The Lightning Strike: Part Two. Written for QAF Big Bang.

[wouldbedorothy]

Title: The Lightning Strike
Author: wouldbedorothy (AHS)
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Rating: R to nc-17 lite
Word Count: 4,610 for part two; 16,855 for entire fic
WARNING: Um, yeah. It's mpreg.
Summary: Set two years post-513, Justin is back in Pittsburgh with Brian, where he belongs. No sooner do they enter into the shocking world of monogamy than they find themselves in much more daunting and unfamiliar territory... Justin's pregnancy. It's a universe where pregnancy for men is neither unheard of nor common. How will B/J deal with the unexpected news and the changes it brings to their life together?
Disclaimer: Not my characters, except for one or two. And I rewrote the health & science books.

Titled after and contains some lyrics from the Snow Patrol song epic, "The Lightning Strike."

Gorgeous banner is by chosenfire28! Link to her art post: http://chosenfire28.livejournal.com/135518.html#cutid1

Written for QAF Big Bang: http://community.livejournal.com/qafbigbang/




The Lightning Strike
by AHS


Part Two:
Worry not, everything is sound
This is the safest place you've found


Justin’s face was completely heartbroken.

“If we ever fuck raw, we’re going to run the risk of pregnancy. Every time. And you know it would happen.”

Brian stroked a porcelain cheek with a fingertip. “Lightning strike.”

Justin took in the lack of surprise in Brian’s expression. “You’d already figured it out,” he said simply. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I knew you’d realize before long, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be today. Fuck, you’ve had enough to deal with.”

“I’m not fragile, Brian… despite what happened on the way home.” Justin pulled back a little, folding his arms in front of his chest, curling in on himself, before realizing his body was mimicking its scared posture from the car, and sitting up straight.

Brian lay back, gave him a minute, then gently tugged on his arm until Justin was stretched out, too, tucked into his side, head on his chest. “I know you’re strong, believe me. But your drama princess nature is overriding the 1500 on your SAT’s right now. It’s not a flat ‘never.’ There are a few possibilities.”

“What do you mean?”

“One, you heard Dr. Reynard. They’re working on developing a pill…”

“We don’t know how long that’ll take. And I’ll probably be allergic to it. Ow!”

Brian rubbed the skin on Justin’s shoulder he’d just pinched. “That’s what you get for making me be the optimistic one. Now, where was I?”

“Two.”

“Two, if you’ve already got a bun in the oven, we can fuck as… uncooked as we want. Fuck ‘can.’ We will.”

Justin’s head raised and his eyes lit up. “In three months?”

Brian shook his head firmly. “Six months.”

“Six… But I’ll be fat! Won’t I? I don‘t want to be fat when we finally get to…”

“Up to you, Sunshine. If you don’t think you’ll be comfortable, we can just skip it.”

The way Justin looked at him, Brian knew there was no way his partner would give up the opportunity.

“What’s number three?”

Brian didn’t respond right away. That was all it took for Justin to get it.

“Oh my God.”

Brian’s test results had shown he did not possess the marker. He could not become pregnant.

“I’m not saying all the time…”

“No, of course not.”

“I’ll still be the t-”

“Absolutely.”

“But… the option is there. For when we choose to take it.”

Brian bottoming for Justin wasn’t nearly as rare an occurrence as it once had been, but the number still hadn’t quite made it past double digits.

“And you’d make that occasional sacrifice, hmm? Letting me fuck you? Letting me come in your ass and coat your insides and leak out of you all warm?”

Brian pushed Justin onto his back and straddled him, erections hot and pressing, leaning down and licking Justin’s ear as he whispered, “Yes.”

Then Justin’s legs were in the air and Brian was inside and this moment now was so fucking incredible it was hard to imagine there could be something better.

*****

“Brian?”

“Mm?”

“I don’t think we should tell anyone.”

“Okay.”

“Not forever, just… for a while. I don’t think I’m ready for their reactions yet.”

“Okay.”

“And I know Dr. Reynard said the chance of miscarriage isn’t any higher for men than for women, but I don’t want to risk it.”

“Okay.”

“I think I might just tell Daphne.”

“Okay.”

