Brian knew he was not going to be that happy when Eric immediately ran up to him at the door, kissed him, then said, “Hey, babe! How was the office?”

Not that Eric never greeted him. But the fact that he was so quick to keep him from making his way past the foyer made Brian suspicious.

“Did you eat? I know we’re all heading to Justin’s in a couple of hours but I know how you skip meals if you get too busy. Do you-”

“Where is it?” Brian asks, eyebrow raised.

Eric bites his lip before muttering, “Wrong pronoun.”

“I don’t know if it is a boy or a girl so how am I-”

“I meant the word “it” implies singular. ‘Where are they?' is what you are looking for.”

Brian glares and looks for the joke. Shit. Eric’s not joking.

“I thought we agreed on one pet when we talked about this before we moved.”

Eric puts on a nervous grin, “Well, it turns out the pets she chose do better in pairs. It would actually be more work to get one since they are companion animals and need attention.”

“Eric, just tell me what they are.”

Eric opens his mouth to speak but they are interrupted by their daughter coming into the room with a huge smile on her face. But it isn’t just their daughter. No, it couldn’t be just that. In her hands is something that he didn’t want his child holding. And, more so, he didn’t want one balancing on top of her head.

“Daddy! Papa! Look what I taught Bianca to do!” Lily giggles as she points to her head, where the rodent has decided is a good place to perch.

Brian rushes over to throw the thing outside but Eric puts a hand on his arm and gives him the look before gently detangling the animal from their daughter’s hair and handing it back to her.

“Lily, he may poop in your hair if you don’t watch out,” Eric carefully warns her.

Lily shrugs, “I can wash it out.”

Eric rolls his eyes before getting a questioning look on his face, “You know Bianca is a girl’s name, right? Your rats are both boys.”

Lily looks at him bewildered, “So?”

“Right. Why don’t you introduce your pets to Daddy?”

Lily nods, excited, before rushing over to him and holding each rat up high so that Brian is forced to look at him.

“These are my new pets, Daddy! They are the best pets in the entire world because they are so cute and smart and funny and nice! This one is named Bianca. He looks like a Bianca, don’t you think? I love him because his fur is like snow and his eyes are like cherries. And this is his brother. I love him because his fur is like sand and his eyes are like black crayon. I didn’t name him because I want you to name him!”

“Vermin,” Brian whispers with distaste.

“You mean Vernon? Like our old neighbor? Okay!” Lily agrees before cooing, “Hi, Vernon! You are so cute, Vernon. I love you, Vernon. Do you love Vernon and Bianca, Daddy?”

It’s probably a good thing that Eric jumps in before Brian can break their daughter’s tender little heart.

“Lily, why don’t you go watch them run through their obstacle course in your room? Daddy and I will come watch them with you in a few minutes.”

Brian turns to give Eric a disgusted look but is ignored until Lily skips out of the room, humming.

Brian turns on Eric with a scowl.

“Rats? Fucking rats?” Brian seethes.

“She was set on them. It seemed like the lesser evil in comparison to a snake or a tarantula,” Eric reasons as he leads Brian to the couch.

“No,” Brian insists, pulling away and not giving in, “They’re rats, Eric. We see them eat trash and the dead carcuses of their family members in the subway tracks. She can’t keep them.”

“They aren’t street rats. They are Dumbo Rats. They have big ears ready to flop over and cute faces. They are sweet and gentle with Lily.”

Brian glares, “Lily brainwashed you while I was in Manhattan. This isn’t you.”

Eric purses his lips, holding back a laugh, “Yeah, you’re probably right. But they make her happy.”

Brian lets out an aggravated sigh before throwing himself on the couch, “But rats?”

“I tried to convince her to get a goldfish, hamster or guinea pig but they didn’t have ‘pretty tails.’”

“She thinks they have pretty tails?” Brian asks, disgusted.

“There’s no accounting for taste,” Eric comments.

“She must get her tastes from you.”

“That’s actually insulting you, considering you are just my type,” Eric points out before kissing him on the cheek.

“They are both males. They might fight when they get older because they get too territorial living in the same space. Lily could wake up to bloodshed.”

“We’ve been living together for over five years and I haven’t made you bleed yet.”

“I don’t know, sometimes you get pretty wild when I take you on your back,” Brian smirks before getting back to the point, “I’m serious though.”

“They’re neutered. They came from a breeder who regularly works with a vet so the animals that can be fixed do get fixed. The pet store down the street is actually pretty cool and will only work with independent breeders and rescue groups. Vernon and Bianca are also from the same litter so they know each other and are close.”

Brian snorts, “Bianca. First the thing gets his balls chopped off and then a little girl gives him a name meant for a woman. He’ll be so confused. How much did you pay for fixed rats, anyway?”

Eric flushes, “That’s irrelevant.”

Brian stares at him, “I don’t want to know, do I?”

