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Author's Chapter Notes:

Thanks to everyone who has commented - it's much appreciated :) 

 

Chapter 8

 

Ted did as he had been told and stayed out of Brian's way for the rest of the week. He pretty much hid away in his office and when he had a meeting that Brian attended as well, he tried to keep it as professional as possible, avoiding any further conversation with Brian beyond what was important for their work.

 

Brian was angry and Ted knew that he had every right to be. Ted had had no right to read the letter that Justin had written to Brian and he hoped that staying out of Brian's path would make him forget about the worst of his anger.

 

When Sunday came around, he wondered if he should cancel his appearance at their weekly breakfast, but then decided against it. He couldn't avoid Brian for all eternity and more than likely Brian wouldn't show up anyway. Most weekends he didn't feel like meeting with them anyway and now he had a pretty good reason to stay away: To avoid Ted at all costs.

 

When Ted arrived at the diner and moved over to the booth in the back, he was honestly surprised to see Brian already there. He was drinking coffee and seemed to be the first one there.

 

Ted walked over and wordlessly moved into the seat across from Brian.

 

“If you want, I can leave,” he just offered, not looking at Brian as he spoke.


“And spoil Mikey's Sunday tradition? I don't think so...,” Brian just gave back before he took another drink from his cup of coffee.


Ted just nodded, then wondered what he could say next to cover the uncomfortable silence that had settled between them. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about that for long as Michael showed up a minute later and immediately sat down next to Brian, leaning into his best friend and immediately starting to talk to him.

 

It didn't seem as if Michael even noticed that Ted was also there, he was that busy telling Brian some story or other about something Jenny had done at school the previous week.

 

Brian listened politely, but it was obvious that he didn't really care.

 

Ted watched their interactions and once again couldn't help but wonder why Brian and Michael were still friends. They didn't seem to have a lot in common, to be honest, they never had had, but now that Michael was married to Ben and they had adopted Hunter, it seemed like they had even less in common.


Yes, Brian had Gus, but Gus lived with Lindsay and Melanie, just like Jenny did and while Ted knew that Brian loved Gus and spent a lot of time with his son, he doubted that the time they spent together was anything like the time Michael spent with Jenny or Hunter.

 

All of Michael's life seemed to revolve around his store, his comics and his action figures, none of which were topics that really seemed to interest Brian.

 

Brian had once given Michael business advice, had suggested some things to him about how to get the store to make more money, but Michael had just waved it away at the time saying that Brian knew nothing about comic book stores, so should leave his store to him.

 

As far as Ted knew, Brian had done just that and hadn't given Michael any further advice afterwards. From what Ted could tell, most times when they met it was Michael talking and Brian looking bored and he wondered if Brian still considered Michael his best friend the same way Michael still saw Brian as his best friend.

 

Did Michael even know about the prince? Ted seriously doubted it.

 

Before he could think some more about that, Emmett showed up and sat down next to him. He once again had a magazine with him which he had obviously bought on his way to the diner and was now waving around.

 

“Can you believe that he's really gay? God, he's so delicious... I wish I could comfort him...Auntie Em would have an idea or two about how to distract him from this current shitstorm he finds himself in,” the tall queen announced without any preamble.


Ted was able to catch a glimpse of the magazine and wasn't really surprised to see the face of the prince on it. His face had pretty much been plastered on the cover of every magazine and ever since he had come out, he had been in the news non-stop.

 

He was after all the first royal to come out as homosexual and while there had been several royals who had been rumoured to be gay before, he was the first one to openly confirm it which made him a kind of novelty as far as the media was concerned.

 

“Who are you talking about?” Michael asked, clearly not having seen the magazine or not having recognised the man on the cover.

 

“Prince Justinus,” Emmett explained as if it was obvious.

 

“Who?” Michael just looked confused but didn't seem to recognise the name.

 

“The prince that was caught on that gay sex tape. We talked about him last week. The one that's so cute?” Emmett said, hoping to get Michael to remember.

 

“Oh,” Michael said, nodding slowly. “What about him?”

