A/N: Feedback = know everyone is probably busy with holiday stuff, and I certainly understand being busy … but I haven't been getting much feedback on any of my stories in the last few weeks … so if you have even just a minute … a line or two would be greatly appreciated. It keeps me motivated.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Gus was at this point completely hidden under the comforter. He stage whispered, "Don't answer it, daddy! It's the Dark Queen! She's gonna get us!"

Justin patted Gus on the head. "It's not the Dark Queen. We're safe. I promise." His tone was light and reassuring, but the look on his face was one of terror. He didn't really believe what he was saying. He was fairly certain the person on the other side of the door WAS in fact the Dark Queen, and he kind of wanted to hide under the comforter with Gus.

Brian cleared his throat to stop himself from laughing. Justin's eyes were wide, and his face all pink. Brian ruffled Justin's hair, like he might have done to Gus's, and sauntered over to the door. He, too, expected that the visitor was Daphne, but he was much more confident now that they had all the sex tapes and, more importantly, an ally.

So he actually gaped when he slid the door open. It was not Daphne.

It was Emmett, Ted, Debbie, and even Mikey. Three of the four wore bright smiles. Scary bright smiles. And their eyes were wide.

Emmett had apparently been elected the speaker for the group. He lifted his hands up and threaded his fingers together, as though he were praying, turned his head a little to the side, and even batted his eye lashes. Then he purred, "Hi, Brian! So … ummm … we were wondering if the illustrious author is at home."

"You do realize it's not even 10 am."

Emmett, Ted, and Debbie all nodded, a little apologetically.

"Have you heard of this great invention? It's called a telephone. It allows you to speak to a person even if he is VERY FAR AWAY. Then you can ask what he's doing … if he's available …"

Emmett scrunched his nose cutely. "Sorry. I guess we just got excited."

Brian sighed. Then he backed up and flourished expansively toward the bedroom. "By all means, come in." His words sounded welcoming, but his tone did not.

In a falsetto, Brian called to Justin, "Honey, you have visitors."

Justin narrowed his eyes. Visitors plural. He hadn't expected Daphne to bring Kayla. Daphne thought Justin was signing his rights to her away. Bringing her would make no sense. He turned to see two grinning faces (Emmett's and Debbie's), one amused face (Ted's), and one frowning face (Mikey's).

Justin smiled in confusion. "Hi!" Then he whispered to Gus, "It's safe to come out. No Dark Queen."

Gus threw the blanket down and popped up. "No?"

Justin shook his head. "Nope."

When Gus saw the newcomers, he squealed, jumped down from the bed, and ran into the living room.

Justin followed, but slowly. Even in the safety of the loft, he was still uncomfortable among crowds. In fact, he skirted the crowd (fortunately, they were distracted by Gus) and headed for the kitchen, where he busied himself making coffee.

Brian, perceiving Justin's discomfort, followed him into the kitchen and posted himself on the far side of the kitchen island as sort of a protective barrier between Justin and everyone else.

He directed the visitors to sit at the table and even delivered their coffee. Only Gus was permitted through the invisible barrier. But he had found the drawing paper and colored pencils. So he sat down in the living room and started drawing the characters from his dad's story (well, how he imagined them anyway).

Justin was much more relaxed with his big red mug (filled with coffee) in front of him and the island and Brian between him and the visitors.

Unsurprisingly, Debbie was the one to lay their cards on the table (that is to say, the one to articulate the purpose of their visit). She grinned and rubbed her hands together in excitement. She asked, "So, now that Innocence is nearly done, do you have any idea what your next story will be about?"

Justin's eyes widened. "What?" He'd promised to share the link to his Web site with them, but he'd 'forgotten.' He was hoping that they had only been trying to be nice (showing interest in Brian's boyfriend's writing) and had never meant to become members.

Brian cleared his throat and turned toward Justin but did not look at him. "I may have sent them a link."

Justin closed his eyes tightly and let his head fall. His face burned. When he looked back up, he exclaimed mournfully, "Brian! Why?"

Brian shrugged. "They wouldn't leave me alone." Then he took a sip of his coffee and turned a little more toward the table.

None of the visitors had heard this exchange. In fact, Emmett, Debbie, and Ted had been bickering amongst themselves.

Finally, Emmett expressed his complaint (the one he'd been sharing with Debbie, none to patiently) to Justin, "Wait, wait, wait! Let's talk about Innocence first. Are you going to do a final episode for the high school years?" He smiled hopefully.

Surprisingly (to everyone but Justin, who didn't really know him yet), Ted asked eagerly, "Are Aidan and James getting engaged?"

Justin turned a little redder thinking of his latest chapter, but this warmth was not entirely discomfort.

Mikey objected, quite strongly, "I don't think they should!"

This surprised both Brian and Justin. Neither had expected him to read a single word Justin had written.

Emmett gestured wildly and shook his head in incredulity, "What? Why?"

Mikey crossed his arms. "Aidan is better wild and free."

Debbie laughed. "What is he a cheetah?"

Emmett gave Mikey 'the hand' and turned away in disgust. "He was MISERABLE like that!"

"At least before he was bad-ass!"