“…Think I’ll get you a shirt that says My BabyDaddy-”

“Go to sleep, and don’t you fucking dare, Sunshine.”

“Just making sure you were paying attention.”

*****

“Oh my God. You…? You’re…?”

“Yes.”

Justin looked at Daphne’s fork, halfway to her mouth, pasta salad hanging precariously, shaking along with her hand. He really should have let her finish eating before he said anything.

It had taken almost a week for Justin to get the nerve to tell his one chosen confidante. They had met at her apartment… well, the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Derek… for lunch and a promised surprise.

That it had certainly been.

He watched her mouth drop open again and again. Watched her face spasm into nearly every possible expression, mostly ones of shock and delight. Then it unexpectedly morphed into a pissy, pouty face.

“You suck, Justin.”

His mouth twitched, despite his concern. “Yes, I do. And?”

“It’s bad enough that you found the love of your life when we were only seventeen! I can’t fucking believe you’re going to have a baby before I do!”

Justin blinked. “I‘m… uh, sorry?”

Daphne grinned. “I’m just kidding! Oh my God! This is so amazing! I’m so happy for you!” Her fork long ago dropped, she glommed on to him with hugs, before pulling back slightly. “Wait, are you happy?”

“I wasn’t sure at first. I freaked out, Daph.”

“Well, yeah! Understandable! I mean, if it happened to me, I’d freak out, and it wouldn’t be nearly as unexpected. So, how about now?”

“It still feels a little like a dream, but yeah, I am weirdly happy.”

“Is Brian?”

“Believe it or not.”

“Wow.”

“Oh, I have to show you something.” Justin pulled out his cell phone and started searching through the photo gallery.

“Wait, HOW did this…? Did you start doing it raw and not tell me?”

“No. Condom broke. And, on that topic…” He put the phone in front of her.

“Wha-? What the hell is Brian doing?”

“Blowing up condoms like balloons.”

“Why?”

“Trying to figure out how the fuck the things ever break! I mean, look at that.”

“I’m surprised Brian’s not suing the manufacturer. He must really be happy.”

“Once we start telling people, he’s going to say it happened because the condoms I bought weren’t big enough for him.”

“Ha, nice. So, does that mean I’m the first person you’ve told?”

“That’s how special you are, Daph.”

“Aww. Who’s next?”

“Nobody. Not for a while. It’s just too new. I’m not even two weeks in. We decided to keep it a secret, at least for a couple of months.”

“Okay, I understand about Debbie and the gang, but I think you should consider telling your mom.”

“Maybe. Not now, but… before everybody else, I guess. I just know she’ll be able to see…”

“What?”

“How terrified I am. God, of everything. What my body’s going to go through. What this is going to do to Brian and me. What if something goes wrong? Even everything going right is terrifying.”

“I think this will make you and Brian stronger than ever. And I am always right.”

“True. You know, just before we found out, Brian said he still wanted to marry me. And we started the countdown to fucking raw. But now we can‘t.”

“You can’t get married?”

“No. I mean, I don’t know. We haven’t talked about that again since… But, no, I meant the raw part.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Daph, come on. You’re going to be a doctor. Yes, I know, we can do it in six months when I’m a whale. And I can fuck Br-” Justin bit his lip. “Uh, nope, whale sex is the only option.”

“Right, I’m not supposed to know Brian ever lets you fuck him. Never mind that you’ve been together seven years. And that you tell me every time you drink.”

“Well, that’s not going to be happening again for a while. The drinking part.”

“But there is another option. If the only risk is you getting pregnant, why doesn’t Brian just get… snipped?”

“Snipped? You mean-?”

“Sure. Why doesn’t Brian get a vasectomy?”

Huh.

*****

Justin had filed Daphne’s suggestion away for the future. Maybe one day, when it was closer to being an issue again… or when Brian was in a really good mood… he’d bring it up.

Meanwhile, the earliest weeks passed, life going on as close to normally as possible. Keeping their secret was bringing Brian and Justin even closer together. But the gang was slowly starting to get suspicious.