 

“He came out as gay,” Emmett said, holding up the magazine in front of Michael's face. “Jeez Michael, where have you been last week? It was all over the news.”

 

“I don't really watch the news. Too boring,” Michael shrugged, then turned back to Brian and started another story about some comic or other.

 

Ted turned to Emmett, trying to tune out Michael's voice and took the magazine cover. He saw an image of Justin and a headline about an upcoming custody battle.

 

“His wife wants to take away his daughter?” He asked, turning to Emmett.

 

“I know, right? That statement said they wanted to stay committed to raising their daughter together, but I guess it was just one of those empty media statements... I mean, can you imagine what she must feel like? How can you not know that your husband is gay?”

 

“Maybe she knew,” Brian threw in at that point, surprising all three men at the table. Emmett and Ted because they hadn't been aware that Brian had been listening to them and Michael because he had thought that Brian had been listening to him and not to Ted and Emmett.

 

“Why would she marry him if she knew that he was gay?” Emmett asked, looking at Brian.

 

“Every gay boy needs a fag hag in life. Maybe things aren't what the media tries to make them seem... You know they just want to sell their shitty magazines and the more scandalous the story, the more people buy it,” Brian replied.

 

“Why are we talking about him? Who cares about some European prince and his fucking wife?” Michael threw in at that point only to have been overheard by Debbie who had just moved to their table to take their orders.

 

“Michael! That poor man is going through God knows what right now... show some compassion!” She glared at her son as she smacked her gum.

 

“Why? It's not like I know him,” Michael defended himself, glaring right back at his mother.

 

“You're gay... you know how hard it is to come out. Now imagine what it must be like for him, in his situation,” Debbie said, sounding sad.

 

“So what? He's a rich, spoiled brat that went to private schools and has more money than he can probably count. Boo hoo... What a sad life,” Michael said, clearly not impressed.

 

“Maybe you shouldn't talk about things that you don't know anything about,” Brian just said, without looking at either of them.

 

“What do you care?” Michael asked, now turning to Brian. “So some spoiled kid is gay and came out. Big story!”

 

“I am sure it's a big change for him,” Brian just muttered, then turned back to his coffee.

 

“Too right it is,” Debbie agreed. “Brian is right. Can you imagine what he must be going through right now? And if those articles are right and his wife is really trying to take away his daughter... that poor man!”

 

“Don't believe everything you read in those magazines,” Brian just said as he looked up and looked at everyone around the table. When his gaze settled on Ted, Ted returned it with a confused frown. “Maybe she has known all along and knew what she was getting into... Maybe those articles are just made up so that some trashy reporter will have a story to post.”

 

“Hmmmm, so you think his wife could have been his fag hag?” Emmett asked, seemingly contemplating the idea.

 

Brian just shrugged. “He wouldn't be the first gay man to have a child with his best friend...”

 

“Only that you and Lindsay never got married,” Michael piped up at that point, making everyone at the table turn to him.

 

“And only that Brian isn't some kind of prince,” Ted muttered, earning himself a glare from Michael.

 

“He's the stud of Liberty Avenue, he's got a reputation as well,” Michael said seriously, making Ted's eyes widen.

 

He was glad that Emmett replied, as he had still been contemplating a suitable reply. “Honey, I don't think we can really compare Brian and his reputation to a prince from Europe.”

 

Thankfully, Debbie asked them for their orders then, not giving Michael a chance to reply.

 

Once Debbie left, Ted tried to steer the conversation away from the topic of the prince and his coming out.

 

“So, did anything exciting happen at Babylon last night?”

 

Brian threw him a grateful look, then started speaking about a trick who gave lousy blowjobs and entertained the group with that story.

 

That led to Emmett sharing some stories from his past about lousy blowjobs and all in all breakfast turned out to be quite enjoyable.

 

The next day Ted dared to speak to Brian again, hoping that he wasn't angry anymore about him reading the letter.

 

He made his way into Brian's office and got straight to the point.

 

“Did he tell you that about his wife?”

 

“What business of yours is this again?” Brian just asked, not even looking up from the folder he was looking at.

 

“I was just wondering if... if you had spoken to him at all since... last week,” Ted said.

