“I think I’m going to go home,” Chris said.

“You look nice,” Justin told him and kissed Chris on the cheek.  “Relax.”

Chris sighed.  “I feel like I’m doing something wrong.”

Justin frowned and put an arm around the man.  “I don’t think you are.  I think that Michael would have wanted you to be happy.”

Chris frowned and pushed any thought of Michael out of his mind or else he was going to lose it.  

“Okay,” Justin said.  “Let’s go inside.”

Brian, Ted, Emmett, Chris and Justin went inside Babylon.  They all stood by the bar and asked for something to drink.  They were waiting to see if Tobias showed up.

“I don’t think he’s coming,” Chris said a bit disappointed.

“There he is,” Brian said putting his beer down and walking over to where Tobias was. 

Chris turned his back on the man. 

“We’re going dancing,” Emmett told Chris as he gripped his arm.  “You’ll be okay.  Relax.”

Chris took a deep breath.  

“Go talk to him,” Justin said.

“No,” Chris replied.

“Should I tell him to come here?” Justin asked as he watched Brian and Tobias who were deep in conversation.  He wondered briefly what they were talking about.

“No,” Chris said quickly.
 
“Offer him something to drink,” Justin suggested.  “You guys will be too busy swallowing the drink to have a conversation.  That way you won’t feel pressured to talk but you can enjoy each others company and let things develop slowly.”

“No,” Chris answered too scared.  Again he asked himself what possessed him to agree to tonight.

“Jeez,” Justin muttered.  “You don’t plan on staying here all night ignoring him, do you?”

“Yes,” Chris told him.

Justin rolled his eyes.

“Go dance with him,” Justin told him.  “I’m paying Molly a lot of money to be here to support you.”

Chris narrowed his eyes at the blond.  “Shut up.  You’re not helping.  You’re making me nervous Justin.  I can’t go to him and ask him to dance.”

“Do you want to dance with him or not?” Justin asked.

Chris bit his lower lip and nodded.  “I can’t ask him,” the blond repeated.

“Why not?” Justin asked.  “Since when are you shy?”

“I have always been shy, Justin.  Plus I might start talking and say something stupid.  He’ll think I’m an idiot and leave.  Then I’ll be alone forever,” Chris told him.  

Justin sighed at Chris’ dramatic flare.  “But...”

“The thing that happened between us, well you made the first move,” Chris said.  “Michael was the one that came after me.  Then there were some other guys recently and I only went after them because I was drunk and didn’t really care for them.”

Justin nodded slowly.  “I’ll tell Tobias you want to dance with him.”

“Justin,” Chris called after him, trying to stop the blond.  He thought he was going to hyperventilate.  But too soon Justin came back to stand next to him with Tobias and Brian.  

“So,” Justin said as he smiled at Brian.  “Want to dance?”

Brian arched a brow, they had been to Babylon once before after the twins had been born.  Justin wouldn’t be so formal in asking him to dance.  Normally the blond would take Brian’s hand and pull him onto the dance floor so Brian knew the blond was plotting something.  “Sure.”

Justin smiled and turned to look at Tobias.  “You guys should come too.”

Tobias looked at Chris.  “It’ll be fun.”

Chris nodded and they moved to the dance floor.  Justin whispered to Chris that he hadn’t said anything to Tobias.  Chris was thankful for that.  He was happy for his friends’ positive reinforcement; he knew that they were trying to help.

“Hey,” Emmett said smiling as he danced with Ted and the others joined them.  

Justin smiled at Brian who was grinning.  

“You have turned into a conniving man,” Brian muttered to the blond.

“I try,” Justin said sarcastically.

First, Emmett and Ted moved away from the group.  Then Justin wrapped his arms around Brian’s waist and pulled him back to the bar.  They bought a shot of Beam each.  

“What were you talking about with Tobias?” Justin asked.

Brian looked at Justin and smirked.  “I was telling him that if he hurt Chris I would rip his cock off.”

“You did not,” Justin said taken aback.

“Oh, I did Sunshine,” Brian assured him.

Justin smiled and put his drink down.  He put his arms around Brian’s neck.  “You’re so wonderful.”

Brian smiled and they kissed briefly.  When the brunet pulled back he looked at Chris and Tobias.  They were dancing close to each other.  

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Brian said nodding towards the two men.

Justin looked too and smiled widely.  He was happy for his friend.

