Chapter 17 - Boys and Birthdays.

Kevan simply was not sure WHAT to make of this new little person thing that appeared to have invaded his home.

The new person thing was very small but also very loud. It made lots of mouth sounds, always very, very loudly and that was very disconcerting. Generally, Kevan did not like too much noise around, unless, of course, he was the one making the noise. But this new little person thing’s noises were mostly happy so Kevan ultimately decided he could live with that aspect of this newcomer.

What Kevan didn’t like much was that the new little person thing - whom he had mentally dubbed ‘The Bubba’ because that seemed to be the mouth sound that the creature made most often - seemed to have far too many hands and all those hands were always poking at Kevan. It was REALLY crazy! Didn’t normal person things just have one hand on the end of each arm? That’s what Kevan had thought based on his prior observations of the other person things in his life. The Bubba, though, seemed to have double or triple that number - although Kevan wasn’t really sure because he couldn’t actually count and didn’t really have any concept of numbers or multiplication per se - but it just seemed like that Bubba must have more hands than was really necessary. How else did he manage to be poking Kevan all over all the time and also holding all those bright shiny objects that he would wave around and hold The Papa’s hand and The Daddy’s hand all at the same time.

It was a real mystery.

Kevan resolved in his own baby way to keep an eye on The Bubba in the future just to make sure that a little person thing with that many hands could be trusted.

“Damn it!” Brian screeched and threw his napkin at Matt, the bartender, to get his attention. “Either change the channel or turn that fucking shit off,” Brian demanded with an angry glare directed at the television set over the back of the bar.

Matt looked up from the drink he was preparing and noticed that the TV was set to one of those entertainment news magazine programs which was, once again, showing a clip of King Kinney being vomited on by his oh-so-adorable offspring. Matt thought the video clip was hilarious. He’d never seen Kinney’s face get quite so red. He briefly contemplated leaving the TV as it was, just to further chap Kinney’s ass as the clip was repeated over and over, but then he heard the growling coming from the nearby table where Kinney and his Twink were seated and decided he’d better comply with the request - Kinney was not someone you wanted to permanently alienate.

“I swear, if they show that fucking video clip one more time I’m going to fucking sue that damn television program and all it’s fucking producers,” Brian grumbled again, slamming his beer bottle down on the small bar table.

“I don’t think you can sue someone for reporting on factual occurrences,” Justin stated logically, looking over at his grouchy partner who was sitting to his left and trying really hard NOT to smile at the disgruntled man.

Brian glared back at Justin with his most put upon look, psychically willing the annoying blond to shut the fuck up. Brian just wanted to forget the whole fucking GQ Puking episode. It was probably the MOST embarrassing thing that had happened to him since Michelle McDermott had accidentally dumped her lunch tray over Brian’s head when they were both in the third grade. He did not want to be reminded - for the thousandth time - that he’d been made to look a fool while appearing at a nationally televised event. It had taken all last weekend and some serious retail therapy in New York City, before Brian had truly forgiven poor little Kevan. But then, as soon as they’d returned home, he’d been subjected to even more teasing from the family and his friends, who had of course seen the whole depressing spectacle on television, and now Brian wasn’t sure he’d ever live the experience down.

Now, all Brian wanted to do was come to his favorite local bar, have a few drinks in celebration of the stupid Twink’s birthday and relax. Was that really too much to ask for? Really? Didn’t all these people have anything better to do than to ride his ass and tease him relentlessly? How fucking pathetic were the fags in this burg anyway?

As if in answer to Brian’s silent question, there was a noisy disturbance at the door and the next thing he knew they were accosted by a loud “Hey Baby! Happy Birthday!” as Emmett Honeycutt plopped down in the empty chair next to Justin, hugging and pawing all over the younger man in greeting. Brian promptly and pointedly removed the big nelly queen’s hands from around his blond’s shoulders with the requisite scowl.

“And hello to you too, Sir Studly Spitup!” Emmett teased Brian for the hundredth time that week. “And where is my favorite little poop machine tonight? Oh, Brian, I think you’ve got a little something there on your sweater,” Emmett pointed at the right shoulder of Brian’s shirt, causing a panicked Brian to look down before he realized Honeycutt was just pulling his leg once again causing him to ramp up his scowl about ten degrees.

