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Author's Chapter Notes:

This one is a bit smaller than they have been lately; mostly due to the fact that I had a second section planned, but cut for the next one as this seemed to come to an organic ending. Also, sorry for the lateness of this post; I had another idea come to me yesterday and needed to write it down in my potential story ideas before I lost it, and it wouldn't leave me alone until I did. The muse is a tenacious bitch.


 

March 30

 

Brian pulled up to Blake and Ted's house and sat in his car for a few minutes getting his thoughts together. Due to everything that had been happening with Justin, and them fighting and trying to work everything out, he still hadn't had a chance to address something that had become apparent while they'd been watching the live feed of Justin and Lindsay's showdown. He was pretty sure that Ted had been in the know before the confrontation.

 

And while he might have forgotten that initial thought in the events that had followed, he went back and re-watched the confrontation. Not because he had footage of Ted's reaction, or lack there of; but because something had clicked when he'd played back Justin's words in his head later that evening. He'd vaguely recalled that Justin and a friend had overheard the conversation between Simon and his friends; and Brian would stake everything he owned on the probability that friend had been Blake.

 

A hunch that he'd mostly confirmed on his own when he went through his and Justin's past travel expense reports for Kinnetik and Taylor Made Art. He'd found the paperwork for a trip that Justin had taken during that time frame. And according to the report, Justin had been in New York to finalize plans for a show and to meet with a couple of gallery owners for two other potential shows. And if Brian recalled correctly, Justin had purposely gone on that particular weekend because Blake had a conference to attend and they were planning to make it a ' boy's weekend .'

 

Plus, his gut instinct was never wrong; it had to be Blake. It was the only thing that made sense.

 

Sighing, Brian ran a hand through his hair and climbed out of the car; he opened the back hatch and pulled out several bags – his main excuse for being there; because no way in hell was he allowing his nephew to be dressed in those God awful rags his parents had sent with him. Closing the hatch, he walked up to the door and knocked, and then leaned against the wall as a voice called from within.

 

Brian turned towards the door as it opened and arched a brow at a smiling Ted; and he was both annoyed and glad when Ted took one look at his face and sighed, his smile sliding away as he ushered Brian in without a word. Glad because he was still fucked off that neither Ted nor Blake had told him something important about his husband; but annoyed because Ted was able to read him that easily.

 

He remembered a time when no one had ever been able to see beyond his masks; he had been a blank slate to them. And then a stubborn, blond brat had entered his life one day and all of his rules and masks had been shattered to pieces. The annoying twat; it was good thing that he loved him.

 

Brian stepped into the living room and set his purchases down as he watched Ted and Blake hold one of those silent conversations that he and Justin were prone to doing. The kind where you don't need to exchange words because you know exactly what the other person is thinking. Blake sighed and nodded; he got up, scooped a sleeping Luc out of his rocker and then walked down the hall towards their bedroom.

 

And he wasn't sure if he was happy or annoyed by that gesture; it wasn't like he was planning to scream at the two of them. Yet, at the same time, he did want to discuss this with Ted first as he'd always considered Ted his friend, while Blake was Justin's friend. It was irrational, and not at all true, but he couldn't help it if that was the way his mind had divided them up and that he was feeling a bit betrayed that Ted had remained silent.

 

Sitting down in a chair, Brian studied his friend, trying to figure out what to say; or even, what he wanted to know about Ted's involvement. He knew that he should have come up with a better game plan, but once he had watched the confrontation this morning, he'd just reacted and drove into Pittsburgh without a second thought. He just needed to know what Ted and Blake had been thinking when they'd kept this from everyone.

 

It turned out that Brian hadn't needed a plan, however; as Ted started talking without prompting as soon as he took a seat across from him.

 

"You can be mad all you want at me, Brian," Ted said levelly, meeting his gaze head on without so much as flinching. "I won't complain or try and talk my way out of it. But you need to remember this – Justin is my friend too."

 

Brian grimaced as, again, that irrational voice in his head protested, stubbornly insisting that Ted had been his friend first and therefore his loyalty should have been to him first. It was stupid and pointless as he was very well aware of how close Ted and Justin had grown through working, first through Kinnetik as a contractor, and then as the CFO of Taylor Made Art. And he didn't say a word because he knew that it was an irrational feeling on his part.

 

"And while Blake and I both tried to talk him out of keeping it from you," Ted continued, an unhappy frown on his face. "At the end of the day, we kept his confidence because he asked it of us. If I hadn't, Justin and Blake would have clammed up and went off on their own because they felt they couldn't trust me to have their backs. And there was no way in hell I was going to let those troublemakers go off half-cocked on their own."

 

A faint smile pulled at Brian's lips, because he could very well see that; and a part of him did understand and appreciate the bad position his friend had been placed in. Justin and Blake were notoriously stubborn and the thought of them trying to take Simon and his ilk on had his stomach tying itself in knots. Being cognizant of that fact didn't soothe his feelings of betrayal however.

