'We're going to Disney Land today', he thought as he threw back the blankets and hopped across the small gap between the beds. His dad grunted a loud 'oof' as he landed on him, but Gus quickly scrambled into the space between him and his Pops before his dad could react.

"WAKE UP, GUYS! WAKE UP! WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY LAND TODAY!" He stood up and started bouncing on the bed as he chanted, "Get up, get up, GET UP!"

"Fuck, Gus, ge'ff and leave me alone," Brian snarled as he rolled over and pulled a pillow over his head.

Gus pounced on his dad, tugging at the pillow and ignoring the sleepy chuckles coming from his Pops. "Daaddd," he whined. "Disney Land! Come on!"

Brian lifted the pillow a fraction, exposing one half-opened eye, and growled, "So? It'll still be there in a couple of hours, after I get some more sleep."

"Oh, give it up, Brian," Justin grinned at his lover and climbed out of bed, raising his arms over his head in a stretch. Without warning, he reached over and yanked the covers down off Brian. "Rise and shine, old man," he called out as he hurried over to where their luggage was sitting.

"Christ, I'm so looking forward to spending the day with an over-sized rodent and fifty thousand of his closest friends," Brian groused as he swung his legs over the side of the mattress and scrubbed his hands across his face in a effort to wake up.

"Brian," Justin hissed. When Brian glanced up, Justin jerked his head in Gus' direction in warning.

When Brian looked over at Gus, he grimaced at the disappointed expression on Gus' face. He lifted an eyebrow and asked, "So, Sonnyboy, have you planned out the whole day for us?"

"Yeah, but..." Gus rose to his knees in the middle of the bed and planted his fists on his hips. "Are you going to grumpy all day, Dad?" he challenged, his eyes narrowed as he glared at his father. "'Cause it won't be fun if you're grumpy."

Brian gave a low chuckle before tackling Gus onto the mattress and tickling him. "No, I'm not one of the dwarves, you brat." He jerked Gus' pajama top up and blew a raspberry on his tummy, causing Gus to curl up and laugh hysterically.

"Stop... oh, please, stop, Dad..." Gus managed to squeak. He wormed a hand under Brian's arm, finding his dad's only ticklish spot and making Brian jump. Instantly, they were wrestling, each trying to force the other to give in.

Finally flopping down on the bed beside his son, Brian turned his head toward Gus, a huge grin on his face. "Okay, you wore your old dad out, Gus. I think I need a nap now." He closed his eyes and pretended to snore. Gus giggled.

"You're worse than he is, Brian," Justin teased. He held a pair of jeans and a tee shirt in his hands, which he tossed onto the bed next to Gus. "Here, Gus, get dressed. You and I can go have breakfast while Grandpa here catches up on his sleep."

Brian jumped up onto his feet and headed for the bathroom, swatting Justin on the ass on the way. "Behave, Sunshine. I can outlast you any day of the week."

Justin raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge, Brian?" he asked in a low voice. Brian paused in the doorway, looking back over his shoulder at Justin with an interested expression. Just as his mouth opened to say something, Gus interrupted.

"Oh no, you two. Don't you get started," Gus exclaimed as he squirmed into his jeans. "I want to get to Disney Land sometime today, not spend the day watching you two make out."

Brian winked at Justin. "But it would be highly educational for you, Gus. You can only learn the best techniques from us." He disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Seconds later, the shower was heard running.

"Whatever, Dad." Gus yelled through the door, rolling his eyes. "That's just gross. There's no way I want to do that with a boy OR a girl. Yuck!"

Justin ruffled Gus' hair on his way over to the sink. "You'll change your tune soon enough, Gus. Just you wait."

Sticking his tongue out at Justin, Gus plopped down on the edge of the bed to put on his tennis shoes. When he was done, Gus sat watching as his Pops got dressed. "Hey, Pops, I have a question. How do you know when you're in love?"

Meeting Gus' gaze in the mirror, Justin shrugged. "There's lots of ways, Gus. You're happy when you're around the person and miserable when you're not. Your heart starts pounding when they're near and you find yourself tongue-tied, unable to think of anything to say."

Gus cocked his head to one side as he considered what had just been said. "Nope, I don't think I'm in love yet. I like Rachel a lot, and I'm happy when I'm with her, but I don't have any trouble talking to her."

Justin grinned over his shoulder. "It'll happen, sooner or later."

"Yeah, I guess. It still sounds kinda icky to me."

