When the Bough Breaks

Chapter 13

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***Three days before Gus goes missing***

"Daddy, I want to watch Barney again."

"No, Sonny Boy, Daddy just can't stomach Barney one more time today." Brian was trying his best to remain calm but was quickly losing his patience. "If I have to watch that fucking dinosaur again I'm going to shoot the son of a bitch," he said to himself.

Gus had been with him for a little over three hours and they had watched the same Barney tape over and over again. Brian's tolerance of big purple dinosaurs was a few minutes on a good day, and he cursed Lindsay and Melanie for wanting to have a weekend away.

Justin hurried up the stairs, having received no fewer than eighty messages from his partner going from mildly annoyed to homicidal. He knew that Brian was probably about to jump out the window, but he also knew that it was high time Mr. Kinney learned what being a daddy really meant.

He pulled open the loft door to hear the beginnings of Barney and wondered how many times they'd already watched the tape. He had his answer the moment he looked from Gus to Brian. Before getting a chance to say anything, Gus was in his arms and begging for Justin to come watch his favorite show.

Brian smiled evilly at his two boys as he headed for the kitchen to pour himself a rather large glass of Beam. Sobriety and Gus were not two things Brian could handle separately.

Justin joined him minutes later, pressing a light kiss to his lips. "Hard day, honey?"

"You could say that. Whoever came up with the idea for that fucking purple torture device should be forced to listen to those damn songs for eternity."

"Now that would be a good punishment. Other than everyone's fave dino, how was your day with your son?"

"Sonny boy is not happy that Mommy and Mama are not here and frankly neither am I."

"It couldn't have been that bad, Bri."

"Well, no one bothered to tell me that Gus was potty training and he pissed all over my brand new Italian leather sofa. Then as I was trying to clean him up, he threw up all over my Prada shoes."

"He's potty training? Wow, is he really old enough for that?"

"Well, the munchers must think so. I personally think it would be wise to keep the kid in diapers forever, at least to protect my shit."

"What did he have to eat today?"

"I don't know, cereal, some mac and cheese, you know the blue box shit that you're so passionate about."

"Brian, Gus is allergic to milk. Did you use his soy milk?"

"Nobody told me that he had soy milk. How the fuck am I supposed to know these things?"

"You are his dad, Bri."

"No, I'm his sperm donor and I'm seriously starting to think I was more than just a little stoned when I agreed to do it."

"Never fear, Justin's here. I'll help you take care of him. BUT, I do have to be at the studio for a few hours tomorrow. Do you think you can manage to not kill him for a few more hours?"

"Fuck you, Sunshine." Brian grabbed the bottle of Beam and took the stairs to the bedroom two at a time. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to de-stress with my favorite man, Jim."

For the next two hours Justin watched videos with Gus and tried his best to keep the noise to a minimum. Luckily Brian hadn't given Gus his nap, so the young boy was sleepy and after multiple viewings of Barney, he crashed on the couch.

Justin carried him to the playpen set up in the corner and carried himself upstairs to cuddle with Brian.

"Is the spawn of Satan asleep?" Brian was being generous, given his drunken state.

Justin eyed the empty bottle on the nightstand and shook his head. "You really shouldn't call him that, Bri. He might hear it."

"Well, considering at least one of his mothers thinks I'm Satan himself I find it an accurate statement. Now get over here and make Daddy happy."

Justin was just finishing a mind blowing blow job when Gus began to scream.

"Fuck, Sunshine, can't you do something about that?"

"He's your son, Bri," Justin seethed as he got up and threw on a pair of sweats to go down and check on Gus.

After giving the boy his Barney, Justin was able to get him back to sleep with little coaxing. Once he was back in bed, Brian tried to pick up where they'd left off.

"Sorry, your majesty, I'm no longer in the mood."

"Since when the fuck are you not up for a good fucking?"

"Since I've become a mother," Justin shot back.

"Fuck, that kid is becoming a nuisance."

"He's not a nuisance; he's a child. He has needs."

"So do I Sunshine, so do I," Brian said pulling at the waistband of Justin's sweats.

Justin pushed his hands away and rolled over. "If you're not careful, Brian, your son is going to grow up to hate you as much as you despise Jack."

"The Kinney legacy continues," Brian said proudly before succumbing to the alcohol induced sleep he'd been fighting for the last hour. He woke at four a.m. to hear Justin softly singing to Gus. "That fucking kid needs to just disappear," he thought to himself. "Then life can get back to normal."

Three days later those words were a distant memory until the moment he realized that Gus was gone. Brian convinced himself he'd caused it. And in true Brian Kinney fashion he made himself miserable with guilt.

TBC....

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