Lois, thank you for the beta...you are the greatest!
Chapter 9 – Party Planning A Few Moments Later…(Day 38) Jason led Justin to a large playroom with lots of light, a few items of kid’s furniture, and lots of cushions and beanbag chairs scattered about the room. There were toys constrained in several odd shaped containers throughout the room. Justin made himself comfortable on one of the cushions. “Ok, Jason. What did you decide was the theme for the party?” “I have no idea. That’s why I was pleading with you to help. I really am stuck. Ideas are your department. I make a great graphic assistant, but I just need creative direction. So go ahead…direct me creatively!” Jason suggested. “You know, you’re really pathetic? Ok, give me a few minutes,” Justin said, as he started to roam about the room. He walked once around the room. He looked at the toys stored in each of the bins. He looked out the windows into the yard. Justin then covered the room a second time. Finally, Justin flopped down on his cushion again, and fired up his laptop. He rapidly started tapping on keys, and internet images were soon flying across the screen. Jason meanwhile just sat back and watched his friend with amazement. Jason opened his sketchpad and begin to sketch the picture of Justin curled up over his laptop. With every pencil stroke, he remembered how much he loved to draw Justin…especially Justin at work. He had truly missed this. Silence began to pervade the room. The only sounds were the clicking of the computer keys and the scratching of the pencil on the sketchpad. Finally, the aura in the room was interrupted by Justin’s voice. “I think I have an idea,” Justin said hesitantly. “It will be a lot of work, but I think we can pull it off.” “I’m listening,” Jason said, pulling over another cushion sit beside Justin. “At this precise moment in time,” Justin began, “Nicky’s in love with trucks. Right?” “Yeah. So?” “How about if we use the theme of trucks to make the birthday decorations for him? What do you think?” “That’s a perfect idea…pure genius. Now, how do we do it?” Jason asked. “Well, I think that we can purchase most of what we need. But to give it the creative expression that I have in mind, you and I will probably need to create the finishing touches. What do you think?” “I’m at your service,” Jason announced. “But before we get started, let me go and check in on Nicky.” “Sure, go ahead. In the meantime, I need to do some more checking on what’s available,” Justin said, still clicking on his laptop. “I’ll be right back.” “Ok.” When Jason returned a few minutes later, he found Justin, this time bent over his sketchpad. “I think we’re ready,” Justin said, when he realized that Jason was back. “Just out of curiosity, Jason, what did you originally plan as decorations for Nicky’s birthday in the event that I couldn’t get here early?” he asked with a laugh. “Paul and I decided on the traditional birthday stuff, you know streamers and balloons and things. You know…the usual stuff.” “I like your idea of streamers and balloons, we just have to incorporate the truck theme. Now what did you do about the cake?” “Basically taken care of. Now that you’re here, you can add the finishing touches.” “Jason, help me out here. Where did you get the idea I was an artist capable of working in all mediums? And who said that I was working on the cake?” “They taught you everything a PIFA. I read all about it on the web,” Jason went on to explain. “They taught you to manipulate classical form and function in all mediums. Didn’t they tell you about it while you were there?” “You know after doing this little project with you, maybe it’s time for me to give in to Brian and tell him that I’m ready to go back and get my degree. Maybe he and I should even discuss the possibility of grad school…because, my skills are really lacking here,” Justin admitted pensively. “Are you really seriously thinking of going back to PIFA?” Jason asked. “I wasn’t until this very moment. Now I’m beginning to wonder if maybe I made a mistake. I was finally readmitted to school after the Stockwell defeat, but I left to go to LA to work on Rage, The Movie. When the movie was cancelled, I returned to Pittsburgh to try to figure out what to do next. I decided to try my hand at painting. I was written up in Art Forum, and then I was off to New York. Brian has never really let the issue drop about my education though. Maybe my decision was a mistake. Maybe I still have a lot to learn.” “You have to be kidding?” Jason protested. “Maybe if I had stayed in school, helping you with Nicky’s birthday decorations would have been so much easier. I think I may have