JULY 2014 Gus Peterson-Marcus had a problem, and as only a 13(almost 14) year old can do he'd made a molehill into a mountain. Somehow he had to tell his Dad the awful truth that he wasn’t what he expected him to be. He'd also put off telling his Dad to the last minute. As long as Gus could remember his parents had alternated hosting his birthday party. One year his mothers gave the party the next year his Dads hosted it. They also held the party on the first Saturday of August instead of on his actual birthday of September 8 so that it wouldn’t interfere with the start of the school year. On his actual birthday all five would have a family dinner at the home of the parents who didn’t host the party. He had to give his Dad the guest list by Monday so that the invitations could be sent out on time. His problem was that the guest list would point out what Gus just knew would cause his Dad to be very unhappy with him at the least or to hate him at the worst. Gus had spent the last several weeks trying to figure out how to tell his Dad his disturbing news but had no success in coming up with a viable solution. Gus loved his Dad with all of his heart and hated to cause him pain. He'd finally decided to call a family meeting and ask if anyone could help him figure out how to tell his Dad his problem, hopefully with no bloodshed. And like the typical 13 year old he was he didn’t even consider the idea that they wouldn’t take him seriously after all he knew what he knew and it had to be true. Now Gus wasn’t thinking of blood family since he had very little of that left alive. All of his blood grandparents were dead, his granddad Kinney had died before Gus’ first birthday so he had no memory of him, his grandmother Kinney had died in the last year still praying for everyone’s soul at every chance. She had accepted Gus into her life as soon as she had found out that he existed. His Peterson grandparents had died in a car crash 3 years earlier but they had never been a real part of his family anyway. He barely knew either of his blood aunts and one set of cousins were too old for him and the other too young. But he had a pseudo-family that had been there for him as long as he could remember. There were Mikey and Teddy, and his Aunty Em, who were friends of his Dads. Gus had once asked Aunty Em why he called him that since Gus had never seen Emmett dressed as a woman. Emmett had told him that it was a nickname that Gus’ mother, Lindsay, had given Emmett at a going away party he had once given for Mikey and it had stuck just, like Gus was going to be stuck with Gussy for the rest of his life no matter how much he disliked it. Then there was Daphne who was the best friend of his Uncle Justin. She was a photojournalist and since she was out of the country she wouldn’t be at the family meeting. Next were his grandma Jenn, Justin’s mother and Justin’s sister Molly, who Gus called Aunt Mollusk when he wanted to bug her. Of course he couldn’t forget Debbie, who was Mikey’s mother and, really, the mom of the whole group. The family meeting, as was traditional to the group, was going to be held at Mikey’s comic book store where there was a gaming room big enough for everyone to be present without too much crowding. So Gus was on his bike headed to the meeting still trying to figure out how to frame his problem so that the family would be able to help him. Everyone was at the comic store when Gus arrived since he'd dawdled along the way as 13 year olds tend to do. They were all wondering what was up since it was the first time that Gussy had called a family meeting. The general consensus of the group was that it would be about the upcoming birthday bash but no one had any idea why Gus felt the need to call the family meeting. So when Gus finally arrived everyone was on pins and needles with anticipation to hear what he had to say. Gus moved to the front of the room, cleared his throat and asked for everyone’s attention. “I’m sure you are all wondering why I called this family meeting. But first I want you to all swear that you won’t say anything to Dad or Uncle Justin before I have time to break the news to Dad.” Mikey asked “Gus if you want to tell Brian something why can’t we talk to Justin?” “Mikey you know as well as I do that if you tell Uncle Justin something he'll tell Dad in 3 minutes flat.” Of course the whole group broke out in laughter at the remark since it was so true. “I need you guys to help me figure out the best way to tell Dad something so that he won’t hate me for the rest of his life.” After a sudden hush the group started talking at once. Mikey said “Gus what're you talking about?” Jenn chimed in with “Brian could never hate you” Deb just couldn’t keep from chuckling. Emmett and Ted just choked on their coffees and joined in with the general comments of non belief. Molly stated “Runt what've you been smoking?” Deb finally found her voice “Gus no matter what you've done Brian couldn’t hate you, he couldn’t even be unhappy with you for more than a minute.” Eventually they quieted down and Gus was able to go on with his problem, even though he was almost in tears, “I figured out something about myself this summer and