“Don’t you think this house is a bit much?” Justin asked.

Why would they need a tennis court? He did like the wrap around porch though.

“I like it,” Brian defended himself.

“I like it too, but shouldn’t we be looking at a house with more bedrooms and less amenities?”

“This way we have four to a room.”

“That seems like asking for trouble,” Justin said.

Brian just looked at him and Justin saw what he hadn’t before. Brian really loved this house. Remembering Brian talking about his childhood. Brian’s house right now was basic and looked like every other house on his block, probably something his wife had wanted. This house had a lot of personality and was beautiful, this house was Brian.

“Show me the gym,” Justin said, wanting to cheer Brian up who had started to look sad.

Brian did cheer up with that and the realtor took them to a small indoor gym. The walls were blue and yellow and there were two basketball hoops hanging, one on each side of the gym. It was like a miniature school gym except with no bleachers.

“Wow, Freddie and Nina would love this gym,” he said.

“So would Gus and Adam. I didn’t know Nina played basketball.”

“Yeah, she’s played since she was in third grade. She didn’t want to be on a team in high school because before it took up all of her life but she’s really good. I don’t like that the kids would have to switch schools, but I think it would help some of them.”

“Same. Gus will be starting his senior year, but he’s had problems with most of his teachers, so I don’t think we’ll have much of an issue.”

The house was in West Virginia, close enough to Pittsburgh that it wouldn’t be much trouble for Justin and Brian to commute to work though.

They left the realtor and drove back to the city.

“What did you think, really?” Brian asked.

“It’s beautiful. If we’re going to do this it might as well be in a pretty home.”

“If?”

“We still have to tell our children.”

“Yes, but that won’t change anything.”

“I can’t marry you if my children are against it. They are my life.”

“No, they are your children. As long as we listen to them and not degrade their feelings, we can still do this. I’m not going to lie; it will be hard in the beginning but if we try it will work.”

“I know. My kids really like you and your younger kids. I don’t see them having a problem with your older ones.”

All the kids were back, and the house was once again a madhouse. They all were excited to tell him about their camp experiences, all except Eric, his sixteen-year old. He was quiet and more withdrawn than he had ever been. Eric was his peacemaker, the caretaker of all his kids. He suspected maybe Eric had a summer romance and it hadn’t ended well. Gus on the other hand wouldn’t shut up about his exploits.

The kids had gotten home yesterday and today was the day they were introducing the full families together and springing the marriage on them. In fact, because both Justin and him thought a wedding was an unnecessary expense and ceremony, they had already gotten married at city hall the day before his kids came home. He knew if kids that weren’t against the marriage they would surely throw a fit about getting married without them. But both him and Justin thought a wedding was more aggravation than good right now.

Brian had made a reservation at a local restaurant. He had gotten the VIP room that was for parties and bigger families. He told them he was bringing twenty people. Justin had told him that he was leaving Hannah and Baby Bea with his sister because he was worried if it went bad, he didn’t want the babies upset. Brian decided to do the same with Leia and now Emmett was going to watch her while they were at dinner. That meant there would only be seventeen at the restaurant, but it didn’t matter, they needed the big room with the large table anyway.

He hadn’t ever remembered himself being this nervous. Not when he was waiting for his college acceptance letters. Not when he was meeting Lindsay’s family for the first time. True he had already hated them, so he didn’t care if he impressed them or not. He knew Justin’s kids were alright with him as Bea’s other father. But as their stepfather was a different story.

At the moment he was at the office, working on some last-minute stuff. He and Justin had put in an offer on the house and it had been accepted. They were moving in before the new school year. They had paid a shitload to expedite the closing. After they move, they could list their houses. Turns out with Justin’s money from his dead sugar daddy and Brian’s from Lindsay’s trust they didn’t have to rush the selling of their respective houses, but they both wanted them gone. Once they got the money back, they could move it back to savings for the kids’ educations which was as much as the house they just bought.

“Hey, Bri, Emmett called and we’re having lunch. You want to come? Michael will be there, it will be like old times,” Ted said.

“Sure, I have something I wanted to tell you anyway.”

He might as well get this part over with. Emmett knew he was taking his kids out to dinner but didn’t know the reason.

Ted and he were the last ones to arrive.

“My usual, Kiki,” he said as he sat down beside Michael.

Michael was the one he was worried about most telling about getting married. Michael and Ben had been together for over ten years. But there were still times that Michael got incredibly jealous. He guessed he would have been jealous too when Ben and Michael got together if Lindsay just hadn’t fucking had twins.

