Hat Trick                                                 

“I just don’t get it, Ma. Brian will spend time with everyone except me, it seems. He’ll even spend time with Ben, but not me, and I’m his best friend. I try to understand that he’s spending time with all those O’Keefes as a way of getting closer to his partner but why Ben? What would he have in common with my partner?”

Debbie looked to her partner for help with this but Carl buried his head deeper in the newspaper. She was on her own, it seemed. But not quite. A little voice piped up.

“It’s your hat, Daddy.”

“What?” Michael turned and looked down at his five year old daughter, JR, a bit impatiently. He hated being caught complaining about Ben by one of the kids; you never knew what they’d repeat when. Besides, wherever JR was, her brother might show up, and he definitely didn’t want Gus to hear him complaining about Brian!

“Daddy’s talking to Grandma right now, sweetheart. Why don’t you run into the living room and play dolls?”

“I’m not playing dolls now. I’m waiting for Mama to take me to my piano lesson,” she explained patiently. “But, I know how you can play with Uncle Brian more, Daddy. Don’t you want to know?”

Debbie looked at her precious little granddaughter, with her large brown eyes in her too thin face and her heart swelled with love, as always. JR didn’t have the beauty that Gus Peterson-Marcus and Briana O’Keefe, her two constant companions had, the type that turned heads whenever they came into a room and made total strangers stop to stare, but she was a taking little child, with her serious sparrow face, and bright inquisitive mind. Debbie adored her, and wonder of wonders, shy little JR loved her loud, brassy grandmother too.

“Let the little darling speak, Michael. Who knows, maybe she has a good idea. She’s got more brains than the two of us put together, that’s for sure.” Debbie lifted JR onto her lap and cuddled her close.

“Sure, Ma, my hat...which doesn’t exist, by the way, since I don’t wear hats, is what keeps me from spending more time with Brian. I suppose Ben wears the right hat?” He spoke patronizingly.

JR ignored the patronizing tone and merely gave the question her serious consideration, tilting her head as she did so.

Great, Michael thoughts spitefully, now even my kid is looking like an O’Keefe, copying that head tilt thing. He almost told her to stop it, as it didn’t look as cute as when Briana did it, which would have been an unforgivable comment for a father to say, but she spoke before he could.

“I think you need to wear a different hat...that is what Briana’s Uncle Daddy said.”

“He talked about me?” Michael stiffened in outrage.

“Michael! Let the child talk!” Debbie screeched at him.

Sullenly, he sat down next to his daughter and waited while his mother quietly– for her– asked, “Jenny dear, what exactly did Danny say and who was he talking to? Do you remember?”

“Of course I do,” JR answered, looking every bit like her mother at that moment. “I told Briana that Daddy was not happy about not getting to play, [“Oh great,” Michael muttered and Debbie kicked him to shut him up], so she and I went into his work-out room...we’re allowed to if we knock and he says we can come in,” she explained. “Cos sometimes Uncle Danny is in a bad mood if his work-out is hard but sometimes he and Uncle Brian don’t like to wear a lot of clothes is what Hunter says.” Carl snorted into his paper at that and Debbie said she could do a little kicking over there if the peanut gallery did any more editorializing.

“Sounds to me like the editorializing is coming from your grandson,” Carl shot back as he leisurely turned the page, but he didn’t make any more noise.

“Go on, sweetheart,” Debbie urged her.

“Well, Briana asked Uncle Daddy...she calls him that when she wants him to do something,” JR explained and Debbie snorted that time, but in fond amusement, Michael rolled his eyes, and JR sensed criticism of her best friend because she rushed to explain, “she doesn’t do it fake, Daddy. He is like an Uncle and like a Daddy too. They just don’t make it a big deal or in front of people thing. It’s a between the two of them thing. Or when she needs him to listen especially, daddy to daughter. That’s when she uses it. Because that’s when he has the Daddy hat on.”