Dad's going to hate me or at the very best be very disappointed in who I am.” Again the group broke out in statements of disagreement. Finally Emmett said “Gus tell us exactly what you think'll cause Brian to hate you.” “I have always thought that I would grow up to be gay. My Dad is gay and my Mom is gay so we all assumed that I would be gay too. I kept expecting to find other boys attractive but it never happened. Other boys are just other boys. This summer though I kept having to cover myself up every time I saw a pretty girl at the swimming pool or at the park. OK, I like girls instead of boys, that makes me straight and Dad hates straight people so he's going to hate me as well.” Everyone in the room was just flabbergasted; no one knew what to say. Jenn finally found her voice and in no uncertain terms told her grandson “Gus your Dad certainly doesn’t hate straight people and even if he did he could never hate you. Deb, Molly, and I are straight and he certainly doesn’t hate us. Why do you think he hates straight people?” “I’ve never heard him say anything good about straight people and he usually uses bad words whenever he says anything about straights. You three don’t count because you're family and women as well. But once he finds out that I like girls he's going to hate me. Why couldn‘t I be gay like we all expected?” “Gus quit thinking that, you are what you and you have to live with it. Your Dad won’t hate you and none of the rest of us hates you because you like girls. All Brian wants is for you to be happy. That's all any of us wants of you, for you to be happy.” “Grandma, Dad is going to hate me I just know it.” While the group continued to tell Gus that he was wrong in thinking that Brian would hate him they had no luck in convincing the youth. Finally Mikey said “Gus the only thing I can tell you, since you won’t believe us, is to go talk to Justin. Tell him that you want him to keep your secret until you talk to Brian and he might be able to give you an answer you can live with, but Brian'll never hate you even if you can’t believe me, that's the way it is.” “OK Mikey. Would you call him and ask him to meet me at the park down the street from their office building and to not say anything to Dad?” “Of course Gus but you have to believe me when I say that you're making a molehill into a mountain.” As soon as Gus had left the comic store the gang started laughing hysterically. Finally Deb told the group “Brian has to learn to listen to what comes out of his mouth. That poor boy truly believes that his Dad's going to hate him for what he is just because Brian Kinney doesn’t have enough sense to mind what he says in front of the kid.” Everyone agreed with Deb and they all agreed that whoever found out what happened when Gus talked to Brian would let the others know the results of the conversation. Mikey went to the phone and called Justin. “Justin this is Michael, Gus is on his way to the little park down the street from your building, he should be there in 15 or 20 minutes, he needs to talk to you and you have to promise me that you won’t say anything to Brian before you meet Gus.” “Michael what's going on?” “Just go meet him and try to help solve his problem, and remember that you were 13 once upon a time.” “What's that supposed to mean Michael?” “Just hear him out and solve his problem” “OK I’ll try, but why can’t I tell Brian?” “Because it has to do with Brian, and Gus doesn’t want him to know anything before he figures out how he wants to tell Brian.” “This sounds awful suspicious Michael. “I know but just go with the flow, you better be heading out, it would be better if you're at the park when he gets there.” “Bye Michael” “Good bye Justin” Justin told his secretary that he would be out of the building for awhile and to cover for him in case anyone called. Justin then walked the block and a half to the park and sat down on the first bench he found. A few minutes later Gus pulled up on his bike and sat down beside his Uncle Justin. “Uncle Justin I have to ask you something important, of course Mikey probably told you that though.” “Gus I have to say that my curiosity is getting the better of me, what do you want to ask me?” “Well you know that I have to give Dad my guest list by Monday so he can send out the invitations for my birthday party. The picture you drew for it this year is probably the best one ever.” “Yes I know that, we have been wondering why you haven’t given it to us before now, you have always been very punctual about such things in the past. It is a funny thing Gus; you say the same thing about the pictures I draw for your invitation every year.” “Well I have been putting it off because it will tell Dad something about me that is going to make him hate me. The pitures get better every year Uncle Justin.” Justin just stared at Gus for what seemed like forever to the youngster. “Uncle Justin aren’t you going to say anything?” “Gus, Gus, Gus how in the world could you think that anything you could do would make Brian hate you?” “Well all my life I can only remember Dad saying bad things about straight people and since I've decided that I like girls he's going to hate me.” Justin