"Justin, get your bubble butt over here."

Justin turned and ambled over to the counter where Debbie was standing. Quietly, he watched her place a couple of lemon bars inside of a Styrofoam box. She closed the lid and held it out for him to take. He looked down at the floor and then at the box before shaking his head no, emphatically.

"Debbie, thanks for offering, but you've already done so much. It wouldn't be right." He smiled at her, hoping that she would realize he didn't want her pity.

"Come on, Sunshine. It's the least I can do, until you've made a few bucks that is."

"Leave the kid alone, Deb. He probably wants to get back out on the streets before all the good tricks get taken. Am I right, Justin, was it?"

Justin looked at the man standing next to him, the man he had almost ran into only a few seconds ago. He was well dressed in monochromatic black, leather jacket, Prada shoes, wife beater, and jeans. A man with lots of money, something that Justin didn't have the liberty of enjoying. Earlier he may have been a God, but now he was coming off as a major prick.

"I'm no hustler, if that's what you're so kindly referring to," he scoffed.

"Could've fooled me."

"Well, fuck you very much. Thank you, Debbie, but no thanks," Justin said as he left the diner and found himself back out on Liberty Ave. He looked down one street and then turned and looked down the other. He had no idea where he should go, but that didn't frighten him. Actually, not much frightened him. He had lived like this--not knowing where his next bed would be or where his next meal would come from-- for a long time, and had become hardened to it.

"Just pick a way," he said aloud and turned left towards a dark alley. The young blonde rubbed his hands together and shoved them in his meager excuse for a coat before coughing deeply.

"Hey, wait up." Justin heard from behind him. He turned, not knowing why, and saw the shorter man from the diner running towards him.

"Mikey, is it?" Justin asked his voice raspy.

"Michael, actually," he answered shoving his hands into his coat. "Brian's the only one that calls me that; just a silly nickname. Anyways, I wanted to say that you really should come back and get the lemon bars. I mean, they're good when you've got nothing else to eat, and I do mean nothing else."

"Like I said I don't need them," Justin answered, tired of being told what to do. These people, no matter how kind, didn't know anything about what he needed. "Plus, I already ate at the insistence of the very peculiar, but nice, waitress."

"Yeah, Ma can be very demanding when she wants to be."

Justin smiled and then laughed, "That's your mother?"

"The one and only."

"She's really nice," he said before covering his mouth to cough, doubling over from the force. This time it lasted longer, like the tickle in your throat that won't go away. Quickly, Justin held up his hand in protest when he saw Michael leaning towards him to help. "It's okay just allergies." He's not a very good liar.

"Shit, it's fucking freezing. Come back into the diner and eat. We'll figure something out for you."

"I don't want your pity, Michael. I can handle myself."

"If I were you I'd be a little less worried about pity and a little more worried about freezing my ass off." Then he turned and made his way back into the diner where it was warm. Justin watched and then followed him, questioning himself the entire time. Then, for the third time in less than an hour he found himself inside of the Liberty Diner. He was sitting in the back corner of one of the booths, Michael across from him, Brian next to him.

"So, if your not a hustler then what are you doing out so late?" Debbie asked sitting next to Michael.

"Couldn't sleep."

"That's a pissy answer if I ever heard one," Deb murmured. "You got a place to sleep for the night?"

"Not yet," Justin answered under his breath, "but I usually find one." He had hoped the question wouldn't be brought up, but wasn't surprised to hear it. It was the reason he didn't stay at one place for too long. People began to wonder and with his appearance it was the first question out of their mouths.

"Then, you can stay with me and Vic," Debbie boomed. She smiled at Justin but it quickly diminished when she saw the expression on his face. It wasn't like she pitied the kid, but she also wasn't going to let him freeze to death.

"No, thank you," Justin answered as he tried to stifle a cough.

"Teenagers," Brian scoffed as Deb got up to serve the hustlers two booths down. After that the table fell into an awkward silence with Justin feeling the brunt of it. Fortunately, Brian's cell phone began to ring, breaking through the quiet.

"What?" he asked after looking at the caller ID. "Oh, shit. Yeah, I'll be right there."

"Who was it?" Michael asked.

"Melanie," Brian answered and that was all he needed to say before Michael was on his feet and wrapping his coat around himself. Michael called to his mother that it was time and then they both rushed to Brian's jeep, leaving a perplexed Justin at the booth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You, a father, I just can't believe it," Michael said after they had reached the hospital.

"You and I both."

The two boys rushed through the hospital corridors trying to find the room that Melanie had given him. Then they were there, which in Brian's opinion was all too soon. He stood in the doorway watching as the sea of lesbians split, revealing his friend Lindsay, and her muff-diving husband, Melanie. Cradled lovingly in the crook of Lindsay's arm was a beautiful baby boy, but what can you expect with genes like that?

"You wanna hold him?" his friend asked gently caressing her son.

"What the hell," Brian answered, cupping the back of his son's head and holding him an arms length away. He smelled fresh like baby powder, and Brian was surprised that he actually liked that smell.

"Come on, Sonny boy, give your daddy a smile." He stared down at the infant in his arms and smiled to himself. 'Okay, so maybe being a dad isn't such a shitty thing,' he thought.

"We haven't picked a name yet," Lindsay told him after awhile of watching father and son bond. "Melanie wants to name him Abraham, but I like Gus."

"I hate them both."

"Brian!" Lindsay exclaimed laughing.

