He still couldn’t believe that things had gotten so far out of control. That he had to resort to going to court in order to retain custody of his son. Brian had been sure that, once things were put out into the open where they could be no longer denied, that Lindsay and Melanie would work with him to make sure that Gus was happy. He hadn’t wanted to take Gus away from his mothers, he knew how much the little boy loved the two women. Brian had hoped to work things out with the two women that would make everyone happy, but instead, the only thing that happened that the group of friends that were like a family to him was so divided that one half wasn’t even talking to the other. And now he was expecting the half that was still talking to him and Justin in a little over an hour.
Earlier in the day, Lindsay had come over to the house to see Gus. She had hoped that she would be able to take the little boy back to the home she shared with Melanie and Annie and had been upset when Brian told her no. Brian had told her that she could take Gus for a couple of hours that afternoon, wanting her to promise to have him home before his and Justin’s guests would arrive. Lindsay had been unable to promise that, having wanted to have Gus stay for the weekend, saying that she would take their son to school on Monday. Once she realized that Brian wouldn’t budge on his refusal, she stayed for a few more minutes, visiting Gus, before making her excuses and leaving in a huff. Gus was so upset by his mother’s visit, and abrupt exit, that it had taken Brian and Justin almost thirty minutes to calm him down.
“Are you okay?” A gentle voice asked from behind at the same time that Brian felt his lover’s arm wrap themselves around his waist.
“Fine,” Brian told him. “Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Things.” Justin smiled at Brian’s answer. He was used to his lover’s tendency to downplay what was going on in his head.
“Anything in particular? Just wondering when things will go back to normal.” Justin knew instantly what Brian was thinking about. He also knew that as long as he stayed quiet that there was a good chance that Brian would eventually tell him what was wrong. His patience was rewarded a few minutes later when Brian finally answered his question.
“I thought things would be different now,” Brian said. “That once they saw what was happening with Gus that things would change. Get better. That the munchers would realize that things couldn’t continue the way they have been, but it’s still the same. They’ll admit that they fucked up but somehow it’s still my fault. I’m the one to blame because they can’t treat my son the way he should be treated. And, for some reason, it’s okay for them to treat Gus like shit just because he’s my son and I’m just supposed to sit back and take it. Not do anything to make it better because I’m just the heartless shit that doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than getting my dick sucked.”
“Not everyone thinks that,” Justin corrected. “Emmett and Ben certainly don’t. They supported you through out this whole thing. So have Vic and Rodney. Even Michael did the best he could although we could all tell that Mel was trying to get him to choose her and Lindsay because of Annie. They were holding that little girl over his head to the point that I wouldn’t be surprised if he had decided to take them to court to make sure that they don’t keep Annie away from him.”
“That will never happen,” Brian told him. “No matter what happens, Mikey is too nice of a guy to do that to the girls, especially considering what Debbie’s reaction would likely be.”
“Speaking of Debbie, do you know if she’s coming tonight? You sent her an invitation, didn’t you?”
“Yes, dear,” the brunet drawled, “I sent her an invitation. Even called and left a message on her machine like a good little boy but she never replied. Other than her saying that I was a complete asshole for taking Gus away from his mothers, I haven’t heard from her since the trial ended.”
“So that’s one person that probably won’t be showing up tonight.”
“Who knows with her. She might show up just to make sure that I haven’t done anything too evil to Gus yet. Make sure that he’s still alive and healthy.” Justin tightened his arms around his lover.
“Bri, no mater what she might say, Debbie knows that you would never do anything to hurt Gus.” Anything else that Justin might have said was interrupted by someone ringing the doorbell.
“Ten dollars says that’s Mikey,” Brian groaned. “Probably wanting to make sure everything was okay before anyone else showed up.”
“I’m not taking that bet,” Justin said, heading for the front door. “Especially because I know you’re probably right.” Justin opened the door to find Michael, Ben and Hunter standing there. “Hey guys, come on in.”
“Hey Boy Wonder,” Michael said, walking into the house, followed closely by his lover and their foster son, both looking around the house in wonder. While Michael had been by the house once before, to talk to Justin about Rage, it was the first time that Ben and Hunter had seen the home.
“Nice place,” Hunter said, leering when he noticed Brian join the group. “I wouldn’t mind living here.”
“Not happening, Mikey Junior,” Brian stated, accepting the hug his best friend offered him. “I already have one child living with me, I don’t need another.”
“I wasn’t thinking of living here as a child,” the teen said, causing everyone to laugh. The men were all used to Hunter’s flirting with Brian and they all took it in stride since he no longer took it to the extremes that he had when Hunter had first met the advertising executive. Hunter had even begun to form a friendship with Justin, the blond man being the closest in the group to his own age, and had stopped insulting the man that had won Brian’s heart. It had made the get togethers among the family easier to deal with, that was until the custody case.
“Speaking of children,” Michael said, smacking his foster son on the side of his head, “where is Gus?”
“Upstairs taking a nap,” Brian told him as he led the men into the kitchen where Justin went back to setting up some of the snacks they were going to put out for their guests. “He had a visitor earlier and it didn’t go as good as it could have.”
“What do you mean? Who came over?”
“Lindsay,” the brunet answered bluntly. “She wanted to take Gus for the weekend, even though it meant that there was a good chance that she would end up living him alone with Mel. She wasn’t too happy when I told her no.”
“I can imagine,” Michael said, having a good idea of exactly how the blonde woman had reacted. In the time since the Judge’s decision, the two women had taken it upon themselves to vent about it to the store owner whenever he stopped to visit his daughter. Justin looked between the two friends and could tell that they needed to talk about something.
“Guys, why don’t I show you the house,” Justin offered to Ben and Hunter, both of whom took him up on it and left the two friends alone in the kitchen.
“Seems the Boy Wonder decided to give us some alone time,” Michael joked.
“Yeah, he does seem to know what I need without my having to tell him anything,” Brian observed. “I’m sorry, Mikey.” The brunet looked at his oldest friend in shock, confused. He had no idea why Brian was apologizing to him.
“For what?”
“I know this hasn’t been easy on you,” the ad exec explained. “You were put in the middle of this whole thing and that was something that I didn’t mean to happen. I’m sure that your mother and the girls didn’t make things easy for you. I know they wanted you to basically tell me to go to hell because of what a bastard I am.”
“True, but I do have a mind of my own, even if it doesn’t seem that way sometimes,” Michael stated. “I knew that you were only doing what you had to do to make sure that Gus was okay. And you did what you could to make sure that you didn’t put me in the middle.”
“But you still got put there,” Brian pointed out. “Hunter told Justin about how Melanie tried to keep Annie away from you if you didn’t say you would testify for them.”
“And she backed down as soon as I told her that I wouldn’t,” he rebuked. “They know that I wasn’t going to get involved in this thing because I didn’t want to risk my own family, and that’s exactly what I did. I stayed out of it. But I do have to tell you, Ma hasn’t made it easy, especially since Uncle Vic moved in with Rodney.”
“I can only imagine,” Brian snorted. “We invited her. For tonight.”
“I know. She told me today when I was in the diner,” Michael explained. “She told me how surprised she was that you wanted her to come. She figured that you wouldn’t want her anywhere near your new place, especially now that Gus is living here.”
“I take it that means that she isn’t coming.”
“Actually,” Michael began just as the door bell rang. “I wouldn’t go that far.