 

“Theodore, what business of yours is any of this?” Brian asked, now sounding annoyed.

 

“I just... I can't help but feel sorry for him. It can't be easy going through this and... I guess I just wondered if you had been in contact. It must do him good to have a friendly face on his side. Someone he can talk to...”

 

“I am not a friend,” Brian muttered, then turned back to the folder on his desk.

 

“You know what I mean,” Ted said.

 

“No, I don't. Why are you bothering me with this?”

 

“I just think he could really do with a friend right now,” Ted said, looking at Brian imploringly.

 

“I am not his friend.”

 

“No, you're just the guy that fucked him for three years... The guy he loves, the guy he wants to be with.”

 

Brian now glared at Ted. “You don't know anything about him... about us...”

 

“I read his letter,” Ted said, holding Brian's gaze. “I know that he loves you. That much was obvious.”

 

“Oh and because you read a private letter that was not for your eyes, you now think you have a right to an opinion?”

 

“Do you love him?” Ted just asked instead, not replying to Brian. He knew that the answer to Brian's question was no. He had no right at all to have an opinion and he was treading on very thin ice; he was very much aware of it.

 

“What?” Brian now raised an eyebrow and looked at Ted as if he had two heads.

 

“It's an easy enough question: Do you love him?”


“I don't do love,” Brian gave back without missing a beat.

 

“Then why did you fuck him for three years? Why did you always stay in New York for a whole weekend when you could have flown back the same day? Why did you let him sleep in your bed last week?”

 

“That's none of your business and if you don't stop getting involved in my private life, you'll be out of a job pretty soon.”

 

“So go on and fire me. I don't care... I am your friend and as such I care about your happiness. And you might not want to get your head out of your ass, but I know that you love him. If you didn't, you wouldn't have stayed with him for three years. If you didn't love him, you wouldn't have been so hurt when you found out about his wife... if you didn't love him, you wouldn't have let him stay last week. You love him, Brian! But are you man enough to admit that to yourself?”

 

“How dare you...?” Brian started, but never got any further because Ted wasn't done yet.

 

“I know that you loved him and I think you still do. You were so happy and relaxed every time you came back from New York. I saw how hurt you were last year when you found out about his wife. And the way you spoke when he came out last week, the way you spoke about him at the diner yesterday. You still care about him! You still love him; it's why you allowed him to stay at your loft and why you gave him the advice you did. But are you as brave as he is?”

 

“What are you even talking about?” Brian asked, honestly not sure if he understood what Ted was talking about.

 

“He was brave enough to come out, to risk everything, so he could be himself and I know that that impressed you. But are you as brave as he is to do the same?”

 

“To do what?”

 

“To admit to yourself that you love him? That there is a man out there that loves you, wants to be with you and now is in a position to be with you if only you would get your head out of your ass and admit your true feelings.”

 

“What do you know about my feelings?”

“I know that you have them... And I know that you have feelings for him,” Ted replied calmly. “Brian, there is a man out there who loves you. And he's in a very shitty situation right now and could really do with some support from the man that he loves. Can you give him that support and be the man that he fell in love with or are you too scared to admit to yourself that even the mighty Brian Kinney can love and loves Prince Justinus?”

 

“Oh, you think you have all the answers, don't you?”

 

Ted just shrugged in reply.

 

“You don't know anything about him...about me...about us...,” Brian pressed out, but then didn't go on.

 

Ted leaned closer and looked Brian straight in the eye. “I know that there is a 'you' as in you and him... Are you willing to let that slip away because of some mistake he made that he's clearly sorry for? You know the whole situation now...Are you willing to let him get away just because he didn't tell you the truth about his life? A life that is so unfathomable to any of us... A life that is so beyond anything any of us could comprehend. He loves you, Brian! And I think you love him... Isn't that worth fighting for?”

 

Without another word Ted turned around and left Brian's office.

 

Brian was about to reply something after him, more like yell after him, but then stopped. What good would that do?

Instead he turned back to the folder he had been looking at and tried to ignore what Ted had said. How dare he make any assumptions about his life? About him and Justin? He didn't know anything.

 

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