(no subject)

[minimumbullshit]

He hadn't slept in days. It was starting to show. Dark circles, sallow skin, a walking tragedy. Even he wouldn't fuck himself, looking like this. Even he couldn't blame his bosses for how they were breathing down his neck, unconvinced that he could continue to shoulder his responsibilities.

And Sonny Boy wasn't doing a hell of a lot better. Unfortunately, Brian didn't have a pair of tits to offer, and while the formula he'd bought seemed to be going over relatively well, Gus had made everyone loudly, vocally aware of how much he missed the munchers.

Sometimes, it was like they weren't even related.

That morning, Gus had settled down enough that Brian was finally able to escape the claustrophobia of his apartment, which was glaringly inappropriate for a goddamn baby. He'd packed up a diaper bag, strapped Gus into the new carrier he'd bought, and had carried him down the street to the diner he frequented. Thankfully, the noise didn't seem to be bothering the kid, who was clearly tuckered out.

Shouldering his way inside, bell dinging cheerfully overhead, Brian headed toward the bar to put in his order. It was then that he saw a familiar set of shoulders and shaggy hair slumped in a booth in the back. With a sigh, Brian showed the waiter, a young guy who seemed more interested in cooing over Gus than taking his order, where he was headed, and weaved his way through the tightly packed tables, holding Gus' carrier aloft to keep from bumping it on anything.

Without a word, he set the carrier down on the table and slid into the booth.

Comments

[silverhammer]

When Jude showed up in Darrow, Max had been more than happy to go drinking with him, both in celebration of his showing up in the first place, and to help drown his sorrows when everything had gone down with Lucy, but now on the other side of all of that, he's beginning to regret it. It's been a long time since he was hungover like this, and he really doesn't know how he did it every weekend back at Princeton.

He's out of practice.

As a result of that, his head is fucking pounding when Brian decides to slide into the booth across from Max, and he winces when he drops whatever the hell it is he drops onto the table, his head in his hands and his eyes shut for a long moment before he even looks up to see what it is.

"Jesus, would you keep it down?" Max says, then looks up, squinting at the light at first before he realizes exactly what's on the table.

A baby is just about the last thing he expects. From Brian Kinney, anyway.

"Is this a work thing?"

[minimumbullshit]

"Testing out a new product for a client," Brian said flatly, unhooking the straps on Gus's baby seat and lifting his squirming son into his arms.

"Rough night?" he asked, unfazed when Gus began smacking at his face with one pudgy, uncoordinated hand.

[silverhammer]

"I'm out of practice," Max says, trying to ignore his pounding head, even as he wraps his hands around his warm coffee cup and takes a sip. He's got a plate of something greasy on the way, and hopefully, it'll be the hangover cure he's looking for. Maybe then he'll probably take some back for Jude.

"And if taking care of someone's kid goes along with the whole ad-man thing, then all that's changed a lot in fifty years."

[minimumbullshit]

"Taking care of my kid," Brian corrected, reaching into the diaper bag he'd tossed into the booth next to him.

"I jerked off into a cup so my friend and her partner could be the perfect, lezzie mommies they'd always dreamed of being," he muttered flatly, pulling out Gus' pacifier and popping it into the kid's mouth with thankfully little trouble.

"Back in Pittsburgh," he clarified, "I don't know what the fuck he's doing here, but here's hoping Mommy #2 doesn't show up to cut my balls off, for taking her kid. Isn't that right, Sonny Boy?"

Around the rubber nipple clamped between his gums, Gus grinned.

[silverhammer]

Max is quiet for a long moment, mostly because he isn't sure he actually heard what he thinks he just heard. Like a lot of stuff Max comes across these days, it sounds like something somebody just made up. And knowing Brian, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for him to just be jerking Max around.

"You're shitting me, right?"

[minimumbullshit]

"This stopped being funny three days ago... Which, incidentally, is the last time I slept," Brian said, letting Gus tuck himself against his chest, cuddling up to Brian's warmth.

"You don't happen to know anyone looking for a job in child care?"

[silverhammer]

"Yeah, let me just call up all my babysitter friends and I'll get back to you," Max replies, frowning, and he's still trying to wrap his head around this whole thing where you can end up with a kid without ever actually making it with a girl. Every time Max thinks he's got a handle on everything he missed, there's a curve ball.

"My sister used to look after a kid, though. This little guy who showed up here without his parents. But I don't think Lucy's exactly looking for a new job."

[minimumbullshit]

"She might, after she hears what I'm willing to pay," Brian pointed out, letting out a heavy sigh when Gus started to wind down, his head resting against Brian's chest.

"Though, if we're lucky, it'll be a temporary position."

[silverhammer]

Max thinks that maybe he'll mention it to Lucy later on. Though, Jude being in Darrow might be enough for one day, so far as weird news goes.

"What, you're shipping the kid off to boarding school already?" he asks.

[minimumbullshit]

"Why bother with that when I could find some desperate, barren heiress and turn a profit? See, I've had my eye on this 'vette," he said, his expression impassive as he took a sip of his coffee.

"I'm hoping it's just a visit, and I haven't been given full fucking custody, against everyone's best interest."

[silverhammer]

"Bet his mom's already in town, just hasn't tracked you down yet," Max says, and he's not usually so optimistic about how shit happens in Darrow, but considering what happened to him yesterday, he's feeling a lot better than usual about the city all around.

"Seems like it's stopped being an asshole for right now."

[minimumbullshit]

"Trust me, if either one of them were here, there'd be no escaping the Amber Alert... Or whatever the fuck they call them here," he said flatly, "Every dick in a uniform in the city would've already descended on this diner, and I can't imagine I'd have quite as much fun with Officer Friendly this time around."

[silverhammer]

"I never know what the fuck you're talking about," Max replies, though there's no bitterness or frustration in his tone. He's mostly just come to terms with the fact that about a third of what comes out of Brian's mouth are going to be references he doesn't get.

[minimumbullshit]

"And yet, you're still around," Brian said, heaving a sigh, though he sounded no more bitter about it than Max.

"I think it's just me and the kid, for now."

[silverhammer]

"You get a kid and I get a Limey. What a week," he says, and takes another drink from his coffee cup, "Friend of mine showed up yesterday. Hence the celebration."

Part celebration, part trying to find something to keep Jude occupied so he didn't go looking for Lucy while he was so damn high.