“Linz, it’s not that cold out,” Brian laughed, as he watched his friend bundle up their little boy in his warmest of winter coats. “We’re going to be inside for most of the day anyway.”

“Then you can take off what he doesn't need,” Linz pointed out tiredly. “I just don’t want him catching another cold.”

Brian nodded. He wasn't going to argue with her on that. “Okay.”

Gus looked up at him with a huge smile on his face; his woolly hat had slipped down his forehead and had begun to cover his eyes.

“I'm so excited, Daddy,” Gus bounced, anticipation radiated from his little body as he waited by the front door, ready and raring to go.

“Me too, Sonny Boy.”

“And you’re sure you’re going to be okay with him on your own while you’re on crutches?” Lindsay asked apprehensively.

Brian rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine, won’t we, Gus?”

Gus nodded enthusiastically.

“Let’s go.”

Brian had a cab waiting for them outside; he held the door open for Gus and climbed in after him.

“Where to?” The cab driver asked.

“Color Me Mine, it’s on Forbes Avenue.”

The cab driver nodded as he started the engine back up.

“Is that okay with you, Sonny Boy?”

Gus leaned his head against his daddy’s shoulder, rubbing his nose against the soft scarf around Brian’s neck. Giggling softly as it tickled his nostrils. “I don’t mind what we do, Daddy.”

“Oh, is that so. How about we scrap that idea then and you can help me do my taxes. You like math, right?”

“Daddy!” Gus squealed, horrified at the thought of spending the day doing sums instead of doing all the fun things they had planned. “You’re joking, aren’t you, Daddy?”

Brian kissed his son’s head and chuckled at the look of uncertainty on his little face. “Yes, I’m only teasing you.”

Gus snuggled in closer. “Good.”

Just then, Brian’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Brian, it’s Justin.”

Brian smiled. “I know it’s you Justin.”

“Oh.”

“Is that, Justin”? Gus asked excitedly.

Brian nodded and held his finger up to his lips.

“Is everything okay?” Brian asked as he ruffled Gus’s hair.

“Everything is fine. I was just wondering if we could move tomorrow’s appointment an hour. Have you come in at two, instead of one?”

“That’s fine, Sunshine.”

Shit, he didn’t mean for that to slip out.

“Sunshine?” Gus asked curiously. “Why do you call him that, Daddy?” He asked, not even waiting for an answer before be began talking again. “ Can I speak to Justin? Can I say hi?”

“You can put him on,” Justin laughed. “I’d love to say hi.”

Brian handed Gus his phone. “Be quick, we’re almost there.”

Gus took the phone and began talking a mile a minute. “Hi Justin, guess what? I’m spending the whole day with my Daddy. What are you doing today?”

“Hey, Gus.”

Brian could hear Justin’s side of the conversation, and loved how genuinely happy he sounded to be talking to his son. He also noticed how his voice changed when he spoke to Gus. How it softened slightly and he laughed more.

“I have the day off work. So I’ll probably end up doing do my laundry or something,” he chuckled. “It sounds like you’re going to have more fun than me though.”

“I know!” Gus exclaimed excitedly.

Oh no… he’s not going to, is he?

“You should come and play with me and Daddy. We’d like that, wouldn’t we, Daddy?”

Brian could hear Justin laughing hysterically on the other end of the line.

“Give me that,” Brian said, taking the phone from Gus.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“So, I guess he got bored of waiting for you to ask me out, and decided to just do it himself?”

"Well, I would have, but SOMEONE insisted on a pesky friendship first."

“Yeah, you,” Justin teased.

Brian sucked his bottom lip into his mouth. “Technically yes, I said it, but -”

Justin laughed. “Ever the gentleman.”

“Daddy, what are you two talking about? Is Justin coming to play with us or not?”

“I can… if you want me to?” Justin asked shyly. “But if you’d rather spend the day with just Gus, then I’d completely understand.”

“Daddy, is he coming?” Gus urged, pulling at Brian’s coat.

“We’ll be at Color Me Mine,” Brian informed Justin, “It’s on Forbes Avenue. You’re more than welcome to join us.”

“I’d love to,” Justin told him sweetly.

“YES!” Gus jumped up and down excitedly in his seat.

“We’ll see you soon,” Brian said, as he finished the call, tucking the phone back into his pocket.

