Midnight Whispers
QAF Brian and Justin Fanfiction
Author's Chapter Notes:

So, I actually had this done hours ago, and then just before I hit save, the computer went down and I lost all my edits and changes and I had to redo it all. As a result, it's not as good as the first time in my opinion, but hopefully it's still fun. :)


 

March 21

Emmett looked leaned against the wall and looked at his phone for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon, but likely was only the twelfth time, as he waited for Justin to get out of the bathroom. But it remained as silent as it had the last six times that he checked it; and he was getting a bit impatient as he wasn't sure just how much more time the boys needed to get things done and he was sort of running out chores.

When Brian called him last week, and tasked him with getting Justin out of the house, so that he, Drew, Carl and Ted could move the completed baby furniture from the stables to the nursery, Emmett thought it would be a snap. He'd had plenty of last minute things that he needed to pick up for the shower and Justin always loved doing that stuff and would be easy to distract.

So, he'd agreed and made plans to pick up Justin at around nine that morning, so they could go out to breakfast first - to rehash the latest gossip and fortify themselves - before their whirlwind morning of shopping. That had been six hours ago; a good four hours past the time Brian had said that he'd contact him, and he was running out of things to do.

And if Mr. Kinney-Taylor didn't get back to him soon, all of his subterfuge will be for naught because Justin was not stupid; he'd see any delaying tactics that Emmett attempted for what they were and demand to be taken home whether the boys were done or not.

Emmett fanned himself, feeling the first signs of a nervous sweat breaking out across his neck and brow. He so didn't need this stress right now; he was already going to be up all night as it was, prepping everything for tomorrow's brunch, and he didn't have time to panic. Glancing at his phone again, he growled when it remained stubbornly silent and then shoved it in his pocket when he caught sight of a familiar mop of blond hair bobbing through the crowd. Big Bad was so going to owe him for this.

"Sorry for the delay," Justin said, pushing his hair back from his face. "Surprisingly, there was a bit of line for the bathroom, and getting down and up is not as easy as it used to be these days. I swear, this kid is going to be the size of a beach ball with the rate I'm going. I'm suddenly happy that I'll be having a cesarean and I won't have to try pushing this monster out."

"No problem, Baby," Emmett said with a smile; rubbing his sweaty palms down the side of his pants and desperately tried to think of something to do. "I just played Angry Birds while I was waiting for you."

"You and that game," Justin laughed, grabbing a few of the bags sitting on a table that Emmett was standing near. "You're worse than Gus and his Super Mario Kart."

"No one is as bad as Gus when it comes to that game," Emmett huffed and gathered up the remaining bags. He led the way down the mall walkway, Justin following in his wake, and looked around for inspiration; and when he found nothing, the sweat on his back pooled. What on God's green Earth were they doing out there that they couldn't pick up a fucking phone and message?

He lingered as long as he dared, occasionally looking into windows, and chatting with a, thankfully, oblivious Justin and was just about to concede defeat when Justin looked down at his phone and smiled. He waved it and then walked away to answer it. Emmett looked at his phone again, hoping for a message, and then nearly scream in frustration to find that Brian still hadn't messaged him back.

Emmett looked over at Justin, who was animatedly talking to whoever was on the other side of the line, his smile bright as the sun. Good, this gave him the chance to send yet another message to Brian, asking him what the hell was taking so long; and warning him that Emmett was running out ways to distract a certain curious blond. He quickly typed it in, looked it over and then sent it just as Justin came bouncing back his way.

"So, hey," Justin said, looking at him nervously. "I know that you probably have like a ton of stuff to do for the shower tomorrow; but I just got a call from the jeweler that was handling a special order for me. He just finished it and it's ready for pick up. So, I was wondering if you might have the time to take me there; as well as perhaps go to Infusion, that new men's specialty store reminiscent of MiN's New York, with me?"

Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Thank the Lord and Hallelujah! He was saved!

Emmett internally sighed with relief and sent a mental thanks to whatever fairy godmother was looking out for him today; because this was exactly what he needed since the good God Taylor-Kinney was still being worryingly silent. But that was neither here nor there; he had a blond to distract and this couldn't have come at a better time.

"Sure thing, Baby," Emmett said, still quivering with relief. "I think I have everything we need for tomorrow and I don't need to meet up with Darren for another hour or two. So, we can go wherever you need to be. Plus, I've been meaning to get my ass over to Infusion to pick up some more face cream."

