Brian hung up the phone and laid his head in his arms on the towel, tanning on the beach, while watching Justin and Gus play in the sand. It made him think about what it would be like to have another child, one with Justin this time. Lindsay apologized over and over to him about what she had done as if it somehow made up for everything. It was more than Brian expected from her, but still not enough for the shit she put Gus through. It wasn’t like Gus knew what was happening, but Brian’s life was lived in the public and if Gus looked up anything it wouldn’t all be something that made Brian look great. It was why he never brought up having a child with Justin before the other night. He didn’t want his children to deal with what his career did to their lives. Only, seeing Justin with Gus made the worries he had seem less significant. Justin didn’t say he wanted a child, but Brian could see that Justin was a natural father. As with everything else since Brian met Justin, he wanted to give the man everything he could.
Brian was just happy when Justin was around, something he found elusive before they met. His life before Justin wasn’t bad, in fact, he got everything he wanted, fame and fortune. But eventually, there was still something he could feel missing from his world. He spent years letting his friends fill in the gaps in his life, only to find they couldn’t fill the space Justin managed to by just letting Brian figure out who he was, not what everyone thought he should be. It was what made it easy for Brian to love Justin. It was the kind of love he thought he’d never experience, with anyone. Brian poured his love into Gus and knew he could do again with a child he and Justin raised. He planned to leave it alone until Collier and Michael were dealt with, but somehow it was all he could think about, watching the way Justin loved Gus.
Justin cleaned Gus up in the water, just happy to be free of men dogging his every step. Corey had his men stationed all over the island and promised they wouldn’t be intrusive since no one could come on the island without permission. The houses were far enough apart that everyone had their privacy, and Justin’s only plan, beyond helping Daphne with her small wedding, was spending his freedom with Brian and Gus. Everyone offered to take Gus if they wanted to spend time alone, but for them being with Gus was just as important to them. Justin walked back to where Brian was working on his tan, wondering why Brian seemed to be lost in thought.
“I hate you. You don’t burn.” Justin joked.
“At least Gus got that from me too,” Brian smirked as he tossed the sunscreen to Justin.
“That’s not all he got. Sometimes I wonder where Lindsay’s genes went, since Gus is all you,” Justin told him, rubbing himself and Gus down again.
“It tickles.” Gus giggled.
“It makes me wonder what your child would get from you,” Brian told him.
“Is there a reason you keep bringing this up Mr Kinney?” Justin asked.
“You never really gave me an answer when I asked if you wanted a child. Maybe doesn’t really say yes or no.” Brian told him.
“It’s just not something I was ever sure of doing. I love kids but I also like our life the way it is. I could be happy with just Gus, but then there’s part of me that would be happy having a child we don’t have to share with other people. I honestly don’t care if we had a child that was biologically mine.” Justin answered.
“Gus proves that, and I could be happy with any child we had together,” Brian told him.
“You really want this?” Justin asked.
“I didn’t know I did, but like everything else since I met you, I want things I never knew I wanted,” Brian told him.
“What do you think Gus, do you want a brother or sister?” Justin asked, wanting a minute to think about how to answer Brian.
“I want a puppy,” Gus told them, making them laugh.
“As long as it has the blue eyes I fell in love with,” Brian commented.
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Emmett sat on the deck, happy that he and Drew didn’t have to worry about anyone taking pictures of them and speculating on whether Emmett turned Drew gay. Unlike Brian and Justin, the media ignored everything Drew, Sierra, and Emmett said in the article and printed every misdeed of Emmett’s life before Drew. While Emmett didn’t regret having fun, he didn’t want to make it harder on Drew with his team. So far they seemed to be taking it in stride and not kicking Drew off the team. But it was one thing to know Drew was gay, and another for his first out relationship to be with a guy as flamboyant as Emmett. Emmett couldn’t help that he wanted people to like him, and he already had strikes against him since they all loved Sierra.
Drew knew Emmett had been upset since the asshole Bellwether seemed to be targeting Emmett, when nothing about Brian got him anywhere. It was like Bellwether was determined to make Emmett miserable. It didn’t help that Drew’s manager made it sound like his relationship with the rockstar was a PR nightmare and would ruin Drew’s image. Drew didn’t care what anyone thought, because for the first time in his life he wasn’t hiding who he was or willing to put Emmett in a closet to make everyone happy.
“Emmett, everything is going to be fine,” Drew said, knowing Emmett was once again worried about him.
“I didn’t realize how my life would sound,” Emmett told him.
“No worse than anyone else’s. You were single enjoying your life. If you want the truth, I’m envious of the freedom you had, not afraid of who you are.” Drew told him.
“At first they wanted Brian and me to hide it,” Emmett admitted.
“You both managed to have it all, so they were wrong,” Drew told him.
“Which you couldn’t with your career,” Emmett told him.
“Maybe I can, but in the end, if I can’t, then so be it. It’s not the end of my life, since being with you comes out of all this.” Drew told him.
