Brian is sitting at Woody’s and is joined by an old trick..
"I don’t do seconds."
"Unless they come in the form of 17 year-old blond boys."
Brian didn’t feel like challenging the asshole so he turned his back on the guy and perused the crowd.
The trick didn’t get the picture Brian so aptly painted with his body language. Getting up from his stool he came to stand in front of Brian and continued his one-sided conversation.
"I was shocked when word got out that you donated to a lesbian couple, and now have a son, right?" The ex-trick folded his arms and dropped into full head swiveling drama queen mode, and continued his harassment without eye contact to his prey. "A couple of my friends even commented about you leaving a legacy. Hope the kid’s mommies raise him better than yours did.".
Brian closed his eyes, took a deep breath and shook his head. ‘It wasn’t worth it.’ Trick number 10,003 was not going to goad him into an angry exchange in front of Woody’s catty ass crowd. He’d already heard enough of the gossip regarding his new status as father and committed partner and it simply didn’t bother him anymore. Or did it? This guy was working on his last nerve and it didn’t make sense that what he really wanted to do to this piece of shit was knock him to the floor and give him the pummeling he was so actively seeking.
"No response from the great one? Hmmm... maybe mommy didn’t raise you? It’s been discussed at length on Liberty Avenue and one theory is that you were actually raised by wolves. Which would certainly explain...."
Brian burst into a fit of hysterical laughter which caused every head in the place to turn in his direction.
"You people are so pathetic! But thank you for shedding light on my fucked up psyche. Now everything is perfectly clear, what a revelation! Brian Kinney....The Wolfman, what big teeth you have my dear, better to eat you with!" Brian was now toe to toe with the ex-trick. He spoke the words with a dramatic howl added for effect then left, leaving everyone in the place too stunned to comment.
***********************************************************************
Brian left Woodys and headed to Bablyon, stopping to visit his favorite supplier on the way.
"Hey sweetie, long time. Thought you turned over a new leaf baby?" The drag queen approached her favorite customer.
"No Anita, since when do ‘you’ listen to Liberty Avenue gossip?"
"Since always honey. What’ya looking for? Just made a fresh batch of E...and got a shipment of Special K from the coast."
"Don’t want the alphabet tonight."
"Oh..okay Ricky, got some pure blow from Costa Rica, but it’s ‘spensive baby."
Brian snickered. Anita fancied herself a great imitator of accents, only they all came out sounding more a hillbilly drawl.
"How ‘spensive Lucy?" Brian reached for his wallet.
"For ‘jew say $500."
"Three hundred." Brian shot back. Anita loved to haggle, even though she always got him to give her a better price than normal street value. He trusted her.
"You insult me. I give you my best price."
"I can get it from Johnny for $250. Just as pure."
"Okay, okay don’t go to that smelly old bear."
Anita went into an adjoining room and returned with a small vial. Before making the exchange she took a few seconds to take in Brian’s demeanor. Head down, shuffling feet, barely making eye contact. Yep, something was emotionally wrong with the iceman. "Hon, you wanna talk?"
"Would I be talking to you if I did?" Brian took the vial from her hand and stuffed the wad of cash into the waistband of Anita’s signature tight red leather pants and left.
******************************************************************
The loft.
Michael and Justin were staring each other down until Michael finally took a stand in front of Justin(,) arms folded.
"Let’s just get this over with. You apologize, I’ll accept, and we can go on with our lives."
"I don’t owe you shit. Didn’t you hear what Brian said?"
"Didn’t you? We both know who he’d choose..."
"You are so totally delusional" Justin finally stood up to face off with Michael. "It’s not worth it. Let’s just go back to the rules. Forget I ever came to your apartment."
"Fine."
"Unless it’s like an emergency or something." Justin added.
"A real emergency like he’s sick or hurt, nothing more than that."
"Fine." Justin agreed. Conceding to Michael’s delusion that he was all important in Brian’s life and Justin was simply a distraction. "See you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yeah, another Rage deadline remember?"
