Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As soon as Brian came home from work(pretty late)and laid down, Justin hopped onto the bed. "Babylon?"

"Do you know any other words?" Brian sighed.

"Let's pretend I don't if it gets you to go."

Brian rolled his eyes. "Why do you want to go so bad this whole week?"

"Because." Justin scoffed. "You went on that business trip and then today you worked late as fuck and I've been bored out of my mind. That and I don't want to think about the fact that I have to see my dad in two days."

"So you want us to hit up a club so a bunch of horny hunks can ogle at what's mine?"

Justin like that, his, because he knew it was mutual. "That's kinda hot."

Brian laughed, with his head thrown back and arms crossed.

"Or we could stay in." Justin suggested, very openly staring.

"Nuh-uh." Brian countered. "You wanted to go to Babylon and be paraded around like a trophy wife."

"Put on the black sleeveless shirt, and leather pants."

"Oh so you're making demands now too?"

"Mhm." Justin smiled innocently.

"I almost forgot how annoying you can be." Brian sighed and went to open the closet in order to find the requested outfit.

Justin gasped, faking offense. "We can't have that."

In response, Brian threw a shirt at Justin. "Well, if you're chosing my outfit than I'm chosing yours."

Justin took the shirt. The white, skin tight crop top with black sleeves. "Not bad."

"Of course it's not, I bought it for you." Brian huffed, shuffling through some pants before tossing a pair of jeans at Justin too. "There, bought you these as well."

"I'm aware." Justin chuckled, the lowest rise possible, any lower and he'd be charged with public indecency.

"Go get dressed, Sunshine."

"You usually say the opposite of that."

"Believe me, you'll hear that too, just later."

As they were getting ready, Brian's phone rung.

Justin was closer to the table, so he glanced at the caller ID. "It's your sister."

"The fuck does she want?" Brian was deeply annoyed that his sister was calling him, but he picked up. "Yeah?"

Everything was so quiet Justin could hear Claire clearly.

"Where are you?"

"Where the hell would I be? At home." Brian leaned against the wall. "I'm on my way out, though. What do you want?"

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"It's aunt Carlo's birthday."

"The nasty bitch who tells you you look like a pig every time you see her. How horrible of me to forget."

"She's still our aunt."

"She's a grumpy old hag with one foot already in the grave."

Justin snorted in a laugh at that.

Claire yelled something at her sons before talking to Brian again. "So you aren't coming?"

Brian looked Justin up and down. "Oh I will be coming. Inside this cute little thing I've got in front of me."

The line went dead with a gasp.

Justin laughed out loud once Brian put down the phone. "Was that a promise?"

"Guess you'll have to wait and find out. Let's go."

Chapter Text

Their friends had hoped that once Brian and Justin became exclusive, the playing field at Babylon would be at least a little more leveled.

However, Brian's reputation remained intact, it even grew. It had always been known that the stud of liberty street was the best fuck you could get, but now that status was legendary, since him not wanting anyone else made everyone else just want him more.

Pair that with the fact that every now and again Brian and Justin went cruising for a third for the night, or the fact that they still occasionally hooked up with random guys if they caught their eye, and you had a whole new level of obsession.

The stud of liberty street and his twink were mythical.

"Great." Emmett rolled his eyes when he saw them walking towards the bar. "Nobody else getting laid tonight."

Brian chuckled and let Justin lean over the bar to order their drinks, intentionally letting the low rise jeans fall ever further down.

"You two could've stayed home." Ted rolled his eyes.

"Considering neither of you have had any luck for days, so could've you." Brian countered and pulled Justin closer by the waist.

"You come to show off?" Michael approached them from the dance floor.

Justin grinned.

Brian put his beer down. "Come on then, Sunshine. I want to dance."

"Later." Justin told Michael and let himself be dragged by the hand.

"No third tonight." Brian declared and put one hand on the nape of Justin's neck and the other one on his waist. "I don't feel like sharing you."

"I love it when you're possessive." Justin said against Brian's neck.

"You don't say."

Some guy tried to insert himself between them, as he had his eyes set on Brian and clearly wanted him for himself.

"Fuck off." Brian pulled Justin closer, letting him kiss his neck and shoulders.

Justin gave the guy a look over Brian's shoulder, daring him to try something.

"Hey." Someone tried to get Justin's attention.

He lazily looked over, eyeing the guy up and down and frowning. "Oh."

"Familiar?" Brian was amused by the way he saw the guy's confidence crumble.

"The guy who wanted to go to the back room only to be dragged away by his wife." Justin clarified.

Brian laughed, which made the guy leave with his tail between his legs.

They danced for a good long while before going back to their friends, who didn't seem too amused by the attention the two were getting.

"We get it. Everyone wants to fuck you or be you." Michael said.

"You sure look like a ray of sunshine." Emmett chuckled.

Brian leaned down to whisper something to Justin, which made him giggle.

"I'm not drunk enough for this." Ted said and went to get a drink.

The reigning royal couple of Babylon opted to go home earlier than usual, so it was still pretty packed on their way out.

"Wait a second." Brian said when they reached the car, he unlocked it and even opened the door for Justin. "I'm out of cigarettes."

Justin hopped into the passenger seat and looked on as Brian crossed the street to buy a pack from the tobacco shop. He started going through the CDs to find some good music as he waited.

There was a line at the tobacco shop, so he managed to find a good CD before Brian came back.

"What's that?" He asked when the music started playing.

"It was in your car." Justin shrugged. "And it's good."

Brian took the CD case to see what was scribbled onto the clear plastic. "That's Lindsey's. Must've left it here."

"It's fun." Justin said. "She's got good taste."

"Guess I can't teach you everything." Brian sighed but didn't change the music.

On their way home they passed Chris Hobbs, he was walking somewhere and didn't seem to notice them.

Still, Justin tensed up as soon as he saw the guy. He started bouncing his knee and went quiet, repeatedly glancing at the review mirror as they got farther and farther away from Chris.

"You're okay." Brian said gently and put a hand on Justin's thigh to still his leg.

He remained silent for the rest of the ride, but he seemed to relax when they were finally back at the loft.

They showered, then proceeded to stay up nearly all night fucking, which resulted in them sleeping in the next day.

Chapter Text

What woke them up was Justin's phone ringing.

"If you don't turn that off I'll throw it into the blender." Brian grumbled.

"Grumpy old man." Justin chuckled and rolled onto his side, out of Brian's arms, and picked up his phone without looking who was calling. "Hello?"

Brian opened his eyes and propped his head up to observe. He could clearly hear Debbie on the other end.

"Really?" Justin perked up suddenly. "Yeah. No, no, sure. We'll be there."

"Where?" Brian asked.

"Debbie wants us over for dinner."

Brian pulled Justin back to himself. "It's not dinner yet."

"No, but I've got a project to finish, so you'll have to wait all the way until after dinner to stick your dick inside of me." Justin kissed him and then got up.

"As if you could last that long without my dick." Brian huffed.

"I do need a model, though. Pose for me?" Justin asked from the kitchen.

"While I do look like a model, do you actually need one or do you just want an excuse to draw me naked for the fuck knows which time?" Brian also got up and got to making his coffee. Out of habit, he made one for Justin as well.

Justin laughed, taking the cup. "Can't it be both? But it is an actual project. Anatomy and stuff. Already did s female version."

"Who?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

"Leda. She was happy to help out so."

That made Brian laugh. "Sure, Sunshine."

So that was their afternoon. Justin instructing Brian which poses to take, Brian complying with his usual snide remarks, some teasing, two fucks in between all that. And then they had to go to Debbie's.

There, a discussion about what else other than sex was already going on.

