Chapter 10

Brian and Ted had escaped Michael's boring tales about his vacation with Ben and had excused themselves to the office to go over some balance sheets for Babylon. There weren't any balance sheets to go over as they had already done that earlier in the day at Kinnetik, but Brian would have been close to committing suicide if he had been forced to listen to one more story from Michael about how lovely the landscape in Arizona had been on their road trip. Judging by the expression on Ted's face, it had been the same for him.

Ted had felt kinda bad for having left Michael alone like that, but when they returned to him an hour later and he found Michael talking to some random twink about his 'best friend', the 'Stud of Liverty Avenue', who 'has been in the backroom for an hour fucking out people's brains', those thoughts immediately left him.

“Michael, we told you we were going to the office and that's where we went,” he sighed in exasperation wondering if the man really was as dense as he appeared to be.

“Of course, Ted,” Michael just laughed at him and waved his explanation off, before turning towards Brian who looked absolutely disinterested in whatever Michael seemed to be talking about.

“So, Brian. How many twinks did you fuck back there?”

“Zero,” he just announced in a bored voice.

“So did you get your cock sucked instead?” Michael went on asking and his voice sounded weirdly excited which completely put off Ted.

“Nope,” Brian only responded in the same bored voice.

“Why not, Brian?” Michael whined. He actually whined. What the fuck was wrong with him? Ted asked himself.

“As Ted has told you several times by now, we were in the office going over balance sheets, Michael. I was not in the backroom and there were no fuckable twinks in my office, nor did anyone offer to suck my cock in there.”

“Sorry, boss, but you know,” Ted winked and was glad when he actually saw an amused grin on Brian's face.

“Yeah, one man only, I know,” Brian chuckled.

“Brian, you are losing your touch,” Michael was in his face and looked at him like a petulant child. All that was missing was him crossing his arms. Oh, wait, there it was. The crossed arms and petulant whine were in place.

“My touch?” Brian frowned.

“Look at you, you're letting yourself go. Don't think I haven't noticed how much weight you have put on recently. Is it because boy wonder left? I thought you left him? So why care? You should be happy he's finally gone.”

“Michael, shut up,” Ted hissed at the dark haired man, seeing the anger on Brian's face. If Michael didn't shut up soon, there would be bloodshed at Babylon. Michael had been harping on about Justin all night and he didn't seem to have noticed how Brian's face had clouded over at every mention of the blond. Not that Ted was surprised, Michael had never been observant like that.

“Michael, stop talking about things you don't know anything about,” Brian only glared at his friend, before turning to the bartender and asking him for a bottle of water.

“Water? Are you kidding me?” Michael turned around to the bartender and ordered two shots of Beam for himself and his best friend.

“I don't want any, Michael,” Brian immediately stopped him, but as usual was ignored by his friend. 

When Michael put the glass in front of him, Brian made a display of taking his water bottle, opening it and taking a drink from it instead.

“Briiiiian, what is wrong with you? You need to make sure that you remind people of who you are! You need to show them that you are the King of Liberty Avenue. It's time to get back on your throne. What is with this weird behaviour? And all because of some twink that wouldn't go away when he should have?”

“Michael,” Brian angrily hissed, but then stopped and gasped. His eyes widened and then his hand flew to his stomach in what looked like obvious excitement. Both Ted and Michael eyed him in confusion and in Ted's case also concern. When he realised that Brian did indeed look excited as his hand rested on his stomach and when he saw a smile spread on his boss' face, he thought he understood what was going on. 

“Was it the first time?” He asked and was rewarded with a nod from Brian, who looked down at his bump in obvious enchantment. 

“The first what?” Michael asked, looking from Brian to Ted and back, not understanding what was going on.

Ted saw the moment the excitement left Brian's face and saw him straighten up and look at Michael seriously.

“We should go to the office. This is not a conversation I want to have here,” Brian just said and then turned to Ted. “I want you to come along,” he said quietly, before turning around and leaving in the direction of the office.

“Brian? What is going on, Brian?” Michael nearly yelled after him, causing several guests to turn their heads in his direction.

“You should follow him, if you want to find out,” Ted only muttered, before following Brian to the office.

When he entered it, he found Brian sitting in the office chair, his hand still resting on his bump.

“What does it feel like?” He couldn't help asking as he looked at his friend from curious eyes.

