As Brian gets Lily off of his shoulders and onto his hip, he puts his hand up to hail one of the many cabs passing by. It isn’t too terribly far and he could walk if he wanted to but his kid has been out in the cold for a while and he wants to get her warm sooner rather than later. He tells Justin just that. Justin. Brian doesn’t know exactly what was going through his head when he just asked him to lunch instead of attempting to give him an out. He knows that Justin hasn’t completely left his head and his heart in the first place, so seeing him there and seeing how beautiful he still was made all of his rationality go out the window for a minute.

“You are still rational enough to not give into any urges you may have.” Brian thinks to himself firmly.

A cab pulls over to the curb. He gets Lily settled in, then slides in and gets her on his lap. He scoots over so Justin can get in next to them.

“Where to?” the driver asks the men as he gets back into the lane.

“Not far. Just to The Telegraphe Cafe on 6th Ave and 18th Street.” Brian replies.

As they drive along the streets of New York, Lily decides to go on and on about what she wanted to get to eat.

“Daddy, I want spaghetti.”

“Lily, they don’t have spaghetti.”

“I bet Papa wants spaghetti.”

“I bet he doesn’t.”

“I bet he does.”

“How about a grilled cheese sandwich instead? You can share some soup with me too.”

Lily thinks it over and comes to the decision that this is acceptable. Then, she looks over at Justiin.

“Sorry, Jus’n. No spaghetti. You like grilled cheese?”

“I love grilled cheese. I don’t know if I will get it today but they are always yummy.”

Lily quiets down after that and starts playing with her dad’s hand. Brian tickles her a little and then glances over at Justin and decides to break the silence.

“She is a bit tired today. She has had a couple of busy days going to plays and museums and going shopping for new clothes. She is really smart for her age and has a big vocabulary. Usually she talks so fast that you can’t keep up with her and is running around once her feet touch the ground. She keeps us on our toes.”

“She seems like a great kid, Brian. How long are you all visiting New York for?”

“Actually...we are moving here. Kinnetik has been doing so well in Pittsburgh and Chicago and we have collected a lot of high-profile New York clients despite not having a location in the city. So, it was time to physically have an office here. Eric was actually looking at some apartments this morning. We are subletting a place until we find a place we love enough to buy. We are going to start looking together tomorrow but wanted Lily to have fun these first couple of days. She is still uneasy about moving so we wanted her to enjoy her time in the city when she got here.”

Before Justin can respond, the cab pulls over by their destination. Brian pays the driver, telling Justin, “Please, it is like $11 bucks. Put your wallet back in your pocket.” Justin tries to tip but Brian gives the driver a twenty dollar bill and told him to keep the change. Brian walked with Lily and Justin to the entrance of the cafe. The place is small and casual. Only a few people are there. Eric stands up, walks over, and kneels down as Brian put their daughter down on the floor. Lily squeals and yells, “Papa!!!” Her voice vibrates with the heavy steps she takes as she runs to Eric with so much excitement that would make an onlooker believe that she hasn’t seen him in weeks, rather than just seeing him last night before she went to bed. Eric takes her into his arms, hugged her, then picks her up.

“What did you do with Daddy today, Silly Lily?” Eric asks her as he sits her on his hip, carrying her back to the table as Brian and Justin followed.

“We went to bunches of places, Papa! We went to a Disney Store spent lots of time in there! Daddy got me a BEAUTIFUL dress that looks just like Rapunzel’s! He said it looked tacky but I say it is the best dress ever and he must have thought so too but didn’t wanna say ‘cause he bought it for me anyway and I thanked him a lot. Then, we went to Macy’s and looked at windows. That sounds boring but it was really fun.”

“I’m glad you had fun, baby.” Eric grins over at Brian and Justin and extends his hand towards Justin. “Sorry about not introducing myself as soon as I saw you. Lily tends to talk a lot. You must be Justin. I’m Eric. It’s nice to meet you.”

Justin accepts the handshake and smiles back at him. “I am Justin. It’s nice to meet you too. Thanks for being okay with me coming along.”

“We met him on the street, so Daddy and I invited him.” Lily states as Eric laughs at her explanation.

“It’s no problem. Lily and Brian are certainly hard to say no to.”

They all sit down at the table, the waitress takes their order, and they start making small talk about how things were on the trip over and how they were enjoying the city so far. Lily told Justin about The Lion King and how much she loved it. Justin told her he loved it so much that he had seen it twice. It wasn’t long until they got their food and they started to eat.

“So which neighborhood are you in right now? If you don’t mind me asking.” Justin inquires as he put his spoon down.

Eric wipes his mouth with his napkin and waves his hand to imply he didn’t mind.

“Right now we are in the lower part of the Upper East Side. It’s a temporary place but it is okay for right now. It is definitely small but it is a two bedroom and the living room is big enough to have a Christmas tree up for Lily. But Brian and I are looking for something bigger. I think he is leaning toward the Upper West Side or the West Village but I am leaning towards Brooklyn. Prices are going up but Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, and Cobble Hill aren’t far from the city plus there are townhouses and larger apartments available in those areas that are lower in price than some of the studios in the village.”

“I’m not against another borough, I just would like to be close to the office.”

