After the longest business meeting, which dragged until well after nine in the evening, Brian was ready to go home. In the car, he checked his phone, surprised Justin hadn’t called or written anything about when he would make it home.

Instead, there were two missed phone calls and a long text message from Samuel Dickson.

Brian’s amusement grew with each word he read about Sam’s apparent issue with the way Justin had humiliated him in front of the whole diner.

Brian drove to Meathook, discarding his suit jacket and tie in the car. He was still more dressed up than anyone in the club.

He made his way to the bar, asking for Sam, because he wasn’t in the mood to stick around.

He didn’t have to wait long for his friend to climb on the stool next to him, telling the bartender to bring Brian’s usual. After the long day, Brian needed the whole bottle of whiskey, not just a glass.

“How are you, old man?” Brian asked, tipping his glass toward Sam.

“Cut the bullshit, Kinney. Did you get to talk to Justin?”

“I didn’t have the pleasure to hear his side of the story. I just finished with my work day and noticed your lovely message.” Brian rolled his eyes. “How did Justin upset your sensibilities?”

“You said you read my message.”

“Yeah, he called you out for groping Liam in the middle of the diner. I thought you had more tact.”

“You know half the diner does that.”

“It doesn’t mean it’s any more okay if one or a dozen queers cope a feel on that poor kid. Do you even know his backstory? I do. Being traumatized by you is the last thing he needs.” Brian downed his glass, grimacing at the sour taste of the whiskey. He pointed to his empty glass, and the bartender topped it almost instantly. “Good thing someone stood up for the kid.”

“I also might have mentioned to Justin that we are friends and something about him being offended when he found us together that night in your club.” Sam shrugged nonchalantly.

Brian slammed his glass to the counter, shattering it, before getting up and pushing Sam against the side of the bar. He stopped his fist an inch away from Sam’s jaw, before taking hold of his shirt and shoving him away. Sam stumbled, tripping over a chair and falling.

Everyone stopped to stare at the fight.

“You dare come into my club to mock me and pick up a fight?” Sam snarled, getting on his feet and ramming into Brian.

Brian kicked him away, taking a step back. “If you know what’s best for you, stay out of my way. You’re banned from Babylon, and if you see Justin again, you better apologize for what a hypocrite you are, Dick.”

“Christ, you’re both a couple of queens.”

Brian scowled, leaving Meathook with an acrid taste in his mouth. No wonder Justin hadn’t called to talk to him. He was probably upset and reevaluating their fragile relationship.

Brian sped all the way home, pushing all the red lights he encountered.

When he parked behind his Jeep, he took a few calming breaths. Brian looked up at the dark house, noticing there was no light on, except the porch light. He fully expected Justin to have the bags packed and ready to leave after whatever Sam had told him.

Inside the house, Brian carried his suit jacket and tie upstairs with his heart slamming against the ribcage and his stomach in knots.

The door to Nick’s bedroom was ajar, and Brian spotted the little boy fast asleep, holding one of his plush toys.

Brian continued to their bedroom, relief flooding his body. This door was shut, and it creaked loudly when he opened it.

Justin was sprawled on his stomach on the bed, one leg dangling off the edge. Taking over the whole bed was one of Justin's favorite things.

Brian stood at the side of the bed, staring at the blond man, unsure why there were tears in his eyes. He had never done regret in his life, but there were too many things he wished he had done differently regarding his relationship with Justin. Despite what Justin believed, that they hadn’t been ready for a mature relationship when Brian had proposed, Brian knew they would have never split if he had proved to Justin he could trust him no matter what.

Brian must have stared too intensely at Justin, because Justin suddenly opened his eyes. He gasped loudly, choking on his spit.

“Fuck, Brian! What are you doing?”

Brian undressed slowly, before climbing next to Justin, hugging him tightly and kissing him slowly. He combed his fingers through Justin's longer locks, looking into his eyes. “I love you.”

Justin blinked slowly, seemingly in shock. “What…Brian, are you okay?”

Brian burrowed his face into Justin's neck, breathing him in. “I’m sorry you had to run into Samuel and hear those things,” he said in Justin's ear. “I’m also proud of you.”

Justin relaxed under him, touching his back softly. “Wow…what a jerk. He came running to you about the way I treated him.”

