March 2016 Gus Peterson-Marcus was sleeping like a log. Gus was sleeping as innocently as an angel, at least as innocently as a 15 year-old boy can ever sleep. Gus and his Dads, Brian and Justin, had spent the evening at his Grandma Jenn’s condo having a picnic to welcome the newest member of the family to the family. Gus’ Aunt Molly, Justin’s sister, had gotten out of the hospital with her first-born child, Thomas Justin Weatherly, that morning. Everyone had eaten way too much and the adults, except for Molly, had drunk more than they should have but everyone had a wonderful time welcoming Tommy to the family. Gus had been amazed with his little cousin and had told the boy all of the things that they would do once Tommy got big enough to do things, starting with going to the Pittsburgh petting zoo. Of course Gus didn’t think about the fact that once Tommy was actually old enough to enjoy the activities in question Gus would be in his twenties and probably wouldn’t really want to spend time with a young boy. Gus had driven the Jeep home since both of his Dads felt that they'd drunk too much to safely drive. Gus had always found it hard to believe the stories he heard about his Dad’s younger days since as far back as he could remember his Dad and Uncle Justin had behaved like perfect role models. Gus was sound asleep when he was awakened by a horrible scream coming from the master bedroom. Over the years Gus had heard a lot of sounds coming from that room but nothing like this scream of abject terror. Being a brave young man he rushed to the room, not stopping to put on anything more than the boxers he slept in, to see what had happened and if there was anything he could do to help. When he opened the door he found his Uncle Justin holding his Dad, trying to comfort him. He also had the answer to a question that he had often wondered about but never had the courage to ask; his Dads slept naked. “What happened?” “Your Dad must have eaten something that disagreed with him, he just had a bad nightmare Gus. Go back to bed. We’ll see you in the morning.” “If you're sure that there is nothing I can do Uncle Justin.” “Go to bed Gus you need your beauty sleep.” “Uncle Justin!” The Kinney-Taylor household had been bathed in silence for an hour when another scream of terror burst the bubble. This time Brian and Justin rushed to the room of their son. “Gussy what's the problem?” “Sonnyboy are you all right?” “Dad, Uncle Justin I just had a bad dream. We'll have to find out what Grandma put into that cheese dip.” “If you're sure you're all right then we'll go back to bed.” “Good night again, guys.” After another hour of silence the inevitable third shout occurred. “Justin what happened?” “Uncle Justin, you too?” “Yes I had a nightmare too. We really will have to find out what Mom put in that cheese dip. Go back to bed and we'll talk about our dreams in the morning, that's if we actually remember them.” “Don’t worry, I doubt that I’ll ever forget mine Justin.” “Me too Uncle Justin, it was horrible.” “Well mine was no walk in the park.” BRIAN’S NIGHTMARE “OK Brian, tell me what was so bad that it woke the big bad Brian Kinney from a deep sleep after a passionate bout of lovemaking with the twink that wouldn’t go away.” “Uncle Justin!” “Funny Justin. It was horrible; I’ve never had such a frightening dream. Considering the life I led before I met you that's an amazing fact by itself.” “Well tell me what you can remember before it goes away.” “Basically it was what my life would have been like if I hadn’t met you under that lamp post all those years ago. I could see what was happening in the dream but I knew what had happened in real life so that was why it was so frightening. I knew why things were going so bad yet there was nothing I could do about it. I never want to think about what my life would be like if I hadn’t met you Justin.” “Tell the story Brian, just get it out of your system.” “Go on Dad tell us what you dreamt.” “It started the same as what really happened. I was getting a blowjob in the backroom of Babylon when Mikey came and told me that he and the guys wanted to go eat before going home. This time though while I was walking from the backroom to the front door I turned on my cell phone. Just as I got to the door the phone rang. It was Melanie telling me that the baby had been born and I should get my ass to the hospital. Well that ticked me off so instead of going out the door and seeing a blond angel standing under a lamp post I just hung up on her, turned the phone back off and returned to the back room. When I finally stumbled out of Babylon and to my Jeep; Mikey and the boys were gone and no one was standing under the lamp post. The next morning I finally woke up and checked my messages. The last one was from Lindsay telling me that if I wanted to see my son, Abraham, that she and Mel would be home around 4. I just called her number and left her a message telling her that I'd done my part and for her to not bother me about the brat. Send me the papers for me to sign to give up the parental rights that I didn’t want. So my son was never in my life. I saw him with Lindsay on occasion when we would run into each other but I never thought of him as my son and I doubt that he knew I was his biological father. Though I imagine that as he was growing up someone had to tell him how much he looked like the legendary Brian Kinney, king of Liberty Avenue. Since I never met Justin I had more time to mess with Mikey and the Doc's relationship. Evidently I went too far and drove Mikey into the