"Hey, what are you two anyway?" Michael asked as soon as they sat down.

Brian looked at him like he just got asked to confirm the sky was blue. "Queers, Mikey."

Michael rolled his eyes. "Not that."

"Homo sapiens sapiens?" Justin offered.

Emmett laughed. "The homo part is certainly true."

"Sapiens maybe not so much. Maybe once, but not twice." Mel laughed, referring to Brian.

"He's spending too much time around you." Michael told Brian, annoyed.

"He means what on earth is your relationship status?" Emmett explained. "We've got a bet going and we want it resolved."

Brian and Justin shared a look. Then Brian smirked. "Let us hear the bets and we'll decide who came the closest."

"Friends with benefits." Michael went first.

"North pole." Justin chuckled.

Lindsay handed Gus over to Brian when the boy reached for him, and Mel gave hee guess. "Like swingers."

Brian made a face. "Fuck no."

"I say, an open relationship." Uncle Vic tried. "But you've got conditions."

"Closer." Justin nodded.

"Exclusive with the occasional threesome." Emmett tried.

"Ehh." Justin frowned. "Vic's the closest."

"Play up, kids." Vic laughed victoriously.

"But it is a relationship?" Lindsay asked, pleasantly surprised.

"If Sunshine wants to call it that." Brian shrugged.

The silence that followed was defending.

"He still fucks like six other guys a week." Justin pointed out, laughing at their faces. Silently though, he was beaming at the fact that Brian didn't mind people thinking they're in a relationship.

"I think they're just struck by the fact I'm letting you use the r word." Brian remarked, he wasn't looking at any of them, instead he was playing with Gus.

"Did he hit his head recently?" Ted asked, referring to Brian and making a hitting motion around his own head.

"Hey!" Debbie warned him. It might've been a tad too soon for 'hit on the head' jokes.

"I'll live." Justin assured her.

"Fuck that." Brian said and glared at Ted.

"Seriously, it's fine."

"You're fine with him being with other guys?" Michael asked Justin, knowing the kind of guys Brian hooks up with was enough to make anyone insecure, but Justin didn't seem bothered at all.

"Honestly it's kinda hot."

A bit later, when Justin went to help Debbie in the kitchen, Michael came to speak with him alone.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get Brian to agree to a relationship."

"It's not like we signed a contract." Justin frowned. "We didn't even talk about it, he just said I can call it whatever I want."

"Brian doesn't do relationships."

"Well he does me. Repeatedly. And I call that a relationship."

"That doesn't constitute a relationship."

"Maybe not, generally." Justin agreed. "But then again Brian never did the same guy twice until I showed up so maybe things aren't so set in stone."

Michael didn't seem to like that, in fact he looked like a frowning child.

"What?" Justin asked when he realized Michael seemed to be angry with him.

"What arrangement is that anyway? You know he's had 'arrangements' before. None of them worked out."

"None of them were with me." Justin rolled his eyes when he realized Michael expected a whole rundown. "Jesus. We don't kiss anyone else on the mouth, no names or numbers and no repeats. Happy?"

"And you're fine with that?"

"I told you. It's hot." Justin repeated. "He can fuck whoever he wants but he'll always be comparing them to me. He can be the fuck of their lives but they'll never be that to him."

For the rest of the night, Michael kept questioning their relationship time and time again. As if he was jealous that the two of them finally had something that worked. Not just surface level worked, but an actual mutually agreed upon situation that fucking worked.

That questioning somehow spiraled into a discussion about religion.

"And what makes your religious childhood so different than mine?" Emmett asked Brian when he acted superior as usual.

Brian rolled his eyes. "Because at least I was doing my confessions kneeling on marble, while you did yours on linoleum."

"Really?" Ted rolled his eyes, imitating the way Brian did it a second earlier.

"He's like, a little bit right for this one." Justin sat down onto the armrest of the chair, only for Brian to grab his waist and pull him onto his lap instead.

Emmett snorted. "Relax, Justin, he'll fuck you even if you don't take his side."

"He'll fuck me even if I take your side, but when he's right he's right." Justin said.

"Can we go back to normal conversations?" Lindsay asked. "At least around Gus."

"If we must." Emmett sighed.

"By the way, you're taking him to the doctor's on Friday." Mel informed Brian.

"Like hell I am. I'm not sitting in a waiting room with a bunch of snotty brats." Brian argued.

Lindsay ignored his protests. "Well both of us are booked and you can come in late, so you are sitting in a waiting room with a bunch of snotty brats before you go to work."

"Aren't you counting your own kid into that category?" Ted asked.

Brian gave him a look. "Obviously Gus doesn't count."

"Yeah, well, I don't care what does and doesn't count, you're taking him." Lindsay said. "It won't kill you."

"The sheer annoyance just might." Brian remarked.

"Would you two knock it off?" Ted asked when Justin took Brian's arm to fix his bracelet, since it had turned around on his wrist.

"What's up your ass?" Justin asked.

"Clearly nothing, otherwise he wouldn't be this snappy." Brian pointed out. "I think they're jealous, Sunshine."

Justin gave Michael a pointed look.

"Doesn't this make it easier for all of you?" Mel asked.

Emmett laughed. "It would if Mr and Mr perfect didn't go shopping for a third every other night."

"So? That's just one guy." Lindsay was confused. She for one was happy Brian and Justin seemed to finally have a somewhat normal dynamic. As normal as theirs can get.

"Yeah, but every single guy in Babylon wants to be that one guy." Michael clarified. "It's like cats in heat."

"It's like they're some sort of royal couple when they walk in." Ted shook his head. "Unbelievable."

Justin and Brian shared a look that could be translated into 'tough luck', or something along those lines.

"Why does it even bother you?" Brian laughed. "Emmett has that old geezer he's fluttering around, Mikey found a David replacement, and Ted. Well you've never had much luck at Babylon to being with, so not much has changed."

"Come on." Justin scoffed when he mentioned David, then again when he mocked Ted. "Brian."

Brian just shrugged.

"That's enough, asshole." Debbie came in from the kitchen and put down a plate of cookies.

Justin reached for one as soon as she set it down, but then dropped it. "Ow! Hot!"

Debbie laughed. "Yeah, happens when you take stuff out of the oven."

"Jesus!" Brian said when the scolding hot cookie was dropped onto his lap.

"Sorry!" Justin quickly picked it up and took a napkin to hold it without burning his fingers, giggling.

"Please, burn it. That way everyone else will at least have a chance." Emmett laughed.

"There they go again." Ted scoffed when he saw Brian take a bite from Justin's cookie instead of taking his own.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this." Mel started. "But I think you're all a little too pissy at Brian considering whatever this situation is, it's finally healthy."

"See? Even my biggest hater thinks you're being babies." Brian laughed.

Chapter Text

The next day Brian drove Justin to his classes before going to work, and when he came back there was music blasting in the loft.

Inside, Justin and Daphne were jumping around and screaming song lyrics off key.

"Hi, Brian!" Daphne smiled.

"Hi, Daphne." Brian said, in his usual tone when he greeted her.

"Guess what?" Justin jumped down from the couch and went to get a kiss.

"You hooked up with some horny frat boy again." Brian tried, picking the most likely thing.

"No." Justin laughed. "I got a call, this super important activist group wants me to design their posters."

"So you're celebrating by trashing my living room?" Brian asked, but there was no bite to it.

"Oh! This is the Brian song I told you about!" Daphne gasped when the song changed.

"The Brian song?" Brian echoed.

Daphne laughed. "Change the gender and it's literally about you."

"You and Leda." Justin had a shit eating grin on his face, then let the lyrics move on until the perfect one came along, then recited them out loud. "Hedonistic with the gravel, drawing dead eyes."

