Sorry it took a while to get this one it ^.^' but here it is! I thought it was important to remind Brian of Justin's age, and how naive he can be. So yeah, enjoy the chapter!

Justin felt floored. He had tried so hard to get Brian fired and now that he wanted Brian to stay… he gets fired. He wanted to say something but the words weren’t coming out. He was happy with Brian now… did this mean he would never see him again? Would Justin not be able to talk to him? Would Brian still want to talk to him? He looked over to the man in question and frowned.

~~~~~

Brian looked over at Justin, the boy seemed extremely saddened by the news. He wasn’t entirely sure why. He knew they had made a truce but he didn’t think Justin liked him at all. He saw that Harry had walked into the room, picked up Daphne and left again. She hadn’t woken up at all.

“You heard me.” Craig addressed Brian again and he jumped at the man’s voice.

“I said your fired… get out of here.”

Brian took a deep breath and nodded. He took a few steps toward the door and stopped. He thought of the question Justin had asked him and knew that he could answer honestly now that his job wasn’t at stake. He turned toward the boy and ignored his father who seemed to be irritated at how long he was taking to leave.

“About the question you asked… a man can love another man all he wants, don’t let anyone tell you its wrong, because there is nothing wrong with it.” Brian said loudly and heard Craig practically growl.

“I would know…” he continued and looked at Craig in the eye. “I do it all the time.”

“Get out.” Craig seethed and Brian brushed passed him and left the hospital room.

Brian walked toward the nurse’s station and got the attention of a young intern behind the desk.

“Hello. My name is Brian Kinney. I-” he started but was cut off.

“The one that brought in Justin Taylor, right?” she said and grinned with Brian nodded.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you. I’m just trying to remember everybody who comes in here.” she giggled and he nodded again.

“Can you do me a favor?” he asked her and she smiled.

“No problem! What is it?”

“Well, the boy I brought is… my godson.” he lied and the girl nodded, motioning for him to go on.

“He and I are very close but his father and I don’t get along, I just moved here and he doesn’t have my new number. Do you think you can get Justin alone and give it to him? Tell him that Brian wanted him to have it?” he asked hoping the young girl would buy it.

She smiled brightly and nodded. She handed him a blank piece of paper and a pen and he scribbled down the number. He handed it back to her and she took it and stuffed it into her pocket.

“Thank you. Oh, just make sure his father doesn’t see, he’s a little temperamental.” he said and she agreed. Brian left the hospital and hoped Justin would get the number. He wasn’t sure why he felt so protective of the boy, but he did. Too bad it took a broken leg for him to see it.

~~~~~

Justin stayed silent all the way home. Daphne had gone home with her parents. He wanted to get home quickly and disappear into his room. Of course he would need help to do that. He sighed, his dad was right… it was his fault. He wanted to get Brian fired so much and now he had. The boy felt horrible.

“I think the best thing to do is move you into the down stairs guest room for now, so you don’t have to deal with the stairs. What do you think Craig?” Jennifer broke the silence, obviously trying to cut the tension.

Craig grunted and Justin said nothing. He kept fingering the small piece of paper in his pocket with Brian’s number written on it. He was happy that Brian had set that up and that his father hadn’t found out. He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to get to the phone in the first place let alone call without anyone knowing… but he was sure he’d find a way.

They pulled into the empty driveway and parked. His dad turned off the car, looked in the rearview mirror and glared at the boy. Justin shrunk down into the seat.

~~~~~

Brian walked into his apartment and sighed. He hoped the nurse was able to get Justin his number. He turned and locked the door, walked towards the couch and plopped down on it sighing.

He couldn’t help but find some humor in the situation. Justin tried so hard to get him fired, and failed. Then he actually gets fired and it’s his own damn fault. He shook his head. He was a horrible babysitter.

~~~~~

Justin sat quietly, listening to for his parents, waiting for them to go to bed. He was lying on the bed in the downstairs guest room, fiddling with the small piece of paper with Brian’s number. He figured once his parents were out of sight he could make his way to the kitchen, with the help of his crutches, and call Brian. He knew it was getting late but he felt a need to talk to the man… he needed to know if he blamed him for getting fired.