Debbie smacked Mikey in the back of the head. She chastised, "Language!" and nodded toward Gus, who as luck would have it seemed completely absorbed in his drawing.

"Sorry."

Emmett sighed. "Michael, being cool is NOT a goal an adult should have. I mean, come on. That's so high school."

Ted nodded. "Your reputation won't keep you warm at night."

Emmett asked softly, "Don't YOU want to find someone to settle down with?"

Mikey laughed nervously. "Well, of course."

Debbie drove Emmett's point home. "Then why shouldn't Aidan?"

Mikey, not comfortable being put on the spot, turned bright red. "Well … you know … some guys aren't the marrying kind." He scoffed, "God! Could you imagine? Aidan telling a bedtime story about princesses and castles?"

Brian cleared his throat and exchanged a glance with Justin. Justin smiled brightly.

Mikey was completely oblivious. He barreled on, "Or Aidan sharing his feelings? Mowing a lawn? Or uh all tucked in with James reading a book before bed?" He started giggling. "Wearing glasses … so stupid. Or going to a PTA meeting? It's beyond ridiculous!"

Emmett smiled a naughty smile and glanced over at Brian. "Brian, what do YOU think? Should Aidan settle down?" He waggled his eye brows for good measure.

Brian put all of his energy into keeping his face completely expressionless. "My opinion doesn't matter. We should ask Justin. Aidan and James are his characters living in the world he created for them."

Emmett nodded. "True. So Justin?"

Justin swallowed hard. "I don't think Aidan … uh … that is … what makes a person interesting isn't WHAT he does but HOW he does it. I can't imagine Aidan's ' sex talk' for example will be as uninformative and boring as the one my father gave me. He said, 'You know where everything goes? Good. Don't get anyone pregnant.'"

That got a few laughs. BUT they didn't know about Kayla. Brian cleared his throat and shot Justin an amused glance. Justin turned pink (well pinker).

"And, as for mowing the lawn, Aidan's more likely to hire some hot muscley guy to do it than do it himself. And you know…set out lawn chairs for him and James to watch."

Emmett nodded in approval. "There you go."

Mikey complained, "Please tell me that he'd at least …" he paused and looked over at Gus before continuing "'enjoy' the lawn mower guy."

Justin flushed. "What?"

Mikey narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "You can't really expect us to believe that Aidan will be happy 'enjoying' just James for the rest of his life. I mean, come on. Honestly, I don't think any guy would be happy like that. Most guys most of the time, okay yeah maybe. But even they will want to 'enjoy' someone new once in a while. We can't help it. It's in our DNA. Like … we need to spread our seed around. But Aidan? I can't see it at all."

Emmett, Ted, and Debbie suddenly found their coffee cups interesting.

Brian sighed. He knew he should say something, but he didn't really know what to say. He'd promised fidelity, and so far, that had been going well, but he was nervous about 'the down the road.'

Turns out he didn't need to say anything at all. Justin's eyes flashed. "I don't buy evolutionary psychology. Not for one second. If one of its core ideas is that men, ALL men, are incapable of monogamy because monogamy decreases reproductive success … on its face, that's BULL."

Brian laughed (so suddenly that he nearly choked on his coffee). Emmett giggled. Ted's eyes widened.

"That idea doesn't account for gayness. About 15% of every animal population is gay. It's natural. The idea also fails to account for the fact that both men and women are capable of being nurturing. Believing in the spreading seed theory only works if you believe in heteronormative patriarchy … you know … the idea that only women have feelings and that they need to be the ones to offer all things domestic for the family … love and stability and cookies … because the men are too busy wandering around spreading their seed and seeking opportunities to enhance their social status. I've seen men be nurturing. I'm nurturing. I think we'd see a wide variety of gender performances if we stopped trying to tell people what is or is not natural for them."

Emmett waved a hand in the air. "AMEN." Then more seriously, he said, "You know … the idea that the hottest gay man are the 'straight acting ones' (that is, the ones who reject all forms of 'femininity') … it's almost as bad as plain old homophobia. If we want to reject a heterosexual norm … instead of rejecting monogamy outright, we should try rejecting the idea that in every relationship there is an uber manly top and a nelly bottom. How about we say instead that relationships are composed of two people who have a mix of masculine and feminine characteristics … who both likely enjoy fu- " He stopped himself suddenly and after a moment of pondering said instead, "who both likely enjoy being a top and a bottom at least some of the time?"

Mikey crossed his arms. "Geez! Talk about crucifying a guy for having an opinion."

Justin cleared his throat and then added, "Also … the idea that being with just one person has to be boring is silly. People who believe that are lazy and unimaginative. That's what toys and role play are for."

Brian tilted his head back and forth and then nodded in approval.

"I like toys, too!" Gus chimed in, causing surprised gasps and then gales of laughter. He was holding a couple of sheets of drawing paper. "Can I have another cookie?"

Justin smiled and held the plate out toward him.

"Can I have TWO?"

Brian shook his head but then shrugged.

"Sure. But then no more, okay."

Gus sighed. "Okay." He walked over to the table. He asked Emmett, "Want to see my pictures?" and thrust them in front of the man.