“Fuck you, Honeycutt,” Brian shot back and then pretended to ignore the jubilant smile his too-sensitive reaction garnered.

“Em, please . . .” Justin pleaded, looking at his friend with a half-amused, half-exasperated expression.

“Okay, fine. I promise to stop poking the bear, Sweetie. It’s just that he makes it so easy, you know?” Em conceded and then decided to move to more pleasant topics. “So, now, what’s the birthday boy drinking tonight. I’m buying the next round in celebration of your special day!”

“You do realize that his official birthday isn’t until Thursday, right?” Brian commented, disgusted by the overly enthusiastic and celebratory spirit that was taking over their nice quiet table. “Does that mean you’ll be buying drinks for us again on Thursday?”

“I’d happily buy you another drink on the actual day, Baby,” Em gushed, still ignoring Brian’s pissy mood, “but I thought you said you guys had plans then. That’s why we’re doing your party tonight, right?”

“We have plans on Thursday? Did anyone think about, maybe, telling me about these plans, Sunshine?” Brian interrupted.

“Yes, we have plans, Brian. And I DID tell you about them last week, but apparently you’ve forgotten,” Justin was trying to keep his cool even in the face of his partner’s ongoing lousy mood but it was proving to be rather difficult. Instead, Justin turned to Emmett and told him of the fun he had planned. “I finally managed to talk Lindsey into letting us have Gus overnight - which, by the way, wasn’t easy as she’s still being a total bitch to me in retaliation for the whole Thanksgiving fiasco, but whatever. Anyway, Gus is spending the night on Thursday and the four of us are going to have a nice, quiet, hopefully peaceful, family dinner and then on Friday, since I don’t have Friday classes this term, we’re all going to the children’s museum for the day.”

“When the fuck did I agree to do any of that shit?” Brian sputtered, swallowing his beer the wrong way as he heard what was planned for him. “I’m not going to any fucking Children’s Museum. I’ve got meetings scheduled all day long on Friday. I’m meeting with a new client in the morning and then we’ve got a photo shoot with Drew Boyd that afternoon.”

“Brian, when I asked you if it was okay if I made some plans for my birthday you specifically said you didn’t care what I decided,” Justin started to explain.

“But I thought you were going to make dinner reservations at some swanky restaurant or something, not subject me to yet another night of torture by parenthood,” Brian whined.

“Well, that’s what I want to do for my birthday and you’re just going to have to suck it up and enjoy yourself regardless,” Justin insisted. “And besides, I already cleared your whole day on Friday with Cynthia. She moved your morning appointment with the new client to the following Monday and promised to cover the photo shoot in your place. Which means you have no excuse to NOT spend the day with me and your sons. So, no complaining!”

“Fuck me,” Brian mumbled into his beer, although Justin thought that his protest was more for show and that Brian wasn’t really as upset with the idea as he was making out.

“I’d LOVE to!” replied a voice from Brian’s left side as a newcomer usurped the last empty seat at their table.

“Yeah, not in THIS lifetime,” Justin answered in Brian’s stead, frowning at the new addition to their table. “Fancy meeting you here, Taggart. So, do you live here at Woody’s these days - we do seem to see you EVERY single time Brian and I show up for a drink lately.”

“I just like the atmosphere in this place,” Taggart shrugged and disregarded Justin’s pointedly cold greeting as he turned his whole attention to Brian. “Hi, Brian! You look great tonight! Is that a new sweater? Is it from the Armani Exchange collection? It’s really nice, and soft too,” Taggart added as he took the liberty of rubbing his hand up and down Brian’s forearm. “You must have just gotten back from New York. Did you have a fun visit?”

“Uh . . . yeah,” Brian replied hesitantly, not sure why this guy was sitting with them when he hadn’t been invited and really not liking the way the kid was petting his arm - he fucking hated being touched, except of course when he initiated it, almost always in conjunction with sex.