“Weirdly intense... I can't really describe it,” Brian said quietly, his voice sounding awed by the experience.

“What does what feel like?” Michael asked, slowly starting to get angry by being left out of whatever conversation Brian and Ted were obviously having.

“To feel the baby kick for the first time,” Brian just said with a happy expression on his face.

“B-baby?” Michael all but stuttered and his eyes widened in surprise. “What baby?”

“My baby,” Brian replied quietly, before lifting his shirt to reveal his bump. “I am pregnant.”

“P-pregnant? You?”

“Yes, me. I am 20 weeks pregnant, Mikey,” Brian repeated. 

“H-how?”

“I am sure you know how it works. You know? The flowers and the bees. Or in this case just the bees and the bees.”

“Y-you let that boy toy fuck you?” Michael asked in an angry voice and Ted wondered where that anger was coming from. What Brian and Justin did was none of Michael's business.

“If you're referring to my partner of the last five years and one time fiance, yes, I let Justin fuck me,” Brian spat, getting more and more angry by Michael's behaviour when it came to Justin.

“Why would you do that? You're the ultimate top, you... you never let anyone fuck you.”

“Well Mikey, I am sorry to burst your bubble, but after all I am just a normal gay man and love cock up my ass just like every other gay man as well. And believe me, his cock was there more than once.”

Brian and Ted watched as Michael paced the office like a caged animal, obviously trying to take in the information he had just received.

“When are you getting rid of it?” Michael asked next, stunning both Ted and Brian. It didn't seem that Michael wanted to know if Brian was going to keep the baby, apparently he had already decided that Brian wouldn't and just asked about the date now.

“I am not getting rid of my baby, Michael. What kind of person do you think I am?”

“So you're giving it up for adoption?”

Once again Brian could only exclaim an angry “No!”.

“You're letting him destroy your life?”

Both Brian and Ted knew who the him was Michael was referring to and Brian had a hard time reigning in his temper. “Having his baby is hardly destroying my life.”

“Of course it is. How will you ever reclaim your throne as the Stud of Liberty Avenue once everyone knows that you take it up the ass from a twink.”

“Michael, can you even hear yourself?” Ted asked, shaking his head in disgust at what his friend was saying.

“Listen to me, Michael. Are you listening?” Brian asked, getting up and walking over so he could look his friend right in the face. When Michael nodded, Brian continued, hoping that he could make him understand. “I don't give a fuck about what anyone else thinks. I am long past that. I love... loved,” he corrected himself quickly, “Justin. He is not and never has been just a twink or a boy toy or blond boy ass or whatever you like to call him. He was my fiance, I was ready to marry him. And not because he wanted it, but because I wanted it. I wanted to marry him. We might not have planned on having this baby, but you of all people should know that I would never even dream of aborting a baby that is mine. After everything you heard my parents say to me, how can you even think that of me? This baby might not have been planned, but it is a part of Justin that will always be with me and I will love it more than life itself.”

“You can't seriously think about having this baby. You are not a father, Brian. You love fucking, drinking and taking drugs. What kind of father would that make you?”

“I don't know, why don't we ask Gus what kind of father I am?” 

“Gus... seriously? You are nothing more than a drop in dad who shows up when Lindsey and Mel demand your appearance at a birthday party. You are not a father to him.”

“Michael,” Ted hissed once more, glaring at his friend. “You have no idea what you're talking about,” Ted angrily told him, feeling like he had to defend Brian. As Brian's accountant he knew how much money Brian gave to the girls for Gus care, he knew how much money Brian spent on flights to get to Canada and visit his son regularly, he knew how Brian would drop everything if Gus wanted to speak to him. Just because the girls weren't living in Pittsburgh anymore with the children didn't mean that Brian wasn't involved in his son's life.

“He never wanted a child, he called himself Gus' sperm donor and never wanted to be more. It's ridiculous that you think you want to be a father now,” Michael said as he turned from Ted to Brian.

“The only thing ridiculous here is the bullshit coming out of your mouth. How often have you been to see JR since the girls moved to Canada?”

“Brian, you know I don't have the money to constantly fly up there,” Michael started, but was immediately interrupted by Brian's angry words.

“Then why spend the money you have on a road trip through Arizona instead of visiting your daughter?”

“Brian... Ben and I are married, we deserve some time alone every once in a while.”

