It was early evening, and Brian had given up trying to be productive. He was currently on the couch with Nick, helping him with homework, so the boy could enjoy his birthday when they got home later.

“Brian?” Michael’s voice pulled them from the textbooks on the coffee table.

“Over here,” Brian said amused, when Michael look around confused.

“Hey, I wasn’t sure I would catch you still in the office.” Michael joined them on the sofa. “You’re helping with his homework?”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Were you looking for me?”

“Well, yes. I think I need help with marketing and advertising for my store.”

“You think?” Brian had only offered a million times to help Michael, because the comic book store was in dire need of professional help.

Justin arrived while Brian was convincing Michael to come during working hours since it was work related what he wanted.

“Daddy!” Nick rushed to Justin, clinging to his leg.

“Did you miss me?” Justin picked him up, holding him against his side.

“Yes! Brian said you were busy.”

“It’s true. I had some things to do at the gallery.”

Nick wrapped his little arms around Justin’s neck. “Now can we go home?”

Justin glanced at Brian, who was gathering the textbook and notebooks from the table.

“We did homework,” he explained. Then he turned to Michael. “Call me tomorrow after nine. I have to run this meeting with what you want by Cynthia. My schedule is hectic.”

“Okay, okay,” Michael mumbled, forlorn.

“You know I’ll make you a priority, Mikey. Just not outside working hours…and on Nick’s birthday.”

Michael gasped. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He dug into his backpack, coming out with a stuffed monkey. He went to offer it to Nick, wishing him a happy birthday.

Nick smiled widely, hugging the toy to his chest.

“What do you say?” Justin nudged Nick.

“I didn't have a monkey. This is so cool!”

Justin groaned, offering Michael a tight smile. “Thank you, Michael. I swear, he does it on purpose.”

“Of course, he does it.” Brian joined them, wrapping an arm around Michael’s shoulders. “Remember how I refused to thank Debbie for…well…everything? Maybe we should leave him with Debbie for an extended period of time,” he told Justin, smiling.

“You had no idea why you should thank her because you didn’t know how a normal family functioned,” Mikey pointed out.

“True.” Brian grimaced, steering the group out of his office.

Justin caught Brian’s eyes, but for once, there was no resentment in them. Maybe he had buried all his hatred toward his parents along with them.

“Drop you off home?” Brian offered.

“Nah. I’m meeting Ben at the new Chinese restaurant; it’s close.”

“Oh. Let me know what you think. Actually, I’ll call Ben and ask. They contacted me about promoting them, but my expertise with Chinese food is limited.”

“If it’s not Thai, it’s not good.” Justin laughed, opening the back door of the Jeep and helping Nick in his seat.

“And yet…I like your jambalaya, dear,” Brian quipped.

Justin snorted loudly, closing the door and wrapping an arm around Brian’s elbow. “You’re so full of shit.”

“It’s true! That I like your cooking.”

“I know,” Justin pacified him.

Michael smiled at his friends, amazed how at ease his they were. After Justin’s rocky return from New York, everyone was expecting for a very tense relationship between Brian and Justin. It seemed, they had worked out whatever was stopping and hurting them from being truly happy. Michael had to admit, he had never seen either Brian or Justin as happy as in that moment.

“Okay, I’ll let Ben know to send you a review,” Michael said, amused, when Brian turned to look at him puzzled. “The restaurant?” He laughed at how hopeless Brian had become regarding to Justin.

“Right. Thanks, Mikey.”

“Thank you for the toy again,” Justin said.

“I remembered last minute it was your kid’s birthday. I wanted to get him something better.”

“Don’t worry. He loves the monkey.” Justin peered through the window to see Nick with his face glued to the glass. When he noticed the adults were looking, he waved brightly.

“We better go. Have fun at dinner…and later.” Brian squeezed Michael close and kissed his lips.

“Careful there, or Justin might get jealous.”

Justin chuckled. “Yeah, right.”

“He’s selective of the people he gets jealous of,” Brian joked.

“Right,” Justin mumbled. “Unless you turn into a big Leather Daddy trying to fuck my man, you’re harmless.”