When Emmett called and asked them to join everybody at Babylon one night, Brian actually said no at first. Justin’s voice could be heard in the background in definite favor of going out. Justin won, of course, but they hadn’t been in the club more than ten minutes before Brian nearly punched a guy for just barely bumping into Justin. It wasn’t even like the guy had hit on Justin, so the gang couldn’t make sense of it.

When Brian pulled him off the floor, Justin had thought they’d go up to the office, but instead Brian took them out of there and drove them home.

Got their clothes off, a condom on, and was pulling Justin down onto his cock, letting him ride his way to two orgasms before he could question any of it.

“Why… couldn’t we have… done that… in your office?” Justin panted afterwards.

“They would have known we were fucking.”

“What do you think they think we’re doing now?”

“Probably what we just did. But we can pretend we’re fighting.”

“Why do we want to pretend we’re fighting?”

“As an out. You got pissed at my caveman behavior on the dance floor, we’re not speaking, and therefore we will be unable to attend dinner at Deb’s tomorrow night.”

“Oh.”

“Unless you really want to go. I just figured it’s easier not telling them the less we see them. And, since you seem to get your morning sickness in the evening at least every other day…”

It took a couple of weeks for that symptom to kick in, but when it did, it was unpredictable and not pretty.

“Smart. Fighting. Sounds good to me.”

“Good.”

“For the record, though, I thought your behavior on the dance floor was sweet.”

“Sweet? Christ.”

“Overreacting, definitely. But protective in a sweet way.” Justin kissed Brian’s shoulder. “You love us.”

“Us.” Brian uttered the word very quietly under his breath and put a hand over his face, seeming stressed. But when Justin lifted the hand and gave him a challenging look of you know it’s true, Brian‘s eyes and voice were soft. “Yeah.”

*****

So, they skipped Sunday dinner. Trouble was, they’d already skipped the week before with no explanation, so they were pushing it with Debbie. Even more when they skipped a third week, supposedly because they had made up and had taken a little trip together so they could continue making up, non-stop, in luxury accommodations. Which was only a slight lie.

Brian took Justin to Britin for the first time since calling off the engagement two years earlier. Justin had never asked about the beautiful mansion, feeling like he had given up his right to it, and had just assumed Brian had sold it after he’d left for New York. When Brian stood in the very same spot where he’d proposed and told him it was still theirs, Justin once again had to recalculate the amount of love his body could hold. And, yes, even if they weren’t actually making up, there was quite a bit of non-stop that followed.

The week after that, Brian had to fly to Atlanta for Kinnetik business. He called Justin twice a day, burying concern under talk about whatever (“Restaurant the client wanted to go to had this disgusting white chocolate banana cake thing you would have wolfed down in five seconds, and oh yeah, are you taking those vitamins Dr. Reynard gave you?”- potassium, apparently, the sequitur there). And Justin, genuinely missing the gang in all this avoidance, decided to brave dinner at Deb’s alone.

*****

“Why the fuck would you do something like that?”

“Ugh, I don’t know.” Justin may not have had any alcohol, but he felt hung over from what he’d just been through. He’d called Brian as soon as he’d gotten home. “I foolishly kind of missed them?”

“We haven’t gone in the fucking Witness Protection Program. You still see them most days. We still go to the diner.”

“I know, but I missed the dinners. And Deb would have come around and dragged us over by our ears if we’d both skipped another one, you know she would.”

“Most likely.”

“I just… I’m only a little over a month along. I didn’t want them to know this soon.”

Brian sighed, hearing the emotional exhaustion in Justin’s voice and wishing he weren’t in another state. “Okay, Sunshine. Tell me.”

“Emmett and Deb were debating… I don‘t know, Brad and Angelina versus Tom and Katie… versus Tom and Brad? Somewhere in the middle of that, Ben commented that he hadn’t seen me smoking lately.”

“Trust Mr. Health Nut to notice that.”

“Right. And if I’d just said I’d decided to give it up, everything would have been fine. But I said, ‘Yeah, WE quit.’”

“Ah, shit.”

“You should have seen how everybody flipped out at the thought of Brian Kinney giving up smoking! Imagine if I’d told them about the monogamy!”

“See, I resent that reaction. If they haven’t caught on to my capacity for change yet, they’re fucking clueless. I should have quit after the cancer, anyway. Fuck, I should have quit after Jack’s poisoned lungs put him in a pine box.”

