Archive of Our Own

DiversiT Gallery - Liberty Avenue, Downtown

"Well, Baby, you couldn't have come up with a more appropriate place to have your first artist show," Emmett observed as he kissed his friend's cheek from behind.

Justin grinned at the sound of Em's voice as he turned around and flashed a smile, thrilled to see his friend there.  "Well, Brian's not the only one who likes uniqueness," he commented wryly.  "And unlike the former baths, this one didn't need a lot of scrubbing and disinfecting before being remodeled."

Jennifer walked up to stand next to Emmett.  "Hi, Sweetheart!"  She looked around at the artworks on the walls, highlighted by just the right amount of light to showcase them, and smiled in pleasure as she recognized most of her son's pieces.  "Justin, this is wonderful!  I'm so proud of you."  She reached over to grasp his upper arms and peck his cheek.

"Thanks, Mom."  The smile practically hadn't left Justin's face since he had first walked in an hour ago and saw the gallery highlighting his works that he had so painstakingly created over the past several months.  And to be given the honor of being the gallery's first solo artist was a distinctive bonus.  As soon as he had read about a new gallery that had literally been built in an empty space previously occupied by a video pornography store on Liberty Avenue, he knew instantly that he wanted to be a part of it.  Somehow, it seemed fitting; like a phoenix rising from the ashes of the Stockwell era to showcase artists of diversity - in color, gender, and sexual orientation.  To be specifically asked to be the first artist to be highlighted here merely added to the pride he currently felt.

"Hi, Justin," Ted greeted him as he walked up to the group alongside Blake, his companion for the evening.  He was sipping a sparkling lime with water as some nondescript, contemporary jazz music drifted among the murmuring of numerous patrons' voices.  "I saw 'sold' stickers on almost every one of your works.  That's impressive.  Congratulations." 

Justin blushed as his mother and Emmett gasped in astonishment.  "Thanks." 

"That's amazing, honey!  I hadn't even had time to look at all of them up close.  The show's only been open for an hour!"  Jennifer's pride in her son was obvious by the look on her face.  "But I can't say I'm surprised.  I should have scooped one up before the show even opened." 

Justin laughed.  "Mom, don't be silly. I would never charge you for one of my paintings; you know that." 

"Oh, yes, you will," his mother scolded him.  "I can afford it with my commissions.  One in particular that I should remind you came from the sale of this very property."

Ted cleared his throat.  "Uh...you might want to ask for a family discount.  Have you seen the prices on them?  Someone's come a long way from the days when a certain young artist's drawings and sketches were shown on the walls of the diner.  That would have been the time to snatch one up.  I imagine those would be commanding a pretty penny now," he observed.

Jennifer's eyebrows rose.  "No, I hadn't.  Just how much are we talking about?" 

"Mom..." Justin gave Ted a look that clearly communicated he wanted the subject dropped, but Ted was oblivious to the subtle overture. 

"Try five figures," he stated as Jennifer and Emmett's mouths dropped. 

"Thousands?" They replied at once as the rest of the group turned to stare over at their friend, who shifted uncomfortably on his feet. 

"I didn't set the price; the owner of the gallery did," Justin explained.  "And he gets 25% of all the proceeds as his commission." 

"But still...I'm so happy for you, Justin."  She reached over to sweep her son up in his arms as Justin wrapped his arms around his mother's back.  They held each other that way for several moments before - with a peck on his cheek - Jennifer let go.  She took a deep breath and straightened her jacket up before she announced, "And now, I'm going to go tell everyone I can find that I am this extremely talented artist's mother." With a grin, she deftly grabbed a glass of white wine from a nearby waiter's tray before she began to weave herself around the crowded room, stopping to chat with strangers.  From the looks being thrown Justin's way, there was no doubt that his mother was making good on her promise.

Justin groaned and then let out a sigh.  "Mothers."  

"Uh...speaking of parents, where is Brian?" Emmett asked, looking around.  "I thought he would have been here when it first opened tonight, along with that beautiful ballerina of yours."  Two years ago, Justin and Brian had decided to add a new member to their family; one that had Justin as the biological father this time.  With the help of a reputable fertility clinic, they had found a great surrogate mother with similar physical characteristics to Justin's and had been blessed with a daughter, Andrea Riley Kinney-Taylor.  Brian had quickly dubbed her Andy after telling Justin she had an 'artist's name' - Andy Warhol - and the name had stuck.  To their delight, she had kept her blonde, curly hair and ice blue eyes that were so reminiscent of her biological father, and she had quickly wrapped her little pinky finger around both men.