 

"Just as I held your confidence when you were going through the radiation treatments," Ted said with a shrug. "And then again when you had that cancer scare just before Justin's first solo show in New York. And I don't need to point out how long you kept that from him."

 

Brian scowled and looked away when Ted reminded him of that time in his life; that had been another spectacular blow out on their parts. Especially as Ted was giving him far too much credit – he'd never actually told Justin anything. The reason Justin had found out was that he'd found the biopsy results one day when he was going through some of their papers. That had been a bitch and a half of an argument, leading to Brian spending several nights in the guest room until Justin's wrath had finally cooled.

 

"I didn't want him freaking out when he was working on the show," Brian muttered, but he knew that it was a weak excuse at best; something proven when Justin had handed him his ass all those years ago. "I wanted to wait to tell him after everything had been confirmed one way or the other. And then when the biopsy came back negative, I didn't see any point in bringing back bad memories and leaving him paranoid and worrying about me, potentially bringing him home sooner than he was ready."

 

Ted just looked at him and Brian scowled again because, yes, he was a big, fat, fucking hypocrite. He admitted it. And he wished that he could now point out that he had learned his lesson from those past mistakes; but he knew himself well. If it was ever a choice between protecting Justin and getting his own needs met, he would always, always , choose Justin.

 

"The point is, Brian," Ted huffed, rolling his eyes when Brian frowned at him. "You didn't tell him about something pretty fucking major in your life because you were protecting him. What he was doing was no different."

 

"I know that, Theodore," Brian huffed, getting out of his chair to pace; because it was true. He did realize that it was the same exact thing; but, much like Justin had been, he couldn't help being pissed off by it. "Which is why after hashing it out with him, I let it go. Am I still hurt and upset that he didn't come to me? Yes. Of course, I am. But I'll eventually get over it, just like I've gotten over so many things in our lives."

 

"Then why are you here?" Ted asked pointedly; and that was the crux of it, wasn't it? Why was Brian there if he'd already made his peace with Justin?

 

Brian scrubbed a hand over the back of his head and made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. He hated this! He hated feeling helpless. He hated that he had not been able to help his husband through something that they should have faced together. And that was his biggest sticking point. It again, fell down to the trust factor and the lingering echoes of distrust that Justin felt to this day about Brian having his back.

 

And he got that; in the past he had done his best to have Justin's back on the major events, but there were a lot of little things that slid through the cracks; not to mention that there were times that he'd tried to be there for Justin, but suffering from his own trauma, he'd handled everything wrong.

 

Like the bashing and his refusal to talk about it; and worse, coaching Justin to let it go and move on with his life, when he hadn't done the same. It had led to the Pink Posse mess because Justin had had so much anger bottled up inside at the injustice of it all that when he'd finally had an outlet; he almost turned into someone unrecognizable.

 

Blowing out a harsh breath, Brian didn't know why he was here or what he wanted to get out of this visit. It had been pure impulse on his part to come here in the first place. But he figured that while he was there, he might as well get some answers.

 

"I don't know," Brian huffed as he flopped back down in the chair across from Ted. "I understand why you and Blake kept it secret. That doesn't mean that I'm not fucking angry and hurt that you guys didn't come to me and let me know that this asshole was a potential threat to my husband. I can't help that."

 

Ted sighed and tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling; Brian watched him, still feeling a lingering hurt and frustration that he knew he needed to make peace with before it festered and came back to haunt them all, but he wasn't quite sure how to do it. Ted sighed again and looked back at Brian.

 

"You know; I wasn't even supposed to know about it," Ted said with a mirthless smile; Brian arched a brow, indicating that Ted should go on. "Blake and Justin had made a pact in New York to keep it from everyone while they figured out what to do. I only found out because Blake came home from that trip in a rage; and knowing something was wrong, I decided to take the next day off to see if he'd talk to me about it. I ended up overhearing him ranting to Justin on the phone because he thought I was gone for the day."

 

Well, that was interesting news indeed; and much to his irritation, he could see the two stubborn brats doing just that. Justin and Blake had always been thick as thieves as they were several years younger than the rest of them. And for a long time, they had felt like outsiders to the core unit group of friends. It had led them to forming their own exclusive unit that few had been allowed entrance to over the years. That they would try to solve this problem on their own didn't surprise him one bit.

 

"It's true," Blake said from the doorway; Brian turned to him with a frown. Sighing, Blake entered the room and sat down next to Ted. "We were going to look into doing something about Simon ourselves; but then we had that Ben scare, where he ended up in the hospital for two weeks. After that, life got busy and we never got around to doing anything more than working with the other artists to thwart Simon's plans."

 

"And that's why you should have said something," Brian said, his utter frustration at his husband and his partner-in-crime leaking into his voice. God spare him from stubborn, independent, strong-willed twinks. "As a family, we could have worked together to make sure these kids don't get harmed."

 

"And you're right," Blake conceded, throwing Brian completely off of his game. He hadn't expected that. "Which is exactly why I kept urging Justin to come clean and do something about it years ago; but you know what he's like. I've only met one person that has the ability to out stubborn him; and that's you. But since you didn't know, and I was sworn to secrecy, there wasn't much that could be done."

