Blake hung up, completely confused at the phone call. Why in the world would Michael call him and think he would do anything to help his stupid ass. Although Blake was curious as to what the hell landed Michael’s ass at the police station. So, it was curiosity that won out and got Blake to go there without telling Ted. He wondered why Michael hadn’t called his mother or stepfather, but he figured it was a good time for him to find out if the man had anything to do with the phone call that got Conner, Justin, and himself in trouble. It had been something he’d let stay in the back of his mind, but now he had the leverage to find out. 

Michael was sitting at one of the desks, not acting belligerent for once. Blake walked over and sat down, still wondering what Michael did that had him looking like a child caught doing something wrong. Blake introduced himself to Officer Becker, hoping someone would tell him why Michael was here.

“Can I go yet?” Michael asked, not raising his usual fuss.

“As soon as we're done processing you.” Officer Becker told him, rolling his eyes as if Michael had asked this question at least a few times already.

“Thanks for coming,” Michael mumbled to Blake.

“We need to talk before I do anything else,” Blake told Michael before turning to the officer. “Is there somewhere we can talk alone. I want to make sure I don’t do something to help him if he deserves to be here.” 

“It’s nothing, Brian just blew it out of proportion.” Michael snipped.

“What…? Are you fucking kidding me? You want my help with something you did to Brian?” Blake said, ready to walk out.

“I just wanted to talk to him,” Michael mumbled.

“I’m sure you did, but that’s not what you did,” Becker said, shaking his head. 

“I’m not going to screw up my friendship with Brian and Justin, for you. Not to mention that Ted is at his wits end with you. And obviously, since you called me, whatever you did you know your mother and Carl aren’t going to bail you out of. So, why did you call me?” Blake asked, wanting to call Justin since Michael just looked down at his feet, not answering. 

“If you want to talk alone you can go into the conference room. I still need to finish the paperwork before he can be released.” Becker told Blake, wanting to get this over with since he didn’t relish having to tell Carl why his stepson was here but knowing he had no choice.

Michael followed Blake meekly. Gone was the usual sense of entitlement Michael walked with, instead, it was like he was lost. Blake didn’t have any sympathy for Michael, he just didn’t have it in him to forgive the shit he did to Ted for years. 

“So what the hell did you do?” Blake asked.

“I just wanted to talk to Brian… but he never has any time for me anymore… and it’s not like I meant to watch… But now that Brian’s with HIM, he acts like I did something wrong when he’s been fucking people in public for years and didn’t care who saw.” Michael mumbled, then said something about Justin that Blake was sure he misheard.

“Say that again?” Blake asked.

“I said… I don’t get it, I couldn’t take my eyes off of HIM.” Michael answered, looking lost in thought.

“Michael, you need to explain just exactly what you did, because like I said out there, I WILL NOT HURT MY FRIENDSHIP WITH JUSTIN OR RELATIONSHIP WITH TED, FOR YOU,” Blake told him, wishing he’d just hung up and left Michael to deal with this himself.

“So, Brian’s bitch of a mother is okay to help, but not me.” Michael sneered.

“I’m out of here,” Blake told him getting up, thinking there were just some people he couldn’t help.

“Shit… sorry, sorry. It’s just I don’t understand why Brian acted like I did something wrong. I didn’t mean to watch them going at it. It was just... I was mad that once again HE got all Brian’s attention, and I didn’t realize they were going to do that. I didn’t mean to stay there.” Michael said, making Blake stop, only because he was flabbergasted at what he was hearing and the images it was bringing up.

“Let me get this straight. You didn’t mean to watch them in a private moment, but yet you stayed and watched. Am I getting this right?” Blake said, hoping he was getting this wrong.

“I didn’t mean to,” Michael told him.

“So that makes it okay? Because you ‘didn’t mean to’? Michael, you’ve spent your life supposedly not meaning to do anything, yet you do it or say it anyway. Saying that you ‘didn’t mean to’ doesn’t excuse you or make it okay. Are you not getting that?” Blake asked, wondering if it would fall on deaf ears as it always had in the past.

“That’s rich coming from you since I’m sure you didn’t mean to almost kill Ted… Shit, sorry. I didn’t…” Michael stopped when Blake cut him off.

“No, I didn’t mean it. You’re right. But you know what the difference between you and me is? I can own up to the fact that I fucked up. I don’t try to sweep it under a rug as if what I did wasn’t wrong. I OWN MY SHIT. Can you say the same thing? No, you can’t. Because you think saying you ‘didn’t mean it’ somehow changes something. Grow the fuck up and don’t expect me to be the next idiot to bail you out of the bullshit you do.” Blake said, wishing he hadn’t answered the phone. But he wanted to know if Michael had fucked with Justin, so here he was. “If I’m going to even consider helping you, you have to answer me honestly and then we need to talk about what you plan to do to straighten out your life.”

