The Prom

Brian and Justin were curled up together on one of the wicker chaise lounge chairs on the sun porch. It was their habit over the years, spending their evenings watching the sun dip below the horizon and then making love as the sun rose in the morning. Even John and Bobby would indulge in that guilty pleasure on occasion.

This evening both couples found themselves on the porch. It had been an exceptionally hectic day; relaxing on the porch held the cure.

The cause for the excitement, you might ask? Briana's first prom!

Springtime at the cottage. It was May, the April showers had indeed brought the May flowers, with a little help from the master gardener, Brian Kinney, and his assistants. Spring signaled a time of renewing, and the end of the school year. Briana Victoria Kinney-Taylor was finishing her Junior year in High School and she was asked by one of the Senior jocks to be his date for the Senior Prom. Upon hearing the news, Emmett decided that a full makeover was just the thing Briana needed in preparation for the big event. Of course this left her fathers in a bit of a snit, specifically one father in particular who preferred his daughter in the overalls she was comfortable wearing 90% of the time. The rest of the time, Briana was in sweat suits.

Briana had grown up with a touch of the tom-boy in her. At home in the woods, she climbed trees like a monkey, swam like a fish, loved to run, jog and play soccer. Physically, Bree took after Justin. Pale creamy skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Nature and genetics had given her strong muscular thighs and much to Briana's chagrin, a bit of Justin's bubble butt. Which, by the way, was still rather bubbly, much to Brian's delight. But back to her butt which made purchasing clothes a task that Bree hated, hence the sweats and overalls. So Auntie Emm made it his supreme mission to transform the Squirt into a lady, at least for the one night.

At Emmett's insistence, Brian brought Bree to Pittsburgh the day of the prom to take her shopping and to take her to his favorite day spa. Brian was then relegated to Kinnetik for the rest of the day until summoned by their favorite fairy godmother. Gus had, by now taken over the running of the Kinney empire. He inherited so much of his father's talent and wit and his mother's artistic flare, that it was a natural progression. It was a very smooth transition, the Kinnetik employees were hardly aware of it. Father and son Kinney had similar bellows.

Briana was sitting in a pedicure chair with her feet in warm bubbling soapy water. There were two manicurists attending to her hands and nails while Emmett's favorite pedicurist was examining the bottom of Briana's feet.

"Girl! What have you been doing to these poor feet of yours?" Francoise complained at the state of Bree's feet. "Have you been walking on cement your whole life? I have never seen callouses this thick on a child before."

Emmett stood back and nodded; he glared his disapproval at Bree who was doing her best not to laugh. The bubbles were tickling her toes and Bree found the expressions on the exasperated queens quite amusing. She could only shrug. She was a prisoner in the chair.

"My Dada walks around barefoot all the time. You never complain about his feet," Briana declared. It was true, Brian had never outgrown that habit. But he had also never outgrown his monthly trips to the day spa either.

"Honey, your Dada has his priorities straight, if you'll excuse the pun. He would never let his feet get like this." Turning to Emmett, Francoise voiced his demand. "Emmett, I insist you tell Kinney he must bring this child in with him at his next appointment. This is an outrage. And he calls himself a gay man. I will call him myself if you don't." Emmett blushed and held his hands up in surrender. All Bree could do was giggle. "This is no laughing matter, young lady." Francoise groused and Bree practically melted in her chair.

*****

"Daddy, do I look all right?" Bree asked her daddy Justin as the two of them were in her room putting on the finishing touches to her gown and hair. They were standing together in front of the full length mirror that was attached to the back of her door.

"Sweetheart, you look beautiful, you are beautiful," Justin gushed.

"I don't look fat?" Bree asked, turning slightly to see if her butt was hidden well enough.

"Baby, you're gorgeous!"

"That's what you call Dada."

"Well it fits; you are as gorgeous as he is." Justin sighed. The years were very kind to Brian, to all of them. And Justin was still so in love with his husband. Bree heard her father sigh.

"Focus, Daddy. I need to know that I won't embarrass myself." Bree saw her dad blush slightly. She knew he was thinking of her Dada's incredible body. She was proud how they took care of themselves. All four of the men in the cottages had the physique of men half their ages. And she also knew how much in love the two couples were even after all this time. "He still does it for you." A statement of fact, Justin could only nod.

