TED

In the end, all we needed to do to get rid of Michael was let the gay grapevine talk at the diner, and have a mother who isn’t willing to let ‘baby Mikey’ get away with shit, hear it. Poor Michael got his head torn off for telling Justin he was only good on his knees. Understand that the gay grapevine is like the game ‘Secrets’. You tell one gay man the reason your fingernail is purple is because you hit it with a hammer hanging a picture. He tells the next three a variation of that story, adding a little flare because your story sucked. By morning and the fifty or so times it was retold, it comes out as you have been secretly crossdressing and plan on making a debut at a club, dressed as Cher. A guy from Woody’s told Emmett and I that after finding out that Justin was not only being fucked by Kinney repeatedly, but was also fucking Kinney, his buddies and him whispered a new story around in hopes to join Justin’s cult. Emmett and I got front row seats to Michael being treated to a ‘Brian special’ from Deb, without knowing the gossip. Deb didn't even let him in the door of the diner before she started in on him.

“Normally, I would think what I heard is something Brian said, but now I'm left thinking you're really the one I should have blamed all those times instead of your best friend for starting shit with people. I'm ashamed of you, how could you say such a nasty thing to my Sunshine? That kid has been nothing but nice to you.” Deb yells at Michael. 

“I didn't say anything to the kid.” Michael still clueless to the gossip.

“So you didn't say Justin belongs on his knees?” Deb was practically spitting fire at Michael.

“I didn’t say it like that.” Michael tells her. 

“How many ways are there to say something like that MICHAEL?” Deb asks him.  

“Brian said he and Justin were defining their relationship, which is a joke. I said something about the only thing Brian needed to define was whether he wanted Justin on his knees or back.” Michael defends himself.

“How is that any better? Do you think treating my Sunshine like a whore is okay? ” Deb asks him. 

“It wasn’t like that Ma, someone misunderstood what I was saying.” He tells her. 

“I don’t think they did. You just admitted to saying it. Are you now going to somehow try to make it out to be Brian fault?” Deb tells him. 

“I was just trying to tell Brian about David wanting me to go out of town for the weekend.” Michael tells her.

“Why do you think Brian cares about what David wants to do?” Deb asks him.

“I just wanted to know if I should do it.” Michael tells her.

“Oh, so you wanted Brian to tell you what to do. Why are you asking Brian? He isn’t the one fucking David, you are, so if you want to go, you go. It still doesn’t explain the way you talked to Sunshine. He deserves an apology for the way you talked to him. You better find a way to do it, because if I find out that you tried to worm your way out of it, you’ll deal with me.” She tells him.

“I didn’t even say anything to him.” Michael tells her.

“What did you do, broadcast it to everyone at Woody’s? Are you trying to upset that sweet kid? It’s not going to change the fact that Brian is in love with Sunshine. You are dating a doctor and you still can’t let go of Brian. Michael, Brian loves that kid, you're never going to be the one for him. Don’t run around trying to ruin this for Brian.” She tells him.

“Brian doesn’t do …” Michael can’t even finish before Deb takes over.

“Obviously he does, Michael. He is living with Sunshine. They spend all their time together. Brian has already met his mother. Do they need to get a ring and have a ceremony, before you stop acting like a jealous ex?” Deb tells him.

“I don’t care what bullshit Justin is spreading around, Brian will not commit to him.” Michael tells her.

“Maybe you need to tell that to Brian, since he’s the one who told me, not Sunshine. It came out of your best friend’s mouth, and since we know, if nothing else, Brian is honest, it’s time for you to believe it. Go with David and stop running after Brian.” Deb tells him.

“If that’s what you think, I’m going to go eat somewhere else. I don’t want to sit here and be lectured to by my mother. You should have at least asked me what was said before you started yelling at me.” Michael pouts.

Michael waited for his mother to feel bad for him. Deb started going through her pockets and came out with a ten dollar bill.

“Here, so you can pay for it. Wait here’s five, for the tip. Don’t stiff the waitress just because you don’t pay for anything here.” Deb tells him.

Michael looks at the money and I think it dawned on him that his mother was practically shoving him out the door. Emmett and I held back the laughter until Michael tried to slam out the door. Unfortunately for Michael, the door doesn’t slam, so he when he tried to yank it, he lost his grip and ended up in a puddle of muddy water.

