February 28

"Do, I even want to know what caused this?" Brian asked, praying for strength as he stared at the closed and locked door of the break room.

When he'd gotten off of his conference call with Nebula Cosmetics, and had been told that there was a minor crisis that needed his attention, he'd been expecting an artwork fuck up or some account that needed a little finessing because the ad exec had made an ass of themselves. He hadn't expected to come out and find his husband barricaded in the break room, refusing anyone entrance.

Sighing, Brian rubbed a hand over his jaw and fondly remembered a time where coming into the office actually meant he spent his time working rather than putting out the resultant fires of his husband's queen outs. Of course, back then, his husband hadn't been pregnant and had actually been a reasonable person. God, he couldn't fucking wait until this whole pregnancy hormone shit was over and done with.

That day could not come soon enough.

"Just some assholes on the street making rude comments," Blake sighed, rubbing Luc's back, trying to burp him, but the newborn seemed much more interested in sleeping instead.

"Who were they and what did they say?" Brian demanded, thoroughly sick of Justin getting smacked in the face by others' bad attitudes and snide words; and he was just done with this, and would do whatever was necessary to let the Avenue know that this ended now if he had to track each, and every, one of these assholes down to beat some sense into them.

"Calm down, Papa Bear," Blake said, rolling his eyes when Brian glared at him and impatiently gestured for him to get on with it. "They were actually saying shit to me – well, at first. Justin shut them down pretty hard."

Brian's brows rose at that, wondering why they would be targeting Blake; not that he thought that Blake wasn't worthy of envy or jealousy, but he was usually so mellow, that few people ever had a bad thing to say about him.

"What did they say?" Ted asked, a guilty flush to his cheeks; likely because he hadn't been there to defend his husband as he'd been here at the office. While technically he was still out on paternity leave until March 10, he had been stopping in for a couple of hours every other day to get up to speed before coming back.

"Oh, some assholes were commenting on how I'd let myself go," Blake snorted, shaking his head at the absurdity of it; he seemed completely unperturbed by the confrontation. "Because, you know, it isn't like I had a baby not even two months ago. And this one queen – you know that one that's always hitting on you like I'm not standing right next you – said that he 'felt skinny standing next to me.'"

"What?" Cynthia asked rhetorically; her face was pinched and she looked like she was ready to go track down said idiots herself and deliver her own brand of swift and painful retaliation; likely with the very pointy, sharp heels of her favorite Loubouton pumps.

"Yeah," Blake huffed, rolling his eyes as he lay Luc back down into his stroller. "Like I said – assholes. But it didn't get too far as Justin came up when he said that, scoffed, looked him up and down pointedly and said, 'I'd enjoy it while you can since it's unlikely that this will ever happen again.'"

Brian snickered and shook his head while the others broke down laughing; he crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at the door, which remained stubbornly closed. While he did acknowledge that the comment had been unkind, and if he were Ted, he'd be looking for these assholes and introducing his foot to their ass; it felt more like a desperate bid for attention, rather than something Justin would find offensive.

"So why has he locked himself in the break room?" Brian asked again, more concerned with what had set his husband off this time.

"Well, as soon as he spoke up," Blake said as he repacked the bottle and burp cloth into Luc's diaper bag. "The bitchy little queen turned on him and started being rude to him. First he speculated on whether or not the baby was actually yours given Justin's and your reputation for fucking around. To which Justin laughed and said that he 'was pretty sure of it since yours was the only cock he's had up his ass in the last four years.'"

"I'm sure that went over well," Ted said dryly, but he was obviously holding back another chuckle at Justin's waspish tongue. And Brian himself was having a hard time containing his mirth as he knew very well that challenging Justin to a battle of wits was always a mistake if you were unarmed like this twat had been.

