JUSTIN

“Justin, you can't hide in bed for the rest of your life.” Daphne tells me.

I decided that yes I can, and pull the blanket over my head.

“Do you think Brian would be willing to hang out with us?” September asks.

“September, he's gay.” Alexia adds.

“So, I just like looking at him.” She tells them.

Why isn't Marie here to reign in the girls? I came out from under the desk, but landed in girl central. I'm just not sure what was worse, finding out that Brian is my boss, or the girls wanting all the details on what is probably the most embarrassing day of my life. Which is saying a lot, because I've managed to land in some embarrassing situations before. Daphne kept trying to pull my blanket off, but I used all my strength to keep from having to tell them I now have a pimp.

When the doorbell rings, I hope it’s Cynthia, because then they'll attack her.

“Hello!” I hear Daphne, sounding too excited for it to be the pizza guy.

“Is Justin here?” I hear someone, who must be Emmett.

“Yep, but he's hiding right now.” Does she have to tell anyone who asks, everything?

Then I have to wonder what I did to deserve the girls bringing people into my bedroom.

“Baby, I came to take you out to celebrate with us. I heard from Blake, who heard from Teddy, that you took the job. So I told Drew we should take your cute ass out to celebrate.” He tells me.

“Can we come?” A hyper September asks.

“If you want to, it's really just a small dinner at a friend’s house.” Emmett tells them.

“We'll bring more food because Justin doesn’t do small.” Alexia tells him.

No, I would do an Armani wearing asshole, but that would require being able to face him again. Which I'm not. It occurred to me that Emmett has some explaining to do. Pulling the blanket off my face I look at the women still sitting on my bed and then to the enemy.

“You knew.” I tell him.

“I didn’t know that you didn't know, until the delightful conversation at dinner. So that counts, right?” He says this to the girls, not me.

“I figured it out, but he kind of told me to let you find out on your own.” Daphne tells me.

“You've lost your Hag title.” I tell her, getting up.

“Can I have it? I mean I could see Brian more if I was your HBF.” I think it's time to explain to September that gay means Brian’s not interested.

“No one steals my GBF, I've worked hard on making him the perfect GBF.” Daphne tells them. Which has them staring at me in my boxers, it had to be the moment I was scratching.

“Justin as much as I’m sure the guys wouldn’t mind seeing you not dressed, we need to get going.” Emmett tells me.

“I have decided that I’m no longer stepping out my door again. It leads to all sorts of nasty surprises. Ones that no one tells me about.” I declare out loud, not that they were listening, because Emmett and Daphne started getting clothes out of my closet for me to put on.

“You can do whatever you want, but I’m not leaving my house.” I tell them.

So I guess you could say that I left my house. I sat next to Emmett in the Hummer and tried to figure out how they overpowered me. I almost got away, but Emmett’s long legs caught me and stuffed a shirt over my head, then I’m not sure who, but when they got to close to the goods I lifted to lean away and they used that to get the pants on. When I was standing I decided that I needed to rebel. I stomped to my closet and looked for something they haven’t seen. Emmett asked that I not wear any that were too shocking because there would be a six year old there.

“At least they’re shoes this time.” Emmett tells me, smiling.

“Where exactly are we going?” I ask him, after we had gotten free of the squad.

“We were invited to dinner at Mel and Lindsay’s, can you at least give me props for getting the squad to come to Babylon instead of dinner with us?” He asks me.

“No, because I didn’t want to go there either.” I grumble.

He pulls up to the house and then pulls me in behind him. I see Ted sitting there and glare at him but then I feel bad, because he was only doing his job. A blond lady comes over smiling with a young kid, who doesn’t look very happy to be here.

“Justin, this is Lindsay.” Emmett tells me.

“Hi, I heard you're an artist.” I nod, because I’m not really sure she wanted an answer. Gus who was scowling at first looks down at my sneakers and then offers me a really big smile.

“I like your duckies.” He tells me.

“Thanks, not many people get the footwear. So what’s got you so glum?” I ask him.

“My dad was supposed to be here, but he called saying he didn’t know when he’d make it.” Gus tells me.

“Gus, your father always comes, he just said that he had to deal with something first.” Lindsay tells him smiling.

“Hey, want to hang out until your dad comes?” I ask him.

When he grabbed my hand I figured that was a yes. I so love kids, they get to do the fun stuff. Gus wanted to build a fort in his room so we could post signs that no moms were allowed. We were just finished when Emmett came and climbed in with us, we let him stay, only because he brought cookies.