“That’s what Debbie said. Well, something like that.”

“We don’t need to tell them you did it cold turkey and I’m wearing this stupid patch.”

“My lips are sealed. Anyway, everybody seemed to forget about it…”

“You and me quitting smoking in tandem, without the why, is kind of nauseatingly couple-y.”

“More nauseatingly couple-y than the why of having a baby?”

There was silence. Smartass. Brian cleared his throat. “Then what?”

“Deb tried to pour me wine and I almost knocked the bottle out of her hands.”

“Smooth.”

“I should have just had soda, but I’m trying to be all good about the no caffeine, even though it’s driving me crazy. So I had water.”

“The only time you ever drink water is when you’ve been dancing for hours.”

“I know. I’m trying to be better about it, but even the purified kind has an aftertaste like nickels… So, we’re eating. I think the focus is safely off me. Michael’s talking about something Hunter’s doing at college. But the second there’s a lull in conversation, Ted asks what’s up with you and me and all our ‘secret looks’ lately.”

“Fuck, when will these people get lives?!”

“I just kept chewing, didn’t say anything. I might have a better poker face than, say, Michael, but I am really not a good liar. I think Blake took pity on me and said something to Ted and he dropped it. Emmett’s eyes lit up for a second with that good gossip look, he started to open his mouth, but then he didn’t.”

“Ha, Emmett kept his mouth closed?”

“Yeah, I sense the joke. Stay with me here, Brian.”

“Well, you’re taking forever to get there! How did it finally come out?”

“…I threw up.”

“So, it came up and out.”

“Arrgh.”

“Poor Sunshine. I know you’re getting tired of hugging the toilet.”

“I wish I’d been hugging the toilet. The farthest I could make it was the trash can in the kitchen.”

“Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been Deb’s casserole dish. Could‘ve been Deb.”

“I’m splashing water on my face in the sink, she’s patting my back and asking if there’s a bug going around. Suddenly I hear Michael… ‘Not smoking, not drinking, getting sick. What are you, pregnant?’”

“Mikey, Mikey… He was kidding.”

“Oh yeah. He was totally kidding. He cracked himself up. Everybody laughed. But… okay, maybe my poker face isn’t much better than his.”

“You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em…”

“The laughter got quieter and quieter and then they were all just staring.”

“When to fold ‘em, when to walk away, and when to fucking run.”

“I was tired, and I felt caught, and I told them. I just said it… ‘Yes.’”

“Damn,” Brian exhaled. “Finally, an interesting dinner and I missed it. I think I’d like Mikey’s facial expression as my screensaver.”

“I thought he was going to have an aneurysm.”

*****

All the reactions were pretty entertaining. Everyone was shocked, of course. But, once it sunk in…

Deb screeched with joy and had to nearly hold her hair on from excitement, proclaiming it a “FUCKING MIRACLE!” much more loudly than Dr. Reynard had. Hugged Justin too hard, then thought better of it and eased up, whispered in his ear how he and Brian had always been fucking meant to be, then declared the baby hungry, piling more and more food onto his plate.

Carl smiled and congratulated Justin but looked so incredibly uncomfortable that it was kind of funny. Poor guy had gotten past a very old-fashioned mindset and accepted all these gay boys and girls as family, and now he was supposed to process men giving birth, too? He needed an aspirin and a bourbon.

Em started to cry happy tears and declared that Suri Cruise and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt could both take a backseat, because a Taylor-Kinney baby would undoubtedly be the most gorgeous baby the world had ever seen. Drew gripped Justin‘s shoulder warmly, giving him this look of understanding that Justin didn’t really understand.

Ted… well, Ted spat out his drink. Then said something about how Brian and Justin needed to stop making him do that. Then made an “unwed father” comment, said with a grin, which Justin only slightly bristled at. Blake looked almost in awe of Justin, wishing him the best in that very sincere Blake way.

Ben happily started telling Justin about some fascinating article on male pregnancy he’d seen in one of his health magazines that he would cut out and give to him, all the while soothingly rubbing Michael’s back.