“Bullshit! You want to give me shit about the kind of father I am? At least I can make the time and effort and visit my son regularly. I really thought that being a father yourself you would be more supportive, you know?”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room when it was obvious that Michael wouldn't respond to that statement.

“Brian, you do realise what is going on here, don't you?” Michael started again after a couple of minutes of silence in which the three men had glared angrily at each other.

“You're being a piece of shit, that's what's going on here,” Brian spat, sinking back into the sofa, his hands once more wandering to his bump and rubbing it.

“He must have punctured the condom so you would get pregnant. He must have planned this all along to secure his place in your life, so you would pay for him and his hobbies until the rest of his days. He just wants your money.”

Brian eyed Michael from incredulous eyes, then got up and was nearly in his face when he snarled at him. “Funny, he didn't even know I could get pregnant. Why would he do that?”

When Michael couldn't come up with an answer to that, Brian angrily continued. “And I don't see him here, do you? So obviously this masterplan of his hasn't worked, has it?”

When Michael was about to reply to that, Brian just stabbed his finger in Michael's chest, his voice full of venom when he next spoke.

“He has never taken money from me without paying me back! He has never cared about the money, but about making his own way in this world. He is not YOU!” Brian spat the last words, then turned away from what he realised used to be his friend. Michael wasn't his friend anymore. Those days were gone. Brian sadly had to admit that their friendship had run its course and there was no way he could stay friends with someone as hateful and spiteful as Michael.

“Get out,” he said quietly and when Michael didn't move, he turned towards him once more and yelled at him. “Get out! I don't want to see you again!”

“Brian, I am your best friend, you don't mean it,” Michael started, but didn't get any further than that when Ted walked up to him. 

“You should leave, Michael. I think you've caused enough harm for one night, don't you?”

“Me? I didn't do anything,” Michael exclaimed and started fighting when Ted grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door. 

“Don't come back here before you realise how wrong that statement is,” Ted spat at him and then pushed Michael out the door, closing it right the second the man was outside.

For the next ten minutes they heard knocking on the office door and Michael yelling Brian's name, before Ted finally had enough and called security to remove him from the premises. The whole time Brian had just stood in front of the big desk in the office, lost in his own thoughts, not looking at anything in particular.

“Brian?” Ted asked quietly, not wanting to startle the other man, gently resting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Realising what a stupid question that was under the circumstances, Ted wasn't surprised when Brian chose to ignore it and didn't give him an answer. 

“I think it's time to go home, you know?” Ted suggested, trying once more to get Brian's attention. He frowned when Brian shook his head.

“Brian?”

“He will show up at the loft. You know him... I can't go there,” Brian just stated matter-of-factly, his voice void of any emotion.

“You can stay with me and Blake if you want to,” Ted immediately offered, knowing that Brian was right. Michael would probably already be on his way to the loft, waiting there for Brian to show up.

Brian only shook his head once more and spoke before Ted could, who obviously wanted to say something about that.

“I'll stay at the office tonight and tomorrow,” he sighed, turning slowly to look at Ted, “I want you to look into moving companies.”

“Brian, you don't have to...,” Ted started, but Brian nodded at him sadly.

“Yes, I have to. Not only because of Michael, though. I have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks now... Michael just confirmed something I knew I had to do anyway,” he said quietly. “There is no way I can raise a kid at the loft. It's not a good place for an infant and... with Michael being the way he is, I don't want him showing up whenever it pleases him.”

“Should I call Jennifer tomorrow to find a place for you?”

When Brian only shook his head, Ted was utterly confused. “Brian, where will you go?”

“I want to get Britin ready,” Brian said in a voice hardly above a whisper, his eyes glassy with unshed tears.

“I-I thought,” Ted started, not quite sure how to finish that sentence. Brian had bought Britin for Justin, it had been a present and a sign to show him how committed he was to their relationship and how he believed in their future together. Ted couldn't believe that Brian would actually want to move there. As far as he knew Brian had never been back there after Justin had left for New York.

“I bought it for him, but... that's not to be. I think... it seems quite fitting that his child will grow up there, don't you?”

“Yeah, if you say so,” Ted muttered, still trying to wrap his head around Brian moving to Britin. “The house is huge, Brian. Are you sure?”

“I can get a room ready for Gus, when he will come over to visit us and... I can get an office there so I can work from home. It is a big house, but... we'll make it work,” Brian said as he rubbed his stomach. “We'll make it work.”