Chapter Nine: Dinner at the Diner and Planning the Trip

When they get to the diner they see that Debbie has the late shift again. Brian and Justin are worried that she won't be able to keep her mouth shut about Melanie and Lindsey, so Justin decides to go in ahead of his husband and new son.

"Hey Debbie, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sunshine I didn't see you come in. Where are Brian and Gus? Is Gus doing okay?"

"Slow down a minute. I can't keep up. Brian and Guys are coming. I just came in first to talk to you. We wanted to ask that you not mention Melanie or Lindsey. Gus seems to do better if we don't bring it up."

"Are you trying to give the kid a complex? His mothers just died and you don't want to talk about it. This is some of Brian's fucked up thinking isn't it?

"No it's not. We agreed on this together. We will talk to him about them, just not now. He gets very upset. With me going to Toronto tomorrow, I don't want to leave Brian with any extra stuff to handle. Please talk about anything else but them okay."

"Whatever you want Sunshine, because I don't want to make him cry."

"Come on in Brian. I talked to Debbie. She understands."

Brian comes in with Gus and sits down at their usual booth. "Okay Gus, tonight is a special night so you can order whatever you want to."

"Can I have a cheeseburger and fries?"

"Just this once, because you don't want to get fat like Daddy Justin do you?"

"I heard that. I don't seem to recall you ever complaining before."

"It's nice to have something to hold on to, but I don't want my son to think its okay to be plump. If he eats like that all the time, he'll have to start coming to the gym with me."

"You know, I was nice and skinny when I got back from New York, so if I'm fat and I'm not saying I am, it must be your fault."

"I've done nothing but help you burn calories since you've been back, and I haven't made you go to the gym once. I think you get the picture."

"Don't let him fool you Gus. He'll buy you expensive chocolates and pastries and then expect you not to eat them. I think I'll have a cheeseburger and fries too. How about a couple of Chocolate milkshakes to go with it? I'll ask Debbie to put an extra squirt of chocolate in them."

Gus looks back to Brian for approval. "Can we Daddy, pleeeease?"

Justin gives him a bright smile and a wink, and Brian knows he is outnumbered. "How can I say no to my two favorite guys? What the hell, make it three of everything!"

"Uh Brian, language remember."

"Oh sh…, sorry Gus, your old man has got to watch his mouth."

"On a TV show I saw they had to put a dollar in a jar every time they said a bad word. Do you have a Jar Daddy?"

Justin starts to laugh. "That's a good idea Gus. We'll get Daddy a jar, but I think we should make him put five dollars in each time he says a bad word. Maybe we can save up for a trip to Disney World. I don't think it would take that long."

"Is that a challenge sunshine? I'm always up for a good challenge."

"Yes, I guess it is. Gus I trust you to keep track while I'm in Canada okay."

"Okay Daddy. It'll be fun."

While they are enjoying their artery clogging fat and carb filled meal, Justin figures they should talk about his trip. "Is there anything in particular that you want me to get other than Gus' clothes and toys?"

"Take all of their clothes, kitchen & bathroom items, and living room furniture to the salvation army. Take all of their bedroom furniture too. Just bring back Gus' furniture and everything else from the house. We can put it in storage here if we need to and go through it later. Take some post it notes and label everything. Just get there and get back as quickly as possible. After our shower this morning I decided that I can't have you gone for more than 24 hours or I'll start going through withdrawal symptoms."

"I never knew you were so clingy, old man"

"Yeah well I wasn't until you snuck that bottle of love potion # 9 nine, in my Jim Beam. Now it's like I can't get it out of my system."

"Good because that's stuffs expensive, and I haven't sold any paintings recently to be able to afford another bottle."

"Matter of fact when you get back from Toronto, maybe we can start planning another trip. After all these years we've never had a vacation, and we were supposed to have a honeymoon remember."

"Only it will have to be a family vacation now."

"I'm sure I can talk Gus' new Grandma into going with us, since Molly's staying with your sperm donor for the summer. She could have a little one on one time with Gus, while we do a different kind of one on one time, if you get my drift."

"I'm sure they can smell your drift all the way in Ibiza. I won't hold my breath though. Every time we try to take a vacation, something happens to mess it up."

"I won't let anything happen this time. I promise."

"We better make it soon. Gus has to start Kindergarten at the end of the summer and I haven't got a clue about schools. I doubt you have any ideas either."

"Well he won't be going to any shit… crap; I mean any crummy public school, that's for sure."

"That's five dollars in the jar Daddy, I mean when we get a jar. Don't worry I'll remember."

Justin chuckles. "Good Job Gus. Keep it up and we'll be to Disney World in no time flat."

"Hey, I didn't finish the word. That doesn't count."

"Maybe if it had been a different word old man, but the part of the word you said is still a bad word on its own, so the five dollars stands."

"Why I had to go and marry someone with a brain, I'll never know."

"Because you were in LOVE remember?"

"Oh yeah, I don't know how could I forget that."

"I know and after you worked at it so hard."

"Okay here's the deal. You get to Canada and back as quickly as possible and I'll talk to Mother Taylor about the trip, find a school for Gus and get the obituary to the paper. Although I think that's letting you off a little easy."

"That's okay, and it's nice to see you taking your wedding vows so seriously, by keeping me happy.

We better get home. It's getting late and we still have a tent to set up, right Gus?"

"Right Daddy!"

Back at the loft Justin gets Gus ready for bed while Brian sets up the tent. It's not that Brian is great at setting up camping equipment, but he more apt at that then getting a little boy ready for bed, even though his history with Justin would lead you to believe otherwise. This is a different kind of little boy and Justin's always been better at the mothering stuff than Brian.

"I think it looks pretty good, for popping my first tent up."

Justin can't control his laughter. "I won't even begin to comment on that one, not with young ears in the room."

"I ought to start a jar for every time you take something I say and turn it into something dirty."

"That's fine by me, but since I'm currently unemployed you'd have to cover the funds for me. Heck just put it in your jar."

"That's real funny, so when exactly will I stop covering for you. I still haven't seen a dime from you for all the school I paid for. I guess that's why you married me right; what's mine is his and what's his is mine. I guess you figured it was community debt now so it's cleared."

"I think your memory is fading again old man. The stipulation was when I'm a rich and famous artist I would pay you back. Since that hasn't happened, I'm not obligated to make a payment yet. However, I'm sure we can come to some new agreement on how I can pay you back. Maybe we can discuss the terms on our honeymoon."

"I think you might be on to something, because I never expected to see a dime anyways. This way I can at least get some form of payment.

Alright Gus, hop in your sleeping bag and go to sleep. We'll see you in the morning."

Brian climbs into bed after shedding almost all his clothes and holds the sheet up for Justin to do the same. "We have to move fast. I can't deal with you coming to bed and me not be able to touch you. I'm going to wind up with a bad medical condition from all of these un-sucked erections I get whenever you get close."

"I'll take care of it in the morning, in the shower."

"I'm going to fucking hold you to it." He whispers low enough so Gus can't hear him from the next room.

"Oops can you put another five in the jar for me."

Just then Gus comes in. "I can't sleep in there. Can I sleep with you Daddies?"

Brian looks at Justin with an expression that says I'll be damned if this is going to happen every night. If he can't make love to Justin, he wants to at least be able to hold him.

"Brian it's his first night in a new home, without you know who. Come on Gus, climb on up and you can sleep in between us."

"Thanks Daddy!" Tonight Gus snuggles up with Justin instead of his father. Brian doesn't mind. He's content to just lay there and watch his two boys fall asleep in his bed. This is definitely a new normal for him.

Next up is Chapter Ten: On the Road and at Home