Brian snorted, taking Justin’s hand. He was impressed that Justin could joke about that time.

Michael stared at Justin with wide eyes.

Brian went on his side to get behind the wheel, as Justin hugged Michael, telling him he would call with a good time for them to catch up.

“So…Mom called earlier. She was wondering if we wanted Nick to stay over on Saturday night at her house,” Justin said as he joined Brian in the car. “What do you say? Would you like to spend the night at your grandmother’s house?” He turned to Nick.

Nick shrugged. “That’s after my party?”

“Exactly,” Justin nodded, grinning at Brian. “Mom will never believe me if I ever complain about what a monster he is. He’ll be whipped after playing the whole day.”

“What will you do without me?”

Brian choked on his laugh. The things Nick could say were hilarious.

“We’ll have a party of our own. Maybe we’ll go dancing,” Justin suggested.

“And if I want to go dancing too?” Nick inquired.

“You don’t,” Justin promised him. “Just like we are celebrating your birthday that day, we’ll celebrate Brian later.”

“We already had a party for Brian.”

“And you ate my cake,” Brian joked.

Nick huffed. “Fine. I’ll go to grandma,” he mumbled.

Justin beamed at Brian, already envisioning the night filled with fun they would have.

Brian cracked up the volume on the radio, and took Justin’s hand. “So we’re going to Babylon on Saturday?”

“If you want…”

“You’re reminding me of how much I enjoyed going out to dance every night. I had no idea how tedious it would get once I owned the thing. Especially after I rebuilt it.” Brian shook his head.

“Once in a while. We need to decompress.” Justin gasped when a new song started playing. He squeezed Brian’s hand tightly as Save The Last Dance For Me filled the car.

Brian reached over to change the station, but Justin slapped his hand.

Justin closed his eyes, savoring his recently regained memories as he played the moment of their prom dance behind his lids.

“I can’t listen to this shit,” Brian demanded halfway through the song.

He clicked the CD button so the next song that started would be something safe without triggering any bad memories. Brian didn’t have any painful memories triggering songs on his playlist.

Cher came on singing about turning back time. Brian scowled at the player for betraying him that way.

“I love this one,” Nick cried out, propelling himself between the seats and turning the volume up.

Justin pressed the off button before pushing his son back.

“Put your seatbelt back and don’t you ever take it off during a car ride. You better be dying before you unsnap it again,” he spat. “Fucking shit.” He slumped in his seat, scrubbing at his face.

Brian reached out to pat Justin’s knee. Justin covered his hand, keeping his eyes out the window.

As Brian focused on the road, he remembered what Justin had told him some time ago. Nick’s birthday was on the same time as the bashing. For whatever reason, he hadn’t once thought about Justin’s prom that day…until the dreadful song.

He paid attention to how tense Justin had become, and he knew they would have a chat about prom later that night, once Nick was in bed.

Despite the tense mood during the car ride, when they reached their house, Justin was all for devoting all his time to Nick.

They opened presents which had been stored into one of the many empty rooms. Nick was beside himself to discover new games and even a console, a bicycle, and new clothes.

Needless to say, they spent most of the evening installing the console and playing some silly game.

Thankfully, around nine-thirty, Nick said he was going to bed willingly.

Justin was amazed by that, because it had been a while since he had seen his son so tired.

He was putting away the leftovers from dinner, when Brian joined him in the kitchen.

Brian caught his arm, pulling him to the middle of the room, spinning him to face him.

“What…” Justin looked into Brian’s eyes, confused.

Brian took his phone out, thumbing through it for a moment before the song from the car came on.

Justin’s eyes widened, watching his man tenderly. He almost felt bad for reminding Brian about what day it was since it was obvious he had somehow forgotten it.

Brian gripped Justin’s left hand tightly as he started leading their dance.

There was a knot in Justin’s throat as he looked at Brian, who seemed ready to crumble. Justin ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of Brian’s neck.

Brian lifted a brow then opened his mouth, but closed it fast and cleared his throat. He smiled softly, crushing Justin to his chest.