“What’s the Daddy hat,” Michael asked, his annoyance growing. He felt foolish for thinking that a five year old could have the answer to his problem. Even his very smart five year old. And he knew that Danny O’Keefe’s bratty six year old surely didn’t hold any answers to his life.

“It’s what you call it when you’re acting especially Daddy-ish,” Michael’s very smart five year old explained patiently, to her grandmother’s delight. “Like when you read me a bedtime story, you say, ‘let me slip my Daddy hat on.’ Don’t you remember?”

And it struck Michael that, in fact, he did say just that on occasion. Seeing the dawning light of realization on her Daddy’s face, JR went on more confidently. “Sometimes Daddy Ben wears the Daddy Hat too. Like when he went to my parent-teacher conference with me, because you had to go to a conference and Mama had work, and he said to Ms. Patterson, I have the Daddy Hat on today.”

“You explained that very well, JR,” Debbie praised her. “But what does that have to do with spending time with the boys?” Debbie asked, but she thought she already knew.

“Well, Uncle Danny just kind of said that he thought that was something that Uncle Brian would have to answer, but he would make sure he did. But then Uncle Brian said it was because Daddy Ben and Uncle Daddy know how to wear different hats, and they can leave their daddy hats home when they play with the non-Daddies.” JR looked earnestly at Michael. “So, that’s the trick, Daddy. You just have to learn how to wear your guy hat when you go out with Uncle Brian and Daddy Ben, and your Daddy Hat when you do stuff with me. And then you can be more happy, okay, Daddy?”

Looking into his daughter’s hopeful face, Michael couldn’t do anything other than nod. Swallowing past his tight throat, he said, “That’s certainly the trick, pumpkin. Thanks for helping me out, thank Briana for me too. Now, how about a quick story, while you wait for your Mama, okay?”

Debbie watched her son as he settled down with his daughter on his lap, the metaphorical Daddy hat firmly on his dark head, and sighed. She wished Michael could let things be as easy as they could be.

 

******************************************

“Why do we have to play basketball...I suck at basketball?” Danny whined.

“Because everyone else is good at basketball, little brother...more or less and the idea is to have fun, not always to win.” Jamie dribbled easily past him and shot what would have been a three point basket – if Ben hadn’t jumped up and blocked it.

“Whoo! Yay for Gay!” Emmett cheered, shaking two pink pompoms.

“Yay for gay? What the fuck?” Danny looked at him. “Aw crap, I’m going to have to play this stupid game, if sitting out means I have to be a cheerleader with Emmett!” He laughed and punched his friend in the side to soften the sting of his words.

“Come on, enough warm up, or, in Danny’s case, enough whining,” John announced. “Do we have captains for teams?”

“Am I in time to play?” Michael came running up. He had on shorts, old Converse sneakers, a t-shirt and, indeed, a hat – a baseball cap worn backward. Hunter looked like he wanted to die of embarrassment.

Brian sucked in his bottom lip and looked across at Ben. They seemed to mentally flip a coin, and with a sigh, Brian walked over to Michael while Ben went over to deal with their son.

“Mikey, it’s great to see you here. But...do you know how to play basketball?”

“Of course I do, Brian. We went to the same high school, learned it there, remember?”

Brian remembered it vividly. And one of the most vivid memories was of a skinny little Mikey Novotny being chosen last for most teams, unless Brian was the captain, being shoved into lockers and toilets unless Brian were around, and generally having a miserable time of it – unless Brian, his best friend and champion came to his rescue.

He raised his hand and turned the cap around so that the bill faced forward.

“I pick Mikey for my team.”

John smiled faintly, then grinned evilly. “I pick Ben.”

Damn it, Brian thought. In all fairness, he should have taken Danny. Now I’ll be stuck with the two worst players...and neither one will pass to the other.

But Danny, seeing the dilemma, loudly announced, “Oh my knee...I think I need to sit this game out. Thank God Michael came. Now you don’t need me to play, Brian. I can go shopping instead.”

“How can you go shopping if your knee hurts?” Michael asked, suspiciously.