“Considering the price of neutering, it wasn’t bad at all. For the rats, that is. But for the food, toys, cages, this ridiculous obstacle course they love, and a bunch of other shit...It sort of added up.”

“You should have vetoed the idea.”

But Eric shakes his head, “I couldn’t. We already told her she couldn’t get a puppy or a kitten because we wanted to start her out with a caged pet. She wanted a ferret before since Quinn had a couple but ferrets are illegal in the city. She wanted a snake and a tarantula but I told her no, of course. And before that when she was crying and asking us to maybe giving her a baby sister instead, I didn’t answer her.”

Brian feels himself tense up at the last sentence out of Eric’s mouth. He knows his partner would have avoided bringing what Lily said up if it was something he didn’t want or even something he didn't have a current opinion on. Shit. He didn’t want another kid, did he? Lily and Gus were enough for him. Sure, he’s thought about it when Eric mentioned it in passing. Cynthia did leave them a few extra eggs in the possible scenario that they wanted to try for another. He loves his kids and would love a third one just as much. But Lily was a handful. But he also knew deep down that she would love having a younger sibling. He knew that he and Eric were stable and fucking loved each other and that meant something in terms of raising another child together. They were raising a great kid already and he knew that two kids under their roof wouldn't end up like he and Claire did. The chances that Lily would have a great and supportive relationship with a younger sibling were quite high. It might make him stress out to the max and make him get no sleep. It also might make Eric and him and happier than ever. It would probably do all of the above.

God, he’s become so fucking stepford. How the mighty have fallen. He knows that if his younger self found out about where his life would lead, he would off himself before Brian could tell him that he would actually end up loving how things turned out.

“Brian?” Eric asks him, looking cautious and surprised, “What are you thinking right now?”

Brian gets up, “I’m thinking that this is a conversation for later.”

“Wait, are you actually considering it?”

Brian just shrugs before heading up to Lily’s bedroom where he finds her sitting on the floor so she can watch her goddamn rats run through the obstacle course.

“Daddy!” she calls out suddenly as she turns around, “Sit down next to me so you can play with me, Bianca, and Vernon.”

Brian closes his eyes and counts to ten before sitting cross-legged next to her.

“Aren’t they cute?!” She asks him, looking at him with pure happiness, “They are so beautiful.”

Brian snorts, “You think everything is beautiful. You use that word all the time.”

“There’s lots of beautiful things. I say they’re beautiful so that they know they’re beautiful and other people can see that they’re beautiful too.”

Brian feels his eyes soften before he puts his arms around her to plant a kiss on top of her head. She returns the hug and they just sit there and watch the rats crawl through the tunnels. Lily gets them out after several minutes and makes him hold one. He tries to hold back his shudders before handing him back to Lily to put back in the cage, which of course she doesn’t want to do.

“We’re going to leave soon. They’ll still be here when you get back, unfortunately, so you can be away from them for a few hours. They’ll be fine.”

“Daddy, I can’t. They have to come with us. They just HAVE to,” Lily insists as she goes over to get the carrier.

Brian steps in front of her and picks her up, “Sorry, babe. We can’t bring them to Justin’s. I’m not going to come off as the weird guy who carries rats around.”

“But they’re my rats. I’ll carry them around. They’ll like it,” Lily tries to reason with him.

Brian shakes his head, “It’ll just stress them out. It’s been a big day for them. They need to get used to their new home and take a nap. Remember how tired you were when you first moved to New York?”

“But I was from far away. We got them from up the street!”

“Lily, it’s a no.”

Lily crosses her arms, humphs, and looks away, “Meanie! Mean mean-”

Brian lets out a fake cry, “Oh, you break my heart! And here I thought we had a moment a few minutes ago!”

Eric walks in and raises an eyebrow, “Lily, why are you making your father cry?”

Lily glares, “He’s not crying! He’s faking it!”

“You got your rats. I’m glad you love them but they are staying here. Don’t start acting like a brat when you got your way. We can always take them back,” Brian tells her sternly.

Lily lets out a panicked whimper but keeps her mouth shut. Brian lets her down before ordering her to go get her coat and boots on and they would be in to help her if she needed it.

“She’s been like that since she woke up,” Eric comments, “Stubborn and sassy as fuck. Irritable and angry. She wouldn’t take a nap before lunch. Made a mess in the kitchen. She’s lucky I caught onto the fact that she was feeling off. I might not have been as understanding and concerned. The way she’s been feeling is worrying me. She’s the new kid who has busy parents and no siblings living with her full-time but on top of all that, she’s extremely bright. Her mindset is a little different than other kids her age because she’s more advanced so that might be another reason she is having a hard time making a close friend. She’s won’t even be four for another month and a half and she’s reading. I think it’s probably why she and Duncan get along so well. His vocabulary isn’t as big but he takes in a lot. He listens to her and understands everything she says. He’s more knowledgeable to how shitty life can be but he’s strong and takes it all in stride and I think that gives him more wisdom than a three year old should have.”