"I'll remind you of that when you're seventeen." Justin walked over to the bathroom door and knocked loudly. "Hey Brian, hurry up. Our reservations are in half an hour."

"What reservations?" Gus asked suspiciously.

Justin smiled at him. "You'll see."

Gus frowned. He didn't like it when his dads kept secrets from him. "I hope it's not one of those fancy restaurants Dad likes to drag us to. They're boring, and they never have anything good to eat there."

"Oh, I think you'll like this place," Brian drawled as he walked out of the bathroom. He slipped on his shoes and turned to face Justin and Gus. "You two chatterboxes ready to go?"

"YEAH!" Gus called out, racing to the door. "Let's GO!"

His dads laughed and followed him out of the room.

Gus had been too tired to really look at the hotel the previous evening. As they took the elevator down to the lobby, he looked around, a bit puzzled. Finally, he tugged on his dad's shirt. "Hey Dad? Are we already at Disney?"

Brian grinned down at him. "Observant little cuss, aren't you? This is the Disney Land Hotel – it's close to the park. We'll take a shuttle over after breakfast."

"Cool." They exited their building and headed over toward the main lobby of the hotel complex. Gus pointed, his voice excited. "Wow! Look at that!"

'That' was a huge metal sculpture of Mickey's sorcerer's hat from the movie Fantasia. Gus ran over and stood beside the bright yellow stars near the base, demanding that his dad take a picture of him. After Brian obliged him, Gus grabbed both his and Justin's hands, dragging them inside the lobby.

Ten minutes later, they were seated at their table in the restaurant. Goofy's Kitchen had several long buffet tables that were filled with various things ranging from fresh fruit to Gus' favorite, the Mickey shaped waffles. He heaped up his plate with everything he wanted and returned to their table.

His dad was already back in his seat. His breakfast consisted of several slices of melon and a small spoonful of scrambled eggs. Gus rolled his eyes at the skimpy meal and glanced about the room, finally spotting his Pops near the omelet station, waiting for the chef to complete his order.

"This is so neat," Gus muttered around a bite of his waffle.

Brian ruffled his hair with a grin. "Glad you like it, sonny boy. Justin thought you would."

"Hmmm. Pops is always doing nice things for us, isn't he, Dad?"

"Yeah, he's a pretty good guy," Brian replied with a wink at Gus as Justin walked up.

"Who?" Justin pulled out his chair and sat down. "Who's a good guy?"

"Oh, just someone we know who's always helpful. Kinda like a boy scout, only gay." Brian grinned when Justin's cheeks flushed in understanding.

Gus looked at his Pops for a minute. It was true. His Pops was always doing something special for him or his dad – cupcakes for Gus' birthdays at school, picking up the dry-cleaning when his dad was too busy at Kinnetik and even watching Rachel for the summer so Gus would have someone to play with.

Jumping up from his chair, Gus rounded the table and threw his arms around his Pops. "Thank you, Pops. I love you, you know." He kissed a heated cheek and grinned.

Justin blinked owlishly at Gus. "Uh, I love you too, buddy."

"Yeah, we wuv you, Pops," Brian lightly teased, but Gus noticed how tender the kiss was that his dad gave his Pops. Brian pulled away. "You're a good dad... and a good partner," he said quietly.

Justin didn't say anything, but his smile lit up his face as he ate.

Gus went back to his seat. He was just finishing his waffle when he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. Twisting in his chair, he gasped and his eyes widened. "Hey guys – there's Mickey Mouse."

Gus was practically vibrating from trying to stay calm as he waited for Mickey and Minnie to get to them. After all, he was nine now – practically a grown up. Being excited about meeting the famous mouse was for little kids. He didn't notice the amused looks his dads were sending his way, and as soon as the characters walked up to their table, he was on his feet. Justin snapped off several photos as Gus, a huge grin on his face, first hugged Mickey then Minnie.

Brian waited until Justin and Gus had scrolled through the pictures on the camera screen before he tossed his napkin on the table and got up. "All right, guys, time to go have some fun."

After a brief shuttle ride, they were finally in front of Disney Land. Brian had purchased their tickets ahead of time, so they didn't have to stand in the long lines, but were able to head directly into the park.

Several hours later, they stepped out of dimly lit halls of 'The Haunted Mansion' into the sunlight. Gus blinked at the brightness, then shook his head. "Man, that was lame."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I thought it was pretty neat." Justin shrugged. "Why didn't you like it, buddy?"

