The fact that thanks to Mikey, Brian rejection of Justin's advice hurt.  Now it was nearing Brian's thirtieth birthday and the calamity that he knew it could become.  The worst thing was that Justin felt out of loop.  Last time, according to his notebook, he'd run away to New York and had been working at the diner around this time.  Now he was working at Ryder, after Debbie had recovered Justin had put in his notice at the diner, and still going to school.  They were also waiting to hear from the police about the attempted burglary.

Justin gave up thinking about it and was lying in bed, his earphones on listening to music as he studied for his classes, when Deb showed up at the loft and started in on Brian.

"You've ruined my kid's life!"

Oh fuck.  He pulled out his earplugs and listened.  Justin remembered Mikey's party and everything that went down with it.  He racked his brain trying to think back and wondering if he’d missed hearing this.  Should he make himself known, or keep out of the discussion? 

"I mean it!  You got something fizzy?  I remember the first time I heard your name.  Michael said, 'There is this new boy in school - Brian Kinney.  For weeks, that's all he could talk about.  Brian Kinney this, and Brian Kinney that.  And then the next thing I knew, you were cutting classes.  And then I come home from work one day and there you were, fourteen and drunk.  It was then I knew you were trouble.  And you haven't disappointed me a day since then."

This was something about Brian's past that Justin had no idea of.  Was this the way it had gone down the first time?  If so, Brian had to have been so hurt by what she said.  He was so angry with Debbie, for telling Brian what she did.  Was it no wonder things had gone wrong?  He felt like confronting her on her bullshit, but Debbie was still talking.

"I never said you weren't there for him.  You've been there too much!  Always giving him those little extra tidbits of your affection.  To make him believe that maybe, someday, you'd be his."

Shit. Was that how she saw their friendship?  Brian was talking, but Justin couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

"Only what's he supposed to do until then?  He had a chance with David you had to fuck it up!"

What?  How had Brian done that.  True he didn't care for David, but as far as Justin knew he hadn't interfered.

Debbie was screaming.  "He has had enough fun!  You've all had enough fun!  It's time for him to be a man!"

Justin smirked.  Wasn't that the truth.  Poor little Mikey, always complaining about his job, his life, his mother.

"Well, I don't know!  Something! You owe my kid something!"

God, is that what Deb really thought?  That Brian owed Michael?  That was so fucked up.  Justin pulled out his binder and looked through the things he remembered in an attempt to think of something to head off the catastrophe that he knew was heading Brian's way.

He heard the loft door closing and hurriedly hid his binder and put the earplugs back in his ear.  When Brian came into the room all he saw was Justin studying.  Justin looked up, as if surprised to see Brian.  He pulled out his earplugs, shut his book and smiled.  If he could get Brian to believe he hadn't heard anything, there just might be a chance to fix things.

"Hey," he asked brightly.  "Wanta fool around?"

Brian was looking at him as if wondering what he heard, if he heard.  But Justin soon found out that the possibility of sex won out. 

As they lay naked in the bed afterwards, Brian lit a cigarette and brought up the idea of giving Michael a surprise party for his birthday.

Justin tried to sound enthusiastic.  "So, what do you plan to get him?  I know, what about a copy of his favorite comic book?"

Brian looked at him strangely then appeared to be thinking about it. 

Taking that as a yes, Justin continued as he reached for his sketchpad and opened it to a blank page.

"Who do you plan to invite?"  Justin asked as he wrote.  "Deb and Uncle Vic, Ted, Emmett, Lindsay and Melanie.  Should you invite that guy he's been dating?"

Brian shook his head.   "They broke up.  Gee, it's going to be a small party.  Maybe I should invite some of my sex partners."

"Brian!  Small is good.  The people he works with, they don't know he's gay, do they?"

Brian shook his head no.

"Then I wouldn't invite any of them."  Justin tapped the pencil to his lips.  "Doesn't he know anyone like from the diner or the gym?"

Evidently Michael didn't.  So, Justin managed to change the party from the big tada from last time to an intimate little dinner at a classy restaurant. 

The day before the party Justin ran into Emmett.  The usually cheerful Emmett was depressed which was so unlike him.  By pretending not to be interested, Justin finally got Emmett to talk.  He had to swear that he wouldn't tell anyone and that was how he learned all about Ted's close brush with HIV.  To say he was shocked was an understatement.  To learn that Ted had done the unthinkable and had sex with someone who it turned out was positive and he hadn't been careful almost blew his mind.  It was something that Brian had always drilled into Justin's head. Emmett explained that he'd gone with Ted to be tested and in support had gotten tested at the same time.  He'd received a call from the doctor asking him to call back.  He just knew that the doctor was going to tell him bad news. 

Michael was not happy, evidently, he hadn't wanted to celebrate his thirtieth birthday, but Justin didn't care.  This time around they managed to keep everything a secret, mainly because Michael thought he'd be spending quality time with Brian at his loft.  That was not going to happen.  What nobody counted on was the fact that Deb invited David.  Everyone, even Brian, made David feel welcomed and in the end just like the last time Michael went home with him.

But first Michael had to open his gifts.  It ended up that Emmett had still gotten him an Easy Bake Oven and Ted got him the same elephant underwear for his dick.  Brian had taken Justin's suggestion and gotten him the Astro Comics #1, a very rare edition.  Justin had debated and decided that there would be no Capt. Astro stripper, that might have proved embarrassing, but also without any of his fellow employees being there no one was outed so it was all good.  There was nobody cursing out Brian for pushing Michael off Mt. Kinney as they said goodnight and Michael was delighted with everything he got.  Which meant that Justin didn’t have to figure out a way to get Brian and Mikey back together.

The next day Brian finally got a call from the police about his break in.  The police hadn’t really been working too hard on his case and had not gotten anywhere with leads on who the perps were.  They hadn’t left any fingerprints, making tracking them down impossible.  While Justin had heard voices at the door, he hadn’t recognized either of them.  He’d had his suspicions that one of them might have been Michael, but that was all it was, a suspicion.