Justin was about to go completely ape shit on this annoying intruder’s ass but luckily he was beaten to the task by the arrival of Michael Novotny. “Hey guys!” Michael greeted with his usual happy-go-lucky flair. “Get lost, Twink!” Michael shoved at Taggart’s shoulder and then took over the seat as soon as the kid rose.

“Mikey,” Brian’s laconic welcome was accompanied by a nod and a tipping of Brian’s beer bottle in his old friend’s direction.

“Evening, everybody!” added Ben Bruckner in a more polite greeting as he pulled up a spare chair and joined the group at the table.

“Professor. Good to see you out on the town for a change,” Brian was happy to see this new addition to their small circle, rightfully thinking that Ben’s presence would keep Mikey off his case for the evening.

“Nice to see you too, Brian. And I hear Birthday wishes are in order for you, Justin,” Ben added, acknowledging the youngest member of the group.

“Yep. It’s the big ‘1-9’ for the lad. His last year as a teeny-bopper, poor thing. After this he’s going to be all grown up,” Brian replied in Justin’s stead, affectionately rubbing his twink’s head and messing up the blond locks in the process.

“I’m already all grown up, thank you very much. Now you, on the other hand, Brian - you’re the one we’re not sure about,” Justin complained, pushing Brian away playfully and rushing to straighten out his hair with his fingers. “And I was NEVER a teeny-bopper!”

“Now, Brian, you don’t want to rush the boy into growing up too fast,” Em added with another personal dig. “I mean, what are you going to do when you no longer have a pet teenaged stalker anymore? You’ll get lonely.”

“That’s not likely to happen,” Michael butted in with a small huffing laugh. “Brian can just get himself a new stalker. Especially now that he’s a famous celebrity. Speaking of which, it looks like he’s already got another one waiting in the wings.” Michael tipped his head to the side, pointing obliquely to the bar where the twinkie he’d ousted from the table a few minutes earlier was still hovering and watching Brian intently. “See. Looks like you won’t be running out of stalkers any time soon, Bri! By the way, did you know he was in New York at that GQ thing? Ma and I were watching the coverage of the event on the TV last week - she fucking loves that entertainment news shit - and when they did a pan of the crowd at the beginning where you guys got out of the limo, Ma recognized him. Apparently he comes into the Diner all the time and is always asking about you. Ma thinks he’s cute, but if you ask me, he’s kinda creepy.”

Brian looked over at Justin as he listened to this disturbing news and saw his concerns were echoed by the younger man. They had both seen Taggart hanging around their usual Liberty Avenue haunts lately far more than could be chalked up to mere coincidence. And the kid really did seem pretty infatuated with Brian. It was one thing to joke about Justin having stalked Brian, but it was a whole different story when someone really did seem to be following them around.

While Brian and Justin were busy silently communicating their distress to each other, the three others at the table had leaned their heads in and were discussing Taggart in depth. Ted strolled into the bar right about then and made a beeline for the group, pulling up his own chair to the table right as the discussion had reached it’s height. But, while everyone else was acting concerned, Ted seemed merely amused.

“You better watch out, Bri! You already got yourself knocked up by one twinkie stalker. You don’t want to go messing around with another! I don’t think your wardrobe will survive a second pregnancy!” Ted needled his testy friend.

“At least I HAVE a wardrobe, which is more than I can say for you, Theodore,” Brian teased him back, the joking helping to dispel the disquiet caused by the discussion of Brian’s new possible stalker.

“Well, boys and boys,” Em took over the conversation in order to get the official birthday festivities underway, “now that we’re all here, what do you say we get this party started and head over to Babylon for some dancing and drinking and more hot boys?”

Everyone unanimously agreed with that suggestion and the party was henceforth relocated to Babylon. Neither Brian nor Justin seemed in a very festive mood after that though. They both noted when Taggart walked into the club less than five minutes after they did. Most of the rest of the evening, Brian and Justin simply stood near the bar and kept watch on the kid who was standing in the corner watching them. Brian didn’t take any interest in any of the possible tricks that were cruising him - not even when he was heckled by Michael for letting a particularly nice looking asian stud get away. He felt just a little too uneasy to be heading off to the backroom this evening. Instead Brian felt an uncanny need to keep his favorite blond nearby and safe. Hence the evening spent leaning against the bar.