failed you somehow,” Justin said sadly. “Listen to me Justin Taylor. The most exciting thing to Nicky about turning four is that you and Brian were coming to visit. The added bonus is that he will get to play with Gus. The party is just family and few friends. Anything you come up with will make this a memory for your godson. We’ll save the pictures for him, but all he will remember is how happy he was. So don’t you dare have a drama queen moment on me.” Jason says, wrapping his arms around Justin. “Ok, I’m sorry,” Justin finally said. “Well, if we’re going to do this, you had better let me make a few phone calls.” Justin reached for his cell phone and punched in the first number. “Hi, Em, it’s Justin.” “Hi, Sweetie, where are you?” Emmett immediately asked. “Cincinnati.” “Oh that’s right. What’s up? Why in the world are you calling?” Emmett had to ask. “I need a favor.” “Anything Sweetie, you know that.” “Jason and I are here trying to finish the plans for Nicky’s fourth birthday party. We’re using trucks as a theme. What do you think?” “I think that’s a wonderful idea for a little boy. I know that you’ll create the cutouts and streamers. Just don’t forget the posters. Kids like visuals. Oh yeah and don’t forget the trucks for the cake. I would normally suggest buying them, but you can just sculpt them.” “Em, what am I going to sculpt them from?” Justin asked incredulously. “I was originally thinking about blocks of fudge. But baking a little loaf cake is probably a better idea for you since you’re an artist,” Emmett suggested effortlessly. “You’ve got to be kidding, Em. What makes you think that I can do that? I’m a painter, have you forgotten. God, you’re as bad as Jason!” “We just know what you can do, Sweetie, even if you don’t. So get to it!” Emmett insisted with a laugh. Then Emmett continued to talk to Justin a little while longer, giving him a few more suggestions. Justin made notes in his sketchpad. Finally, Justin said, “I got it, Em. Thanks a lot. Bye, Em.” When Justin got off the phone with Emmett, he found Jason was sitting there laughing. “What do you find so funny?” Justin had to ask with raised eyebrows. “I’m sorry.” Jason said, trying to be serious. All he had heard was Justin’s side of the conversation, but Jason had met Emmett, so he could just image the other side too. Finally Jason managed to pull himself together and ask with a serious tone, “What did Emmett say?” “Em wanted to be sure what I was going to sculpt little trucks for the cake,” Justin said, still shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s perfect,” Jason agreed. At this point, Justin couldn’t help breaking out laughing. “Oh you’re no help!” “Me?” “Never mind.” Justin said once he returned to seriousness. “Em, also said that we needed to be sure that we have Pizza, because every four year old wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese...like we didn’t know this?” Justin quipped. “He must have heard our phone conversation about Chuck E. Cheese…but he also knows Brian. No surprises there! So what did he suggest?” Jason continued. “He said that a pizza would be too much for a kid’s tummy at a party with everything else they’re going to be eating and everything else that’s going on. So he’s emailing me his recipe for Pizza On a Stick.” “I love it!” Jason said gleefully. “By the way is Nicky having a cake or cupcakes? What kind of cake is he having?” “I never know these things. You have to talk to Mom.” “Oh great,” Justin said with some exasperation. Justin thought for a few moments. “Well, I have one more phone call to make.” Justin announced as he was punching in the number, “You’re going to owe me big time for this one.” There was a pause. “Ah, Spyder...” Justin said hesitantly. “Taylor?” “Yes, it’s me.” Justin said with a sigh. “Spider?” Jason mumbled quietly to himself, “Who the hell is spider?” “Shhhhh!” Justin said, trying to quiet Jason so that he could talk on the phone. “Taylor, didn’t we just talk? Don’t you remember?” Spyder teased, now that he was sure who was calling. “Spyder, you remember those cartoon sketches of trucks that you did for that commercial?” “You mean the ones that you had to replace with fine art? You promised that you would never to mention them again, Taylor.” Spyder protested. “So why are you mentioning them now?” “How would you like to email me that file?” “Oh no! Then you would have a permanent record of my shame and disgrace. I’m keeping my drawings sequestered on my computer. Right now, it’s just your word against mine,” Spyder continued to argue in protest. “Why do you want them?” he eventually asked, his curiosity getting the better of his