“Yes. We’ve established that Duncan and Lily are a good match. But she needs to be finding at least a couple of close friends at school. Duncan doesn’t live in the same school district. Maybe we should consider getting her tested again so she can be considered for kindergarten next year instead of another year of preschool.”

“I don’t want to move her up in grades unless she is feeling completely unchallenged. It may make her feel out of place at the age she’s at right now. Age differences matter more when you’re little. The gifted program starts once she enters kindergarten so we’ll get her into that before sticking her in with the older kids.”

Brian thinks for a second, “Then maybe we can find a group extracurricular for her that she’ll like. One that’s about to start so she can make closer friends. There’s a lot of things going on in the city. Maybe dance or swimming lessons would be something she’s interested in. Hell, maybe she can do both. If we can’t find anything starting for a while, we can get her involved in something else.”

Eric smiles, “I think she would like either one but I really believe that she would like dance. You know how she is, always dancing, skipping, and jumping around the house to different songs. Oh, think of how cute she would look in a tutu! She would be in recitals and we would get to see her on stage-”

“I’m sure it will be adorable,” Brian snarks before sobering up, “We’ll look into different dance studios and talk to her about it. I’m sure she’ll love the idea. Hell, maybe we can convince Emmett and Drew to let Duncan start with her so she can go in with a little more confidence.”

“You think Drew would be okay with his son taking dance classes?”

Brian laughs, “Drew actually took dance classes. Emmett told me he did it for years to help with his balance and coordination in football.”

“Well, it may be something to ask about when we see them at dinner,” Eric smiles before kissing him. Brian brings Eric closer to deepen the kiss but is forced to break it when Lily comes in with untied boots.

“I thought you were coming down to help me,” Lily says as she looks up at them.

Brian bends down to ties her shoelaces, “I thought you were starting to get the hang of this.”

Lily shrugs, “I’m not good with these strings. They’re too short. You’re better at it.”

“We’ll practice with them this week,” Brian tells her before leading her back down the stairs.

The subway is packed when they get on and Brian has to hold Lily with one arm and grab onto one of the poles with another. The train they transfer to isn’t as bad and he lets Eric take the one available seat so he can hold Lily in his lap. Lily, of course, charms the people sitting close to her by telling anyone who will listen about her new pet rats and how much she loves them. Some of them gross out good naturedly to make her laugh and gleefully confirm that she has pets that people are scared of. One woman tells her that rats make great pets and she had a couple as a teenager. One fucking asshole just ignores her completely and glares when she talks to him. Dick.

But they get away from the asshole soon enough and get off the stop closest to Justin’s apartment.

“I’m so excited to tell Duncan about Bianca and Vernon,” Lily says conversationally as she holds Brian’s and Eric’s hands, “He will be so excited to meet them. I’m so excited!”

Lily lets out a squeal and jumps up and down. Brian closes his eyes and shakes his head before ringing Justin’s and Nathan’s doorbell.

Nathan’s voice comes through the intercom and he buzzes them up then greets them at the apartment door.

“Hey,” Nathan says as he offers to hang their coats up, “Justin’s in the kitchen cooking. Petra, Nadia, and Sebastian are in the living room and Emmett and Drew should be here with Duncan soon.”

“Hi, Nathan!” Lily calls out before hugging his legs. Nathan looks taken aback and pats her on the head, “Hi, Lily. How’s life?”

“It’s the bestest thing ever! Guess what?”

Nathan gives her a questioning look, “What?”

“I have pet rats!”

“...Cool!” Nathan tells her, faking enthusiasm.

“I know!”

“You should go tell my friends. Petra is terrified of rats,” he conspires.

“Hmmm...okay! Come on, Papa and Daddy. Let’s go talk to Nathan’s friends,” Lily commands as she pulls on their hands.

“Daddy can go with you,” Eric says as he slowly pulls his hand away, “And I can go see if Justin needs help with dinner.”

“Come on, Daddy,” she says, accepting her papa’s answer.

Brian looks over to Eric to see if there is any other intention in going to help out Justin. Eric looks as though he is being pretty genuine though so Brian heads into the living room with Lily and tries not to think too hard about the two significant men in his life chatting in the other room. He manages to inquire about how the shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and gets positive answers before Lily butts into the conversation to announce that she has pet rats.

“Rats?! Why would you want rats?” Nadia asks, laughing.

Lily beams and jumps in place, “Because they are beautiful and have pretty tails. Bianca sits on my head. He’s so funny.”

“You mean she?” Petra inquires.

Lily shakes her head and rolls her eyes, as though Petra just asked a ridiculous question, “No. He. Bianca’s a boy. And so is his brother, Vernon. Bianca has red eyes and is white all over. Vernon is sandy colored and has black eyes.”