When Lindsay came to tell us it was time for dinner, Gus took off with Emmett behind him. I sat there just thinking about how simple life was before my trek to Liberty Avenue. I was crawling out and saw boots. Looking up from my hands and knees position, which was not going unnoticed by my new boss, my first thought was to just crawl back in.

“Why are you suddenly everywhere?” I ask him, scowling.

“I figured that since my son lives here, it makes sense for me to be here. As much as I'd love to explore your habit of crawling, the munchers might not be too thrilled.” He tells me.

“Um, my friend September might not need to know that you went where no gay has normally gone before.” I tell him.

“I might have gone there, but I didn’t stay for very long.” He tells me.

“With September it only counts that you went.” I tell him crawling out the door.

I got up when I turned to see him watching me crawl and decided I’d entertained him enough. When I walked in the dining room all the conversations stopped, and they were all staring at me and Brian walking in. I have a feeling I just don’t want to know what they were discussing. The brunette at the head of the table rolled her eyes at Brian, but smiled. I noticed there were only two chairs next to Gus and gave up on avoiding Brian, just sitting where they obviously wanted me to.

Brian sat down with Gus and I could see the resemblance. Which of course had me confused, because if Mel and Lindsay are a couple how does Brian fit in and part of me just wants to erase the idea of ways that could be.

“I donated for the girls.” Brian whispers to me.

“We haven’t met, but I’m Mel.” The brunette tells me.

“Justin. Nice to meet you.” I tell her, smiling.

“How did you end up in this group of guys?” She asks me.

“I’m not absolutely sure, I mean it’s kind of Daphne’s fault, but like I told Emmett, I really need to stop thinking she can’t take care of herself, but then I can’t really be upset because Emmett walked with me when my outfit was causing too many people to stare. I’ve been kind of not leaving my house so I have a feeling that Daphne didn’t really get stranded but stranded me where the squad was probably hoping to get me out of the house.” I look at everyone and realize once again I’ve babbled.

“I saw Baby walking down the sidewalk in PJ’s and kitty slippers, and at that point he was more interesting than dealing with you know who. When I invited him to eat with me, he said he needed to work so I ended up leaving him with a card to call if he wanted to do anything.” Emmett tells them, but when he rambles they all seem to get it.

“But how did you end up working for him?” Mel asks me tilting her head at Brian.

“He’d been doing my campaigns already. After meeting him, I wanted him under my roof.” He tells them.

When they all waited for him to say more, he just handed me a plate with lasagna on it. I looked around and the guys seemed to be picking at the food, which I figured out why when instead of gooey cheese I get vegan cheese and why do people think tofu can become something just because you put it in place of say, meat. I tried to eat it, but I’ll never get the whole we don’t eat meat but do everything possible to pretend it’s say, a hot dog but it’s really just tofu, shaped and dyed to give you the impression it’s one thing when it’s just tofu. Even my cats just batted it around when I tried to get them to eat it. Brian saved me by telling everyone we were going.

I tried to follow Emmett to his car but Brain just dragged me behind him. Then he kidnaps me, they were driving to the club and he turns the other direction, then I think I fell in love, he headed through a drive thru.

“I couldn’t listen to the growling anymore.” He tells me, ordering.

BRIAN

After feeding Justin, I really didn’t want to go to the club and possibly run into Michael. There was one place I could go that really only Ted knows about, and knows better than to talk about. I start heading to the house I bought, though I'm still not sure why I bought it.

“Is there some reason you're driving out of town?” He asks.

“Did you really want to go to Babylon?” I ask him.

“No, but the squad are going to notice and then I'll be invaded because they seem to think they want details. Which is a total mystery to me since I never want to hear the details but that doesn't matter because I'm always out voted.” He tells me, then mumbles something about cats, head, and lair.

When we pulled up to the house I had to drag him, whimpering, out of the car. I would have asked, but I have a feeling I don't want to know what's going through his head. Opening the door, he seems as if he's walking to his death.

“Just so you know Daphne has GPS on my phone.” He tells me.

“I'm really not a serial killer.” I tell him.

“I never thought you were.” He tells me, not sounding very convinced.

I decide to let him figure it out on his own. He followed me, looking around, but stopped when he saw the fireplace. I bought it with the idea of reselling it later but seeing him here I start to wonder if keeping it might be a better idea.