Deb POV

After I left the loft, I walked slowly home thinking all the while. Why had Michael lied to me about asking for a payment plan? Did he really think he would get away with this if he just buried his head in the sand like some kind of ostrich?

When I got to the house, Michael was there, and I was just about to chew him a new one when he turned around and I saw his face. His eyes were red-rimmed and his face flushed.

“Michael, what happened, Baby?”

“Ben left me.”

He was sobbing and I took him into my arms to comfort him as I used to when he was a kid.

“But why? Ben loves you.”

“It’s all that stupid twink’s fault. He’s ruined my life. I wish Brian had never fucking met him,”

he spat, and I was taken aback at first, but then, I just got angry, really spitting angry with him.

“Don’t you dare blame this one on Sunshine, Michael; he did nothing wrong. You decided to steal his money to punish him for something he did to someone else. It had absolutely nothing to do with you, Michael; Brian even told you to mind your own business.”

“But Maaaa…”

“No, Michael, you’re my son and I love you, but what you did was wrong. I still don’t see how that has anything to do with why Ben left you, though.”

“He said he couldn’t stay with someone who would steal from a friend. Like Justin was ever my friend,”

he scoffed.  He’d stopped crying and I felt like popping him on the head, but I didn’t, for once.

“I just went over to the loft to ask them why they wouldn’t make some kind of payment plan with you. They told me something very interesting. It seems you never tried to contact either one of them since this whole mess came out. You told me you had tried to call them plenty of times.  Why did you lie to me, Michael?”

He looked so damn guilty, but then, I saw a shift in him and he became defensive.

“And you believe them over me? I’m your son and Justin is nothing but a lying little stupid twink.”

“It wasn’t Justin who told me; it was Brian.  Are you going to accuse him of lying, too?”

I watched his face closely, and he was just about to say something when Vic cut in for the first time since I came home.

“You know that Brian never lies about shit like that, Michael, so don’t bother.”

“Well, Justin lies all the time; this just proves that he’s lying to Brian.  I have called Justin at least ten times.”

Both Vic and I scoffed at that and Michael looked at us questioningly.

“Do you really want us to believe that you would ever call Justin with this? If you were to call anybody it would be Brian to try and get him to “talk sense” into Justin,”

Vic said with a pointed look, and Michael huffed indignantly and left.

“Fuck, Vic, Justin all but accused me of being partly to blame for the way Michael is behaving. He said that I always blame everything Michael does wrong on Brian, thereby letting Michael get away with it. Is that true, do I do that?”

“Yes, Sis, you do, always have.”

I was shocked, but then, I started thinking about it, and I could see what they meant; maybe I did blame everybody else for Michael’s fuck-ups; I had to stop doing that.

Brian POV

The day after the confrontation with Deb, there was someone knocking on the door while Ted and Cynthia had gone to get us all some lunch. That’s how it worked most days, we’d work all morning, taking turns making coffee, but it was always Ted and Cynthia that picked up our lunch.

They went to the deli a few blocks down, and then, we all sat around the dining room table and ate while we talked about the things we were individually working on. It made for a very homogeneous working environment and had, of course, been Justin’s idea. The man is a fucking genius at that sort of thing.

When I opened the door, Ben, Emmett, and the littlest hustler stood on the landing. I guess my face showed my shock and maybe a little confusion because Emmett smiled at me and patted my arm.

“Don’t worry, sweetie, we’re not here to plead Michael’s case.”

I huffed a sigh of relief and showed them inside. We all sat around the coffee table, but not before Justin had offered something to drink.  Fucking the queer Betty Crocker has its advantages; he can take care of things like being hospitable.

“So, what can we do for you guys if you’re not here to plead Michael’s case?”

Ben cleared his throat and sighed a little.

“I’ve left Michael; I couldn’t stay with someone who could do that to a friend, even if he denies ever having been friends with you.” He looked at Justin, who just shrugged it off. “I tried to look past this infatuation he has with you, Brian, but he seems determined to hang on to it at all costs. Well, this time, it cost him me. With that said, Hunter and I need somewhere to live and I saw that there was a vacant apartment in your building, and since I don’t want either of you to be uncomfortable, I wanted to ask you before just suddenly moving in one day.”

Justin and I looked at each other and did a very couple-y thing; we communicated without words. I knew exactly what he was thinking and I suspect it went the other way as well. I turned to Emmett, who hadn’t said much since sitting down.

“What does any of this have to do with you, Emmett?”

“The thing is, it’s gotten a little uncomfortable living with Deb, considering she knows I support the two of you in this, and I really don’t like living alone. The apartment here is a three bedroom, so we talked about being roommates.”

I was flabbergasted, but as I thought about it, it made sense.  I knew Emmett didn’t like being alone, hence the reason he moved in with Deb in the first place, and Ben could probably use the help with Hunter.

Justin and I did that whole communicating without talking thing again.

“It’s ok with us, but don’t expect to come up here borrowing eggs or a cup of sugar.”

“As if we’d ever expect you to have either,”

Emmett said cheekily, but I just smiled.

“Sure I do.  Justin is the one doing most of the shopping.”

We all laughed just as the door opened to reveal Ted and Cynthia coming in with our lunch.

Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that; it would mean that Ted and Emmett would possibly see each other on a regular basis, at least until the fucking office was done. I think Justin had the same thought the minute I did, because his eyes widened and he looked a little guilty for not thinking about it before.

Justin POV

Shit, none of us thought about Ted when we told Emmett that we wouldn’t mind him moving into the building. I get up and move over to the two just coming in through the door.

“Ted, Ben, Hunter and Emmett came here to ask if it was ok with us if they take an apartment in the building. Ben has left Michael, and he and Hunter need a new place to stay, and Emmett isn’t comfortable living at Deb’s any longer. Would you be uncomfortable to have Emmett downstairs?”

I keep my voice low, so as not to put him on the spot too much. Brian had thankfully caught on and keeps the three in the living room busy.

“It’s fine, Justin.  I’m ok with it, but thanks for asking; it means a lot to me.”

He smiles shyly at me and I give him a little squeeze on the arm before going back to Brian. I give him an almost imperceptible nod and he relaxes a little.

“Well, now that you have your answer and our lunch has arrived, I think it’s time you all fuck off and go sign the lease.”

Brian says, tongue in cheek. They just laugh; they know he doesn’t mean it quite so harshly. They leave, after having said goodbye, and we sit down to eat and talk.