"I remember." Michael shot back with a sneer.
Justin followed him to the door, wanting only to slam it behind the thick headed jerk. But his diplomatic side prevailed and he calmly shut the door, then leaned his forehead against it listening for the ascension of the elevator.
"One day Novotney...to the moon!!!" Justin accented his rant with an upper cut towards the ceiling which in his minds eye connected with Michael’s juvenile pouting chin.
The phone rang.
"Hey Sunshine, don’t hold dinner. I’m gonna be late. Don’t wait up."
Justin could barely hear what Brian was saying between the loud music and the lightening speed at which he spoke.
"Brian what...."
Before Justin could finish, Brian had hung up.
Justin put on his coat and was almost to the door when the phone rang again. This time it was Lindsay.
"Hope I’m not interrupting, but I really need to speak with Brian about Gus."
"Uh...he’s not here right now. I’ll have him call you later."
"How much later?"
"He’s out. I’m sure he’ll get back to you tomorrow."
"Great. Just Great! Can’t he stay out of the damn clubs for one damn night!"
"He’s been going through some stuff with his mom. And, not that its any of your business, but Brian has been staying home a lot lately."
"Well obviously ‘not’ tonight when I really need him!"
"Is something wrong with Gus? Maybe I can help?"
"No you can’t. I need his father to talk to him."
"He’s 3 years old. Why can’t you or Mel talk with him?"
"I don’t want to tell Melanie about it. Anyway, just tell him to call me as soon as he’s coherent enough to hold a conversation."
"Fine." Justin spoke curtly and hung up the phone. He shook his head in frustration, put the phone back on its cradle and left.
***********************************************************************
Justin entered the backroom in search of Brian finding him reclined in one of the filthy chairs getting his dick sucked.
"Fuck off!" Justin hollered at the faceless trick, then nudged him away from his lover with his knee.
"No loss. I’ve been workin’on that limp dick for ten minutes. The great Brian ‘Fuckin’ Kinney!"
"Right. Couldn’t be that you simply suck at sucking now could it?" Justin snarled
"No it couldn’t. Ask anybody in here." faceless trick spoke proudly as he jutted out his chin at the insinuation.
Justin laughed to himself, then knelt down and began working Brian’s dick. Within seconds it was fully engorged. Brian began moaning with pleasure and then..."Justin?"
Brian looked up at his young lover as if he weren’t sure he was really there. The blond stopped, letting Brian’s hard cock slip out from between his lips.
"It’s me."
"Don’t fucking stop. You know how hard it is to find a decent cocksucker around here?"
Justin gave a sidelong glance at faceless trick who huffed loudly and turned on his heel and exited the backroom.
"Justin please." Brian gently pushed Justin’s head toward his aching dick.
"Take it easy Brian. Close your eyes and relax." Justin spoke in a gentle tone. The older man was floating on a sea of white powder.
Brian nodded and did as he was instructed. It was always the best with Justin. Why did he always feel such a need to have sex with strangers when he had Justin? Brian relaxed and allowed Justin’s sweet ministrations take him away to the place of no thoughts, where pain couldn’t exist, only the pleasure of Justin’s hot wet mouth.
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At the loft Justin helped Brian inside and directly to the bed. Brian promptly fell on the bed and let Justin removed his clothing.
"I know you won’t remember anything in the morning, but I’m going to say my piece anyway."
"Piece of what?" Brian slurred out followed by a giggle.
"Shut up and listen. You really need to stop doing this to yourself. And since you won’t ever ‘talk’ to me about your feelings, I’m going to give you my take on ‘why’ you feel the need to constantly doubt your abilities as a father. You think because you were raised by a brut and an ice queen that you never learned how to be any thing but a failure where relationships are concerned including being a dad. Well it’s bullshit Kinney! You have found relationships in your life that have more than made up for what your parents lacked. You had the nurturing from Lindsay. Stability and safety from both Michael and Deb, and now you have me. I will always love you and so will they. And it’s not like you never give anything back. You are always giving of yourself to all of us, including your son and we all know you love us. That’s what you need to remember when the ice queen or anyone else tries to say you are heartless or selfish. You’re not!"