Gus ticked off his reasons on his fingers. "One – it wasn't scary. At all. Two – I figured out how they did most of the special effects, and if I could do that, then they're... well, lame. Three – that ghost in the car at the end was just plain stupid."

"Great. We have a nine-year-old here who's critiquing Walt Disney. Is nothing sacred?" Brian smirked at Justin before looking down at Gus. "Okay. One – this is a family park; the rides can't be too frightening for kids to ride. Two – you obviously play too many video games. Three – yeah, I agree that the hitchhiker was stupid looking. He kind of reminded me of your Uncle Ted."

"Ooh, I'm so gonna tell him you said that!" Gus laughed and dodged behind Justin, using him as a shield when his dad made a grab for him.

"Hey, don't drag me into this," Justin said, hastily stepping to one side and exposing Gus. "I'm just the innocent bystander here."

Brian snagged Gus about the waist, twirling him around until they both were dizzy. When he set Gus down, Brian kept one hand on his shoulder until he was sure Gus was steady on his feet. "You're almost too big for me to do that to you anymore, brat," Brian gasped as he tried to catch his breath. "So, where to now?"

Gus and Justin looked at each other, matching grins on their faces, and then they turned to Brian and said in unison, "It's A Small World After All!"

"Oh, fuck no!" Brian shook his head emphatically. "There's no way in hell I'm getting on that ride."

"Dad!"

"Oh yes you are," Justin teased as he hooked an arm through one of Brian's and Gus grabbed his dad's free hand. They tugged him through the crowds, Brian reluctantly going along with them until they reached the entrance to 'It's A Small World'.

Brian then firmly planted his feet and refused to go any farther. He could already hear the annoying music, and there was no way he was getting in one of those boats. "If you two want to melt your brains with that overly sentimental garbage, be my guest. I'll be out here, enjoying a cigarette."

Gus briefly considered whining to get his dad onto the ride, but one look at his father's set expression convinced him otherwise. Instead, he pouted. "Fine, be a spoilsport. Come on, Pops."

His dad and his Pops exchanged glares, neither one wanting to relent. His Pops had his arms crossed over his chest, one foot tapping impatiently, and looked pissed off, but his dad merely arched an eyebrow at him in amusement. At last, Justin gave in, shrugged and patted Gus on the shoulder. "All right, buddy. Let's ditch the old man out here." They went to join the long line, leaving Brian to his cigarette and a much-needed break from the annoying cuteness of Disney.

Brian sat down on a nearby bench, lighting a cigarette and watching the crowds swarm. Occasionally, he would glance over at the line, keeping track of Justin and Gus' progress, but mostly he entertained himself by making up stories about the different groups of people who walked past him.

He was relieved when he saw his partner and son climb into a waiting boat – the ride was relatively short and they would soon be back outside. He stood up and wandered over to the exit area to wait.

As Brian stood there, a vaguely familiar face caught his attention. A nearby couple was fussing with their crying toddler, trying to get him to take a nap in his stroller, and Brian narrowed his eyes as he examined the man. The man was nothing extraordinary – short, rather pudgy and plain looking in fact – but there was something about him that made Brian think he knew him.

The man straightened and noticed Brian staring at him. His dark eyes opened wide with recognition and Brian suddenly realized who the man was. Brian decided to have a little fun and, with an evil grin, approached the couple.

"You're... Ethan Gold, right?" Brian asked, enjoying the panicked glance Ethan gave the woman. "It's been awhile."

Ethan shrugged and glared back at Brian. "Brian Kinney. You're a long way from Pittsburgh. I wouldn't think to find you at Disney Land. It's a bit... wholesome for you, isn't it?"

Brian casually waved a hand in the direction of 'It's A Small World'. "Oh, I'm here with my partner and son. They should be done with the ride soon."

"Partner? Is..." Ethan shook his head in denial. "No, he wouldn't have put up with your bullshit for this long."

"Honey?" The woman placed a slim hand on Ethan's arm. "Introduce me to your friend, please."

Ethan looked at her with an apologetic grin. "Sorry, sweetheart. Sandy, this is Brian Kinney. I knew him when I lived in Pittsburgh. Kinney, this is my wife, Sandy and our son, Charlie."

"Nice to meet you, Brian." Sandy smiled at Brian. "Ethan doesn't talk about his time in Pittsburgh much."