pride. “Remember those decorations for the birthday party we discussed? Well, we’re using his love of trucks as a theme for the party. I have the perfect setting where your drawings will be properly appreciated. That’s if you can locate the file, and will agree to sell them to me?” “So now you’re telling me that my work is appropriate for four year olds?” Spyder began to sulk. “Give me a break, Spyder. You know my hand wouldn’t hold out for that kind of detailed drawing. And you are, after all, the master at this sort of thing…even if our client didn’t fully appreciate your work.” “Ok. Ok. I found the file. I’ve already sent it to you. Do whatever you want with it? But you better take lots of pictures. I want to see everything. There’s no charge. I’m letting you have them only because I love you. You know that? Well, that and I can’t resist having you eternally indebted to me,” he added with a laugh. “Thanks, Spyder. See you when I get back to the City.” Justin closed his cell phone and turned to face a very puzzled Jason. “What?” Justin asked. “Does Brian know about the insect?” Jason asked with a certain concern in his expression. Justin burst out laughing. “What Insect? Oh, you mean Spyder? Spyder and I work on design projects together. We worked together on the website that is nominated for the Bronze Quill. We decided we liked working together, so we have done a couple of other projects together…a few websites and a few commercials. He is basically a computer whiz with an artistic flair. Unfortunately, he gives me as much trouble as you do.” “And that’s all?” Jason tried to confirm. “That’s all! What did you think? Let’s see if that file has arrived in my email yet.” Justin reached over to his computer and checked his email. “Yep, they’re here,” he said, directing Jason’s attention to images on the screen. “See?” “Those are great! Nicky is going to be thrilled. What are we going to do with them?” “Well, as much as I would like to paint a mural on your wall or something, there isn’t time. But I can produce a couple of quick posters to add to the room. This was Em’s suggestion too. Then with the cut out’s that you and I are going to make, I think everything will be ok. You’ll see…everything will come together…especially if we use the new copier at your office for the posters,” Justin explained, with a reassuring smile “No problem. You should get to work on the posters,” Jason suggested nonchalantly. “By the way, have you figured out the design for the cake or the cupcakes? We probably should get them to Mom and Gabrielle tonight.” Justin put down everything in his hand. “Jason, we sort of agreed to decorations. When did I get assigned cake design duties too?” “You always design the cake…why should this year be different?” Justin started to open his mouth to protest, but decided to save his energy. He was starting to figure out that arguing with Jason was useless because whenever Jason was losing an argument he just became illogical. Instead Justin asked the riddle of the ages, “Jason, just out of curiosity, what were you planning on your contribution to Nicky’s party being this year?” “I got you and Brian to agree to come here. After that, my work was done,” Jason explained as he started to stand up. “I’m the understudy here, studying at the feet of the master!” Jason knew he had laid things on bit thick at this point, and he knew that he had really tried Justin’s patience. So, in his own defense he reminded Justin, “I told you I was ready to help.” *** Later that evening, while Justin and Jason were still in the playroom, the doorbell rang as Gabrielle returned, this time with her husband, Ryan, and their two kids. Fran Dunbar, Paul and Gabrielle’s mother, was the next to ring in, with Katie and Lee Smith, Jason’s parents, being the final arrivals. Everyone came bearing food since dinner was a potluck. This had become the custom whenever the two families got together. It was easy to see that these were two families that spent a lot of time together. There was easy conversation and banter between everyone, and many hugs were given all around. But tonight, the clan had gathered together just to see Justin. Paul and Nicky walked toward the playroom to retrieve Justin, who was already busy at work on his designs. Hearing the approaching little footsteps, Justin smiled to himself and quickly managed to gather up everything and close the laptop before Nicky reached him. Nicky immediately broke free and ran to Justin, throwing his arms around his neck, “Dad sent Daddy and me to get you ‘cause it’s time to eat.” “Thanks, Nicky,” Justin said, giving Nicky a kiss, “You know, I think I’m really