Justin frowned, just now realizing Emmett was right.  "Yeah...Brian said he would be here right after the event started; he was going to pick up Daphne along the way.  I hope nothing's gone wrong.  If you'll excuse me, I think I'll call him."  The others nodded as Justin walked a few feet away to a relatively secluded area of the room and pressed the No. 1 button on his phone to dial Brian's number.  The longer the phone rang, the more apprehensive he became until finally, after the fourth ring, the phone was answered.

"What?" Brian barked into the phone.

Justin could hear shrill piercing sounds coming from the phone as he heard Brian say, "No, not that!"  A heavy sigh followed before he heard, "Thanks, Daphne."  There was a pause before Brian returned to the phone.  "Sorry, Sunshine. I didn't look at the Caller ID before answering. I was...preoccupied."

"Preoccupied?  Brian, was that Andy I heard in the background?  What's wrong?  Is she hurt?  You were all supposed to be here over an hour ago!" 

"No, she's not hurt...yet," Brian muttered.  "I'm just kidding," he hastily added. 

"Brian!" 

Another sigh.  "We're going to be detained.  Andy decided that she needed to get dressed up for the occasion." 

"Dressed up?  She isn't wearing that dress you bought her the other day? She loved that dress!"  Andy may be his biological daughter, but Justin would swear that she had somehow inherited Brian's fashion gene.  She could be the pickiest dresser (besides Brian) when it came to what she wanted to wear; it was nothing for them to go through four or five outfits each day in her closet or dresser drawer before Andy was satisfied with her choice of apparel.

"Oh, she's wearing it, all right," Brian reported wryly.  "Along with other accessories.  Em hasn't been at the loft lately, bestowing his sense of style on the little tyke, has he?" 

"Brian, will you stop talking in riddles and just tell me what the hell is going on?" 

There was a rustling noise for a few moments before Daphne unexpectedly came to the phone.  "Hi, Justin!  I'm so sorry!  I just left her alone for a minute or two and came back to this!" 

"Okay, now you're fucking scaring me, Daph! What exactly has happened?" 

"Uh...you know you always said you wanted Andy to develop a love of art, right?" 

"Well...yeah.  Daphne..." 

"Uh...Brian...help me out here."  There was a sense of desperation in her voice.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had been watching her, Auntie Daph!"

"What! What wouldn't have happened?" Justin demanded a little too loudly; several patrons nearby turned to stare over at him curiously as his face flushed red.  Turning his back on them to try and get a little more privacy, Justin repeated his question.  "What the hell is going on?" 

"Don't get your paint bristles in a knot.  Just hold on a second and I'll show you what your little Warhol has been up to." 

Justin impatiently waited until he noticed a text message coming through.  Pressing the button to bring it up, he let out a gasp first and then placed his free hand over his mouth to stifle his laugh as he viewed the real-time video.  It was Andy, dressed in her navy-blue satin dress, bright red lipstick smeared all over her lips and chin, streaks of liquid makeup on her face like warpaint.  Black lines were drawn above her eyebrows, making her look like some macabre version of Groucho Marx.  In the background was Daphne's vanity dresser and mirror; it, too, had not escaped their daughter's outlet of artistic expression.  The mirror was streaked with a variety of colors.  Justin thought it looked like some crude attempt at a contemporary impressionist painting.  "Andy! What have you been doing, baby girl?" he asked his daughter.

"I'm using Aunt Daphne's paint just like you do, Daddy," she replied, a makeup brush clutched in one of her hands.  Justin could see Brian's horrified expression on his face as she came perilously close to swiping the horse hairs against the sleeve of her dress.  "Don't I look pretty?" she asked with a wide smile so reflective of his own.  Pride clearly shone on her face as Brian quietly took the makeup brush away from her.

Justin grinned. "You look...very colorful, Andy," he replied, unable to keep from laughing at the expression on Brian's face behind her.  He could hear Daphne giggling nearby.  "So...sparkly."  Somehow, his and Brian's daughter must have managed to find some sort of glittery lipstick or eye shadow, because the little girl's cheeks were, indeed, sparkling in shades of purple, yellow, and green.  "I thought your Auntie Daphne had outgrown her teenage years." 

Justin could hear a distinctive harumph from his friend, who was apparently filming the occasion for him, as he heard Daphne reply, "F you, Mr. Artist!  I have outgrown my 'teenage years,' as you so quaintly put it. Someone found my old stash in one of my makeup cases in the closet." 

"Maybe you can donate them to Honeycutt."

"Brian, you're not helping," Justin retorted. That earned a shrug as he asked him, "Will you still be able to come?"

"Always."

"Brian!" 

"Okay, okay." Brian looked at Daphne from his reflection in the mirror as she walked closer. "Is that shit washable?"

"Brian.  Language?" 

"Hey, it makes a difference," he replied as Daphne offered some response that Justin couldn't hear.  He sighed.  "It's waterproof, of course.  Looks like our little artiste will have to miss this soiree.  Along with her Daddy." 

