For Max

[minimumbullshit]

It was early. An hour before Gus's bath and bedtime, with plenty of time to spare for Brian to go out and hit the bars, but he'd sent Colleen on her way for the night. He'd gotten off work, taken a look around and had made the decision, without examining his reasons too closely. For once, he'd taken care of dinner himself. The kid was fed, Brian was fed, the two of them now stretched out on the living room floor.

Gus toddled around, playing with his toys, crawling across Brian's stomach, inching along on his ride-on fire engine. They built block towers and happily knocked them down. Brian might not have admitted it, but it wasn't quite as boring as he would've thought.

From upside down, Brian caught sight of a frame on the mantel of the gas fireplace he'd probably never use. In it was a picture of his son at the park. And alongside it was a shot from Gus's birthday, the two of them with some of the other kids and mothers from the neighborhood, all of whom were more friends of the nanny than of Brian.

It hadn't occurred to Brian to take either of those pictures, let alone frame them and put them out. It must've been Colleen.

Lindsay and Mel's house had been full of pictures. Albums. Memories. Suddenly, a kid came on the scene and perfectly reasonable people started to get fucking paranoid about capturing every little goddamn moment. As if you needed fifty snapshots of your kid eating peas.

With a sigh, Brian climbed to his feet, padding barefoot up the stairs to grab his camera. He sat down in the middle of Gus's scatter of toys on the living room floor, legs folded, and turned it on. The first shot he snapped was of Gus bending down to pick up a toy taxi cab, which Brian had bought for Gus as a joke, but had recently become the kid's favorite.

"No accounting for taste," Brian said, smirking when Gus looked over at him with a grin, exposing his little bunny-teeth incisors, which had appeared within the last couple of months. Brian stuck out his tongue, eliciting a cackle of laughter and a bigger grin. Brian managed to catch it with a flash of his camera, just as they both heard the sound of keys in the door.

Gus's head swiveled to look. Brian's glance was a little more casual.

Comments

[silverhammer]

Things have started to settle down a little. Max doesn't know how long he's going to end up helping out at McCormick's, but for the time being, it's a pretty steady gig. He doesn't mind the work, he's not half bad at it, and he figures he's helping his sister out while she's still adjusting to owning a bar.

It's not where he thought either of them would end up, but here they are.

There's a lot about Max's life right now that he didn't really see coming.

He's got the night off, and it's weird, but instead of heading to Ocean View or finding a bar, Max finds himself at the apartment on Park Avenue. He still can't wrap his head around calling it his apartment yet, even if he's sleeping there pretty much every night now.

Max lets himself in to the apartment, expecting Colleen to greet him as he walked in. He pauses instead, at the sight of Brian, Gus and a camera.

"Don't let me interrupt," he says, peeling off his jacket.

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"I never do," Brian said easily, tongue tucked into his cheek as he snapped a picture of Max, half out of his jacket. He caught another of Gus toddling across the floor, still a little unsteady on his feet, and then set the camera aside, on the coffee table.

So far, Max and Gus had given each other a fairly wide birth, which Brian had noticed but hadn't seen any reason to comment on or worry about. Still, Gus seemed intent on investigating the new person in the apartment, grinning happily and babbling sounds that hadn't quite made it to words yet, as he grabbed onto Max's pant leg.

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"Hey to you too," Max says, brow furrowed as he looks down at Gus grabbing onto his pant leg. He doesn't have a problem with Gus, hasn't ever had a problem with kids— he grew up with two younger sisters— but even so, Max only pats the kid on the head before he takes Gus by both of his hands to walk him back over to Brian, one toddling step at a time.

"Not going out tonight?" he asks, the question obviously directed at Brian, as he looks up from the toddler.

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"We did talk about hitting a few clubs. Isn't that right, Sonny Boy?" Brian said, reaching out to draw Gus toward him, the kid practically flinging himself into Brian's arms.

"Believe it or not, the kid's been adamant about staying in. You see, he's got these new bath toys, and he just won't shut the fuck up about 'em," Brian said, while Gus babbled about nothing in particular.

Looking up at Max, his expression a little more wry, he said, "Colleen's got the night off."

[silverhammer]

"So Colleen's the one going out. Who could have guessed?" Max replies, and even though he's alright with the housekeeper, he can't see her doing much more than watching old TV at home on a night off. It seems like maybe she's gotten more of those lately, but he's not about to mention it.

Gus safely back with Brian, Max leans down to press a quick kiss to Brian's lips before he crosses the room to spread out on the couch.

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"It's drag night, I hope she enjoys herself," Brian drawled, catching hold of Max's wrist, briefly, then Max was off, flopping onto the couch like he belonged there.

Because he did. There hadn't been an official move in day, and Brian was pretty sure half of Max's stuff was still over at Ocean View, but his apartment and his bed were no longer just his.

"So, how was work, dear?" Brian singsonged, with a self-satisfied smirk. "Still holding vigil?"

[silverhammer]

"No one lit the candles at the memorial today, so I think we might've turned a corner," Max says, and really, his thinks his sister is taking to all of it as well as can be expected. It's a shitty situation, but she's made the best of it.