“Well, I’m sure they are gorgeous,” Petra smiles before glancing over at him to check him out. Again.

“I like rats,” Sebastian says quietly, which takes Brian by surprise because according to Nathan he barely talks at all, “They’re really smart. I had two rats when I nine. They were girls.”

Nadia snorts, “You would have rats.”

Sebastian raises an eyebrow before Nadia kisses him. Petra looks away and it seems as though she is suppressing a gag.

“That’s a new development,” she explains to him, “It’s disgusting.”

Nadia turns her head and smirks, “Don’t worry, Petra. My offer to go down on you still stands. Seb and I are in an open relationship since he knows I still have certain needs that need to be met.”

“There is a small child in the room, Nadia. Jesus Christ.”

“Says the woman who has been checking out that child’s gay father.”

Petra shrugs, “Can you blame me? Just look at him.”

“He is attractive for an older man,” Nadia agrees.

For an older man? Fuck her. He’s attractive period.

“Do either of you know how to act around kids?” Nathan asks as he walks back in the room, “Sorry, Brian. Usually they just talk about you behind your back.”

Brian raises his eyebrows, surprised that Nathan would actually admit that his friends find him attractive. He bet that was hard for him to swallow at first. Ha.

He looks down at Lily who seems to have lost interest in the whole conversation and is hopping around the room. She can only talk to adults for so long, he supposes.

The doorbell buzzes, which startles Lily before she gasps, “Duncan?”

“Might be.” Nathan says before he leaves the room again. Brian can tell he’s out of his element with kids. He will give him props for trying though.

It turns out not to be Duncan. It’s Justin’s friend Liam and his girlfriend Carmen. Lily hangs back next to Brian and climbs onto his lap. She’s being uncharacteristically shy but Brian chalks it down to dealing with too many people she doesn’t know that well at once. Carmen goes out of her way to talk to her. She comes up to Lily, compliments her braid, and soon Lily is off his lap and chatting to Carmen and Liam about her rats and god knows why she thinks that’s a great conversation starter but she does impress Carmen by starting a conversation in Spanish when she catches onto Carmen’s accent. That wins Carmen over completely and he can already tell that Lily already considers her a best friend or something.

Brian takes that as a cue to go see what Eric and Justin are up to so he gets up, crosses the room, and stops in front of Nathan.

“I’m going to go see what Eric’s up to. Watch Lily for me?”

Nathan pales, “Uh-”

“You’re a great host. See you in a few,” Brian interrupts then goes to the kitchen.

Brian stops when he hears Eric and Justin talking to eavesdrop just a little bit before making his presence known. When he hears what they are talking about, he rolls his eyes at himself. They are talking about what they usually talk about if they are left to their own devices: art & architecture.

“You’ll love Portugal,” Eric tells Justin, becoming excited just talking about it, “I know you’ll only be there for a week for your show but it’s beautiful. There’s a bookstore called Livraria Lello. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever been in. It’s nice looking on the outside but the inside is absolutely incredible. You’ll want to stay there for hours just looking at the place. Then you’ll stay for a few hours more to browse the books.”

“I’ll make a point of going there when I go there near the end of July,” Justin assures him, “Speaking of architecture, thank you for taking on Caleb as an intern. He loves working on the synagogue. When he interned for me a year ago as a freshman, he was great. But I could tell he was more interested in building rather than painting, decorative art, and commissioning. He was really into woodworking and making furniture when he entered one of the shows. When he did paint or sketch, it was always of houses and buildings from his mind. I’m glad you’re giving him an opportunity to explore that more. He’s already changed his major and everything.”

“He’s very talented and has a lot of potential,” Eric agrees, “He even has the math and physics needed down pretty well. I think he’s going to go far.”

“That’s good to hear,” Justin grins.

Brian comes up behind Eric and Justin and puts his hands over their eyes.

“Guess who.”

“Debbie Novotny?” Eric calls out with sarcastic hope.

“Jim Stockwell,” Justin says, playing along.

“RuPaul,” Eric guesses, giving it another go.

“Hillary Clinton.”

“Donald Tru-”

“Don’t you dare finish that guess,” Brian tells Eric as he kisses his cheek, “My hair will never be as catastrophic as that successful lunatic’s.”

Brian puts his hands down and both Eric and Justin turn to him and feign surprise.

“Oh, Brian! Last person I would expect.”

“Nice of you to come over, Brian.”

Brian looks at both of them and shakes his head, “Such a strange type I have.”

Both of them tilt their heads in genuine confusion but Eric brushes it off first.

“Where’s Lily?” his fiance asks as he goes over to wash his hands.

“I left her with the rest of the children here,” Brian mutters.

Justin smirks, “Feeling a bit old, Brian?”

Brian glares at Justin but turns it into a smile, “No. Just mature.”

Eric and Justin look at each other before they start laughing.

