Brian felt like a complete asshole lying about this, especially after Justin's little encomium about his honesty, but Justin had acknowledged that Brian had been guilty of lies of omission, and he didn't seem to mind. Brian just needed more information before he said anything to Justin. He needed to know exactly what Ted had seen. Had Ian made all the tapes available for public consumption or just one? What distribution channel(s) had he used? Was it possible to put the kibosh on whatever method had been used to release the tape(s)? If Brian couldn't stop this, he needed to do some damage control. He hoped that, at the very least, he could prevent the rest of the tapes from ever being seen.

No, telling Justin at this point was out of the question. Brian was a natural-born problem solver. How could he reassure Justin if he didn't have enough facts to determine a solution? A plan of attack? So Brian shook his head when Justin turned toward him, with a concerned look in his eyes, and inquired, "What's wrong?"

"Ted just needs me to look at something. He runs a porn Web site, and he encountered something problematic."

Justin smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, he runs a porn site? That explains some of his comments at dinner."

Brian smirked. "It explains a hell of a lot more than that, Sunshine."

Justin smiled even more brightly.

"So I'd better go take a look. I shouldn't be more than an hour or two."

Justin sighed. "Okay." Then his eyes lit up. "You know, this is good. I should do some writing anyway. I have an idea for a new story."

Brian shook his head in wonder. After everything that had happened with Ethan, how could Justin be so hopeful? "Have you always been a glass-half-full kind of person?"

Justin shook his head and looked down. "Well, I used to be, but then…things happened…my recovered optimism is a very recent development." With that, he looked up and beamed at Brian. Brian had brought light back into his life, and Justin wasn't shy about sharing that. He needed Brian to know how wonderful Justin thought, knew, he was.

Brian grimaced inwardly. He didn't want anything to dim the light he saw in Justin's eyes or to erase his soft, blissful smile. So he planted a passionate kiss on Justin's lips (causing Justin to moan), quickly dressed (causing Justin to pout cutely), kissed Justin again (this time eliciting a warm laugh), and then ran out the door.

*************

Brian had been gone an hour when the phone rang, jolting Justin back to reality (he'd been deeply embroiled in a new story, one about a seemingly cold, but heroic hazel-eyed man who falls madly in love with a young blue-eyed blond that he serendipitously saves from a gun-toting stalker).

Justin was kind of hoping that it was Brian calling, although he would have been happy with it being anyone other than Michael. Turned out, it was Lindsay. She was trying to sound cheery, but Justin could hear the strain in her voice. "Hi, Justin, is Brian there?"

Not knowing what he was saying, as he was not familiar with Brian-Fucking-Kinney speak, he replied, "No, something came up. He had to go out for a little while."

Lindsay sighed. Brian would never grow up, would he? "He's tricking? Well I guess that makes sense after that debacle of a dinner…"

Justin's eyes shot open. "No, no. He went to Ted's."

That was surprising. Ted was little more than Brian's favorite target (for witty slights), well, from Brian's perspective anyway.

"So Brian isn't at Babylon drinking and fucking?"

"Uh…no…"

"Huhn."

Lindsay seemed almost disappointed. Did she enjoy viewing Brian as a slut? Chastising him for clubbing and tricking, but secretly envying his freedom? Or maybe she just liked having Brian to run down. Perhaps it made her feel like a good person. Justin prodded gently, "What?"

"Well, it's just…whenever something bad happens, whenever Brian's really wounded, he usually drinks himself into oblivion, all the while fucking and sucking tons of nameless, faceless men. That's always been his form of pain management."

Justin didn't know whether to smile (not so much smile as grin like a fool) or frown. He hated that drinking and tricking had been Brian's coping method before Justin had met him, but he was thrilled beyond belief that Brian no longer needed to do that. Brian was upset by his fight with Mel, sure, but, by the time he had left for Ted's, he seemed to have forgotten all about it. The idea that Justin was Brian's new coping method made him feel a little high and made him want to do a happy dance. He thought, "What the hell?" and started dancing, doing a little spin and wiggling his butt. His smile could have blinded all of Pittsburgh.

Unbeknownst to Justin, as he was facing away from the door and completely focused on his conversation with Lindsay, Brian had returned, just in time to see some butt wiggling. Brian smiled, but didn't bring Justin's attention to his arrival. He was curious to know what had Justin dancing.

Justin hid his happiness and surprise well. After a few moments of smiling and shaking it, he replied simply, "Oh." He was dying to tell Lindsay that Brian no longer tricked, but he didn't think it was her business. What he and Brian shared was no one's business but their own.

Lindsay sighed again. "Well, I'm glad that Brian is behaving tonight, but could you tell him to take it easy on the drinking and tricking? Mel's looking for any excuse to revoke Brian's visitation, you know. Oh hell, what am I saying? It's not like Brian ever listens. You can't tell him anything."