At one point during the song when Justin got overwhelmed by their combined emotions and the slow swaying, he pulled away, lifting their joined hands and twirling under them. It made Brian laugh and when Justin did a last complete spin, he dipped him low. Justin kissed Brian’s lips when they were upright again.

“I love you,” he whispered.

Brian cupped his cheeks, forgetting about their dance. “I love you more than you will ever know, Sunshine.”

Justin believed him, because he was beginning to understand how deep Brian’s feelings for him ran. “How about we move the dance between the sheets?”

Brian chuckled. “Who said romance was dead?”

Justin rolled his eyes, intertwining his fingers with Brian's, jerking him toward the door. Brian pulled him back, undoing his pants with his other hand.

“Here?” Justin glanced over his shoulder.

“Nick is sleeping.”

“Oh, whatever.” Justin helped Brian with his dress pants, leaving them pooled around Brian's ankles. He leaned closer, gripping the side of Brian's thighs, as he pressed open-mouthed kisses on Brian's erection. Justin sucked at the tip through the underwear, making Brian groan loudly. “Shhh,” Justin hissed.

“Fuck, don’t stop.” Brian kept Justin's head closer with a hand in Justin's hair.

Justin dug his fingers in the sides of Brian's boxer briefs, pushing them down his legs. His erection bobbed free, already leaking. Justin cupped the base, taking half of it in his mouth, closing his eyes. He had never enjoyed giving head to anyone, apart from Brian.

Brian pushed deeper in Justin's mouth, hitting the back of his throat. Justin focused on breathing through his nose, as he started working Brian's dick with his mouth and hands. The sounds coming from Brian's throat were all the reward he needed.

“So…close,” Brian gasped, gripping Justin's hair tighter.

Justin doubled his efforts, sticking a hand down his cargo pants, tugging at his own dick.

“Fuck!” Brian's curse didn’t sound as if he was moments from coming. It sounded terrified, if Justin was a good judge.

Justin barely managed to pull away an inch, when Brian gripped the base of his dick, while reaching down to drag his boxers and pants up. Dread filled Justin to the bones, as he turned to look behind his shoulder.

Nick was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, staring at them with all the innocence in the world, blinking confused.

“Fucking shit,” Justin muttered, covering his face with his hands.

“Tsk, tsk. You dropped your pants. Lucky, Daddy was here to help you.”

Brian barked a loud laugh, which sounded too high to be called natural. “Yeah, luckily, your dad was here.”

“What did you need?” Justin finally asked, getting up slowly. He kept a hand over his erection, constricted by his pants.

It had been a while since Nick had interrupted his sex life. All Justin wanted was to forget he had to be a responsible adult. He had to come so badly, but he also had to remember his son’s needs came first. And right then, he needed his help.

“I’m thirsty. I forgot my water.” Nick went to retrieve his glass, which sat abandoned on the counter.

“Right. Let me tuck you in.” Justin nudged his son out of the kitchen, trying to settle his rapidly beating heart and get over the mortification of being discovered in such a compromising position.

Justin didn’t even glance at Brian, because he could tell, he wasn’t happy with the interruption.

“Maybe you should help Brian, and sew his pants, like you did with mine when the elastic broke.”

Justin smiled, at how caring and worried Nick was. “I might do just that.”

In his room, Nick crawled in bed, and Justin pulled the blanket over his small body. “Sleep tight. And happy birthday, again.”

“No goodnight kiss?” Nick pouted.

Justin grimaced, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, before kissing the top of Nick’s head. The last thing he needed was to get his drool and Brian’s precum all over his son.

Nick threw his arms up and around Justin's neck when he was bent over him. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, Nick. Now sleep.”

Nick closed his eyes, placing his arms on top of the blanket.

“Want me to tell you a story?” Justin asked, getting ready to get comfortable against the headboard, since his son didn’t seem to be as sleepy as he was earlier.

“No.”

“No? Should I send Brian to tell you goodnight, too?”

“If he wants…”

“Nick, what’s wrong?” Justin asked, afraid of what his son was going to say. He got in these inconsolable moods only when he thought of Ethan. “Is this about Pappy?” He dragged the words out as if they hurt him, because he was opening up a can of worms.