“Seriously. One of you need to come out with me so I’m not sitting out there with my kid while a bunch of 20 somethings talk about their constant partying and conquests.”

Justin snorts, “Come on, Brian. You don’t need anyone to sit out there with you and hold your hand. Just dredge up the past and you’ll be able to blow their numbers out of the water.”

“If his elderly mind can remember it-Oh my god, Brian! Stop tickling me! You’re not old, I was joking!” Eric yelps and lets himself be led away by Brian but protests, “Justin might need more help.”

“I’ll be fine,” Justin tells them, “We got everything in the oven and I just need to prepare the desserts to put in the fridge. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“See, darling? Your kitchen duties are done,” Brian tells him as he drags him out of the room.

Brian and Eric go out to the living room and find Lily singing for an audience. Brian gives her a strange look and Eric gets out his phone to film it. Big surprise there.

Nathan gives Brian a long-suffering look. He thinks that’s a bit rude. Lily has a decent singing voice for a three year old in his opinion.

The doorbell buzzes once again and Lily stops mid-song.

“Duncan?”

“Most likely. Am I off babysitting duty now?” Nathan asks, a strange combination of annoyed and amused.

“I suppose,” Brian dismisses.

Nathan shakes his head and huffs out a laugh before ringing Emmett, Drew, and Duncan up.

"Sorry we're the last ones here!" Emmett says to the group, "The trains were backed up In Hoboken. How are-oh hi, baby girl!"

As expected, Lily hugs Emmett’s legs but ignores the greeting and runs straight for Duncan to tell him about her rats. Duncan nods and smiles as she tells him about her precious pets before pulling a slightly crumpled rose from his coat pocket to give to her.

“A flower!” Lily gasps as she gently takes it from Duncan and hugs it to her chest.

What the fuck does Duncan think he is trying to pull?

“Duncan, sweetie? Where did you get that?” Emmett asks his son cautiously.

“I picked it for Lily!” Duncan exclaims before smiling at Lily.

“Uh, I don’t remember passing any rose bushes at the end of February. I especially don’t remember passing any rose bushes with dyed electric blue roses...so answer my question.”

“Duncan?” Drew asks, “Did you take that from the flower shop we passed?”

Duncan seems to realize he may have done something wrong but stays petulant, “I wanted to give Lily a flower.”

“I love my flower, Duncan,” Lily says shyly as she turns her body left to right.

“Oh my god, they’re so cute together!” Nadia coos.

“It’s like they’re boyfriend and girlfriend,” Petra chuckles.

“They love each other,” Carmen sighs.

Brian glares at the women and he hears Justin and Eric laughing over it all, as though they think this is cute when it isn’t at all.

Duncan beams and Drew lets out a groan.

“That’s stealing, Duncan. We aren’t supposed to steal.”

Duncan pales as much as his dark skin allows and gets a blank look on his face.

“I should make you take it back to the florist and have you say sorry.”

“No! I can’t! It’s Lily’s flower! It’s for her!” Duncan insists as he pushes Lily’s flower wielding hand behind her back to hide the evidence.

Emmett sighs, “Never do it again. If they are still open after we leave, you can give the man a couple of dollars to cover the cost.”

“Am I in trouble?” Duncan asks with a pout.

“No. You’re not in trouble. I know your heart was in the right place and you didn’t understand. Don’t do it again though or you will be because now you know you can’t pick those flowers. Understand?”

“Uh huh,” Duncan nods solemnly.

“Daddy?” Lily asks as she comes up to him with her flower held out in front of her chest as though it is a bouquet, “We should put my flower in water so it is stays beautiful forever and ever. Duncan gave me it. It’s special.”

Brian stares at her innocent and loving eyes and doesn’t even know what to say to that.

“I can go get her a small vase to put it in,” Justin says as he gets up then mutters, “You look like you are on the verge of an eye twitch. Protective much?”

Brian scoffs and goes to sit down next to Eric. Justin bends down to hug Duncan and give him a kiss on the cheek before going to get a vase for Lily. Duncan takes the opportunity to greet everyone he knows by giving them hugs. He greets Eric first and Eric of course makes a fuss over him and asks him what he’s been up to.

Then Duncan comes over to Brian.

“Hi, Brian!” Duncan says as he hugs his lap.

“I’m onto you,” Brian tells him as Duncan looks up at him with big eyes, “Courting my daughter right in front of me. Did you think I wouldn't catch on? You think you are pretty smooth, don’t you?”

Duncan only giggles in response.

“What are your intentions by giving my daughter a rose?” Brian asks him as he lifts him up onto his lap.

“I gave Lily a flower!” Duncan answers.

“That’s been established,” Brian says seriously, “But why did you give her a flower?”

“‘Cause I like her a lot! And it’s pretty like Lily’s pretty. Except Lily is prettier,” Duncan tells him seriously.

“Oh, my baby is such a romantic ladies’ man! I’m so proud!” Emmett sighs as he wipes a fake tear from his eye while Drew snickers.