Doc’s arms, and house, and out of my life forever. Sixteen years of friendship thrown away because I couldn’t grow up and didn’t want Mikey to grow up either. Emmett and Ted went with Michael in dropping me as a friend and suddenly I had no one in my life. Lindsay gave up on me when I wouldn’t have anything to do with my son and Melanie was never a fan of mine to begin with. I even enraged Cynthia so much that she quit on me. Well I could still count on Deb and Vic but I didn’t want to acknowledge being friends with people so old so I stayed away from them most of the time. I continued on my merry way, tricking, drinking, and drugging every night. For some reason this affected my job performance so when the whole Kip mess happened Ryder wasn’t willing to stand beside me when it went to court. Since I had blown Lindsay, Mel and the baby out of my life Melanie laughed in my face when I asked her to represent me. The counselor Ryder got me managed to get the firm off the hook but left me to hang in the wind. I lost pretty much everything, the Loft, the Jeep and most of my savings but worst of all Ryder fired me and I was unable to get a job with any other advertising firm in the area or in the country for that matter. I wound up doing some job that required me to wear a shirt with Brian embroidered over the pocket. Can you imagine the horror of that? I was living in some efficiency. I didn’t have the money to buy new designer clothes. I didn’t have the money to squander on drugs and alcohol so my tricking was severely hampered. As I got older I found it harder and harder to get any guy I was interested in to be interested in me. Finally one night when three guys in a row turned me down I just said the hell with it and decided to end it all. I wasn’t going to be another Theodore. I walked out of Babylon and started walking toward Liberty Avenue fully intending to walk in front of the first moving vehicle. That's when I screamed and woke up. God Justin I’m so glad I saw you standing under that lamp post and that you put up with all of my crap and chased after me when anyone sensible would have given up. The only good thing in this dream life was I didn’t have to deal with Justin leaving me for Ethan. But I lived all of those years without any ’Sunshine’ in my life. I’m so glad that I went to the hospital that night and saw my son and fell in love with him at that very instant. I’m so glad Sonnyboy that you've been in my life since the day you were born and that you'll always be in my life. To think that it could have gone in some other direction is horrifying. I love you Justin Craig Taylor. Augustus Brian Peterson-Marcus you're the most wonderful son any man could ever want.” “Geez Dad I love you too. You and Uncle Justin have been terrific fathers as well.” “Where're my hip waders when I need them.” “Uncle Justin!” “Justin I still love you even when you try to be obnoxious. But I have to tell you that it doesn’t become you. Though you in nothing but hip waders is kind of interesting." "DAD!" "Well Gussy it's time you tell us about your nightmare.” GUS’ NIGHTMARE “There really must have been something in the cheese dip because my nightmare was pretty much the same as yours Dad. None of the family was in my life in the dream world. There was just Mom, Daddy Gui, and me. Why would Mom have married a gay Frenchman? Anyway we lived in a dumpy little apartment instead of the house since Mom hadn’t been able to pay the mortgage without Mama there to help out. Daddy Gui stayed home and watched after me until I started school and after that he only worked part time. So money was always a problem. My grandparents totally disowned us when Mom married Daddy Gui. You had nothing to do with us Dad, though I eventually found out who you were and that you were my father. Looking just like someone does tend to draw comments. I asked Mom why you weren’t part of my life and she told me that you were a selfish bastard that ran away from commitment at the first chance all of your life and that we were better off without you. Things weren’t too bad until I hit puberty then Daddy Gui started getting really interested in me. At first I didn’t know what was going on but then when he actually started trying to touch me I knew what was up. Mom for some reason was unwilling to believe me when I told her what he was trying to do. She actually told me to quit trying to make trouble between her and Daddy Gui. I was horrified that she would think that I would make something like that up just to cause trouble. So I fended him off but finally one afternoon before Mom got home from work he managed to trap me in the bathroom, I forgot to lock the door. He started telling me how beautiful I was, just like my father, how kissable my lips were, just like my father, and that he could make me feel better than I had ever felt in my life. I was scared to death that I wouldn’t get out of the room without being hurt because I knew I wasn’t going to let him do anything to me. He backed me into the corner of the room where he started groping and trying to kiss me. Finally I managed to grab a piece of sculpture Mom had on a shelf and hit him in the head with it. Then I ran out of the apartment as fast as I could, leaving Daddy Gui bleeding on the floor. I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t stay there since I wasn’t going to let that bastard have his way with me and Mom wouldn’t believe me before so she wouldn’t believe me now. After walking to the park and then walking around it several times I remembered the comments