After Michael had left, Justin and Brian came in to pick up Justin’s to-go order. I guess they stayed up extra late again, lucky bastards. Deb walked over to Justin and smothered him in a hug. Brian sat with us, wanting to know what that was about. Emmett told Brian about Justin replacing Michael in Deb’s eyes.

Justin finally got away from Deb and ran to get the keys to the Jeep to get to school. Brian was putting in his notice tomorrow morning, he told Ryder he was scouting today and wouldn’t be in. Brian told me to wait until we hear from the bank before I do the same.  Brian and I were going to the bank to start working on loans for his new firm. I talked to a friend of mine at the bank and he told me that all Brian needed was a client list and the bank would be more than willing to help him. Brian told me we were going to start scouting locations after going to the bank, he had started the list the minute he came back to now. Emmett was off so he wanted to go see the places with us. Emmett told Justin to skip school and come. Justin told Emmett that looking at empty buildings were not his idea of fun. 

We were walking out of the diner and Brian told me to give him a minute. We stood outside and listened as Brian called Justin’s mother.

“Hey Jen, it’s Brian. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and my friends to look for an office building?” He asks her.

“It’s just I think that you would know what to look for, Justin told me you go to a lot of business dinners with Craig. I thought you could help me decide if the buildings we look at are up to par with what you’ve seen. Great, we're going to the bank, so if you want to meet us at Liberty Trust in an hour, we can go from there.” Brian smiles and thanks her. 

“Hanging with the in-laws Brian?” Emmett asks him.

“Jen becomes a kickass real estate agent, she is the one that found my first Kinnetik.” Brian tells us. We get in the car and Brian seems like he is looking forward to spending time with Jen.

“You like Justin’s mom?” Emmett asks.

“I love that woman. She turned out to be one of the best mothers I’ve ever met.” Brian tells him.

“It’s just she seems to be having a hard time with this.” I tell him.

“She loves Justin, it’s just right now she is trying to save a twenty year marriage and keep her family together. Craig isn’t going to win, because he treats his marriage the way he treated Justin. Jen wouldn’t stand behind Craig when he threw Justin out. Craig saw it as her not towing the line in the marriage. So just like he did to Justin, he told Jen she could either straighten out her thinking or he wouldn’t stayed married to her. Jen walked away, she didn’t even try to take Craig to the cleaners. I respect her for standing on her own two feet. She accepted me into her life, warts and all. If I can help her get out from under Craig, I will.” Brian tells us.

“Maybe that’s where Justin gets it from.” I tell him.

We get to the bank and meet with my guy, who tells us, if everything checks out with the list of clients Brian brought us, we would most likely be approved tonight. 

“Good thing I talked to all the clients, they were on board last month.” Brian tells me.

“You were planning this from the beginning?” I ask him.

“Ted, I put Vanguard out of business. By the time I died, Kinnetik was global, so this time I know what not to do.” He tells me.

“I was with you for all this?” I still have a hard time seeing Brian and I in business together.

“You became a partner and worked with Gus when I retired. I would have lost everything if you hadn’t been there to hold me up. I need that Ted with me now, or we are going to fail at this.” He tells me.

“Brian Kinney doesn’t fail. I guess it’s time for me to do what you said and not listen to the voice in my head.” I tell him.

I suddenly want to be the person he describes to me. I can feel my spine straightening and I hold my head up. I see a good looking guy walk by and give him the Kinney smirk or at least what I hope looks like it. The guy smile back at me and I realize it’s about confidence, not looks. Brian and I wait in the lobby with Emmett for Jen. We see her walking in and as we start towards her I feel someone put something in my hand. I turn to see the guy I was smiling at.

“Call me.” He whispers in my ear.

BRIAN

I wanted to get Jen to look with me, the baths are still open, but I think it’s time for a new look. I just feel like, without her helping, I’ll end up in some place that I hate. Ted needs to be in the right head space or I’ll end up having to manage Ted too. I like Blake but he isn’t going to be ready for Ted right now. Ted and I are going to be busting our asses to get this company off the ground and I don’t need Ted dealing with all Blake's problems. I see Jen and we go out to meet her. 

“Brian, I’m not sure what help I can be, but I’ll try.” Jen tells me.

“I just need you to look at the buildings and tell me what you think.” I tell her.