“Is that what you are? A ladies’ man? Is that why you are courting my daughter?” Brian interrogates while he tickles the little boy.

“What’s...that...mean?” Duncan manages to gasp out and ask through his belly laughs.

“Brian, are you seriously having this conversation with a three year old right now?” Eric butts in, amused.

“I’m almost four!” Duncan reminds them, semi-offended.

“I know you are!” Eric says, feigning excitement, “You and Lily both have a birthday coming up in a little over a month. That’s exciting, huh?”

“Uh huh! Daddy and Pa said I could have a Star Wars party,” Duncan says, bouncing on Brian’s lap.

Brian clears his throat, “Duncan, we’re off topic-”

“Daddy, I’m thirsty,” Duncan interrupts as he hops off Brian’s lap and runs over to Emmett.

“And he’s gone,” Eric says before elbowing Brian in the side, “Oh, Brian. Their puppy love is adorable and innocent and here you are worrying about Lily’s virtue. I bet if it were a little Gus getting courted by another child, you would be proud of how in demand your son was.”

“It would be different if it would have been Gus,” Brian tells him slowly because he’s stating the obvious, “Gus is a boy. Lily is sweet and innocent and boys just aren’t built like that. They are after one thing and don’t care if they hurt someone. Believe me, I was the epitome of that.”

Eric snorts, “That’s so sexist.”

Brian shrugs. He doesn’t really care if it comes off that way. It’s true.

The rest of the night before dinner is filled with more adult conversation while the kids do their own strange thing. He can tell that Nathan and his friends aren’t used to being around kids. They’re young and probably don’t have plans for children anytime soon if at all so Brian gets that they feel a little weird about kids running around on a night where they thought they would just be hanging out. Carmen and Liam seem to like them a lot but they also look like they are closer to Justin’s age opposed to Nathan’s. But the kids do end up falling into the background and stop being attention seekers. They try to watch their language around them to an extent while they talk about Nathan’s band and how rehearsal is going, Justin’s upcoming show, the synagogue, and Emmett’s bridezilla client. Eventually they end up breaking off into groups to speak to each other. Nathan talks with his friends and Justin talks with Emmett, Drew, Eric, and him. They talk about Pittsburgh and how they miss it but none of them ever plan on moving back. They are all happy and have built full lives here for themselves. Drew proves that by mentioning the new event he and Emmett are constructing to raise awareness for the high percentage of foster children who need adopted in the city and Brian offers to do advertising for it for free.

“What’s the catch?” Emmett asks, suspicious.

“No catch. I’d just like to help,” Brian shrugs.

“Last time you organized an event for free, it was for Rage. And-....That is a story for another time,” Emmett finishes as he sees Eric sitting there and Justin shaking his head, “But fine. It would be great to have your help. Thank you for offering to provide it. Justin, speaking of Rage, have you and Michael started on the reboot issue yet?”

“We’ve sent each other notes back and forth and I’ve sent him some sketches of possible scenarios to have on hand. I’m going up to Toronto next week to meet with him and see the rest of the gang. We need to brainstorm in person. We’re trying to work things around to figure out where Rage and JT would be after a time jump,” Justin admits, avoiding his and Eric’s gaze.

“I’m sure you can figure it out,” Emmett says, breaking the tension, “Anything can happen in Rage. Goodness, anything can happen in life. Look at how everything’s turned out. Gay marriage is legal in several states, including New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Brian’s a full time father and getting married. You’re a famous artist with a sexy young partner of your own. Drew and I adopted a little boy. Ted just asked Blake to marry him last week! They want to get married right in good old Pittsburgh.”

“Ted proposed to Blake?” Brian asks as he perks his head up, "He must have forgot to tell me. What a dick."

"I wasn't supposed to say anything yet, to be fair, so don't tell him I told you. He is coming up to New York again in a couple of weeks for your Coca Cola campaign and planned on telling you, Eric, and Justin and Nathan if he got to see them. He isn't going tell the rest until he came in for the wedding in April."

"Well, he sure as hell better wait until Eric and I leave for the honeymoon to break his news. If he even thinks about directing the attention to his relationship at the reception I'll fire him."

Emmett breaks into laughter, "You are worse than some of my bitchiest brides. God forbid the attention leave you for one second."

Brian purses his lips and only says, "It's not his day."

"Brian Kinney is actually getting married. It's still hard to believe."

"He said yes when I asked him without any hesitation," Eric says a little defensively, "He was willing to get married before we met to Justin. It just took him a while to get to that point."

It takes Brian by surprise, to say the least, when Eric subtly brings up his first attempt at matrimony, especially with his ex-fiancé in the room.

