BRIAN

I woke up to my phone ringing and Justin groaning, pulling his pillow over his head. 

“One day without a problem is all I ask.” He whines.

Smacking his ass, I look to see Lindsay calling. “Hey, Justin said no problems today.” I tell her.

“It’s about Gus, Mel wants to talk to you about what Michael said to us last night.” She tells me.

“Shit, where do you guys want to meet.” I tell her, looking at Justin.

“We can come over there if you want, it’s just I don’t want Gus to hear what we’re talking about.” She tells me.

“Michael showed up at the girls and they want to let me know what’s going on. They want to come here.” I tell him.

“I have to be at Alex’s, we could all go there. Grant will watch Gus for us.” He tells me.

“Justin suggested we meet at Grant’s house and Grant would watch Gus for us. Just bring a swimsuit for Gus.” I tell her.

“Hey Alex, is it okay if we bring Gus and his mothers over to your house?” Justin asks. “Thanks, can you tell Grant we need him to watch Gus?”

“Come here and we can go together.” I tell Lindsay when Justin nods.

I hung up and pulled Justin to my chest. “It won’t always be like this.” I tell him.

“Maybe this is just everything shitty that could happen, then the rest of our lives will be boring.” He tells me kissing me.

“There are no shitty days when you're there.” I tell him.

When Lindsay and Mel showed up we got in Justin’s car and headed to Alex’s house. Grant came running out and leapt into my arms. 

“Grant, you’ll never get over him if you keep doing this.” Justin tells him, laughing.

“My dad is… man, I was kind of attracted to him.” Grant says, as he runs into Justin’s arms.

“Grant, learn to knock.” Emmett tells us at the door.

“Working fast?” I ask him.

“Took a page from your book, I went after what I wanted.” He tells me, smirking when Grant whimpered.

“Old people sex, and God I’m going to be sick.” Grant tells Mel and Lindsay getting Mel to hold him.

“Can we go in and see what Mikey’s done now?” Emmett tells us. 

Grant took Gus and told him they were going where they never had to imagine their parents doing things. 

“You can use the kitchen, I put some food out for you.” Alex tells us, turning to leave.

“Stay, maybe having someone not personally involved in this will help.” I tell him.

“It’s fine, I need to get Lindsay to see that what Michael is doing should worry her.” Mel tells him.

“He showed up and started suggesting that he and I have a baby, and that he could be a father to Gus. None of which we would let him do.” Lindsay tells us.

“He really wants a way to connect himself to you.” Alex tells me.

“Tell Dan I want the restraining orders in place.” I tell Justin.

“When did you tell Dan you wanted that?” Justin asks.

“When he was leaving and I was coming in.” I tell him as he leaves to call.

“Brian, he needs more than an order. They only help if the person is afraid of the results.” Mel tells me.

“It’s what we have for now. Gus isn’t allowed near Michael.” I tell them.

“Dan is coming here.” Justin tells us.

“Brian, we need to tell Deb what’s going on. She’s going to have a hard time with this.” Emmett tells me.

“She either accepts it or she doesn’t. She needs to see for herself what her son is causing. No parent wants to see their child as anything but what we believe.” Alex tells Emmett.

“Brian, there’s something we wanted to ask.” Lindsay tells me.

“Justin needs to be part of this too.” Mel tells us.

“What?” I ask.

“We want to have another child.” Lindsay tells us.

“We want you to father our next one. Only it will be me.” Mel tells me.

“You don’t have to answer now, but maybe talk it over with Justin.” Lindsay tells me.

“We will but not now, and until we decide if we want that please give us the time to decide.” I tell them.

“Brian, if you want this, I’m fine with it.” Justin tells me.

“Justin, what if I want a child that we don’t share with anyone else but us? I just don’t know if I want another child that lives with other people.” I tell him.

“If you don’t, we will respect your decision.” Mel tells me.

Dan showed up in time to eat something and handed me the orders. “I filed them before I got here.” He tells me.

“That was fast.” Mel tells him.

“I did it when Brian told me he might need them, at that point it was a given he would.” Dan tells her. “You realize that Michael is no longer living in the real world, he’s doing everything he can to hang on to any part of Brian. Not only will Justin be a problem for him, but Lindsay not giving him what he wants will put a target on her back.” Dan tells us.

“But not me?” Mel asks.

“You don’t love Brian Kinney the way those two do, in his mind. You’re someone he would think would eventually side with him.” Alex tells her.

“Yeah, if you think he’s not bad enough now, wait until he really starts to lose it. Then you’ll see unhinged. Then you call in the favor Ben owes Justin, for bailing his ass out.” Dan tells me.

.

DAN

I stuck around when everyone took off to get to their jobs. Gus stayed with Justin while he was working with Alex and Grant. It was strange to see Grant serious about anything, but watching him work with Justin to get the program running was like seeing a different side to him.

“When it comes to computers, Grant doesn’t play around.” Alex tells me.

“He always seems almost childish, then to see him like that, it’s different.” I tell Alex.

“Grant likes to see people laugh and smile. He knows there isn’t always good things, so he wants to be the person who keeps people from only seeing bad things.” Alex tells me.