And maybe then he could also find a mask or two that would help him get rid of all the toxins building up in his body due to his momentary panic. He'd just add it to Big Bad's bill for the shower as he so owed Emmett for this. He should've been in his kitchen and prepping for two hours by now; and the only reason he wasn't having a complete meltdown was that Darren and his sister had been kind enough to start the prep for him.

"So, where do we need to go?" Emmett asked, opening the door and holding it for Justin; who smiled brightly and walked out the door. Emmett followed him, expertly guiding him towards the Humvee that Drew insisted on buying for him despite it's impracticality.

"I need to go to Black Diamond Jewelers for my special order," Justin said as he came to a halt next to the Humvee, waiting for Emmett to open the back, so he could put his bags in. "But that is on the way to Britin, so I thought we'd hit Infusion first if that's okay with you?"

"Fine by me, Baby," Emmett said breezily; he loaded the rest of the bags in the back and closed the hated, swiftly rounding the car and unlocking the passenger door for Justin. He helped his friend up into it and shut the door before he rounded the truck and climbed into the other side with a wide, careless smile. "You know me; I have no problem shopping for things to make me even more beautiful than I already am."

Justin laughed as Emmett preened and started the Humvee; he looked both ways and then carefully pulled out of the parking space and slowly navigated his way out of the mall parking lot, setting a course for Infusion; which, thankfully, was only down the street a couple of miles, so they didn't have far too go.

"So why do you need to go to Infusion?" Emmett asked, flipping on his blinker so that he could change lanes. "Need to replenish Big Bad's beauty aids?"

"Sort of?" Justin hedged, and then explained further when Emmett raised his eyebrows. "I'm putting together a gift basket for Brian to go with the other Daddy Gift that I ordered for him. I figured that everyone always focuses on the carrier and the baby at the baby shower, and they often forget about the daddy. And God knows that Brian has been surprisingly patient with all of my queen outs, and the emotional ups and downs, and the weird cravings in the middle of the night. I just wanted to do something nice for him to show my appreciation."

"Oh, that is so sweet, Baby!" Emmett gushed, a little mad that he hadn't thought of it himself; but he was definitely going to steal the idea for future use. "Big Bad will love it; even if he won't admit it at the time."

"He's…he's just been taking such good care of me lately," Justin said, a small smile on his face. "And I know that he has been horribly stressed between the baby, and work, and this stalker business that I wanted to return the favor and pamper him for once."

"So, what are you getting?" Emmett asked, squirming happily in his seat; he so loved the way that his Baby and Big Bad took care of each other. It had taken them so long to get to this point; and it did his heart good, and made him believe in the power of love, to see how settled and happy they were these days.

"Well first, I'm planning to get him a new wet shaving kit," Justin said, ticking it off on his finger. "He's had his since college; and while he typically uses the electric shaver on the way to work for convenience, he prefers to do a wet shave when he has time. His brush needs replacing and, of course, I also need to get all the usual accoutrements."

"But, of course," Emmett said, affecting a haughty voice, and then snickering when Justin turned to him with a grin. "I never got into the wet shave thing; it always took far too much time for me."

"Me neither," Justin said, scrunching his nose up. "Not that it mattered for a long time; it's only recently that I've managed to grow enough facial hair that it doesn't look like a patchy mess. Although, I do have to admit that I kind of miss the days where I didn't have to shave every morning."

"You and me both," Emmett said as he pulled into the parking lot for Infusions, and then began the arduous task of finding parking. "You and me both, Baby."

"I also want to get his favorite shampoos, conditioners, cleansers, moisturizers, oils, and all that, and make up a care basket for him; to which I'll add a certificate for a full-day of pampering at that day spa he loves so much."

"Oh, that is so awesome, Baby," Emmett said as he slid into a parking space; he straightened out the Humvee, parked and turned off the car. "Although you should have added one for yourself in that mix."

"Nah," Justin shook his head and opened the door, carefully getting out of the Humvee. "I figure that while he's off doing his thing, you, Blake and the girls and moms can come over and we'll have our own mini-spa day and mocktail party at the house; since that particular spa doesn't really do prenatal massage."