"Are you done?" Brian whispered.
Justin noticed his partner’s face had become pale and sweaty. "Yeah. Now give me your hand."
"Why?" Brian eyed Justin with childish suspicion, as if he were being ordered to hold his hand out for punishment.
"So I can help you to the bathroom...goofy." Justin held out his hand, Brian took it pulling himself upright.
"Goofy? When did I grow long ears and a tail?" He snickered and hauled himself to his feet still holding on to Justin.
"Shut up Brian." Justin jabbed his lover in the ribs gently and wrapped the long arm around his shoulders, helping a very unstable Brian towards the bathroom.
Brian leaned heavily on Justin shuffling his feet in the direction he was being taken.
"And I suppose I all of sudden grew huge front teeth and will soon be talking like a big dumb idiot." He was now off into his own world paying no attention to where he was being led.
In the bathroom Justin leaned the tall man against the sink keeping him upright and steady with his left hand, turning on the shower with is right. "You need to puke?"
"Duh, yuck, yuck, yuck I don’t think so." It wasn’t a great impression of Goofy, but hearing it come out of an inebriated Brian was hysterical. Justin was unable to stop himself from bursting into a fit of laughter. Brian started laughing, having caught it from the blond and nearly slid to the floor. Justin’s threw his arms around Brian’s neck and pulled him close, taking almost all of the weight. His quick thinking saved them from becoming a heap on the floor.
"You need a shower, you stink."
"Only if you join me." Brian leaned in and kissed his still giggling boyfriend.
"I don’t believe I have a choice Mr. Kinney. It’s not like you can stand up on your own."
"Right. Don’t think I can get my clothes off either."
"Brian."
"Hmmm?"
"Look down."
"Oh." Brian’s face broke out into an incredibly large grin when he realized he was already naked.
************************************************************************
The sounds of Justin banging around in the kitchen invaded his sleep. Finally, his brain got the message from his bladder that it had been full for hours, so he stumbled out of bed to take a piss. Upon his return there was his sweet Justin with a breakfast tray waiting for him to climb back into bed and be served. Which meant he was going to have to eat everything the kid prepared, even if his stomach felt unwilling to digest anything.
"Feel better?" Justin kept his face blank so Brian couldn’t tell if the kid was still upset with him or not.
"I didn’t feel ‘bad’ until I was woke up by your uh... kitchen noises." Brian leaned in to kiss the blond on the cheek and was rejected by Justin taking a quick step back.
"Get back into bed."
"You’re still...."
"It’s Father’s Day." Justin cut him off then gave him a slight smile.
"So?"
"So, you get breakfast in bed on Father’s Day."
"I’m not ‘your’ father."
"Well, in a way you kind of are a father figure to me."
"Justin that’s sick."
"What I mean is you have been a mentor to me in a lot of ways. And it’s Father’s Day. You’re a dad so shut up and enjoy being pampered for one damn day!"
Brian slid under the covers and accepted the tray.
"Oh and Gus will be here in a few hours. Lindsay called this morning and she’s bringing him to spend the day with us. But first she says she has something important to talk to you about."
"She is ‘not’ getting any more of my sperm."
"I think it’s about Gus."
"Is something wrong with my son?" Brian tried to keep the panic out of his voice.
"Calm down Brian. I’m sure if it was something bad she wouldn’t have waited this long. Actually, the way she was talking I’m thinking it might be a behavior problem at preschool."
"No way. He’s my son I’m sure he doesn’t give the teachers any problems." Brian proudly displayed his patent shit eating grin. To which Justin rolled his eyes, turned on his heel and headed back to the kitchen.