"Funny." Brian said, he would never admit it, but he was a little flattered.

The lyrics went on, with Justin and Daphne yelling their heads off, until another line made Justin turn to Brian. "You say she's problematic and the way you say it, so fanatic, Think she already knows that you're obsessed."

"Should look in the mirror when you say that one." Biran told him and went to turn on the computer.

He worked on something while the two of them kept on celebrating, and every now and then he looked away from the screen and at Justin.

There was at least two more songs declared to be about him before the music was turned off.

"By the way." Daphne said as she was getting ready to leave. "A girl from one of my classes wants us to go to Babylon for like, a mixed party or something."

Justin's mouth hung open. "What?"

"Yeah. She says there's like, a gay/lesbian party thing happening next Saturday. Will you guys be going?"

Brian felt the two of them staring at him. "Do I look like a nanny?"

"My friend's 18, she'll get in no problem, and I've got a good fake ID." Daphne assured him. "Besides, will they really question anything if I walk in with Justin?"

"Then what are you looking at me for?" But Brian knew what it was for. In some unlikely case in which the bouncer didn't let them in, he was expected to pull some strings to get the guy to allow it.

"We're going." Justin told Daphne, knowing damn well Brian wouldn't turn down a weekend night at Babylon. "And, this girl...?"

Daphne had a sneaky smile. "Might or might not be into me."

Justin's eyes went wide. "And you?"

"Might or might not be bisexual?" Daphne's tone made it sound like a question. "I don't know, but she's hot and we've kissed and-"

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Justin gasped.

"Well I'm telling you now! It only happened like two days ago." Daphne laughed.

"Oh my God!" Justin squealed.

"Ow." Brian put a finger to his ear. "You'll break the damn windows."

"Well, I have to go, but I'll call you when I get home to tell you the rest." Daphne hugged Justin and was out the door.

"When you think about it." Justin went to get a soda from the fridge, and then walked over to hug Brian from behind. "This makes me and Daph a little like you and Lindsay."

"More like eeriely similar." Brian confirmed.

Justin looked puzzled. "Did you and Lindsay ever fuck?"

"In college, yeah." Brian was pretty casual about the information. "Figured she had already told you that."

"So she's also bi?"

"As far as I know."

"Huh." Justin chuckled. "I have to tell Daph."

"You also have to let me work." Brian remarked.

"What is that anyway?" Justin looked at the screen.

"It's supposed to be a coat, looks more like a skinned moose to me but it has to sell." Brian said.

"That's the ugliest coat I've ever seen." Justin remarked, then he went to lay on the couch and continued working on one of his projects.

It was nice, being able to be together in silence and not have it be tense or uncomfortable. The only interruption to the silence was the sound of the keyboard clicking and Justin's pen tapping against the tablet screen.

Friday morning came around and Brian was indeed the one to take Gus to his checkup, but when he came back laughing his ass off everyone knew something had to have happened.

Turns out, he had fucked the doctor only a few days prior.

"Is there anyone in this town you haven't hooked up with?" Mel asked and took Gus.

"You." Brian told her.

"Before you go." Lindsay stepped into the living room. "What's this about you letting Justin bring Daphne to Babylon."

"He can bring whoever the fuck he wants, I'm not letting anyone do anything. Besides, the girl is going of her own accord with some chick from class."

"And you're not going to at least advise them against it?"

"Why would I?"

"There's far more respectable places for young queer people to be going to." Lindsay told him. "You could at least tell them to go to Woody's, that's a little less.... Deranged."

"Of course it is." Brian shrugged. "Luckily, I'm not their parent so I don't have to make sure they're going to respectable places."

Mel rolled her eyes. "You're impossible."

"Always a pleasure." Brian went to give Gus a kiss before opening the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to work."

Chapter Text

The weekend came and Justin decided he'd go and see why his father wanted to see him. He knew it wouldn't go too well, but he had to know why his father didn't show up to the hospital once while he was there.

A few days prior he got a call from his father asking to come and see him over the weekend. Justin agreed to drop by on Saturday morning but only for a few minutes. His mom was sure it would be just another screaming match, but knew Justin would go anyway.

Brian parked the Jeep in front of the house Craig was renting. "There's still time to ditch this."

Justin laughed. "I have to. If nothing to have one last reason to never speak to him again. I'll see you tonight."

"Mhm." Brian agreed. "You're sure he wouldn't do anything dangerous?"

"I am." After stealing a quick kiss Justin got out of the Jeep but froze in place with the door still open.

"What?" Brian looked around, not seeing anything weird.

"That's...." Justin started but didn't finish his sentence. He was looking at the car parked in the driveway.

"That's a car." Brian nodded like he was talking to Gus, then said: "Justin what the hell is-" but he stopped teasing when he realized Justin was gripping the door so tight his knuckles were going white.

"Hey. Sunshine."

No reaction.

"Shit." Brian got out of the car and went to stand in front of Justin, blocking the view of the driveway. "What the hell is wrong?"

Justin looked up at him in pure horror. "That's Chris Hobbs' car."

Brian's face went from confused to angry to concerned in about a millisecond. "Get back in the Jeep."

"Why is Chris Hobbs' car here?"

"I don't know, but you're not going in to find out." Brian said and carefully pulled Justin's hand off the car door, seeing it had started to cramp up. "Come on, I'll take you home."

"Justin!" Craig's voice could be heard from the door.

Brian turned around, staying in front of Justin to make sure he felt safe.

At the door there was Craig, and behind him was Chris mother fucking Hobbs.

Brian felt Justin's grip on his arm tighten when he saw them.

Craig made his way towards the two of them, glaring at Brian like he was the devil himself. Chris stayed at the door, maintaining eye contact with Justin.

"He can't get to you." Brian assured, his tone was more gentle than anyone thought him capable of. It was clear from the way he stood in front of Justin, he wouldn't hesitate to punch Craig square in the jaw if he tried anything. As for Chris Hobbs, Brian was sure if he got his hands on the brat he would've killed him.

"What the fuck?" Justin asked his dad.

"You're going to hide behind this fag while you talk to me?" Craig crossed his arms.

"Answer him." Brian said firmly.

"You know what let's just go." Justin said without letting go of Brian's arm.

Craig chuckled. "Yeah, run away like a proper fairy."

"Fuck you." Justin got into the Jeep.

Brian closed the door for him and walked around the car to get in the drivers seat.

"Wanna know why this kid's here?" Craig said. "His old man and I go way back, so he thought he'd be nice and help me move all my stuff."

Justin didn't respond, and Brian started backing out of the parking spot.

"Your mom told me all about it." Craig went on. "And you know what? It's only a shame he didn't swing a little harder. A vegetable for a son is better than whatever you turned out to be."

There was a hot, blistering rage boiling inside of Brian, and Justin noticed it.

"Now I get how you can hate your parents without blinking." Justin said, trying to keep himself together.

Brian looked at him with concern, then made a turn away from the loft and towards the suburbs instead. "I'm taking you to your mother's place."

"Brian-" Justin seemed to panic for a second.

"Not permanently." Brian realized what he was thinking. "Relax, Sunshine. I just don't want you to be alone while I'm at work."

"Oh." Justin calmed down. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Don't let him get to you." Brian took Justin's hand to try and help him calm down.

"Mom's going to freak when I tell her."

"Rightfully so."

Chapter Text

As predicted, Jennifer was absolutely furious when she found out what had happened.

"Thank you, for not letting him be alone." She told Brian when she calmed down a little.

Brian just nodded.

"Finally." Molly stepped out of the house to drag Justin inside by the hand. "Mom can't play Mario kart."