“But think of the space and even the potential view we could have! If we do Brooklyn Heights or Cobble Hill, there are a couple of places not far from Court St and that has the 4 and 5 train, the 2 and 3, the N, Q, R and the A and C aren’t far either. Plus there are more built in garages so you could have a place to put your car without worrying about street cleaning and tickets."

Brian lets out an exaggerated put upon sigh.

“Fine. We can look in Brooklyn.”

“Ha ha! I knew I could persuade you.” Eric says as he gave Brian a kiss on his cheek.

Brian looks over at Justin, squints his eyes, and asks, “Out of those three neighborhoods, which one is the most Stepfordy of the bunch?

Justin snorts, “I don’t know, Brian. Maybe Brooklyn Heights. Brooklyn has become more desirable to live in than Manhattan in the last couple of years. Larger living space for lower prices and more apartment availability. Dumbo is slightly more industrial but, while convenient enough, not as convenient as Brooklyn Heights. Cobble Hill might be a little less ritzy and expensive than the Heights but not by much. If you want more space and are willing to spend more, I would go with Brooklyn Heights or Cobble Hill. Yeah, there are a lot of families there, but it is really pretty, I’ve heard they have good schools, and most people in the city in general mostly keep to themselves so you don’t have to worry TOO much about regularly getting invited to community get togethers.

“Brian would hate for that to happen. He once took personal offense to the couple who lived in the apartment below ours in Chicago because they gave us a casserole to welcome us to the neighborhood.”

“They also brought Lily the most hideous onesie I have ever seen. If that woman’s taste in clothing was that bad, then her cooking probably wasn’t much better.” Brian huffs in defiance.

“Babe, that doesn’t even make sense.”

“That honestly doesn’t surprise me. He once scared off a Christian fundraising group that kept coming to the loft hoping for a donation for a new playground by answering the door wearing absolutely nothing.” Justin reveals.

Then Eric and Justin start laughing at Brian’s expense and Brian feels like he has entered some sort of weird dimension where his ex and his fiancé laughing together is completely acceptable. He looks down at Lily to see if she has noticed that the two of them had fallen into some strange universe and that it is her and her daddy against the world. But Lily doesn’t pay any mind to possibly being lost within some sort of warped black hole. She only pays attention to tearing up her grilled cheese into a bunch of little pieces.

“Eat your food.” he tells her.

“I will. I’m just fixing it first.” she insists, as though tearing it up would make it taste so much better. Usually there isn’t much of a point to argue her logic.

“So Justin, what part of the city are you living in?” Eric asks him after their laughter died down.

“I’m in SoHo right now, but moving to Williamsburg in February once my lease is up.” Justin tells them.

“I just looked in SoHo today. It is a great area. The apartment was mostly an open floor plan though.”

“Yeah, that is how mine is. There are some bigger ones if you want to pay a completely outrageous price but the majority of living spaces in SoHo are lofts. I love it but I own a gallery in Williamsburg plus Nathan is living over there so we are looking for a one bedroom.” Justin explains.

Of course the first thing Brian wants to do is start asking questions about Nathan, like what Nathan does. Is he an artist? Is he in another field? Is he better than he is? But Brian holds his tongue and instead asks Justin, “So you own a gallery now? That’s great!”

“Yeah, I bought a three story building that used to be an auto-repair shop. It had two apartments over it so I just made some renovations, put in some stairs and a service elevator in between floors and it has been doing pretty well. I get a lot of local street artists to show their stuff there as well as some students at several of the colleges.” Justin informs them.

“That sounds really great! One of my favorite parts of the city is that the artists will paint or draw in public for the whole world to see. It is great to hear that someone is taking interest in their work. Brian and I will have to stop by sometime, won’t we Brian?” Eric says to him. Brian finds the whole situation to be so bizarre that it takes him a second to nod and say, “Sure.”

Then he feels a nudge and looks down at his kid sneaking his bowl away to finish the broth at the bottom of his soup.

“Hey,” he murmured quietly.

Lily slurps and takes the bowl away from her face. “Yes?”

“Does anything feel off to you?”

Lily giggles, leaning into her father, “You are so funny, daddy.”

He has to teach his kid to be more observant.

But he couldn’t blame her. She obviously has gotten it from Eric who is completely oblivious that his partner was sitting here confused to all hell while he speaks and laughs with Justin. And Justin doesn't seem to notice how awkward the situation is either. He must have a type. Justin and Eric look nothing alike, but neither of them have any clue at all whatsoever.

Finally, the check comes and Justin insists that he pay for all of them. Justin leaves the waitress a good tip and they all head outside of the restaurant to part ways.

“Eric, it was so nice meeting you. Let me know if either of you need any help with anything when you find a place. Here is my card. Feel free to stop at the gallery any time.”

“Will do, Justin. It was nice meeting you. I’m sure we will see each other again soon enough.”

Lily has a hold of Brian’s hand as she looked up at Justin and exclaimed, “Bye, Justin!”

“Bye, Lily! It was nice meeting you!”

Justin looks back up at Brian and quietly says, “Goodbye, Brian.”

Brian just nods and says, “Bye, Justin.” then watches Justin wrap his scarf around his neck and walk away. Then he looks at Eric, forces a smile, and says,

“Lily needs a nap. Let’s head home.”