************************************************************************
Brian had just finished dressing when he heard the loft door slide open and little feet scurry across the loft’s wooden floor. He met his son as the little tike crawled up the bedroom stairs.
Gus had a large homemade card in his hand, he held it up proudly for his father to take.
Brian sat down on the stairs and pulled sonny boy onto his lap.
"Happy da da day!" Gus screeched in his father’s ear.
Looking at his son’s big hazel eyes and bright smile took his breath away. Gus wrapped his arms around Brian’s neck and gave him a big wet sonny boy kiss. Justin watched and could see his lover’s eyes glisten with tears he knew the man would keep in check.
"Thanks sonny boy."
Brian accepted the card. On the front was a picture Justin had taken of the two of them at Gus’ third birthday party. Inside was a simple message that read ‘Luv Uooo’ in Gus’ newly acquired printing skills. The kid always insisted on spelling words the way ‘he’ thought they should be spelled. Lindsay assured him it was only a phase. That it was Gus’ way of finding his independence. He was proud his son had such a strong sense of individuality, that alone would take the kid places he was sure.
"Good huh?" Gus’ was impatient for his father’s approval.
"More than good sonny boy. It’s incredibly artistic and creative." Brian followed his praise with a big kiss. He knew Gus didn’t understand the big words, but he would in time and by putting emphasis on the words following it with physical praise, his son puffed his chest out and said.
"Yep ardissd, creabadibe."
"Gus don’t forget the other card you made." Lindsay advised wanting to break the ego spell his father was casting.
"Yep, yep." Gus climbed off his father’s lap and retrieved the card his mother held out, then marched to the kitchen and held the card up for Justin. "Happy da da day for my Jusin."
"Me?" Justin’s skin flushed in embarrassment. He looked at Brian who smiled brightly at the significance of the simple homemade card.
"Yep." Gus smiled and pulled on the bottom hem of Justin’s shirt to get him to come down to his level. Justin complied and was rewarded with the same mushy wet kiss Gus gave to all his favorite people.
Justin stared at the card. It was similar to Brian’s the picture on the front had been taken by Lindsay one night when Justin had sat for Gus finding the two fast asleep on the couch. The inside held the same message as da da’s card.
Lindsay picked up on Justin’s confusion. "Justin, Gus believes he has two mommies and two daddies."
"Twoooo" Gus held up his middle and index finger to emphasize the number. "I hab two."
"He decided all on his own that he has two fathers?" Justin asked a little confused.
"Yes."
Justin looked up to his lover who had now taken a stand next to him.
"Guess you’ve been adopted." Brian smiled and nudged the blond with his knee.
The sound of the loft door being slid open took the groups focus from Justin to an angry Melanie as she charged through the door toward Lindsay waving a crumpled piece of paper.
"Don’t tell me you are discussing this with ‘him’..." Melanie shot a glare toward Brian. "and not ‘me’ your partner and Gus’ legal parent."
"I...I..." Lindsay stuttered unable to put together a reasonable explanation for her actions.
"This is totally unacceptable! I have to find out my son is biting kids at daycare by accident? It’s a good thing it was my turn to take out the trash."
"You have a habit of digging through the trash? Oh right, you are a lawyer." Brian snarcked, to take some of the heat off of Lindsay for a moment, but mostly to signal for Justin to get Gus’ out of hearing range of a parental argument. He had heard more than enough of those when he was growing up and was adamant about his son not having to be put through that hell.
"Gus let’s take a walk. Okay?"
"‘kay." Gus whispered. Brian could tell Melanie’s tirade had already affected the kid’s mood.
Melanie stayed quiet until Justin and Gus were out of the loft and the hum of the elevator’s descent could be heard.
"This is total BS! Why didn’t you tell me our son was biting kids at school?"
Lindsay shrugged her shoulders and plopped down on the couch.
"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Brian sat next to her on the couch.
She nodded.