Brian returned the smile. "I can understand that. He was... struggling to figure out who he was then and having a difficult time of it. I see you finally decided on a role." The last was directed at Ethan, who flushed angrily and looked away.

"Hey, Dad! You missed it – the ride's great!" Gus called out as he and Justin exited the ride. He bounded over to his dad with a broad grin on his face. Justin trailed along behind him, glancing nervously between Brian and Ethan.

"Ethan, I'm sure you remember my partner, Justin. Sandy, this is Justin Taylor. He was a student at PIFA when your husband was there. And this is our son, Gus."

"Brian..." Justin growled at him, but gave a friendly smile to Ethan's wife. "Hello, Sandy, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello, Gus. Justin. Wow, I don't think I've ever met anyone who went to school with Ethan." Sandy looked affectionately at Ethan. "I bet he had the girls all over him back then – I've seen pictures and I think he was kinda cute with that scruffy little beard of his."

"Oh, he had fans falling all over themselves to be with him. In fact, I remember one who followed him back to Pittsburgh after one of his performances in Harrisburg. Isn't that right, Ethan?" Brian taunted, ignoring the angry looks he was getting from Justin. "Ethan was quite the romantic smooth talker, from what I hear. Too bad the flowers weren't enough at the end."

Gus frowned. His Pops was upset, his dad was being mean, the strange man looked uncomfortable and the woman seemed confused. This wasn't any fun. "Dad, I'm hungry. Can we go get something to eat?"

"Sure, Gus," Justin answered, glaring at Brian. "Let's go." He turned and stalked away.

Gus glanced uncertainly between his dad and his Pops. Man, he hated it when they did this to him. "Dad?"

"All right, we can go." Brian nodded coolly at Ethan and gave a warmer smile to Sandy. "Have a nice time." He threw an arm around Gus and started walking in the same direction Justin had taken.

It took a few minutes, but they found him at last, leaning wearily against a wall with his eyes closed. Gus hung back a little to see how his dad handled the situation.

"Justin." Brian came to a halt in front of him and lightly touched his cheek with one finger.

"Christ, Brian, what the fuck were you thinking?" Justin opened his eyes, brushing the hand away furiously. "I thought you'd forgiven me."

"I... I have, Justin. When I saw him though, with his wife and kid, it... it pissed me off."

"Great. Seeing him seven years after I left him made you angry, so you just decided to mess with his head and possibly screw up his life." Justin rubbed his face with a shaky hand. "God, you can be such an asshole sometimes. Did you even think about the fact that his wife might not know he's gay?"

Brian looked away with a frown. He had thought about it, but at the time, it hadn't bothered him. Now however, it didn't sound like such a good idea. Brian shrugged; there was nothing he could do to fix things with Ethan. It was going to be difficult enough trying to make it up to Justin. "You're right. I'm sorry; I was being an asshole. Can we just forget about it now?"

Justin shook his head slowly. "That's it, just brush it off like it didn't matter." He looked over Brian's shoulder and spotted an unhappy-looking Gus. "Whatever. Let's try to salvage the day – for Gus' sake."

Gus sighed as his dad and his Pops walked away without speaking or looking at each other. Today sucked, big time. He trudged along behind his dads, sulking about how they'd ruined everything.

Parents were such a pain in the butt sometimes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last of evening's fireworks were fading away as they headed for the shuttles back to the hotel. Gus had figured out that his dad was feeling guilty and had deliberately taken advantage of that fact. Their arms were loaded down with more souvenirs than Gus thought he would have gotten if his dads hadn't been fighting.

His Pops still wasn't speaking to his dad. It had made dinner uncomfortable for Gus and he was angry with both of them now. He jumped out of the shuttle as soon as it had stopped in front of their hotel and turned to glare at his dads. "Thanks a lot, guys. You managed to ruin my trip to Disney Land."

His dads exchanged glances and then looked away.

Justin sighed. "I'm sorry, Gus. How about we go swimming?"

"Fine. Whatever." Gus stomped into the lobby and jabbed the button for the elevator. When they got on, his dad moved close and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry I screwed up your day, Gus."

Gus remained quiet, angrily staring at the floor. Finally, he asked, "Who was that guy, Dad? You were so mean to him and it upset Pops."

"It's a long story, Gus."

Gus looked up over his shoulder at his dad. "Who was he?"

Justin answered him instead. "I... I once left your dad, Gus. Ethan was the man I left him for."

"Huh?" Gus looked at him, confused. "I never knew you left Dad. And how could you have dated that man – he isn't even gay."