Nick snuggled closer into Justin's chest, taking a shaky breath. “I understand, I promise. You and Brian explained to me how I will never see Pappy again.”

“Okay…” Justin doubted Nick fully grasped what the word ‘dead’ meant.

“But no birthday wishes or present…”

“Nick…” Justin rubbed his son’s back, trying his best to console him and find another way to explain how Ethan was never going to be able to send presents or birthday wishes. “You see…it’s impossible for anything like that to happen.”

“I saw it in a cartoon. The others were sending messages to the ones here on Earth.”

Justin groaned. “Those are cartoons, which are not real life. FUCK!” He jumped a foot when the light flickered, before it went out, enveloping them in complete darkness.

“See?” Nick pointed out, almost satisfied.

Justin tried not to show how terrified he actually was. Rationally, he knew the things Nick was hinting at were real, but he liked to believe he would never experience such creepy stuff. Then the lights had to go and do that right as they were talking about such things.

A loud booming sound came from outside, which meant there was a storm, which explained the lights.

“Everything okay here?” Brian barged into the room, making Justin jump, startled, again.

Nick rolled around, laughing at his silly dad.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Justin protested, getting out of the bed on shaky legs. “Uh, are you going to sleep?”

“Yes. Go and be a sissy in your room.”

“Nicolas,” Justin gasped, scandalized.

“I promise to protect you,” Brian joked, wrapping his arms around Justin. “Good night, Nick.”

“G’night,” Nick mumbled, burrowing into his pillow.

Once they were in the hallway, Justin bent over, grabbing his knees, breathing through his nose. “Did the power go out?”

“Yeah. A lighting hit the electrical pole in the road. It’s a bad storm. What’s wrong?”

“Fuck. I was beginning to believe Nick is becoming a ghost whisperer or something.”

Brian steered them toward their bedroom in small steps so they wouldn’t trip. “What?”

“He was telling me how he saw in some cartoon the others sent us messages, and he was bummed Ethan didn’t do the same. I was just explaining how that’s not reality…when the lights flickered. I’m sure my heart fucking stopped for a moment.”

Brian chuckled. “And this is an old house. There were times, I was sure I could hear things.”

“Doooon’t. Not now, please. Or I’m going to sleep in the car, at the risk of being stuck by lighting.”

“Okay, okay.” Brian stopped at the foot of the bed, taking his clothes off. “Did Nick say anything? Did he see what we were doing?”

“He advised me to sew your pants so you wouldn’t lose them. He’s a thoughtful kid, that one.”

“I’d suggest we continue where we left off, but I have a feeling he’ll join us because of the storm.” Brian got in bed, keeping the blanket up until Justin joined him.

“I doubt anything you do can put me in the mood in the close future after what just happened in Nick’s room. Besides, he likes storms,” Justin explained. “I don’t.”

“I remember.” Brian pulled Justin into his arms, kissing his neck.

Brian rubbed a soothing hand over Justin’s arm. “Has this happened before?”

“What exactly?” Justin mumbled, glancing over his shoulder to seek Brian’s eyes in the dark room.

“Nick catching you.”

Justin grimaced, rolling around to face Brian. “Yes, numerous times. But one time…”

“I sense a good story,” Brian chuckled.

“It was like one of those bad sitcoms. After a day in the park, where he ate too much ice cream, he was out like the light. Exactly like we believed he’d be tonight. Anyway…” Justin hesitated for a moment, stroking Brian’s jaw. “…there were we…in bed…it was a good fuck, too. We were this close…when the door opens and Nick starts saying he has the runnies and his tummy is hurting and a lot of rambling.”

Brian laughed loudly. “I can imagine the whole thing.”

“No, you can’t. I wanted to cry, scold Nick for barging into our room without knocking, and kick Ethan’s ass for laughing.”

“I’m sure knocking was the first thing on Nick’s mind when he felt miserable,” Brian commented sarcastically.

“Yeah, but that’s how I felt in that moment. Anyway, it happened before…to answer your question. Thankfully, Nick was smaller and hopefully has no recollection.”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t comment on this incident around the family.”