“Internet,” Danny answer, pulling his laptop out and hooking it up to his phone.

“Nerd,” two of his brothers pronounced, but he merely flipped them the bird and ignored them.

“Are we here to play ball or talk?” some of the other players wanted to know.

“Play ball,” Michael happily told them. “So, is this the first period?”

“Score a hat trick for me, Michael!” Danny yelled as the play got underway. Emmett snapped a picture of Michael’s answering smile – and Brian’s upturned finger.

******************************************

Later that night, as they relaxed in each other’s arms, Michael asked Ben if he minded him crashing the basketball game.

“Mind? I loved it! It reminded me of the time you came after me and crashed that pick-up game I was playing with some guys near my apartment. You stole the ball and wouldn’t give it back unless I agreed to go out with you, remember? They all thought you were crazy...and that convinced me I would be crazy to let you out of my life.”

“I guess I’ve gotten kind of boring lately, caught up in so much of the day to day life of being Mr. Dad, that I forgot to be me, the man who did things like that.”

Ben was quiet for a moment. “I realized today how much I missed that man. It was nice to see him again. Even if he did come for Brian....I liked seeing him.”

Michael looked at his husband in shock. “No! I didn’t come for Brian! I came for you! It was because I thought I was losing you to Brian that...oh no, Ben. I don’t want Brian, not anymore. I want his friendship, I will always want that. But I love you and I don’t want you to feel taken for granted. Will you let me try to do better? To wear the husband and lover hats as well as the daddy hat?”

“That’s a hat trick I can appreciate,” Ben murmured, drawing him close again.

******************************************

Meanwhile, across town, another couple was wrapped in each other’s arms.

Brian leaned over Danny, knees pressed tightly against his waist, hands pinning his wrists above his head. He leaned close to whisper in his ear. “You owe me for your perfidy...you do know why my team lost at basketball today, don’t you?”

“Because...you didn’t have as many points as the other team?” Danny looked up innocently, his green eyes wide, his tongue lightly moistening his lips. All he had on was his white linen shirt from earlier in the evening when they’d gone out dancing. His dress pants had been discarded somewhere on the way to the bedroom. The black fedora with which he’d completed his ensemble now rested atop his lover’s head...and that was the only thing Brian wore. It was a good look for him, Danny thought, looking appreciatively at him in the dim light of their bedroom.

“No...that is the result, but not the cause. Try again?”

“Hmmm, hard to think when...I’m so hard....” Danny shifted slightly, causing his rigid cock to brush against Brian’s thigh.

“That is a problem. One which I’ll remedy once you pay me back...but first you must acknowledge your fault.”

Danny’s eyes twinkled suddenly. “You don’t want to go there, Brian.”

“I don’t?” Brian was taken aback by the change in tone...he’d thought he had the upper hand...in fact...he looked down at the delicious body pinned beneath him. Yep, he definitely had the upper hand. “You’re bluffing, why wouldn’t I want to go anywhere? You owe me, O’Keefe and you’re trying to weasel out, but....”

Danny started laughing. “And if I am at fault for your team losing...which it did, spectacularly too, it is because...I suspect...now I’m not admitting anything here, mind you...but you’re just as at fault. But it’s because we told Briana that it was....Oh my God, that was it, and, oh quick, take off that hat or I’ll never be able to have sex with you again.” Danny started laughing so hard he almost threw Brian off him. Faced with that dire threat, Brian naturally did the only sane thing and threw the hat across the room. He debated getting up and throwing it into the fireplace in the music room, but it was a nice hat and Danny was almost naked.

Brian crawled back onto the bed and started to edge up over his lover, licking along the tanned expanse of skin, eliciting moans where there had been chuckles.

Satisfied that he’d salvaged the mood, his body completely covering Danny’s, Brian paused before kissing his mouth, and asked, “You want to tell me how that innocent hat came so close to risking my sex life?”

The dimples flashed. “That, mo’ gra, is the Daddy Hat, and....”

Danny never got the chance to finish his sentence.
 

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