett and some of the boys came over yesterday to work on the shower favors," Brian said, dusting off his hands and taking one last look around to make sure that everything was put away. "Emmett managed to stretch that out and then quickly distracted him with other chores for the shower; so, that kept Justin occupied for a few hours. And then today, I convinced Mother Taylor to drag him off for lunch and shopping with her and Molly. They actually should be returning any time now."

If he wasn't already home that is; the only problem with being in the stables was that it was far enough away from the drive that he couldn't hear when anyone drove up.

"Well, then, I'm going to head out," Carl said as he walked out the door and paused at the beginning of the path that lead to the front drive. "My being here will just spark his curiosity further and then you'll never keep him away."

"Christ, tell me about it," Brian groused, shutting the door and locking it so that his brat of a husband couldn't get in, and then followed Carl down the path. "I'm still trying to figure out when to move this stuff into the nursery; I might have to take the day before off and make Emmett drag him off for some last minute shower shopping just to get it done."

"Let me know when," Carl nodded as they stepped off the path and walked down the drive to his car. When they got there, Carl rounded it and unlocked it, opened the door and leaned against the top of it. "I'll come out with Deb; between her and Emmett, they'll keep him suitably distracted while you, Drew and I move the stuff in."

"I will," Brian nodded, watching as Carl slid into his car, still feeling just a bit wrong-footed with this man's obvious affection and respect for him; despite the number of years that Carl had been a part of his life, he still wasn't used to having what pretty much amounted to a father figure.

Oh, he'd had Vic, and he wasn't discounting Vic's place in his life at all. He had been a solid influence; but he'd also been more of an indulgent uncle than a true father figure; or maybe that had just been Michael's views tainting his own back then. But, whatever it had been, while Vic had always given him good advice, he'd never been that firm father figure that either of them needed either. He preferred the indulgent, 'you will learn eventually' mode of thinking; which certainly has its place, but not the best attitude to have with young teenagers.

Carl had been the first true father figure that he'd known, having no qualms whatsoever in telling Brian when he thought he was being an idiot. He'd bluntly, and on more than one occasion, warned him where his actions were leading, pointing out all the pros and cons; and then left the decision in his hands.

"Later, kid," Carl called out and then closed the door, started his car and reversed, heading out towards the road.

Running a hand through his hair, Brian grimaced as he came away with a bit of sawdust and he didn't even want to think what else since it had once been an active stable. Turning on his heel, he walked into the house and up the stairs, intent on a shower to wash this shit off. Although, it was a damned shame that Justin wasn't there to help as shower sex had long been one of his favorite bathing activities.

But, if he was lucky, Justin would return soon and join him.

He quickly shed his clothing and tossed it into the hamper, before turning on the shower, adjusting the heat and stepping in. He quickly washed himself up, lingering for just a few minutes, hoping that Justin would show. But when it became obvious that he wasn't going to, he shut off the water and stepped out. Quickly rubbing himself down with a towel, Brian wrapped it around his waist and then took a second, smaller towel for his hair and strode into their walk-in closet.

He scrubbed the towel through his hair as he pulled a new pair of jeans and a long-sleeved, knit shirt off the shelf and then paused, perking his ears up. He waited a moment, swearing that he'd heard something in the room, but when Justin didn't come in, he shrugged it off and dressed. Then, as he was just pulling out a pair of socks from the drawer, he heard a small thump out in their bedroom, followed by a familiar voice cursing under his breath.

Striding out of the closet, Brian froze as soon as he entered the bedroom; because there, bent over at the waist, stood a nude from the waist down Justin, his ass fully on display. Licking his lips, Brian stood back to admire his husband's form, still as stunning as the first night he'd picked him up. God he was so beautiful it hurt sometimes. And he was so distracted that he didn't even notice what Justin was doing, or why he was bent over in the first place, until the item of clothing that Justin had been struggling with covered his ass and obstructed Brian's view.

And then he homed in on the fact that Justin was smoothing some sort of…well, what looked like pantyhose into place? Shaking his head, Brian stared for a moment longer trying to figure out what the hell his husband was up to this time before he finally gave up and asked, "What the hell are you wearing?"

Justin squawked and snapped up, his eyes going wide as spun around and stared at Brian, giving him a better look at the…well, the best way he could describe them was tights. Although, now that he had a full view, he could see that they weren't exactly pantyhose or tights as they were footless. Not that it prevented him from teasing Justin.

"Are those pantyhose?" he asked, a tongue-in-cheek smirk etched onto his face; Justin flushed, his cheeks turning a bright red at his question. And then he growled when Brian really hit it home with his next comment. "Don't tell me – this pregnancy has finally brought out your feminine side."