“We’re going to have so much fun together, aren’t we, Daddy?” Gus exclaimed happily as he wrapped his arm around Brian’s waist.

Brian tickled Gus’s sides, loving the sound of his son laughing in his arms. “We really are.”

***

“What do you want to paint, Sonny boy?” Brian asked as he took a seat at one of the tiny kid’s tables at the back of the painting studio. His long legs stretched out at an angle beside him, having been too tall to fit comfortably underneath.

Gus chewed on his bottom lip as he looked around the room. There were so many different things to choose from. “Urrrrrrm. I think I want to paint a mug.”

“A mug? Okay, that we can do.”

“For you to drink your coffee out of at work,” Gus explained.

Brian smiled, “Thanks, kiddo.”

“What about you? What are you going to paint, Daddy?” Brian hadn’t really thought about that. He just assumed he’d sit quietly and watch Gus, but when he looked around, he saw all the other adults painting their own masterpieces.

“What do you have for breakfast? Brian asked.

Gus looked up at him with a confused expression on his face, “cereal.”

“Then I’m going to paint you a bowl,” he decided.

As soon as the lady from Color Me Mine left them alone with their instructions, they got to work.

Gus sat there quietly with his tongue caught between his teeth as he looked over at all the colours laid out in front of him. “I’m going to paint it black,” he muttered, more to himself. “Because black is your favourite colour.”

“Why do you think black is my favourite colour?” Brian asked.

“Because you wear it all the time,” Gus explained as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Brian looked down at what he was wearing and his shoulders shook as he laughed, his kid was spot on.

“You’re right, black is one of my favourite colours, I love blue too.”

And as Gus ran to get the blue paint, Brian realised that there had been no sentimental feelings over the color blue until he stared into Justin's eyes.

Bringing the blue and black paint to sit in front of him, Gus looked up at him. “What are you going to paint for me, Daddy?”

“I was thinking about painting a soccer ball, how does that sound?”

Gus nodded excitedly, “That would be so awesome.”

Brian laughed, everything was awesome lately according to his son.

They sat side by side with the same look of concentration on their faces as they started work on their masterpieces.

In the corner of his eye, Brian could see Gus going to town on his mug. He switched between two different paintbrushes – one thin and one thick, and then alternated between the black and blue paints, forming a mysterious looking rainbow pattern.

“Daddy, you’re a very good painter,” Gus exclaimed when he saw the soccer ball that was beginning to take shape inside his bowl.

They were both almost done by the time Justin joined them.

“Hey,” he said as he took a seat across from Brian and laughed at the way the older man looked so uncomfortable on the small wooden chair. He grinned as he slid his much shorter legs under the table and made himself comfy.

Gus looked up and thrust his mug towards Justin. “Look what I made Daddy,” he said proudly. “It’s so he can drink his coffee at work and think of me.”

Brian tried not to melt at Gus’s words.

“Aww, that’s really great, Gus,” Justin beamed proudly. “And you used black, that’s your dad’s favourite colour, right?”

“How do you know what my favourite colour is?”

“It’s all you ever wear,” Justin explained, as his eyes roamed over Brian’s body.

“And what did you paint?” Justin asked him.

“He painted me a soccer ball bowl.”

“That’s really great too,” Justin teased him, using the same tone of voice he used with Gus.

Brian scrunched up his nose and rolled his eyes mockingly at Justin. “Haha.”

“I meant it,” Justin said honestly.

The lady running the studio made her way over to their table after noticing Justin had joined them.

“Are you boys finished with your first project?” she asked Gus.
The little boy pushed his mug and Brian’s bowl towards her. “Yep.”

“Then I’ll take these for you,” she said helpfully. “They’ll be ready to collect in a week. Will you be doing a second project today?”

Gus nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, you want to paint something too, don’t you, Justin?”

“Definitely,” Justin said grinning at the excitable little boy in front of him. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“Oooh, I have an idea,” Gus told them eagerly. “We should make something for each other. I want to paint something for Justin. Daddy, you have to paint something for me, and Justin you have to paint something for Daddy, okay?”

“Gus, maybe you should ask if that’s what Justin would like to do?” Brian told him. “He may have wanted to paint something for himself.”

“I don’t mind,” smiled Justin.