“I’m amazed you came to lunch. You’ve been like a ghost for the last month,” Michael said.

“I’ve been busy, actually I wanted to talk to you.”

“Ooh, this sounds juicy. I’ve been telling Teddy I think you’re dating. After seeing you chat up that little blond dish last month, I knew you were back on track,” Emmett said.

“That kid was too young for Brian,” Michael said.

“He’s not a kid, he’s thirty. And he’s my husband.”

Brian watched in amusement as his friends gapped and looked like fish.

“What the hell?” Michael asked.

Just then Kiki brought his and Ted’s food and dropped it off at the table and scampered off. She seemed not to want to be in the line of fire.

“What don’t you understand?” he asked.

“You said you didn’t even want to date a month ago. What changed?” Michael asked, his face getting a little red.

“Nothing, except that I decided what I needed for my kids and myself. This choice was mine and the reasons are my own. I’m not going to spend time defending my decisions, I’ll have to do that enough when we tell the kids.”

“Wait? You got married and didn’t tell your kids?” Ted asked, he looked shocked.

“Yeah.”

“What the fuck, Brian. The kids are going to be so upset. You are all they have, and you make this huge decision without them. You didn’t even ask their opinion?”

“It’s my choice.”

“Have they at least met this man?” Ted asked.

“The younger five have.”

“God, Brian, how selfish could you be? It’s not just you that you have to think about. You have ten children depending on you.”

“Eleven, now. Well…techanially eighteen now.”

“WHAT?” all three yelled.

“Remember the costume party two years ago on Halloween?”

“Yeah,” Ted said, looking disappointed already.

“Well, turns out the guy I fucked is one of the like five-percent that can get pregnant and I was using defective condoms. He had seven kids at the time and my daughter was number eight for him.”

“You have another kid?” Michael said, shaking his head. “He has eight kids?”

“Her name is Beatrice.”

“She has an old woman’s name,” Michael said.

“It fits her, and they just call her Baby Bea or just Bea. Justin is her other father. We already have a child together. I want a real family. Please, I never thought I’d have this. When Lindsay got pregnant and we got married, I figured my life was basically over. I miss Lindsay and love her, but I didn’t love her like I was supposed to love her. I think I could with Justin.”

“You don’t believe in that kind of love,” Michael said, he looked upset.

“Maybe I want to try.”

Justin looked at the ring Brian had gotten him when they got married. It was just a few words at City Hall with workers there as their witnesses. He knew he had fucked up when he got home. He hadn’t told his children he married a near stranger. He hadn’t told them that he was buying a house with his new husband. He hadn’t told them anything, like they would be moving in with ten other children and having a new stepfather.

His children would hate him, Brian’s children would hate him. This was a mistake, but it was too late to turn back. Brian had put a rush on closing with the new house they spent thousands of extra dollars to rush the inspection and everything.

The kids were chatting animatedly in the van as he drove to the restaurant. It was a very unusual that he took them out to a real restaurant, that meant one without crayons. Brian had called him earlier and told him since the babies weren’t going to be there, he invited his friends for damage control. He hoped it worked. Because he already knew he did everything wrong. He had behaved like a teen without any responsibilities and now was going to pay for it. This was probably the last time his kids would talk to him. He was so stupid, it was like when Brian talked all he could do was smile and nod like a schoolboy, he’s so ashamed of himself.

The restaurant was nice, and he hoped his kids didn’t break anything. The waiter led them back to the room with the other guests. The room was very full, everyone was standing around and chatting. Justin looked around and finally laid eyes on Brian, he was smiling and chatting with some men that were too old to be his children. One was about Justin’s height, then there was a tall, built man that had his arm around the one Justin’s height. There was a man that had his back to Justin.

Brian noticed him and waved him over. But before he could move, he heard yelling.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Nina was yelling at a teen boy who had to be one of Brian’s. He had dark hair and was in jeans and a t-shirt that said Fuck Off. This had to be Gus, Brian had told him that he was his most troublesome. He was always doing things to piss off his father.

“Nina, watch your language.” He was sounding more and more like his parents and he hated that. “What’s going on?”

“This asshole is the reason I got fired from the school newspaper.”

“What’s the bitch doing here?” Gus asked.

Justin turned and glared at Brian, but Brian glared right back. Justin had to concede, she did call Gus an asshole first. Fuck, parenting sucked.