"Next thing you know, we won't be giving out handkerchiefs with pitchers anymore either."

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"I'm sure there'll be someone else to break out the black armbands for, soon enough," Brian said, cynical as ever. Letting Gus crawl away, his attention caught by his collection of Wee People scattered nearby, Brian pushed to his knees and shuffled toward the couch.

Climbing onto the space not occupied by Max's careless sprawl, Brian pushed a strand of hair from Max's forehead. "How's Lucy holding up?"

[silverhammer]

"She's gotten pretty damn good at putting shit back together when it breaks," Max says, and sometimes he doesn't think she's told him everything about all she's gone through between home and that island, but she's handled her stuff a lot better than he's handled his. Says a hell of a lot.

"Think she's almost got the hang of being a business owner."

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"I'm sure it was her dream, getting saddled with a bar, that shares an entrance with a sex shop," Brian snorted, "It's too bad that place didn't come with the deal. Just think of the family discount."

But apparently the sex shop was own by someone else. That redhead, he'd met a few times at Prohibition.

[silverhammer]

"Maybe Helen'll sell it to you," Max replies, "If you're still looking for a way to get a discount."

Max has walked through Whiplash a couple of times, checked out a couple of the pornos and browsed the aisles, but as more of a joke than anything else. Most of the stuff they sell there hasn't really ever been his scene.

[minimumbullshit]

"It would be a good investment," Brian said, like he was actually considering it, but it was probably best if he left the business in porn to Schmidt.

"What do you think, Sonny Boy?" Brian asked Gus, who'd toddle over and was currently using Brian's knee as a track for his plastic taxi cab. "Think your old man deserves some toys of his own?" Gus grinned, all nubby teeth and gums.

[silverhammer]

"I'm no expert, but maybe taking business advice from a one year old isn't the best idea," Max replies, glancing down at Gus, frowning curiously for a moment at the toy car before he looks at Brian again. He doesn't pay much attention to the kid's toys or anything, but that one seems like a new one.

[minimumbullshit]

"There goes my investment plan," Brian said flatly, reaching out to pull Gus into his lap. For all his complaining, Brian hadn't been prepared for how hard he'd fall for that kid, the second Lindsay had nestled the bundle of him into Brian's arms.

Despite the doubts of just about everyone, he wanted to be a good father, even when he didn't have anyone around to prove anything to. If nothing else, the kid deserved a better one than Jack Kinney. Whether or not Brian could actually pull that off continued to be the mystery of the fucking century.

Sitting comfortably in his father's lap, Gus tipped his head back to look at Max, peering at him nearly upside down. After a moment of apparent consideration, he offered Max the plastic taxi cab.

[silverhammer]

Max hesitates before he takes the toy from Gus, and can't help it when expression slips into something closer to amused. "Thanks," he says, and bops it softly against the kid's head before taking a closer look at the plastic cab.

"So, it's genetic," Max says to Brian, and holds up the toy.

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"We Kinneys are known for our generosity," Brian smirked, "No, wait. It's alcoholism. We're known for our alcoholism."

Turning to Gus, he growled playfully, "And our emotional unavailability." Gus squealed, laughing heartily. "I guess he takes after his mother."

[silverhammer]

Max shrugs, leaning down to set Gus's toy taxi on the floor. "Could be worse. Could be premature hair loss," he says, even though he doesn't exactly know if that's true. It's not the kinda thing that really felt like it was on the list of priorities when it came to stuff Brian'd mentioned about his family.

[minimumbullshit]

"Don't even joke about that," Brian said, fully fucking serious. Lucky for him, both sides of his family seemed to have men with hair well into their seventies, but it still wasn't something Brian wanted to think about.

With the car out of sight, Gus reached for Max instead, curling one hand in Max's sleeve and using the leverage to pull himself to his feet. The sofa wasn't quite as sturdy a place to stand as the floor and he wobbled, bending his knees to find his balance. That, of course, turned into a game. One of Gus's new favorites. Squatting. Up, down, up down. Soon, there would probably be bouncing.

Brian watched, probably a hell of a lot more charmed than he'd ever admit to being.

[silverhammer]

Max huffs out a quiet laugh at Brian's expense anyway, though he frowns a little when Gus grabs his shirt, squatting up and down on the couch. A lot of the time, Max tries to keep his distance from Gus. Not because he doesn't like the kid, but because he doesn't know what the hell he's supposed to do with him.

"Now how come when I do that, you tell me I've gotta get off the couch?" he asks.

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"What can I say, the kid gets preferential treatment," Brian said, grinning sweetly, even though he was anything but.

Reaching over pinch Max's chin, one of Debbie's favorite aggressive displays of affection, he smirked and said, "If only you were cuter."

[silverhammer]

"Yeah, well I'm cute enough to screw, so there's that," Max replies, mockingly cheerful as he pulls away from Brian's grip on his chin.

And Gus still has a grip on Max's sleeve, so he glances quizzically at the kid before turning his attention to Brian again.

"What's the plan for after bedtime?" he goes on to ask, and he might not take part, but he's got a pretty firm grasp on Gus's nighttime routine.