about the famous King of Liberty Avenue being my biological father. I decided that I'd try to find him and see if he could help me. So I walked to Liberty Avenue, which took a long time. I had to walk since I didn’t have any money for the bus. When I finally got to Liberty I was starving and didn’t have a clue as how to find anyone let alone Brian Kinney who I'd never actually seen. As I wandered up Liberty I saw a guy come out of a club and start walking towards the street. About the time I realized who he had to be, after all I looked in the mirror everyday, I also realized that the guy intended to walk into traffic. That was when I screamed and woke up.” “God Justin, I want to go hunt that bastard Guillaume up and beat the shit out of him.” “That would be hard to explain to the police don’t you think Brian?” “Justin do you always have to be sensible?” “Doesn’t someone?” “Brat!” “Gussy that was horrible but you know that nothing like that would've happened. Your mother would never've allowed someone to molest you.” “I don’t know Uncle Justin it certainly seemed real.” “We really do need to find out what Mom put in that cheese dip. My dream was basically the same as well. What my life would 've been like if Brian and I hadn‘t met that night under the lamp post.” JUSTIN’S NIGHTMARE “For several years I had been wondering about myself. I thought about boys instead of girls. My best friend was a girl instead of another boy. Finally, a few days after starting my senior year of High School, I took the bull by the horns and went to Liberty Avenue to find out if I really was Gay. I figured I’d find some guy and see what happened. I was never so nervous in my entire life as I walked down the street with all of those gay people hugging and kissing right on the street. I asked some old guy about the bars, when he asked me to gowith him I almost ran away. I eventually found myself standing under a lamp post but after a few minutes I decided to give up and go home. Walking back to the bus stop I got to talking with a guy only a few years older than me. He pulled me into an alley where he proceeded to give me a blowjob. It was less than thrilling, I don’t know if it was his ability or the fact that I was afraid the police would catch us. As soon as I came I ran away from him and got on the next bus. That little adventure convinced me that I wasn’t gay just confused about what I wanted. So I finished out my senior year at St James. Chris Hobbs and I became friends and I took Daphne to the Prom as a double date with Chris and his girl friend. I went to Dartmouth and got a business degree, I had given up my art when I decided I wasn’t gay since I didn’t want anyone stereotyping me. Once I graduated I got a job with my Dad’s company. He was pushing for grandchildren so I got married to the first woman I slept with. While I managed to have sex with her several times a week for the first couple of years, we were trying to get pregnant; it was never anything I really enjoyed past the actual release of orgasm. I moved up in the hierarchy of the company and was making good money but I was never really happy. Finally one night my wife came to me and said. “Justy I’m filing for divorce in the morning. I want more from life than what you're giving me. We never had a child and sex once a month simply isn’t good enough. Admit the truth to yourself, go to Liberty Avenue and find some guy. Fuck yourself silly and enjoy life for a change." Of course I denied the implication but inside I was thrilled. As much as I had denied what I was someone else finally told me what I had always known. So for the hell of it I left our fancy house in the rich subdivision and drove to Liberty Avenue. As I wandered down the street I didn’t know any more than I had all those years before but this time I intended to make something good happen instead of running away. I found myself standing under a lamp post again when I saw the most beautiful person I had ever seen walk out of a club. As he walked towards Liberty I tried to gather the courage to intercept him but it became clear that the guy was going walk into traffic, but then he looked my way. He stopped dead in his tracks and then walked over to me where he said.” “How's it going? You had a busy night?” Then I replied “Just checking out the bars. Boytoy, Meathook” I had noticed the names as I walked down the street from my car. “Meathook? So you're into leather?” “Sure” “So, where're you headed?” “No place special.” “I can change that” “Then we kissed with more passion than I had ever experienced in my life. When I came back to my senses I saw a teenage blond version of the guy watching us. I asked the guy about the younger version and he just said “Huh.” I told him to turn around, he did, and when he saw the boy he just started laughing. I asked what was so funny and he said, “What a night to remember, I meet my Sunshine and my Sonnyboy almost at the same instant.” Then you called to the boy, “Abraham come here, you're my son; how could I've ever been so stupid as to not have you in my life.” Then the three of us walked to my car and we wound up at the Liberty Diner where we started sorting out our lives. That's when I awoke.” “Justin I've been wondering why Gus and I awoke with screams of terror while you awoke with a shout of joy” “Don’t you see Brian we were destined to be together no matter what happened. If we hadn’t met when we did we would've met later. Granted meeting earlier was better than later but we were destined to be together and that was a joyous thing to dream.”