Chapter 30 - Masterfully Managing the Media.
Daphne came back late Sunday morning to update the boys on what was happening outside. Brian and Justin had turned all the phones off, turned down the volume on the door bell and intercom and pretty much kept to their bed all the rest of Saturday. They knew they'd have to venture out sometime, but had been putting it off as long as possible.
Daphne told them that since no one had been able to get a hold of the guys, they'd started calling her. She had no idea how Michael or Ted had found her phone number, but she'd had to field more than a few calls from the gang last night. She'd also talked to just about everyone they'd gone to high school with, several neighbors, one company that manufactured diapers and wanted Justin to endorse their product as well as about twenty reporters. Parked on the street outside the loft there were at least three cars with people waiting in them keeping a constant watch on the front door. Luckily, no one had accosted her as she was coming into the building, though.
"Fuck it all!" Brian declared in disgust. "Well, we might as well get it over with. We're going to have to leave the loft eventually. If we give them their photo op, hopefully they'll all go away. So, who wants to join me for breakfast at the Diner?"
They took the elevator down to the ground floor and went out the back door, making it to the jeep without being intercepted. But, as Brian pulled out of the back parking lot onto the street, four different cars followed them. Justin was a bundle of nerves. Daphne was giving him a shoulder rub from the back seat, trying to get her friend to calm down at least a bit. Brian, wearing a pair of freshly tailored casual slacks and a light knit pullover shirt, looked handsome and imperturbable as always.
Brian's 'Parking Karma' came to their aid once again, with the prime spot right in front of the Diner opening up just as they drove up. Brian parked the Jeep and then looked over at his companions. He quickly leaned in and stole a kiss from the nervous looking young man sitting next to him, then gave Daphne a wink.
"Game faces on, team," Brian ordered as he grabbed hold of the door handle. "Be ready with your 'No Comment's, Sunshine."
Brian jumped out and ran around to open Justin's door. By the time Justin was out of the car, flanked by Brian and Daphne, they were already surrounded by a horde of people. Brian pushed their way through the crowd, holding onto Justin's hand all the time, not seeming to even notice the flashing cameras and shouted questions. The trio made it to the door of the restaurant and somehow managed to get inside in one piece, pulling the door closed behind them, effectively shutting off the noise and confusion in one stroke.
The peace lasted for about a half a minute before they heard a bellowed "Sunshine" and the blond boy in their midst was yanked away into a crushing bear hug by an unstoppable rainbow hued attack-waitress.
"Deb, let the boy go before you smother him," Brian commanded, prying the spangle-braceletted arms away from the small blond man now gasping for breath.
"I didn't think you guys would dare to come out today," Debbie commented, hugging Brian against his will and even, in her enthusiasm, giving Daphne a quick squeeze.
"Why wouldn't we," Brian replied laconically as he steered his charges towards an empty booth near the back.
"Maybe because of that group of vultures out front?" Deb rejoined. "By the way, how the hell did they know you'd be coming here? I didn't even know you'd risk it. But there have been a couple guys with cameras out there since I came in at 6:00 am."
"Obviously, word is out about the wonderful cuisine served by this fine establishment," Brian opined snootily. "Anybody who's anybody just HAS to be seen eating here!"
"Smartass," Debbie replied with her signature slap to the back of Brian's head.
"Oww! Thanks a lot, Deb. See if I try and compliment you again," Brian teased, obviously in a remarkably good mood considering the circumstances. "Now, if you don't mind, I think this IS still a Diner and I need to feed my roommate before he gets ugly on me. So, can we please order?"
"Of course. What'll you have Sunshine?" Deb stood ready with order pad in hand.
Justin rattled off his usual gargantuan sized breakfast order, complete with two extra side dishes meant for Brian. But, before Daphne or Brian could add their requests, there was another fracus at the door as three familiar patrons elbowed their way inside through the crowd of waiting reporters. Brian waited until the door was closed again before trying to yell his order over the roar of voices.
"What the fuck's going on out there?" Michael demanded of his mother as soon as he'd readjusted his clothing.
Then his Brian-radar kicked in and Michael zoomed over to his Best Friend's table. "Brian! You're here! We've all been trying to get a hold of you but you haven't returned any calls. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Mikey. Justin here's the one you should be worried about. He's the one accused of being knocked up," Brian joked and reached over to pat the irate blond's tummy.
"Stop, Brian," Justin complained. "You're just going to make it worse!"
"Tell us, Baby," Emmett pushed his way into the booth next to Daphne with a serious expression on his face and in his voice. "Is it true. You can tell us, no matter what. Are you . . . With child?"
Justin laughed at the overly solemn faces staring down at him. "Well, I am here WITH Brian, and sometimes he does act very immature, but I've never really considered him a 'Child' . . . " Justin said with a skillfully dry delivery.
Daphne thought Justin's witticism was hilarious and cackled away with laughter as Brian shot the youth a dirty look and stuck out his tongue. Emmett and friends looked on, confused for a minute, but eventually got the joke and they laughed too. Which happily broke the tension for everybody. The rest of brunch went by without incident, the gang spreading out to occupy two booths and joking their way through the whole meal. Nothing more was said about Justin's supposed 'condition'.
When neither Brian nor Justin could stuff another bite of food down, Brian tossed some money on the table then stood and dragged Justin out of the booth after him. "Ready for your big debut, Sunshine?"
