WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED
("What if"...Brian had told everyone what Mikey had said)

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"You ANIMAL! You hit my kid!"

Everyone rallied around Michael as he nursed his eye, stunned and outraged that Brian Kinney would slug his best friend.

"You would have too, if you heard what he said," Brian yelled back. "This fucking COWARD, who's supposed to be my best friend, just told me I should have left Justin for dead. I'm outta here!" With that, he stormed off the property, leaving a very shocked and chagrined crowd in his wake.

No one out there was more shocked than Justin, who didn't hear the argument leading to the punch, but heard Brian yelling his reasons. He knew Michael was jealous of him, but he didn't realize how poisonous his jealousy had become until recently. And the even bigger shock was seeing Brian hit his own best friend, someone he'd known almost longer than Justin was alive, because of that jealousy.

"Justin, you okay?" Ethan asked him. He blinked, and Ethan led him away from the party.

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"How could you?" Debbie asked tearfully. It was bad enough hearing Michael bad-mouth Justin earlier that week, but this was inexcusable.

"How could I what, Ma? Not see that Brian loved that little brat? Ben's already ripped me a new one for it," Michael responded, holding an ice pack to his eye.

"Seriously, Michael - I was about to pummel him for hitting you, and when he said why he did it, I wanted to pummel you," Ben said, shaking his head in frustration. "You need to stop fighting Brian's battles for him - he's a grown man, he's hurting, and you just rubbed salt into his wounds."

Debbie was too shocked to speak to Michael as she drove him back to the Novotny house. No matter what happened between Brian and Sunshine, Michael should have stayed out of it. She often wondered if Michael had inherited her innate compulsion to meddle – she had her answer. Sunshine didn't deserve to be treated like that.

Ben just couldn't believe his boyfriend's audacity. He was all fired up to attack Brian for hitting Michael, and then Brian made an announcement that disarmed him instantly. He knew Michael was obsessed with his best friend, but this was ridiculous. He often wondered where he really stood with Michael.

"You're damn right Brian loved that kid! I know you thought Sunshine was a big ol' thorn in your side, but he did nothing to you. He didn't deserve that. And it's about fucking time Brian defended himself for once!"

"Okay, Ma! I'm sorry! I know – I was stupid, and I shouldn't have said it – okay?" Michael whined.

"Don't apologize to me – I think you'd better go apologize to both of them," Debbie said softly. "Because if you don't – I don't see Brian forgiving you anytime soon."

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Brian sat on the sofa, toying with the drink in his left hand. His right hand still smarted a bit from socking Mikey, a throbbing reminder of what went down that afternoon. He couldn't remember anything other than Mikey saying, "…should have left him lying there," and seeing red. When he saw how outraged everyone became, he knew it was time to defend his actions, once and for all. He wasn't his father, smacking people around for no reason. No – he hit Michael for a reason; one he wasn't quite sure he was ready to admit. He set the drink down and flexed his right hand, noting the bruises on his knuckles turning various rosy shades.

Regardless of what happened between himself and Justin, Brian knew they were both at fault. He knew that people would probably take Justin's side – hell, so would he – but Michael not only took his side, but seemed to feel an irrational sense of betrayal toward Justin. That was something Brian would never understand.

The knocking on his door snapped him out of his thoughts, and he got up to answer. When he threw open the door and saw Mikey, he started to shut the door again. Michael put his foot in the way and pushed his way in.

"Brian, please – let me explain –"

"I have nothing to say to you."

"I'm sorry. I was wrong to say that."

"You're damn right you were wrong! Justin did nothing to you! Nothing! How could you say I should have left him for dead? You were THERE, Michael! You were there in that hospital with me – you knew how fucked up I was, and you said that to me? How fucking DARE you?" Brian shouted.

"I put my foot in it, Brian. And I'm sorry. He didn't deserve that. I just wanted you to know." With a sob, Michael headed out the door.

"Wait," Brian said.

Michael turned to face the man he'd worshipped for seventeen years and betrayed, bracing himself for another verbal onslaught.

"You go apologize to him. I don't care where, I don't care how, but you fucking tell him you're sorry. You've got a comic to work on, and you'll never get it done with bad blood. But remember this – if I even hear again that you've mistreated Justin in any way, I'm writing you off."

Michael silently nodded.