She sighed yet again. Justin shook his head. This was someone Brian had known for years and the mother of his son, yet she seemed to know very little about Brian and, worse yet, to have zero faith in him. No wonder Brian thought he was just a pretty face (well, and a hot body and a phenomenal lover). No wonder he thought he was worth so little. Justin suddenly hated Lindsay. He doubted that he would have an impact on her, but he still felt duty bound to try. "Well, you know what an incredible father he is, right? How wonderful he is with Gus?"

Brian stiffened.

"Yes, of course."

"Why isn't that enough? You're Gus's birth mother. You should have a major say in who spends time with Gus. Plus, whatever Brian may have signed, he is still Gus's birth father. Courts tend to favor natural parents. Birth mothers are increasingly being awarded custody or partial custody of their children even when they only agreed to be surrogates or when they opted to give their children up for adoption. And men's groups have been increasingly advocating for fathers' rights. If Mel tried to prevent Brian from seeing Gus, he'd probably be in an excellent position to sue for custody or, at least, visitation."

Brian couldn't help but be impressed by how knowledgeable Justin seemed (and pleased at how forceful Justin was being on his behalf).

Lindsay stammered, "Uh…I…um. Yeah, but Brian's hardly a pillar of the community. He's never had a real relationship, and he's not very responsible."

Justin was furious. How could Lindsay be so blind? Justin had known Brian a paltry two weeks, yet he had already observed what a loving, protective man he was. From the one visit with Gus Justin had witnessed (and the way Brian had described their previous visit), Justin could easily perceive how much Brian loved his son, how much he cared about his son's well-being. The fact that Brian owned sex toys, that Brian had previously gone out frequently, that Brian had been a huge slut, reflected not one bit on his parenting ability. Even if Brian were still whoring around and drinking himself into oblivion on occasion, he would never expose Gus to that.

"Do you really believe that Brian would ever hurt Gus?"

Brian's eyes widened. What the hell had brought that out?

"Well, no. No. Of course not! Especially not with his past…"

Her last comment gave Justin pause, but he didn't want to pry. Brian would tell him about, Justin guessed, his childhood when he was ready.

Instead, he pressed, "Then why does it matter whether he's a pillar of the community? He loves Gus and would never hurt him, and I highly doubt he'd ever trick or drink himself into oblivion around Gus."

"Well, no. I didn't mean to suggest that he would."

"Then I don't see why he needs to 'behave.' (Brian quirked an eyebrow. He had suspected as much early on, but now, he knew Justin must be talking to Lindsay.) Why should he be anyone other than he is to please Mel? (Brian couldn't help but smile, though he looked down. He didn't want to risk Justin turning around and seeing the vulnerability in his eyes.) Clearly, you thought he'd make a good father, or you wouldn't have asked him to be the sperm donor and then encouraged him to be a part of Gus's life. Mel's problem with him seems to be personal, based on jealousy over you. It's not exactly fair for that to affect Brian's rights to his son."

Brian thought, "You tell her, Buttercup!" He wondered how Justin could ever have believed that he lacked courage.

"Well, I…But he baits her! He insinuated that Mel was a bad mother and that she couldn't take care of her family. No, her feelings about him shouldn't dictate whether Brian gets to see his son, but he makes a bad situation worse by taunting her."

"Uh…I seem to recall two people taunting each other. In fact, Mel was the one who started the fight. Maybe you should tell Mel to behave."

Brian's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he was suddenly filled with the urge to push Justin up against a pillar and fuck him into tomorrow, well, or suck his cock so masterfully that he lost consciousness. Lindsay was stunned into silence.

Justin continued, "In fact, maybe you should behave…"

"What????"

Brian bit his lip to stifle a laugh.

"People take cues from the people close to them. You clearly have little faith in Brian. You seem to believe that Brian is incapable of loving another person and that he can't be counted on when it really matters. Mel called Brian 'an arrogant and heartless overgrown child with absolutely no morals.' But perhaps Mel got that impression from you. Granted, I'm sure Brian has said and done things that don't cast him in the greatest light…but if you showed Mel that you truly have faith in Brian, if you told her you believed that he has the ability to genuinely love and care for others, and not just Gus, maybe she wouldn't hate him so much. Maybe she'd see that he is an incredibly giving person, even if he doesn't broadcast his good deeds for all to hear."

"Well I never!" With that, she hung up. What a petulant little fuck! Brian was definitely going to hear about this.

Justin burst out laughing. Part of it was tension release. But most of it was simple joy. He had no idea how he'd mustered up the courage to say the things he had, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Lindsay needed to hear them. He shook his head and stated softly, "I guess love really does make you do crazy things…"

"Indeed it does, Sunshine…"

Justin whirled around, and he turned white. "Oh God. How long have you been standing there?"

Brian smiled softly. "Long enough to know that you deserve to have your world rocked."

Justin giggled and flushed in anticipation as Brian stalked toward him, in full predator mode, his eyes burning with desire.