"Humpf! I was right! This is why I didn’t want him to be Gus’ father and why I don’t want him to have visiting rights. I knew you wouldn’t trust me to deal with problems with ‘our’ son if he was always in the way."
"Melanie shut the fuck-up!" Brian yelled as he stepped in front of Melanie challenging her. "Do you know what you just did to ‘your’ son by coming in here yelling at Lindsay?"
Melanie was stunned into silence.
"Do you? I do. All too fucking well. My son is now terrified that he is in ‘big’ trouble for causing one of his mommies (TO BE)mad at the other."
"I didn’t think...I was just so upset."
"And now so is he." Lindsay finally spoke up. "I apologize for not telling you, but I knew you would react this way, or not believe what the teacher said. I didn’t come to Brian over you. It’s just he can be calmer about things like this. I wanted to know how he would approach the problem and then I was going to talk to you."
"Things like this? Why, because he probably did the same thing when he was a kid?"
Brian snorted and turned away from Melanie. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the frig making sure to slam the door shut.
"No. Jesus Mel give him a break, besides I was the one that had a habit of biting kids when I was in kindergarten."
"You?" Melanie and Brian spoke in unison.
"Yes me. I was a spoiled rotten kid, raised by nannies who let me get away with everything. When someone did something I didn’t like, I’d bite them."
"What did your parents do?" Brian asked with a smirk, curious about perfect little Lindsay Peterson’s dark side.
"Not a damn thing. It was the teacher who had to deal with me."
"Well, what did she do?"
"She told all the kids that if I bit them they had her permission to bite me back. I remember how much I hated her for that. She wasn’t my parent and I thought it was totally unfair."
"Gus isn’t spoiled Linds, and he has parents who care." Brian stated and turned to Melanie. "May I read the letter?" Mel shoved it at him.
"Mel, don’t be mad about this. Brian has as much right as you and I to be a parent to Gus."
"No he doesn’t. He signed those rights away and why are you so conveniently forgetting that, just because he decided, out of the blue, to try and be a father?"
Brian finished the letter, folded and handed it back to Melanie.
"You know why I signed those damn papers. Christ I’m trying to change, can’t you just concede to that?"
"I’m sorry Brian, but you can’t expect me to believe you’ve found the error of your ways in two months. You still have to prove yourself, at least to me."
"Then let me handle this."
"What? No." Melanie laughed incredulously.
"Let him try Mel." Lindsay spoke softly as she took her partner’s hand.
"On one condition."
"You want my balls on a platter if I screw it up?" Brian raised an eyebrow, but sounded dead serious.
"Ewe! Didn’t need ‘that’ mental image. You go back to being a drop in dad with no authority in Gus’ life." Melanie wasn’t going to be moved a centimeter by Lindsay’s sudden gasp.
"Mel that is unfair." Lindsay pleaded.
"So was coming to him before your own partner. Think of it as a test of his parenting skills, if he has any." Melanie turned to Brian. "If you’re able to get Gus to stop biting kids at school, I’ll concede that you’ve changed and will accept you as equal a parent as Lindsay and I. Deal?"
Brian hesitated for only a moment. "Deal."
"Wait." Lindsay stood up between the two. "Brian has every right to be as much apart of Gus’ life as we do."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Linds." Brian shook his head and walked into the kitchen.
"I didn’t mean it like that. This could be a sign that we need to get outside help for Gus. Like a counselor or something."
"My kid is not going to see a shrink. Christ Linds he’s only three(,) how complicated could it be?"
"Brian kids are complicated, unlike you. Gus doesn’t know his penis is for anything more than emptying his bladder with." Melanie sniped.
"They are and they aren’t. People...parents believe they can bring themselves to the kids level and try to ‘understand’ the problem from the kids point of view."
"And you don’t think that’s the right approach?" Lindsay stated, her curiosity peaked by what sounded like real insight coming from ‘Brian?’