hungry.” “What a surprise!” Paul commented, from his standing position at the entrance to the room. “Well let’s go. Everyone is waiting for us.” Nicky managed to pull Justin into a standing position, and tugged him out of the room. Nicky allowed him to stop long enough to use the bathroom and wash his hands, before ushering him to the dinner table. Paul couldn’t help but laugh to himself as he watched his almost-four-year-old son bossing Justin around like he was one of his playmates…like another little kid. Nicky was going to make sure that Justin made it to dinner…he was going to personally see to that. There, in the dining room, Justin came face to face with the Cincinnati equivalent of the Liberty Avenue Family. Oh this wasn’t the first time that Justin had encountered this group. In fact, The Durbars and The Smiths had embraced both Brian and Justin as family even before Nicky was born. But in the face of the emotional roller coaster surrounding Nicky’s birth, the bonds were made even stronger. Justin greeted everyone, and then everyone started to fire questions at Justin all at once. They wanted to know where Brian was. They wanted to know about New York. They wanted to talk about the article for the opening of the new wing of the gallery. Every now and then someone would take a breath, and Justin could get caught up on what had been going on with everyone here since his last visit. After dinner, Jason and Justin retrieved their stuff from the playroom, and the two of them were ready to meet the Moms in the dining room with their ideas for the party, while the rest of the family appeared to scatter in several different directions. Nicky and other kids disappeared to watch TV or videos together, in another part of the house. Ryan challenged Lee to a pool rematch. Something was said about Lee winning rather consistently, and Ryan wanted another chance at revenge. Lee couldn’t help laughing at the arrogance of youth that didn’t understand the value of years of experience. Nevertheless, Lee agreed to humor Ryan with another game, so off they went to the recreation room. Paul went to the kitchen to microwave some popcorn for the kids, but he made sure he was in the perfect position to hear all that was happening at the dining room table. “Ok, Justin. We’re only here to pick up your designs. Then, you and Jason can go off and do whatever it is that you two do when you visit.” Katie teased. “Yes, Katie and I have the task of the cake…like always. So what are we doing?” Fran added. “So, where are the designs, Justin?” she demanded teasingly. “Gee, Fran I just got here,” Justin teased in reply, “Don’t I get any time?” “Of course, dear,” Fran said with a laugh. She paused a moment. “Ok, now, have you had enough time. “Fran, wait until you see what WE came up with this time,” Jason began. “But, Justin does a better job of explaining things, so I’m going to let him tell you.” Fran and Katie rolled their eyes at Jason’s antics, and then they laughed. They knew Jason really well…especially when he and Justin were together. Justin looked at Jason in complete disbelief. Paul just laughed from his position at the microwave since he knew that Jason had very little to do with anything that was about to be explained. “So that’s how it’s going to be, is it?” Justin knowingly said. Justin glared at Jason. Jason, knowing that he was probably in trouble, took a moment to be sure that his mask of innocence was securely in place...then he just smiled innocently at Justin. “Ok. Fran…Katie…I think that we have everything worked out. Since Nicky seems to be so in love with trucks at the moment, we thought we would use trucks as part of this year’s birthday theme,” Justin continued. “That’s an excellent idea. He’s going to love it. He’s going to be so surprised too,” Paul rambled on from his distant position. Fran and Katie nodded their agreement with smiles. Evidently, Nicky’s love of trucks was not a secret from the rest of the family. Gabrielle just rolled her eyes, since she had heard about this endlessly. Nicky and Gabrielle had spent LOTS of time together. “Jason and I still have quite a bit of work left to do. But the general idea is that the cake needs to be decorated with traditional birthday designs, and the little trucks designs will be added to them as well. The designs are all worked out, more or less, I just have to print everything out for you.” Justin explained. “I love the additional trucks on top of the cake.” Katie added. “Are you planning on us doing that with the decorator…using the icing?” “No, that would be too simple,” Justin said with sigh. “I was thinking of making the trucks on the