Emmett had chosen a pale ice blue gown that accentuated Briana's almost violet blue eyes. Her toes and fingernails were painted the palest of blue so that it was almost white. The dress was cut on the bias so that it hid her thighs but hugged her curves. Briana was a girly girl, not a model thin stick figure. She was petite, maybe an inch shorter than her daddy Justin. It made her look vulnerable but Brian and Justin knew differently. Again nature had given Bree her father's tenacity, stubbornness and intelligence. Nurture had given Bree her Dada's cutting wit and his ability to pierce through bullshit. A lethal combination for a young girl. As her Dada once proclaimed, Bree was mighty and willful. As they were touching up Briana's hair, which was swept up into a French twist, Justin handed Bree a small box.

"What's in it?"

"Open it and see. It's from both of us but you'll know who designed them the minute you see them." Justin chuckled softly as Briana ripped open the small package. In the satin lined box, lay four jewel encrusted hair pins. At the end of each pin was a tiny colorful dart frog. They both broke up into laughter as they beheld the pins.

"Oh my god, Daddy, they're beautiful!"

"Just like you, baby." Justin beamed at his daughter's reflection in the mirror.

"Help me put them in." Just then they heard a knock at the front door. "That must be Charlie. I told him he better come to the door and not honk the horn."

"You got that right; your Dada would have killed him." Justin and Bree nodded in agreement. Brian had specific rules when it came to the behavior of Briana's dates and heaven help the young man who dared to bend or break them.

"Oh my god, is he wearing pants?" Briana looked at her Daddy in mock horror. Brian still had a certain annoying habit of parading around in the nude when he thought no one was awake to harass him about it. But of course, he was caught and duly admonished. His only patented excuse was, "This is my home and I will walk around in it anyway I damn please." But as promised oh so many years ago, Briana was seventeen and Brian wore his pants when he answered the door for Bree's dates.

Growing up with four fags did make for an interesting childhood. And Briana thanked her lucky stars every day of her life. She had heard the stories about her dads' childhoods and their rude introduction to a world that held little tolerance for alternate lifestyles. But Briana and her cousin/best friend knew only love. They were cherished within their walls of the conjoined cottages. Briana had no illusions about the outside world but she also knew that here, within Edna's Treasures, she and Patrick were the real treasures. And for them, their dads were a big part of making them so.

"Come on, we better go rescue Charlie. I can feel the temperature plummet from here," Justin remarked. Bree and Charlie had been seeing each for most of this semester but Brian still had his doubts about the boy. He figured once the young man went away to college, his life would return to normal, at least until Bree dated someone else, that is.

They found Brian glaring menacingly at the boy. He sipped a brandy trying to remain calm. Charlie looked presentable enough in his rented tux. But Justin and Briana were painfully aware that the boy's attire was being closely scrutinized. Bree leered at her Dada, telling him to behave with her eyes. And she saw those stern hazel eyes soften immediately when Brian caught sight of the vision his daughter presented.

"Oh Squirt, you are beautiful!" Brian gushed and then kissed the top of Bree's perfectly quaffed head. "So lovely. You look just like your father." Charlie flinched slightly at that statement but Briana knew what her Dada meant and she was happy she had Brian's approval.

"Um, Bree, we have to go. I want to make sure we're entered in the homecoming contest," Charlie ventured. He felt the death glare hit him in his head. Justin swatted Brian in the ribs then hustled the kids out the door before there was any bloodshed.

"Have a good time!" Justin called out.

"Have her home by nine!" Brian added.

"Dada!" Bree stopped on the path to turn to glare at her father who was now being ridiculous.

"Okay, ten." The glaring intensified. "Fuck. One, and not a minute later." Brian conceded. Bree came back to kiss her overly protective father on the cheek. By this time, her uncles and her cousin came to the door to wish the kids well. Briana waved to them all and blew kisses.

They all watched as Charlie escorted Bree to the car, opened the door and helped her in. Then he sprinted to the driver's side, started up the car and inched his way down the lane afraid to go any faster than five miles an hour in fear that Brian would have him arrested for speeding.

"Humph!" Brian snorted as he watched the car go down the lane.