Michael seemed not to be breathing for the first few minutes. Or even blinking. Then, inexplicably, he started to laugh. Laugh uncontrollably.

Justin wanted to smack him. Until Michael spoke, words sputtered around puffs of laughter.

“Oh my God… You’re pregnant… You and Brian… Brian’s… fucking pregnant!” Suddenly, he got quiet, his face deadly serious. “It is Brian’s, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s Brian’s!” Justin wanted to be offended, but he saw the relief on Michael’s face and really couldn’t manage it.

“Sorry! Just checking.” Michael grinned goofily. “Brian’s going to be driving a minivan soon, I can just see it.”

“You’re not upset?”

“Are you kidding? This is hysterical and kind of perfect. Mr. Anti-Stepford Fag has an almost-husband and a baby on the way. I love it.” He’d just started going on about how they should bring Rage back for a special edition comic where JT gets pregnant with Rage’s baby… when everyone sort of realized at once that Justin was pregnant and Brian was not there.

*****

“What happened then?”

“Some of them may have vocalized concerns that… you had left me.”

Justin wished Brian would yell at that, curse, but he was just quiet.

“Can’t blame them for that, I guess.”

“The fuck you can’t! Brian, you’ve never left me. You haven’t even pushed me away in a long time. And you’ve been so incredible about all of this.”

Brian grinned on his end of the line, tongue poking the inside of his cheek. “I’m sensing Sunshine went off on the people for doubting his man?”

“Well, Sunshine would have. But Sunshine’s mother got there first.”

“Say what?”

“Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention my mom was there?”

*****

Jennifer Taylor had been surprised by her son’s sexuality… but not really. If she was honest with herself, under those layers of years of denial, she’d always known Justin was gay.

But she could genuinely say there was never the slightest part of her, for even the briefest moment in time, that had ever expected to hear her son announce his pregnancy.

She was sure everyone was too busy with their own shock at Justin’s announcement to notice hers, and she was right. And, though this was a group with whom she never had to be anything but honest, she was glad for her WASP training in keeping up appearances when they started to question Brian’s absence. She may not have been told anything… and she would get Justin for that later… but the years had taught her that Brian would be there for her son, in this and anything else that might come along down the road.

He was her son-in-love, if not law… something she had taken to calling him but tried not to let him hear… and he was a good man. She knew the people around the table knew that, but she wondered how they so often still seemed to forget.

So, pretending none of this was news to her, she told them all exactly that.

*****

“I have a bit of a crush on your mom. Just so you know.”

Justin smiled. “Noted. She is pretty great.”

“Did she kick your shapely bottom yet?”

“No, but I’ve been summoned to lunch with her tomorrow.”

“Uh oh, you’re gonna get grounded. No TV for a month.”

“She was really happy, though. She thinks she’s too young to be a grandma but she’s still excited. I know she‘d thought this was something she couldn‘t have, you know, with a gay son.”

“I’m still surprised she hasn’t called me to rail at me for getting little Sunshine in trouble. Fuck, I’m surprised they all haven’t-… Fuck.”

“What?”

“Spoke too soon. Mikey’s calling. I’m ignoring.”

“Maybe you should talk to him.”

“Later, later… Shit, now it’s Ted… Jesus, now Deb, too! Are they trying to make my head explode or just my phone?”

“When do you get home?”

“Tomorrow night, around ten… Ahh, fuuuck!”

“What happened?”

“Somebody must’ve told Linds and Mel. Now they‘re calling.”

“I dealt with everybody else. You can take the lesbians.”

“Fine. But I’m calling back, after, for some phone sex.”

“We’ll both definitely have earned it. That is, if I can stay awake.”

“Oh, I’ll keep you up.”

“You always do. Love you.”

“-you.”

*****

Officially, Lindsay and Mel were happy for them.

Though Mel wasn’t shy about saying how pissed off she was in general about men being able to conceive and bear children. Something about them not having to earn the right by suffering the years of periods and cramps and other shit that made Brian gag to think about.

He supposed that was true enough, and thank fucking God. He couldn’t imagine Justin on the rag.

But eventually her feminist dyke mother rage died down and she sounded sincerely congratulatory. More like amused. Mel was not one to giggle, and she fucking giggled. And that’s a frightening sound.