"Ethan is gay, Gus, but because of his career, he chose to have a wife and family. He's a musician, and the public isn't that accepting of gay violinists." Justin paused. "Your dad and I were having problems and when I met Ethan, I fell for his act." He shrugged. "It was a long time ago."

When the elevator doors opened, Gus stepped out and went to their room. As soon as his dad unlocked the door, Gus headed directly for his bed and threw himself across it. "I don't feel like going swimming."

"All right, Gus." Brian hovered near the still-open door. "I'm going back downstairs for a cigarette. I'll be back up in a few minutes." The door shut quietly behind him.

Gus was quiet for a while, and then sat up. "Pops, You love Dad, right?" When Justin nodded, Gus continued, "There's something I don't understand. If you love him, why did you leave him for that music guy?"

"It's kind of complicated, buddy." Justin shrugged. He went over and sat down beside Gus on the bed, wrapping one arm around Gus' thin frame. "Your dad and I... well, things weren't good for us then. I was still recovering from the attack, and I... well, I guess I just wanted too much from your dad, a lot more than he was ready to give me at the time."

Tilting his face slightly, Gus frowned up at him. "I don't understand. What did you want that he couldn't give you? Was it money? 'Cause Dad's got lots of that, and he's always giving it away."

Justin snorted. "No, it wasn't money. It was more..." He stopped and stared off into space, a small frown wrinkling his forehead. After a moment, he began to speak softly. "When I first met your dad, I thought I'd fallen head over heels in love. You know, love at first sight and all that stuff. And your dad... well, he had this reputation to maintain on Liberty Avenue..."

"You mean, as the slut of Liberty Avenue?" Gus interrupted. When Justin gave Gus a shocked look, he grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "Hey, it's what Grandma Deb called him. But she said that he's changed," Gus hurried to reassure him.

"I think I need to have a little talk with your Grandma Deb when we get back," Justin muttered.

Gus giggled. "Are you going to give her a time out or send her to her room?" He started laughing almost hysterically when his Pops hooked an arm around his neck and gave him a noogie.

"You're such a brat!" Justin laughed. "Now, do you want to hear this or not?" When Gus nodded, Justin said, "As I was saying, things were all right between us and then I got hit at the prom. After I got out of the hospital, your dad was really great to me – trying to help me get my memory back and encouraging me when I got frightened just by walking down the street." He smiled softly. "I was already in love with him, but during that time, I fell in love all over again."

"So what happened?"

"I started wanting grand romantic gestures from Brian, like dates and candlelit picnics and bouquets of flowers. That's just not your dad's style."

"But he gives you flowers every once in a while now. And he takes you out on dates too."

Justin laughed quietly. "Yeah, he kinda decided it was easier to do that than constantly chase off the guys who were willing to give me those things."

"So, you met Ethan..." Gus prompted.

"Ethan gave me sweet words and roses – everything I thought I wanted. He played his music for me and called me his muse." Justin looked at Gus. "But what he didn't give me was honesty. He cheated on me and then lied about it. That was when I realized just what your dad had given me."

"What was that?"

"The truth. In case you hadn't noticed, your dad can be painfully honest about things."

"Yeah, I noticed." Gus giggled when he remembered showing his dad one of his drawings. His dad had said he needed a lot of practice and that had hurt Gus' feelings. But then his dad went on to say that he was proud of the effort Gus had put into it and had hung the sketch up on the refrigerator. Somehow, that had made everything better.

"Your dad never lies to me, Gus, and that's something I've come to value very much. Between that and your dad's love, those are two of the most important things to me about our relationship."

"That makes sense... I think."

"Good. Gus, I'm sorry about today. We'll make it up to you, okay?"

"Sure, Pops." Gus grinned mischievously. "If you want to make it up to me, there's this computer game I've been wanting...

Justin ruffled Gus' hair affectionately. "Nice try, kiddo. I saw how you played your dad at the park. He bought you a lot more stuff than he should have. Now, go get in the shower and don't forget..."

"...to brush my teeth. Yeah, I know." Gus hugged his Pops tightly, suddenly glad that he and his dad had stayed together. Gus couldn't imagine not having his Pops around.

Later that night, as Gus snuggled down into his pillow and drifted toward sleep, he heard his dads talking quietly together. He knew they were talking things over and the sound of their low voices was reassuring to him. He gave a sleepy grin and closed his eyes.