"I'm so proud of you, Bri!" Justin kissed his spouse then went inside to start dinner.

"Well done, little bro!" John clapped Brian on the back and chuckled at Brian who was staring at the now empty lane.

"I know that was difficult for you, Big Guy, but you handled it with your usual style and grace," Bobby snarked then followed John into the house.

That left Patrick standing next to his uncle. Patrick was as tall as Brian and John, with the same piercing hazel eyes. What was distinctly a Morrison trait was the bright red hair that never dulled as he grew up.

"I don't like him either, Uncle Bri."

"That's because you have sense," Brian remarked. "Where did I go wrong?"

"You didn't. Charlie's an asshole. Believe me, by the end of the night, Bree will know it too." Patrick had his own Kinney glare that he perfected over the years. Patrick and Brian had a silent agreement. Brian knew that if his daughter had to be hetero and had to have a mate, that mate would be Patrick. He had a couple more years to go at college and was planning to be a builder like his dad. He already worked for Anderson Construction part time, full time during the summer.

Brian put his arm around Patrick's shoulders and they sauntered back to the house.

A little after midnight, they all heard the front door open then slam shut.

"What an asshole!" Bree muttered as they heard her kick off her heels and stomp through the house. Brian was up and ready to find out what had happened and was ready to kill Charlie. Patrick, who also heard the door slam, came stomping through his kitchen door.

"I'll go," Patrick stated. It was time to claim what he knew would eventually be his. Brian sat back down and snuggled closer to Justin.

"You're not going?" A bewildered Justin asked a smug looking Brian. Brian shook his head.

"I have confidence in Patrick." And that was all he would say.

They all heard Patrick and Bree quietly talking in the kitchen then Patrick called out to the porch.

"Uncle Bri? Uncle Jus? Would it be okay if I took Bree to the Honey Bear for a while? I promise not to keep her out too late and she'll only drink soda."

"That's fine, Sonny Boy," Brian answered for both of them. "Have fun!"

"Thanks, Dada!"

"Yeah, thank you, Uncle Bri." They heard the door open and shut.

"Five, four, three, two one." Brian mumbled to himself as his spouse, John and Bobby gave him strange looks. The door opened, Bree ran in laughing, fumbled around and then they heard the door shut again. Then they heard Patrick's Jeep start up and drive off.

"What?" Brian asked the three men who were still gaping at him.

"What was that?" Justin asked, his voice going up an octave.

"Her shoes, she forgot her shoes." Brian smirked.

"Little brother, why do I get the impression you know something we don't?" Now it was John's turn to glare.

"Spill, Big Guy."

"Yeah, I want in on this too!"

"Oh for fuck's sake. Are you all that blind?" Brian scanned the faces of his nearest and dearest. He got shrugs in return. "Patrick's in love with Bree. He has been his whole life and I for one don't know anyone better for my little girl than him," Brian said in all confidence.

"Oh," all three men said back. Brian sat back and waited for the onslaught.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I never knew."

"Well, I'll be damned.

"No, I'm not kidding, and I can see you never knew and no, you won't be damned. But I couldn't say anything; they have to work this out by themselves. I won't discourage it unless you guys don't like it. I just want her to be happy. I want them both to be happy. I think the Squirt knows it in her heart. And yes, I know they're very young. But you must admit, I've had some experience with blond seventeen year old Taylors."

"Brian, what happens if it doesn't work out?" Justin asked with concern.

"Then we'll be there for both of them. But I know in my heart that it will work."

"Your heart has never been wrong when it comes to blond Taylors, little brother," John said.

"And I trust my son," Bobby added. "John, let's go to bed. Night, guys." John and Bobby retired to their cottage, flipping off the main light to the porch. The porch remained lit with the glow from the full moon.

"Bri, do you think it'll work out?"

"I don't know, Sunshine, we'll have to wait and see."

"I guess so," Justin said with a yawn as he settled next to Brian on the chaise. "I love you."

"I know."

"Asshole," Justin chuckled at their long standing repartee.

"Guess it wasn't a bad thing we didn't take pictures of Bree and Charlie."

"We can take pictures of Patrick and Bree in the morning."

"Yeah." Brian and Justin settled in and fell fast asleep.

End of Sunshine Snippet #1.

5/6/06

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