***

Justin smiled when he got his homework back.  He had a ninety eight and he couldn’t stop smiling.  He looked up at the professor who was smiling back.

“You have a very vivid imagination, Mr. Taylor,” the professor said.

Justin smiled happy to hear it.  The man moved away to finish handing out the homework to the students.  

“I want you guys to form groups of three or four and come up with a story,” Professor Stephen told them.  “I want vivid descriptions of places and people.  But, I want the central storyline or theme to be about friendship.”

The bell rang and Justin got up quickly.  

“Mr. Taylor,” Stephen called to him. 

Justin stopped and walked to the man’s desk.  “Yes?”

“I want to tell you that I see you going places,” the man told him.  “I have a friend, his name is Peter McKenzie and he’s a publisher.  Could I talk to him about your short story?”

Justin opened his eyes wide.  “Are you for real?”

“Yes,” the teacher answered.

“Hell, yes,” Justin told him.  “Wow, I don’t know what to say.”

“You already said yes so that’s good,” Stephen told him.

Justin laughed.  “Wow, thanks.”

“I’ll let you know what happens,” Stephen said.  “I’m not promising anything.”

“I understand,” Justin replied.  

“Have a good day, Mr. Taylor,” Professor Stephen said.

Justin nodded and left feeling like he was walking on air.  When he got out of the room Casey and Ashley were waiting for him.  

“What happened?” Casey asked.

“Not much,” Justin told them.  “Do you guys want to have lunch?  On me?”

“Oh, I know something happened now,” Ashley teased.  “And you’re not leaving us until you tell us.”

Justin laughed and eventually told them or he would have exploded.  He couldn’t wait to get home and tell Brian the good news.

***

“Come here little guy,” Dan said running after Abe. 

Melanie laughed as she watched him.  “He’s smitten with him.”

“Tell me about it,” Stuart said.  “He’s been talking about having kids.  Jeez.”

“Don’t you want kids?” Melanie asked.

Stuart shrugged.  “It was never one of my plans.”

Melanie nodded slowly and looked at Abe laughing loudly as Dan followed him around the apartment.  She smiled remembering that the boy had never been in her plans either.  Nevertheless, she didn’t know what she would do without her little boy.

There was a knock on the door. 

“I got it,” Dan yelled.  

“Who’s coming?” Melanie asked.

“Dan’s sister,” Stuart told her.  “She’s really nice.”

Melanie nodded and turned to look at the woman.  She licked her lips unconsciously.  The woman had red hair and was tall and lean.  She was wearing a wife beater and a pair of faded jeans.  She had a pair of boots and her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“Vivian,” Dan said.  “I want you to meet Abe.”

Abe was smiling as he looked up at the woman.  “Hi.”

“Hey there,” Vivian said.  

Stuart put his arm around Melanie’s shoulder and walked her closer to Vivian.  “Viv, this is Melanie.  She’s a good friend of mine.”

“Nice to meet you,” Vivian said extending her hand to the brunette.

Melanie took the hand and shook it.  “Yeah, it’s a pleasure.”

They both held each other’s hand a little bit longer than necessary.  Dan and Stuart looked at each other with a smirk.

***

Chris sighed as he drank a sip of his coffee.

“Are you okay?” Tobias asked.

Chris nodded.  He didn’t know why he had accepted a lunch date with the man.  He felt so high in the sky after having danced all night with the man.  He thought he was ready for more, but obviously he wasn’t.

“I think you’re not okay,” Tobias said more gently.

“I just...” Chris said but stopped himself.  “I think this was a bad idea.”

Tobias frowned.  “You don’t like me?”

“I do,” Chris said very slowly.

“Then what’s the problem?” Tobias asked.  

“I keep thinking that I shouldn’t be here,” Chris told him.  “That this is wrong.”

Tobias didn’t have to ask anymore questions to know what the man was talking about.  “I guess we could have lunch some other time.  I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“God, you’re so nice,” Chris pointed out.  “Man, I feel like a total asshole.”

“Don’t say those things,” Tobias told him.  “You’re not.  You’re a pretty amazing man.”

Chris smiled at Tobias.

“Can I take your order?” the waiter asked.

“Actually we’re about to leave,” Tobias said.

“No wait,” Chris said.  “I guess lunch isn’t going to kill me.”