just stared at the boy again. Justin finally found his voice “Augustus Brian Peterson-Marcus listen to me, your Dad loves you, has always loved you, and will always love you. Straight, Gay, or Celibate he only wants what's best for you. Don’t you know that he says things without thinking about what the words mean? Yes he's had problems with straight people in the past but he's had problems with gay people as well, heck he's had problems with me. But no matter what you think his comments about straight people mean he doesn’t hate all straights and he certainly won’t be disappointed in you let alone hate you because you like girls.” While Gus was hearing what his Uncle Justin was saying the words simply weren’t able to get past his belief that his Dad was going to hate him for liking girls. “Uncle Justin he's going to hate me, I'll have to stay away from him for the rest of his life so that he won’t be physically sick at the sight of me.” “Gus stop this, he isn’t going to hate you, isn’t there anything I can say that'll convince you of this fact?” “Justee, I want to believe you but I just can’t, isn’t there something we can do to lessen the impact on Dad?” Justin decided that there was nothing he could say to solve Gus’ problem so they were going to have to grab the bull by the horns and deal directly with Brian. “OK Gus we'll go find Brian and give him the list, we'll then deal with whatever happens, but I can guarantee that he isn’t going to hate you let alone get physically sick at the sight of you.” So Gus got his bike and the two walked back to the Kinney-Taylor agency, Gus put his bike in Justin’s office and the two went to Brian’s office. Brian was glad to see his lover at any time and he loved to see his son also so when Cynthia buzzed him to tell him that they were there to see him he was just beaming when the two came into the room. Brian noticed that Gus was almost as tall as Justin, and he thought where has the time gone, it was only yesterday that these two came into my life on the same night. “Well guys what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” “Gus has the party guest list for you to look at Brian.” “Finally, what took so long this year Sonnyboy?” “Well Dad I changed who I want to invite now that I’m going to be 14 and I’m afraid you aren’t going to like the changes in me.” Brian noticed the strange implication in his son’s words but didn’t say anything about it. “OK let me look at it.” Gus gave the list to his Dad and then prepared himself for the explosion that he knew was going to come in the next few moments. Brian looked at the list and then asked “Gus what're you up to?” Gus almost broke out in tears and Justin looked astonished as well at Brian’s words. “Well Dad I knew you wouldn’t be happy but I just have to be true to myself, just like you and Uncle Justin have always taught me.” “What're you talking about Gus, I just want to know why there are only 19 names on this list we've had 30 kids at your birthday parties for the last 5 or 6 years.?” Gus just stared at his Dad he just couldn’t believe that he'd missed what the names meant about his son. Justin then said to Brian “read the names out loud and see if you see anything about them.” Brian looked at the love of his life and started reading the list “Rick James, Sara Smithson, Andy Bent, Helena Richardson, Stephen Irving, Stephanie Boyer, Jonas Lewson, Maria Consuela, Gus is there something about these kids that I should know, why would I be unhappy about this list?” “Dad don’t you see, I want to have a boy-girl party, I’m straight, and you hate straight people.” Brian was speechless, what had he ever done or said to make the light of his life think that he could hate him simply because of who he liked. “Gus I don’t hate all straight people and I certainly could never hate you, especially not for who you like. You remember the story about Justin’s Dad don’t you?” Brian looked at his lover to make sure that Justin knew that he didn’t want to open old wounds. “He hasn’t spoken to Justin since before you turned one simply because he can’t accept that Justin loves me. There's no way that Justin or I could ever inflict pain, like Justin has suffered because of his Dad, on you. We love you no matter what, and who you are simply would never enter into how we feel about you. Gussy you have to believe me, I couldn’t be happier for you, straight or gay it doesn’t matter you are my son.” Gus looked at his Dad’s horror stricken face and it finally sank in, it didn’t matter who he liked his family would love him no matter what. So Gus grabbed his Uncle Justin by the hand and pulled him along as he ran to his Dad and the three of them hugged each other so hard they almost left bruises. When they finally let go of one another Gus was as happy as he could ever remember being and his Dads were somewhat flushed, not that Gus noticed. “Everyone told me that you wouldn’t care, why couldn’t I believe them?” “Well Gus it probably is because you're 13 years old and that's part of being 13 believing what you believe with all of your heart.” Justin replied to his son. “I’m almost 14.” His Dads just beamed at their son and then grinned at each other.