Justin's laugh came as a relief to both Jennifer and Brian. He let his little sister pull at his arm. "And here I thought you missed me."

"Shut up and come play it with me." Molly put all her strength into pulling him inside. "You'll see your boyfriend tonight, come on."

Jennifer half expected Brian to protest at her using the word boyfriend, but instead he just said bye to Justin and laughed as he was dragged into the house like a hostage.

"Boyfriend?" Jennifer asked, not letting him just leave.

"If Justin wants to call it that." Brian repeated what he had said to his friends.

Jennifer nodded. "Guess I have no moral high ground anymore, as I'm sure he's told you."

"He might've mentioned something." Brian couldn't fight a tiny vicarious smile.

Jennifer had to laugh at herself. "Feel free to gloat, I'm aware how hypocritical this as all turned out. But you're not off the hook yet."

"I'm sure I'll never be." Brian said and went to get back into the Jeep. He was aware of what his statement implied, a future with Justin.

"That said, when you come and pick Justin up, would you stay for dinner?"

Brian had his characteristic urge to decline with some witty remark, but knew it would mean a lot to Justin, especially after the incident with his father. "Why the hell not."

"Great." Jennifer smiled. "I'll tell Justin."

"See you at dinner, then." Brian got into his car and drove off. Somehow he wasn't even late for work with all that.

Deciding to be on his best behaviour that evening, Brian stopped to buy flowers for Jennifer.

He was parking the car just as another guy was walking towards the house.

"Ah, you must be the controversially older, whatever you are to Justin." Tucker nodded.

"Which makes you the controversially younger, whatever you are to Jennifer." Brian nodded as well.

Tucker laughed. "Let's do this then."

"So, I see you've met." Jennifer said when she opened the door.

She was pleasantly surprised by the flowers, and even more so when Brian plucked one out to give it to Molly.

"So you are capable of being civil." Justin joked.

Brian chuckled. "I was raised Catholic, remember?"

"Really?" Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "Justin didn't tell me that."

"I didn't think it was important?" Justin defended himself.

"Do you know Lindsay Peterson, by chance?" Tucker asked later on, as they were eating.

Justin choked on his drink. "You know Lindz?"

"We've had a couple of seminars together, yes." Tucker nodded. "The reaction tells me you know her."

"We know each other from college." Brian confirmed.

Tucker nodded. "That's nice. Good friends?"

"Brian was actually the donor for Lindsay and her partner when they had their son." Justin said.

"Really?"

Brian nodded and the conversation went on to be about Gus for a little bit, then went back into usual dinner small talk.

The whole dinner passed without a single inappropriate joke or remark from Brian, much to Jennifer and Justin's amazement.

"Please act normal now. That was creepy." Justin said when they got into the Jeep.

Brian had to laugh. "You really think I can't keep a civil conversation?"

"Well clearly I've been proven wrong. But anyway. When you dropped me off you didn't mind Molly calling you my boyfriend." Justin was careful with the word, but not stressed.

"I told you, call it whatever you want." Brian shrugged.

"What do you call it?"

"I don't know." Brian confessed. "I don't need to call it anything, just need to call you mine."

Justin couldn't fight the blush that came across his face at that. "That means I can call you mine as well?"

"It is a two way street, is it not?"

"Okay. So, hypothetically, if you were to introduce me to someone you would say I'm your....what?"

Brian though about it for a few moments, then sighed. "Suppose I'd say boyfriend in a non conventional way."

Justin practically beamed. "Thank you."

It was just a word, but it meant a lot to Justin. And while the word itself didn't matter at all to Brian, Justin did matter to him, so if that one word gave his Sunshine a peace of mind, he'd use it for him.

Once home, Justin realized how exhausted he was, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but not before cuddling up to Brian with a content little smile.

Despite what happened earlier in the day, there were no nightmares that night.

Chapter Text

The next weekend, when he returned home he found his place had once more been made into a hangout spot.

This time two more people joined Daphne and Justin, the girl from Daphne's class, and someone who wasn't there at the moment, but there was a jacket hanging over the couch.

Brian checked his door. "Funny, doesn't say daycare."

"I told them we could all go together." Justin said, the three of them were getting ready like it was new year's.

"You know, when I told you to go make friends your own age, it didn't mean to bring them all here." Brian said and put down his stuff.

"Lives up to what aunt Leda said." Daphne's girl chuckled.

"Aunt Leda?" Brian questioned.

"Mhm." The girl smiled. "I'm Lacey, her niece."

"Huh." Brian nodded, then turned to Justin again. "What I said still stands."

"Yeah, yeah." Justin rolled his eyes. "Can we pre-game here?"

"Looks like you already are." Brian pointed at the bottle of vodka and red bull cans on the table.

"The vodka was already opened." Justin said it like it explained everything.

"And I expect the six pack of red bulls in the fridge is down to one." Brian counted the empty cans.

"Yup." Daphne confirmed.

"Wonderful." Brian rolled his eyes.

"Dyke to the rescue, as always." Leda marched in through the door.

"Maybe God is real." Brian sounded relieved that he wouldn't be forced to put up with the three of them alone.

"If he is he hates you and me both." Leda laughed and put another pack of red bulls on the table.

"Leda picked you an outfit already." Justin pointed towards the bedroom.

"You went through my stuff?" Brian asked Leda, not really sounding bothered.

"Couldn't find your stash, though." Leda said, cackling.

Brian laughed. "That's because I don't need a stash."

Leda sprawled herself over the couch. "Come on, the suit is boring."

"I wouldn't say boring." Justin had to add.

"The tie thing?" Daphne asked, mimicking the way Brian loosened his tie just a few minutes ago.

Justin looked at Brian. "Among other things."

"Horny little twat." Brian laughed and walked past all of them to go and get ready.

The outfit laid out on the bed was simple, a white tank top and jeans.

Leda threw her head over the armrest of the couch, making upside down eye contact with Brian and mouthing the word 'commando'.

Brian had to laugh, he liked her.

Once it was time to go they all got into the Jeep, with Leda beating Justin to the passenger seat while cackling.

There was a competition, which gay and lesbian duo could best pass for a straight couple.

Justin wasted no time in signing Brian and Leda up.

Meanwhile, as they waited for the two to be called, Daphne seemed lightly traumatized.

"What's that look?" She asked Justin. The two of them had gone for a little break and were standing up on the balcony overlooking the crowd, and Lacey had gone to get them drinks.

The look in question was the way Justin was following a guy down in the crowd with his eyes.

It's this thing we've got going." Justin explained. "I find the most "I never bottom" type of guy I can, and Brian proves him wrong."

"Like...here?" Daphne gestured vaguely in the air.

"Well not here here. In the back room, or sometimes at home if we like really like the guy. Though we mostly find those at Woody's or at some more sober events."

"Oh, this is them." Daphne said when the drag queen narrating the competition moved on to the next 'couple'.

"Did I miss the show?" Lacey came back with their drinks and leaned against the railing. "Oh this is going to be gold."

"These two are described as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie if they were gay." The drag queen read from the card, then laughed at the description.

The roaring reaction when Brian and Leda walked up could've caused a minor earthquake. If it weren't Babylon, where everyone knew of Brian's body count, they really could've passed for a straight couple.

To the crowd's utter amusement, they even made out and improvised a little fight sequence from Mr and Mrs Smith.

Emmett found his way up to Justin, giggling out of control. "Did you come up with that?"

Justin nodded with a proud grin. "Perfect description, right?"

"So perfect someone might just make a porno out of it soon." Emmett couldn't stop his giggling as he watched Brian and Leda soak in the adoration.

"Oh. There she goes." Lacey laughed when she saw Leda set her eyes on a girl at the bar.