"As well as you could imagine," Blake smirked, his eyes dancing with amusement. "So then the queen said that he was surprised that you could even have kids at this venture with all the drinking and drugs and shit you did and snidely asked if you guys used fertility treatments. And Justin just looked at him with a dry smile and said, 'if I say no, are you going to ask what position we used next? Because that would be hard to pin down considering we usually fuck three to four times a night in various positions.'"

That had set off another round of laughter, with Brian even joining in and chuckling this time. He couldn't help feeling ridiculously proud of his husband.

"Oh my God," Cynthia wheezed through her laughter, eyes wet with tears of laughter and her cheeks stained red, her breath labored as she tried to regain her composure. "Please, tell me someone got that on video."

"I have no idea," Blake huffed between laughs, looking ridiculously proud at Justin's words. "But I wouldn't be surprised as we attracted a bit of an audience."

"So, what happened then?" Brian prompted, still trying to get down to the reason his husband had stormed into the office, had a few words with Yasmeen, and then stalked into the break room, slamming the door behind him. "So far I haven't heard anything that would have him locking himself in the break room with a platter of cupcakes."

"Well, seeing that he wasn't getting the response that he'd hoped for," Blake continued with a sigh, a small frown sliding over his lips. "He pulled out the big guns and snidely told Justin that he better enjoy the sex while he could because it was only a matter of time before you went back to tricking because you found his weight gain repulsive."

"Fuck," Brian hissed; of all the things the asshole could have said, he had to hit the one sore point that was certain to sent Justin into a tailspin. He'd already run up against this issue twice due to Mikey, and he didn't need this asshole bringing it back up. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "What happened after that?"

"Well, to give him credit," Blake said with a small smile. "Justin just sneered at him and said, 'Even if he did, he still wouldn't fuck you even with someone else's dick; he doesn't do whiny queens that make 'pencil dick' seem like a compliment.'"

Brian snorted again, which quickly morphed into a full-blown laugh as he imagined the look on the queen's face as Justin said that. If nothing else, Justin knew how to cut someone down to size with nothing more than a few well chosen words.

Learned that at his mother's feet he did, Brian thought; and then shook his head and cursed under his breath. Fucking Mikey and his Star Wars obsession.

"That's my boy," Brian muttered proudly under his breath garnering amused smirks from the others. "You put those bitchy queens in their place." He paused and then turned back to Blake with a frown having finally narrowed down what had Justin frothing at the mouth. "So, I'm assuming that was what sent him storming off into the break room?"

"I guess?" Blake said, his tone lilting into a faint question as he shrugged his shoulders. "After he said that, one of the Doms from Meat Hook came over and the queen nearly pissed his pants when he said that it 'sounded like someone needed an attitude adjustment,' and if he didn't watch it, he 'might just take up the challenge.'"

Blake paused as they all had a good laugh over that development, and then continued. "The queen pretty much fled after that and Justin stormed off over here. He went looking for you first, but when Yasmeen said you were on a conference call, she also mentioned the cupcakes and he's been in there ever since."

"Christ," Brian huffed, scrubbing a hand over his face as he turned back to the door, staring at it as if it would open under his sheer will, but it remained stubbornly closed with his pouting husband on the other side. Luckily, he had an easy remedy for that. "Just what I need today." Brian strode back down the hall to his assistant's desk and held out a hand. "Yasmeen, could you please give me the extra set of office keys in your desk so I can go pry my drama princess out of the break room."

"Good luck with that," Yasmeen smirked knowingly, but turned to and opened a drawer in her desk nonetheless and pulled out a set of keys. She turned back and dropped them into Brian's outstretched hand.

"What makes you say that," Brian asked, narrowing his gaze as she just continued to look at him smugly; as if she knew something he didn't.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out when you get in there," Yasmeen said, snickering when Brian rolled his eyes and turned on his heel to head back down the hall.

"I hate when she gets fucking cryptic; it always ends badly for me," Brian muttered, swiftly passing the growing crowd outside the break room; he paused to glare at the lot of them. "Don't you have work to do!? Because I could have sworn this was an actual office building and not a playground. But hey, if you don't have something to do…"

Brian never finished as everyone but Blake, Ted and Cynthia scurried back to their desks, having learned through experience that they never wanted Brian to actually find them something to do as it usually ended in tears. He arched a brow at the remaining three despite knowing he couldn't intimidate them.