"That came out wrong," Emmett says, putting his hands up, "What I meant was that we have all come a long way. I met Brian when we were 22 years old and still immersed in our wicked ways. It's strange to think that I have been friends with him for over 21 years. Comparing our lives back then to our lives now makes me feel disoriented. I never thought I would end up here. Having a child wasn't something I wanted until just a couple of years ago. Being around Lily, Gus, and JR played a big part in my change of heart. I am so happy with my life, even if I didn't expect this route at all. It’s probably a testament to how old I am. To how old we all are.”

Brian raises his eyebrow, “Speak for yourself, Honeycutt. I’m not old. I’ll never be old.”

Emmett laughs, “I’ve noticed a grey hair on you, Kinney. Especially when you had that cute beard. It was a fleck but it was there.”

“It just showed how distinguished I am.”

Emmett rolls his eyes, "Brian probably didn’t expect to take this route either back in the day but one look on his face and you can see that he’s never been happier.”

Brian glances over to Justin to see him looking down, hiding the sadness that Brian can easily see through because he still knows Justin as well as he knows himself despite the years of silence that occurred between them. If he and Justin were alone he might try to talk about it with him. See how he actually feels about everything since every time the subject has been brought up, in front of others or just between the two of them, he either stays silent or says generic well wishes and assures Brian that he’ll support him by being at the wedding. And Brian doesn’t want to say Justin is just bullshitting him. But he knows that Justin’s feelings are a lot more complex than he lets on. He knows that because it’s the same for him when it comes to Justin Taylor.

But he’s sure about one thing.

“You’re right,” Brian agrees, “I never have been happier.”

And even when he sees Justin blink the moisture out of his eyes before he excuses himself to check on dinner, he wouldn’t take back what he said. It’s the truth. He was happy with Justin and now he’s happy with Eric. Hell, probably even more happy since he has Lily too.

He doesn’t regret it. Not at all.

But when he looks at Justin, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t wonder what could have been. He wonders about that on a semi-regular basis. He can’t help it.

He doesn’t voice it. He keeps it hidden just like he used to with other emotions. He refuses to risk screwing up what he has now.

Justin's happy. He may be going through a lot right now but he is probably content. Brian's fucking great. What could have been isn't what's going to be and, when it comes down to it, that's the way he wants it. He wants friendship with Justin. He wants the man in his life, even if he has to keep himself in check around him.

Justin is still a great cook and even Lily and Duncan give their complements to the chef. Generational gap aside, the whole group gets along and he even manages to make conversation with Nathan. He and Justin are able to joke about things that happened when they were together and it doesn’t come off as weird and Eric and Justin are able to talk as though they don’t know practically everything about Brian extensively and come off as good friends. Lily and Duncan both giggle, flirt, and argue at the dinner table like the oddballs that they are. And he learns a few things about the rest of the table. Carmen and Liam announce that they are expecting a baby which their friends get excited about. He doesn’t get ecstatic over it, just like Emmett, Drew, and Eric don’t because they don’t know these people but hell, good for them. Nadia is teaching herself how to play the saxophone. Sebastian says she still needs a lot of work on and percussion will always be her field, which pisses her off. Petra still checks him out and all Eric can do is say, “He’s fucking hot, isn’t he?” to her. Whatever happened to good old fashioned jealousy?

He leaves with Eric, Emmett, Drew, and the kids around 7 since they have to be up for preschool tomorrow. Nathan tells them goodbye as Justin walks them to the door. Things are good. They are so good that Justin hugs them all before they leave including him. And his hug isn’t all that different. Maybe the rest of them didn’t notice the scent of Justin’s shampoo, the same he used for years, or the brief feeling of warm breath on his neck.

“I know you said something about talking to Molly about what was going on with everything but if you need a sounding board we can meet for lunch again soon,” Brian offers, ignoring the curious faces that Emmett and Drew are making.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Just call or text me and we can meet,” Justin says, forcing a casual tone.

“Later.”

Justin’s lips form a small smile at the words before closing the door behind him.

“We’re going to the same train station, aren’t we?” Drew asks, taking Duncan by the hand.

“We’re heading to Lorimer to take the G. You’re taking the L from there, right?”

“That we are!” Emmett exclaims before looking down at the kids, “Looks like you two get a few more minutes to talk before heading home for the night."

The six of them walk down the street and make plans to have Duncan Thursday evening so that Emmett and Drew can go to a fundraiser. It’s still strange that Emmett is the one who he makes plans with the most out of all of his friends. He knows he’s the closest in distance besides Justin so it makes sense but it’s jarring that their kids are best friends and that they arrange play dates and dinners and couples’ outings and fucking movie nights. It’s even stranger that he doesn’t mind it. Emmett may have been on to something when he said age made them all soft because in the back of his mind he can see his younger self laughing hysterically at the prospect while Emmett throws him disgusted looks.

“Wait,” Emmett says as he stops walking and looks down the street, “Duncan, was that the stand you got the flower from?"

Duncan looks at the ground and mumbles, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Come on then.”