“You must know what proud assholes those Leather Daddies are,” Brian said, amused.

“Like I care. So, he came to you?”

Brian pulled back a fraction to be able to look at Justin's face. “No. I went to him, after he texted me about how you humiliated him.”

Justin laughed loudly, but cupped his mouth a moment later, glancing fearfully at the door. The last thing they wanted was to wake Nick. “Humiliated?”

“His word, not mine. I was all for having a chat with him about how wrong it is what he did to Liam. Then he told me that he brought up the last time you saw me and him…that night, at Babylon.”

“Frankly, I didn’t even know who he was. Emmett kept trying to stop me from picking a fight with him.”

Brian snorted. “I’ll bet. Anyway, let’s leave it at Sam’s no longer a friend. I’ll have to find a new show to replace the Leather Ball, because no leather freak will step foot in my club again.”

“Come on, that’s the best event Babylon has,” Justin protested. “So…where did you go?”

“To Meathook. He owns the place.”

“No, I mean…tonight...for fun?” Justin supplied.

Brian rolled on his back, wondering what he had to do for Justin to understand he had diminished the number of his tricks so much, his life was almost dull. Besides, Brian hadn’t gone after another ass since before Justin had returned to Pittsburgh.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Justin said hastily, taking Brian's silence the wrong way. “I only ever want to know you are safe, but I know you choose decent guys.”

“Justin,” Brian said slowly, turning to lean on his elbow, looking down at Justin. “I was out with a client until nine-thirty. Then I went to see Sam, and after that I came home.”

“Dinner with a client,” Justin repeated in disbelief.

“Yeah, I’m ninety percent sure he’s a lost cause. Believe me, when…if…I decide to go fuck some faceless and nameless ass, you’ll know. I promised to tell you up front.”

Justin patted his chest, smiling. “I’m getting used to this. You can’t blame me for thinking the worst. I’ll also have to get used to you talking to me. It feels surreal.”

Brian closed the distance between them, opening his mouth. “Want to fuck?”

“Since when do you ask?” Justin twisted his arm to search blindly for the supplies on the nightstand, while still kissing Brian.

“Fine, next time, I will bend you over and ram into you without any warning.” Brian turned Justin on his stomach, palming his ass over his boxer briefs. “I still can’t believe I found the perfect ass to convince me to settle down.”

Justin laughed into the pillow. “Don’t forget the perfect cock to keep you satisfied when you need to scratch an itch.”

“Of course, we can’t forget that.”

Brian helped Justin out of his underwear, throwing it over his shoulder, before sitting up on his thigh while he poured lube on Justin's crack.

“Cold, ouch!” Justin shifted at the sudden impact of the cold gel with his ass.

Brian started rubbing, chuckling. “It will heat up.”

“I have this strong déjà-vu…You said that the night we met.”

“I hope you’re aware I barely remember that night. Christ, I was such a mess. I was high as a kite when I met my son for the first time.”

“You were on something since when we met.”

“Right…the special K, then the shit E.”

“You made an amazing first impression,” Justin said over his shoulder. “I can’t say anyone else has done handstands and juggled with a lamp on the first night I met them.”

“You mean on your multiple one night stands, no one tried to impress you with their acrobatic skills? Losers,” Brian joked, pushing a finger inside Justin's ass. He earned loud groans of pleasure from Justin. “And here I thought it was my big dick that kept you coming for more. Silly me.”

“Believe me, if you hadn’t fucked me stupid that night, I would have never looked back. I doubt anyone has met their future partner under such insane circumstances.”

“True.” Brian pushed another finger into Justin. “Now be quiet. You don’t want to wake Nick with your moans.”

Justin grimaced, because it wasn’t fun to end up with his son interrupting the sexy times. It had happened numerous times in New York.

#

In the morning, Brian wasn’t sure why he was up before the sun appeared in the sky, but he felt oddly refreshed.

He nursed a cup of coffee at the kitchen table, looking through some emails he had left unanswered since he had been busy preparing for his dinner meeting. He couldn’t wait to hear what Cynthia would have to say about his reply to her email coming at five-thirty in the morning.

Brian lit himself another cigarette and refilled his cup of coffee, finally done with catching up on his work. He choked on his spit when he spotted Nick in the doorway, holding one of his plush toys, his hair mussed up.