cake…three-dimensional.” “So we’re going to use plastic trucks?” Katie asked rhetorically, thinking the answer was probably obvious. “That could be really cute too.” “Only if we have to…” Justin continued. “No Mom, Justin is going to sculpt little trucks…from a cake,” Jason said nonchalantly. “How is he going to that?” Fran asked, trying to picture the process in her mind. “It has been suggested that maybe when you bake the regular cake, you could also bake a second loaf cake. That should give me enough cake to try and sculpt into little trucks. Then you can decorate the little trucks and add them on top of the decorated cake,” Justin explained. “Katie, that means we get to REALLY decorate this year. We get to decorate the cake, AND we get to decorate the little trucks. We’re going have so much fun…you and I,” Fran added with a laugh. “Just you and me. This is going to be great!” Katie added with excitement. “Justin, please tell me you made a picture like always. Otherwise, these two will have too much fun, and the cake will never be finished.” Gabrielle said with laugh. The mothers rolled their eyes at her and went back to discussing the cake. “Gee Justin, I didn’t know that you did sculpture as well…and in cake no less. There really is no limit to your talents,” Paul teased, as he passed by with the bowl of popcorn for the kids. Everyone just smiled and nodded agreement. Justin glared back at him as he passed. “Is there anything else you want us to work on?” Gabrielle asked. “Well you need to be sure to get the ice cream…after all, what would a birthday party be without cake and ice cream?” Justin suggested. “Already taken care of.” Gabrielle confirmed. “And then we have a few ideas for food for the party. Right Justin?” Jason interrupted. “You know we talked about ordering pizzas. Well Justin has a better idea …Pizza on a Stick. We could prepare them in advance and bake them right before they are served. This would be easier for the kids to handle and much less mess.” “That sounds easy enough,” Gabrielle added, “And the portions seems small enough that their little tummies shouldn’t be too stuffed. They’ll still be ready for the cake and ice cream.” “I was also thinking.” Jason interrupted hesitantly, “I heard about the miniburgers that you made for that camping thing for Gus.” “What? How did you find out about that?” Justin asked with surprise. “Brian complained to Paul that you and Gus forced him to eat toasted marshmallows…you know carbs after 7 pm thing…during the camp out in the living room. I think that he was trying to get sympathy from Paul…an exercise in futility I will assure you,” Jason added with a laugh. “But, he also talked about how much he really enjoyed the miniburgers.” “He did?” Justin said with surprise. “Yes, so I thought we should have them for the party, and then if we add some sort of easy to eat salad, both the kids and the adults should be happy. That means we would only need to have one menu. What do you think?” “That sounds wonderful,” Katie agreed. “You know, I’m sort of looking forward to the party already.” “Let’s face it…you just like to party,” Fran teased. “With four year olds…who can resist?” Gabrielle added. “So is that everything, Justin?” Fran asked. “Pretty much. Jason and I still have to work out a couple of details, but we should have printouts to you before you leave. How does that sound?” Justin added, and then he started thinking. “You all realize sculpture is not my strong suit, and even it were, cake would be a completely foreign medium for me?” “And, your point is?” Paul asked, returning to the conversation. “You love to experiment with new techniques. I read that on your website,” Paul professed gleefully. “Don’t worry Jus, we’re all here to lend our support.” Jason added and everyone else chimed in their agreement by patting him on the back or kissing his cheek. Justin gently grabbed Jason by the collar, making sure that he didn’t wander off, and the two of them took over the study. Jason checked to make sure that the laptop was properly hooked up to the printers. “Ok Jus, you’re all set,” he said. Jason and Justin jointly put the finishing touches on the cake designs, and Justin made several printouts for the Katie and Fran. Justin finally convinced Jason to create the designs for the cupcakes, which he reluctantly agreed to do, after major protests. In spite of Jason’s annoying tendency to pester Justin, he was a very talented graphic artist in his own right, so he managed to carry the truck idea over to the small space of the cupcakes with clever designs…and he incorporated the fun party theme in gumdrops on the other cupcakes. He was actually