"Oh, that will be so much fun!" Emmett squealed as he linked their arms together. "We can send Drew with him or something; and maybe Teddy, since I know he'd appreciate some papering due to all those late nights with Luc. Oh, I can't wait; I have so many ideas!"

"Well, don't get too carried away," Justin laughed as they crossed the parking lot and entered the store. "Do remember that my mobility is impacted these days. I can't be doing anything to strenuous."

"Not to worry, Baby," Emmett said, waving off Justin's concerns. "I know just the thing. Now, let's get our shop on so we can get out of here and get to your jewelers. I'm very curious as to what you have planned for Big Bad."

… … … … …

When Emmett finally pulled up in front of Britin, he was a different man than the one that set out that day, and he was glad to see it; he was beyond exhausted and just ready to hole himself up in his kitchen for a few hours and lose himself in mindless work, safely away from blond terrors.

Seriously, prepping for a baby shower with nearly fifty guests was a hell of a lot easier than dealing with a pregnant Justin on some days. How Big Bad did it, he had no idea; but he had Emmett's undying admiration, because if the minor little mood swing Emmett had been privy to had been any indication of what he put up with on daily basis, he would fully support Brian's candidacy for sainthood.

Christ, he had not felt this shaken in a long time; and the next time Big Bad needed a way to distract the little blond demon, he could call on someone else.

Shaking his head, Emmett watched in morbid fascination as a, now, happily humming Justin climbed out of the car, one of his forbidden treats in his mouth, and rounded it to get his purchases out of the back. How someone could change moods so fast, going from one extreme to the other, was beyond him; and his head was still spinning as he thought back to their minor tiff.

Everything had started out well; once they'd gotten into Infusion, Justin knew exactly what he was looking for, and where to find it, and he didn't waste any time getting to it. He'd found a really nice wet shave kit, along with Brian's favorite Taylor of Bond Street Shaving Cream, the Suzanne Kauffman After Shave Balm and placed it all into a stainless steel shaving bowl that he was planning to use as a basket. It made for a nice set, even if it was more money than Emmett would ever considering paying. But it was for Brian, so what did you expect?

He then quickly gathered up all of Brian's favorite grooming accoutrements, which he'd apparently had a wicker basket for at home, and set them onto the counter as well; he paid, got in, got out, no muss, no fuss. It was actually Emmett that took a while as he was trying to decide between his regular face cream and a new one.

But Baby was perfectly happy to wait; he'd happily played a game as he waited for Emmett to make his decision, and then once Emmett had paid for his things, they left within thirty minutes of their arrival. At no point did he seem irritated, and in fact, the entire twenty minute drive to Black Diamond Jewelers they'd laughed and chatted and sang along with the radio. Emmett hadn't thought a thing of it.

Once they'd reached the jewelers, it was the same as Infusion; Baby went in and talked to the jeweler there about his special order and seemed thrilled with the results. And, oh, what a wonderful surprise it was going to be. Emmett gushed over it for several minutes, oh-ing and ah-ing over the details before it was wrapped up. Emmett couldn't wait to see Big Bad's face when he opened it; he had no doubts that he'd love it. But again, Justin just got on with his business, quickly paid for it, and happily walked out the door.

And that's when things got dicey.

Because when Justin walked out the door, and two things happened simultaneously – the first, his stomach grumbled, complaining that it hadn't been fed in about four hours; and the second, he caught scent of the treats from next door and it was game over. He immediately perked up, his eyes gleamed and he nearly bounced on the tips of his toes as he turned and found a little shop that specialized in all things deep-fried and bad for you, including his current weakness.

To say that he was thrilled would be an understatement of the year, given the way that he'd all but ran towards the combined deep-fried goodness and coffee shop - A Latte Fun - licking his lips and nearly drooling on his feet. And that was when things had gotten scary because Emmett had had the effrontery to curb his Baby's desire for Deep-Fried Twinkies and he will never make that mistake again.

... ... ... ... ...

Emmett watched with no little trepidation as Justin did an abrupt turn and scurried towards the shop of Emmett's impending doom. Because the one thing Big Bad had been firm on, was that Emmett was supposed to curb his Baby's penchant for eating junk food, especially if it came in the form of Twinkies. He bit his lip, and wondered if he should bother stopping Justin; because really, he was an adult and capable of making up his own mind. On the other hand, they were nearly at Britin, so surely Baby wouldn't mind waiting a few minutes to eat, right?