"I don't work here," Blake said with a shrug.

"I'm on paternity leave," Ted smirked, making Brian roll his eyes.

"And don't even try it with me," Cynthia added, crossing her arms over her chest. "You'd never survive if I were to leave."

Brian rolled his lips under, and turned away; he walked over to the door, inserted the key and unlocked it. Opening the door, he met the irritated eyes of his drama princess and stepped through the door, closing it behind him. He locked it again and arched a brow, crossing his arms over his chest as he considered the merits of waiting Justin out and letting him talk in his own time. But he decided against it; he didn't have the time as he need to fix this before his next conference call in an hour and a half.

"So, I hear you had a busy day," Brian offered as salutation, huffing when Justin merely grunted and continued to determinedly peel the paper away from the cupcake in his hand. Blatantly ignoring Brian, Justin sank his teeth into the cupcake and moaned with pleasure, his eyelashes fluttering.

Brian continued to stare at him for several long moments, willing Justin to cave; but his husband just stared back and continued to eat his cupcake.  So, it's going to be like that then; all right, fine, time to switch tactics.

"Look, Sunshine," Brian said, walking over to the table; he placed his hands on it and leaned forward. "You can't mind what the idiots say; they don't know a damned thing about us or what I think. They're just a bunch of jealous queers who wish that it was them that had exclusive rights to my cock."

Justin snorted and finished off his cupcake, licking his fingers before he grabbed another.

"Oh, fuck that," Justin huffed as he licked his lips free of frosting, a move that went straight to Brian's dick. "Like I care what a bunch of bitchy queens say. I was over that as soon as Jonathon came out and offered his services to the brainless twit."

Brian hummed and cocked his head. The words had the ring of truth to them; but at the same time, Brian was having a hard time buying it. Justin was far to annoyed not to be upset about something. It was just a matter of figuring out what.

"Then why lock yourself in here with the cupcakes?" Brian asked, gesturing to the now half-empty platter; one that he was fairly certain had been full when it was sitting at Yasmeen's desk about twenty minutes ago.

"Because they're red velvet and full of awesome?" Justin said, staring at him as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

And then Brian knew why Yasmeen was laughing at him; because after Twinkies, Yasmeen's red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting were Justin's own form of crack. And once he got started, he would not stop eating them until they were all gone. The only problem was that there were still nearly a dozen cupcakes on the platter and Brian so didn't want to deal with a sick Justin, whining that his stomach hurt because he ate too many fucking cupcakes in one sitting. No fucking way in hell.

But first, Brian needed to find out why he was pouting in the first place; and then maybe, by fixing that, he could stop this train wreck from happening.

"And that's it?" Brian probed; he was, quite frankly, skeptical because there was no way that Justin would be in such a pissy mood if he was 'over it.' Not when he had a plate of those cupcakes in front of him. "Because, I gotta tell you, Sunshine; you seem a little too worked up for someone who's over it."

"I'm fine," Justin insisted, his lips still turned down into a pout; and God help him, Brian was torn between finding it adorable and wanting to haul him over his knee and spank his sulky ass, giving him a real reason to pout.

"I call bullshit," Brian huffed, desperately fighting for patience as he knew yelling at Justin wouldn't solve a damned thing. "So rather than me sitting here playing twenty questions; why don't you tell me what's annoying you so we can figure out a way to fix it."

"There is no way to fix it, Brian," Justin said, flicking a disgruntled look his way. "Because it's one of the forbidden things. It's fine; I'll deal with it."

"One of the forbidden things?" Brian said slowly, having a bad feeling he knew where this was going; there were only a few things that mattered that Justin was forbidden from doing due to the pregnancy, and most of them revolved around some of his favorite foods. And since it was lunchtime, it was easy to deduce that he was craving something he shouldn't have.