“Nina Jade Taylor, you do not call people names,” he said sternly.

“But Dad, he got me fired as editor,” she whined looking at him with her big brown eyes.

“No, you got yourself fired. You admitted you skimmed the opinion piece and didn’t read it fully. It was your job to make sure it was an appropriate piece. If it were a paid job, you would have been fired too and probably worse because people talk. Let’s all sit down; we can discuss this later during our meal.”

Everyone sat down, Justin couldn’t help but notice his kids grouped together at one end of the extra long table. The only exception was Lucas who wanted to sit beside Logan.  

Justin sat beside Brian, on the other side of the table were Brian’s friends.

“You remember Michael, this is his husband Ben and our other friend Ted.”

Justin finally looked at the third friend and felt his heart drop. He was looking at the man that gave him his sweet, funny Lucas. Oh, fuck.

Brian noticed a change in Justin’s demeanor after introducing him to his friends. He had also noticed a weird look from Ted. He wanted to know what that was about but wasn’t sure Justin would tell him. Ted was still scared enough of him to be truthful. He would have to wait for an opportunity.

He knew he needed to get the meat of tonight out of the way. They all ordered their food and he took his moment.

“We have an announcement. Well, a few announcements. First off, some of you know but my kids don’t.” He looked around the table at his children. “Two years ago, I fathered another child. Her name is Beatrice and she is Justin’s daughter.”

His kids sat in stunned silence. He wondered which one would be the first to speak.

“Bea is our sister?” Alicia asked. She had met Bea several times when Brian took his younger kids over to get to know Justin’s kids.

“Yes.”

He saw confused faces, upset faces and one incredibly angry face. He was shocked at who the one who looked so angry.

“Natasha?” he asked.

“What?” she asked bitterly.

“Are you alright?”

“No, but I will be.”

Brian did his best not to laugh. While his kids were terrors, they really were amazing. Everyone considered Natasha and Noreen odd because they were so internalized with their emotions. But it wasn’t they didn’t feel, it was they didn’t want others to know what they felt, it was something so like him.

“Anyone have anything they want to say?” Brian asked.

“What do you want us to say? The baby is here, not like anything can happen now,” Gus said.

“Well, that comes to our second and third announcements,” Brian told him.

“We got married,” Justin said, pulling his ring out of his pocket and putting it on, Brian did the same.

“And we’re moving,” Brian got out before the yelling could start.

There were eyes all focused on them now.

“Where are we moving?” Krista asked.

“West Virginia,” Justin answered.

“We’ll be switching schools?” Krista asked.

“Yes, I’m sorry if that upsets you,” Justin said.

Brian watched the girl; her face was open much like Justin’s. She wasn’t upset, she was relieved. Something about her school was causing her trouble and starting a new school was something good to her not bad. Sadly, it didn’t look to be across the board with the rest. There were a lot of bitching about moving, no one seemed to care about the marriage though.

“You didn’t think to ask us if we wanted to move? Or that we wanted more siblings? We won’t be a family, we’ll be bad reality tv.”

He had thought Gus would be the one to point this out and get angry, but this was from Eric. Gus in fact was be noticeably quiet, he just kept looking at Krista with an odd expression. It wasn’t a smitten expression which was good because that would be messed up, it was a troubled one.

“I know this is unfair, but Brian and I really want to make an honest go of this. I hope that everyone can at least give it a try.”

“I’m willing to give it a try,” Krista said.

“Me too,” Gus added quickly after Krista.

All the kids agreed except one hold out. Brian looked at the hold out and smiled.

“What’s your problem?”

“I don’t want a new family,” Logan cried.

“Come here,” he said, pushing away from the table and opening his arms. Logan jumped out of his seat and ran into Brian’s arms. “Shh…I know, it’s a lot to take. I’m sorry for just dropping this on you like this. I thought it would be for the best all at once. Not the first time I’ve fucked everything up.” He picked Logan up and put him on his lap. Logan had been so small when Lindsay died, unlike Leia who never had a mother he had one for three years and then she was gone. “I’m so sorry.”

“You said sorry is bull…poo,” Logan said, catching himself before his cursed.

“I did but I never want to hurt you. We don’t know what kind of life we’ll have living all together. It might be good, or it might be bad. We’ll make a deal, if it’s not working after a year, we’ll take a vote if we should all live separately again. Is that acceptable?” he asked, looking from Logan to all the other kids. They all nodded including Logan.

“Alright. How long is a year?” Logan asked causing a tittering at the table.