Wrong. Oh, how wrong he had been.

"Uh, Baby," Emmett said, clearing his throat to get Justin's attention. "You know that…"

And that's when the scariest thing in Emmett's life happened; Justin paused, one foot in front of the other and slowly turned to look at Emmett. He narrowed his gaze and twitched, the near fanatical gleam in his eyes sending an icy chill tripping down Emmett's back. Emmett shuddered, his trepidation growing as Justin simply stared at him, completely silent and not even blinking, the hackles on the back of his neck raised. And then when he did speak, his voice was like silk over steel and it held a calm chill that had Emmett backing away slowly and wanting to run before the feral thing that used to be his friend unleashed its wrath.

"Emmett," Justin said softly; and honestly, that scared the shit out of Emmett more than if he'd yelled it. Emmett swallowed harshly and nodded, unable to speak. "The next words out of your mouth better not be that Brian won't allow it." Justin paused to raise an eyebrow; Emmett wisely kept his mouth shut. "Because if it is; while I love you, and you're one of my dearest friends, we will have issues."

Emmett smiled weakly and shook his head; again, not wanting to say anything that might inadvertantly provoke the feral beast that was Justin's ravening hunger. He liked living far too much. Justin arched a brow and stood there staring at Emmett as if her were waiting for some sort of reaction; so, Emmett swallowed again and hazarded an answer.

"Not at all, Baby," Emmett hastily agreed, quickly disavowing any and all attempts to keep his Baby away from the snack cakes of doom; fuck that. Big Bad might make him nervous, but Justin in a Twinkie haze was fucking terrifying. "I was just going to suggest that maybe some milk or tea would be a good compliment to that."

"I'm happy that was the case, Em," Justin said, keeping one gimlet eye on him for a moment, and then he smiled, bright and happy again. "Now Twinkies!"

... ... ... ... ...

"Hey, are you coming inside?" Justin asked as he popped back over to the driver's side door, startling Emmett out of his thoughts. Emmett just stared at Justin for a long moment, still marveling at the complete one-eighty in his mood swing. And then he shook his head to clear it and smiled when Justin frowned with concern and asked. "Or do you need to run off to help Darren?"

"I'll come in for a few minutes,"' Emmett said as he opened the car door and stepped out of the Humvee. "I think Drew said something about coming over here to keep Brian company since I was going to be gone all day; I want to check in with him before I run off to finish the prep for tomorrow."

"Awesome!" Justin smiled and then turned on his heel to walk into the house with Emmett following quickly on his heels. "You can distract Brian for me, so that I can get everything up the stairs and hide his stuff."

"Sure thing, Baby," Emmett said as he slowly followed Justin into the house; he paused in the entry way and looked around, and then hearing voices in the living room, he nodded to Justin. "You go ahead; I'll go in there and head them off for a few minutes."

"You're the best, Em," Justin said as he hugged Emmett and pressed a quick kiss against his cheek, and then ran off to hide his loot.

Emmett just stared after him, still having a hard time believing that swift change in his moods, and then he turned towards the living room with a grim smile. Big Bad was so going to pay for this. He entered the room, located the man of the hour and made a beeline towards him, completely ignoring his husband.

"So, what took you guys so long?" he hissed, running a hand through his hair; Brian looked up and stared at him blandly, a drink at his lips. "I nearly ran out of ways to distract him; you were only supposed to be moving three pieces of furniture. It shouldn't have taken more than an hour or two!"

Brian snorted and tossed back his drink, the grimace on his face drawing snickers from both Carl and Drew, who were sitting on the couch across from his chair. Brian set the tumbler down and poured himself another drink. Emmett looked between the three of them and frowned, noting that all looked exhausted and worse for wear, with patches of dirt and saw dust smeared on clothing and skin. Something completely unlike Brian.

"Yeah, well," Brian scoffed, looking more than a little tired and ruffled himself. "Tell that to Mother Taylor and Mama Novotny; I ended up moving the fucking furniture around five times before they were satisfied with the placement. And then, they bitched about it looking far too bare with nothing but the furniture in the room, so they decided to go through things, pulled out all the sheets and blankets and shit that Justin had bought and added that to the room. And then, when apparently that wasn't enough, they decided to pick up some fucking toys at the toy shop not far from here to add to it. And then, fucking Deb just had to run back home, twenty minutes each fucking way, and grab the books that she she'd stored in the attic from when Michael was a kid and add them to the shelves… and by the time they were done, I was ready to kill them."