Justin sighed. He tried so hard to get rid of the man, and now that he was gone… he already missed him.

Justin heard his mother shut their bedroom door and he smiled. He scooted to the end of the bed and reached for his crutches.

~~~~~

Brian was about to head for bed when he heard the phone ring. For a minute he hoped that it was Justin but thought otherwise. He was probably in bed by now. He walked over to the counter and plucked phone form the receiver.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Brian?” Justin seemed to whisper into the phone. Brian smiled.

“Hey… shouldn’t you be in bed?” Brian asked and Justin snorted.

“I don’t usually fall asleep until twelve or one…”

“I see. How are you feeling? You sore?” he asked worriedly.

“No, not really. The cast is a pain in the ass though…”

“Hey! Don’t say ass… eight year olds don’t say ass.” Brian scolded.

Justin giggled.

“You should go to bed.” Brian said.

“Okay… can I ask you something first?”

“Shoot.”

“Do you blame me? I mean for like getting you fired and stuff?” he asked softly and Brian frowned.

“Justin, don’t listen to your father… the only person to blame is me, okay?”

“Okay…”

“Night Justin.”

“Goodnight Brian.”

~~~~~

It had been four weeks since Brian was fired and Justin called him anytime he had a chance. He had had to take time off of school and had 5 babysitters since. None lasted very long. Brian had finally gotten a loan for school but still needed a part time job to keep up with the rent, but currently he was worried about something else.

He wasn’t sure what was going on with Justin since he hadn’t called in about a week. He wondered if his father had found out he was calling or maybe Justin had gotten bored with him. Either way he was worried. He himself couldn’t call and it was driving him crazy. He had no idea why Justin meant so much to him.

~~~~~

Jennifer sat in her car, completely speechless. She knew this day would come but now that it was here she didn’t quite know how to handle herself. She had caught Craig with his mistress about a week ago… and although she knew something must have been going on since he hadn’t made love to her in over five months, it was still hard to swallow.

She sighed. She couldn’t believe how fast everything had happened. In under a week she and Justin had moved out of the house, into a condo and Jennifer’s life was turned completely upside-down, and now a court date was set for her divorce.

She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Now she was living off of money given to her by her mother… but knew it wouldn’t last much longer. She had to get a job. Not only that but she wasn’t sure what Craig was going to demand in court.

Jennifer shook her head and forced herself not to think of such things.

~~~~~

Justin sat in his new room in his mother’s new condo. He wasn’t sure why his parents were divorcing but he had a feeling it was his father’s fault. He wanted to call Brian and tell him what was going on but the phones weren’t hooked up yet, and he couldn’t very well tell his mom why he needed the phone so bad. He wasn’t sure how she would react to him secretly talking to Brian for three weeks AFTER he was fired, but he knew it wouldn’t be pretty.

Justin sighed. He was bored beyond belief.

He reached under his bed and pulled out a sketch book his mother bought him. He found that he loved to draw when he was younger but his dad didn’t like it. Said he shouldn’t waste his time doodling and such. Now his father wasn’t around, he had started again. He started to draw an outline of Brian’s face and stopped.

‘Why am I drawing Brian?’ he shook his head. He ripped the page off and started again.

~~~A Week Later~~~

Brian walked into his apartment. The first thing he did was walk over to the answering machine and see if Justin had called. He sighed when he saw that he hadn’t. He had become somewhat protective of the boy… and he was starting to worry. He turned around was about to go get ready for Babylon but before he could get half way to his room the phone rang. The brunette wasted no time racing across the room and answering the phone.

“Hello?” Brian asked and heard a woman sigh on the other end.

“Brian… It’s Jennifer.” the woman answered.

To say Brian was surprised would be an understatement. He looked at the caller ID and saw that she was calling from a pay phone.

“Listen. I know this is weird but… Craig and I have divorced. Things have completely spiraled out of control. I’ve had to get a job because Justin and I have moved out and all of his child-support is going towards his schooling. He got the cast off and has started going to school again but the problem is I’m not able to be there to pick him up because of my job… and…” she rambled on.

“and?” Brian asked, completely confused at this point, but relived to hear that this seemed to be the cause of Justin not calling.

“I need a babysitter.”

Brian wasn’t expecting that, but then again, why else would she call?

“I wouldn’t be able to pay you as much as Craig… at least not for a while. More would be expected of you as well. You would have to pick Justin up from school, get him dinner, make sure he does all of his school work and you would have to stay longer.” she said nervously, obviously hoping he would say yes.

“You realize that I’m gay, right?” he asked bluntly before he could stop himself.

“Yes Brian, I kind of had a feeling. I don’t really know anything about it but I have no reason to be against it. Plus… I’m desperate.” she finished with a nervous laugh.

He smiled.

“Yeah, I can do it. When do you want me to start?”

“Monday.”

“That’s fine.” Brian agreed and the woman sighed in relief.

“Great! Let me give you the address to his school and my new place.” she said before rattling off an address which Brian wrote down on a napkin.

The two exchanged a few more words before handing up. She smiled slightly to himself. He wasn’t sure why but he was a little excited to see the boy.