Andy stomped her feet, having no idea what 'soiree' meant, but somehow figuring it wasn't good by the tone of his voice.  "I want to go see Daddy's coloring!"  Her blue eyes pooled with tears of disappointment. 

Brian squatted down beside her. "Sunny Girl, it would take too long to get you cleaned up."  His voice was gentle as he grasped her upper arms.  "You can go see Daddy's 'coloring' at some other show," he promised, but Andy would have none of it.

"But I'm dressed up NOW!  Why can't I go?"  Her face was scrunched up with disappointment as her bottom lip curled. 

At a loss for words to disappoint the little girl he had come to cherish as much as his son, Brian looked helplessly toward Daphne before clearing his throat.  "Uh...How about you take this one, Daddy?" 

Justin sighed; somehow he knew that was coming.  "Andy, Daddy is going to be really busy talking to grownups tonight, and I won't have a lot of time to spend with my favorite girl.  How about tomorrow we go out to eat at a really fancy place where you can show off that beautiful dress and makeup?"  He winced at the image.  "Uh...I bet Aunt Daphne would help you to look even prettier than you do now.  Right, Aunt Daphne?"  Justin threw her a pointed look.

To his relief, his best friend nodded.  "That's right, Honey.  And I'll even get a matching, sparkly scrunchie for your hair, and we can do your nails with glitter, too.  In fact, how about you spend the night tonight and we'll have a girls only party to practice!  Would you like that?"   

To both men's relief, their daughter's eyes lit up with excitement as she nodded her head and clapped.  "Ice cream, too?"

Daphne smiled.  "Yeah, you bet.  Your Daddy loves ice cream with lots of nuts and cherries."

"I like nuts especially," Brian offered helpfully, his lips curled under.  "The ones your Daddy have are extra special." 

"Brian..." came the warning. 

"Ooh, can we go to the store and pick up some special nuts like Daddy has?  I want whatever he has."

Brian flashed an evil grin as Justin's face flushed.  "Well, those are very special nuts.  You can't get them just anywhere.  In fact, I think they are one-of-a-kind."

"Don't worry, Honey," Daphne assured her, seeing the look of dismay on Andy's face. "After your Daddy Brian leaves, I'll drive you over to the frozen yogurt store where they have all kinds of things you can put on your ice cream.  Not only peanuts, but also candy, sprinkles, whipped cream, cherries, and all sorts of toppings like chocolate syrup.  And bananas!  I know how much you love bananas." 

Brian smiled; he knew their little girl was in good hands with Daphne.  He reached down to pick Andy up and give her a tight hug before kissing her on the cheek.  "Your Daddy and I will come and pick you up tomorrow, okay?" 

Andy nodded.  "Okay.  I love you, Daddy Bwyan."  

Brian's heart melted at those words.  One day, Andy would learn how to pronounce his name properly.  But until then, he didn't mind one bit.

"I love you too, Sunny Girl," he told her softly.  "Now say goodbye to Daddy, so he can go back to his coloring." 

Andy gave her father a haphazard wave of her chubby hand.  "'Bye, Daddy!  Night, night!"  She blew him a kiss through the video, just like she always did in person when Justin tucked her in goodnight after reading a book to her. 

"Good night, Sweetheart," he replied wistfully as he reached his hand up to 'catch' her kiss, hating the fact that he knew he wouldn't be seeing his daughter when he got home. But he also knew that he and Brian would be gifted with some much-needed 'big boys' time.  "I love you, too."  He paused.  "Thanks, Daph." 

Daphne smiled and nodded.  "No problem. Anytime I can spend some one-on-one time with my favorite niece is great by me."  She looked up at Brian through the mirror.  "You may go now, Daddy Bwyan," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.  We girls have a big night planned." 

Brian grinned.  "Yes, I see that you do.  Let us know if we need to plan on someone taking a turpentine bath when she gets home."    

"Not to worry; I have my own trade secrets on how to take care of that," she assured him.  Andy had spent enough nights on occasion with Daphne that she always had some spare pajamas and play clothes in one of Daphne's dresser drawers.  "Now shoo. Girls only." 

"Yeah, Daddy Bwyan.  Girls only.  You're a boy." 

"Yeah, Daddy Bwyan, you're a boy," Justin concurred with a grin. 

"Yeah, you are, too, Sunshine. And just remember, you're not too old to be paddled if necessary." 

"Is that a threat or a promise?" 

"You'll find out later."

"I'm counting on it." 

Daphne rolled her eyes.  "Enough with the innuendo.  Go!" 

Brian grinned before - with one more kiss on the cheek for his little girl - he turned and walked away, knowing that some great playtime was about to be had by all.