"They're compression tights, asshole," Justin huffed, glaring at a snickering Brian; he flipped Brian off for good measure. "And what are you doing in here? I thought you were in the stables like you have been every weekend for the past two months."

Well, that explained why Justin hadn't come to find him when he got home; not that he was going to let the brat manipulate him into changing the subject.

"I finished up about thirty minutes ago or so," Brian smirked, walking over to his husband; he circled him, wondering what the hell compression tights were supposed to be since they just looked like footless pantyhose to him. So, he just decided to ask. "What the hell are compression tights?"

"It's some sort of specialty support hose that you wear while pregnant for extra support," Justin huffed again, staring down at the tights with an annoyed expression. "It's supposed to help with tired legs and varicose veins, or something like that." Justin paused to glower at Brian, who was still snickering at his obvious discomfort. "I don't know. Mom bought them for me."

And that made little sense to Brian; not the support part, because he got that, but the varicose veins bit really didn't apply in this situation. He knew Justin's body, as well as his unblemished skin, intimately and knew that he had no need for this item of clothing.

"What varicose veins?" Brian asked, staring at Justin's covered legs, his brow pinched in confusion; and then it smoothed out as while he didn't think that Justin needed the tights, they made for a hell of a view. And Brian couldn't help being fully appreciative of them and admiring the way they clung to Justin like a second skin.

He licked his lips again and wondered how long it would take for him to peel those god awful tights off his husband's very delectable body. He really needed to test that out.

"Right!?" Justin huffed, running his hands over his legs, further distracting Brian. "That's exactly what I said. But Mom said that 'just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there; and if they aren't, it doesn't mean you won't eventually get them.' And then she paid for them and stuffed them into one of my bags."

"And you're wearing them, because…?" Brian asked; because he really did want know why on Earth Justin would ever feel the need.

"Curiosity?" Justin said, shrugging his shoulders as if that were a perfectly reasonable answer for putting on an item of clothing that closely resembled women's lingerie. And for Justin, it probably was. As he said before, the expression 'curiosity killed the cat,' had definitely been coined with Justin in mind. "I just wondered how comfortable they would be and if they actually do anything to support the pregnancy."

"Interesting," Brian hummed, stepping into his husband's body, molding his front to Justin's back as he slid his hands over his belly to his hips; this definitely needed a closer inspection. He smoothed his hands over Justin's thighs, his dick instantly hardening in a way he hadn't expected at the silky texture under his fingertips.

"What are you doing?" Justin asked, his voice a little breathless as Brian continued his explorations.

"I'm just taking a closer look to admire your newest item of clothing," Brian said, pressing his hardening dick into the curve of Justin's ass. He slid a hand up to cup Justin's growing erection and gently squeezed, drawing a small gasp from Justin's lips.

"What are you…" Justin started to ask again and trailed off as Brian started to peel the tights over his baby bump, so that he had more skin to touch, but it wasn't enough. It never was when it came to Justin. He spun Justin around, picked him up, and carried him to the bed, dumping him on the edge. "I thought you didn't like this kind of thing? All of your tricks in the past were more along the lines of gym bunnies rather than queens."

The question was rhetorical; and it was true that he'd often been more attracted to the hard, well-built type that looked as if they'd spent their lives in a gym. Justin had been an exception to that rule being much shorter, blonder, and thinner than his usual type. But then again, Justin had always been the exception to all his rules. Maybe that was what had him coming back to Justin again and again in the beginning.

"I don't," Brian agreed as he tried to peel the tights over Justin's legs; but it wasn't as easy as he thought it was going to be as the fucking things clung, leaving him to tug at them, and nearly ripping them in the process. "But I do like you; and frankly, your near naked ass is all that I need to get interested."

"Brian!" Justin squealed, laughing as he looked up into Brian's, likely red and frustrated face, but doing absolutely fuck all to help Brian with said removal of the tights. "Stop! You're going to tear them!"

"So, I'll buy you some new ones," Brian huffed, and then let out a triumphant cry when he finally managed to yank the tights from his husband's body. He tossed them over his shoulder and leered down at Justin, a lascivious smirk on his face. "For now, I have more important things to do."

"Oh?" Justin asked as he coyly peered at Brian from beneath his lashes. "And just what would that be, Mr. Taylor-Kinney?"

"A thorough inspection of your body," Brian smirked, pausing to lick a long, wet strip up his husband's stiff cock and swirling his tongue over the head as Justin cried out beneath him. And then he slid up his body to drop a kiss on Justin's parted mouth as he whispered. "You know, just to be sure there aren't any of those varicose veins your mother was talking about."