Leda walked up to the drag queen and borrowed the mic for a second. "Cute ginger in the pink skirt. Yes you, sugar. Come on. I want some of that lipgloss you've got."

The girl quickly made her way towards Leda when she got off the little stage, more than happy to oblige.

Brian, on the other hand, got swarmed as usual as he made his way through the crowd. He made eye contact with Justin, who pointed at the guy he had spotted earlier.

"Just a second." Justin hopped down a few stairs in order to be able to lean over the railing and get himself a kiss from Brian. "You think you can do it?"

"That a challenge?" Brian smirked.

"What do you want if you win?" Justin smirked.

Brian pretended to think about it for a bit. "When he bottoms for me, and he will, I pick what you wear to Babylon for a month."

"I don't see how I can lose, so deal." Justin kissed him again.

"Don't make me make you swallow your words." Brian had that menacing smile of his that made Justin's brain go haywire.

Mere minutes later, Lacey drew Justin's attention to the fact that Brian was leading the guy into the back room by holding onto the guy's necklace, like a dog.

"Fucker." Justin chuckled.

"Honestly I can't see why you keep trying." Emmett told him.

"It's fun." Justin shrugged.

"Wow. That's happening." Michael remarked.

Justin turned to see what Michael was looking at, and found that Daphne and Lacey were making out against a wall.

Completely characteristic for the two of them, Brian and Leda missed the announcement that they won because they were both busy blowing someone's back out. Which only made the crowd love them more.

Though slightly shell shocked, Daphne and Lacey ended up loving their night out and wouldn't stop raving about it for days.

Chapter Text

A few days later, when everyone was at the diner, Daphne dropped by to bring Justin's phone since he left it with her. Only to walk in on everyone trying to deflate Brian's ego and failing.

"Cocky for an old man." Justin provoked just as Daphne sat down.

"You'd know all about cocky." Brian counted. "Hello, Daphne."

"Brian." Daphne smiled and turned to Justin. "Don't make me tell him."

"Don't you dare." Justin snapped suddenly. "As if his ego isn't already double his height."

"Do tell me, Daphne." Brian encouraged.

"Please don't, whatever it is." Michael said. "He's so full of himself already.

Ted added. "You really don't know how insufferable he gets."

Brian, being the asshole he was, just looked at Daphne. "If you say it I'll get the bouncer to let you in on dyke night."

Daphne didn't waste a single moment, instead she imitated Justin's posture and voice before doing her very best impression. "I just saw the face of God, and his name is Brian Kinney."

"Traitor." Justin gasped. "I'll never live that down."

"I'll make sure you don't." Brian confirmed. "Thank you, Daphne."

"Jesus." Michael rolled his eyes and looked at Brian. "Since when are you into desperation?"

"Watch it." Brian said, serious.

Justin smiled victoriously, enjoying the fact Brian was defending him too much to care about Michael's comment.

"Let it be known I was the number one fan of this thing." Daphne used her fork to gestured between Brian and Justin.

"Sweetie, don't think you can earn his loyalty." Debbie came by and poured more coffee into the empty mugs.

"I think Brian has a soft spot for her, actually." Justin said and went to serve the other tables.

"That's because I'm universally beloved." Daphne smiled.

"Aren't you two supposed to be in class?" Michael asked them.

"I don't have any until the afternoon." Justin shrugged.

Daphne started picking off blueberries from the pancakes in front of her, and then eating them by spoonful. "And mine got cancelled because the professor's pet turtle needed an emergency vet trip."

"Pet turtle?" Ted looked up from the newspapers.

"What? A man can't have a pet turtle?" Daphne made a face.

"Didn't you have a turtle?" Brian turned to Michael.

"A tortoise." Michael corrected. "And it was uncle Vic's."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Did you have pets?" Emmett asked Brian.

"My sister had a parrot." Brian said. "I taught it to curse."

"Of course you did." Ted chuckled.

"Hey I remember that bird." Michael smiled. "What happened to it?"

"A cat got to it when someone left a window open." Brian said.

Daphne turned to Justin when he came back. "Didn't you have some weird ass lizard for a bit?"

"It was a gecko." Justin said.

"Always thought of you as more of a hamster type of guy." Emmett said.

"I was really into Jurassic Park." Justin explained.

Daphne nodded. "It was named Raptor, right?"

"Uh-huh." Justin confirmed.

"Did none of you have normal pets? Like a dog?" Ted asked.

"I have a dog." Daphne smiled. "She actually just had puppies so if anyone wants one."

Brian seemed to get an idea.

"You aren't thinking of getting Gus a dog without talking to Lindsay or Mel." Justin was the first one to figure it out.

"What's stopping me?" Brian asked.

"Common sense?" Emmett offered.

Michael seemed outraged. "You don't even know if they'd want a dog. You can't just dump the responsibility on them."

"Relax, Mikey." Brian rolled his eyes. "Lindsay has had dogs her whole life. She'll love it."

"And Mel?" Michael went on.

"There has not been a single thing I've said or done that Mel didn't hate. She'll hate it on principal, not because of the responsibility."

"So you'll take one?" Daphne asked.

"Sure."

"You didn't even ask what kind the dog was." Ted pointed out.

"Staffies." Daphne filled in.

"There." Brian shrugged.

"Nice." Daphne smiled. "Since it's for Gus you get the pick of the litter."

A few days from then, Justin and Brian showed up at Daphne's house to pick up the dog. Lindsay and Mel were hosting a little get together and Brian thought it would be the perfect moment to bring the dog.

"Hey." Daphne opened the door and showed them to the living room where the puppies were playing around.

One of them made a run for Justin and started tugging at his shoe laces.

"Look at that, he already knows he's going with you." Daphne chuckled.

"Come on, we're late already." Justin rushed.

"Give me that." Brian said and took the dog from Justin when they arrived. "If I'm not holding something Fragile Mel will throw a plate at me."

Justin laughed and handed over the puppy. "Scared?"

"Careful." Brian corrected.

"There you are, late as usual-" Lindsay said when they walked into the back yard, only to go mute when she saw the puppy.

"That better be your fucking dog." Mel said.

Brian just smirked and crouched down in front of Gus when he waddled over. "Sonny boy, look what your old man brought you."

Gus looked at the puppy and mumbled something, then smiled when the puppy barked.

"Would you really say no to this?" Brian asked Mel.

"I will hang you by the balls one day." Mel sighed, but she couldn't help laughing fondly at the way Gus interacted with the puppy.

"I mean it's good for kids to grow up around animals." Lindsay said. "Where did you even get it?"

Justin was quick to explain. "Daphne's dog had puppies."

"And you just jumped at the opportunity." Mel crossed her arms in front of Brian.

Brian only pointed at the way Gus was giggling and cooing at the puppy.

"Oh fuck you." Mel had to smile at that. "But when you have to dog sit you have no right to whine."

Leda walked in and spotted the puppy immediately.

"This your doing?" She asked Brian.

Brian looked extremely proud of himself. "Who else is as brilliant?"

"You know what, I prefer the lesbians who knock down your ego." Justin laughed.

"Smart kid." Mel pointed at him, then looked at Leda. "And please don't encourage his nonsense."

Chapter Text

Despite everyone believing the agreement Brian and Justin had wouldn't last, it held up for years. Of course, there were bumps on the road, there were screaming matches, there were fights that lasted days on end, but they stayed together despite it all.

Despite Brian losing his job, despite the threat of a serial killer, despite even cancer, despite the time they lived on the relation Pittsburgh/New York.