“Do you want me to follow you?” She asks me.

“We could ride together, I’m Emmett. I just want you to know we love Justin. Not the way Brian does, but like a brother.” Emmett explains to her.

“How is he? Brian you need to tell him to call me, just so I know he doesn’t need anything.” Jen tells me.

“I’ll get him to call, but I promise, if he needs something I’ll make sure he has it.” I tell her.

“Brian, Craig and I should be helping out.” Jen tells me.

“Jen, I’m just trying to make this easier on you and Molly. Ted can tell you, I can afford to feed your son, and I pray get him out of those pants.” I tell her.

I had this idea, when I was still waiting for Justin to come. I want Emmett to start his business sooner. I had been trying to find a way to incorporate Emmett’s business into Kinnetik. During the time I ran Kinnetik, I used Emmett for everything from business lunches to launch parties, but with Emmett’s business taking off, it became harder to for us to be able to find an opening in his schedule. I don’t want to depend on subpar businesses to do events, when Emmett was a master at it. It’s the reason I brought Emmett with me, I need to get him to consider working with us.

We spent the next three hours looking around and I just didn’t feel it. Jen wrote off most of them because she told me that if I want to make an impression, four walls and a carpet weren’t going to do it. We went to get some lunch at a deli in the area and Jen started calling her friend who helped her get in the real estate business. I don’t hate Barbara, but I never could get her to understand that I was gay. Barbara told Jen to bring us to building she had on her books. 

As soon as we pulled up, I knew this was the one. Barbara handed Jen the keys and told her to drop them off. I was thrilled not to have to hang out with the divorcee. The building was two stories and at one time going to be large restaurant. The owner got in trouble for tax evasion. We toured the kitchen and the dining room, I watch Emmett’s eyes light up. The top floor was walled in with glass so it was like a separate building. I could put the art department to the right with the floor to ceiling windows, it gives them the light they need to create. If we partitioned off the left side, I could have a conference room and office attached to each other. 

“You could replace the glass with frosted glass and that would make it more private.” Jen tells me.

“We could turn the downstairs into offices, reception could be right as you walk in. It’s a large building, for a restaurant.” Ted tells me.

“The owner, Cal, wanted to turn it into the premiere dining spot. His family owned the building and gave it to him. It started out as a large warehouse. Cal is a friend of Craig’s. Cal wanted the restaurant to have private areas for business to have meeting in so instead of making the dining room one big room he wanted to make separate areas for the businesses. Looking at the top floor, you can see it’s as large as the overall restaurant. All the renovations were done just last year, but it never opened because he was caught for tax evasion and they seized this as an asset. No one needs a restaurant this size, in this economy.” Jen tells us. 

“What would we do with the kitchen?” Ted asks me.

“Section it off, offer it to someone who wants to start a party planning business. If we renovate this right, the side that leads to the kitchen could be a separate business that pays rent to us.” I suggest, hoping to clue Emmett in.

“You want to buy it?” Jen asks me.

“I want to lease with the option to buy it if everything goes to plan.” I tell her.

“Let me talk to Barbara, she told me they want to off load this building.” Jen tells me. 

“Give her Ted’s number, he’s the one who know’s what budget we are looking at.” I tell her.

I leave him and Jen to talk, and drag Emmett with me. He didn’t figure out why I wanted the kitchen. 

“Emmett, do you want to know what you did in the future?” I ask him.

“No.” That was all, no long winded speech, just no.

“Why not?” I ask him.

“I don’t want to hear that all I was, was a househusband to a football player.” Emmett tells me.

“Emmett you were a party planner, you started out with Vic as your partner. You become the guy to go to for parties and event planning. If you're willing to sign on with me, I’ll be a silent partner, when you can buy me out, you’ll own it. The only condition I have is that you’re going to have to make my events priority.” I tell him.

“I don’t know how to run a business.” He tells me.

“Ted and I will be here to help you.” I tell him.

“What if Vic doesn’t want to do this?” Emmett asks me.

“Vic wants to do something, he’s bored out of his mind and about to lose his benefits. You would be giving him an opportunity to do what he loves to do.” I tell him.

“You’ll help me talk to Vic?” Emmett tells me.

I got him. It was the look in his eyes, Emmett could see the possibilities. It’s how I know when I’m going to win an account.