Lindsay… Brian expected her to get weepy-happy, in a calmer version of an Emmy Lou reaction, but he should have known her emotions would be more complicated. She was amazed, ecstatic, proud of him… quiet… irrationally angry that he hadn’t told her first, as she was the baby’s brother’s mother… and, though she didn’t say it, he could hear that something else in her voice. It wasn’t jealousy, exactly, but something close. He knew she’d thought she would be the only one to ever have his child. She’d thought she was the only one who could have that bond with him, and it made her a little sad for it to no longer be true.

But, deep down, Lindsay had always been a Brian and Justin cheerleader. Genuine joy for them couldn’t help but bubble up in her heart.

They all decided not to tell Gus yet, just to be on the cautious side. Brian always wanted to be honest with Gus, and if he saw his kid all the time like he wanted to, he figured he wouldn’t be able to keep it from him. But Gus was still in Canada, and it seemed like the thing to do.

*****

About a month later

Justin was celebrating the morning/evening sickness having gone bye-bye with a healthy dose of Brian’s dick down his throat, once again able to do his best work without fear of hurling.

After Brian had come, well, maybe it wasn’t the best time to bring it up, but Justin had been thinking about it for weeks, and Brian looked so fucking content that maybe he might be receptive to…

“What do you think about getting a vasectomy?”

It was possible he was being purposely ignored, but Justin hoped the lack of immediate response was because blood was just starting to return to Brian’s brain and thinking hadn‘t quite kicked back in. Actually, Brian was thinking… preparing to do something, and… Seriously? Justin was interrupting with that?

“Brian? Did you hear-”

“I heard. Man, your after-sex talk used to be better than this.”

“I’m serious. I think we should discuss it.”

Brian sighed and propped up on one elbow, turned in towards Justin. “Okay. It’s a great idea. It makes perfect sense.”

“But?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Okay. Why not?”

“Because I’ve already had one ‘simple surgical procedure’ down there. I’m not really too eager to get another scalpel in the area. And yeah, I know, they don’t even have to use those anymore, but… Look, this one testicle of mine is giving all it’s fucking got, and I’m kinda proud of it, and I just don’t have the heart to… cut its efforts off at the pass, so to speak.”

Justin reached down and fondled Brian’s genuine ball gently in appreciation. He shifted closer and rested his forehead against Brian’s heartbeat, always thankful for its existence. And he smiled because he knew Brian had researched vasectomies, even having been against the idea.

“I get that.”

“Besides, what if someday you decide you want anoth-”

Justin’s eyes opened wide. There was no way Brian was leaving himself open to the possibility of another baby. Brian must have had the same reaction, as his words remained unformed, and Justin let him off the hook.

“Several more months before we need to worry about it. Birth control, I mean.”

“We can revisit the subject then, maybe.” Brian’s fingers slid along Justin’s still flat belly and splayed. “How you feel?”

“Besides fat?” The changes had been subtle so far, but Justin’s pants were starting to not fit and it was disturbing him. “I can tell something’s there now. I can feel it. There’s this fluttery thing that happens. Like…”

“You shouldn’t have eaten those chili dogs?”

“No. It’s like inside of there is a canvas and the baby’s painting.”

That was so dorky and beautiful and Justin that Brian was inspired to return to the thought process that Justin had interrupted. He needed to stop thinking and just do it.

Brian pulled the small box out of hiding and presented it to Justin. Watched as he opened it, revealing their rings, and looked almost as amazed as he had at seeing Britin again.

“Even after what I just brought up? Not exactly the most romantic prelude.”

“Yeah, well, knowing me, that probably helped… Marry me this time.” It was a gentle order that was more of a plea, and it could not have been more romantic if it had been asked.

“Yeah, okay.” The words were nonchalant, but the real answer was the smile, and it was blinding.

The kiss was pretty damn nice, too.

“Is this a shotgun wedding?” Justin teased.

“Considering I’ve been waiting two years for it,” Brian sank both hands into blond hair and held, “I don’t fucking think so.”

Something was bound to go right sometime today
All these broken pieces fit together to make a perfect picture of us


Part Three