There was little room to argue, as Gus had already begun to pick out what they’d be painting.

“Hmm. I think I’m going to paint a plate for Justin. Daddy, you can paint this for me,” he said, as he pointed to a little egg cup, “and Justin, you can paint… you can paint this for Daddy.”

“A turtle?” Justin laughed, as he was handed the tiny porcelain creature.

Gus looked at him seriously. “Yes. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?

“It’s very cute,” chuckled Justin.

As soon as they were given their new items to paint, they each got to work.

“Daddy, you can’t look at what I’m painting until I'm finished, okay?” Gus said as he turned his back on both Brian and Justin.

“Okay.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Brian swore affectionately.

Brian’s piece was the smallest and he was done after only a couple of minutes, having decided to paint the entire thing blue. He then sat and watched as Justin began attaching painter's tape randomly across the turtle’s shell.

“What are you doing?” Brian asked inquisitively.

Justin looked up and grinned. “I’m going to see if I can dip dye the shell in different shades of green,” he explained, as he started mixing colours together.

“Wow, that’s really impressive.”

“Not really,” Justin smiled bashfully. “It’s what I was originally going to go to school for.”

Brian rested his chin on his hand and watched as Justin took the smallest brush there was, and started painting.

“What made you change your mind?”

Justin shrugged his shoulders as he continued what he was doing, mixing colours together and making the shell look eerily lifelike. “I just decided it wasn’t for me.”

Brian nodded, there was something about the way Justin had answered that made him think that there was more to the story. That he hadn’t decided it just wasn’t for him, that it was possibly decided for him...Maybe he was imagining things, but something inside of him told him he wasn’t.

“How you doing, Sonny Boy?” Brian called out.

“It’s looking really good, Daddy.”

“Good.”

Brian went back to watching Justin. The look on his face as he painted was mesmerizing, his eyes were bright and his smile could have lit up the moon. Brian couldn’t quite get over how cheesy his thoughts were becoming. Thank goodness people couldn’t read his mind.

“Are you okay?” Brian asked as he watched Justin shake out his hand as his fingers twitched.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just got cramp,” he smiled reassuringly.

Gus spun round on his chair and tapped Brian on the shoulder. “Daddy, I’m finished. Do you want to see it?”

“Of course, I do,” Brian said, as he pulled his son onto his lap and wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him in for a cuddle.

“Okay. Close your eyes,” he told him.

Brian closed his eyes and Gus slid the plate over to sit in front of his Daddy. “You can open them now.”

Gus had adorned the plate with a giant smiling sun.

“What do you think, Daddy? Do you LOVE it?” Gus asked, his little voiced beamed with pride as he looked at what he’d just created.

Brian’s face broke into a huge grin. “I love it, Sonny Boy.”

“Wow, that’s great, Gus. Did you paint that because your Daddy calls you, Sonny Boy?”

Gus shook his head as he turned in Brian’s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck securely. “No,” he replied slowly, as though Justin was an idiot. “It’s because Daddy calls you Sunshine.”

Brian cleared his throat nervously, “Urm…”

“Why do you call him that, Daddy”?

Justin looked on with an amused smile on his face. “Yeah, why do you call me that? You’ve done it a couple of times and I never thought to ask why.”

Brian’s face turned a wonderful shade of crimson.

FUCK!

“It’s uh, it’s because of your smile,” he explained quietly. Why can’t the ground just swallow him up?

“What?” laughed Justin, blushing too.

“Your smile,” Brian told him a little louder this time. “It reminds me of sunshine - really bright and… beautiful.”

Brian forced himself not to stick his hand down the front of his jeans to check whether his balls had fallen off, there was no other explanation for why he’d just said that out loud. But on the other hand, it had taken balls for him to say what he did, so he could rest easy knowing his (not so little) friends were safe.

Justin rewarded him with one of his famous ‘Sunshine’ smiles and Brian knew he’d made the right choice in letting him in on why he called him that. He appreciated that Justin hadn’t made a huge deal out of it in front of Gus, but from the look on Justin’s face, he could tell how happy his new nickname made him.

The conversation was brought to an abrupt end by a whiney Gus. “Daddy, I’m hungry,” he complained, his little tummy rumbled loudly causing them all to laugh.