“I used to worry about him and Justin. Where you found one, the other was bound to be somewhere close by.” I tell him.

“They love each other like brothers, Justin helped Grant understand that his mother not wanting to be a mother didn’t make Grant worthless. Grant made it so Justin had a reason to smile when he had no reason to. Beneath all Grant’s silliness is a man who only wants the people in his world happy.” Alex tells me, walking away.

“Why are you here?” Grant asked when he walked into the kitchen.

“Just helping Justin and Brian with something.” I tell him.

“It must suck to know he’s in love with someone else.” Grant tells me.

“Not really, he never needed me the way I wanted him to.” I tell him.

“Please, you never got serious with anyone after him, you were still hoping. Why else would you stick around and be there whenever he wants you to be.” He tells me.

“The same reason any friend would.” I tell him.

“I heard you were interested in Emmett’s assistant. Emmett said you were trying to get with the guy.” He tells me.

“He could pass the time, but if I was really interested I wouldn’t have waited for him to call me.” I tell him.

“What would you do?” He asks, staring at me.

I walked to Grant and looked at him, wanting to feel something. He stared up at me and I felt it for the first time since Justin. “This.” I tell him, kissing him softly. 

GRANT

“Why?” I ask.

“I don’t know, you normally make me want to run screaming from a room.” He tells me, leaving.

I ran to find Justin, because no way am I wanting Dan, of all people. 

“The fucker kissed me, and I liked it. How could I like someone who would want me to change who I am. I can’t, so fuck him.” I tell Justin.

“Gus why don’t you go see if Alex has cookies while I explain to Grant what words we use.” Justin tells Gus, who seemed to be interested in all the words I just used.

“Do not use those words, I need to live.” I tell a giggling Gus.

“So can we start from the beginning? Who kissed you, and why are you afraid to like it?” Justin asks me.

“This is so bad, I broke the bro code.” I tell him, looking down and shaking my head.

“Brian did not kiss you, so nothing is broken.” Justin tells me.

“Please, if Brian kissed me I’d be attempting to kick his ass for doing it. Dan, it was Dan.” I tell him.

“Why would Dan be a problem, he’s really a great guy?” Justin asks me.

“He was yours at one time.” I tell him.

“He didn’t belong to me, we dated and it didn’t work. We both know that we couldn’t be more than friends and it’s fine if you liked it, or if you like him.” Justin tells me.

“But I never really have, I mean don’t get me wrong, the kissing was kind of great, but I don’t want to have to be serious all the time the way you were when you were with him.” I tell him.

“I had a lot going on in my life and still do. It had nothing to do with how Dan wanted me to be, it was just me at the time. Dan is serious but he has this kid in him that comes out like it does with you. He wouldn’t expect you to change for him, but just be who you are.” He tells me.

“What if he never really gets over you?” I ask.

“What makes you think he isn’t?” Justin asks.

“You call and here he is, just like always.” I tell him.

“So are you when I need you. It’s how being friends works for us. Think about the times we called Daphne in the middle of the night to drive our drunk asses home. She just showed up because she wanted us to be safe. Dan is the same way with people he cares about. Hell, even Brian is like that.” He tells me.

“How are you managing to stay with Brian, when you couldn’t deal with Dan?” I ask him.

“I love Brian in a way that I’ve never loved anyone. Like Dan told me, love makes it easier to overlook something.” He tells me.

“I don’t even know if I could love him.” I tell Justin.

“Not if you don’t give him a chance. I want Dan to find what I have with Brian. If you find it with Dan, I would be thrilled.” He tells me.

BRIAN

“I think there is something wrong with me. I mean, he’s always been there, and now I want him.” Dan paces back and forth in front of my desk.

“Since it’s obvious this isn’t about Justin, who are we talking about?” I asks.

“The whimpering bag of mess.” He tells me.

“Grant, interesting, what did my little follower do?” I ask.

“Nothing, it was like he went from annoying to interesting when I watched him work. Did you know the guy can be serious? Neither did I, and normally I just want to tape his mouth shut.” He tells me.

“So you got a hard on watching Grant work? Sorry, it’s just not something I’ve ever experienced.” I tell him.

“It was just, it was like I was really seeing him for the first time.” He tells me.

“What do you normally see?” I ask.

“Someone who never did anything with his life. I didn’t even know he actually worked until today.” He tells me.

“From what Justin and Alex have said, he’s responsible for most of the games doing what they were designed to do. Grant just has a lot of free time because he waits for the finished product then makes them what they become.” I tell him.

“I just don’t know if it’s a good idea to date someone who is friends with my last boyfriend.” He tells me.

“That would only be a problem if you still loved Justin and were leaving him with what was left of your heart. Then Grant ends up like Ben, trying to make you love him.” I tell him.

“Justin is someone I’ll always care for, but I know we weren’t going to work. He’ll always be someone I want in my life, but not become my life.” He tells me.

“Then I don’t see what the problem is, unless Grant is just a distraction. If he is, don’t confuse him into thinking you could be what he wants.” I tell him.

“Brian, Michael isn’t confused, he’s just certifiable.” He tells me.