Tobias smiled happy to hear that Chris had consented.  Chris was surprised when he felt his heart flutter because of that smile.  He pushed the thought away and prepared himself to get through lunch with a man he liked and who wasn’t Michael.

***

Liam ran to the door to open it.  Brian was close behind him.

“What have I told you, Liam?” Brian asked.  “You don’t open the door.  You let the adults do that.”

Jennifer smiled as he listened to the brunet.  She kissed Liam and then Brian.  Craig went inside and patted Brian on the back before he bent down to hug his kid.  

“I think he’s taller,” Craig said.

Brian nodded as he closed the door.  “I would know.  I get to buy his clothes and yes, he is.”

“Mom,” Justin said coming to them with Sinead in his arms.  The girl was only wearing her diaper.

“Come here you,” Jennifer said as he picked the girl up.

“She’s a mess,” Justin warned her.  “I’m about to give her a bath.”

Jennifer kissed her and gave her back to his father.  

“I want to give her a bath,” Liam said as he followed Justin.  

“Do you want to sit down?” Brian asked.

Jennifer and Craig nodded.  

“So,” Brian said.  “You said you wanted to talk to us.”

“It is nothing big,” Craig assured him.  “We dropped by so we could also see the kids.”

Brian smiled and nodded.  Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Sheridan running with something in his hand.  “Excuse me.”

Jennifer laughed as Brian took after Sheridan.  Tiernan was in a blanket sleeping next to Keefe.  Illona was nowhere in sight and they could hear Fiona close by singing.  

“Hey,” Fiona said as she tapped Craig on the knee.

Craig smiled and kissed the girl on the forehead.  Fiona laughed and ran away.

Brian came back with a rock in his hand.  “He must have gotten this from the backyard.  Do you know that Sheridan and Keefe can open the sliding door? They team up and do it.  We always have to keep it locked.”

Craig laughed.  “They’re surely growing up.”

Brian sighed and nodded.  He was about to ask them what they wanted to talk about when Tiernan woke up crying.  Brian got up again so he could pick the boy up.  

“Can I have him?” Jennifer asked raising her arms up to receive her grandson.

Tiernan went with his grandmother without much fuss.  

“So,” Brian said.  “You were saying.”

“Oh god,” Jennifer gasped when Tiernan grabbed hold of her hair.

“Easy there,” Brian said as he untangled his mother-in-law’s hair away from his son’s hands.

Craig chuckled.  

Fiona ran back to Craig and tapped him on the knee.  

“Do you want something?” Craig asked as he looked at Fiona.  

Fiona smiled at him.

“She wants to be picked up,” Brian told him.

Craig did just that.  He picked her up and put her on his lap.  She giggled and kissed him.

“So?” Brian said.  “What did you want to tell us?”

“We’re going to take a trip,” Jennifer said.

“That’s great,” Brian told them.

“We wanted you guys to watch the house for us, from to time,” Jennifer said. 

“It would only be a month,” Craig said.  “And when we said we want you to check the house we actually mean Molly.”

Brian chuckled.  “No problem.  I can confidently say that I understand.”

Jennifer smiled as she bounced her grandson.  “Thank you.”

They heard a loud crash coming from the hall.  

“Be right back,” Brian said and took off in the direction of the crash.  He found Sheridan about to grab one of the shattered pieces from the floor.  “No.”

Sheridan gasped a bit scared when he was lifted up.

“Great,” Brian said.

“Need any help?” Craig asked behind him. 

“Could you?” Brian asked.

Craig nodded and went to get the broom.  

“What were you doing?” Brian asked.  “What are we going to do with you?”

Sheridan was smiling from ear to ear.  Brian didn’t know what to think.  The boy was pretty smart and he couldn’t refuse that smile. 

“Eye,” Sheridan said as he pointed at Brian’s eye.  Then he pointed at his own eye and giggled. 

“You’re so cunning,” Brian whispered to his son.  “I love you, little man.  But you can’t keep misbehaving. I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

“Love you,” Sheridan told him and smiled.

Brian frowned. “What did you say?”

Sheridan arched both of brows.  “Huh?”

Brian laughed and hugged him tightly.  He kissed him on the temple happy with his little bad boy between his arms.  They really needed to take all sharp, heavy and breakable objects out of the house for everyone’s protection and his sanity.

“Daddy!” Illona sing sang.

Brian sighed knowing he didn’t like that tone of voice.  Holding on to Sheridan he went to find out what his eldest quad had done.