 

Brian hummed thoughtfully; he couldn't really argue with that assessment. Justin had even managed to out stubborn Debbie at times; he remembered all too well the numerous times Deb had tried to talk Justin out of doing something - mostly pinning his hopes on Brian - and Justin jutting out his jaw and doing it anyways.

 

"And if I had said something to you against his wishes," Blake said in that reasonable tone that he used when he was counseling someone; a ploy that often annoyed Brian, but managed to soothe his inner turmoil at the same time. "If I had broken his faith; what would have happened the next time something like this would have come up?"

 

"The little twat would have kept it to himself and tried to solve it on his own," Brian sighed, echoing Ted's earlier thoughts. "I know that, Blake; I'm well aware of my husband's flaws."

 

"Exactly," Blake said with a serene smile. "Rock meet hard place. At least if he has someone to confide in, he's not going off half-cocked and offering blow jobs to assholes and then blackmailing said assholes into dropping lawsuits." And then Blake colored as he looked at Brian with wide-eyes. "I mean…"

 

Brian snorted at his expression, a small amused smile curling on his lips when Ted looked back and forth between the two of them, utterly confused by Blake's words. Blake bit his lower lip and looked away, obviously realizing that he'd inadvertently given up one of Justin's long kept secrets. Or at least, he thought he had. Brian had actually known all about that situation years ago.

 

"I'm well aware of the Kip situation," Brian huffed, waving off Blake's concern with a flick of his hand. "I learned about that not too long after it happened; although, I never let on to Justin that I knew about it. I let him keep it a secret, despite the fact that I wanted to throttle him when I found out."

 

"The Kip situation?" Ted asked faintly, his brow furrowed.

 

"Yeah, that dickhead who tried to sue me for sexual harassment because I wouldn't promote him," Brian huffed, rolling his eyes as he thought of the little asshole.

 

"I know that," Ted huffed in exasperation. "I just wasn't aware that it had beenJustin that had gotten the asshole to back down."

 

"Apparently," Brian shrugged; he had long since gotten over that particular foible of Justin's, mostly because there were so many others that had him nearly throttling the twat. "The idiot kid hit on Kip; and then in the middle of getting a blow job, happened to drop the fact that he was a minor and that his daddy had beat the shit out of the last adult who'd had sex with him. Funny thing was, he wasn't even lying, the cunning little fucker. Craig actually hadkicked my ass; just not for the reason that he'd implied. And then he promised said moron that he wouldn't say anything to his daddy if he'd do him just one small favor. Next thing you know, the suit had been dropped."

 

"I don't know whether to be proud or appalled," Ted said, staring at Brian with a weird amalgamation of the aforementioned emotions.

 

"Join the club," Brian groused. "I can't tell you how many times that brat has given me a fucking heart attack due to his refusal back down."

 

Silence fell between the three of them as they mulled over the things that had been said; Brian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as some of the tension that he'd been retaining melted away. He may not have known just why he'd come or what he'd wanted out of his initial impulse visit, but it had done some good at putting things in to perspective and cleared out the clutter in his mind.

 

"Are we going to be okay?" Ted asked, arching a brow.

 

"We're fine, Theodore," Brian reluctantly conceded; and they were for the most part. He couldn't help adding a warning, however. "But if it happens again, I will kick your ass. I don't care if Justin wants you to swear on Marilyn Monroe; the next time something like this happens, and he wants to keep quiet, remind him of this of this situation and the fact that I will murder you if I'm left in the dark."

 

"Well, so long as you aren't overreacting…" Ted stated with a dry smile.

 

"Fuck off," Brian huffed as he got to his feet. "Be glad that I'm not kicking your ass right now." He headed for the door, pausing only when he reached the bags that he'd set against the wall. He turned and pointed at them. "By the way, those are clothes for Luc. I can't even begin to express my horror at what you consider clothing. I don't care that they were Ralph Lauren – plaid, button-down baby jumpers should not be a thing."

 

Ted scowled and crossed his arms over his chest as Blake burst out into laughter.

 

"I told you he was going to queen out," Blake snickered as he headed over to the stack of bags by the door. "But noooo, you wouldn't listen to me. Hell, he hates when Justin wears his GAP cargo pants and t-shirts just to paint; there was no way in hell he was going to look at those and think they were adorable."

 

"My mother bought those," Ted muttered with a petulant moue.

 

"I could tell," Brian snarked as he opened the door. "Considering that they are just as boring and as much of an eyesore as most of the clothing that you've worn all your life."

 

And then he walked out, smirking when he heard Blake continue to laugh and comment on the jumpers as he closed the door.

 

"Just give it up, Teddy," Blake snickered as he began pulling things out of the bags. "Those things are awful; put him in one when she comes to visit or when we go over there, but otherwise they're best left forgotten in the back of the dresser."

 

Well, at least one of them had taste.

 

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