"And just so we're clear on this, what happened between Justin and me is our business, no one else's, not even yours. If you're going to be any kind of friend to me, keep out of it."

Nodding again, Michael quietly left the loft. Brian closed the door and returned to his parking space on the sofa, losing himself in thought again.

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"I still can't fucking believe it," Justin said, sitting on the rag-tag couch in Ethan's apartment.

"Some asshole your boyfriend turned out to be, huh?" Ethan said. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to talk to him."

"What about us?"

"I really don't know right now."

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"Leave it to Brian to fuck up our anniversary party."

"Why are you always so down on Brian? Michael said something utterly horrible!"

"He could have handled it like a mature adult instead of like an asshole – and that's the father of our son?"

"I'm not talking to you about this – you've hated Brian since you met him, and I'm not going to change your mind."

"I don't hate him, Lindsay! I just don't understand him!"

"You hate him. I can see it in your eyes whenever you see him."

"Seriously, Lindsay - I don't hate him - he pisses me off, because I was like him once, and I changed - he hasn't."

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"So, Brian finally went to bat for Justin, huh?"

"Oh, Teddy – did he have to be so violent?"

"You would too if your best friend said your ex-boyfriend should have been left to die."

"Michael really needs to get over Brian, and get over him quick."

"More like Brian needs to stop stringing Michael along."

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Justin undid his apron and put it in his locker, grabbed his backpack and headed out the diner. Of course the first person he sees is Michael.

"Oh, man – can my luck get any worse? Look – you've done enough damage, and from what I see, to yourself. I'm not fighting with you."

"I came here to apologize."

"What?"

"I was out of line when I said that to Brian. I deserved this black eye. You didn't deserve to get treated like that."

"Well, looks like you've finally grown up – slightly."

"He still loves you, Justin – that's why he hit me. I went to his place to apologize, and he blew up at me. Sure woke me the hell up."

"I told you before – Brian doesn't love me."

"Bullshit. He just pretended he didn't and you got tired of reading his mixed signals."

"Whatever.  I'm out."

"Hey, wait! What about `Rage?'"

"What about `Rage?' That was your fantasy, not mine."

"I think we should still go for it – you don't have to ever like me, but we do work well together."

"I'll think about it Mikey, but I'm not making any promises."

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"Goddamnit – is my loft Grand Central Station today? First Mikey, and now you."

"Why'd you hit him?"

"I think the whole place heard why I hit him, Justin."

"I want to know for myself – if I decide to work on `Rage' again, I want to know who I'm dealing with."

"It doesn't matter, Justin – he knows he was wrong. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it? Goddamnit Brian! You hit your best friend for saying something like that, and you don't want me to worry about it?"

"Justin – just leave it alone, okay?"

"No – you're not shutting me out this time. That's why we're at an impasse now! Tell me what he said!"

"Alright – but you'd better sit down."

Justin sat on the sofa, feeling Brian's warmth in the cushions, and bracing himself.

"Mikey saw you and Ethan, and started ranting and raving about you being there. I told him you weren't bothering anybody, and to stay out of it, but he just kept going. I told him to shut up twice, and he STILL kept going. Finally he said I should have left you lying in that parking lot, and I lost it."

"He said that about me?"

"Yeah – he came over earlier to apologize, and I gave him hell."

"He just apologized to me too."

"He did?"

"Yeah – outside the diner. He asked me about `Rage' too, but I'm still not sure – I mean, if he's that bitter about me, should we even work together?"

"Mikey's taking this harder than me."

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing."

"Fuck you – you know what you said!"

"Okay – I SAID, Mikey's taking this shit harder than me."

"Why is it so fucking hard for you to just tell me you care?"

"When did you stop listening when I did tell you?"

"You never told me - sure, you probably made platitudes here and there, but you never came right out and told me you cared."

"I thought you knew."

"I did until recently – then you started acting like old `I Don't Give A Fuck' Kinney."

"I guess I played it too well. And you still haven't answered my question."

"I got tired, Brian. I was just fucking tired. You work your ass off for one little crumb of affection, and it wears you out."

"You don't have to work so hard."

"Okay, then stop making it so hard."

Brian sat beside Justin and pulled him close. "I can't promise that."

"Don't fucking promise me anything, Brian - just do it."

"Why do I feel like I just stepped into a Nike commercial?"

The two men laughed and settled together on the sofa.

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