starting to get into the fun of designing for this party thing. Justin printed out the recipes for Pizza On A Stick from Emmett’s email. Emmett just happened to include a kid’s salad recipe too. Justin tried to remember the steps involved in the miniburgers, and wrote notes about preparing them, and he remembered to list the things they needed to buy…like the mini hamburger rolls. With printouts in hand, Jason returned to the dining room. Justin followed along behind. Everyone seemed deep in discussion in the dining room as they entered. “What’s going on?” Jason asked with concern, placing the printouts on the table. “We’re just trying to figure out how many people will be here?” Katie said with a laugh. “Every time we try to compute the number, we have a problem, and we keep coming up with more adults than kids.” “Well that stands to reason,” Gabrielle added. “With each kid having an average of 2.5 parents, why are you surprised at the result?” “What makes you think all the parents are coming?” Justin innocently asked. “It’s a Saturday afternoon. The kids will be here for Nicky. Everyone else both gay and straight are so used to each other, they’ll see this a purely an afternoon party or they’ll be here to klatch with Gabrielle and the Moms.” Paul explained. Fran had one more bit to add, “Plus Justin and Brian will be here so I wouldn’t be surprised if all of Dunbar and Smith crashed the party.” Everybody laughed. “Yep, there should be total chaos,” Katie added with a laugh. “We’re going to have a ball!” “But according to my research Nicky is only going to be four, so there should only be like five people total at his birthday party,” Justin pointed out. Once again everyone burst out laughing. “It’s a good thing you’re an artist, Justin. You and Jason are allowed to be dreamers and have your delusions. Fortunately, Fran and I have better crystal balls. Chaos! I promise you.” Katie said with a laugh. “Oh yeah, big time!” Fran added with a laugh. “Crystal ball confirmed!” Everybody burst out laughing again. Justin was just shaking his head. “Well I guess I should retrieve my kids,” Gabrielle announced, “Starting with breaking up ‘The Great Pool Rematch’ between Ryan and Lee.” “And don’t forget the little ones,” Katie teased with laugh. “Oh yeah, them too,” Gabrielle teased. Katie and Fran couldn’t resist taking another look at the detailed designs for the cakes and the cupcakes. They were both thrilled and couldn’t wait to get started. They both laughed at the fun idea of both sets of designs for the cupcakes. They took a minute and looked over the recipes, and they both agreed they were easy enough to make. They were excited about everything, and they couldn’t wait to get started. The sound of voices and footsteps said that everyone had reassembled. “So, how was the great pool rematch?” Justin asked. “The winner and still champion,” Lee said, flexing his arms in triumph. “There’s always next time, Ryan.” “Oh no. I’m not going to fall into that trap again.” Ryan protested. “Paul, I need intensive lessons over the next two days. We have to do something to temper Lee’s persistent winning streak!” Ryan suggested. “I need to be ready on Saturday.” “If it will make you feel better…” Lee said, embracing Ryan in a hug. With that Gabrielle and Ryan gathered their kids to leave. Fran and Katie said their goodbyes and planned to see each other tomorrow. Lee and Katie then said their good byes. With everyone gone, the house was almost quiet. Nicky climbed into Justin’s lap and rested his head against Justin’s chest. “Well, this has been quite a day,” Paul said, putting his arms around Jason and kissing him gently on the cheek. “Thanks for everything, Jus,” Jason said, “You’re so great at this. I love everything that you came up with. I can hardly wait. A certain someone is going to be so thrilled.” “I hope so,” Justin said, gently kissing the top of Nicky’s head. Nicky snuggled in closer to Justin’s chest. “Well Nicky, I guess it’s time to put you to bed,” Paul suggested. “I want Justin to put me to bed,” Nicky protested. “How about you let Daddy and me give you a bath and put you to bed. Then we’ll let Justin come in and kiss you goodnight. What do you think?” Jason suggested. “Ok,” Nicky reluctantly agreed, after thinking it over, and finally reached out to his dads to be carried. “Well, let me quickly call your Uncle Brian,” Justin finally said to Nicky, “Then I’ll be in to kiss you goodnight. Ok?” Nicky nodded his agreement. *** Justin returned to the guest room to call Brian on his cell phone. “Hey,” Brian said when he answered. “Hey, “How’s it going?” “Remind me to kill Jason when this is