Justin had had better birthday parties.

Justin spent the rest of the week acclimating himself to his new term of classes at PIFA and starting work on a new contract project he’d been given by the Art Director at Ryder’s. He felt incredibly grateful that Emmett was there to help out around the house, but he did miss spending more time with Kevan. He constantly worried about neglecting his son and spent as much time as he could with the little one whenever he could spare even a couple minutes. Overall, though, he was so busy with everything that he hardly noticed when Thursday rolled around and his official birthday started.

Brian wasn’t any better. He’d been up to his armpits all week working on two high profile campaigns for existing clients while simultaneously trying to work up a presentation for a potential new client - Liberty Air. If Brian could nail that juicy new plum, he was sure he’d be able to finally pry that partnership out of Marty Ryder’s tightwad fists. All the work he’d been doing, however, equated to some late nights and he barely got home before ten that whole week. When he did get back to Britin’s Chapel, all he had time for was one last session nursing Kevan before the baby was put to bed, a perfunctory fuck with his blond bedmate and then passing out, just to get up and do it all again the next day. To put it bluntly, the monotony of his week didn’t make Brian any more satisfied with his new role as a family man.

Thursday afternoon at 3:00 pm, Brian’s focus on the boards for the Liberty Air proposal was rudely interrupted when Cynthia barged into his office, grabbed the boards out of his hands and imperiously shoved everything else to the side of his desk. Brian was about to protest this high-handed behavior when he was struck dumb by the sight of two new objects that were deposited onto his desk where his work used to be. One was a small gift-wrapped package with a big green bow and the other was a large bouquet of cut flowers.

“You got Justin a lovely Akribos watch and these flowers for his birthday,” Cynthia announced brusquely. “You can thank me for doing your shopping for you later. I’ve called in an order to Justin’s favorite Italian restaurant which you can pick up in twenty minutes on your way home - the address for the restaurant is plugged into the GPS on your phone already. If you leave now you should be there right on time.” Cynthia had already started packing a few things into Brian’s briefcase while she was giving directions and by the time she was done it looked like Brian was all ready to go. Holding the briefcase and Brian’s coat out for him, she added one more thing, “you will NOT be coming into the office tomorrow, upon pain of castration, so don’t even think about it. Now, go home to your perfect, loving family and have a good time celebrating your partner’s birthday. I’ll see you on Monday!”

“But . . . But . . . a watch? And fucking flowers? I would never give someone a watch, let alone some fucking flowers . . .” Brian protested even as he got up from his desk, walked over to the door and let Cynthia help him on with his coat.

“Shut up, Brian. The watch is perfect - Justin doesn’t have a nice one and he’ll love this. Plus, I got the most masculine bouquet of flowers I could find. So, just stop complaining and go home to your family and fucking enjoy yourself already,” his PA demanded with that tone of voice she always used when you knew she would eviscerate you for even thinking about arguing with her.

“But, I was going to get him this hustler I saw that looks like his favorite underwear model,” Brian complained, albeit rather timidly and not very loudly.

“That’s the most pathetic idea I ever heard. You’re so lucky you have me to handle these things for you, Brian. You do NOT give your partner - the father of your child - a hustler for his birthday. Who the fuck ever heard of such a thing? Now get out of here and go pick up your dinner and don’t make me kick your ass.” Cynthia led him down the hall to the elevators as she finished berating her ‘boss’ and didn’t let go of his arm until the elevator doors had closed on him with finality.

Okay. Brian HAD to admit that most of the rest of that evening was ridiculously pleasant. Even if he did sort of regret not calling the hot looking hustler. Although, as the night progressed, he really didn’t have much opportunity to think of the hustler since he was too busy being Super Dad!