"Gus," he bellowed, "It's a good butch name." In agreement Gus softly lifted his hand and grazed his father's cheek. Turning his head Brian smiled at Michael who had been taking pictures like a madman. Handing Gus gently back to his mother Brian looked incredulously at Michael and then nodded his head toward the door.

"God, I'm a father," Brian exclaimed after leaving the room. Taking a bag out of his pocket he offered the contents to Michael who declined. "The breeders have got to be hating that."

"Brian, they don't even know."

"Well, then we'll just have to make sure that they do."

"Is that the reason you became a dad? To piss off straight people?"

"You've got something better?"

Michael's response came out as a slight scoff under his breath. He had known Brian for more than half his life and the man had never changed. He was a total heterophobe. The duo turned the corner and found themselves in the waiting room by the nurses station. There were a couple of people resting in the chairs and one man pacing frantically up and down, but other than that the place was relatively quiet. Behind the desk two female nurses-both brown haired-- were jabbering on and on, but about what Michael couldn't quite make out. He was a real gossip hound, just one of his many queeny attributes. Looking at Brian next to him he found his friend eyeing a particularly beefy male nurse down the corridor to their right.

"Jesus, I thought you'd had enough at Babylon."

"Mikey," Brian countered, "There is no such thing as enough."

"So, you've seen him, huh?"

Mikey looked up and realized that a third nurse-a petite blonde-- had joined in on the festivities.

"Isn't he the cutest?" one of the blonde girls asked.

"He has the most adorable blue eyes, and the hottest smile. It's just too bad we're not his type." Then the trio giggled in unison.

"Girl talk," Michael huffed and then turned to Brian telling him that they should go back and tell Lindsay goodbye. They both had to be to work in the morning, and Michael didn't want to be late again because he overslept.

"Lucky for him that waitress found him. Poor kid, never stood a chance with weather like this." His ears perking at what he'd just heard Michael tugged on Brian's arm, motioning him to stop. Brian turned and gave an inquisitive look, but Michael ignoring him walked up to the desk. Leaning on it he questioned the three girls about what they were talking about.

"Sorry girls, I couldn't help but over hear your conversation," he began, "and I was wondering if you could give me some more information about the kid you were talking about."

"I'm sorry, but that's privileged information," one of the brunettes told him in a very WASPy manner.

"Now, now, girls, why don't you help my friend out?"

Michael turned and saw that Brian was leaning on the counter, eyeing each girl in turn. He looked at Michael and then at the girls giving them his famous smile causing them to giggle like, well, schoolgirls.

"We don't know a lot," the blonde said leaning closer to Brian licking her lips, "Just that he was found passed out on the street."

"Which street?" Brian asked with a wink.

"Liberty Ave. in front of the diner," she cooed.

"Thank you," Brian answered pushing off the counter and heading back towards Lindsay's room. Michael hesitated and then jogged to catch up with Brian. "Jesus Mikey, I'm gonna have to fuck non-stop for a week to get all that out of my system," Brian said with a slight shiver. "What was all that about anyways?"

"That kid they found on Liberty Ave., you don't think it's Justin, do you?"

"What the fuck do I care? It's probably just some tweaked out crystal queen."

"I don't know, they said that he was found by a waitress," Michael whimpered. He definitely didn't want what he was thinking to be true, but who else could've found him.

"If it was your dear old mother that found him, don't you think she would have called us to let us know, or that…" Brian stopped walking and stared straight in front of him. Michael looked at his friend and then in the direction Brian was looking and he too became stunned. Down the corridor he could see a slightly over-weight woman with big red hair and gaudy jewelry hanging from every limb, "She'd be here trying to find us."

"Ma?" Michael called as he rushed down the hall towards her. When he reached her he could tell that she was flustered and frantic, but relieved when she saw her only son standing in front of her.

"Michael," she whimpered as she threw her arms around his shoulders for a tight embrace. Pulling back she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then turned her attention towards Brian.

"Ma," Michael shouted bringing her attention back to him, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh honey," Debbie sighed, "after you left I tried my best to convince Sunshine to come home and stay with me and your Uncle Vic, but the little bastard would have none of it. I was finishing my shift, taking out the trash, and who do I find passed out by the dumpster?"

"Justin," Michael answered.

"The one and only. I didn't even notice when he left, but there he was slumped against the bin like yesterday's garbage."

"I told you it was a tweaked out crystal queen," Brian grunted. Michael threw him a look and he shut up.

"Is he okay?"

"I haven't heard anything, but he didn't look good." Debbie started pacing and ringing her hands again. She didn't know the kid well, but there was just something about him that pulled at her.

"It's like ER, birth and death in the same episode."

"Michael Charles Novotny, he is not going to die," Debbie cried cuffing her son upside his head. She huffed and turned away from them, smiling only when she saw the doctor walking towards them.

"What's up, Doc," Brian drawled when the man got closer. He smiled at Brian and gave him a slight wink. Michael turned and shoved him in the arm. Brian looked at him and shrugged, then turned his attention back to what the doctor was saying.

"He's going to be okay?" Debbie asked nervously.

"He's going to be fine as long as he gets rest and the right foods. It's just pneumonia, it's not like he's dying."

"Pneumonia?" Brian asked, "fucking drama queen."

"He's also got severe sleep deprivation which explains why he passed out," the doctor continued ignoring Brian's remark. "The body isn't designed to take that kind of beating especially when it's fighting off illness. It's good that he found people like you. The only problem is he doesn't have insurance, so I can't keep him here, but I can't release him knowing that he doesn't have anywhere to go."

"We'll take care of him," Michael answered before his mother could open her mouth.