~~~~~

On Monday morning Jennifer walked into the living room of her new condo and saw Justin sitting on the floor. He was sketching again. Ever since they moved out he seemed to feel better about drawing and it looked like he got the itch to do it a lot. She couldn’t get him to do anything else. It wasn’t really a bad thing… he was talented. She felt bad for never seeing it before and felt worse that she let her husband discourage him all these years. She smiled sadly at the boy and walked over to him. She sat down on the couch next to him and coughed a little to get his attention. The boy looked up at her.

“Honey, I need to talk to you about something, okay?” she started and the boy’s eyes widened.

“Ididn’tswitchdad’sshampoowithyourblondehairdyewhenIwasoverthereIpromise!” he said all in one breath, looking worried.

“What?” she asked, completely confused.

“Uh… never mind?” he shrugged and she sighed.

“No, it’s not about… whatever that it was you said.” she said and he seemed to calm down a bit.

“I need to talk to you about our new situation. You see, as part of our agreement with your father, he will continue to pay for St. James as child support, but in order to keep this fancy new place and keep ourselves fed I needed to take my old job back. This means you need someone to pick you up and…”

“Another babysitter?! MOM!” Justin whined and Jennifer sighed.

“Listen, I know Brian may not be the best in the world but,” she started but Justin interrupted her.

“Brian? You hired Brian?”

“Yes. Sweetheart, I know if you and he just tried you two would get along…” she said with a small about of hope in her voice that her son wouldn’t fight her on this.

Justin seemed to be thinking before he cracked a smile.

“Okay mom, I don’t mind Brian being my babysitter.” he said agreeably. Jennifer was a little shocked at how well Justin was taking this.

“Really? No problem?”

“No problem. I like Brian.” Justin said, blushing a little. She smiled and laughed.

“That’s great Justin. You have no idea how glad I am to hear that!” she said while standing up.

“Okay, we need to get you to school now. Up!” she said and Justin groaned.

“Don’t you think it would be cheaper to send me to a public school mom? I mean, I don’t mind! Really!” Justin said hopefully.

“You know your father wouldn’t go for that AT ALL. Besides, be grateful that you get to go to such a prestigious school… you’ll feel better about it when you are rich and famous. When that happens I expect you won’t forget your dear old mother in The Pitts!” she said and Justin giggled.

“You’re a dork, mom.” Justin answered.

She stuck her tongue out at her son and he did the same.

Soon she couldn’t help it and laughed.