"Yes," Justin hissed; and then he scowled as he picked up yet another cupcake and began unwrapping it. "One of the forbidden things."

"Dare I ask?" Brian asked, praying for patience; because really? He'd come running out his office, worried that the little twat's feelings had been hurt due to something someone had said or done to him, and he was pouting because he couldn't have what he wanted to eat? Jesus fucking Christ. Had he mentioned that he'd be glad when all this hormonal pregnancy shit was over with?

Justin remained silent, focusing all his attention onto his cupcake.

"Sunshine…" Brian drawled in a warning tone.

"I'm craving sushi, okay?" Justin grumbled, his cheeks flushing as he said it. "Blake and I were walking to the diner for lunch when that twit stopped us right outside the new sushi place; and fuck, it's been so long since I've had good plate of sashimi and this waiter walked right past the window with a big, heaping platter of it and bam! Sunbeam said, 'Feed me! I want that!' But, of course, I can't eat any fucking sushi or sashimi, so I'm currently trying to convince Sunbeam that red velvet cupcakes are better."

"You're craving sushi…" Brian stated in a neutral tone. And then he couldn't help it; he stood up and dug his fingers into his eyes in an effort to stave off the headache growing behind them. Fucking sushi. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Didn't I just say that?" Justin asked irritably, his eyes flashing up for a brief second before he went back to chomping on his cupcake.

Brian sighed and once again prayed for patience; he couldn't believe that all this drama was over a fucking sushi craving. It seemed to defy all reason; yet there it was. And by the deepening of Justin's scowl, it wasn't going away any time soon. So, Brian took a deep breath and rolled his lips between his teeth.

As he saw it, he had one of two choices – he could either A) leave Justin here to sulk, (and really, he fully deserved it considering the sheer ridiculousness of this entire episode), and go about his day as planned; which would be the more productive option. Of course, it was also the option that would end with him paying for it later that night when his husband was still feeling pissy, and giving him the silent treatment to boot. Or B) he could use the tried and true method of snapping Justin out of his mood and relieve some of his own stress at the same time.

And since he wasn't a complete idiot, he chose option B.

Striding over to his husband, Brian yanked out his chair, startling Justin into dropping the cupcake he'd just picked up on the ground. Brian stared at it for a moment, and wondered if he should clean it up, but then said fuck it; he had more important things to do. Or more to the point, he had more important people to do, or well just one person. Decision made, Brian spun Justin's chair around and stooped; and since he couldn't throw Justin over his shoulder due to Sunbeam, he scooped him out of his chair bridal-style.

"Brian!" Justin exclaimed, his arms automatically wrapping around Brian's neck; he looked at him incredulously. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking you some place a bit more private so that I can give you a much needed attitude adjustment with your favorite tool," Brian huffed, purposely using the Dom's words from earlier in order to make the brat squirm for all this unnecessary drama.

"What, your hand?" Justin challenged, squirming a bit in his arms as Brian juggled him so that he could unlock and open the break room door.

"No," Brian said as he stepped over the threshold and strode down the hall, passing Cynthia, Blake and Ted in the process. Nosy bastards. "My dick."

Justin squawked with embarrassment, and buried his reddening face into Brian's neck as both Ted and Blake snickered, and then proceeded to make themselves scarce. Which was good for them as he doubted they wanted to play witness.

"Yasmeen," Brian called as he passed her desk.

"Yes," Yasmeen said, looking surprised that he'd managed to pry Justin away from his prize; although, he didn't know why as he always got his way in the end.

"Now would be a good time to take your lunch," Brian announced as he headed into his office. "And take your time; I insist."

He smirked as Yasmeen laughed and began gathering her things; he kicked the door shut behind him and locked it before hauling a babbling Justin over to his couch and dropping him onto it. Sometimes, the only way to deal with a queening out brat was to go back to the basics.