all over. And Jason and Paul together, without you being here as a stabilizing influence…well, I don’t want to talk about it.” Justin protested. Then he quietly said, “I miss you.” “I see things are just about as I expected.” Brian said with a laugh. Then he quietly responded, “I miss you too.” “It looks like I have to go back to New York when I leave here,” Justin casually mentioned. “Spyder said that we have a potential new client, and I also need to meet with Catherine again.” “I have to be in New York too. Liberty Air and Eyeconics want to meet when I get back. I was hoping that I could stay at your loft, if that’s ok?” “Absolutely. But, I’m surprised that you’re going to give up the amenities of the your hotel suite.” “I’m willing to suffer through it,” Brian teased, “And I’m trusting that you’ll make it worth my while.” “Ever the romantic!” Justin said with a laugh. There was silence for a moment before Brian continued. “Don’t worry, I’ll have Cynthia take care of switching your reservations from here. We can take Gus back to Toronto, and then go on to New York together,” Brian suggested. “Now tell me, what Jason has done this time to severely shorten his life expectancy?” Brian asked with a laugh. “It will keep until you get here. I think we have much more important things to take care of,” Justin whispered, “By the way, where are you?” “I’m still at the office, but I just got a very strange call from Teres a few minutes ago, and she told me that I had to come home. You’re gone one day, and she has developed this whole other tyrannical side to her now when you’re not around,” Brian said with a laugh. “Surprisingly, I understand that dinner is almost ready. So I’m on my way home, but I still have a lot to do tonight so I guess I’ll just take work home with me.” “She’s just doing her job…you leave her alone…so it sounds like you’re going to be up for awhile?” “I think I’ll just take a limo to the airport from the house in the morning, but I still have to pack too. So yeah…I’ll be up for awhile. You want me to call you back?” “Yeah.” “I can probably do that,” Brian suggested. “I going to kiss Nicky good night, and then, I should be ready for at least one round of phone sex.” “Tempting,” Brian said with a smile. “Later.” “Later,” Justin said, closing his phone. *** There was a gentle knock on the guest room door. Justin got up to answer it. “You now have one bathed, little person patiently waiting to be kissed good night,” Jason said with a laugh when Justin opened the door. “I just talked to Brian. He’s on his way home. He said he would call me back a little later,” Justin said to Jason, leaving the rest to his imagination. “So I’m all ready to say good night to the little one,” he teased. Jason started to talk as they were walking to Nicky’s room. “We got so much done today, Jus, thanks to you. I really could have never gotten this far without you. I know I can be real pain, but I want you to know that I’m so lucky to have you,” Jason said, leaning over to give Justin a kiss on the cheek. Justin blushed in response. Then Jason became serious again just as they were outside Nicky’s bedroom door. “You’ve had a rather long day, Jus. I really don’t want you to stay up too late working on things tonight. I know how you are. We still have tomorrow and Friday to get everything done. Besides me, you have the entire art department at Dunbar and Smith that are just dying to work with you again. So create whatever you want. It will get produced. You aren’t in this alone.” Jason said, reaching over and hugging Justin. “Plus, Brian will kill Paul and me if you’re exhausted when he arrives.” Jason and Justin both laughed for a moment, and then they entered Nicky’s room. Even though everyone knew that Nicky was sleepy, Nicky clearly had other ideas about how this time in his bedroom should be spent. He tried to invent all sort of excuses to get out of bed, protesting that he was no longer sleepy. He tried to persuade Justin to play games with him. Finally, Justin climbed on the bed with Nicky and allowed him to snuggle into his arms, while Paul and Jason read him a story. Nicky finally fell asleep in no time. “I have that effect on people,” Justin whispered, “I just seem to put them to sleep.” Paul and Jason quietly laughed as they positioned Nicky properly under the covers. They turned out the lights, and everyone quietly made their way out of the room. Paul and Jason walked Justin back to the guest room, and everyone hugged each other good night. Justin took a shower and settled himself in the guest bed to wait for Brian to call him back. Justin was now definitely ready for that round of phone sex.