“Okay, that’s enough, go get ready for school!” she said while swatting his butt, he yelped and ran towards the bathroom.

~~~~~

Brian was driving towards Justin’s school after his last class of the day. He would occasionally look down at the napkin to make sure he was going the right way. Soon he turned on to a street with two large schools on each side. The one on the left was littered with teenagers, the other one (on the right) was littered with elementary kids. He pulled to the right and parked. He got out of the car and looked around for Justin. Soon he saw the boy sitting on the steps to the school with Daphne. He whistled loudly and the two looked up.

Justin blinded him with a smile he didn’t think the boy was capable of, and Daphne giggled. The boy stood up and after a few words with Daphne he made his way to the car.

“Hey Brian!” Justin said happily and once again Brian was taken aback by how… nice the boy looked. Definitely an improvement from evil, “I hope you like shrimp” boy or the sobbing mess he was the last time he saw him.

“Hey brat, how was school?” he asked the boy while getting in the car, and starting it.

“It sucked.” he said while sighing.

“Chris won’t leave me alone.”

“Chris?” Brian asked.

“He’s a kid in my class. He’s ten but got held back a year ‘cause he’s so dumb. He called me something today… but I don’t know what it means…” he said shyly, seemingly embarrassed by this.

“What was it?” Brian asked, curiously. ‘What insult could this boy possibly NOT know.’ he thought.

“He called me a fag… Daphne thinks it means a cigarette, but why would Chris call me a cigarette?” Justin asked in a small voice and Brian was shocked. He had to remind himself that he WAS talking to an eight year old here, and to choose his words carefully. Justin may be smart but he couldn’t expect him to know everything.

Brian just didn’t understand why he didn’t seem to want to ask his parents anything important. That’s mostly what they would talk about on the phone, various questions Justin had about life he didn’t seem to want to talk to anyone else about. He understood why he wouldn’t go to Craig. The man reminded him of an upper middle class version of his father, but Jennifer seemed alright. She didn’t seem too judgmental. Maybe Justin was so used to having to choose his words and keep everything inside that now that he had an outlet (Brian) he just unloaded. Asking anything and everything he could think of.

“Well…” he began, trying to pick his words wisely.

“A fag is a cigarette in London or some place like that, but here it mostly means… lets just say it’s a nasty word for a homosexual person.” he finished, hoping the boy would understand and drop it.

“Homo-what?” Justin asked and Brian sighed.

“Remember in the hospital, when you asked about guys liking other guys? And our talk about ME liking other guys like that?” he began, feeling as if he were treading on thin ice.

The boy nodded.

“Well, that’s homosexuality, whereas a guy liking a girl like that would be heterosexuality.”

“Oh… but why would he call me that? Why would he care if I liked other guys or girls or whatever?” Justin asked.

“Some people don’t have enough confidence in themselves to let it alone. They feel bad about themselves so they try to make other people look bad so they’ll feel better.” he finished and sighed. He was starting to sound like Debbie.

Justin nodded and got quite. Silence filled the car as Brian made his way across town to the new address.

“So you’re homoshexual?” Justin asked, stumbling over the word.

“Yes, but I prefer being called Brian.” he said, smirking at the now blushing boy.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked and Brian sighed. ‘What did I get myself into?’

“No. I don’t.”

“Why not?” the boy pushed.

“I just don’t.”

“You can’t get one?” he asked and Brian snorted, as if the concept was ludicrous.

“Cause, if you can’t get one, I could be your boyfriend!” Justin continued and Brian coughed.

“Huh?” he asked, looking at the boy.

“I could be your boyfriend!” he repeated. Brian shook his head.

“No, no you can’t.”

Justin frowned.

“Why not? You said that if two guys like each other they can be boyfriends, right?”

“Well, yeah, but you’re eight Justin, I’m 20. That’s just… wrong.” he said and the boy seemed to deflate.

“Oh.”

Brian sighed at the now pouting boy.

“Listen Justin, for a guy my age to… be with you would be wrong. If you were older if would be a different story but now it would be abuse.”

“How is it abuse?” the boy asked curiously as they pulled up to the condo. Brian tuned of the engine and turned to the boy.

“Because… because you haven’t developed yet, mentally and physically. I would be taking advantage of you and although it may not seem wrong now… it’ll mess you up later in life, and I don’t want to do that to you…. Plus, I‘m not into chicken.” Brian said and Justin nodded sagely.

“So it’s wrong for an older guy to like, touch me and stuff?” Justin asked and Brian nodded. Justin seemed a little disturbed by this but he brushed it off. Brian wanted to ask Justin what was on his mind but the boy interrupted his thoughts.

“Brian?” he asked again and Brian sighed.

“Yes?”

“What does chicken have to do with anything?” he asked and Brian laughed.

“Nothing Justin. Come on, let’s get inside.”