Chapter 12 – Hanging with Friends
Evening at the diner.
Brian and Justin arrived first, sitting side by side in the corner booth, dressed for a night out. Hunter came up to drop off some water.
"Your step-daddies coming out tonight, or are they planning to revel in domestic boredom?" Brian drawled.
"Last I heard, Michael's coming, but Ben's home nursing a cold. He wants to take care of it so it doesn't turn into something worse." Hunter's face had sobered as he talked, the shadow of the illness he shared with Ben in his eyes. His face lit up with a sudden smile. "Michael's been hovering. He wanted to stay home, but Ben's kicking him out - says Michael's driving him nuts."
"That's a Novotny for you. Sometimes Novotny's care so much you want to kill them." Brian's quip was loud enough to carry across the diner.
"I heard that." Debbie Novotny's voice floated back across the crowded room, followed almost immediately by the woman herself, complete with red wig, red vest and purple T-shirt featuring the words "Redheads do it better." As Hunter took off, he gave Brian a pitying grin.
Debbie stood beside the table. "Now you listen. Don't you give Michael a hard time if he wants to take care of Ben." Debbie's expression softened at the sight in front of her. Without thinking about it, Brian's hand was in Justin's hair, playing with it as he slouched elegantly against the wall. A mischievous twinkle came into her eyes, "Being a selfish bastard is your job, not his."
Brian smirked back "And it's so satisfying to have an occupation I can do well."
Debbie grinned in appreciation of the comeback and shifted slightly to allow Michael to give her a kiss as he arrived with Emmett and Ted. Ted and Michael slid into the bench across from Brian and Justin while Emmett took the facing bench.
Debbie was about to take the orders when she noticed the newcomers at the door, looking around. Her voice could be heard throughout the small restaurant, "Look, Justin, it's your new boyfriend."
"What?" Justin sat up in surprise and waved John and Marc over to join the group. Emmett slid into the bench beside Justin to make room. Brian took advantage of the opportunity to pull Justin in closer, laying his arm protectively along the back of the bench.
Justin performed the introductions as John and Marc took the facing bench and then asked the obvious question, "What are you guys doing in Pittsburgh?"
"Marc has a Sunday afternoon game here. I called Brian for a meeting as an excuse to tag along," John responded. "Didn't Brian tell you?"
Emmett, who had heard all about Justin's pretend boyfriend from Debbie, commented slyly, "Wonder why Brian neglected to mention that?"
In response, Brian's hand came up and hit Emmett lightly on the back of the head.
Emmett gave a small shudder. "Don't touch me."
"Well, it's nice to see you boys again," Debbie looked sternly at Marc. "How much longer are you and Sunshine going to play boyfriends?"
Marc smiled in response, looking over at Justin. "My agent says the negotiations are almost over. I expect a signing party soon, possibly next weekend. Any chance you'll be back by then?"
Justin thought for a moment "I still have a few things to do here, but I should be back by Thursday at the latest. At least now I can afford the flight, thanks to John."
"I only sped things up a bit," John demurred. "Success was inevitable given your talent."
"You got that right." Deb's face lit up at the compliment. "Our Sunshine's a fucking genius." Hearing the bell sound behind her, Debbie got back to business. "Now, what can I get you boys to eat?"
A round of orders came, concluding when Marc ordered two different plates of pasta, a hamburger, a large salad and a piece of pie.
Debbie's face grew concerned. "You must be starving. Didn't you eat anything today, honey?"
At Marc's matter of fact, "No, I ate," Debbie gave a flabbergasted response of "Are you sure you're gay?"
John chuckled as he answered. "I'm sure he's gay."
Grins and laughs broke out around the table. Debbie frowned at the group "What? I've worked here for years and I've never seen a gay man who didn't watch every calorie."
"Oh, he watches his calories all right. He has to make sure he gets enough." John continued "Hockey players need five or six thousand calories a day during the season."
"Where do I sign up?" Ted joked.
Brian gazed at Ted "Planning to return to your days of over-indulgence, Theodore? If I recall it didn't do much for your shape."
"What are you talking about? I stayed in shape," Ted protested. "Round's a shape, isn't it?"
As groans filled the air, Debbie left to fill the orders.
"You know, guys, I could use a bit of help." Emmett went on to explain his new job at the Chelsea station. "So do you boys know any good candidates?"
Michael grinned "What about Dungeon Master Don? He's got a few kinks and he likes you."
"Only one problem, Michael - he still wants to mummify me." Emmett gave a delicate shudder. "I'll do a lot for fame and fortune, but I think that's going just a wee bit too far."