Emmett holds out his hand for Duncan to take and Duncan shuffles his feet as he walks with his father while the rest of them trail behind.

“Sir?” Emmett calls out to an old man in the beginning stages of closing up the stand for the night.

“I’m about to close here. But if you would like to buy some flowers, I would be more than happy to assist you,” he says kindly.

“It isn’t that, but I would like to give you a couple of dollars. My son here picked one of your flowers on the way to our friend’s house for dinner. He didn’t understand that he wasn’t supposed to do that and had his heart in the right place but I also need to show him that he needs to be honest. What would cover the damages?” Emmett asks as he gets out his wallet.

The old man smiles as he bends down closer to Duncan’s level.

“Which flower did you like?” he asks the little boy, staring up at him.

“The blue one,” Duncan answers shyly as he starts to partially hide himself behind Emmett’s leg.

“And why’s that?”

“I wanted to give it to Lily because she’s the prettiest girl in the world!”

Brian slaps a hand to his face and shakes his head. He can see Emmett holding back the squeals that want to overwhelm him and Eric not quite managing to hold back laughter. He looks down at Lily and sees her blushing furiously but holding back what wants to be a huge grin. Jesus Christ.

The florist looks at Lily and gives her a grin and a wave.

“She is absolutely gorgeous. I can see why you like her. But my flowers come by the dozen! You only took one and left the rest. A girl like that deserves a lot of flowers.”

Duncan nods in agreement, wide eyed and taking everything in.

“Tell you what. I’m closing up shop for tonight and didn’t sell the bouquet you picked it from. I saw you do it but I knew a handsome fella like you was giving it to a nice girl. I’d like to see them go with someone so they won’t be thrown away. Why don’t you take them off my hands for me?”

Duncan smiles, “Okay!”

“Oh sir, that’s so nice of you but you don’t have to do that. Let us at least pay for them-” Emmett starts to offer.

The man waves him off, “What’s better than two kids in love?”

Brian starts to groan with that but Eric manages to shush him by pinching his side.

The man gets a bouquet of electric blue roses and hands them to Duncan.

“You give those to whoever you like or keep them for yourself. I know whatever you choose they’ll be appreciated.”

“Duncan, what do you say?” Emmett prompts.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Duncan immediately turns around and marches to Lily and hands the flowers over to her, completely smug and proud.

“Here you go!” he exclaims.

Lily gasps with delight, “Thank you!!!”

Their little girl jumps up and down and squeals with glee as they wish the man goodnight.

Lily and Duncan hug and don’t want to leave each other once they get in the station and he and Drew have to resort to prying the two away. Lily stays quiet due to the disappointment of leaving her friend as she cradles the flowers in her arms.

Eric sits her down in a seat when they see that they have seven minutes until their train comes and comforts her.

“You’ll see Duncan on Friday, baby. It will go by like that. And now you have Bianca and Vernon to play with at home.”

“Yeah. I know,” Lily answers as she tries to keep her chin up.

There’s nothing much else they can do so they just talk over her head and have their own conversation until they’re interrupted.

“Brian, what time is your meeting with-”

“HEY, LILY!!!!”

Lily’s head shoots up and they turn their heads as well only to see Duncan across the station on the other platform jumping up and down and dancing away.

Lily jumps up too and starts dancing like a fool as well as she giggles hysterically and waves.

“Kids,” Brian says as he rolls his eyes.

Eric looks at him and smiles, “I don’t know. Their love story is already giving a lot of couples’ a run for their money.”

Brian gazes at Eric before turning back to watch his daughter dance around and jump in place until their train comes.

Brian prepares himself for Lily to feel down again when they get on the train but all she does is sit in her seat with a goofy grin on her face, lost in her own thoughts. It’s obvious that those thoughts are about weddings with Duncan dressed as a prince and her dressed in a flowing rainbow dress as she rides on an elephant down the aisle or whatever her plans are.

She makes it look so easy. This whole love thing. For the longest time, he didn't want the marriage or the love or the monogamy or the 2.5 kids caged behind a white picket fence. Lily could grow up not wanting any of those things either. She could cast Duncan aside or maybe he would break her heart and move a few hundred miles away to pursue a career. Maybe she would have a string of boyfriends or girlfriends before choosing “the one” or whatever.

He always knew life would get harder as he got older. He knew there would be aches and pains, fading eyesight, less tricking opportunities, and wrinkles and gray hair. He didn’t expect “the one” and when his innermost thoughts used to tell him Justin was “the one” he didn’t expect to find another one after the first one left. The fact that he could say that he’s met “the two” is so fucking confusing.

He doesn’t want Lily to face confusion and heartache. While he does hope she finds another great love if the first one bails, he doesn’t want her to face the pain of losing the first one in the first place. He wanted that goofy smile on her face 24/7.

She’s not even four years old and it's ridiculous to think about all of this but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t want her outlook changing anytime soon.