However, while everyone didn't believe in them, everyone was still happy they made it. Or, it seemed everyone was happy, except Justin noticed Brian's friends all seemed slightly resentful. Mainly Michael, but Ted and Emmett weren't completely innocent either.

Once he brought it up to Lindsay she agreed with him, so he knew he wasn't just seeing things. Even Mel agreed with them, though it was hard for her to defend Brian in any capacity.

The three of them agreed it would be best not to meddle unless absolutely necessary, so they kept quiet. That, and they all knew Brian wouldn't appreciate being baby-ed in any sense.

But a person can only keep quiet for so long, and Justin snapped a few weeks later.

They were all at Woody's when Michael, after a few drinks, started taking dissecting the nickname 'Peter' Lindsay had used for Brian.

It had just been a comment brought on by Brian eyeing the new waiter, and Justin adding he wouldn't mind bringing the guy home with them for the night. Lindsay had called Brian 'Peter' in reference to Peter Pan, and Brian was amused to hear his college nickname used again.

"When you really think about it, maybe the whole 'Brian doesn't do boyfriends' thing was for the better."

"The fuck's that supposed to mean?" Justin snapped, he had been checking out the waiter, but turned to look at Michael, all previous amusement drained from his face.

"Nothing personal, I'm just saying."

"Just knock it off." Brian said.

Michael took a long sip of his beer. "Oh come on, all of a sudden it bothers you? Lindsay just called you Peter for fuck's sake."

Brian rolled his eyes. "As a joke."

"And it clearly bothers Justin." Lindsay took away his bottle. "And just because you and Ben had a fight doesn't mean you should try to stir up some nonsense. The nickname is endearing, and your comment is nasty."

"We didn't have a fight." Michael looked embarrassed.

Justin's phone rang, he checked it and saw it was Molly. He went outside to answer it since it was too loud inside. "Just a minute."

"Does he even-" Michael started again.

Brian let out a loud breath. "Which part of 'knock if off' don't you understand, Mikey?"

"Really, just leave it." Emmett agreed.

"Look, I'm aware it's a little harsh but it needs to be said. When did we all collectively decide to pretend Brian of all people could change?" Michael laughed, but nobody else did.

"That's a new low." Justin said from behind him, he had come back just in time to hear it.

"Didn't you go to answer the phone?" Ted asked.

"Molly called the wrong contact." Justin explained, but he was glaring at Michael.

"No, no. For fuck's sake." Brian got up to stop Justin from having a go at Michael, which he seemed ready to do. "That's it, we're going."

"I think we've seen enough too." Mel stood up.

"Really? And when Brian is being an asshole everyone just laughs?" Michael crossed his arms.

"You know what your problem is?" Justin snapped. "A few years ago you could only pass off as a decent person because you weren't like Brian, except at least he never pretended to be some saint. And now that things have changed you're pissy because you can't be relying oh his being this or that to make yourself look good in comparison."

"Sunshine, leave it." Brian took a hold of his arm and tried to direct him towards the door.

"Sunshine." Michael mimicked his tone.

"What are you? Six?" Brian asked him, that was immature even for his standards.

Michael snorted in a laugh. "And what are you? Suddenly a well rounded emotionally stable person?"

"Hey!" Brian stopped Justin when he made a swing at Michael. "Fuck him, let's go."

"Come on." Lindsay pulled Justin's arm and he finally moved towards the door.

"We'll drive you." Brian told her and Mel when they realized it was pouring outside.

As they drove off Mel couldn't hide how angry she was, she leaned onto Lindsay's shoulder. "And I thought you had a bad donor choice."

"Thank you for the ride, Brian." Brian remarked.

"Shut it. As much as I hate to admit it you've improved. With him it's only been downhill." Mel sighed.

"He's just drunk." Brian tried.

Lindsay put an arm around Mel, but looked at Brian in the review mirror. "Still. What he said was uncalled for."

"I've been called worse." He shrugged.

"Even if you have, your best friend shouldn't talk like that about you." Justin cut in.

"I'll live." Brain simply said.

Justin didn't push the topic until they were alone, but he knew the whole thing got to him at least a little.

When they stopped to drop off Lindsay and Mel, Gus was still awake and ran up to the window.

"Come inside for a bit." Lindsay suggested.

They did, and Gus ran up to Brian as soon as the door opened.

"I beat the new game you got me!" Gus yelled when Brian picked him up.

"Already?" Brian asked.

The dog, Thor, started jumping around them all. Meanwhile, the babysitter was talking to Mel about something, and Lindsay got to preparing JR for bed.

"Gus, did you walk Thor?" She asked, the rain had stopped by then.

"Not yet." Gus said and put down the gameboy he was showing Brian.

"We can go with him, while you put JR to sleep." Justin offered.

"If it's not trouble." Mel agreed.

"Sure." Brian said and put Gus down. "Go get your jacket."

Gus smiled ear to ear. "Okay."

"Thanks." Lindsay sighed with relief.

"Don't worry about it." Brian said.

"Let's go!" Gus came back with the leash.

"Come on." Brian helped him put the harness on Thor.

They went on a walk around the block, and Gus rambled on about his day.

"When can I have s sleepover at the loft again?" He asked after a while. "I want another movie night."

"Yeah? What movie you want to watch?"

"Jurassic park." Gus grinned. "Luke from the playground said it's the best."

"Luke knows what's up." Justin smiled.

Gus smiled. "So we can?"

"We'll talk to your moms." Brian promised.

Justin observed them, and he couldn't help feeling a little sad for Brian. He clearly loved Gus, that was evident, but the situation was beyond complicated. Brian had never wanted to be a father figure to Gus, maybe something like an uncle, and yet Justin remembered the night Gus was born, he was practically shoved into Brian's arms.

The whole thing was messed up, but Brian wasn't going to let Gus suffer the consequences.

Ultimately, Gus knew his 'parents' were Lindsay and Mel, but he still refered to Brian as 'dad' and wanted to spend time with him and Justin.

Back when Gus was still a baby, Brian had told Justin that while he didn't want to be a father, he was made one by the people around him forcing interaction with Gus and then taking it away, almost by force, but even if he was made a father figure to Gus against his will, he was never going to let the kid feel that from him.

If Brian trusted himself to do at least one thing right, it was to never make Gus feel the way his own father made him feel. He would never make Gus feel unwanted or unloved, because even Brain knew it wasn't the kid's fault things turned out the way they did.

Chapter Text

The next time they went to see Jennifer, she noticed right away something had happened. So she used her chance when Molly dragged Justin to her room to try and fix her CD player.

"You haven't made one snide remark since you got here." Jennifer told Brian as soon as they were alone.

"So this is where Justin gets it from." Brian said.

"Luckily he's all me." Jennifer agreed. "Spit it out."

"It's not about Justin." Brian assured her, knowing that that was the first thing anyone ever concluded.

"I know, because he's not off, so you're not fighting."

Brian shook his head. "You don't want to open that can of worms."

"Try me." Jennifer said.

"I'd rather not."

"Okay. Let's try this again." Jennifer sighed and crossed her arms. "Tell me what the hell is wrong because believe it or not the two of us are more similar than you'd think."

The look on Brian's face was one of utmost disbelief.

"I told you I had a pretty wild life back in college." Jennifer shrugged.

"I'll pass." Biran still didn't budge.

"Well, I need to get something off my chest and I fear out of all the people I know you're the most likely to get it." Jennifer went to get a drink.

That alone was unusual, since she usually never drank, and when she did it was wine, but this time she took a beer and handed Brian one.

"Me?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

Jennifer laughed. "Never thought I'd live to see the day, but yes."

"Go off, but it's on you if the world ends after." Brian took the beer from her and sat down on one of the bar stools in the kitchen.