A few more suggestions were thrown around, but Emmett was looking at John and Marc. "The show will be based in New York. You two know any good candidates?"
John Avery, scion of one of New England's finest families, creased his brow as he thought for a moment. His mouth opened to start to speak, then closed as he puzzled through the problem. "Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to help you find people who want to go on TV and talk about their unusual sex lives."
Emmett smiled hopefully. "That's right." At the look on John's face, Emmett asked "Is that a problem?"
"No, not really," John started slowly. "It's just that most of the people I know would pay large sums of money to make sure that never happens. I can think of people who would make excellent participants in your show, but I'm not sure if they'd do it." John started to laugh. "It'll certainly make for interesting dinner conversation."
Marc spoke up "I can introduce you to some people."
John gave Marc a startled look. "Who? I can't think of anybody."
"I did have a life before I met you." Marc responded calmly.
"Why didn't you ever mention them before?"
"It never came up." Marc shifted on the bench.
"We've known each other for over a year." John said incredulously.
Laughs sounded around the table as Emmett gave Marc an expectant, "Do tell".
Before Marc had a chance to reply, Debbie and Hunter arrived at the table with the orders. "Here you go." She placed his order in front of Marc. "Tons of food for the hockey player." The remainder of the orders got passed out. "Next to no food for everybody else."
Marc looked up with a grateful smile. "Thank you, ma'am. Great timing."
Debbie looked puzzled for a moment then shook her head slightly and turned to Justin, her mind clearly elsewhere. "Sunshine. Did I hear you say you're heading back to New York this week?"
"I've got a few things to do before I take off and I'm planning to have dinner with Tucker and Mom. I'll head out later this week."
"Have you gotten over your objections to the oh-so-young Tucker then?" Michael questioned with a smirk. "I seem to recall somebody being upset over their mommy's boyfriend."
Justin looked over at Michael and responded without thinking. "At least I didn't get myself arrested over my mother's boyfriend."
"You got arrested?" Debbie questioned Michael in a voice could be heard on the street. "Over Carl?" Michael and Justin both winced.
"Thanks a lot, Justin," Michael snarled.
"Sorry?" Justin mumbled an insincere apology, fighting off laughter.
"Just couldn't keep your big mouth shut, could you, you little twat." Brian grabbed Justin with a mock wrestle.
Emmett piped up. "I thought you loved his big mouth."
Debbie stared at Michael in shock. "I can't believe you were arrested." She then scowled at Brian. "This is all your fault."
"Hey," Brian protested incredulously, "What the fuck did I do?"
"Got arrested with Michael," Justin whispered in Brian's ear.
Debbie's eyes narrowed as she turned to Justin "What was that?"
Brian gave Justin an aggravated glare. "Wait until I get you alone."
"I'm looking forward to it," Justin leaned in for a kiss.
"Ma, leave it alone," Michael interrupted. "It happened a long time ago."
Debbie wore a look of intense frustration. With a glare at Michael to warn him she wasn't done yet, she turned to where Justin and Brian continued to kiss. "Hey, you two, cut it out. I'm talking to Sunshine."
Justin obediently pulled away from a protesting Brian. "What is it, Deb?"
"Are you going to see your father before you go?"
"I don't know. Mom told me that he blamed me because we weren't a match. He's not doing well; apparently he's very hard to match." Justin bleakly continued, "Molly really wants me to go, but I think she might be disappointed when the sight of me sends him to an early grave."
"That's a good reason to go. You could save him the pain of a long, lingering death." Brian interjected, his face darkening at the thought of another encounter between Justin and his father. "It's a good thing that the cancer is going to get him. It saves me the bother of killing the bastard myself."
"Brian," Michael protested.
"What?" Brian returned, mimicking Michael's tone of voice perfectly. "He tried to kill me first."
"He's still Justin's father." Michael said grimly. "And he's dying."
"So what? He's still a homophobic bastard. Dead is a great place for him to be."
Marc looked up from where he had been methodically working his way through his massive meal to see Justin's face pale at the discussion of his father's imminent death.
"I'm starting to hate food," he said to no one in particular. The comment was so unexpected that it stopped the burgeoning fight in its tracks. "I can't wait until I don't have to eat so much." Marc smiled gently over at Justin. "I take it your father doesn't approve of gays?"
Justin shook his head. "That would be an understatement."
Marc's quirky grin warned of a change of subject as he turned to John. "Did I ever tell you how my parents reacted when they found out I was gay?"
John smiled back, "No, I don't think you ever did."
