BRIAN

Vivian asked that we stay the night, and Gus pleaded, since they were spoiling him. I decided we were staying after Emmett called; swearing he didn’t mean to encourage Michael to throw a party, it just happened. He saved himself when he told me Michael planned to use the loft, since Emmett managed not to mention the house. I hung up when he asked about Justin, only because I like that he was scared right now. 

Justin had disappeared, saying he needed to check on some things and make some decisions. I didn’t want to make him feel like he couldn’t have time to himself, but I wondered where he was.

“He probably got lost in his work, he won’t care if you go see it. Just follow the path to the cottage and let yourself in, or you’ll be waiting all night for him to realize we’re all waiting on him,” Vivian told me.

“We can entertain Gus while you check up on Justin,” Marshall added.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” I tell Gus, who was really more interested in the big screen and the game he and Marshall were playing together.

“Len loves to play so I humor him,” Marshall tells me, but I have a feeling it’s Len humoring Marshall.

I left when Gus grunted, too busy trying to out race Marshall. I followed the path Vivian told me about, and it wasn’t that far and lit up in the back. When I opened the door I saw that Justin was working on a canvas. I knew he was an artist and had shows, but I’d never really seen his work, other than what he did for me. He didn’t look up as I walked around, just continued like I wasn’t there. 

He was good, truthfully better than the artists Lindsay use to drag me to see when Mel refused another night of staring at walls. There were paintings of his family, but there were also paintings of the times we spent together, up against another wall. Most were of me relaxing, some after one of our marathons.

“What do you think?” He asked, breaking the quiet in the room.

“I’m not surprised, what you did at Kinnetik was some of the best I’ve ever seen. Why don’t you show more?” I asked.

“I paint for me. I don’t mind showing when I feel like it, but since I don’t need to, I don’t have to give away a part of myself,” He told me.

“You don’t like the attention?” I asked.

“It reminds me of the people my parents surrounded us with... fake. It was sort of like the way Lindsay tried to make it sound like she knew me when Keaton and I walked up,” He told me.

“She’s always wanted to be part of the kind of circles famous artists go around in,” I told him.

“Nothing special about it. They’re a bunch of people who think they have a clue what the painting means, when sometimes the artist doesn’t know either. There are a few artists, like Keaton, that I can stand, but we’re all egotistical assholes most of the time,” He told me.

“Were you?” I asked.

“Of course. But I got over it. My agent hates that I don’t show, but reaps bigger commissions, because when I do, people will bid crazy amounts for what I will show,” He answered.

“Why work for your grandfather, when you don’t need to?” I asked, sitting next to him when he dropped his brush into a jar.

“I like that it didn’t require me to be anywhere for long periods of time. When I paint, I’m here longer than I usually like,” He told me.

“How are you going to deal with staying in Pittsburgh, because it doesn’t sound like you will?” I asked him.

“Molly needed me to be free to show up when she needed help. Now that she’s eighteen, she can start doing some of the traveling to me, instead of me to her. I still work with my Pop, so I’ll still be traveling around, just not as much,” He assured me.

“We might have a problem when we get to Pittsburgh,” I informed him.

“What?” He asked, kissing my neck.

“Everyone knows I’m bringing you back with me,” I tell him, helping him take my shirt off.

“And that’s a bad thing? It's not like they aren't going to notice when you have a baby around,” He tells me, yanking my pants off.

“I don’t care that they know. I just wanted to give you a chance to settle in before they act like showing up every ten seconds is their right,” I told him as I pulled off his shirt.

“It’s not going to send me running away. I like most of the people Ben introduced me to,” He told me, kissing my thighs.

“Not Michael?” I asked.

“I don’t dislike him, but he seems to think everyone wants Ben,” He told me, going down on me, without having a problem.

“You never did? Because I did once,” I told him. Wondering why it matters, when Justin licks my crown and runs his finger around my rim.

“Brian, shut up,” Justin orders me, before breaching me with one, then two fingers.

I shut up only because my head could only think about what he could do. He understood what I wanted without my having to ask. He arranged me the way he needed, and spread my cheeks, licking and nipping, eliciting moans no one else has ever heard from me. When I heard him ripping the condom wrapper, it didn’t even cause a second of doubt, knowing that he would top. 

“As much as you've done this, it's funny that you’re the one who is pregnant,” I told him, groaning as he started breaching me.

He didn’t start out slow, likely because he knew I didn’t want slow, but hard and fast. I reached for my cock, stroking it, because I needed release. He hit my prostate with every thrust, moving in time with my hand, and it was only minutes before I came, letting him use me to get what he needed. When he came, he laid his head on my stomach and waited out his release before moving off and out of me. I couldn’t move yet, because my body was still recovering. He studied me, they way he always did after.

“I want to paint this one day,” He told me.

“Not for anyone but us,” I told him. 

BEN

Michael wasn’t happy that I wouldn’t cheer up, and I knew I couldn’t talk to him about what really bothered me. I’m honestly happy if Justin is finally willing to get in a relationship, and I want to get out of my funk over what’s bothering me. Only, when I got like this, it was usually Justin who I could talk to. Ted agreed to meet me at my office when I called him. He was the only person I thought, out of all of the guys, who wouldn’t tell everyone what we talked about, he kept Brian’s secret for a year apparently.