"No. What a parent needs to do is look at the situation through their own eyes and think how they should logically deal with it. Then approach the kid."
"And why is that Dr. Spock?"
"Because they have all the same emotions available to them as adults do. The problem is their little minds aren’t able to cope with the intenseness of those emotions, so they act out in ways that we see as childish. Only they aren’t so childish because if you pay attention to how adults deal with things sometimes can be equally...childish." Brian spoke right to Melanie.
"You are making absolutely no sense Kinney. Must have gotten all that crap from one of those new age parenting books...huh?"
"I’m going to shoot Emmett." Brian whispered to himself. Remembering that he had run into a distraught Emmett at the library a few weeks ago. "Actually it’s my own theory from reading all those ridiculous parenting books that give kids too much control. Hell, he practically runs your lives because you let him."
"We do not!" Lindsay was now the one to get angry. She took great offense to what Brian was stating, even though she knew it was the truth.
"How many bed time stories do read him before you get him to sleep?" Brian countered ready to prove his point.
"I don’t know five, six."
"Here he gets one and he doesn’t ask for more."
"So, reading to him is a good thing and I’m happy he loves to hear them."
"Okay, how long does it take you to get him to finish a meal or even eat a few bites?"
"Well, Gus is a picky eater."
"No he’s not." Justin remarked hearing the conversation as he and Gus reenteredthe loft.
"No I not." Gus repeated proudly.
"Brian you let him eat from your plate? Who is manipulating who?" Melanie said defending their parenting skills.
"We share a plate. It’s nice. Justin, Gus and I sit together at meal time and enjoy the food and we talk with Gus, not at him."
"Gotta pee pee dada." Gus ran into the bathroom.
Lindsay went to help, but was stopped by Justin.
"Linds he can do it himself. There’s a stool in there and he knows what to."
"Oh." Lindsay clasped her hands together and walked back to the couch. "I guess you two are becoming the perfect parents for Gus.
"Linds don’t do that. I’m just trying to show you we’re trying to be good parents. I didn’t mean to attack you or Melanie’s parenting. You two have him 24/7. We get him a few hours out of a month. It would be wrong if he got special treatment here."
"What Brian is trying to say is that we are trying to compliment what you are doing with Gus. We know it’s not easy to be full-time parents."
"Holy Shit! I’m not believing what I’m hearing here."
"What now!?" Brian bit back, slowly losing patience.
"The we’s and us’ and using the word parents in reference to your time with our son. Brian what I agreed to a few months ago was for you to have Gus a few days a month, not for this to become his second home."
"What’s wrong with a kid having two places he feels wanted and safe?"
"And what is wrong with our son having one home? What happens when you two decide it’s not so fun to be parents anymore?"
"That’s not going to happen." Brian statement was fact.
Gus came out of the bathroom. The room fell silent and the poor kid looked as if he’d done something wrong. "I bemembered to wash my hands." The little boy held his still dripping hands out for his parents to see.
"Good job son, now let’s go dry them off quick and get to the zoo in time to watch them feed the babies." Brian guided his son back into the bathroom.
"He really is a good father." Justin had felt the need to say that for the past half-hour.
"Well he’s got his chance to prove it. Tell him he’s got two weeks." Melanie remarked with a distinct snarl to her voice. Then she exited without waiting for Lindsay.
Lindsay looked to the ceiling and raised her voice to the powers that be. "Why can’t we all just get along?"
"Maybe we could if you could prove to Melanie that you love her more than you love Brian." Justin statement was punctuated by a raised eyebrow.
Lindsay sighed loudly, nodded silently and exited.
"You’re too smart for your age sunshine." Brian smiled at him from the top of the bedroom stairs, with Gus firmly planted on his shoulders.
"To da zoo, da da an Jusin." Gus pointed towards the door. The two men laughed. Justin gathered up Gus’ necessities and they left to spend a very special father’s day together. There would be plenty more family drama awaiting him later.
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