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Ted knew he should be humbled at the interest in the label he was starting, but all he was, was annoyed at the fact that no one got that he wasn’t going to kiss their ass to sign them. He didn’t plan on just signing anyone. Like Brian and Emmett, Ted only wanted people who actually had talent. One hit wonders and bands made up of a bunch of pretty things with less talent weren’t anything he wanted to be attached to his label. It’s why he agreed to represent Ben and Blake, because they had talent, in the same way Brian and Emmett did. It was why he didn’t just ignore Blake when he started getting in trouble, because he wasn’t like other managers who didn’t give a shit if the talent was killing themselves, just as long as they continued to perform. Ted’s interest in Blake didn’t happen until after Blake cleaned up his life. It wasn’t because Ted didn’t find Blake attractive, it was that Ted never really thought he had a chance with him. Not because Ted saw himself as unattractive, just that he’d never seen himself as the kind of guy who rockstars lusted after. It still made him wonder why Blake and Ben never got together, since their chemistry on stage fueled a lot of speculation. Ted watched as Blake danced around the kitchen making lunch, and wondered how Ben didn’t snatch Blake up years ago.
“Why me and not Ben?” Ted asked, not really meaning to ask.
“The same reason as to why no one else, you love who you love. Ben and I never could get past being friends, and neither of us wanted more from each other. Plus we would have ended up in trouble when it didn’t work, so why bother with something neither of us really wanted from each other.” Blake answered honestly.
“Why didn’t you tell me before how you felt?” Ted asked.
“You didn’t act like you were interested in me,” Blake told him.
“I can’t say I was in the beginning,” Ted told him, honestly.
“What changed your mind?” Blake asked, sitting on Ted’s lap.
“The day you came out of rehab, you didn’t try to excuse yourself for the shit you did, but willingly admitted you did it to yourself. I respected you, for being as strong as you are.” Ted told him.
“I wasn’t strong until I had you and Ben not giving up on me. You both made me want to be a better person than I was; Ben for being my best friend even when there was nothing about me worth his time, and you, I just wanted to you, and I knew if I didn’t change my life, I might not get a chance to be with you.” Blake told him.
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Brandon was really starting to feel like nothing was panning out with the stalker thing, until he overheard Deb ranting about her son’s new boyfriend. Only, ‘boyfriend’ was said with sarcasm and disbelief. Combined with the society page editor looking puzzled at why the Peterson’s were excited to include a guy name Collier Hartline and his boyfriend into their circle helped Brandon connect the dots. Brandon looked up what little he could find on Collier Hartline, and bingo, the guy lived on the fringes of Justin Taylor’s life. Michael’s involvement with Collier finally made sense, since everyone knew Michael wanted Brian Kinney. Granted, Brandon pretty much assumed anyone would do if Michael could ride along on their coattails and get attention, but Brian felt sorry for the shithead and kept him around. If Kip could be believed, that’s the only reason Emmett and Brian didn’t walk away from him, because they loved Deb Novotny enough to put up with Michael.
Brandon waited around the lobby of the hotel that Michael was checked into, hoping for once to get a story no one else could. Bellwether had changed his mind about helping Brandon, instead going on a campaign to smear Emmett Honeycutt, since no one would touch Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor unless they could verify everything. Bellwether at least was smarter this time and only wrote articles about Emmett that didn’t cross the line into fantasy land. It was likely the only reason Emmett hadn’t been able to do anything about Bellwether’s articles. Brandon left him to his fluff, because he wanted to be better than a tabloid reporter, which was where Bellwether was headed.
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Collier and Michael were so busy bickering about how to fool Alex, they didn’t really pay any attention to anyone around them. When the car pulled up and Collier’s mother got out, he really wished he’d dressed Michael better. His mother took one look at Michael and Collier knew she didn’t believe he could be who her son would choose on purpose. Collier agreed, but he wasn’t going to be committed again, just because no one else understood how pure Collier’s love for Justin was.
“I’ve gotten Dr Wilder to agree to come to us, he’d like to talk to both of you separately,” Mary told them both.
“Why?” Collier asked, not sure Michael could be trusted not to fuck this up for him.
“Dr Wilder said it would be better to deal with one problem at a time.” She told him.
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Alex knew he was going to regret agreeing to help in this situation, but he was willing to do what he could to help Brian. He’d been surprised as the rest of the world that Brian Kinney had gotten married, but happy to hear Brian hadn’t let his past stop him from letting Justin Taylor into his life. Alex was willing to help Brian after getting a call from him, asking him to make sure Collier couldn’t fool anyone into believing that he wanted anyone but Justin. Alex was willing to be unbiased about his patients, but everything about this relationship that Collier and Michael were trying to convince everyone they had worried Alex. Both of them were delusional, but with Collier, it went further than wishful thinking into an unbalanced territory. Michael went from one scheme to the next, never really planning anything, just hoping something would work to get him what he wanted. The only thing that helped was that Deb wasn’t willing to help Michael out of this mess, and Collier’s parents couldn’t pay the Taylor’s off in order to keep their son out of trouble this time. Alex couldn’t wait to see how Nancy Peterson dealt with pissing off two families higher up on the social scale. He had a feeling Nancy and Lynette just committed social suicide instead of what they hoped for.