"Well, here goes nothing." She sighed. "Justin told me about your father, and mine was much the same. He died a few weeks ago and I chose not to go to the funeral. Now I'm thinking maybe I should've gone, for closure."

"It wouldn't have been closure." Brian simply said. "The whole 'of the dead, speak nothing but good' thing is bullshit."

"Didn't you attend your father's funeral?"

"Out of obligation."

Jennifer nodded. "Did it mean anything to you in the end?"

"No." Brian confessed. "It was a grandiose show of people sobbing and pretending the man they're crying for was anything other than a drunk and a piece of shit."

"Still, from what Justin says you still weren't really all yourself in those few days. I haven't felt a thing since I got the call."

"That's because you had processed your shit like a functioning adult before your old man kicked the bucket." Brian explained. "Meanwhile I had an annoyingly pushy friend with a daddy fantasy."

Jennifer laughed at the truthful implication that Brian had been very emotionally stunted at the time his father had died. At least he could admit it. Brian laughed as well.

"You know, he once tried to project that onto Justin too."

"What?" Brain made a face. "When?"

"In the hospital. Justin hadn't woken up yet." Jennifer's tone was grim. "He had come to check if you were still there, and ran into me. Asked the usual, but then he asked about Craig."

Brian raised an eyebrow.

"I told him he hadn't been to see Justin once, and Michael had the audacity to tell me that maybe he just needed time."

"The little piece of shit."

"Mm-hm." Jennifer nodded. "That's why I couldn't really like him since. And why I was so shocked when Justin told me he'd be Melanie's donor."

Brian rolled his eyes. "And how gloriously that blew up in her face."

Jennifer scoffed. "Don't remind me. I'll confess I was very invested in that whole situation through Justin's intell."

"I think half the of the city's population was invested in that."

"I'll also admit, I've wormed it out of Justin how your process with Gus went." Jennifer took a sip. "And I thought that was messy until I found out about this."

"'Was' implies it's no longer messy." Brian laughed bitterly.

"But there's something worked out, isn't there?"

"There is, but only recently." Brian told her.

"And, sorry but I have to ask, what exactly is Justin to that boy?"

Brian thought about it for a bit. "I mean if you asked him he'd probably just say "dad's boyfriend" or something like that."

Jennifer nodded again. "Alright."

They heard Justin and Molly coming back downstairs, arguing and stomping.

"That thing is busted!" Justin yelled.

Molly was following him down the stairs, pointing a finger. "You said you could fix it!"

"I said maybe I could fix it!" Justin huffed. "Jesus I'll buy you a new one, your birthday is in a month anyway."

"And until then?" Molly gasped. "That's a whole month, Justin!"

"Well watch things downstairs!"

"Easy for you to say, you live with someone who likes good movies. Mom only wants to watch some nonsense. No offense mom."

Jennifer just rolled her eyes. "I thought you'd grown out of this."

"He said he'd fix it!" Molly proclaimed.

"I said I'd try to!" Justin argued.

"Enough!" Jennifer yelled at the top of her lungs. "Jesus. Molly, you'll survive for a month, Justin, don't argue with your sister."

Justin's attention had already moved on to something else though, the way Brain and his mom were sat on the bar stools and sharing a beer. "What parallel universe did I end up in? Since when are you and my mom this buddy-buddy?"

"I'm full of surprises." Brian shrugged.

"Is one of those surprises being good with technology?" Molly tried.

Justin snorted in a laugh. "Brian just buys new stuff when something gets broken. He doesn't do trying to fix it."

"That's how stuff works." Brian argued. "You buy it, you use it, it breaks, you buy a new one."

Molly laughed.

"Tucker will see if he can do anything when he comes back." Jennifer told her.

"Tucker, on the other hand, will try to fix anything even when it's falling apart." Molly informed Brain, sounding annoyed.

Brian laughed.

"I prefer your way of thinking." Molly sighed and sat down next to Justin. "Not everyone gets a sugar daddy for a boyfriend."

Justin burst out laughing at that, and Brian made a face but couldn't fight the laughter.

"No, no, no. I mean it." Molly was laughing as well. "The only difference is he's still young."

"You get a new CD player before your birthday for that." Brian lit up.

"For real?!"

"Brian." Jennifer sighed. "You can't be-"

"Name the model." Brian ignored both her and Justin protesting.

Molly cheered. "Sweet!"

"Go on, add onto his ego." Justin chuckled.

Brian's day was made, however, and he ended up buying Molly the CD player the very next day.

Justin wished he could take credit for putting Molly up to flatter Brain in order to get what she wanted, or at least that Molly through of it herself, but she was being completely genuine.

That gave Brain and ego boost of the decade, and having gotten her CD player, Molly grew to like Brian even more than she did previously.

Brain had always been pretty cool in her opinion, and she was one of the very few children who Brain didn't consider annoying.

Despite seeing Brian's ego grow before his eyes, Justin really enjoyed seeing Brain get along so well with his mom and sister. Especially since Molly was at the age where everyone and everything was corny in her opinion.

Chapter Text

The movie night Gus had asked for was arranged a few days later, and Brian called for the cleaning lady to come do an extra shift. Nothing too crazy happened, but he still didn't want any overlooked mess to be found by Gus on accident.

Mel came to drop him off in the morning, along with Thor, whom she let run into the loft as soon as Brian opened the door. "You had the cleaning lady over?"

"Yesterday. Spotless." Brian promised and took Gus' backpack from her. "Unless you want that written down."

"Hi, Mel." Justin said from behind her. He had just come back from the blockbusters with three movies.

Mel smiled, but then eyed the stack of movies in his hands. "Brian-"

"I don't have pron tapes laying around." Brain sighed. "I don't need that, remember?"

"Whatever, just making sure." Mel said. "I have to go. Oh and if he gets scared-"

"We'll change the damn movie. It's not the first time he's here." Brian leaned against the door.

"Okay, okay." Mel laughed.

"See you, mom!" Gus yelled from the couch.

"See you, baby." Mel blew him a kiss before leaving.

"Bye." Brian closed the door behind her.

Gus took his backpack from Brian to pull out a dinosaur encyclopedia. "Look, I'll find every dinosaur we see in the movie."

"In that case let's set it up and you go pick out a snack." Brian smiled.

Justin had already started putting the movie on, so Brian went to close the blinds. Thor was circling around Justin and the DVD player curiously.

"Can I?" Gus pointed at the sodas in the fridge.

"Sure." Brian said, he was aware Lindsay usually doesn't let him drink those, but one or two wouldn't do any harm. "Just don't tell your mom."

"Responsible." Justin laughed.

"Who watches a movie without coke?" Brian rolled his eyes and went to help Gus reach everything. "Which one do you want, sonny-boy?"

"Coke." Gus grinned.

"See?" Brian told Justin, then took two more for them, and let Gus carry the bowl of popcorn.

"Uh-huh." Justin just laughed.

They settled onto the couch, Gus between the two of them with his encyclopedia, and Brian reached over to put an arm around Justin. Thor sniffed around the loft for some time before laying down on an ottoman.

Brian wanted to protest that Lindsay and Mel let the dog onto the furniture so he now jumped around, but Mel had reminded him he got Gus the dog, so he had to put up with it. Especially considering Gus couldn't sleep without Thor at the bottom of his bed.

While Gus got a little scared by the few jump scares in the movie, he watched the whole thing with wide eyes. Every now and then he'd shuffle through the pages of his book to find a new dinosaur, then compare the facts from the book to the thing on screen.

Justin, having had a dinosaur phase himself, even gave him a few facts that weren't in the book, and promised to make Gus a poster with his favourite dinosaurs for his room.