The sexual chemistry between the two men was palpable. Brian’s heart beat rapidly in his chest as he felt Justin’s eyes on him as he took their items up to the main desk to pay. He knew Justin liked him, they’d discussed it before, hell, they’d made out like horny teenagers, but there was something different in the way Justin was looking at him right now that made his stomach flip (and his cock ache.) Today was going to be interesting.

***

“But I want to hold your hand, Daddy,” Gus whined tiredly. It was almost one, way past Gus’s normal lunch time, and he was tired and hungry.

“I know, but you have to hold Justin’s hand for the moment, kiddo,” Brian told him softly as they crossed over the busy road, making their way towards a diner Brian had spotted on their drive this morning.

Gus gripped Justin’s hand tightly as he skipped along the sidewalk beside him while Brian trailed behind on his crutches, stopping occasionally to rest.

“Are you okay?” Justin called out as he turned to see whether Brian was alright.

Brian looked up and nodded. Even though he’d been on crutches for a while now, he still found it difficult to get anywhere fast.

“Do you know why I made you paint Daddy a turtle?” whispered Gus.

Justin looked down at the little boy leaning sleepily against his leg. “No, why?”

“Because he is so slow - like a turtle,” he explained innocently. “Before he hurted himself, he could run faster than a cheetah,” Gus told him very matter of factly.

“A cheetah, huh?”

Gus nodded and held his arms up. “Yes, like a real cheetah,” he yawned. “Can you carry me?”

Justin grinned and picked the little boy up, hoisting him onto his hip.

“Gus!” Brian scolded. “You can walk.”

“I don’t mind,” Justin assured him as the boy snuggled into his arms.

“Are you sure?”

Justin nodded as he stroked Gus’s back as he waited for Brian to catch up.

“Ah, thank you,” Brian hissed when he finally caught up with them.

“Are you alright?” Justin asked worriedly as he rubbed Brian’s arm.

“Yeah… I cannot wait to be done with these damn things,” he moaned, his hands had turned white from gripping the crutches.

“It won't be long, I promise.”

They continued walking side by side in a comfortable silence, with Gus snuggled up in Justin’s arms.

The diner was only another block away, but as they approached the corner, they heard the distinctive sound of a bell ringing. Gus was almost asleep, his head lolled on Justin’s shoulder, but shot up as soon as he heard the familiar sound.

“Daddy, can I put some money in the bucket?” he begged.

Brian groaned as he saw The Salvation Army bell ringers dressed in their traditional red aprons and Santa hats standing right outside the diner they were headed to.

“Sure, Sonny Boy.”

They crossed the road and Brian stopped to reach into his pocket for some loose change.

Justin lowered Gus to the floor and he bounced happily on his feet as he waited patiently with his hand out.

“Here you go,” Brian said, as he handed Gus a handful of quarters.

They watched as Gus ran off, and started dropping the money into the buckets of the people collecting. He took his time making sure he gave everyone the same amount of coins.

Brian and Justin followed behind, throwing each other the odd smile as they walked along. Brian could hear Gus talking away excitedly, answering their questions about Christmas and who he was with.

“That’s my Daddy,” Gus said proudly, as he pointed at Brian who had finally caught up with him.

“You should be very proud,” the older man said sincerely. “He’s a very kind little boy.”

Brian could feel his heart swell with pride.

“Thank you, I am.”

They were about to leave and head on into the warmth of the diner when someone touched his arm.

“Brian?”

His blood ran cold and the sound of that voice saying his name had put him on edge. He didn't need this today.

Brian cleared his throat as he looked at Justin, “Hey, would you take him inside for me?” he asked quietly.

Justin looked at him worriedly but agreed. “Okay, we’ll grab a table.”

Brian wasn't sure why he did it, maybe he was being immature or even a little spiteful - but he didn't care.

It’s almost as though he couldn't stop himself. He reached for Justin, his hand tangled in the hair at the back of his head as he brought him in for a toe curling kiss - crushing their lips together passionately. If Justin was confused by what was happening, he didn't let on, but kissed back with just as much enthusiasm and need as Brian. What surprised him the most was just how much comfort he got from the kiss and from having Justin in his arms.

“We’ll see you inside,” Justin panted as he grabbed Gus’s hand and led the giggling little boy inside.

“Brian?”

Brian slowly turned around and licked his lips nervously, “Joan!”