"Well, my parents are a bit different." Marc started.
Michael's heartfelt "I know the feeling," caused Debbie to vent some of her irritation by slapping Michael on the back of the head.
"Ouch! Ma, that hurt."
Marc was chuckling as he continued his story. "I was just fifteen and I told Mom in the morning that I wanted to talk to her and Dad. Very dramatic. I spent the entire day practicing how I'd say it. My boyfriend, Zach, got to listen to my little speech about fifty times." Marc's eyes started to twinkle at the memory. "Anyway, I got home after school, sat my parents down and told them my big secret. I didn't know what to make of it when they both burst out laughing."
"What?" exclaimed Emmett. "They thought it was funny? What kind of parents are they?"
"The best," Marc said definitively. "When he stopped laughing, Dad got up, handed Mom twenty dollars and said he'd never bet against her again. Turns out that they had a wager about what I was going to tell them." Marc started to laugh again. "Then my mother tells me that Zach had better come over for dinner soon or she's going think I'm embarrassed by her."
"She knew about your boyfriend?" Justin interjected. "Hold on a sec. What was your dad betting on?"
"Oh, he was betting I was going to tell them I wanted to be a pro hockey player."
John stared at Marc, puzzled. "You must have been playing for years. Why would that be cause for a big announcement?"
"Well, my dad thought that I'd be worried about my mom's reaction." Marc shook his head in disbelief. "He really does lose every bet."
"Why would he think that?" asked Ted curiously.
"Mom's a flower child, a pacifist who believes that you should never resort to violence. Hockey can get pretty rough." Marc's face softened with nostalgia. "She's an artisan, works with glass. Dad took time off from his practice each summer and we travelled the craft faire circuit selling her work."
Marc came out of his memories and grinned. "After she won the bet, she reminded my dad that she was the one who introduced me to hockey. She thought I needed a better way to vent my aggression than hitting my brothers."
"How many brothers do you have?" Michael had always wanted a big family.
"I'm the seventh son of a seventh son." Marc said solemnly before cracking a smile. "You wouldn't believe how much my mother goes on about that." Marc glanced speculatively at John, "You've never told me how your family reacted when you told them you were gay."
John sighed. "No, I haven't. I'm afraid the story isn't nearly as interesting as yours."
"I'd still like to know," was Marc's patient response.
"Let's see, I told my father and brothers when I was nineteen. After lecturing me about withholding information, Anthony and my father started analyzing their business contacts to assess the need for damage control when word got out. You may not have noticed, but there are some homophobes out there."
"We've noticed," came from several corners of the table simultaneously.
John nodded in agreement. "Peter, the one that manages Marc's hockey team, asked me why I thought it mattered since he'd known for years. Peter thinks he knows everything." John's lips quirked up on one side, a wry smile. "The irritating thing is he usually does."
"My mother and I don't talk about it since discussing such things is simply not done. I'm sure she knows."
"What kind of mother is that?" asked Debbie.
"I'd take her over mine any day," Brian quipped.
John tossed a grin at Brian. "My twin sister Catherine found out when we were sixteen." John's face turned serious. "She promptly provided me with a list of names of guys who had turned her down and asked me to find out which ones were gay."
"And did you?" queried Ted.
"Well, I wasn't stupid. I took the list. I was pretty inexperienced before I got it. After checking it out, I wasn't. She liked older men. That's the whole story, pretty simple really." John glanced over at Brian expectantly. "What's next?"
"Babylon."
"You'll love it," Justin added. "Of course, I haven't been there since the reopening."
Ted raised his glass "To Brian, for fixing our horny homo home."
"Don't blame me, Theodore." Brian grimaced, "I would have let the place rot, a monument to hetero hatred."
"Why didn't you?" John enquired.
"Theodore and Mikey kept nagging me."
"Like you've ever done anything you didn't want to." Michael smiled across the table at Brian, a small peace offering after their earlier squabble. Brian's face lightened as he returned the smile.
"Let's go." Justin was suddenly impatient to get dancing. As he moved out of the booth he remembered something and looked over at Ted "Unless we're waiting for Blake?"
"No." Ted's response was certain. "One of his clients has hit the panic button. Blake's gone to the rescue."
"You know, Theodore. I wasn't sure what you saw in Blake." Brian's smile took on a bit of an edge as he moved out of the both and put his arm around Ted for moment. "But now I see it. It must be handy for you to have an in-house addiction counselor."
Ted grinned, shaking his head at the comment. It had been a while since Brian had come up with new material and it was great to see him back on form. Still, a response was required.
"Fuck off, Brian."