The only exception to the pleasantness of the evening occurred right when he arrived home with his arms full of a large bag of take out Italian, a bouquet of flowers and a small, neatly wrapped Birthday present only to discover that Lindsey had already arrived ahead of him. The atmosphere was strained, to say the least. Both Justin and Lindz were smiling their best fake WASPish smiles and pretending they could stand being in the same room with each other. Gus though seemed oblivious to the tension in the air - he smiled brightly as soon as his Daddy walked into the Greatroom and toddled over as fast as his little stubby legs would carry him.

“Dada! Dada! Dada!”

“Hey there, Sonny Boy! How’s my favorite Gus today!” Brian grinned, as always floored by how much his son seemed to adore him even when he didn’t get to see Gus all that often.

Brian hastily dumped his armload of goodies on the kitchen bar just in time to grab hold of a speeding Gus who hit his shins with the force of an unrestrained toddler.

“Hey, Brian!” Lindsey said, her voice sounding much more natural and relaxed once she wasn’t dealing with Justin. “I can’t believe you’re home this early. It’s so sweet of you to take off work early to spend time with Gus. I know he’s really looking forward to this, especially since we haven’t seen much of you lately.”

Brian opened his mouth but didn’t get a chance to respond for himself before his guard blond went on the defensive. “Brian would love to spend more time with Gus. You know that Lindz. And Gus is always welcome here. If Gus wasn’t always so BUSY every time I call to try to arrange a visit, I’m sure Brian would be able to spend a lot more time with him.” Justin’s smile got just a little bit faker as he said this, clearly making the point that it was Lindsey’s fault that Brian so rarely got any time with his son.

“Oh well, you know how busy things get sometimes,” Lindsey replied, unwilling to admit that she was in any way at fault. “Of course you could always come over to our house and visit with Gus anytime you have a minute, Brian. You used to come over all the time and hang out.”

“Brian’s a little busy these days, Lindz. Between working at Ryder’s, doing the Armani spots and interviews for GQ, not to mention spending time with Kevan, he really doesn’t have time to just come over to your house and hang out. You, on the other hand, only teach until 3:30 every day, so it would really be much more convenient for you to bring Gus over here, don’t you think?” Justin answered through gritted teeth, only just barely keeping his tone polite.

“Well, of course you’re having to work a lot more these days, Brian,” Lindsey responded, looking at Brian. “I mean, what with paying for this new house and all the remodeling you’ve done and also paying for Justin’s school now as well. You know, you really should cut back on work a little so you can spend more time with your sons. They’re only little once.” To emphasize her point, Lindsey reached out and petted Gus’ soft cheek while she smiled up at Brian. “But with all this new responsibility - your life really has changed a lot in the last six months, hasn’t it? I did try and warn you, remember, when you first told us about Kevan . . .”

“If you’re insinuating that Brian can’t make time to come see Gus because he’s working to support me, you’re fucking so far off base that I can’t . . .” Justin was now too pissed off to maintain any sort of polite exterior and Brian thought it prudent to interrupt before his sweet little blond boy said something to get Lindsey angry enough that she took Gus home with her.

“Speaking of Kevan, where is my sweet little puke monster? I’m sure Gus would love to see his baby brother. Right, Gus? You want to go see Kevan?” Brian suggested, handing Gus off to Justin with the intention of keeping Justin’s hands busy so he wouldn’t be tempted to scratch Lindsey’s eyes out right there and then. “Why don’t you take Gus back to the nursery and I’ll show Lindsey out.”

Justin continued to grumble under his breath but did what Brian had suggested and started walking down the hall towards the bedrooms. The adults could hear Gus’ excited squeals the entire way, indicating that he was very enthusiastic about seeing Baby Kevan. Brian turned to Lindsey with his most ingratiating smile, placed his hand on her back and firmly started to guide her towards the front door.

“Thanks for letting us have Gus for tonight, Lindz. We’ll bring him back around dinner time tomorrow. And in the meantime, you and Mel can have fun doing whatever lezzie stuff you carpet munchers do when you’re alone,” Brian prattled as he pulled open the door and practically shoved the woman outside before she could get in one word of objection or delay. “Night, night!”

Brian quickly slammed the door and locked it.