After the first movie was over they ordered something for lunch. Indian, per Gus' wish.

While they waited Gus was rambling on about dinosaurs, convincing them he wasn't even that scared.

The second and third movie weren't as good(at least in Justin's opinion), but Gus loved them both. However, by the end of the third one he was fighting to stay awake, so as soon as it finished he was out cold.

"So much about a sugar rush from a soda." Brian said as him and Justin cleaned up.

"Stop gloating." Justin chuckled.

Brian smiled. "Sometimes it's like you don't know me at all."

"I know you better than you know yourself."

"Then what makes you think I'll stop?"

"Call it foolish hope." Justin said. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"

"We'll drop Gus off in the morning, after that I got a meeting. Evening's free." Brian listed.

Justin sat up on the counter. "Wanna go out?"

"Asking as if he doesn't know the answer already." Brian put his arms on either side of Justin, caging him there.

"Just checking you're not too old yet." Justin provoked.

"You didn't seem to remember my age yesterday." Brian whispered.

"Get a hold of yourself." Justin glanced towards where Gus was asleep.

"See there's the thing, I can control myself just fine." Brian was away from him in a second.

"Asshole." Justin huffed.

"Already established that, Sunshine."

Chapter Text

Michael was glaring daggers at Justin when they saw each other next, it was a morning at the diner, after a night out.

"What, no Wendy?" He asked without looking up from his breakfast.

"You're acting like a child." Brian said and sat down.

"Yeah, has been for the past week." Emmett sounded exhausted.

"Where's Ted?" Justin asked.

"Arguing with some guy who scratched his car last night." Debbie pointed through the window, where Ted was yelling at someone.

"Where's Daphne?" Emmett asked.

"Stuck in traffic, she'll be here." Justin told him.

Michael mumbled something but was ignored.

Emmett moved the conversation along instead. "So, found anyone fun last night?"

Justin grinned. "Remember the new waiter at Woody's?"

"At least someone had fun then." Emmett said. "Meanwhile I was stuck on the phone listening to this one over here whine."

"Would you shut it?" Michael said.

Justin made a face at his nonsense but kept quiet.

Daphne came in just then and slit into the booth, sitting next to Justin. "Go sit in your man's lap, it's crowded like this. Hi, Brian."

"Hi, Daphne." Brain returned.

Justin laughed and started poking her side. "You didn't seem to mind a crowd last night."

"Oh my God!" Daphne's eyes sparkled. "I forgot to tell you. Call me Casanova because the thing I said to this one girl is literally the best thing that's ever come out of my mouth."

"Go on." Justin smiled expectedly.

"Great. Here's to another Peter and Wendy." Michael mumbled.

"Ignore him." Brian told her.

"Anyway." Daphne listened to his advice and went back to her story. "So this girl is dancing with me and it's all the usual, we're talking a little and then she tells me she likes my lipgloss. I ask her if she wants some and she says sure, starts going to the bathroom, right? I kiss her and ask if she wants some more."

Justin laughed with her. "And? What did you take her home or?"

"She took me home, actually." Daphne grinned. "That's why I got stuck in traffic. But it was so worth it."

She dug through her bag and found a pink sticky note.

"Let's see that." Justin took it and read out loud. "Had to run to work, emergency. Sorry you woke up alone, call me so I can make up for it. And a number."

"Where does she work that it was so urgent?" Emmett asked.

"She's a nurse." Daphne explained.

"Ah."

"You're calling her." Justin stated.

"Duhh? I'm not an idiot." Daphne took back the note. "I'll call tonight."

"I expect a report." Justin said.

Debbie put their plates onto the counter. "Sunshine, chop chop. Just because you don't work here anymore doesn't mean you can't help out."

"Chop chop." Daphne laughed.

"Chop chop, get up." Justin poked her ribs to get her to let him get out of the booth.

"Also, about last night. Look here." Daphne scooted closer to Brian to show him a photo she had taken the previous night, she turned on the camera.

"I told you I saw a flash." Justin told Brian before going to grab the plates.

Brian just waved him off jokingly and looked at what Daphne was showing him. It was a shot of him and Justin in a crowd. They were close together, with Brian leaning down slightly to hear something Justin was saying. Somehow only their faces were clear, it looked like a shot from a movie. "This is pretty good."

"Let me see." Justin leaned over her to take a look. "Wait that's amazing, when did you take that?"

"Just before I went home with that girl." Daphne smiled proudly.

"Do you have enough photos to go print?" Justin asked, going back for the rest of the plates.

"I'll go and get them printed tomorrow." Daphne assured.

"Thanks." Justin winked and sat back down.

Michael laughed out loud. "Are you expecting Brian to let you hang that up or something?"

"Not that it's any of your business but I'm going to put it in my studio-"

"You know what, Sunshine." Brian cut him off while making eye contact with Michael. "Put it wherever the fuck you want. Above the bed if you feel like it."

The open display of affection(and from Brian that was affection) made the whole table go silent.

The thing was, Justin knew Brian loved those blue lights above the bed, and he'd never remove them even if he was technically free to do so. But the others didn't know that. Michael didn't know that.

What everyone at that table just heard was that Brian gave Justin free reign of his sacred space. It gave Justin a high better than any drug.

"Whatever. You're just saying that to piss me off." Michael was the first one to speak.

Ignoring that, Justin just leaned in to whisper to Brian. "For this, I'll give you a blowjob so good you're going to start believing in God."

Brian laughed. "That a promise, Sunshine?"

"You've got my word." Justin smiled and turned back to Daphne to look through the rest of the photos.

"You're serious?" Emmett asked.

Brian looked at him and shrugged. "It's his place too."

Justin was absolutely beaming. The fact that Brian was so casual with the fact that the loft was theirs, that Justin could do whatever he wanted there. He said it like it had always been like that, like it was meant to be like that.

"If you didn't have ears your smile would wrap around your head twice, Sunshine." Debbie remarked happily.

"Okay, so life is unfair as fuck." Emmett joked.

"True, but what makes you say it now?" Ted came to take his place again.

"This." Emmett pointed his fork at Brian. "I mean come on. The only man alive who got to have his cake and eat it too."

"How is that?" Daphne asked.

"Really?" Ted snorted. "Okay let's go from the top, had a bang ass college life, made it big all by himself in the workplace, shit never sticks to him, proceeded to redefine promiscuity, somehow bagged an actual ray of sunshine, got to keep his god like status all around the clubs, the aforementioned ray of sunshine not only enables but encourages his continuously growing body count, he's the same age as us and despite all of the old man jokes there's not a single wrinkle on his goddamn face, his hair is the same as it was back in college meanwhile we're struggling to hide receding hairlines, need I continue?"

"No thanks." Daphne lifted a hand to stop him. "Only caught half of that but, point taken."

Just then Ben walked in, he had gone to drop Hunter off at work before coming back.

"Let's go." Michael got up as soon as he saw him.

"Go where?" Ben questioned.

"Anywhere but here, honestly."

Ben looked around the table. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing, really. Same bullshit he's been mad about for a week." Justin told him.

"Like I said." Michael grabbed Ben's arm. "We're leaving."

"Just ignore it. He'll calm down." Brian told Justin.

And Justin did ignore it, since it wasn't unusual for Michael and Brian to be like that every so often.

The photo Daphne had snapped of them ended up in Justin's studio, but just the knowledge that he could put it in the loft if he wanted to gave Justin a sense of satisfaction.

What gave him the best high of his life, was finding the same picture taped to the inside of Brian's closet door. There were always a few pictures there, some with Lindsay from their college days, some of Gus, one or two with his friends. And newly, the photo of them, along with one of Justin's older sketches.