“My life is fine,” Michael said, still in denial.

“I can see that,” Blake answered sarcastically. “But since we’re sitting in a police station maybe you want to rethink the direction you're going in,” Blake told him.

“Ask your question. I don’t want to be here all night.” Michael mumbled.

“Neither do I. But unless I like what you say, you might be here longer. Which doesn’t mean you can lie to me. Are you the one who caused Conner, Justin, and I to get arrested?” Blake asked.

“Why would I bother? Nothing he does seems to bother Brian.” Michael said, looking confused at Blake’s question.

“Because you like to do shitty things to people,” Blake told him.

“I didn’t have anything to do with it. As much as I think Brian is stupid for wanting HIM, calling the cops and having Ma and Carl crawl all over me isn’t worth it.” Michael told him.

“Any idea who did it?” Blake asked.

“Why do you think I would know?” Michael asked, rolling his eyes.

“Because you do shitty things when it involves Brian,” Blake said again.

“In this case, I didn’t. The last thing I wanted was to have to see HIM.” Michael said, blushing at the memory of Justin.

“Apparently you didn’t mind tonight,” Blake commented, as Michael turned a deep crimson at being caught.

“You know Claire is having a hissy fit over not having her mother available to deal with the two hellions she birthed, and unlike me, she would do something like that to get back at Brian and hope it would get Joan back to her beck and call,” Michael told him, just wanting to get out of the police station before Carl found out. “Can you just bail me out? I can pay you back as soon as we get out of here.” Michael said, wincing when he heard Deb screeching from outside the room.

“Actually, now that Deb’s here, I think it’s time we talk about what to do about turning your life around,” Blake told him.

“Shit. I’ll fucking leave Brian alone until he gets his head out the twink’s ass. NOW will you bail me out?” Michael begged, sounding desperate as Deb could be heard getting closer.

“HE DID WHAT?” Deb yelled, having just heard the rest of what happened from Carl and ready to beat her son with her bare hands.

“Nope. You fucked with one of my best friends, which means calling me wasn’t going to get you anything except for once having to deal with the bullshit you do,” Blake answered him, opening the door as Deb banged on it.

“Are you fucking kidding me, spying like some kind of pervert?” Deb screeched, loud enough for anyone within a block of the station to hear her clearly.

“I didn’t…” Michael started to say, stopping when Blake glared at him. “Can we do this somewhere private?” Michael mumbled to the ground.

“No, we can’t. It’s not like you respected anyone else’s privacy. So why should yours be respected.” Deb said, turning to see Blake there. “He called you?” Deb asked, not sure why Michael expected Blake to do anything with the way Michael had treated him in the past.

“Ted and Emmett didn’t answer their phones,” Blake told her.

“Why would they? Michael shit all over his friends and now he sees for once that they aren’t going to keep giving him a pass.” Deb said, looking at Michael in disappointment. “They spent too many years doing it because I asked them to, but that’s over now. I can’t keep making them deal with him when he doesn’t respect them for the things they did for him.”

Carl walked in, barely containing his anger over being called in to deal with his stepson. He’d called Brian, who wasn’t willing to drop the charges, not that Carl asked him to, or even wanted him to. He just wanted to understand exactly what officer Becker seemed reluctant to tell him about the whole situation and knew that Brian would tell him without sugar-coating the truth. 

“Do you understand that what you did should have, and possibly will have you registered in the sex offender registry? Did you even think about the fact that your reputation would be in tatters because you can’t get it through your tiny little mind that just because you want something doesn’t mean it’s okay that you do whatever the fuck you want?” Carl said, barely able to contain his rage. “Your mother has spent her life working her ass off to help the LGBTQ community gain the respect of  ignorant assholes who treat good women and men like they’re perverts or less than human beings, and now you go out and try to prove the bigots' point by acting as a peeping tom.” Carl roared at Michael, pissed for Deb.

“I just wanted to talk to Brian,” Michael whined.

“Really? Because what Brian found on the ground outside of his window doesn’t support your ‘talking to Brian’ theory.” Carl said, sarcastically.

Deb and Blake were staring at Michael, trying not to imagine anything, and failing miserably. Blake wished right now there was a way to wipe his memory of that puke-inducing idea, which he hoped was wrong, but Carl wasn’t done.

“Do you know how many rapists start by jacking-off while watching through windows?” Carl said, not willing to spare anyone from Michael’s bullshit. 