Shaking off the slight irritation that dealing with Lindsey engendered, Brian headed down the hallway himself in search of his boys. He found them, still in the nursery, with Gus exclaiming over Kevan and trying to convince Justin to let him hold the baby himself. Brian chuckled over the way Justin was attempting to use reason to dissuade the 16 month old. Gus’s predictable response was an adamant, “I do it! I do it!”

“No, Gus. You’re too little to hold the baby by yourself,” Brian stated authoritatively. “If you’re really good, though, I’ll let you sit in my lap and hold him with me when I read you a good night story later. Okay?”

“‘Kay, Dada!” Gus gave in easily when he heard the decisive tone in his father’s voice, although he did look a little sad.

“Now, how would you like a big surprise, Gus,” Brian asked, going with distraction in order to quell any residual poutiness in the toddler.

“A ‘prise? What ‘prise? What ‘prise, Dada?” Gus’ attention was instantly captured at the very mention of a surprise.

“Come on and I’ll show you, Sonny Boy,” Brian reached out for the little boy’s hand, feeling almost as excited about this particular surprise as his son seemed to be.

Brian led Gus, followed by an almost equally excited Justin carrying Kevan, to the small room next door to the nursery. They had originally planned to make this room into a guest room. However, it really was rather small and after much debate, they had agreed to turn it into a room for Gus and instead put a guest room in in the basement later. The contractors had just finished the space a few days earlier and both Brian and Justin were thrilled with the way it turned out. Brian was sure his son would love the space.

Pulling open the door, Brian stepped back and let Gus go inside first. Gus’ reaction as soon as he walked in told Brian that they had been right and that his Sonny Boy was more than pleased with his big surprise. Brian watched as the boy ran inside and immediately plopped onto the kid sized bed while he stood in the doorway with his arm around Justin’s shoulders and enjoyed how happy his son seemed.

The room itself was simple. They’d used the same color green paint as in the nursery but instead of polka dots they’d added brown and blue stripes around the circumference of the room. Besides the bed the only other furniture was a small dresser/shelf unit and a low play table where Gus could roll his cars around on the make believe roads. The coolest feature of the room, however, was the right-hand side wall where they’d had the entire expanse, floor to ceiling, painted with Blackboard Paint. Justin had spent the entire previous evening in there decorating the wall with a fanciful scene showing library shelves where the books actually flew off the walls at you. It looked like so much fun - Brian himself was looking forward to coloring on the walls with his sons - but mostly all the indulgent Daddy could think of was how great it made him feel to be able to put that look of wonder on his son’s face. In some strange way it almost made up for the lack of fun in his own childhood.

Gus refused to leave HIS room for the rest of the evening. They ended up eating the Italian take out on the floor of Gus’ small room picnic-style. Then they got all the pillows they could find in the whole house, made a pile of them on the floor and spent the rest of the evening lying on the pile of pillows, playing games and reading books together until it was bedtime for the two littlest boys. Brian remembered his promise and let Gus sit in the big comfy brown chair with him and hold Kevan while Daddy read a good night story and then Justin helped Gus get ready for bed while Brian nursed Kevan. When he was through, Brian went back in to kiss Gus goodnight and found him already sound asleep, his arms tightly wrapped around Brian’s pet ‘Fang’ who was now living in Gus’ room.

The big boys continued the birthday celebration after the little boys were sent off to dreamland. Justin was overjoyed with his bouquet of flowers. He didn’t even laugh once as Brian repeatedly pointed out that they were a very ‘manly’ bouquet and did not, in any way, make Brian a lesbian just because he’d given his partner a bunch of fucking flowers. Brian was even more grateful to his dedicated PA when he saw how delighted Justin was when he opened the watch. They both thought the skeleton style was pretty neat. Justin even got a little teary when he thanked Brian for being so thoughtful and promised that he would always take it off before painting so it wouldn’t get ruined.

Brian then suggested that they take the watch into their bedroom and use it to time just how fast Brian could suck Justin off. Justin was very eager to give that a try. And the rest of the night was spent with the two big boys timing various fun bedroom activities over and over again.

As he was finally drifting off to sleep several hours later, Brian conceded that Cynthia had been right and that a birthday hustler wouldn’t have been nearly as good of a present as that damn watch.