“Ben, I don’t think either of them were trying to keep everyone from knowing. I don’t know Justin as well as you do, but when he worked with us, he reminded me of Brian. They only tell people what they want them to know,” He told me.

“I don’t get why I’m acting like this, Justin is just a friend. I've never once even considered him as anything else. It's just, after losing all my friends when my ex fucked up my life, Justin was the only one I really could talk to, and he pretty much told me everything too. It felt like shit that I was the last person to find out he's been seeing Brian. Maybe not the last, but he didn’t tell me. Did he think I would lecture him, or was it that he didn’t trust in our friendship? Thinking back on anything I might have said concerning Brian, I tried not to say anything that wasn’t true, but it wasn’t always complimentary toward Brian. Not that he ever really brought Brian up,” I told him. 

“You do realize you sound like Michael right now, don’t you?” He asked.

“God. I know, and used to hate it when Michael acted like this,” I answered.

“Are you sure you might not have felt something more than friendship for Justin, because it’s why Michael acted like this about Brian. If you do, please remember Justin is with Brian now,” He reminded me.

“I’m not blind. Yes he’s attractive, but I’ve never thought of him in any way that a friend wouldn’t. Don’t take this wrong, but with him I could get out my frustrations about the gang and Michael. And yes, Brian was a big frustration that Justin heard about. For the first time, it feels like he doesn’t trust me with parts of his life,” I told him.

“It’s what happens when you get in a relationship. There are parts of your life with your partner that you’ll never even tell your best friend. Emmett always knew everything about me. But now, out of respect for my partner, there will be parts of my life with Blake that Emmett won’t know about. It bothers him, but he knows it doesn’t mean that he isn’t still important to me,” Ted told me.

“Michael doesn’t even seem upset about Brian finding someone. You have to admit, that’s not something anyone thought would happen,” I told him.

“That should tell you that he loves you more,” Ted reminded me.

“It feels good,” I answered.

“Then stop worrying about Justin and focus on Michael, who is going to have Brian kicking our asses,” Ted told me, getting up.

“It’s not like Brian shouldn’t have expected it, with Michael and Deb,” I told him, before he walks out the door.

“Just make sure they don’t give him shit when it doesn’t work out the way Michael thinks it will. Brian wants Justin to have time and not get the full welcome before he’s ready.” Ted told me.

“And Michael and Deb don’t care, they’re worried about how Brian is going to handle not only having Gus, but also a baby,” I told him, making him come back and sit down.

“That might be something that bothers Justin. You know Mel and I are friends, and there’s a lot the girls weren’t exactly honest about. I only know because I spend more time with Brian than anybody else does since I started working for him. I never really asked Brian about his relationship with Gus, but I didn’t need to; I’ve been there when Mel and Lindsay said no when he wanted to see Gus. Instead of telling Gus that he couldn’t come because Lindsay and Mel said no, he’d make it sound like he couldn’t get away. When he hung up, I was there to see how much Brian wished he could say yes. Emmett saw it, but then he notices things that the rest of us usually don’t pay attention to. If you were telling Justin that Brian was a disinterested dad, imagine what he must have thought when he found out he was about to bring another Kinney baby into the world,” He told me.

“Mel and Lindsay never gave Michael and me any problems when it came to Jenny,” I pointed out.

“That’s because you and Michael had rights, something Brian didn’t have. They couldn’t say no to you. Imagine if they could what it would be like, and understand that what you thought was Brian blowing Gus off might have… no, was, Brian taking what he could get from the girls,” He told me, leaving me not liking that I might have said things that put doubts in Justin’s head about Brian.

JUSTIN

Pop and I were sitting around while Nana took Brian and Gus to meet some of her friends. I knew she did it so Pop and I could talk before I left. It wasn’t like we didn’t talk about my mom every time I showed up.

“Are you going to tell your mom?” Pop asked.

“Eventually. But you know she’s going to tell Dad. Brian already has a problem with Molly, so I wanted us to have time before he hates Dad,” I told him.

“He thinks Molly uses you so she doesn’t have to see the ugly side of the Taylor family,” He told me.

“She knows. She saw how it was for me,” I told him.

“You have to let her stand on her own two feet, and let us help her. You have a family of your own to think of now,” He reminded me.

“It’s scaring the shit of me. I’m happy about the baby, but Gus really opened my eyes about how little I understand kids,” I told him.

“Until you have them you don’t have a clue, and then it’s hoping you’re doing everything right. Nana and I weren’t perfect. We left your mother alone more than we should have; letting business and social events take our time away from her. It’s why I think she didn’t see your father for the person he is, because he gave her the things we weren’t,” He admitted to me.

“Brian’s worried about my lack of staying in one place for long periods of time,” I told him.

“It’s something he has a right to be concerned about. I couldn’t complain about it because you were doing what I needed you to do,” He told me.

“We’ve talked a little about it, and he’s told me he wants us to offer stability for this baby. I want that too, and having a place to call home sounds nice instead of stifling, which is new for me,” I admitted to him.

“Justin, you love Brian, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” He told me.

“I know. It’s not like I’d be willing to live with him if I didn’t,” I responded.

“Have you told him?” He asked.

“Not yet. I guess I want to make sure we can do this,” I told him.

“If you want it, you’ll do it. Take a leap of faith. Playing it safe only wastes time. You know how I feel about wastes of time... since I really never liked your father,” He joked.

“So does Dad,” I told him, kissing his head and deciding to ship everything to my new life.