"No!" Justin whined. "Can't we just sneak out the back or something, Brian?"
"What? And deprive all the housewives of America the perfect supermarket tabloid photo of your adorable little bubble butt? That would be cruel. Come on! Big smile for the cameras! This is your thirty seconds of fame, Sunshine. Enjoy it while it lasts!" Brian cajoled as he wrestled Justin towards the front door.
Brian waved goodbye to their friends then pushed open the Diner door. The pair was immediately surrounded by clamoring reporters and photographers. Brian pulled Justin to stand next to him and held up his hand to get the crowd's attention. He cleared his throat pointedly and the throng went silent.
"Thank you, everyone," Brian smiled his most charming Kinney smile as he surveyed the group. "Would you mind, please, taking a few steps back," he said, waving at the closest ring of people, who all obediently shuffled back a step or two. "That's much better, thank you. I appreciate that you would all like to ask us a few questions. . ." Brian started off then paused with every person there hanging onto his words.
"But, neither Mr. Taylor nor I have any comment. Now, if you'll excuse us," Brian finished quickly, turned towards his shier companion and then swept Justin into his arms, dipping the smaller framed man back gracefully as he kissed the astonished youth with passion.
Every camera there clicked away furiously for the several minutes that the kiss lasted. When Brian was done, he propped Justin back up onto his feet and ushered him through the masses to the Jeep. He rapidly deposited his charge into the passenger seat, locked and closed the door on that side and hurried around to his own seat. The crowd of media hounds didn't have a clue how to handle this and just stood there for long enough that Brian easily pulled the Jeep out into the flow of traffic and the pair had escaped before anyone knew it.
"That, my dear Sunshine, is how we handle the media!" Brian smirked at his laughing blond companion as they sped away from the scene.
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Brian successfully staged several more media appearances throughout that afternoon and into the following week. The strategy seemed to work wonderfully. Instead of rushing the pair every time they stepped out of a building, the media would politely hang back, assured that Brian would offer them an easy photo op and maybe a word or two. The attractive and charming Ad Exec always gave them something, usually leaving the group smiling from a small joke or some silly sexy antics. He never actually said anything of substance, usually repeating his 'No Comment' line at least once every appearance, but somehow, nobody seemed to notice or mind. The photographers had their front page pics, the prime time news had their thirty second video clip, and the reporters got something cute they could splash as a headline across a page. It worked out for everybody.
Eventually, even Justin started to relax and joke a bit with his devoted followers. As long as they weren't crowding him physically, he could handle the attention. After a few days he even started to go out on his own, which left Brian free to go back to his job and life almost as if nothing had changed.
Meanwhile, they had the loft's phone forwarded to Brian's office, where Cynthia expertly handled all the calls and turned down all requests for interviews. The rumors were still running rampant, with forces equally divided on Liberty Avenue between those who believed the story and those who thought it was all a bunch of hooey. Even the family was divided on whether or not they believed Justin was THE Male Pregnancy case, in spite of the fact that Justin had privately reassured every single one of them that HE was not pregnant.
After the first week, though, the initial media feeding frenzy had died down to a quiet little contingent of camera bearing stalkers and Brian and Justin started to rejoin the world more openly. The first night they ventured back to Woody's, there were quite a few camera phones aimed in their direction from all points of the room. But, since they didn't do a thing out of the ordinary - for Brian and Justin, that is - everyone went back to being only peripherally aware of the couple by the end of the night.
The next night, when they again appeared at the bar, hardly anyone seemed to notice. And, when Brian escorted his young accomplice into the men's room for some extracurricular attention, there didn't seem to be many more than the usual number of observers watching. After all, anybody on Liberty Avenue who'd ever been even mildly curious had already gotten more than an eyeful of those two. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a single queer in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area who hadn't seen Brian Kinney's schlong, many of them being already intimately acquainted with the appendage in question.
And, to the casual observer, nothing about either man's appearance seemed to have changed, so there really wasn't anything of particular interest to look at. Justin certainly didn't look pregnant. Of course he'd always been slightly built, and those who cared, argued that he was the type who wouldn't 'show' until late in their pregnancy anyway. But, since the Brian and Justin show had resumed its almost nightly viewings at the bars and clubs in the neighborhood, more and more people saw the subject of the rumors with their own eyes and there were fewer and fewer believers.
Brian had had several more sessions with his tailor, who he'd taken to affectionately calling 'Stitch'. They'd spent a great deal of time searching out shirts that, while still attractive, weren't quite as form fitting as what Brian had traditionally sported. These new additions, paired with all Stitch's newly altered slacks, masked almost every change to his normally svelte physique. Of course, Brian no longer took off his shirt in the back room - just his pants, which was really all that was necessary anyways - and he had started working out at home. Plus, nobody had seen the Stud at the Baths for some time . . .
Weeks went by like this until one evening, after the usual Sunday family dinner at the Novotny's, Lardass Larry got a call from his old buddy, David, in Pittsburgh.
"Hey, Larry," came the concerned voice of his friend through the ear piece of his Bluetooth ear clip. "I think you might have a problem with your story back here. I just came from dinner with Taylor. He swears he's not the one who's pregnant. And, from everything I've seen, I think he's telling the truth."
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