Emmett stared at Brian, completely nonplussed by his rant. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, trying to think of something to say, but couldn't think of a damned thing. So he closed his mouth and just stared at the three of them for a long moment; as, honestly, it had been years since he'd heard Brian go off like that; and he hadn't expected it. But then again, what had he expected when he invited two domineering, expectant grandmothers to help? That is, if he'd had invited them in the first place; it was possible that they'd heard that Carl was coming over and had invited themselves along.

"Poor Big Bad," Emmett teased, snickering when Brian glared at him, and then flipped him off for good measure. Emmett snickered "Helpless in the wake of two overbearing grandmothers-to-be…"

Brian growled and once again slammed his drink and then poured himself another; he swirled the liquid around in his glass, still brooding over his thankless afternoon.

"And do you want to know what the worst part of all of this is?" Brian huffed, taking a long swig of his drink before setting it aside; likely because Justin would be pissed if he got drunk.

"What's that?" Emmett asked, a slightly amused smirk on his face.

"I know damned well that my artistic little twat is going to take one look at it, get pissed that they made up his nursery without him and make me move all that shit around again," Brian pinched the bridge of his nose as if trying to stave off a headache. And yeah, Emmett could see how that would annoy the other man.

"Oh, yeah," Emmett winced as he thought about Baby's reaction; that wasn't going to be pretty. And after this afternoon's little mood swing, he planned to be on the opposite side of the property when he found out. "I can't imagine Baby being all that happy with them playing in his play pen; he's going to be pissed."

"Yup," Big Bad sighed, leaning his head against the back of his chair. "And when he blows, I'm just going to point my finger at them and run in the opposite direction; because like hell am I taking the heat for this."

"Yeah, good luck with that; I'm sure they'll all find a way to make your fault somehow," Emmett snorted, and then frowned. "By the way, the next time you need a distraction for your little blond demon, do my sanity a favor and call Blake. At least, until he is no longer a walking time-bomb. I don't think I can handle his mood swings again."

Brian lifted his head and frowned; he studied Emmett's face for along time, trying to parse out what had made Emmett so tense; and then, when he couldn't figure it out, he sighed. "What happened?"

"He was hungry," Emmett huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Brian arched a brow. "And I nearly stood in the way of what he coveted most."

Emmett squirmed as Brian cocked his head stared at Emmett for a long moment, a confused look on his face. Emmett deliberately didn't meet his gaze, his cheeks flushing hotter and hotter as Brian continued to look at him, his mind going a mile a minute until suddenly he threw his head back and laughed once he figured it out.

"Let me guess," Brian snickered, his eyes bright with laughter; making Emmett huff and kick his foot out, but he missed when Brian dodged it. "A certain someone had another Twinkie Emergency."

"You laugh now, but it was traumatizing at the time; you could have warned me that he was going to go all Regan McNeil on me," Emmett complained, smacking Brian on the arm when he just continued to laugh at Emmett's pain, drawing the others in with him. "Seriously, for a moment there I thought he was going to sacrifice me to his Twinkie Gods if I didn't get the fuck out of his way."

Brian just continued to laugh; guffawing and snorting as Drew and Carl joined him. Emmett huffed again and decided he'd had enough; even if he could see the humor in it now, at the time he had been really worried that Justin was going to lose it on him. And that was a side that had never been directed at him.

"Well," Brian turned back to Emmett and smirked, finally having gotten his laughter under control, his eyes filled with humor. "Why should I have all the fun?"

"You are evil," Emmett declared, much to the insufferable asses amusement; he shook his head and walked towards the door, Brian's laughter once again following him. "I'm leaving now; the brat is your problem now."

 

Chapter End Notes:

And now to a bit bad news; as of April, I will be switching from daily updates to doing it every other day instead. As I have gotten into the meat of the story, the chapters have gotten significantly bigger despite my trying to rein them in. Writing 2000 words a day is typical for me and not a hardship at all. But now that they are creeping up to between 4000 to even 6000 words, I just can't do it. I'm spending all my time on this story and neglecting others. It also has resulted in me not getting the updates up until the wee hours of the morning. So, sorry guys, but this is just the way it has to be for now.

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