“I wouldn’t… Dammit, Carl, I’m not like that.” Michael said as Deb turned into Carl’s arms, wanting to get away from her son.

“It doesn’t matter what you think, what you did speaks for itself. You need help.” Carl told him, unwilling to let Deb deal with this without him.

“Ma, just tell Brian to drop it,” Michael begged.

Deb turned around and walked over to Michael, not raising her hand to slap sense into him since it didn’t work anyway. Instead, she stood nose to nose with him, making him look her in the eye before she spoke.

“You did the one thing he spent his years trying to not be; YOU made him a VICTIM. And you think he should do what? Say it’s okay? Or think that I should tell him your abuse of his friendship is what he deserves for everything I did for him?” Deb said, not letting Michael look away from her. “The answer is NO. If he wants to see you behind bars then that’s where you're going to be. I will not let anyone help you. Do you understand me? You’ve embarrassed Carl by having to have one of his officers call him and explain what you did. And then him having to call Brian to get all the disgusting details. So no, I won’t let anyone help you, not this time. Brian has had enough of that all his life. I won’t be another person in his life to tell him that being abused is okay for him, that it’s something he deserves. I didn’t protect him when I should have, but I will this time.” Deb said, grabbing Michael’s jaw in her hand when he tried to turn away from her. “He’s been through enough, do you hear me? He’s found someone he loves and that loves him in a way he deserves, and I will not let him lose that for the person who thinks saying ‘he’s my best friend’ excuses your disgusting behavior.” 

Deb looked to Carl, willing to let him decide what happened to Michael. “What he did wasn’t excusable, but unfortunately there isn’t a lot we can do. We can and will charge him with trespassing, but to do any more, Brian and Justin would have to explain exactly what Michael watched while they thought they had privacy in their own home.” Carl told them, hating how vague the law was on this subject.

“He shouldn’t just get off,” Deb said, rolling her eyes at the measly sentence Michael would get.

“He won’t. Brian is going to have him banned from his home and is willing to file a temporary restraining order to keep Michael away from him and Justin.  Which I’ll make sure goes through before Michael leaves here tonight.” He told Deb. 

“He doesn’t need to do that. I won’t do it again ” Michael whined.

“Obviously, right now he doesn’t trust you, and with good reason,” Deb told him.

“I’m going to go. But before I do… Michael, you need to get help.” Blake told him, going out the door, only to see Ted standing there looking confused at Blake being there.

“Do I want to know why you're here?” Ted asked.

“Michael called and my curiosity got the better of me,” Blake said kissing Ted. “What are you doing here?” 

“The same. Michael left messages, plenty, for all of us.” Ted said as Emmett and Brandon walked to the door.

“I just came to keep Brandon from kicking Michael’s ass,” Emmett said, holding on to Brandon’s arm.

Michael looked around, trying to find something that would make everyone stop looking at him like he was some sort of pervert, because they had all been outside the door when Carl had told Deb and Blake what had happened. For the first time in his life, not one person was trying to find an excuse for him, and for Michael, it should have been a moment for growth, but as usual, he looked for a way to make himself into the victim.

“I just needed someone to listen to me after Brandon stole Ben from me. For once I was interested in someone and no one cared that Brandon was stealing him out from under me.” Michael said with tears in his eyes.

Michael waited for someone to react to his tears and turn on Brandon, but instead, they all turned and started walking away from the room.

Deb stopped and turned to him. “Once again, you can’t make someone love you just because you think they should. And Michael, nothing you did said you had any feelings for Ben, to any of us,” Deb said, kissing Carl before telling him she’d see him at home.

“Can I go?” Michael asked Carl, tired of being treated like a deviant.

“Sure. Right after you post your bail and sign off that you understand that Brian and Justin are off limits to you. I’m also going to ask that you don’t come by the house for a while. Your mother isn’t going to coddle you and I won’t let you try to worm your way back into her good graces. It’s time for you to find a way to deal with your own problems.” Carl told him.

“You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do when it comes to MY MOTHER and HER HOUSE,” Michael said, making sure Carl hear the emphasis at the end.

“But I do get to say what MY WIFE has to put up with at OUR HOUSE. Unlike before, she isn’t willing to believe the innocent act you like to use to get your way. I wish like hell the laws were different, because I’d deal with you embarrassing everyone just to see the stupid games you’ve been playing backfire on you.” Carl told him.

“I guess you’ll be disappointed since it didn’t,” Michael said, smirking until he saw his mother standing there.

“Carl, let’s go home. It’s late, you’re off today and none of this concerns us.” Deb told him, holding out her hand for him to take, appalled at seeing Michael’s treatment of the man who loved her.