“Why are you awake?” Brian asked, settling his heart.

Nick dove into Brian's arms, climbing on his lap and clinging to him. “Nightmare,” he hiccupped. “Bad, bad one.”

“Fuck,” Brian breathed, holding his cigarette in the hand not keeping Nick close. “Want to talk about it?”

He would be a lousy adult if he went running to wake Justin because his son had a bad dream. Brian knew he had won Nick over without even trying, but this would prove to the little boy he could trust Brian with anything.

“I was in the park with Daddy and Pappy. The park with animal statues from New York,” he explained in a small voice. Nick looked up with teary eyes at Brian. “I was on the statues playing. Daddy and Pappy were fighting. Then you were there, and you took Daddy away.”

Brian was ready to interject that he would never take Justin away from him. But Nick continued in the same small, shaky voice.

“Daddy told me to climb down so we could go. I went to Pappy when I was down, and he knelt next to me and told me to go with Daddy. Because Daddy deserved to be happy.”

“Wow. I see how this was a nightmare.”

Nick frowned, rubbing at his teary eyes, not catching Brian's sarcasm. “I went to where you and Daddy were waiting. When I looked back, Pappy had big wings and he was going up to the sky.”

As much as Brian hated the mere idea of Ethan, he knew whatever he said had to be worded carefully. “That means your pappy accepts that your daddy has moved on and that now he is happy.”

“I’m a bad person,” Nick mumbled, sobbing, pressing his face into Brian's shoulder.

“Of course, you’re not! Who told you that?”

“I know I am,” Nick insisted, pulling away enough to look up at Brian, with tears rolling down his cheeks. “I am happy Daddy has you, Brian. I can see how happy he is now. I have never seen Daddy so happy.”

“Shhh.” Brian put the cigarette between his lips, holding Nick tightly with both arms. He had no idea what to say, because Nick’s confession went hand in hand with what Justin had admitted about his life in New York.

Brian held Nick against his chest, until the boy dozed off. He finished his smoke and his coffee, mulling over Nick’s words.

That was how Justin found them an hour later. It was a little after seven when he made his way into kitchen yawning and scratching his stomach. He stopped in the doorway, staring at Brian and his son, surprised.

Brian pressed a finger to his lips, before placing a new cigarette between his lips. “Bad dream,” Brian mouthed.

Justin's eyes saddened, then he frowned. “Why didn’t he wake me?” he asked quietly, leaning closer to rub his son’s back.

“I tried. You wouldn’t move,” Nick mumbled sleepily.

Brian chuckled. “The nuclear bomb could go off, and your dad would sleep through it.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad,” Justin defended himself. “Come here, buddy.” He pulled Nick on his lap, as he sat on the chair closer to Brian.

“You are, actually. Remember that bad storm when the tree in front of the building caught fire when lighting struck it? And it fell on a car and the firemen and police and ambulances were there? Yeah, you don’t,” Nick added, amused. “You slept like a log.”

“Hey, be nice,” Justin chided him.

Nick found Brian's eyes, mirth dancing in his blue ones. “Daddy was so confused the next morning when Pappy and I told him about the adventures from the previous night.”

“Ooookay, enough fun at my expense. I like my sleep.”

“And God forbid someone manages to wake you, because you turn into a big grouch,” Brian continued, smiling.

“You’d know since you had to deal with me in the morning for years.”

“You’re the cause of my first white hairs, Justin,” Brian said seriously.

“You have white hair?” Nick peered closer at Brian.

“I dye it,” Brian explained.

“I don’t,” Justin sneered, taking a cigarette from Brian's box. “Want to tell me about your bad dream?” he asked softly, stroking his son’s back.

“Not particularly,” Nick mumbled. He glanced at Brian, and Brian knew he should keep it a secret. “I’m going to brush my teeth.” He jumped out of Justin's arms and ran into the hallway.

“Careful on the stairs,” Justin called after him. After a few drags from his cigarette, he lifted a brow at Brian. “So…did he tell you?”

“He’ll be fine. Let’s leave it at…your son understands you are the happiest he has ever seen you and he has finally accepted Ian is dead.”

“Now I’m intrigued.”

“Don’t make me say it. He trusts me with his secret.”